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Neoclassicism

Europe turns back to Greece and Rome: clear line, calm figures and civic virtue.

109 works · hang 191 ·

The rooms are imagined; every work on their walls is real.

Walk this roomRehang this room

First room, north wall

  1. Joseph-Antoine Moltedo (born 1775), by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, ca. 1810
    Joseph-Antoine Moltedo (born 1775)Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, ca. 1810Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Marie Emilie Coignet de Courson (1716–1806) with a Dog, by Jean Honoré Fragonard, ca. 1769
    Marie Emilie Coignet de Courson (1716–1806) with a DogJean Honoré Fragonard, ca. 1769Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. The image shows a dense, forested area with towering trees. The composition leads the eye along a pathway into the distance, without a distinct horizon line. The intricate brushstrokes depict the texture and foliage of the trees, suggesting movement and light filtering through the leaves. The color palette is rich and earthy, with shades of green, brown, yellow, and orange, creating a vibrant yet tranquil atmosphere emphasizing light and shadow.
    Rays of Sunlight Striking a Woodland PathFriedrich Salathé, c. 1815Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

First room, south wall

  1. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord (1754–1838), Prince de Bénévent, by baron François Gérard, 1808
    Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord (1754–1838), Prince de Bénéventbaron François Gérard, 1808Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of soft ground etching, hard ground etching, aquatint, and roulette, printed from two plates in red-brown and black, on ivory laid paper.
    Portrait of a Man in an Armchair, from Collection d'imitations de Dessins d'après les Principaux Maîtres Hollandais et FlamandsChristian Josi, 1826Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Manuel GodoyAgustin Esteve y Marqués, 1800–8Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Second room, south wall

  1. DESIGNS FOR ORNAMENTAL ARABESQUE MOTIFS
    Designs for Ornamental Arabesque MotifsEtienne de Lavallée-Poussin, 1770Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
  2. The Kaunitz Sisters (Leopoldine, Caroline, and Ferdinandine), by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1818
    The Kaunitz Sisters (Leopoldine, Caroline, and Ferdinandine)Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1818Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. The Afternoon Meal (La Merienda), by Luis Meléndez, ca. 1772
    The Afternoon Meal (La Merienda)Luis Meléndez, ca. 1772Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. The image shows a landscape with a wooden bridge crossing over a river in a valley. The scenery includes cliffs, trees, and flowing water below. The artwork features fine, detailed brushstrokes depicting the texture of the cliffs, foliage, and water. The color scheme is monochromatic with various shades of gray and sepia tones. Two figures are seen on the bridge, contributing to the sense of scale and activity in the serene setting.
    Im Höllenthal (In the Höllen Valley)Johann Christoph Erhard, 1818Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Second room, north wall

  1. Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Marie Marguerite Carraux de Rosemond (1765–1788), by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1785
    Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Marie Marguerite Carraux de Rosemond (1765–1788)Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1785Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Two Draft Horses with a Sleeping Driver, by Jean Louis André Théodore Géricault, 1820–22
    Two Draft Horses with a Sleeping DriverJean Louis André Théodore Géricault, 1820–22Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. A woman wearing flowing, pastel-colored robes and two, winged, child-like putti gather on a bank of clouds among musical instruments and sheet music in this horizontal painting. The people all have pale, pink-tinged skin. The woman sits to our right of center, facing our left in profile. She has straight nose, a rounded chin, and her small, pink lips are closed. Her ash-blond hair is pulled back under a yellow band. A voluminous white robe falls away over her left shoulder, to our right, to reveal a firm breast and small pink nipple. Sky-blue drapery wraps over her far arm, and deep rose-pink cloth falls across her lap and onto the clouds around her. Her legs extend to our left, her toes pointed. She leans back on her left elbow, closer to us, and points with that index finger to a lyre she props against her knee with her other hand. One chubby, nude putto reaches forward to strum the strings. The other putto hovers above, holding a ring of laurel leaves up in one hand and a flute in the other. Both putti have chubby limbs and torsos, blond curls lifted as if in a breeze, and short, ice-blue wings. Both look at the woman. In the lower left corner, a helmet with a topaz-blue feather and the gold hilt of a sword sit near the woman’s feet. Beneath the woman’s lower leg, at the bottom center of the painting, is a gold horn encircled by another wreath of laurel leaves. Two white doves with wings spread support an open book of sheet music and two pink roses tucked under the woman’s bent elbow. Fog-gray clouds billow up both sides of the scene against a pale blue sky. The clouds on which the trio gathers are parchment brown shaded with mauve pink. The outer corners of the image are white, indicating that the corners of the canvas were rounded. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right corner, “F Boucher 1764.”
    Allegory of MusicFrançois Boucher, 1764Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Third room, north wall

  1. A work made of etching with roulette in black on ivory wove paper.
    The Forest of RochecardonJean-Michel Grobon, 1800Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. We look up through an opening surrounded by a stone ledge, with clusters of people and clouds swirling into a blue sky up and away from us in this vertical, rectangular painting. From a distance, the scene looks like a complete illusion but up close, the people, clouds, and architecture are sketchily painted. The ledge running around the opening has a gold, oval medallion at each corner. Appearing to be carved from white stone, two bearded men with long hair recline against each medallion, flanking them to each side in front of large shells that curve up over the people and frames them. A few architectural structures extend up into the sky, including a pointed obelisk in the lower left corner, a pair of columns at the upper right, and what seems to be the mast of a ship at the top left. Most of the people have pale skin but some have more tan complexions, and a few, including those wearing feather headdresses near the upper left corner, have brown skin. The people wear windswept robes of pale, butter yellow, robin’s egg blue, rose pink, and ivory. The eye may drawn to a few vignettes, such as the man holding a rearing, chestnut-brown horse on the illusionistic ledge near the lower right, a nun wearing a white robe and holding a cross above him in the clouds, and, farthest away, a crowned person sitting on a throne.
    Wealth and Benefits of the Spanish Monarchy under Charles IIIGiovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1762Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. A sliver of land across the bottom of this composition gives way to a procession of puffy gray and white clouds sweeping up across a vivid blue, panoramic sky in this horizontal landscape painting. An area of darker gray beyond the brown land could be a valley, mountain, or shadows from the billowing clouds. About one-fifth of the way up the composition, the horizon glows the faintest peach. The clouds trundle from our left up and to our right. The view is loosely painted, especially in the land.
    Study of Clouds over the Roman CampagnaPierre Henri de Valenciennes, c. 1782/1785Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington