U N I T 41 FROM NEOCLASSICISM TO POST-IMPRESSIONISM In this Unit you will learn about art from the last decades of the 18th century (the period of Neoclassicism and Enlightenment) to the end of the 19th century, when artists rejected the traditionalistic rules of academic painting, and started to organise themselves into groups. You will find a presentation of the major artists and movements of this period. A. THE IDEAL BEAUTY In the second half of the 18th century a radical new development in science, technology and arts encouraged people to consider the use of reason the best way to create a better world: they began to indicate their time as The Age of Reason , and, later, as The Age of Enlightenment . By the 1760 s, Neoclassicism emerged, i.e. a conscious use of Greek and Roman elements, such as classical architecture or clean lines and perfect contours. Renaissance artists had been inspired by classical antiquity, but the discovery in Italy of the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum (excavations started in 1748) stimulated a more scientific interest. Neoclassicism had moral values as well as artistic implications, since its diverse styles were usually based on virtue and heroism. Precise drawing (or accuracy of representation) was favoured over colour. JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID (1748-1825) Jacques-Louis David was the greatest Neo-classicist painter. He was a supporter of the French Revolution and celebrated history and civic pride in large formats. In 1774, David won the Prix de Rome, which meant he was able to study for five years at the French Academy in Rome. When he returned to France in 1780, he had completely rejected his former style and developed a more classical approach, influenced in particular by his studies of paintings of Raphael. His austere style was viewed as an expression of new thinking in French society. In 1791, he was elected deputy of the new republican government and used his art as propaganda. He portrayed the revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat, murdered in 1793, as a civil hero and later glorified, with his painting, the life of Napoleon, who became his patron. After the Bourbon restoration in 1816, David fled to Brussels where he spent his last years painting mythological subjects and intimate portraiture, abandoning the large-scale historical works which had assured his reputation. 66 Jacque-Louis David, The Death of Marat, 1793, Brussels, Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts.