Neo-Classical Style

Because sculpture in Europe had been profoundly influenced by Classical forms since the Renaissance, Neo-Classical principles had a less revolutionary impact on it than on the other arts. In general, Neo-Classical sculptors tended to avoid the dramatic twisting poses and the coloured marble characteristic of late Baroque or Rococo sculpture, preferring crisp contours, a noble stillness, and idealized forms carved from white marble.

The earliest Neo-Classical sculpture was produced by artists in direct contact with Winckelmann's circle in Rome. Among them were sculptors such as John Tobias Sergel, who on his return to his native Sweden carried the new style to northern Europe, and the Englishmen Thomas Banks and Joseph Nollekens, who introduced the style to their homeland. The dominant figure in the history of Neo-Classical sculpture, however, was the Italian Antonio Canova, who became a member of the Rome circle in 1780. Abandoning his earlier Baroque manner, he sought to capture in the Neo-Classical style the severity and ideal purity of ancient art. Theseus and the Dead Minotaur (1781-1782) portrays the calm of victory rather than active conflict; this was Canova's first work in the new style, and it brought him immediate fame.

After Canova's death, the Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen inherited his position as Europe's leading sculptor. His many international commissions help sustain strict Neo-Classicism as the dominant mode in sculpture until the mid-19th century. The style was carried to the United States by one of his friends, Horatio Greenough, and was continued by Hiram Powers, an American long resident in Italy, sculptor of the celebrated Greek Slave (1843), of which many replicas were made.

The Neo-Classical style pervaded almost every aspect of the decorative arts. By the early 1760s furniture with Graeco-Roman motifs was being made by Robert Adam. Introduced into France, his simple, classical style became known as the style étrusque (Etruscan style), and was favoured by the court of Louis XV. With further adaptations of Classical design, based on later archaeological finds, it evolved into the elegant style known as Louis XVI, favoured by the royal family during the 1780s. In ceramics the Neo-Classical style was seen in Wedgwood jasperware (for which Flaxman executed many designs) in England and in Sèvres porcelain in France.

Under Napoleon I, former royal residences were redecorated for official use according to plans devised by Percier and Fontaine and filled with furniture, porcelain, and tapestries all incorporating Graeco-Roman design and motifs. Taken as a whole, such interiors defined the Neo-Classical style in the decorative arts, and it was soon emulated throughout Europe.