Neoclassic vs Baroque Essay -- Essays Papers

Neoclassic vs Baroque The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David is Neoclassic art style. The painting shows Socrates, condemned to death, calm and at peace, discussing the immortality of the soul. Surrounded by his grieving friends and students, he is teaching and philosophizing. His wife was dismissed to the hallway to grieve due to her weakness. Plato is depicted as an old man seated at the foot of the bed. Socrates has the body of a young athlete, as well as others in the painting. Each one of the twelve subjects surrounding him is meticulously drawn in detail. The dramatic use of light and dark (chiaroscuro) is seen in the focus, or emphasis, towards Socrates. There are definitive lines on the walls. These create shadows in the room and in the hallway. The texture of the floor and walls seem smooth and hard. The cloaks worn are colorful and seem soft to the touch. The painting has a high degree of communicative value do to the variety of colors used. In Neoclassical art, the emphasis is on form, simplicity, proportion and restrained emotion. The aesthetic attitudes and principles were based on the culture, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome in antiquity. It invokes characteristics such as harmony, clarity, restraint, universality and idealism. The artists of this period concerned themselves with human affairs ruled by reason, the outgrowth of the Enlightenment. There was a regard for tradition and reverence for the classics, with an...