Italian Renaissance and Neoclassicism

Italian Renaissance and Neoclassicism

Italian renaissance refers to the movement in Rome that emerged to restore the ideologies and the classical forms between the 15^th and 16^th centuries. Renaissance aimed at building the ancients’ legacy in the field of art, where they picked their ideas and incorporated them into new ideologies in the field of literature (Pizzato and Mark 117). On the other hand, the neoclassicism emerged as a more decorative and involved the use of the artistic styles that had were widespread during the renaissance period.  The ideas in the neoclassicism originated from the criticizing of drama during the period of renaissance. Neoclassicism is, therefore, the decorum, which means that the characters should act accordingly to their gender, age, and social class when it comes to the performance of drama. Renaissance and neoclassicism are different from each other because they occurred at different periods. .

Neoclassicism principles aimed at ensuring theatrical works are accurate and following the realities of world events. Therefore the plays according to neoclassicisms were supposed to be true just as the happenings in the real world. The appearance of supernatural events or ghosts was not tolerated in the plays as they do not appear in the real world (Wolfe and Rachel 59). Every genre in the neoclassic ideologies had a specific definition and characterized by unique straits that could not be that belonged to each of the styles. For example, the tragedy genre would involve royalty while ending in a disparity mode, and the final stage of a comedy was to bring joy and involves ordinary people. Mixing of different genres would not be tolerated, and stage actions had to be kept as moral as possible without any acts of violence on the stage. Neoclassic ideas greatly impacted the theatrical work and are still relied on today by the neoclassicists in their artistic practices.

Reference

Wolfe, Rachel, ME. “Racine’s Ancients: Paradoxes of Adaptation in the Panegyric Tradition of French Neoclassicism.” Ecumenica 11.1 (2018): 53-61.

Pizzato, Mark. “Early Modern Developments in Italy and France (1400s–1600s).” Mapping Global Theatre Histories. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2019. 121-131.