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Neoclassicism or “New Classicism” Part One. Neoclassicism. 1660-late 1700’s in England, but the movement started earlier and occurred throughout Europe 1660 return of the Stuart line to the throne with Charles II after Puritans were overthrown from their 1648 takeover of the English government
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Neoclassicism • 1660-late 1700’s in England, but the movement started earlier and occurred throughout Europe • 1660 return of the Stuart line to the throne with Charles II after Puritans were overthrown from their 1648 takeover of the English government • Reaction against the Renaissance • Back to the classics of the Greeks and Romans • Age of Reason – 17th Century • Age of Enlightenment – 18th Century
Overview of Political/Religious History for this Period (Just for Historical Context) • Charles II restored to the throne (Stuart line) in 1660 • The Church of England restored from Puritan takeover • Laws passed instituting the Book of Common Prayer and other pro-Anglican laws
James II inherits the throne • James tries to reinstate Roman Catholicism • Protestant William of Orange and his wife Mary take over the throne in the Glorious Revolution • James, his wife, and their son escape to France, to the Catholic court of Louis XIV • Two attempts to regain the English throne
Queen Anne is the last Stuart monarch • German-born George I of Hanover rules after her death • King George III is king when the colonists declare independence
Philosophical, Religious, Artistic, Scientific, and Literary Contexts
The Classical Writers Rediscovered • Homer • Virgil • Ovid • Sophocles
Key Ideas/Contributions • tabula rasa : the idea that humans start life with a “blank slate” in the mind, with no “pre-knowledge” ~John Locke • Laws of gravity ~Isaac Newton • Great Chain of Being: Man is just below angels and above nature ~Classical belief of classification and hierarchy
Deism • Bible is not the inspired word of God • God is like a clockmaker who created the world and then left men to rule themselves • Religion based on reason and the study of nature • Machinery set in motion
Key Ideas (continued) • Decorum: the subject of art and writing should be appropriate, as should be the structure • A story/play must have a beginning a middle, and an end ~ Aristotle (Ancient Greece)
Renaissance No limits on what man can do Intense emotions Neoclassicism Man is limited and imperfect Restrained emotion Prized order Art is work and suited for the wealthy Traits of Neoclassicism: symmetry, economy, logic, utility, controlled emotion
Forms of Writing • Essay • Letter • Epistle • Satire • Parody • Moral instruction Play of mind: polite, urbane, witty language and humor
Writers Alexander Pope John Milton John Bunyan Daniel Defoe Jonathan Swift Thomas Gray John Dryden Samuel Johnson William Cowper Voltaire Jean Jacques Rousseau Artists Jacques-Louis David Benjamin West Antonio Canova Jean-Antoine Houdon John Flaxman Composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Joseph Haydn