The meaning of the word "classicism"

The meaning of the word "classicism".

The term "classicism" comes from the Latin word classis, which in ancient Rome was used to describe the wealth class (the richest citizens, so in the time, class division "the best”). Subsequently, the word broke away from its sociological origins: began to be used to denote the most perfect, the highest manifestations of human aspirations in the field of culture and art. Peak period in the history of Greek art, In the century B.C., called the classical period. The term "classical" is also applied to the art and culture of the Renaissance not only for this reason, that they often referred to ancient sources, but mainly because, that they represented the highest height of human ambition and skill in the modern age.

Perhaps future researchers of the culture and art of the 20th century will also find the classical period in our era, but for that they will need such a distance, we have against past cultures.

So it can be said, that each epoch in the development of its spiritual and creative potentials has a period of highest achievement, i.e. the so-called. classical period. The term "classical art" is used to describe such art, whose set of content and formal features refers to the culture and art of Greek and Roman antiquity. Classicist period, for the years from approx. r. 1760 do ok. r. 1830, expressed in the works of architecture, in painting, sculpture and arts and crafts.