Pierre Cartellier

Sculptor, 1757-1831]
The style in the period 1750–1850 is known now as Neoclassicism, in order to distinguish it from the classical architecture of ancient Greece or Rome, or of the Renaissance. In the second half of the 18th century architects began to look closely at growing architectural evidence for how Romans decorated and furnished their houses. The new style that emerged as a result of this exploration that later came to be known as Neoclassicism was called the “true style” in its time. The absolute right of the orders in Renaissance architecture, and the over-elaborate fakery of the Baroque and Rococo styles began to fall out of favour with architects and artists, who sought a more “honest” and “true” style. They found this in the geometrically correct forms and ordered symmetry of Ancient Greek and Roman styles, and once again a new generation of architects turned their attention to the past. Read more here