classicism
Greco-Roman aesthetic revival
Classicism is adherence to the aesthetic principles and artistic standards of ancient Greece and Rome, emphasizing balance, restraint, clarity, and formal structure.
In art, architecture, literature, and music, classicism favors order and proportion over emotional expression or experimentation.
The term often contrasts with romanticism, which privileges feeling and individual expression over classical ideals.
The building's symmetry and columns reflect eighteenth-century classicism.
A classicist is someone who studies or champions classical forms.
Shaped three-dimensional art
- frescoWet plaster painting technique
- canonAccepted authoritative works
- idealizationRegarding as perfect
- draperyOrnamental hanging cloth
marble · bronze · relief · bust · torso · Venus · Apollo · David
Agreement or musical blend
- proportionComparative relation of parts
- balanceSteadiness or amount owed
- symmetryInvariance under transformation
- beautyAesthetic excellence
elegance · simplicity · restraint · order · clarity · refinement · unity · purity
Vertical structural element
- pedimentTriangular architectural crowning element
- porticoColumned covered entryway
- colonnadeRow supporting a roof
- entablatureBeam structure on columns
frieze · cornice · architrave · pilaster · balustrade · peristyle · atrium · ionic
Classical Mediterranean civilization
- RomeItaly's capital city
- HellenismGreek cultural influence
- Greco-RomanAntiquity's blended heritage
- AthenianAncient Greek city-dweller
Roman Republic · Roman Empire · Augustan · Pax Romana · forum · agora · senate · polis
Ancient Greek epic composer
- VirgilClassical epic poet
- OvidAncient Roman poet
- HoraceMale name from antiquity
- CiceroAncient Rome's greatest speaker
epic · ode · elegy · tragedy · comedy · satire · hexameter · rhetoric
Movement emulating antiquity's forms
- RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening
- humanismPhilosophy prioritizing earthly reason
- EnlightenmentEra prioritizing reason over dogma
- Grand TourAristocratic educational journey abroad
antiquarianism · academicism · Beaux-Arts · Federal style · Vitruvius · patronage · restoration · imitation
Greek philosopher, academy founder
- AristotleGreek founder of formal logic
- SocratesAncient Athenian questioning philosopher
- stoicismUncomplaining acceptance of difficulty
- epicureanismPursuit of refined pleasures
cynicism · neoplatonism · dialectics · ethics · metaphysics · logic · virtue · reason
sculpture
Shaped three-dimensional art
- frescoWet plaster painting technique
- canonAccepted authoritative works
- idealizationRegarding as perfect
drapery · marble · bronze · relief · bust · torso · Venus · Apollo · David · Winckelmann
harmony
Agreement or musical blend
- proportionComparative relation of parts
- balanceSteadiness or amount owed
- symmetryInvariance under transformation
beauty · elegance · simplicity · restraint · order · clarity · refinement · unity · purity · decorum
column
Vertical structural element
- pedimentTriangular architectural crowning element
- porticoColumned covered entryway
- colonnadeRow supporting a roof
entablature · frieze · cornice · architrave · pilaster · balustrade · peristyle · atrium · ionic · temple
ancient Greece
Classical Mediterranean civilization
- RomeItaly's capital city
- HellenismGreek cultural influence
- Greco-RomanAntiquity's blended heritage
Athenian · Roman Republic · Roman Empire · Augustan · Pax Romana · forum · agora · senate · polis · patrician
Homer
Ancient Greek epic composer
Cicero · epic · ode · elegy · tragedy · comedy · satire · hexameter · rhetoric · oratory
neoclassicism
Movement emulating antiquity's forms
- RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening
- humanismPhilosophy prioritizing earthly reason
- EnlightenmentEra prioritizing reason over dogma
Grand Tour · antiquarianism · academicism · Beaux-Arts · Federal style · Vitruvius · patronage · restoration · imitation · emulation
Plato
Greek philosopher, academy founder
- AristotleGreek founder of formal logic
- SocratesAncient Athenian questioning philosopher
- stoicismUncomplaining acceptance of difficulty
epicureanism · cynicism · neoplatonism · dialectics · ethics · metaphysics · logic · virtue · reason · teleology
- 1700sMozart, Voltaire, colonial period, French Revolution, William III
- ismscapitalism, socialism, communism, anarchism, racism
- art termspainting, sculpture, drawing, portrait, landscape
- French LiteratureVictor Hugo, Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Dumas, Jules Verne
- literary studiescriticism, literary history, modernism, literary movements, literary themes
- RenaissanceLeonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Mona Lisa
classicismromanticism
Emotional, imaginative worldview
modernism · avant-garde · expressionism · Dadaism · Baroque
classicismasymmetry
Absence of balanced form
irregularity · excess · ornamentation · disorder · chaos
classicismmodernism
Favoring contemporary approaches
innovation · novelty · experimentalism · iconoclasm · anti-traditionalism