Editing Neoclassicism (section)

==Painting, drawing and printmaking==
{{see also|Capriccio (art)}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="170px">
Giovanni Paolo Panini - Fantasy View with the Pantheon and other Monuments of Ancient Rome - 61.62 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg|''Fantasy View with the Pantheon and other Monuments of Ancient Rome''; by [[Giovanni Paolo Panini]]; 1737; oil on canvas; 98.9 x 137.49&nbsp;cm; [[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston]], US
The ancient Capitol ascended by approximately one hundred steps . . . (Campidoglio antico a cui si ascendeva per circa cento gradini . . .) MET DP827987.jpg|''The ancient Capitol ascended by approximately one hundred steps . . .''; by [[Giovanni Battista Piranesi]]; {{circa}}1750; etching; size of the entire sheet: 33.5 × 49.4&nbsp;cm; [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York City
Wright of Derby, The Orrery.jpg|''[[A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery]]''; by [[Joseph Wright of Derby]]; {{circa}}1766; oil on canvas; 1.47 x 2.03 m; [[Derby Museum and Art Gallery]], Derby, England{{sfn|Fortenberry|2017|p=275}}
Attributs de la peinture, de la sculpture et de l'architecture - Anne Vallayer-Coster.jpg|''The Attributes of the Arts''; by [[Anne Vallayer-Coster]]; 1769; oil on canvas; 90 x 121&nbsp;cm; [[Louvre]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morrill|first1=Rebecca|title=Great Women Artists|date=2019|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7877-5|page=413|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Kauffmann, Angelica - Ariadne von Theseus verlassen - prior to 1782.jpg|''Ariadne Abandoned''; by [[Angelica Kauffmann]]; before 1782; oil on canvas; 88 x 70.5&nbsp;cm; [[Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister]], Dresden, Germany<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morrill|first1=Rebecca|title=Great Women Artists|date=2019|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7877-5|page=211|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Jacques-Louis David, Le Serment des Horaces.jpg|''[[Oath of the Horatii]]''; by [[Jacques-Louis David]]; 1784; oil on canvas; 3.3 x 4.27&nbsp;m; Louvre{{sfn|Fortenberry|2017|p=276}}
Self-Portrait with a Harp MET DP164843.jpg|''Self-Portrait with a Harp''; by [[Rose-Adélaïde Ducreux]]; 1791; oil on canvas; 193 x 128.9&nbsp;cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
(27) Flaxman Ilias 1795, Zeichnung 1793, 189 x 284 mm.jpg|[[Achilles]] mourning [[Patroclus|Patrocles]]; after [[John Flaxman]]; 1795; engraving after a drawing; unknown size; unknown location
Anne-Louis Girodet De Roucy-Trioson - Portrait of J. B. Belley, Deputy for Saint-Domingue - WGA09508.jpg|''[[Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley]]'', Ex-Representative of the Colonies; by [[Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson|Anne-Louis Girodet]]; 1796–1797; oil on canvas; 1.59 x 1.11 m; [[Palace of Versailles]], France<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Hutton|title=The History of Art - From Prehistory to Presentday - A Global View|date=2022|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-02236-8|page=993|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Gerard FrancoisPascalSimon-Cupid Psyche end.jpg|''[[Cupid and Psyche (Gérard)|Cupid and Psyche]]''; by [[François Gérard]]; 1798; oil on canvas; 186 x 132&nbsp;cm; Louvre<ref>{{cite book|last1=Andrew|first1=Graham-Dixon|title=art - The Definitive Visual History|date=2023|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Limited|isbn=978-0-2416-2903-1|page=251|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Vigee-Lebrun–Julie-Lebrun-as-Flora.jpg|''Julie Lebrun as [[Flora (mythology)|Flora]]''; by [[Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun]]; {{circa}}1799; oil on canvas; 129.5 x 97.8&nbsp;cm; [[Museum of Fine Arts (St. Petersburg, Florida)]], US
Marie-Guillemine Benoist - portrait d'une negresse.jpg|''Portrait of a Black Woman'', by [[Marie-Guillemine Benoist]]; 1800; oil on canvas; 81 x 65&nbsp;cm; Louvre<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morrill|first1=Rebecca|title=Great Women Artists|date=2019|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7877-5|page=59|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Charpentier, Constance Marie - Melancholy - 1801.jpg|''Melancholy''; by [[Constance Marie Charpentier]]; 1801; oil on canvas; 130 x 165; [[Musée de Picardie]], Amiens, France<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morrill|first1=Rebecca|title=Great Women Artists|date=2019|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7877-5|page=298|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Villers Young Woman Drawing.jpg|''[[Portrait of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (Marie-Denise Villers)|Portrait of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes]]''; by [[Marie-Denise Villers]]; 1801; oil on canvas; 161.3 x 128.6&nbsp;cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morrill|first1=Rebecca|title=Great Women Artists|date=2019|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7877-5|page=419|url=|language=en}}</ref>
File:Antoine-Jean Gros - Bonaparte visitant les pestiférés de Jaffa.jpg|''[[Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa]]''; by [[Antoine-Jean Gros]]; 1804; oil on canvas; 5.2 x 7.2 m; Louvre<ref>{{cite book|last1=Andrew|first1=Graham-Dixon|title=art - The Definitive Visual History|date=2023|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Limited|isbn=978-0-2416-2903-1|page=270|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon 001.jpg|Portrait of Empress Joséphine; by [[Pierre-Paul Prud'hon]]; 1805; oil on canvas; 244 x 179&nbsp;cm; Louvre<ref>{{cite book|last1=Andrew|first1=Graham-Dixon|title=art - The Definitive Visual History|date=2023|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Limited|isbn=978-0-2416-2903-1|page=298|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Ingres, Napoleon on his Imperial throne.jpg|[[Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne]]; by [[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres]]; 1806; oil on canvas; 2.62 x 1.62 m; [[Army Museum (Paris)]]{{sfn|Fortenberry|2017|p=276}}
File:Брюллов Гений искусства.jpg|The Genius of Art; by [[Karl Briullov]]; 1819–1821; gray paper, pencil, chalk, charcoal, and pastel; 65.2 x 62.2; [[Russian Museum]], Saint Petersburg
file:Tantalus-and-sisyphus-in-hades-august-theodor-kaselowsky.jpg|Tantalus and Sisyphus in Hades; by [[August Theodor Kaselowsky]]; {{circa}}1850; wall painting; unknown dimensions; on a wall of the Room of the Niobids, [[Neues Museum]], Berlin
</gallery>
It is hard to recapture the radical and exciting nature of early Neoclassical painting for contemporary audiences; it now strikes even those writers favourably inclined to it as "insipid" and "almost entirely uninteresting to us"—some of [[Kenneth Clark]]'s comments on [[Anton Raphael Mengs]]' ambitious ''Parnassus'' at the [[Villa Albani]],<ref>Clark, 20 (quoted); Honour, 14; [[:File:Mengs Parnasus.jpg|image of the painting]] (in fairness, other works by Mengs are more successful)</ref> by the artist whom his friend Winckelmann described as "the greatest artist of his own, and perhaps of later times".<ref>Honour, 31–32 (31 quoted)</ref> The drawings, subsequently turned into [[old master print|prints]], of [[John Flaxman]] used very simple line drawing (thought to be the purest classical medium<ref>Honour, 113–114</ref>) and figures mostly in profile to depict ''[[The Odyssey]]'' and other subjects, and once "fired the artistic youth of Europe" but are now "neglected",<ref>Honour, 14</ref> while the [[history painting]]s of [[Angelica Kauffman]], mainly a portraitist, are described as having "an unctuous softness and tediousness" by [[Fritz Novotny]].<ref>Novotny, 62</ref>  Rococo frivolity and Baroque movement had been stripped away but many artists struggled to put anything in their place, and in the absence of ancient examples for history painting, other than the [[Ancient Greek pottery|Greek vases]] used by Flaxman, [[Raphael]] tended to be used as a substitute model, as Winckelmann recommended.

The work of other artists, who could not easily be described as insipid, combined aspects of Romanticism with a generally Neoclassical style, and form part of the history of both movements.  The German-Danish painter [[Asmus Jacob Carstens]] finished very few of the large mythological works that he planned, leaving mostly drawings and colour studies which often succeed in approaching Winckelmann's prescription of "noble simplicity and calm grandeur".<ref>Novotny, 51–54</ref> Unlike Carstens' unrealized schemes, the [[etching]]s of [[Giovanni Battista Piranesi]] were numerous and profitable, and taken back by those making the [[Grand Tour]] to all parts of Europe. His main subject matter was the buildings and ruins of Rome, and he was more stimulated by the ancient than the modern. The somewhat disquieting atmosphere of many of his ''[[Veduta|Vedute]]'' (views) becomes dominant in his series of 16 prints of ''[[Carceri d'invenzione]]'' ("Imaginary Prisons") whose "oppressive cyclopean architecture" conveys "dreams of fear and frustration".<ref>Clark, 45–58 (47–48 quoted); Honour, 50–57</ref> The Swiss-born [[Henry Fuseli]] spent most of his career in England, and while his fundamental style was based on Neoclassical principles, his subjects and treatment more often reflected the "Gothic" strain of [[Romanticism]], and sought to evoke drama and excitement.

Neoclassicism in painting gained a new sense of direction with the sensational success of [[Jacques-Louis David]]'s ''[[Oath of the Horatii]]'' at the [[Paris Salon]] of 1785. Despite its evocation of republican virtues, this was a commission by the royal government, which David insisted on painting in Rome. David managed to combine an idealist style with drama and forcefulness. The central perspective is perpendicular to the picture plane, made more emphatic by the dim arcade behind, against which the heroic figures are disposed as in a [[frieze]], with a hint of the artificial lighting and staging of [[opera]], and the classical colouring of [[Nicolas Poussin]]. David rapidly became the leader of French art, and after the [[French Revolution]] became a politician with control of much government patronage in art. He managed to retain his influence in the [[Napoleon]]ic period, turning to frankly propagandistic works, but had to leave France for exile in Brussels at the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]].<ref>Honour, 34–37; Clark, 21–26; Novotny, 19–22</ref>

David's many students included [[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres]], who saw himself as a classicist throughout his long career, despite a mature style that has an equivocal relationship with the main current of Neoclassicism, and many later diversions into [[Orientalism]] and the [[Troubadour style]] that are hard to distinguish from those of his unabashedly Romantic contemporaries, except by the primacy his works always give to drawing. He exhibited at the Salon for over 60 years, from 1802 into the beginnings of [[Impressionism]], but his style, once formed, changed little.<ref>Novotny, 39–47; Clark, 97–145; Honour, 187–190</ref>