Goût grec
Encyclopedia
Goût grec is the term applied to the earliest expression of the neoclassical style in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, it refers specifically to the decorative art
Decorative art
The decorative arts is traditionally a term for the design and manufacture of functional objects. It includes interior design, but not usually architecture. The decorative arts are often categorized in opposition to the "fine arts", namely, painting, drawing, photography, and large-scale...

s and architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 of the mid-1750s to the late 1760s. The style was more fanciful than historically accurate though the first archaeological surveys of Greece had begun to appear at this time. It was characterized by severe rectilinear and trabeated forms with a somewhat crude Greek detailing such as Ionic scrolls, Greek keys and guilloche. The style's origin may be found in the suite of furniture designed by Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain for the Parisan financier Ange-Laurent de La Live de Jully (now in the Mus. Condé, Chantilly). In comparison to the prevailing Rococo style the austerity of these pieces is stark, and found praise from the then authority on Greek antiquity the Comte de Caylus. Also influential were the engravings of the architect Jean-François de Neufforge, the work of Charles De Wailly
Charles De Wailly
Charles De Wailly was a French architect and urbanist, and furniture designer, one of the principals in the Neoclassical revival of the Antique. His major work was the Théâtre de l'Odéon for the Comédie-Française...

, and the designs of Philippe de La Guêpière
Philippe de La Guêpière
Philippe de La Guêpière was a French architect whose main commissions were from Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg.-Early life :...

. The goût grec was perhaps one of the more vigorous products of the Louis XV style yet was short lived and replaced quickly with the delicate (or insipid, according to preference) goût étrusque and goût arabesque.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK