Neoclassicism and Romanticism

British Architecture: Jan Breddin; Wednesday, 8. July 1998

Neoclassicism and Romanticism

Basic knowledge about classical and gothic architecture is needed!


Neoclassicism

1780 - 1850 It corresponds to the reaction against the Baroque as the style of Absolutism It corresponds loosely with the Enlightenment, Age of Reason

⇒ influence of Classic and a nostalgia for past civilisations
⇒ adoption of classical forms

rationalism in architecture

Cumberland Terrace, Regent’s Park, London, by John Nash, 1826 - 27



Development:

early (1720)

architects: Lord Burlington, Colen Campbell begin of the turning away from Baroque style characterised by a simpler and more restrained style first fully neoclassical building in 1731: Lord Burlington’s Assembly Rooms at York, based on Palladio’s reconstruction of an Egyptian hall

The next generation of architects remained conservative (Baroque)
birth of English Neoclassicism

initiated by Robert Adams use of antique forms in a new context planning based on contrasting room shapes and spaces time of R. Adams over by 1780

The new generation

new mood: the aims were a "noble simplicity" and "antique grandeur" they were sick of "gingerbread" and "snippets of embroidery"

By 1800 nearly all English architecture reflected the Neoclassical spirit



After 1800 the interest in revival of Greek forms intensified and the stream of buildings based either wholly or in part on Greek models continued well into the 19^thcentury (e.g. Cambridge College (1806 - 11) with details closely copied from the Erechtheum on the Acropolis at Athens)

Romanticism

1760 - 1870 but the date of its beginning is not easy to pinpoint The architectural movement most commonly associated with Romanticism is the Gothic Revival, used to embrace the entire Neo - Gothic movement The Gothic Revival lingered on late in the 19^thcentury and survived even into the 20^th. (e.g. Sir John Ninian Comper continued to employ it right up to the time of his death in 1960)

Fronthill Abbey, Wiltshire, designed by James Wyatt, 1796 - 1807



Development:

For, even when there were no particular liking for Gothic, conservatism and local building practices had conditioned its use as the style for churches and collegiate buildings. In its earliest phase, therefore, Gothic Revival is not easily distinguished from Gothic survival. A Gothic revival was in a sense initiated early in England during the late 16^thcentury under the influence of Elizabethan and Jacobean notions of chivalry and again between 1620 and 1630 under the impetus of William Land’s Anglicanism but there is no precise point. With developing archaeological interest and with religious revivals of the early 19^thcentury, the movement manifested itself in a spate of church building in the Gothic style The seriousness and moral pursuit of this movement were formulated as a doctrine and presented as a challenge to the intellect. The second half of the 19^thcentury saw the active and highly productive period of the Gothic Revival. By then, the mere imitation of Gothic forms and details was its least important aspect; architects were intend on creating original works of architecture based on principles underlying Gothic architecture and deeply infused with its spirit. The great buildings of the Gothic Revival all date from this period. Once the conviction of the intellectual honesty and moral rectitude lapsed, however, the movement quickly became a simple stylistic revival. 2 great achievements: 1. not as rigid, codified, restrictive as the Classical or Neoclassical style

2. Structural elements could be provided as and where they were needed.
Functionalism and structural honesty as ideals in the modern architectural movement are a legacy of the Gothic Revival.

By the middle of the 1850’s, Gothic had become the established mode for church and many other types of architecture.

Examples: Albert Memorial (1862 - 70), Hyde Park, London
Glasgow University (1866 - 72)








Although superficially opposite, Neoclassicism and Romanticism share the same roots, similar motivations and compositional expressions, equally reflecting the mood of age that created them



Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 13 - Macropaedia, Knowledge in Depth

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