History of Neo-Classical and Romanticist Art

In this paper, I will discuss the history of Neo-Classical and Romanticist art along with Jacque-Louis David and Eugène Delacroix to include their different approaches and beliefs in human reason and rationality. The way that David and Delacroix chose to convey revolution will be discussed briefly as well.

In the center of Rome is where the soul of Neo-Classical movement was started. During this time the artists observed the past of the art and culture of classical Greece and Rome and that is why that historical time is called neoclassical. It is characterized in such a classical form and structure, clarity and to a degree of realism. Connected to contemporary political events were that of Neo-Classicism and this was more than just a classical revival. The orderly style that was serious in character was what the artists of Neo-Classical wanted use instead of the eroticism and frivolity of the Rococo style (Neo-Classicism, Jaque-Louis David ad Oath of Horatii). The sense of civility, honorableness and patriotism is what the French Neo-Classism painters wanted to put emphasis on. The beliefs of the French Revolution were seen as anti-aristocratic and this is what the movement was particularly connected with. The general public and critics belittled the fantasy-based aristocratic art of the Rococo time that seemed an insult upon the rights of men. Neoclassicism became the art of change during the stage of comprehensive revolution and transformation Neoclassicism became the art of change.

During the mid-18th century and in the late 19th century, Neoclassicism was a predominant movement in European art and architecture. The western classical art forms of ancient Greece and Rome was the focus. It was partly a movement that had initiated as a reaction to the Baroque and Rococo styles. In the 19th century, it continued to become visible as museums of neoclassical architecture because of its predominant part of academic art (Neo-Classicism, Jaque-Louis David ad Oath of Horatii).

The social conditions that existed during that time that carved Europe political structure, is where the Renaissance art took its shape from. As there was no political form during the early modern period, the cultural rarity of Italy existed in which resulted in artistic and academic advancements. Wealth was brought into Italy through commissioning its artistic work whereas that freedom opened gateways to trade and commerce across the globe (Media).

It has been said that when one try to define Romanticism it slips through your fingers only because, unlike Impressionists or Expressionists, Romantic artists didn't have one style. The artist focused on whatever turned them on through intense personal expression, this is what the movement was about and it wasn't just grounded in France or Italy it spread across most of Europe and later to the United States. The visual-arts movements of Romanticism included poetry, fiction and music (romanticism, Eugene Delacroix, and th Liberty Leading the People).

Believing in the rights of other individuals and expressing deep, intense and uplifting emotions is what Romanticism is referred to. Romanticism could sometimes mean having a deep spiritual relationship with nature. Teaching people to care about each other was the first time in history during the Romantic period. Promoting individual liberty, ending slavery and supporting democratic and independence movements are some of what Romantic artists were concerned with. Buried under layers of socialization, Romantics believed that there was basic goodness in man (Esaak, 2013).

Jacques-Louis David was born in 1748, in Paris where he became a painter of great renown as his style of history moving art back to the realm of classical austerity that helped end the frivolity of the Rococo period. The great artist as well as chief propaganda minister of the French Revolution, Jacques-Louis David was infatuated with the former grandeur of Rome. Because of his compositions were balanced, synchronized and usually Roman inspired emphasizing loyalty to the state, Jacques-Louis David is considered the father of the Neoclassical art movement. During 1784 in Rome, his very first paintings, the Oath of Horatii and Brutus, was painted and were heralds of the French Revolution. Impressive and powerful built physic-like that of a gladiator rushing into the arena, David depicted the heroes of the revolution (Neo-Classicism, Jaque-Louis David ad Oath of Horatii).

In Charenton-St-Maurice, France, Ferdinand-Victor-Eugene Delacroix was born on April 26, 1798. As the student of the French painter Pierre-Narcisse Guerin, Delacroix began a career that would produce more than 850 paintings and great numbers of drawings, murals, and other works. In order to win support for the Greek struggle for independence against the Turkish Empire, Delacroix used his paintbrush to win support. Classified as an artist of the Romantic school,