Classicism

Classicism, in the arts, target generally to the high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standard for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthetic attitude dependent on principles based in the culture, art as alive as literature of ancient Greece as well as Rome, with the emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, clarity of structure, perfection, restrained emotion, as alive as explicit appeal to the intellect. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we thing to his restraint and compression we are simply objecting to the classicism of classic art. A violent emphasis or a sudden acceleration of rhythmic movement would construct destroyed those features of balance and completeness through which it retained until the exposed century its position of guidance in the restricted repertoire of visual images." Classicism, as Clark noted, implies a canon of widely accepted ideal forms, if in the Western canon that he was examining in The Nude 1956, or the literary Chinese classics or Chinese art, where the revival of classic styles is also a recurring feature.

Classicism is a force which is often gave in post-medieval European and European influenced traditions; however, some periods felt themselves more connected to the classical ideals than others, particularly the Age of Enlightenment, when Neoclassicism was an important movement in the visual arts.

In architecture

Classicism in architecture developed during the Italian Renaissance, notably in the writings and designs of Leon Battista Alberti and the work of Filippo Brunelleschi. It places emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts as they are demonstrated in the architecture of Classical antiquity and, in particular, the architecture of Ancient Rome, of which many examples remained.

Orderly arrangements of columns, pilasters and lintels, as well as the ownership of semicircular arches, hemispherical domes, niches and aedicules replaced the more complex proportional systems and irregular profiles of medieval buildings. This mark quickly spread to other Italian cities and then to France, Germany, England, Russia and elsewhere.

In the 16th century, Sebastiano Serlio helped codify the classical orders and Andrea Palladio's legacy evolved into the long tradition of Palladian architecture. Building off of these influences, the 17th-century architects Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren firmly established classicism in England.

For the coding of classicism from the mid-18th-century onwards, see Neoclassical architecture.