Historicism

Historicism, also known as Neo-Classicism, is an art movement that developed in the late 19th century. It represents a reaction against romanticism and realism. Instead of portraying scenes from real life, historicist painters tried to represent idealized scenes regarded as typical for their chosen period or place. The intention of historicist artists was to create paintings that defined their era. Their intention was also to bring out the essence of a period, specifically by making use of its popular imagery. The choice of subject matter is governed by the intention of showing how life used to be like in a chosen period. It was not understood as an accurate representation of reality, but rather a way to emphasize artistic qualities. It was intended to be an idealized version of the subject matter. Historicism emerged in France and Germany between 1817 and 1830. The leading historicist painters were David, Delacroix, Corot and Courbet from France and Cornelius, Runge, Overbeck and Gerhard from Germany. Historicist paintings were done to impress viewers through the use of colors, details and symbolism. They often depicted scenes from Greek mythology or used biblical references. Although historicism is mainly an art movement that incorporated painting, it also included sculpture (clay objects) and architecture. Historicism could be considered the first international art movement, as it was a common style for artists of different nations to adapt. This is because the more popular artists of a certain era create a new image to represent that period. Afterwards, other artists begin incorporating these styles in their own work. Historicism was never intended to be taken as an accurate depiction of reality. It was rather a means for abstraction and impressionism which emphasized artistic qualities instead of attempting to show details of a subject matter.