Classicism
Classicism is an artistic orientation that values order, proportion, restraint, and models drawn from ancient Greece and Rome.
Classical antiquity: The civilizations and cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, especially their enduring artistic and intellectual traditions. Classicism treats Greek and Roman art and thought as models of lasting authority.
Ancient Greek art: The visual arts produced in the Greek world from the Aegean Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period. Its sculpture and architecture supplied classicism with influential models of proportion and form.
Classical architecture: Architecture based on forms and principles associated with ancient Greek and Roman buildings. Orders, symmetry, and measured façades give classicist ideals a built form.
Romanticism: An artistic and intellectual movement that emphasized emotion, imagination, individuality, and the sublime. Romantic artists often challenged classicist rules and its preference for restraint.
Harmony: An arrangement whose parts form a coherent, balanced whole. Classicist works seek unity among their parts rather than disruption or excess.
Ancient Roman art: The visual arts of Rome and its territories, shaped by Etruscan, Greek, and local traditions. Roman architecture and copies of Greek sculpture helped transmit antique forms to later classicists.
Neoclassical sculpture: Sculpture that revives ancient models through idealized figures, restrained expression, and clear contours. It shows how antique sculpture became a template for later classicist art.
Baroque: An artistic style marked by dramatic movement, strong contrasts, and elaborate forms. Its theatrical intensity often stands against classicism's preference for balance and restraint.
Proportion: The measured relationship between parts of a whole or between separate forms. Classical ideals make balanced relationships of scale and measure central to artistic order.
Renaissance: A European cultural movement, beginning in Italy, that renewed engagement with classical antiquity. Renaissance artists and scholars made ancient models a major source for European classicism.