Rococo

Rococo (/rkoko/ or /rokko/), less commonly roccoco, or "Late Baroque", is an 18thcentury artistic movement and style, which affected several aspects of the arts including painting,
sculpture, architecture, interior design, decoration, literature, music and theatre. The Rococo
developed in the early part of the 18th century in Paris, France as a reaction against the grandeur,
symmetry and strict regulations of the Baroque, especially that of the Palace of Versailles. In
such a way, Rococo artists opted for a more jocular, florid and graceful approach to Baroque art
and architecture. Rococo art and architecture in such a way was ornate and made strong usage of
creamy, pastel-like colors, asymmetrical designs, curves and gold. Unlike the more politically
focused Baroque, the Rococo had more playful and often witty artistic themes. With regards to
interior decoration, Rococo rooms were designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate
furniture, small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture, reliefs,
and wall paintings. The Rococo additionally played an important role in theatre. In the book The
Rococo, it is written that there was no other culture which "has produced a wittier, more elegant,
and teasing dialogue full of elusive and camouflaging language and gestures, refined feelings and
subtle criticism" than Rococo theatre, especially that of France.
Towards the end of the 18th century, Rococo started to fall out of fashion, and it was largely
supplanted by the Neoclassic style. In 1835 the Dictionary of the French Academy stated that the
word Rococo "usually covers the kind of ornament, style and design associated with Louis XV's
reign and the beginning of that of Louis XVI". It includes therefore, all types of art produced
around the middle of the 18th century in France. The word Rococo is seen as a combination of
the French rocaille, meaning stone, and coquilles, meaning shell, due to reliance on these objects
as motifs of decoration. The term Rococo may also be interpreted as a combination of the Italian
word "barocco" (an irregularly shaped pearl, possibly the source of the word "baroque") and the
French "rocaille" (a popular form of garden or interior ornamentation using shells and pebbles),
and may be used to describe the refined and fanciful style that became fashionable in parts of
Europe during the eighteenth century. Owing to Rococo love of shell-like curves and focus on
decorative arts, some critics used the term to derogatively imply that the style was frivolous or
merely modish. When the term was first used in English in about 1836, it was a colloquialism
meaning "old-fashioned". As a matter of fact, the style received harsh criticism, and was seen by
some to be superficial and of poor taste, especially when compared to neoclassicism; despite this,
it has been praised for its aesthetic qualities, and since the mid-19th century, the term has been
accepted by art historians. While there is still some debate about the historical significance of the
style to art in general, Rococo is now widely recognized as a major period in the development of
European art.

Historical development
Although Rococo is usually thought of as developing first in the decorative arts and interior
design, its origins lie in the late Baroque architectural work of Borromini (15991667) mostly in
Rome and Guarini (16241683) mostly in Northern Italy but also in Vienna, Prague, Lisbon, and
Paris. Italian architects of the late Baroque/early Rococo were wooed to Catholic (Southern)

Germany, Bohemia and Austria by local princes, bishops and prince-bishops. Inspired by their
example, regional families of Central European builders went further, creating churches and
palaces that took the local German Baroque style to the greatest heights of Rococo elaboration
and sensation.
An exotic but in some ways more formal type of Rococo appeared in France where Louis XIV's
succession brought a change in the court artists and general artistic fashion. By the end of the
king's long reign, rich Baroque designs were giving way to lighter elements with more curves
and natural patterns. These elements are obvious in the architectural designs of Nicolas Pineau.
During the Rgence, court life moved away from Versailles and this artistic change became well
established, first in the royal palace and then throughout French high society. The delicacy and
playfulness of Rococo designs is often seen as perfectly in tune with the excesses of Louis XV's
reign.
The 1730s represented the height of Rococo development in France. The style had spread beyond
architecture and furniture to painting and sculpture, exemplified by the works of Antoine
Watteau and Franois Boucher. Rococo still maintained the Baroque taste for complex forms and
intricate patterns, but by this point, it had begun to integrate a variety of diverse characteristics,
including a taste for Oriental designs and asymmetric compositions. The Rococo style was
spread by French artists and engraved publications.
In Great Britain, Rococo was always thought of as the "French taste" and was never widely
adopted as an architectural style, although its influence was strongly felt in such areas as
silverwork, porcelain, and silks, and Thomas Chippendale transformed British furniture design
through his adaptation and refinement of the style. William Hogarth helped develop a theoretical
foundation for Rococo beauty. Though not intentionally referencing the movement, he argued in
his Analysis of Beauty (1753) that the undulating lines and S-curves prominent in Rococo were
the basis for grace and beauty in art or nature (unlike the straight line or the circle in Classicism).
The development of Rococo in Great Britain is considered to have been connected with the
revival of interest in Gothic architecture early in the 18th century.
The beginning of the end for Rococo came in the early 1760s as figures like Voltaire and
Jacques-Franois Blondel began to voice their criticism of the superficiality and degeneracy of
the art. Blondel decried the "ridiculous jumble of shells, dragons, reeds, palm-trees and plants" in
contemporary interiors. By 1785, Rococo had passed out of fashion in France, replaced by the
order and seriousness of Neoclassical artists like Jacques-Louis David. In Germany, late 18th
century Rococo was ridiculed as Zopf und Percke ("pigtail and periwig"), and this phase is
sometimes referred to as Zopfstil. Rococo remained popular in the provinces and in Italy, until
the second phase of neoclassicism, "Empire style", arrived with Napoleonic governments and
swept Rococo away.

Rococo in different artistic modes

Furniture and decorative objects
The lighthearted themes and intricate designs of Rococo presented themselves best at a more
intimate scale than the imposing Baroque architecture and sculpture. It is not surprising, then,
that French Rococo art was at home indoors. Metalwork, porcelain figures and especially
furniture rose to new pre-eminence as the French upper classes sought to outfit their homes in the
now fashionable style.
Rococo style took pleasure in asymmetry, a taste that was new to European style. This practice of
leaving elements unbalanced for effect is called contraste.
During the Rococo period, furniture was lighthearted, physically and visually. The idea of
furniture had evolved to a symbol of status and took on a role in comfort and versatility.
Furniture could be easily moved around for gatherings, and many specialized forms came to be
such as the fauteuil chair, the voyeuse chair, and the berger en gondola. Changes in design of
these chairs ranges from cushioned detached arms, lengthening of the cushioned back (also
known as "hammerhead"), and a loose seat cushion. Furniture was also freestanding, instead of
being anchored by the wall, to accentuate the lighthearted atmosphere and versatility of each
piece. Mahogany was widely used in furniture construction due to its strength, resulting in the
absence of the stretcher as seen on many chairs of the time. Also, the use of mirrors hung above
mantels became ever more popular in light of the development of unblemished glass.
In a full-blown Rococo design, like the Table d'appartement (c. 1730), by German designer J. A.
Meissonnier, working in Paris any reference to tectonic form is gone: even the marble slab top is
shaped. Apron, legs, stretcher have all been seamlessly integrated into a flow of opposed cscrolls and "rocaille." The knot (noeud) of the stretcher shows the asymmetrical "contraste" that
was a Rococo innovation.
Most widely admired and displayed in the "minor" and decorative arts its detractors claimed that
its tendency to depart from or obscure traditionally recognized forms and structures rendered it
unsuitable for larger scale projects and disqualified it as a fully architectural style.
Dynasties of Parisian bnistes, some of them German-born, developed a style of surfaces
curved in three dimensions (bomb), where matched veneers (marquetry temporarily being in
eclipse) or vernis martin japanning was effortlessly complemented by gilt-bronze ("ormolu")
mounts: Antoine Gaudreau, Charles Cressent, Jean-Pierre Latz, Jean-Franois Oeben, Bernard II
van Risamburgh are the outstanding names.
French designers like Franois de Cuvillis, Nicholas Pineau and Bartolomeo Rastrelli exported
Parisian styles in person to Munich and Saint Petersburg, while the German Juste-Aurle
Meissonier found his career at Paris. The guiding spirits of the Parisian rococo were a small

group of marchands-merciers, the forerunners of modern decorators, led by Simon-Philippe

Poirier.
In French furniture the style remained somewhat more reserved, since the ornaments were
mostly of wood, or, after the fashion of wood-carving, less robust and naturalistic and less
exuberant in the mixture of natural with artificial forms of all kinds (e.g. plant motives, stalactitic
representations, grotesques, masks, implements of various professions, badges, paintings,
precious stones).
The word 'Rococo' is derived from the French "rocaille", a word used to describe the rock and
shell work of the Versailles grottoes. Many pieces of carved furniture dating from the 18th
centuryin particular, mirror framesdepict rocks, shells, and dripping water in their
composition, frequently in association with Chinese figures and pagodas.

Rococo in different artistic modes

Architecture
Rococo architecture, as mentioned above, was a lighter, more graceful, yet also more elaborate
version of Baroque architecture, which was ornate and austere. Whilst the styles were similar,
there are some notable differences between both Rococo and Baroque architecture, one of them
being symmetry, since Rococo emphasized the asymmetry of forms, whilst Baroque was the
opposite. The styles, despite both being richly decorated, also had different themes; the Baroque,
for instance, was more serious, placing an emphasis on religion, and was often characterized by
Christian themes (as a matter of fact, the Baroque began in Rome as a response to the Protestant
Reformation); Rococo architecture was an 18th-century, more secular, adaptation of the Baroque
which was characterized by more light-hearted and jocular themes. Other elements belonging to
the architectural style of Rococo include numerous curves and decorations, as well as the usage
of pale colors.
There are numerous examples of Rococo buildings as well as architects. Amongst the most
famous include the Catherine Palace, in Russia, the Queluz National Palace in Portugal, the
Augustusburg and Falkenlust Palaces, Brhl, the Chinese House (Potsdam) the Charlottenburg
Palace in Germany, as well as elements of the Chteau de Versailles in France.
Rococo architecture also brought significant changes to the building of edifices, placing an
emphasis on privacy rather than the grand public majesty of Baroque architecture, as well as
improving the structure of buildings in order to create a more healthy environment.

Rococo in different artistic modes

Interior design
In those Continental contexts where Rococo is fully in control, sportive, fantastic, and sculptured
forms are expressed with abstract ornament using flaming, leafy or shell-like textures in
asymmetrical sweeps and flourishes and broken curves; intimate Rococo interiors suppress
architectonic divisions of architrave, frieze, and cornice for the picturesque, the curious, and the
whimsical, expressed in plastic materials like carved wood and above all stucco (as in the work
of the Wessobrunner School). Walls, ceiling, furniture, and works of metal and porcelain present
a unified ensemble. The Rococo palette is softer and paler than the rich primary colors and dark
tonalities favored in Baroque tastes.
Inaugurated in some rooms in Versailles, it unfolds its magnificence in several Parisian buildings
(especially the Htel Soubise). In Germany, French and German artists (Cuvillis, Neumann,
Knobelsdorff, etc.) effected the dignified equipment of the Amalienburg near Munich, and the
castles of Wrzburg, Potsdam, Charlottenburg, Brhl, Bruchsal, Solitude (Stuttgart), and
Schnbrunn.
In general, Rococo is an entirely interior style, because the wealthy and aristocratic moved back
to Paris from Versailles. Paris was already built up and so rather than engaging in major
architectural additions, they simply renovated the interiors of the existing buildings.

Rococo in different artistic modes

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 show a sort
of naughtiness or impurity in the behavior of their subjects, showing the historical trend of
departing away from the Baroque's church/state orientation. Landscapes were pastoral and often
depicted the leisurely outings of aristocratic couples.
Jean-Antoine Watteau (16841721) is generally considered the first great Rococo painter. He had
a great influence on later painters, including Franois Boucher (17031770) and Jean-Honor
Fragonard (17321806), two masters of the late period. Even Thomas Gainsborough's (1727
1788) delicate touch and sensitivity are reflective of the Rococo spirit. lisabeth-Louise VigeLe Brun's (17551842) style also shows a great deal of Rococo influence, particularly in her
portraits of Marie Antoinette. Other Rococo painters include: Jean Franois de Troy (1679
1752), Jean-Baptiste van Loo (16851745), his two sons Louis-Michel van Loo (17071771) and
Charles-Amde-Philippe van Loo (17191795), his younger brother Charles-Andr van Loo
(17051765), and Nicolas Lancret (16901743). Both Jean-Baptiste-Simon Chardin (1699
1779) and Jean-Baptiste Greuze (17251805), were important French painters of the Rococo era
who are considered Anti-Rococo.
During the Rococo era Portraiture was an important component of painting in all countries, but
especially in Great Britain, where the leaders were William Hogarth (16971764), in a blunt
realist style, and Francis Hayman (17081776), Angelica Kauffman who was Swiss, (1741
1807), Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds (17231792), in more flattering styles
influenced by Anthony van Dyck (15991641). While in France during the Rococo era JeanBaptiste Greuze was the favorite painter of Denis Diderot (17131785), and Maurice Quentin de
La Tour (17041788), and lisabeth Vige-Lebrun were highly accomplished Portrait painters
and History painters.