WEEK 12:

ROCOCO
Started: 1702
Ended: 1780

Centuries before the term "bling" was invented to denote ostentatious shows of luxury, Rococo infused
the world of art and interior design with an aristocratic idealism that favored elaborate ornamentation
and intricate detailing. The paintings that became signature to the era were created in celebration of
Rococo's grandiose ideals and lust for the aristocratic lifestyle and pastimes. The movement, which
developed in France in the early 1700s, evolved into a new, over-the-top marriage of the decorative
and fine arts, which became a visual lexicon that infiltrated 18th century continental Europe.

Centered in France and emerging as a reaction to the Baroque grandeur of King Louis XIV's royal court
at the Palace of Versailles, the Rococo movement or style of French painting was associated
particularly with Madame Pompadour, the mistress of the new King Louis XV, and the Parisian homes
of the French aristocracy. It is a whimsical and elaborately decorative style of art, whose name derives
from the French word 'rocaille' meaning, rock-work after the forms of sea shells.

In the world of Rococo, all art forms, including fine art painting, architecture, sculpture, interior design,
furniture, fabrics, porcelain and other "objets d'art" are subsumed within an ideal of elegant prettiness.
 HISTORY

In painting Rococo was primarily influenced by the Venetian School's use of color, erotic subjects, and
Arcadian landscapes, while the School of Fontainebleau was foundational to Rococo interior design.

THE VENETIAN SCHOOL

The noted painters Giorgione and Titian, among others, influenced the Rococo period's emphasis on
swirling color and erotic subject matter. Pastoral Concert (c. 1509), first attributed to Giorgione, though
now credited by most scholars as one of Titian's early works, was classified as a Fête champêtre, or
outdoor party, by the Louvre when it first became part of the museum's collection. The Renaissance
work depicting two nude women and two aristocratic men playing music in an idealized pastoral
landscape would heavily influence the development of Rococo's Fête galante, or courtship paintings.
The term referred to historical paintings of pleasurable past times and became popularized in the works
of Jean-Antoine Watteau

SCHOOL OF FONTAINEBLEAU 1528-1630

In 1530 King Francis I, a noted art patron, invited the Italian artist Rosso Florentino to the French court,
where, pioneering the courtly style of French Mannerism, Rosso founded the School of Fontainebleau.
The school became known for its unique interior design style in which all the elements created a highly
choreographed unity. Rosso pioneered the use of large stucco reliefs as frames, adorned with
decorative and gilded motifs that would heavily influence Rococo's emphasis on elaborated settings.
Gilding was a key contribution of Fontainebleau, providing exquisite splendor to objects as seen in
Benevento Cellini's famous Salt Cellar (1543), which Francis I commissioned in gold. Even simple
elements of Rococo interiors became highly accentuated as seen in the popularity of cartel clocks,
embedding regular clocks into intricate settings that resembled pieces of sculpture, and which
seamlessly complemented the overall look and feel of their surrounding interiors.

THE ERA OF ROCOCO DESIGN

Rococo debuted in interior design when engraver Pierre Le Pautre worked with architect Jules
Hardouin-Mansart on the Château de Marly (1679-1684), and later at Versailles in 1701 when he
redesigned Louis XIV's private apartments. Le Pautre pioneered the use of arabesques, employing an
s-shaped or c-shaped line, placed on white walls and ceilings. He also used inset panels with gilded
woodwork, creating a whimsical, lighter style. Le Pautre was primarily known as an ornemaniste, or
designer of ornament, which reflects the popular role at the time of artisans and craftsmen in developing
the highly decorative style.
During the reign of Louis XIV, France had become the dominant European power, and the combination
of great wealth and peaceful stability led the French to turn their attention toward personal affairs and
the enjoyment of worldly pleasures. When the King died in 1715, his heir Louis XV was only five years
old, so the Regency, led by the Duc d' Orléans, ruled France until the Dauphin came of age. The Duke
was known for his hedonistic lifestyle, and Rococo's aesthetics seemed the perfect expression of the
era's sensibility. Taking the throne in 1723, Louis XV also became a noted proponent and patron of
Rococo architecture and design. Since France was the artistic center of Europe, the artistic courts of
other European countries soon followed suit in their enthusiasm for similar embellishments.
FRENCH ROCOCO
France was the center of the development of Rococo. In design, the salon, a room for entertaining but
also impressing guests, was a major innovation. The most famous example was Charles-Joseph
Natoire and Germain Boffrand's La Salon de la Princesse (1735-1740) in the residence of the Prince
and Princess de Soubise. The cylindrical interior's white walls, gilded wood, and many mirrors created
a light and airy effect. Arabesque decorations, often alluding to Roman motifs, cupids, and garlands,
were presented in gold stucco and plate relief. Asymmetrical curves, sometimes derived from organic
forms, such as seashells or acanthus fronds, were elaborate and exaggerated. The minimal emphasis
on architecture and maximum emphasis on décor would become cornerstone to the Rococo
movement.
Painting was an essential part of the Rococo movement in France, and the noted painters who led the
style, Antoine Watteau followed by François Boucher, influenced all elements of design from interiors
to tapestries to fashion. Other noted artists included Jean-Baptiste van Loo, Jean-Marc Nattier, and
François Lemoyne. Lemoyne was noted for his historical allegorical paintings as seen in his Apotheosis
of Hercules (1733-1736) painted on the Salon of Hercules' ceiling at Versailles. A noted feature of
French Rococo painting was the manner in which a number of noted artist families, such as the van
Loos and the Coypels, maintained a consistent style and subject matter in their workshops.

ITALIAN ROCOCO
Painting took the lead in Italian Rococo, exemplified by the works of the Venetian artist Giambattista
Tiepolo. Combining the Venetian School's emphasis on color with quadratura, or ceiling paintings,
Tiepolo's masterworks were frescos and large altarpieces. Famed throughout Europe, he received
many royal commissions, such as his series of ceiling paintings in the Wurzburg Residenz in Germany,
and his Apotheosis of the Spanish Monarchy (1762-1766) in the Royal Palace in Madrid.

Italian Rococo was also noted for its great landscape artists known as "view-painters," particularly
Giovanni Antonio Canal, known simply as Canaletto. He pioneered the use of two-point linear
perspective while creating popular scenes of the canals and pageantry of Venice. His works, such as
his Venice: Santa Maria della Salute (c. 1740), were in great demand with English aristocrats. In the
1700s it became customary for young English aristocrats to go on a "Grand Tour," visiting the noted
sites of Europe in order to learn the classical roots of Western culture. The trips launched a kind of
aristocratic tourism, and Venice was a noted stop, famed for its hedonistic carnival atmosphere and
picturesque views. These young aristocrats were also often art collectors and patrons, and most of
Canaletto's works were sold to an English audience, and in 1746 he moved to England to be closer to
his art market and lived there for almost a decade.

Rosalba Carriera's pastel portraits, both miniature and full-size, as well as her allegorical works were
in demand throughout Europe, as she was invited to the royal courts of France, Austrian, and Poland.
She pioneered the use of pastels, previously only employed for preparatory drawings, as a medium for
painting, and, by binding the chalk into sticks, developed a wider range of strokes and prepared colors.
Her Portrait of Louis XV as Dauphin (1720-1721) established the new style of Rococo portraiture,
emphasizing visual appeal and decorative effect.

In architecture, Italy continued to emphasize the Baroque with its strong connection to the Catholic
church until the 1720s when the architect Filippo Juvarra built several Northern Italian Palaces in the
Rococo style. His masterwork was the Stupinigi Palace (1729-1731), built as the hunting lodge for the
King of Sardinia in Turin. At the same time, Rococo interiors became popular in Genoa, Sardinia, Sicily,
and Venice where the style took on regional variations particularly in furniture design. Italian Rococo
interiors were particularly known for their Venetian glass chandeliers and mirrors and their rich use of
silk and velvet upholstery.

GERMAN ROCOCO
Germany's enthusiasm for Rococo expressed itself exuberantly and primarily in architectural
masterpieces and interior design, as well as the applied arts. A noted element of German Rococo was
the use of vibrant pastel colors like lilac, lemon, pink, and blue as seen in François de Cuvilliés' design
of the Amalienburg (1734-1739), a hunting lodge for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII in Munich.
His Hall of Mirrors in the Amalienburg has been described by art historian Hugh Honour as exemplifying
"easy elegance and gossamer delicacy."
German design motifs while employing asymmetry and s- and c- curved shapes, often drew upon floral
or organic motifs, and employed more detail. German architects also innovatively explored various
possibilities for room designs, cutting away walls or making curved walls, and made the siting of new
buildings an important element of the effect, as seen in Jacob Prandtauer's Melk Abbey (1702-1736)

ENGLISH ROCOCO

England's employment of Rococo, which was called "French style," was more restrained, as the
excesses of the style were met with a somber Protestantism. As a result, rocaille introduced by the
émigré engraver Hubert-François Gravelot and the silversmith Paul de Lamerie, was only employed as
details and occasional motifs. Around 1740 the Rococo style began to be employed in British furniture,
most notably in the designs of Thomas Chippendale. His catalogue Gentleman's and Cabinet-makers'
directory (1754), illustrating Rococo designs, became a popular industry standard.

Rococo had more of an impact upon British artists such as William Hogarth, Thomas Gainsborough,
and the Swiss Angelica Kauffman. In his The Analysis of Beauty (1753) Hogarth advocated for the use
of a serpentine line, seeing it as both more organic and aesthetically ideal. Gainsborough first studied
with Gravelot, a former student of Boucher, whose feathery brushwork and color palette influenced
Gainsborough's portraiture toward fluidity of light and color. Though Swiss-born, Angelica Kauffman
spent most of her life in Rome and London. From 1766 to 1781 she lived in London where influential Sir
Joshua Reynolds particularly admired her portraiture. One of only two women elected to the Royal
Academy of Arts in London, she played a significant role in both advancing the Rococo style and,
subsequently, Neoclassicism.

KEY ASPECTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 Genre paintings were popular ways to represent the Rococo period's bold and joyous lust for
life. This included fete galante, or works denoting outdoor pastimes, erotic paintings alive with
a sense of whimsical hedonism, Arcadian landscapes, and the "celebrity" portrait, which
positioned ordinary people in the roles of notable historical or allegorical characters.
 Rococo art and architecture carried a strong sense of theatricality and drama, influenced by
stage design. Theater's influence could be seen in the innovative ways painting and decorative
objects were woven into various environments, creating fully immersive atmospheres.
 Detail-work flourished in the Rococo period. Stucco reliefs as frames, asymmetrical patterns
involving motifs and scrollwork, sculptural arabesque details, gilding, pastels, and tromp
l'oeil are the most noted methods that were used to achieve a seamless integration of art and
architecture.
 The term "rococo" was first used by Jean Mondon in his Premier Livre de forme rocquaille et
cartel (First book of Rococo Form and Setting) (1736), with illustrations that depicted the style
used in architecture and interior design. The term was derived from the French rocaille,
meaning "shell work, pebble-work," used to describe High Renaissance fountains or garden
grottos that used seashells and pebbles, embedded in stucco, to create an elaborate
decorative effect.

ARTIST
Jean-Antoine Watteau
François Boucher
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Maurice-Quentin de La Tour
Luis Paret y Alcázar
Giambattista Tiepolo
Jean-François de Troy
Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun
William Hogarth
Thomas Gainsborough