The Sister Arts - British Gardening, Painting, & Poetry (1700-1832)
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Neoclassical > Painting > Intro

Neoclassical painting tended to be heroic or tragic in subject, often depicting famous events from history or literature. But Neoclassical principles could be found even in eighteenth-century portraits and still lifes, at least those in which the compositions were above all symmetrical and harmonious. Human figures were painted ideally rather than realistically, and sometimes a little larger than life. Landscapes features were presented as regular shapes rather than naturally asymmetrical ones.

Angelica Kauffmann: “Papirus Praetextatus”. Oil on canvas. 

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