Neoclassicism was an 18th-19th century European art movement signified by a desire to return to the Greco-Roman aesthetic in art, music, sculpture and more. In the wake of the Rococo period and its various eccentricities, there was a push to go back to the more idealized versions of Greek art that managed to transcend nature and approach the idealism of these prior forms (Honour 57). Jacques-Louis David’s The Oath of the Horatii is a quintessential Neoclassical painting, with its dimmer background and the classical Greek elements of dull colors and small, virtually invisible brushstrokes. Its theme is also idealistic, with its focus on governmental duty, which is one of the virtues of the Enlightenment in which Neoclassicism took place.
Romanticism came about in a similar fashion, hoping to combat the coldness of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800s, bringing back a sense of romance and poetry to things like nature and humanity, which had been missing in the wake of scientific discovery. Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog is a typical Romantic painting, as its portrait of a man looking out over a tall precipice emphasizes the desire to instill a long-missing sense of mystery in the world. Realism, meanwhile, was a similar rejection of the overemotional nature of Romanticism, and sought to depict things as they are. Jules Breton’s The End of the Working Day showcases this sense of detail and groundedness, with dull colors, realistic proportions of individuals, and a notable lack of sentimentality towards its subject.
Works Cited
Breton, Jules. The End of the Working Day. 1886-1887. Oil on canvas, 33 1/16 x 47 ¼ in.
Brooklyn Museum: New York, USA.
David, Jacques-Louis. The Oath of the Horatii. 1785. Oil on canvas, 3.3 x 4.25m. Louvre
Museum: Paris, France.
Friedrich, Caspar David. Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. 1818. Oil on canvas, 98.4 x 74.8 cm.
Kunsthalle Hamburg: Hamburg, Germany.
Honour, Hugh, Neo-classicism - Style and Civilization. 1968.
