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