Classicism from the Enlightenment to the Modern Age

This course investigates the afterlife of the classical era, exploring the ways in which classical themes, motifs and styles were re-discovered and interpreted in the modern age.
From the 18th century onwards, artists and scholars developed an increasingly sophisticated knowledge of the antique world, grounded in close study of art works and archaeological excavations in Greece and Italy. While some continued to see classicism as a standard for ideal beauty, others viewed antiquity as humanity’s golden age in society and government, and hoped to inspire its revival through their architecture and art. On a lighter level, many painters and sculptors looked to classical history and mythology as sources for narrative subjects, or to feed the general public’s seemingly insatiable appetite for images of daily life in Athens, Rome and Pompeii. By the 20th century there was no clear consensus on what the classical tradition meant. Still, the majority of artists continued to insist that classicism had an essential role to play in their work.
This course emphasises that classicism is a living tradition, re-invented to meet the needs and interests of each new age.