Answer:
It was a return to the styles of the classical period and was influenced by the Age of Enlightenment.
Explanation:
is the term used to describe a dominant movement in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries which was characterized by a desire to recreate the heroic spirit and the decorative style of the art of Greece and Rome. A new and more scientific interest in classical antiquity, fueled by the archecological discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum, was one of the features of the movement. Neoclassicism stood in opposition to the light-hearted and frivolous Rococo style with its sense of order, clarity, and reason seen in Greek and Roman art. These values held great appeal in the Age of Enlightenment, particularly in France and the United States as the Neoclassical style held strong moral implications. As the American colonists and the French lower classes grew increasingly dissatisfied with their governments, they sought to restore ancient Greek and Roman values into civil life. After the political revolutions, the French and the Americans would choose classical models of government for their new nations. The Americans modeled their government after Athenian democracy; the French turned to the Roman Republic model. Like the Romans, the French were also eventually ruled by an emperor: Napoleon.
