Neo-Grec

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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's Second Empire, or the reign of Napoleon III (1852–1870). The Néo-Grec vogue took as its starting point the earlier expressions of the Neoclassical style inspired by 18th-century excavations at Pompeii, which resumed in earnest in 1848, and similar excavations at Herculaneum. The style mixed elements of the Graeco-Roman, Pompeian, Adam and Egyptian 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]

Architecture

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 the

Not only was the Néo-Grec popular in France, but also in Victorian England and especially in the United States, where its severity accorded with the American Renaissance. The architectural historian Neil Levine has explained the style as a reaction against the rigidity of Classicism.^[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 architect Richard 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

• 
  Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (1843–1850), Paris, Henri Labrouste

  , architect
• 
  Lennox Library (1871–77, demolished 1910), Manhattan, New York City, Richard Morris Hunt, architect
• 
  Northern Savings Fund Society (1871–72), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Frank Furness, architect
• 
  Kensington National Bank (1877), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Frank Furness, architect
• 
  Provident Life and Trust Company (1876–79, demolished 1960), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Frank Furness, architect

Decorative arts

In the decorative arts, Neo-Grec was based on the standard repertory of Greco-Roman ornament, combining motifs drawn from

• 
  Etruscan room (c.1840), by Friedrich Wilhelm Klose, Pottsdam, Germany
• 
  Cheminée monumentale de style néo-grec (1862), Frédéric-Eugène Piat, Paris, France

In the United States

Frank Furness and furniture maker

• 
  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]
• 
  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]
• 
  Neo-Grec armchair (c.1870–1875), attributed to Daniel Pabst, Philadelphia, private collection
• 
  Modern Gothic exhibition cabinet (c.1877–1880), attributed to Daniel Pabst, Philadelphia, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Painting

In

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 in history painting as in Gleyre's work, into genre painting. Because they were inspired by discoveries at Pompeii, they were also called néo-pompéiens.

Hector Leroux was also identified as a Neo-Grec.^[9]

The paintings of the Neo-Grecs sought to capture everyday, anecdotal trivialities of ancient 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 poet Anacreon, 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 a frieze 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 by