How Ancient Greek and Roman Art Became the Ideal Model
The ongoing veneration of “noble simplicity and quiet grandeur”
There can be little doubt that the appeal of ancient Classical culture remains undimmed. Buildings are still being built with columns and pediments after the model of Greek temples. Philosophical discussions continue to refer back to ancient Greek thought, from Plato to the Stoics. And in popular entertainment, Greek and Roman stories continue to be retold, in epic, digitally enhanced movies.
There is an enduring romance about ancient Greek and Roman culture that has held sway over Western thought for more than five-hundred years. In Renaissance times, artists used original Greek sculptures (or else Roman copies of original Greek sculptures) as their driving inspiration. Later, architects and painters revived the “noble simplicity” of Greek aesthetics in Neoclassicism, providing the template for so many of the worlds most notable constructions, from Buckingham Palace in London to the White House in Washington DC. Meanwhile, young European aristocrats went on the “Grand Tour” of the classical sites of Rome and Athens as a means of deepening their education of worldly affairs.
The question is simply this: how did ancient Greek and Roman culture become so deeply and persistently revered in Western…
