Write an account of Neoclassic period. Why is this age called Neoclassical?

 

Ans:

Introduction:The Neoclassical Period held between 1660 and 1830. Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism; from Greek νέος nèos, "new" and Greek κλασικός klasikόs, "of the highest rank") is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassical age is also known as The age of reason, The Augustan Period or The age of Enlightenment.

Augustan Period:The Augustan Period refers to similarities between England at this time and Rome during the reign of Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavius (63 BC-14 AD). While Octavius ruled in the time after Julius Caesar’s assassination.  He restored order and peace to the people of Rome and is often classified as its second founder. In a similar way, Charles II is taken from exile in France and restored England.  He reopened playhouses, brought back a formal court, and had the body of Oliver Cromwell exhumed and decapitated.

Age of Enlightenment: We also known this period as Enlightenment because of the country’s shift from an emotional approach to thinking to an educational and factual one. Advances in science research, mathematics influence and the Industrial Revolution, including literature and all of these aspects of British thought gear up the speed of prosperity. People no longer believe in signs and vast punishments from God like the London Fire and Plague. But begin to turn their face into science and order.  They began to ask “how” instead of “why.” The writing content, style, and order of scientists spill over into all of literature as sentences are shortened with the allusions and extended metaphors of their predecessors.

Neoclassicism is a revival of the many styles and spirit of classic antiquity inspired directly from the classical period, which coincided and reflected the developments in philosophy and other areas of the Age of Enlightenment, and was initially a reaction against the excesses of the preceding Rococo style. Most educated people of the time are familiar with the classical works as well as the works of their own time and country and found enjoyment in their connection. They enjoyed allusions to the political connections of the time periods and references to the classical characters and themes. The style of their works emphasizing these similarities are labeled “neoclassical” meaning “new classics.”

Conclusion: Neoclassicism and its popularity spread all over Europe as a generation of European art students finished their Grand Tour and returned from Italy to their home countries with newly rediscovered Greco-Roman ideals. The main Neoclassical movement coincided with the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century, laterally competing with Romanticism.