ROCOCO

OUTSIDE FRANCE
C.1700 1780 REGIONAL VARIATIONS

The Artists Wife The Rococo style spread from France in

Allan Ramsay c.175860
Scottish National Gallery,
Edinburgh, UK various waysthrough the travels of artists,
Ramsay was well traveled and
cosmopolitan in spirit. He probably
painted this enchanting portrait
the international trade in art, and the
soon after returning from the
second of four visits to Italy publication of engravings and illustrated
in 1757. His workelegant
and sophisticatedhelped books. It became particularly popular in
to acclimatize the Rococo
style in Britain.
southern Germany and other parts of
Central Europe, but it also reached as far
aeld as Russia and Portugal. In each
country there were distinctive variations as
the style merged with local traditions. Britain
had a certain resistance to French frivolity,
but nevertheless the Rococo had a major impact there in elds such as
furniture and silverware, and in painting it is clearly reected in the delicacy of
artists including Allan Ramsay (see above) and Thomas Gainsborough. Some
outstanding examples of the style were produced by painters from countries
outside the established major centers of artJean-tienne Liotard of
Switzerland and the Swede Alexander Roslin, for example.
 ROCOCO OUTSIDE FRANCE 211

CONTEXT 18th-century developments

1703 As part of the modernization of his

Germany reborn
As the Rococo style spread outside France,
it was expressed in various national and local
idioms. Nowhere did it blossom more
spectacularly than in Germany, which enjoyed a
remarkable cultural resurgence during the 18th
century. Throughout much of the Renaissance,
it had been one of the leading artistic centers
outside Italy, but its art was in decline by the
end of the 16th century (partly because of
the disturbances of the Reformation). Later,
in the rst half of the 17th century, Germany
(a patchwork of states, great and small, rather
than a unied country) was devastated by the
The recovery from this terrible period was
slow, but by the beginning of the 18th century
Germany was reviving, and it became home
to some of the nest Rococo art. This was
created mainly in southern Germany, which
was largely Catholic, while the north was
predominantly Protestant and more sober in
its tastes. The best German Rococo art is not
usually found in easel painting, but in other
elds, including ceramicsthe Meissen factory
was Europes rst and greatest maker of
porcelainand church decoration. In France
and other countries, the Rococo style was
country, Peter the Great of Russia founds
the city of St. Petersburg; many Western
artists are attracted to work in what
becomes a major cultural center.
1707 England and Scotland are united
as the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1730 Clement XIII becomes pope. In his
ten-year reign he enriches Rome with
numerous building projects.
1740 In Vienna, Maria-Theresa becomes
ruler of the Habsburg empire. She is a
notable patron, with a taste for French art.
1760 George III becomes king of Great
Britain. He is an important art collector, his
acquisitions including an incomparable
group of paintings by Canaletto.

Thirty Years War (161848). This was fought
largely on German territory and it is estimated
that during this time about 20 to 30 percent
of the population diedfrom famine and
plague as well as direct military action.
KEY EVENTS
1768 Foundation of the Royal Academy
expressed mainly in secular art, but in the
of Arts in London.
German lands it was compatible with a certain
type of religious spiritairy and uplifting, as 1775 Beginning of American Revolution
against British rule.
in the wonderful churches of Vierzehnheiligen
(see below) and Die Wies (see p.216).

THE FIRST
IMPRESSION ON
ENTERING THIS VAST,
SOLITARY PILGRIMAGE
CHURCH IS ONE OF
BLISS AND ELEVATION.
ALL IS LIGHT: WHITE,
GOLD, PINK
1960 | Sir Nikolaus Pevsner
German-born British art historian,
on Vierzehnheiligen

Interior of the church

at Vierzehnheiligen, Germany
The breathtaking church of Vierzehnheiligen
(Fourteen Saints) was designed by Balthasar
Neumann and built between 1742 and 1473.
One of the greatest architects of the age,
Neumann was also the main creator of the
Residenz at Wrzburg, decorated by Tiepolo.
212 BAROQUE TO NEOCLASSICISM

BEGINNINGS
COLOR AND PAGEANTRY
The Rococo style emerged rst in ornament, rather than
in the major visual arts, and it was in decorative details
that it most quickly and easily spread across national
boundaries from its heartland in France. These details
were disseminated particularly in the form of engravings.
They were sold by print dealers in cities throughout Europe,
so a cabinetmaker in London and a silversmith in Lisbon,
for example, could borrow an identical fashionable motif
from a French design.
In painting, the transition from Baroque to Rococo was more
gradual and less clear, especially in Italy, where the Baroque
style was strongly established and cities had their own distinct
traditions. It was expressed in such ways as the use of lighter,
brighter colors, freer brushwork, and looser composition. In
Venice, which became a leading center of Rococo painting,
artists were inspired by the color and pageantry of their 16th-
century predecessor Paolo Veroneseindeed, contemporaries
described Giambattista Tiepolo as Veronese reborn.

ARTISTIC INFLUENCES
HIS PICTORIAL
Riccis work in several countries helped to disseminate the Rococo style. In 1716, at
FLUENCY, ELEGANT about the time he painted Bacchus and Ariadne, he met Watteau and other leading
IN ITS DRAWING French artists in Paris. However, he was more inuenced by Italian predecessors than
AND FESTIVE IN ITS by French art. The lightness of spirit that characterizes Rococo art is also found in the
work of certain Italian painters of the 16th and 17th centuries.
COLOR, PROVIDED
A STIMULUS FOR ALL Titians picture is the most famous of all
Bacchus and Ariadne,
THE PAINTERS OF THE interpretations of the story of Bacchus and 152023, by Titian, is a
Ariadne, and it was much copied and adapted work whose gures reveal
NEXT GENERATION by other artists. Riccis picture shows a different the inuence of the ancient
moment in the narrative, but he has borrowed sculpture Laocon. National
Gallery, London, UK
1994 | Francesco Valcanover the detail of the vase in the foreground.
Italian art historian, on Sebastiano Ricci

Veronese, with his lively spirit and shimmering

The Muse of Painting,
colors and textures, was a major inuence c.1560, by Paolo Veronese,
on Rococo painting in Venice. Painting in the exemplies the artists
city enjoyed a magnicent resurgence in the gracefulness and beauty of
18th century following a relatively fallow period color. Detroit Institute
in the 17th century. of Arts, Detroit, MI

Annibale Carraccis Farnese Ceiling, one

The Triumph of
of the modern marvels of Rome, was greatly Bacchus and Ariadne,
admired by many artists of the 17th and 18th c.15971600, forms the
centuries, including Ricci. Annibales style is central part of Annibales
very solid, but the ceilings exuberance looks Farnese Ceiling. Palazzo
forward to the Rococo era. Farnese, Rome, Italy

Carlo Cignani was the leading painter in

Head and Shoulders
Bologna in the late 17th and early 18th of the Virgin, c.1670, by
century. He was much admired by fellow Carlo Cignani, exemplies
artists, and his sweet, graceful style his elegant draftsmanship.
inuenced many of them. He helped to Chatsworth House,
Derbyshire, UK
advance the young Riccis career.
 ROCOCO OUTSIDE FRANCE 213

TURNING POINT Sebastiano Ricci

baptized Belluno, Italy, August 1, 1659;
died Venice, Italy, May 15, 1734
Bacchus and Ariadne Ricci was one of the leading Italian painters in
Sebastiano Ricci c.1716 Schloss Weissenstein, Pommersfelden, Germany
the period of transition between Baroque and
Rococo. He spent a good deal of his career
The classical myth of Bacchus and Ariadne was a favorite in Venice and he is generally regarded as a
subject of Riccis, which he treated several times during his career. Venetian artist, but he worked in many other
This is perhaps his nest interpretation of the theme and indeed places in Italy and also in England, Belgium,
France, and Germany. This itinerant career
one of his most beautiful creations. Artists have depicted various
reects not only the demand for his work
points in the lovers story (Titian memorably showed their rst (which made him a wealthy man), but also his
meeting), and here Ricci has chosen their wedding. The youthful stormy love life, whichin his early years
winged gure standing between them is Hymen, the Greek god sometimes caused him to move in haste.
His travels helped to spread elements of the
of marriage. Ricci absorbed a host of inuences on his extensive
Rococo style. Ricci was versatile and prolic, painting various types of

BIOGRAPHY
travels, but his borrowings are rarely obvious, since he blended pictures (particularly on religious and mythological subjects) in oil and
them into such a suave, melliuous manner. The easy grace of fresco. He sometimes collaborated with his nephew Marco Ricci
his compositions belies the hard work Ricci put into them. He (16761730), who was mainly a landscape painter.
was a dedicated draftsman and made numerous preparatory
studies for his paintings.
214 BAROQUE TO NEOCLASSICISM

TIMELINE
Although France could now claim leadership in Venus and Cupid
Adriaan van der Werff 1718
the visual arts, Italy remained highly signicant in Wallace Collection, London, UK
painting during the 18th century. It attracted many Van der Werff was the most
acclaimed Dutch painter of his
wealthy artistic tourists (especially from Britain), and time, with an international
some of the nest Italian painters of the time reputation. His elegant, highly
polished work shows how
Batoni and Canaletto, for exampleworked largely completely the naturalism of
to supply their needs. By about 1780 the charm 17th-century Dutch art gave way
to Rococo artifice in the early
of Rococo was beginning to give way virtually 18th century.
everywhere to the severity of Neoclassicism.
Artists biographies
However, in some parts of Central Europe the In Amsterdam in 1718, the
Rococo style continued to ourish until virtually painter and writer Arnold
Houbraken publishes the first
the end of the century. part of a three-volume collection
of biographies of Dutch
artistsan invaluable source
of art-historical information.

Majestic monastery Military monument

In 1702, building starts on
the monastery at Melk,
Austria, designed by Jacob
Prandtauer. It is decorated
with some outstanding
Rococo frescoes.
Blenheim Palace is begun
in Oxfordshire, England,
in 1705. It is a gift of
thanksgiving to the Duke
of Marlborough for his
victories over Louis XIV.

1700 1705 1710 1715 1720

Meissen porcelain
In 1710, the first
porcelain factory in
Europe is founded at
Meissen, near Dresden,
in Germany. It produced
virtually every type of
porcelain, practical and
ornamental, including
exquisite figurines in the
Rococo style.

The Baptism of Christ

Self-Portrait With a Francesco Trevisani 1723
Portrait of Her Sister Leeds Art Gallery, UK
Rosalba Carriera 1709 At the time he painted this picture,
Uffizi, Florence, Italy Trevisani was probably the most
Carriera was one of the first notable specialists in famous and successful artist in
pastel portraiture. She was internationally renowned, Rome, the successor to Carlo Maratta
and worked in Paris and Vienna as well as Italy. Her (see p.162). He continued the
success helped to inspire the 18th-century vogue tradition of Maratta, but in a softer,
for pastel, especially among French artists. sweeter, more intimate way.
 215

The Stonemasons Yard

Canaletto c.1727
National Gallery, London, UK
Early in his career Canaletto painted
some vivid, informal scenes of
Venice such as this, but he soon
began to concentrate on views of
the public face of his cityworks
that were especially popular with
aristocratic British visitors to Italy.

Composer statue
In 1738, Louis-Francois
Roubiliac, a French
sculptor working in
England, establishes his
reputation with a brilliantly
characterized seated
statue of the composer
Handel, commissioned
for Vauxhall pleasure
gardens in London.

1725 1730 1735 1740

A Capriccio With Roman Ruins

Giovanni Paolo Panini 1737 Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK
Panini occupied a role in Rome similar to that of his contemporary
Canaletto in Venice, specializing in detailed views of the city. Some are
topographically accurate; others, such as this, are capriccios
arrangements of real and imaginary elements.

Tavern Scene from A Rakes Progress

William Hogarth c.1735 I HAVE...ENDEAVORED TO TREAT MY
Sir John Soanes Museum, London, UK
In about 1730, Hogarth invented the idea of SUBJECTS AS A DRAMATIC WRITER:
using a sequence of paintings or engravings to MY PICTURE IS MY STAGE
tell a moral story. This is the third in a series
of eight paintings about a character called Tom William Hogarth
Rakewell, who wastes his inheritance on loose
living and ends his days in an insane asylum.
216 BAROQUE TO NEOCLASSICISM

The Chocolate Girl

Jean-tienne Liotard 1743
Gemldegalerie, Dresden, Germany
The Swiss painter Liotard worked in various
European countries and also spent four years
in Constantinople. He worked mainly in pastel,
as in this, his most famous picture, which
shows a Viennese maidservant.
Johann Baptist Zimmermann
baptized Wessobrunn, Germany, January 3, 1680
died Munich, Germany, March 2, 1758
Zimmermann came from an artistic family and
The Last Judgment often collaborated with his architect brother
Johann Baptist Zimmermann Dominikus (16851766). Both brothers also
c.175054 Wieskirche, worked in stuccoa type of plaster that can be
nr. Steingaden, Germany
used for sculpture and architectural enrichment,
This huge fresco covers the nave vault of
as in the extraordinarily elaborate Rococo
the Wieskirche (White Church), designed
surrounds to The Last Judgment (see below).

BIOGRAPHY
by Dominikus Zimmermann, brother of the
painter. The biblical Last Judgment has Most of the brothers work was for religious
inspired some terrifying visions in art institutions in southern Germany (Johann Baptist
(most famously by Michelangelo in the painted altarpieces as well as frescoes), but they
Sistine Chapel), but here it is presented also carried out some secular commissions.
as a radiant, airy vision, in colors of a
porcelainlike delicacy. Christ is shown
seated on a rainbow.

1745 1750

Exhibition of a Rhinoceros at Venice

Pietro Longhi 1751
National Gallery, London, UK
Exotic animals were often shown at festivities such as the
carnival in Venice, but a rhinoceros was a great rarity, and
this one, Clara, became a celebrity. She arrived in
Rotterdam from India in 1741 and toured extensively for
17 years before dying in London in 1758.
 ROCOCO OUTSIDE FRANCE 217

Portrait of Charles
John Crowle
Pompeo Batoni c.1762
Louvre, Paris, France
Batoni was the leading portraitist
in Rome and his sitters included
many foreign visitors to the city,
such as this wealthy British
traveler. His style has grandeur
and dignity, but also a Rococo
verve and charm.
The Honourable
Mrs. Graham
Thomas Gainsborough
1777 Scottish National
Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
This portrait shows
Gainsborough at his most
gloriously glamorous. It
consciously echoes the
work of van Dyck, whom
Gainsborough greatly admired,
but the lightness of touch is
entirely in the Rococo spirit.

Gainsborough in Bath
In 1759, Gainsborough
moves to the fashionable
spa town of Bath, England,
where he works for a
wealthier clientele than in
his native Suffolk. He lives
there until 1774, when he
settles in London.

1760 1765 1770 1775 1780

Uffizi opens Copleys triumph

In 1765, the Uffizi Palace opens as a In 1778, the
public museum in Florence, showing American-born painter
art treasures collected over the John Singleton Copley
centuries by the Medici family. achieves success at
Originally the building, designed by the Royal Academy in
Giorgio Vasari, had been used as London with Watson
government offices (uffizi in Italian). and the Shark.

CHINOISERIE
One of the most charming aspects of
18th-century European art is chinoiserie: the
imitation or evocation, usually in a playful spirit,
of Chinese motifs and patterns. Such imitation
dates back to the Middle Ages (beautiful The Lady
Chinese-style silks were produced in Italy in With a Fan
the 14th century, for example), but it was not Alexander Roslin 1768
until the late 17th century that it became Nationalmuseum,
a distinctive strain in European art, and it Stockholm, Sweden
reached its heights of inventiveness and The model for this ravishing
delicacy in the Rococo period. Chinoiserie painting was the artists wife,
affected virtually all kinds of applied and Marie-Suzanne Giroust, who
was herself an accomplished
decorative art, including ceramics, furniture,
pastel portraitist. Roslin spent
and silverware, and it also found expression in his early years in his native
painting, sculpture, and architecture. Garden Sweden and then had a busy
CONTEXT

buildings were often designed in Chinese international career, working

style, notably the pagoda (1761) by Sir William mainly in France (where he
Chambers at Kew Gardens, London. met his wife) but also in
Austria, Germany, Italy,
Poland, and Russia.
218 BAROQUE TO NEOCLASSICISM
 ROCOCO OUTSIDE FRANCE 219

MASTERWORK
The Marriage
of Frederick
Barbarossa and
Beatrice of
Burgundy
Giambattista Tiepolo 175152
Kaisersaal, Wrzburg Residenz, Germany

Tiepolo was the supreme Italian painter of his age.

His output was varied, but he is famous chiey for his
frescoes. He worked mainly in his native Venice and
northern Italy, but he was admired throughout Europe.
In 1750 he accepted a commission from Karl Philipp
von Greiffenklau, the Prince-Bishop of Wrzburg, and
spent the next three years in his employment in
Germanythe rst time he had left Italy.
The prince-bishop was one of many minor rulers
in Germany, but he was immensely wealthy, and his
palacethe Residenzis appropriately magnicent.
Tiepolo decorated the Kaisersaal (Emperors Hall),
which was the state dining room, and the ceiling over
the main staircase. These works mark the summit of
his career. In the Kaisersaal he painted scenes from
Wrzburgs early history, including the marriage of the
Emperor Frederick I (nicknamed Frederick Barbarossa
because of his red beard). The wedding took place in
1156, but Tiepolo makes no attempt to evoke the 12th
century, instead creating a fairy-tale image of the Middle
Ages. The dominant gure in the composition is the
bishop conducting the marriage ceremony, underlining
the fact that Tiepolos paintings are intended to glorify
his patron and his predecessors as prince-bishop.

HE IS FULL OF SPIRIT...
WITH BOUNDLESS
FIRE, SUPERB COLORS,
AND AMAZING SPEED
OF HAND
1736 | Count Carl Gustav Tessin
Swedish diplomat and art patron, recommending
Tiepolo to King Frederick I of Sweden