Rococo
1720-1760
Rococo – a style of art, especially architecture and decorative art, that
originated in France in the early 18th century and is marked by elaborate
ornaments, as with a profusion of scrolls, foliage, and animal forms.
About Rococo
The Rococo movement was an art movement that emerged in France and spread
throughout the world in the late 17th and early 18th century. The word is a derivative of the
French term rocaille, which means “rock and shell garden ornamentation”.
It began in 1699 after the French King, Louis XIV, demanded more youthful art to be
produced under his reign. It is also referred to as Late Baroque because it developed as
Baroque artists moved away from symmetry to more fluid designs.
The Rococo movement addressed the most important controversy of the time – color
versus drawing – and combined the two to create beautiful pieces. Artists of this period focused
more on attention to detail, ornamentation and use of bright colors.
Rococo furniture and architecture was defined by a move away from the austere
religious symmetrical designs of the Baroque. Instead, they focused on secular, more lighthearted, asymmetrical design, while continuing the Baroque penchant for decorative flair.
In art, light colors, curvaceous forms and graceful lines became characteristic of the
Rococo movement. Canvases were adorned with cherubs and myths of love, while keeping with
the jocular trend of the period, portraiture was also popular. The Rococo artists moved away
from the intense dramatics of the Baroque period and became more playful in their works.
Rococo is sometimes considered a final phase of the Baroque
period, and can be referred to late Baroque.
The Rococo painting style started in France and was a very relaxed,
and playful style of art. It placed emphasis on portraying the carefree life of
the aristocracy rather than on grand heroes or pious martyrs. Love and
romance were considered to be better subjects for art than historical or
religious subjects.
Showing brightness was very important as were curves, colors and
other tiny details. Rococo artists were particularly concerned with properly
depicting things like slippers, ribbons, and patterns in clothing. They also
created landscapes that looked like they were straight out of fairy tales. This
style was full of fun.
The style was characterized by a free, graceful movement; a playful
use of line; and delicate colors.
Rococo's origins and characteristicsRococo appeared in France in about 1700, primarily as a style of interior
design. The french rococo exterior was most often simple, or even plain, but
rococo exuberance took over the interior.
Rococo rooms were designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate
furniture, small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapastrycomplementing
architecture, reliefs, and wall paintings.
Describe the ways in which the interior on the following images is a visual
"definition" of the Rococo lifestyle
The rococo rooms-with their alternating gilded molding, vivacious relief
sculptures, luxurious furniture, and daintily colored ornamentation of flowers
and garlands- must have harmonized with the chamber music played in them,
with the elaborate costumes of satin and brocade, and with the equally elegant
etiquette and sparkling wit of the people who graced them.
Painting
Though Rococo originated in the purely
decorative arts, the style showed clearly in painting.
These painters used delicate colors and curving forms,
decorating their canvases with cherubs and myths of
love.
Portraiture was also popular among Rococo
painters. Some works depict a sort of naughtiness or
impurity in the behavior of their subjects, indicating a
departure from the Baroque's church/state orientation.
Landscapes were pastoral and often depicted the
leisurely outings of aristocratic couples.
How to identify Rococo art?
1. Light-hearted depiction of domestic life in the
upper class home (ex: Le Dejeuner, or The
Breakfast, by Francois Boucher)
2. Elegantly dressed aristocrats at play,
usually in pastoral landscapes (ex: The
Lesson of Love by Jean-Antoine
Watteau)
3. Look for courting, beauty, flirting,
fun, playfulness and romantic symbols
(ex: The Stolen Kiss by Jean-Honore
Fragonard)
4. Mythological themes (ex: Diana
after the Hunt by François
Boucher)
5. Pastel colours, i.e. soft and light
shades, are characteristic of the period
(ex: A Lady in a Garden taking Coffee
with some Children by Nicolas Lancret)
6. Look for cherubs hovering around
the painting – chubby, nude male
babies with wings (ex: The Toilette of
Venus by François Boucher)
Jean Honore
Fragonard
The Swing - is an 18thcentury oil painting by
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
in the Wallace Collection
in London.
It is considered as one of
the masterpieces of the
rococo era, and is
Fragonard's best known
work.
What about this painting
makes it fall in to the
Rococo style?
The Blind man's bluff game, 1751
The Love Letter, 1770
The Secret Meeting, 1771
The Lover Crowned, 1771–73