Neoclassicism -A style of art and architecture that emerged in the late 18th century as part of

a general revival of interest in classical cultures. Neoclassical artist adopted themes and styles
from Greece and Rome.

Neoclassical painting usually features a linear style (in which the outlines of objects are
sharply defined, thanks to carefully controlled brushstrokes), whereas Romantic painters tended
to favour a painterly style (in which freedom of colour takes precedence over sharply-defined
forms; brushstrokes are less restrained, resulting in somewhat "messy" outlines). The painterly
style often has visible brushstrokes, while the linear style features smooth areas of colour, in
which no brushstrokes can be seen
http://www.essential-humanities.net/western-art/painting/neoclassical-romantic/

Northern Europe- The greatest neoclassical painter was Jacques-Louis David, whose Oath
of the Horatii (1784) in the Louvre, Paris, became a model example for movement, combining
idealism, Stoicism, and simplicity, The British painters Angelica Kauffman and Frederic
Leighton and sculptors Thomas Banks and John Gibson were also inspired by the neoclassical
movement
http://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/neoclassicism
18th- and 19th-Century France Neoclassicism

France- With the revolution, French painting resumed its moral and political purpose and
embraced the style known as neoclassicism. Even before 1789, popular taste had begun to turn
away from the disarming, lighthearted subjects of rococo; as revolution neared, artists
increasingly sought noble themes of public virtue and personal sacrifice from the history of
ancient Greece or Rome. They painted with restraint and discipline, using the austere clarity of
the neoclassical style to stamp their subjects with certitude and moral truth.
http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/features/slideshows/18th-and-19th-century-franceneoclassicism.html