Rococo and Neoclassicism: Art and Society (18th-19th Century)
From the mid-eighteenth century until the last third of the nineteenth, society was radically transformed, a period of profound change initiated by the French Revolution.
Liberalism and nationalism became dominant ideologies, giving rise to the so-called bourgeois revolutions. From the mid-nineteenth century, and due to the rise of the new working class, Marxism gained great importance.
The eighteenth century was complex in terms of the diversity of artistic styles produced.
Rococo
In the early eighteenth century, Rococo began to develop. It was a palatial and aristocratic style characterized by lavish decor, lush exoticism, inconsequential and gallant themes. In fine arts, it represented a new outlook on life, seeking the enjoyment of the senses and abandoning the postulates of Baroque counter-propaganda and Absolutism.
Neoclassicism
In the mid-eighteenth century, another artistic style, Neoclassicism, unfolded as a reaction to the excesses of Rococo. Neoclassicism is closely linked to three phenomena:
- The triumph of the Enlightenment, a cultural movement that sought the predominance of reason.
- Admiration for classical art, especially after the discovery of the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum by Winckelmann.
- This return to classical taste was reinforced by the triumph of political revolutions in America (1776) and France (1789), which subsequently spread to Europe.
France became the center of radiation for Rococo and Neoclassicism, but a feature of eighteenth-century art was the diversity of artistic centers, especially the big cities (London, Vienna, Madrid, Venice…).
This style ran from the mid-eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century and became the official art of France during the French Revolution and Napoleon.
This became the visual language of the revolutionaries, who sought to remove all traces of the old regime, including its aesthetic manifestations. The representatives of the Revolution saw Neoclassicism as a defeat of the aristocracy and ballroom culture.
Characteristics of Neoclassical Art
- Style was the first non-Christian style, reflecting the artistic side of the secularized society promoted by the Enlightenment.
- Reacting against the decorative excesses of Baroque and Rococo, it was based on the rediscovery of classical antiquity. The discovery of the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy played an important role in this revival of classicism.
- Academies were developed and disseminated to ensure artistic consistency. These institutions, enjoying state protection, tried to control and train artists, setting official artistic criteria and maintaining the hierarchy of artistic genres. In Spain, the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando was established, which monitored new projects and promoted the training of artists through courses.
Architecture and Urban Planning
Since Neoclassicism was the language of the new enlightened society, it spurred rampant construction that contributed to improving human life, such as hospitals, libraries, museums, parks, theaters… all designed with a monumental character.
The new style looked to classical architecture as a model of universal validity, characterized by:
- Inspiration from the rational purity of the architecture of Greece rather than Rome.
- Use of the Greek and Roman orders.
- Use of the dome of Roman tradition.
- Also, the use of pediments, which are decorated with sculptures in their tympanums.
- Seeking a monumental and austere aesthetic.
A representative example of this style in France is the Madeleine Church in Paris.