Neoclassical

Neoclassical is a term used to describe a broad set of revivalist movements in art, architecture, literature, music, and social theory that drew inspiration from ancient Greece and Rome. Emerging in the mid-18th century as a response to Baroque and Rococo flamboyance, neoclassicism aspired to clarity, proportion, restraint, and moral purpose, and it spread across Europe and the Atlantic world into the early 19th century, with later revivals in various fields.

In architecture and the visual arts, neoclassicism revived classical vocabularies—clean lines, balanced symmetry, and the use of classical orders, pediments, and friezes. Prominent architects included Robert Adam and Thomas Jefferson’s designs; iconic buildings include the Panthéon in Paris and the U.S. Capitol. In painting and sculpture, artists such as Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and Antonio Canova emphasized idealized forms, restraint, and civic or moral themes drawn from antiquity.

In literature, neoclassical writers valued reason, civic virtue, and adherence to classical models, favoring clarity, form, and decorum. Figures associated with the movement include Voltaire, Alexander Pope, and Samuel Johnson, among others, who used satire and orderly structure to explore moral and social issues.

In music, neoclassicism describes a later revival, roughly from the 1920s to 1950s, in which composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, and Sergei Prokofiev drew on Baroque and Classical era forms and textures, eschewing excess in favor of clarity and proportion.

In economics, neoclassical economics, developed in the late 19th century, emphasizes rational choice, marginal analysis, and market equilibrium. It remains a dominant framework in microeconomics, though it has faced substantive critiques and extensions.

Overall, neoclassical denotes a revival or appropriation of classical models, adapted to contemporary contexts.