Neoclassical Art Analysis

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One single painting can be looked at through a million different lenses. The art styles reveal the society and culture of the time. The two most crucial art styles, Rococo and Neoclassical, were assorted in similarities and differences such as influences, style, and theme. Rococo and Neoclassical art both possess beauty through this revolution of art eras. The painting The Love Letter, by Jean Honore Fragonard and the painting Marie Josephine Charlotte du val d’Ognes by Marie Denise Villers are similar yet distinct in their own ways. The clear and explicit movement in art was the change from Rococo to Neoclassical styles in art. These two styles are clearly different, but there are still subtle similarities. Rococo embodies pastel colors, and …show more content…

This time period became known as the Enlightenment. This movement was a breeding station; ideas about art was exchanged, and Rococo ideals of love and eroticism became less pertinent. Although some Rococo artists continued to paint in their own style, others developed a new kind of art, Neoclassicism. Neoclassicism marked a return to rational principles which protested against the superficial elegance of the Rococo and sponsored a return to classical ideals based on the Greek and Roman models. Marie Denise Villers painted the Marie Josephine Charlotte du val d’Ognes. The glowing image of this beautiful young woman focuses all the attention. The colors used in this painting are darker, which cast on the more somber scenes, whereas the colors used in The Love Letter are pastels and golden which highlight the happiness and joyful scenes. The light source is barely noticeable in The Love Letter, but in Marie Josephine Charlotte du val d’Ognes the light source is visible. The light source in Marie Josephine Charlotte du val d’Ognes comes through a cracked window and outside there is a man and women who seem to be in a relationship which directly contrasts The Love Letter. The art during the Rococo time period was themed in love and romantics, and the Neoclassical time period drew back and encouraged realistic elements and stripped its scenes of sentimentality which is deliberately expressed through the couple through the broken glass window. These beautiful effects illuminate their

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