ROCOCO The Art of the Enlightenment
Dec 26, 2015
ROCOCOThe Art of the Enlightenment
Historical Background
• 1700s (Reign of Louis XV) • Reaction of nobility against
classical baroque imposed at Versailles
• Power and fashion centered at court of Regent, Philippe d’Orleáns, at Palais-Royal
• Idealized life of aristocracy
Meaning of “rococo”
•Rocaille•Stones
•Coquille•Shells
•Interest in irregular shapes in nature
Artistic Style
• Soft pastels
• Ornate details
• Delicate
• Wispy brushstrokes
Themes
•Fantasy & wistful nostalgia•Love & …..•Domestic & family life
FRANCE
Jean-Antoine Watteau
•1684-1721
•Departure for Cythera
•Do You Want to Succeed with Women?
•Faux pas
Francois Boucher
•1703-1759
•Marquise de Pompadour
•Juno Asking Aeolus to Release the Winds
•Leda and the Swan
•Nude on a Sofa
Jean-Honore Fragonard
•1732-1806
•Young Girl Reading
•The Swing
•The Love Letter
•The Lover Crowned
•The Meeting
•The Stolen Kiss
ENGLAND
William Hogarth
•1697-1764
•Gin Lane
•Beer Street
•After
•Before
Marriage a la Mode
•1—The Marriage Settlement
•2—The Tete a Tete
•3—The Inspection
•4—The Toilette
•5—The Bagnio
•6—The Lady’s Death
Sir Joshua Reynolds
•1723-1792
•Portrait of Miss Anna Ward with Her Dog
•The Children of Edward Hollen Cruttenden
Thomas Gainesborough
•1727-1788
•Mr. And Mrs. Andrews
•Blue Boy
•Mrs. Philip Thicknesse
George Stubbs
(1724–1806)
•Whistlejacket
(10 ft × 8 ft)
•Lord Grosvenor’s Arabian Stallion, with a Groom
GERMANY
PAINTING
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
•1696-1770
•Apollo and the Continents
•Coronation of the Virgin
ARCHITECTURE
Characteristics•Elegant, lavish rooms•Assymetric•Biaxial space•Curves and countercurves•Adds elaborate, arbitrary
ornamentation which sometimes blurred
transitions
Characteristics•Pastel colors
•White and gold emphasized•Appears weightless
•Fragmented•Mirrors
Characteristics
•Complex compositional geometry
Palaces
•Versailles, Hall of Mirrors
•Marie Antoinette’s theater
•Versailles, Temple of Love
•Versailles, Marie Antoinette’s hameau
•Wurzburg Residenz, staircase
•Wurzburg Residenz, Imperial Hall
•Wurzburg Residenz, Chapel
•Wurzburg Residenz, Mirror cabinet
•The Amalienburg, Nymphenburg, Munich, Germany
•Amalienburg, Entrance from back
•Amalienburg, Gun and dog room
•Amalienburg, To the bedroom
•Amalienburg, bedroom
•Amalienburg, Hall of Mirrors
•Amalienburg, Hall of Mirrors
•Amalienburg, To the pheasant room
•Amalienburg, Back toward the bedroom
•Amalienburg, pheasant room
•Amalienburg, kitchen
•Amalienburg, kitchen tiles
Churches
•Vierzehnheilgen, pilgrimage church
•Steingaden church
•Dresden, Frauenkirche, interior
•Weis, pilgrimage church, altar
•Weis, Pilgrimage Church
RococoFurniture
Rococo Hairdos
“Portrait of a Lady in Blue”
Thomas Gainsborough
ROCOCOThe Art of the Enlightenment
Eventually replaced by
Neo-Classicism…artistic style of
French Revolution and American War for Independence