Verified Document

Neo-Classical Art And Romanticism Case Study

Art has always been used as a means of expression and of confirmation of events and movements that take place in the society in that respective period of time. The Neo-Classical and Romanticist art makes no exception to this rule and the two periods have been considered in the history of artistic art as two of the most representative for the expressivity they brought to the world of the arts as well as through the painters they inspired. Jacques-Louis David and Eugene Delacroix are two of the most representative painters of the New Classical period and the Romanticist art and their paintings are significant for the symbols and ideals these two periods provided for the artistic world. Neo-classical art must be seen in the wider context of the 18th century and the era of Enlightenment when the new perceptions on the role of reason were redefined against the concepts of the religious directions of thought or the ones of the state. In this sense, the Enlightenment period was seen as a revolutionary move particularly because of the detachment from the previous era of the Renaissance in which the religious forces played a crucial role, especially in terms of painting. Therefore, the painters followed the path opened by writers such as Jane Austen, John Milton or Daniel Defoe that provided images of humans with flaws, physical and emotional, rather than to present them as...

From this point-of-view, the human being became a complex individual, guided by more than emotions of religious aspiration, whose reason would eventually prevail in the face of guided external thought.
The Romantic period on the other hand, despite the fact that it was still a reaction to the Renaissance line of thought had a different approach towards literature and arts. The Romantic hero was still flawed yet guided by inner feelings that most often transformed into deep passions and emotional outbreaks. Significant writers of this period include Victor Hugo, Keats, Blake, or Wordsworth.

In the arts world the two currents were clearly defined by the two painters, David and Delacroix. Both of them, through their masterpieces, portrayed the feelings of their time. David, in "Oath of the Horatii" depicts a scene from Ancient Rome in which an oath to defend Rome and restore peace is presented. The actual story and historical background of the image is significant for a thorough analysis, one that would further provide the proof that the image in itself is not a depiction of a historical truth but rather a result of the painter's imagination. However, it must be pointed out that the paining provides all the elements of a neo-classical work. It is inspired from a classical environment, that of ancient Rome, and it depicts…

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Art Please Take a Close Look at
Words: 1116 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Art Please take a close look at two paintings of storms: Watteau's the Storm painting comparison Watteau's the Storm and Delacroix's the Sea of Galilee The two paintings in question refer to different time periods in art history and more importantly, to different views about art and life. These views are also reflected in the style and the technique of the two paintings. Art is often a reflection of the times in which it

Romanticism: A Disdain for the Unities of
Words: 1160 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

Romanticism: A disdain for the unities of form and the embrace of the unities of genre The integral relationship between the visual and verbal genres of the Romantic period of letters is perhaps one of its most striking aspects. Poetry and painting in particular seemed to be fused in a homogenous blend of intense individualism, emphasis on naturalism, and a stress upon spontaneous human feeling, with all of its imperfections. One

Goya Rodin and Modern Art
Words: 1575 Length: 5 Document Type: Research Paper

Art through the Ages 1. (Ch. 27) What is the interpretation of Goya's Saturn Devouring his Children? The interpretation of Goya’s Saturn Devouring his Children is based on the myth of Saturn who feared that his children would overthrow him, so he devoured them one by one to avoid that risk. Goya lived many centuries after this ancient myth of antiquity originated. However, his own contemporary situation reflected the old myth in

History of Western Art Donatello's
Words: 3305 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

The rococo was aimed towards the French court and nobles. The main message was not a religious one, but aimed the upper classes and focused on their lives, houses and celebrations. In France this style gave way to the austere neoclassic style at the end of the xviii century and disappeared with the French revolution in 1978, suddenly and completely. Neoclassicism appeared as a return to the classical ideology in

Neo-Confucianism Is a Philosophy Which Was Born TEST1
Words: 1600 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Dadaism and Surrealism It has been since centuries that the Art has existed in this world and has undergone various stages. In simple words, art has got its own historical periods whereby every period has its unique invention and significance. Art has acquired immense success, has reached several milestones and the reason of this tremendous development is due to the improvement in diverse historical periods. The present is always improved

Modernism: Depth Analysis European Art Works 1860-1935
Words: 1716 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Modernism: Depth Analysis European Art Works 1860-1935 Modernism, in its widest meaning, is considered to be modern belief, eccentric, or practice. To add a little more, the word gives a description of the modernist movement occurring in the arts, its set of cultural propensities and related cultural actions, initially rising from wide-scale and extensive differences to Western civilization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Baker 2005). In specific the

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now