Following the voyages to Greece of Nicholas Revett, a Suffolk gentleman-architect, and the more remembered James Stuart in the early 1750s, intellectual curiosity quickly led to a desire for emulation. Upon his return from Greece, Stuart was commissioned by George Lyttelton to erect the first Greek building in England, the garden temple of Hagley Hall (1758-1759).[5] Several British architects of the second half of the century took up the expressive Doric challenge of their aristocratic patrons, such as Benjamin Henry Latrobe (especially Hammerwood Park and Ashdown House) and Sir John Soane, but it remained the private enthusiasm of the connoisseurs until the first decade of the century. An early example of Greek Doric architecture (on the façade), married to a more Palladian interior, is the country church of Ayot St Lawrence") in Hertfordshire, designed by Revett, commissioned in 1775 by Lord Lionel Lyde of the mansion of the same name. The Doric columns of this church, with their crimped pie-crust details, are taken from drawings Revett made of the Temple of Apollo on the Cyclades island of Delos, in the collection of books he (and Stuart in some cases) produced, financed largely by special subscription from the Society of Dilettanti.[6]

Viewed in a broader social context, Greek Revival architecture brought a new note of sobriety and moderation to public buildings in Britain around 1800 as an affirmation of the nationalism accompanying the Act of Union of 1800, the Napoleonic Wars, and the clamor for political reform. It was William Wilkins' winning design "William Wilkins (architect)") for the Downing College, Cambridge public competition that announced that the Greek style was to be a dominant idiom in architecture, especially for public buildings of this type. Wilkins and Robert Smirke "Robert Smirke (architect)") built some of the most important buildings of the period, including the Theater Royal, Covent Garden (1808-1809), the General Post Office (1824-1829) and the British Museum (1823-1848), the Wilkins Building at University College London (1826-1830) and the National Gallery "National Gallery (London)") (1832-1838).

In London, twenty-three neo-Greek Commissioner churches were built between 1817 and 1829, the most notable being St Pancras Church by William and Henry William Inwood. In Scotland, the style was avidly adopted by William Henry Playfair, Thomas Hamilton&action=edit&redlink=1 "Thomas Hamilton (architect) (not yet drafted)") and Charles Robert Cockerell, who jointly and severally contributed to the massive expansion of Edinburgh's New Town, including the development of Calton Hill and the Moray Estate"). Such was the popularity of Doric in Edinburgh that the city now enjoys a striking visual uniformity and, as such, is sometimes called capriciously as "the Athens of the North."

Arguably the greatest British exponent of the style was Decimus Burton.

Within Regency architecture "Regency Style (UK)"), the style was already in competition with Neo-Gothic and the continuation of the less strict Palladian and Neoclassical styles of Georgian architecture, the other two still being more common for houses, both in cities and in English country houses. If it is tempting to see Greek Revival as the expression of Regency authoritarianism, then the changing conditions of life in Britain made Doric the loser of the Battle of the Styles"), dramatically symbolized by the selection of Charles Barry's Gothic design for the Palace of Westminster in 1836. Nevertheless, Greek continued to be favored in Scotland well into the 1870s, with the singular figure of Alexander Thomson, known as "the Greek Thomson" ("Greek Thomson").

In Germany, Greek Revival architecture is predominantly found in two centres, Berlin and Munich. In both places, Doric was the court style rather than a popular movement and was highly patronized by Frederick William II of Prussia and Ludwig I of Bavaria as an expression of their wishes that their respective sees become the capital of Germany. The oldest Greek building was the Brandenburg Gate (1788-1791) by Carl Gotthard Langhans, who modeled it after the Propylaea. Ten years after the death of Frederick the Great, the Berlin Academy started a competition for a monument to the king that would promote "morality and patriotism."

Friedrich Gilly's unrealized design for a temple elevated above Leipziger Platz captured the tenor of the high idealism that the Germans sought in Greek architecture and was enormously influential on Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Leo von Klenze. Schinkel was in a position to leave his mark on Berlin after the catastrophe of the French occupation ended in 1813; His work on what is now the Altes Museum, the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Neue Wache transformed that city. Likewise, von Klenze's Glyptothek and the Walhalla memorial in Munich were the fulfillment of Gilly's vision of an orderly and moral German world. The purity and seriousness of the style was intended to be an affirmation of German national values") and, in part, a deliberate reply to France, where it was never successful.

By comparison, Greek Revival architecture in France was never popular with either the state or the public. What little there is began with the crypt of Charles de Wailly in the church of St Leu-St Gilles") (1773-1780) and the Barriere des Bonshommes") of Claude Nicolas Ledoux (1785-1789). First-hand evidence of Greek architecture was of very little importance to the French, due to the influence of the doctrines of Marc-Antoine Laugier who sought to discern the principles of the Greeks, rather than their mere practices. It would take until Labrouste's Greek Revival of the Second Empire for Greek Revival architecture to briefly flourish in France.

The style was especially beloved in Russia, if only because they shared the Eastern Orthodox faith with the Greeks. The historic center of Saint Petersburg was rebuilt by Alexander I of Russia, with many neo-Greek buildings that were new in Russian. The St. Petersburg Stock Exchange on Vasilievsky Island has a temple front with 44 Doric columns. Quarenghi's design for the Manege "imitates an Athenian temple from the 5th century BC. C. with a portico of eight Doric columns with a pediment and bas-reliefs.

Leo von Klenze's extension to the palace that is now the Hermitage Museum is another example of this style.

After the Greek War of Independence, romantic nationalist ideology encouraged the use of architectural styles with entirely Greek rather than Ottoman or pan-European roots. Classical architecture was used for civil public buildings, although Byzantine architecture continued to be preferred for churches.

Examples of Neo-Greek architecture in Greece are the Old Royal Palace (now the seat of the Parliament of Greece), the Academy&action=edit&redlink=1 "Academy of Athens (modern) (not yet drafted)") and University of Athens, the Zappeion and the National Library of Greece. The most prominent architects in this style were northern Europeans such as Christian&action=edit&redlink=1 "Christian Hansen (architect) (not yet written)") and Theophil Hansen and Ernst Ziller and German-trained Greeks such as Stamatios Kleanthis") and Panagis Kalkos").

The style was generally popular in northern Europe, but hardly in the south (except in Greece itself), at least during the main period. Examples can be found in Poland, Lithuania and Finland, where the cluster of Greek buildings in the city center of Helsinki is particularly notable. On the cultural fringes of Europe, in the Swedish region of Western Finland, neo-Greek motifs could be inserted into a purely Baroque design, as in the design of Jacob Rijf's Oravais Church, 1792. A Greek Doric order, interpreted in the anomalous form of pilasters, contrasts with a hipped roof and a boldly scaled dome and lantern, of entirely traditional Baroque inspiration.

In Austria, one of the best examples of this style is the Austrian Parliament Building" designed by Theophil Hansen.

Although some Americans of the century had feared Greek democracy (ochlocracy), the century's appeal to ancient Greece increased along with the growing acceptance of democracy. That made Greek architecture suddenly more attractive in both the North and the South, for different ideological purposes: for the North, Greek architecture symbolized the freedom of the Greeks; in the South, it symbolized the cultural glories achieved by a slave society.[8]​ Thomas Jefferson had a copy of the first volume of The Antiquities of Athens.[9]​ He never practiced the style, but played an important role in introducing Greek Revival architecture to the United States.

In 1803, Jefferson appointed Benjamin Henry Latrobe as surveyor of public buildings, and Latrobe designed several important public buildings in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, including work on the United States Capitol and the Bank of Pennsylvania.

Latrobe's project for the Capitol was an imaginative interpretation of classical orders not limited by historical precedent, incorporating American motifs such as corn cobs and tobacco leaves. That idiosyncratic approach became standard in the American attitude toward Greek details. His general plan for the Capitol does not survive, although many of its interiors do. He also did notable work on the interior of the Supreme Court (1806-1807), and his masterpiece was the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Baltimore (1805-1821).

Latrobe, who stated: "I am a Greek intolerant in the condemnation of Roman architecture," did not rigidly impose Greek forms. “Our religion,” he said, “requires a church entirely different from the temple, our legislative assemblies and our courts of justice, edifices of completely different principles from their basilicas; and our amusements could not be held in their theaters or amphitheaters.'[11] His circle of young colleagues became an informal school of Greek revivalists, and their influence shaped the next generation of American architects.

Indeed, the Greek Revival style was used in many of the state capitols built in the 18th century, including those in New Hampshire (1818), Maine (1832), Vermont (1834), North Carolina (1840), Alabama (1851), Tennessee (1854), Ohio (1837), South Carolina (1854), and Connecticut (1879).[12]

Greek Revival architecture in North America also paid attention to interior decoration. The role of American women was instrumental in introducing a holistic Greek-inspired design style to American interiors. Innovations such as the Greek-inspired "sofa" and the "klismos chair" allowed American men and women to pose as Greeks in their homes, and also in the numerous portraits of the period that show them lounging on Greek-inspired furniture.[13]

The second phase of American Greek Revival saw Latrobe's students create a monumental national style under the patronage of the banker and Hellenophile Nicholas Biddle&action=edit&redlink=1 "Nicholas Biddle (banker) (not yet redacted)"), which included works such as William Strickland's Second Bank of the United States "William Strickland (architect)") (1824), Biddle's own house, "Andalusia", by Thomas U. Walter") (1835-1836), and Girard College"), also by Walter (1833-1847). New York saw the construction (1833) of the row of Greek temples at Sailors' Snug Harbor on Staten Island. These served various functions within a home for retired sailors.

From 1820 to 1850, the Greek Revival style dominated the United States, such as the Benjamin F. Clough House in Waltham, Massachusetts. It can also be found as far west as Springfield, Illinois. Examples of vernacular Greek Revival continued to be built even further west, such as in Charles City, Iowa.").[14]

This style was very popular in the Southern United States, where the Palladian colonnade was already popular on facades, and many mansions and houses were built for merchants and wealthy plantation owners; Millford Plantation is considered one of the best residential examples of Greek Revival in the country.[15]

Other notable American architects who used Greek Revival designs were Latrobe student Robert Mills "Robert Mills (architect)"), who designed the Monumental Church") and the Washington Monument, as well as George Hadfield&action=edit&redlink=1 "George Hadfield (architect) (not yet drafted)") and Gabriel Manigault").[10]

At the same time, the popular appetite for Greek was sustained by books of architectural patterns, the most important of which was Asher Benjamin's The Practical House Carpenter (1830). This guide helped create the proliferation of Greek homes seen especially in upstate New York and in the former Connecticut Western Reserve in northeastern Ohio.

In Canada, Montreal architect John Ostell designed several notable Greek Revival buildings, including the first building on the campus of McGill University and Montreal's original Custom House, now part of the Pointe-à-Callière Museum. The Toronto Street Post Office"), completed in 1853, is another Canadian example.

The discovery that the Greeks had painted their temples influenced the later development of the style. The archaeological excavation at Aegina and Bassae in 1811-1812 by Cockerell, Otto Magnus von Stackelberg&action=edit&redlink=1 "Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (archaeologist) (not yet redacted)") and Karl Haller von Hallerstein had unearthed painted fragments of masonry daubed with non-permanent colors. That revelation was a direct contradiction of Winckelmann's notion of the Greek temple as timeless, fixed, and pure in its whiteness.

In 1823, Samuel Angell") discovered the colored metopes of Temple C "Temple C (Selinunte)") at Selinunte, Sicily and published the find in 1826. The French architect Jacques Ignace Hittorff witnessed the exhibition of Angell's find and endeavored to excavate Temple B at Selinus. His imaginative reconstructions of that temple were exhibited in Rome and Paris in 1824 and he published them as Architecture polychrome chez les Grecs [Polychrome architecture in the Greeks] (1830) and later, in Restitution du Temple d'Empedocle a Selinote [Restitution of the Temple of Empedocles at Selinote] (1851) The controversy was to inspire von Klenze's "Aegina" room in the Munich Glyptothek of 1830, the first of his many reconstructions. speculative Greek color.

Hittorff gave a lecture in Paris in 1829-1830 arguing that Greek temples had originally been painted yellow ochre, with moldings and sculptural details in red, blue, green and gold. While that may or may not have been the case for older wooden or smooth stone temples, it was definitely not the case for the more luxurious marble temples, where color would be used sparingly to accentuate architectural aspects.

Similarly, Henri Labrouste proposed a reconstruction of the Paestum temples to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1829, decked out in striking colours, reversing the accepted chronology of the three Doric temples, implying that the development of the Greek orders did not increase in formal complexity over time, i.e. the evolution from Doric to Corinthian was not inexorable. Both events caused a minor scandal. The emerging understanding that Greek art was subject to changing forces of environment and culture was a direct assault on the architectural rationalism of the time.

Despite the boundless prestige of Ancient Greece among Europe's educated elite, before mid-century they had minimal direct knowledge of that civilization. The monuments of Greek antiquity were known mainly from Pausanias "Pausanias (geographer)") and other literary sources. Visiting Ottoman Greece was a difficult and dangerous affair before the period of stagnation that began with the Great Turkish War. Few Grand Tourists were attracted to Athens during the first half of the century, and none of them made any significant study of the architectural ruins.[2]​.

It was not until the Society of Dilettanti-funded expedition of 1751 led by James Stuart "James Stuart (architect)") and Nicholas Revett that serious archaeological investigations began. The findings of Stuart and Revett, published in 1762 (first volume) as The Antiquities of Athens,[3] together with Ruines des plus beaux monuments de la Grèce (1758), by Julien-David Le Roy, were the first precise studies of ancient Greek architecture.[4]​.

Meanwhile, the rediscovery of the three relatively easily accessible Greek temples at Paestum in southern Italy generated great interest throughout Europe, and engravings by Piranesi and others circulated widely. Access to the originals in Greece itself only became easier after the Greek War of Independence ended in 1832. Lord Byron's involvement and death during this had given it additional importance.

Following the voyages to Greece of Nicholas Revett, a Suffolk gentleman-architect, and the more remembered James Stuart in the early 1750s, intellectual curiosity quickly led to a desire for emulation. Upon his return from Greece, Stuart was commissioned by George Lyttelton to erect the first Greek building in England, the garden temple of Hagley Hall (1758-1759).[5] Several British architects of the second half of the century took up the expressive Doric challenge of their aristocratic patrons, such as Benjamin Henry Latrobe (especially Hammerwood Park and Ashdown House) and Sir John Soane, but it remained the private enthusiasm of the connoisseurs until the first decade of the century. An early example of Greek Doric architecture (on the façade), married to a more Palladian interior, is the country church of Ayot St Lawrence") in Hertfordshire, designed by Revett, commissioned in 1775 by Lord Lionel Lyde of the mansion of the same name. The Doric columns of this church, with their crimped pie-crust details, are taken from drawings Revett made of the Temple of Apollo on the Cyclades island of Delos, in the collection of books he (and Stuart in some cases) produced, financed largely by special subscription from the Society of Dilettanti.[6]

Viewed in a broader social context, Greek Revival architecture brought a new note of sobriety and moderation to public buildings in Britain around 1800 as an affirmation of the nationalism accompanying the Act of Union of 1800, the Napoleonic Wars, and the clamor for political reform. It was William Wilkins' winning design "William Wilkins (architect)") for the Downing College, Cambridge public competition that announced that the Greek style was to be a dominant idiom in architecture, especially for public buildings of this type. Wilkins and Robert Smirke "Robert Smirke (architect)") built some of the most important buildings of the period, including the Theater Royal, Covent Garden (1808-1809), the General Post Office (1824-1829) and the British Museum (1823-1848), the Wilkins Building at University College London (1826-1830) and the National Gallery "National Gallery (London)") (1832-1838).

In London, twenty-three neo-Greek Commissioner churches were built between 1817 and 1829, the most notable being St Pancras Church by William and Henry William Inwood. In Scotland, the style was avidly adopted by William Henry Playfair, Thomas Hamilton&action=edit&redlink=1 "Thomas Hamilton (architect) (not yet drafted)") and Charles Robert Cockerell, who jointly and severally contributed to the massive expansion of Edinburgh's New Town, including the development of Calton Hill and the Moray Estate"). Such was the popularity of Doric in Edinburgh that the city now enjoys a striking visual uniformity and, as such, is sometimes called capriciously as "the Athens of the North."

Arguably the greatest British exponent of the style was Decimus Burton.

Within Regency architecture "Regency Style (UK)"), the style was already in competition with Neo-Gothic and the continuation of the less strict Palladian and Neoclassical styles of Georgian architecture, the other two still being more common for houses, both in cities and in English country houses. If it is tempting to see Greek Revival as the expression of Regency authoritarianism, then the changing conditions of life in Britain made Doric the loser of the Battle of the Styles"), dramatically symbolized by the selection of Charles Barry's Gothic design for the Palace of Westminster in 1836. Nevertheless, Greek continued to be favored in Scotland well into the 1870s, with the singular figure of Alexander Thomson, known as "the Greek Thomson" ("Greek Thomson").

In Germany, Greek Revival architecture is predominantly found in two centres, Berlin and Munich. In both places, Doric was the court style rather than a popular movement and was highly patronized by Frederick William II of Prussia and Ludwig I of Bavaria as an expression of their wishes that their respective sees become the capital of Germany. The oldest Greek building was the Brandenburg Gate (1788-1791) by Carl Gotthard Langhans, who modeled it after the Propylaea. Ten years after the death of Frederick the Great, the Berlin Academy started a competition for a monument to the king that would promote "morality and patriotism."

Friedrich Gilly's unrealized design for a temple elevated above Leipziger Platz captured the tenor of the high idealism that the Germans sought in Greek architecture and was enormously influential on Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Leo von Klenze. Schinkel was in a position to leave his mark on Berlin after the catastrophe of the French occupation ended in 1813; His work on what is now the Altes Museum, the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Neue Wache transformed that city. Likewise, von Klenze's Glyptothek and the Walhalla memorial in Munich were the fulfillment of Gilly's vision of an orderly and moral German world. The purity and seriousness of the style was intended to be an affirmation of German national values") and, in part, a deliberate reply to France, where it was never successful.

By comparison, Greek Revival architecture in France was never popular with either the state or the public. What little there is began with the crypt of Charles de Wailly in the church of St Leu-St Gilles") (1773-1780) and the Barriere des Bonshommes") of Claude Nicolas Ledoux (1785-1789). First-hand evidence of Greek architecture was of very little importance to the French, due to the influence of the doctrines of Marc-Antoine Laugier who sought to discern the principles of the Greeks, rather than their mere practices. It would take until Labrouste's Greek Revival of the Second Empire for Greek Revival architecture to briefly flourish in France.

The style was especially beloved in Russia, if only because they shared the Eastern Orthodox faith with the Greeks. The historic center of Saint Petersburg was rebuilt by Alexander I of Russia, with many neo-Greek buildings that were new in Russian. The St. Petersburg Stock Exchange on Vasilievsky Island has a temple front with 44 Doric columns. Quarenghi's design for the Manege "imitates an Athenian temple from the 5th century BC. C. with a portico of eight Doric columns with a pediment and bas-reliefs.

Leo von Klenze's extension to the palace that is now the Hermitage Museum is another example of this style.

After the Greek War of Independence, romantic nationalist ideology encouraged the use of architectural styles with entirely Greek rather than Ottoman or pan-European roots. Classical architecture was used for civil public buildings, although Byzantine architecture continued to be preferred for churches.

Examples of Neo-Greek architecture in Greece are the Old Royal Palace (now the seat of the Parliament of Greece), the Academy&action=edit&redlink=1 "Academy of Athens (modern) (not yet drafted)") and University of Athens, the Zappeion and the National Library of Greece. The most prominent architects in this style were northern Europeans such as Christian&action=edit&redlink=1 "Christian Hansen (architect) (not yet written)") and Theophil Hansen and Ernst Ziller and German-trained Greeks such as Stamatios Kleanthis") and Panagis Kalkos").

The style was generally popular in northern Europe, but hardly in the south (except in Greece itself), at least during the main period. Examples can be found in Poland, Lithuania and Finland, where the cluster of Greek buildings in the city center of Helsinki is particularly notable. On the cultural fringes of Europe, in the Swedish region of Western Finland, neo-Greek motifs could be inserted into a purely Baroque design, as in the design of Jacob Rijf's Oravais Church, 1792. A Greek Doric order, interpreted in the anomalous form of pilasters, contrasts with a hipped roof and a boldly scaled dome and lantern, of entirely traditional Baroque inspiration.

In Austria, one of the best examples of this style is the Austrian Parliament Building" designed by Theophil Hansen.

Although some Americans of the century had feared Greek democracy (ochlocracy), the century's appeal to ancient Greece increased along with the growing acceptance of democracy. That made Greek architecture suddenly more attractive in both the North and the South, for different ideological purposes: for the North, Greek architecture symbolized the freedom of the Greeks; in the South, it symbolized the cultural glories achieved by a slave society.[8]​ Thomas Jefferson had a copy of the first volume of The Antiquities of Athens.[9]​ He never practiced the style, but played an important role in introducing Greek Revival architecture to the United States.

In 1803, Jefferson appointed Benjamin Henry Latrobe as surveyor of public buildings, and Latrobe designed several important public buildings in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, including work on the United States Capitol and the Bank of Pennsylvania.

Latrobe's project for the Capitol was an imaginative interpretation of classical orders not limited by historical precedent, incorporating American motifs such as corn cobs and tobacco leaves. That idiosyncratic approach became standard in the American attitude toward Greek details. His general plan for the Capitol does not survive, although many of its interiors do. He also did notable work on the interior of the Supreme Court (1806-1807), and his masterpiece was the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Baltimore (1805-1821).

Latrobe, who stated: "I am a Greek intolerant in the condemnation of Roman architecture," did not rigidly impose Greek forms. “Our religion,” he said, “requires a church entirely different from the temple, our legislative assemblies and our courts of justice, edifices of completely different principles from their basilicas; and our amusements could not be held in their theaters or amphitheaters.'[11] His circle of young colleagues became an informal school of Greek revivalists, and their influence shaped the next generation of American architects.

Indeed, the Greek Revival style was used in many of the state capitols built in the 18th century, including those in New Hampshire (1818), Maine (1832), Vermont (1834), North Carolina (1840), Alabama (1851), Tennessee (1854), Ohio (1837), South Carolina (1854), and Connecticut (1879).[12]

Greek Revival architecture in North America also paid attention to interior decoration. The role of American women was instrumental in introducing a holistic Greek-inspired design style to American interiors. Innovations such as the Greek-inspired "sofa" and the "klismos chair" allowed American men and women to pose as Greeks in their homes, and also in the numerous portraits of the period that show them lounging on Greek-inspired furniture.[13]

The second phase of American Greek Revival saw Latrobe's students create a monumental national style under the patronage of the banker and Hellenophile Nicholas Biddle&action=edit&redlink=1 "Nicholas Biddle (banker) (not yet redacted)"), which included works such as William Strickland's Second Bank of the United States "William Strickland (architect)") (1824), Biddle's own house, "Andalusia", by Thomas U. Walter") (1835-1836), and Girard College"), also by Walter (1833-1847). New York saw the construction (1833) of the row of Greek temples at Sailors' Snug Harbor on Staten Island. These served various functions within a home for retired sailors.

From 1820 to 1850, the Greek Revival style dominated the United States, such as the Benjamin F. Clough House in Waltham, Massachusetts. It can also be found as far west as Springfield, Illinois. Examples of vernacular Greek Revival continued to be built even further west, such as in Charles City, Iowa.").[14]

This style was very popular in the Southern United States, where the Palladian colonnade was already popular on facades, and many mansions and houses were built for merchants and wealthy plantation owners; Millford Plantation is considered one of the best residential examples of Greek Revival in the country.[15]

Other notable American architects who used Greek Revival designs were Latrobe student Robert Mills "Robert Mills (architect)"), who designed the Monumental Church") and the Washington Monument, as well as George Hadfield&action=edit&redlink=1 "George Hadfield (architect) (not yet drafted)") and Gabriel Manigault").[10]

At the same time, the popular appetite for Greek was sustained by books of architectural patterns, the most important of which was Asher Benjamin's The Practical House Carpenter (1830). This guide helped create the proliferation of Greek homes seen especially in upstate New York and in the former Connecticut Western Reserve in northeastern Ohio.

In Canada, Montreal architect John Ostell designed several notable Greek Revival buildings, including the first building on the campus of McGill University and Montreal's original Custom House, now part of the Pointe-à-Callière Museum. The Toronto Street Post Office"), completed in 1853, is another Canadian example.

The discovery that the Greeks had painted their temples influenced the later development of the style. The archaeological excavation at Aegina and Bassae in 1811-1812 by Cockerell, Otto Magnus von Stackelberg&action=edit&redlink=1 "Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (archaeologist) (not yet redacted)") and Karl Haller von Hallerstein had unearthed painted fragments of masonry daubed with non-permanent colors. That revelation was a direct contradiction of Winckelmann's notion of the Greek temple as timeless, fixed, and pure in its whiteness.

In 1823, Samuel Angell") discovered the colored metopes of Temple C "Temple C (Selinunte)") at Selinunte, Sicily and published the find in 1826. The French architect Jacques Ignace Hittorff witnessed the exhibition of Angell's find and endeavored to excavate Temple B at Selinus. His imaginative reconstructions of that temple were exhibited in Rome and Paris in 1824 and he published them as Architecture polychrome chez les Grecs [Polychrome architecture in the Greeks] (1830) and later, in Restitution du Temple d'Empedocle a Selinote [Restitution of the Temple of Empedocles at Selinote] (1851) The controversy was to inspire von Klenze's "Aegina" room in the Munich Glyptothek of 1830, the first of his many reconstructions. speculative Greek color.

Hittorff gave a lecture in Paris in 1829-1830 arguing that Greek temples had originally been painted yellow ochre, with moldings and sculptural details in red, blue, green and gold. While that may or may not have been the case for older wooden or smooth stone temples, it was definitely not the case for the more luxurious marble temples, where color would be used sparingly to accentuate architectural aspects.

Similarly, Henri Labrouste proposed a reconstruction of the Paestum temples to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1829, decked out in striking colours, reversing the accepted chronology of the three Doric temples, implying that the development of the Greek orders did not increase in formal complexity over time, i.e. the evolution from Doric to Corinthian was not inexorable. Both events caused a minor scandal. The emerging understanding that Greek art was subject to changing forces of environment and culture was a direct assault on the architectural rationalism of the time.