Comparative analysis of the style characteristics of classical art and neoclassical art

1. Classical painting is to make use of the spirit of ancient art, take the sculpture of ancient Greece following the Renaissance and the paintings of the Renaissance masters as a model, and shape a kind of typological artistic image to express a certain kind of philosophy and reality, and to propagate a kind of idealized sublime realm, which is known as Classical painting. In terms of technique, classical painting emphasized precise sketching techniques and subtle shades of light and dark.

2. Neoclassicism was popular in Western European countries centered on France from the late eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century. Its main feature is that it seeks to restore the tradition of ancient Greek and Roman classical art, mostly from ancient Greek mythology and ancient Roman historical stories, in the art form, focusing on modeling and symmetry, harmonious composition, the pursuit of simple, solemn and elegant art style. It chose severe and significant themes (major events in ancient history and reality), emphasized rational rather than emotional expression in its art form, emphasized completeness in its composition, attached importance to sketches and outlines in its modeling, and paid attention to sculptural figures, while paying insufficient attention to color. French neo-classical art, from Vian, Davide to Engel, has achieved the best achievements and reached the peak.

Aesthetically speaking, the Renaissance was the first discovery and affirmation of classical values; the neoclassical period, then, was a reappropriation of the classics, accompanied by misinterpretation. Whereas the Renaissance was concerned with the living human being overwhelmed by medieval history and religious superstition, the neoclassical period was concerned with order, which had been neglected by history and the new life. Order was treated as if it were the true value of the Classics. The banner of the age was the exaltation of reason. The externalization of reason was order. At this time the concepts of order, system, type, regulation, etc., were plucked out of the mind by the mind, entered the eternal ranks of history, and then diffused into the nature of nature.