Néo-Grec was a Neoclassical Revival style of the mid-to-late 19th century that was popularized in architecture, the decorative arts, and in painting during France'sSecond Empire, the reign ofNapoleon III (1852–1870). The Néo-Grec vogue took as its starting point the earlier expressions of the Neoclassical style inspired by 18th-century excavations atPompeii, which resumed in earnest in 1848, and similar excavations atHerculaneum. The style mixed elements of theGraeco-Roman, Pompeian,Adam andEgyptian Revival styles into "a richly eclectic polychrome mélange."[1] "The style enjoyed a vogue in the United States, and had a short-lived impact on interior design in England and elsewhere."[1]
In architecture, the Néo-Grec is not always clearly distinguishable from the Neoclassical designs of the earlier part of the century, in buildings such as theChurch of the Madeleine, Paris. The classic example of Néo-Grec architecture isHenri Labrouste's innovativeBibliothèque Sainte Genevieve inParis, 1843–50, generally seen as the first major public building in this later mode of classicism.
Not only was the Néo-Grec popular inFrance, but also inVictorianEngland and especially in theUnited States, where its severity accorded with theAmerican Renaissance. The architectural historianNeil Levine has explained the style as a reaction against the rigidity ofClassicism.[2] According to Levine, Néo-Grec was a somewhat looser style, which "replaced the rhetorical form of classical architectural discourse by a more literal and descriptive syntax of form."[3] It was meant to be a "readable" architecture.
American architectRichard Morris Hunt introduced Néo-Grec massing into his buildings in the late 1860s and 1870s.[4] Hunt's student,Frank Furness, did the same in his early Philadelphia buildings, and experimented with using massing and visual "weight" for dramatic effect.[5]: 154
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In the decorative arts, Neo-Grec was based on the standard repertory of Greco-Roman ornament, combining motifs drawn fromGreek vase-painting and repetitive architectural motifs likeanthemions,palmettes,Greek key with elements from theAdam andLouis XVI styles of early Neoclassicism (c. 1765–1790), and of Napoleonic-eraEgyptian Revival decorative arts; it can be identified by the frequent use of isolated motifs of Classical heads and figures, masks, winged griffins, sea-serpents, urns, medallions,arabesques and lotus buds confined within panels, shaped reserves or multiple borders of anthemion, guilloche, and Greek fret pattern. Neo-Grec was eclectic, abstracted, polychromatic, and sometimes bizarre. Its treatment was intentionally dry and linear. Its vignettes and repeating patterns lent themselves tostencilling. Typical "Neo-Grec" color harmonies were rich and harsh: black motifs and outlines against "Pompeian" red, powder blue and puce, bistre and olive drab might be combined in a single decor. The style maintained its supremacy briefly before other fashions came to the top in France.[6]
Frank Furness and furniture makerDaniel Pabst created Neo-Grec furniture for the city house of liquor baron Henry C. Gibson, circa 1870,[5]: 158–59 and for the library of the architect's brother,Horace Howard Furness, circa 1871.[5]: 166–67 They created paneling and furniture for the Manhattan city house ofTheodore Roosevelt Sr., circa 1873.[5]: 180–183 Pabst'sModern Gothic exhibition cabinet (circa 1877-80), now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, mixed Gothic detailing and exaggeratedCorinthian capitals.
![Drawing room of Henry Gibson (c. 1870), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Neo-Grec center table is now in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts.[7]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aHenry_Gibson_Drawing_Room_from_Sheldon_1883-84.jpg)
![Dining room of Theodore Roosevelt Sr. (c. 1873), Manhattan, New York City. The dining table is now in the collection of the High Museum of Art.[8]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRooseveltDiningroom.jpg)
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Inpainting, the Neoclassical style continued to be taught in theAcadémie des Beaux-Arts, inculcating crisp outlines, pellucid atmosphere, and a clear, clean palette. However, a formal Neo-Grec group of artists was created in the mid 19th century after growing interest inAncient Greece andRome, and especially the later excavations atPompeii. TheParis Salon of 1847, revealed theacademic painterJean-Léon Gérôme, who inThe Cock Fight depicted a composition in which, in a scene of antiquity, a young boy and a girl attend the combat of twococks. Gérôme gained fame from this exhibition, and in the next year formed the Neo-Grec group withJean-Louis Hamon andHenri-Pierre Picou—all three pupils in the sameatelier underCharles Gleyre.
Gleyre himself adopted the tenets of neo-classicism more strictly than others at the time, adopting the classical style and aesthetic, but almost exclusively applying it to myths and motifs from antiquity, recalling both characters from Greek myth, and antique emblems such as bacchantes and putti. The Neo-Grec group took Gleyre's style and interests, but adapted it from use inhistory painting as in Gleyre's work, intogenre painting. Because they were inspired by discoveries at Pompeii, they were also callednéo-pompéiens.
Louis Hector Leroux was also identified as a Neo-Grec.[9]
The paintings of the Neo-Grecs sought to capture everyday, anecdotal trivialities ofancient Greek life, in a manner of whimsy, grace, and charm, and were often realistic, sensual, and erotic. For this reason they were also called "anacreontic" after the Greek poetAnacreon, who wrote sprightly verses in praise of love and wine. Alfred de Tanouarn describes one of Hamon's paintings as "clear, simple and natural, the idea, the attitudes and the aspects. It leads the lips a soft smile; it causes us an inexpressible feeling of pleasure in which one is happy to stop and view the painting". It can perhaps be said the motto of this group was "the goal of art is to charm". Most Neo-Grec paintings were also done in a horizontal layout as in afrieze decoration or Greek vases, with the composition simplified.
The Neo-Grec school was criticized in many respects; for its attention to historical detail it was said byCharles Baudelaire "the scholarship is to disguise the absence of imagination", and the subject matter was considered by many as trivial. The painters were also charged with selectively adopting the ancient Greek style, in that they left out noble themes and only focused on trivial daily life—leading to the accusation that they were creating art that supported the ideologies of thebourgeoisie, or comfortable middle class.
The discovery in Pompeii also inspired history paintings based on the event, not necessarily strictly in a Neo-Grec style, such asThe Last Day of Pompeii byKarl Briullov.
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The Neo-Grec vogue even made its way into Frenchmusic through the works of the composerErik Satie in a series of pieces calledGymnopédies – the title is a reference to dances performed by the youths of ancientSparta in honour ofDiana andApollo at ceremonies commemorating the dead of theBattle of Thyrea. Their archaic melodies float above a modally oriented harmonic basis. The melodies of theGnossiennes go further in this direction; they use ancient Greek chromatic mode (A–G flat–F–E–D flat–C–B–A) and anarabesque ornamentation.
