Neoclassicism

Clodion (Claude Michel), Intoxication of Wine, 1775, terra-cotta

Antonio Canova, Cupid and Psyche, 1787-1793, marble

Timeline of French Revolution and the Reign of Napoleon

1789- storming of the Bastille prison in Paris, followed by the Reign of Terror. Many associated with the “old regime” and the hereditary monarchy are killed.

1793- Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, are beheaded by the guillotine

1795-99 The Directory rule by the middle class

1799 – Napoleon becomes first consul

1803 – Napoleon law code is issued

1804- Napoleon is crowned emperor

1806- Napoleon begins a building campaign in Paris with the intention of creating a new Rome. He takes Julius Caesar, who was also a consul before becoming a dictator, as his model. Like Caesar, Napoleon adopts the eagle for his military emblem and the laurel wreath for his crown.

1812- Napoleon attacks Russia but is forced to retreat

1814- Napoleon abdicates. Monarchy is restored under Louis XVII.

1815 – Napoleon is defeated in the Battle of Waterloo. The Congress of Vienna established the borders of European countries, which last until World War I (1914-1918)

1821- Napoleon dies in exile

Jacques-Louis David, Oath of Horatii, 1784-1785, oil on canvas

Jacques-Louis David, Death of Socrates, 1787, oil on canvas

Jacques-Louis David, Death of Marat, 1793, oil on canvas

Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon at Saint Bernard Pass, 1800, oil on canvas

Jean-Francois-Therese Chalgrin et al., Arc de Triomphe, Paris, 1806-1836

Charles Percier and Pierre F.L. Fontaine, Place Vendome column, Paris, 1810

Antonio Canova, Maria Paolina Borghese as Venus, 1808, marble

Marie-Guillemine Benoist, Portrait of a Negress, 1800, oil on canvas

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Madame Riviere, 1805, oil on canvas

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Napoleon Enthroned, 1806, oil on canvas

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1808, oil on canvas

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Grande Odalisque, 1814, oil on canvas

Jean-Antoine Houdon, Thomas Jefferson, 1789, marble

American “ambassador” in France

Studied Classical and Palladian architecture; owned the first copy in America of Palladio’s “Four Books on Architecture”

Saw the Maison Carree at Nimes, reminiscent of Temple Portunus in Rome.

Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia, 1769-1784 (rebuilt 1794-1809)“The College and Hospital are rude, mis-shapen piles, which, but that they have roofs, would be

taken for brick-kilns. There are no other public buildings but churches and court-houses, in which no attempts are made at elegance.”

Colonial Williamsburg, Va.

Thomas Jefferson, State Capitol, Richmond, Virginia, 1785-1789By helping to introduce classical architecture to the United States, Jefferson intended to

reinforce the ideals behind the classical past: democracy, education, rationality, civic responsibility. Because he detested the English, Jefferson continually rejected British

architectural precedents for those from France. In doing so, Jefferson reinforced the symbolic nature of architecture. Jefferson did not just design a building; he designed a building that

eloquently spoke to the democratic ideals of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson, Rotunda, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 1817- 1826

John Trumbull, Declaration of Independence, 1818, oil on canvas

Horatio Greenough, George Washington, 1832-1841, Marble