Neoclassicism is a rather inelegant word, but useful for describing a nevertheless elegant style, based on a fresh interest in 'antique' architectural ornament, that came into fashion c.1750 - 1790. By 'antique' was meant the Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Egyptian and even Assyrian civilizations described in the section on the ancient world (coming shortly).
A second phase of Neoclassicism developed at the end of the 18th century and ultimately became closely associated with the first French Empire under Napoleon, usually being known as the Empire style. Interest in classical architecture had been maintained ever since the Renaissance, and even during the Rococo period there were some handmade furniture designers who never abandoned classical principles.
The Neoclassical movement was, to some extent, a reaction against the frivolity of the Rococo style, just as the Rococo itself had been a rebellion against the pomposity of the High Baroque (especially that of Louis XIV). In the mid 18th century, a need was felt for a return to greater discipline and architects, artists, designers and men of reason turned again for inspiration to the apparent, if in some ways illusory, sense of order manifest in what had survived from the Ancient World. From the start, it was an international movement.
J. Soufflot (1709 - 1780) had designed the Hotel-Dieu at Lyons in classical style as early as 1737, and in 1749-1751 he was in Rome with the engraver, Charles-Nicolas Cochin the Younger (c 1715 - 1790), a rebel against the exesses of the Rococo. Also in the party was Madame de Pompadour's brother who, as the Marquis de Marigny, was to become Director General of Buildings to Louis XV.
The Comte de Caylus (1692 - 1765). better known in some circles for his disreputable tales of Parisian life, began to publish his perfectly respectable Recueil d'antiquites in 1752. By 1755, a brilliant group of enthusiasts had gathered in Rome. Among them were a painter of Danish origin from Bohemia, Anthony Raphael Mengs (1728 - 1779); Johann Jaochim Winckelmann (1717 - 1768) who had started life as a shoemaker's son in Saxony and became an archaeologist, and whose History of Ancient Art (1764) proved of lasting worth; Robert Adam, destined to become the leading British architect of his time amd major designer of fitted and non fitted furniture; and the French architect Jacques-Louis Clerisseau (1722 - 1820) whose future commissions took him as far afield as St Petersburg.
Many others came and went, some making their stay in Rome a long one. Of the whole circle, one of the liveliest personalities and, at least indirectly, one of the most influential was the Venetian, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720 - 1778). His etchings of Roman buildings began to appear in 1756 under the title of Le antichita Romane. His own designs were, like himself, rather exaggerated and theatrical - he had worked as a stage designer - and Robert Adam described him as 'the most extraordinary fellow I ever saw'. He was a great enthusiast of Roman and Etruscan art and architecture, but actively disliked Greek arts. He didn't confirm to classical ideas entirely however, and even challenged the principles of the classical Roman architect Vitruvius, suggesting that designers should take what they wished from the classical repertoire and use it as they pleased, with their own good taste as the sole criterion.
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