   #copyright

Rococo

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Architecture

   North side of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo - carriage
   courtyard: all the stucco details sparkled with gold until 1773, when
   Catherine II had gilding replaced with olive drab paint.
   Enlarge
   North side of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo - carriage
   courtyard: all the stucco details sparkled with gold until 1773, when
   Catherine II had gilding replaced with olive drab paint.
   The ballroom of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo
   Enlarge
   The ballroom of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo
   The Rococo Basilica at Ottobeuren (Bavaria): architectural spaces flow
   together and swarm with life
   Enlarge
   The Rococo Basilica at Ottobeuren (Bavaria): architectural spaces flow
   together and swarm with life

   The Rococo style of art emerged in France in the early 18th century as
   a continuation of the Baroque style. In contrast to the heavier themes
   and darker colors of the Baroque, the Rococo style was characterized by
   an opulence, grace, playfulness, and lightness. Rococo motifs focused
   on the carefree aristocratic life and on lighthearted romance rather
   than heroic battles or religious figures; they also revolve heavily
   around nature and exterior settings. In the mid-late 18th century,
   rococo was largely supplanted by the Neoclassic style.

   The word Rococo is seen as a combination of the French rocaille, or
   shell, and the Italian barocco, or Baroque style. Due 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
   fashion; interestingly, when the term was first used in English in
   about 1836, it was a colloquialism meaning "old-fashioned". However,
   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

   Rococo developed first in the decorative arts and interior design.
   Louis XV's succession brought a change in the court artists and general
   artistic fashion. By the end of the old king's reign, rich Baroque
   designs were giving way to lighter elements with more curves and
   natural patterns. These elements are evident in the architectural
   designs of Nicolas Pineau. During the Régence, 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 a reaction
   to the excesses of Louis XIV's regime.

   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 François
   Boucher. Rococo still maintained the Baroque taste for complex forms
   and intricate patterns. 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 spread with French artists and engraved publications.
   It was readily received in the Catholic parts of Germany, Bohemia, and
   Austria, where it was merged with the lively German Baroque traditions.
   Particularly in the south, German Rococo was applied with enthusiasm to
   churches and palaces. Architects often draped their interiors in clouds
   of fluffy white stucco. In Italy, the late Baroque styles of Borromini
   and Guarini set the tone for Rococo in Turin, Venice, Naples and
   Sicily, while the arts in Tuscany and Rome remained more wedded to
   Baroque.

   Rococo in England was always thought of as the "French taste." The
   architectural stylings never caught on, though silverwork, porcelain,
   and silks were strongly influenced by the continental style. Thomas
   Chippendale transformed English 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 England is
   considered to had 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-François 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 1780, Rococo had passed out
   of fashion in France, replaced by the order and seriousness of
   Neoclassical artists like Jacques Louis David. It remained popular in
   the provinces and in Italy, until the second phase of neoclassicism,
   "Empire style," arrived with Napoleonic governments and swept Rococo
   away.

   There was a renewed interest in the Rococo style between 1820 and 1870.
   The English were among the first to revive the "Louis XIV style" as it
   was miscalled at first, and paid inflated prices for second-hand Rococo
   luxury goods that could scarcely be sold in Paris. But prominent
   artists like Delacroix and patrons like Empress Eugénie also
   rediscovered the value of grace and playfulness in art and design.

Rococo in different artistic modes

Furniture and decorative objects

   The lighthearted themes and intricate designs of Rococo presented
   themselves best on a smaller 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. This wall clock on its bracket, a well-known
   design by Charles Cressent is in a gilt-brass case filled with
   "contraste" in its details. Its theme: "Love conquers Time," with a
   Cupid atop the clockcase and Time with his scythe, collapsed below.

   Rococo taste enjoyed the exotic character of Chinese arts, and imitated
   them in wares produced in France. In the etagère (case of shelves) to
   the left of the chimneypiece are decorative tea things above a seated
   mandarin; they might have been imported, or they might have been
   European chinoiserie. (Wider aspects of fanciful European views of the
   East are discussed at the entry Orient.)

   In a full-blown Rococo design, like the Table d'appartement (ca. 1730),
   by German designer J. A. Meissonnier, working in Paris (illustration,
   below), 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 c-scrolls and "rocaille." The knot
   (noeud) of the stretcher shows the asymmetrical "contraste" that was a
   Rococo innovation.
   Design for a table by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, Paris ca 1730
   Enlarge
   Design for a table by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, Paris ca 1730

   For small plastic figures of gypsum, clay, biscuit, porcelain ( Sèvres,
   Meissen), the gay Rococo is not unsuitable; in wood, iron, and royal
   metal, it has created some valuable works. However, confessionals,
   pulpits, altars, and even facades lead ever more into the territory of
   the architectonic, which does not easily combine with the curves of
   Rococo, the light and the petty, with forms whose whence and wherefore
   baffle inquiry.

   Dynasties of Parisian ébénistes, some of them German-born, developed a
   style of surfaces curved in three dimensions (bombé), where matched
   veneers ( marquetry temporarily being in eclipse) or vernis martin
   japanning was effortlessly completed by gilt-bronze ("ormolu") mounts:
   Antoine Gaudreau, Charles Cressent, Jean-Pierre Latz, François Oeben,
   Bernard II van Risenbergh are the outstanding names.

   French designers like François de Cuvilliés, Nicholas Pineau and
   Bartolomeo Rastrelli exported Parisian styles in person to Munich and
   Saint Petersburg, while the German Juste-Aurèle 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-Philippenis Poirier.

   In France 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).

   English Rococo tended to be more restrained. Thomas Chippendale's
   furniture designs kept the curves and feel, but stopped short of the
   French heights of whimsy. The most successful exponent of English
   Rococo was probably Thomas Johnson, a gifted carver and furniture
   designer working in London in the mid 1700s.

Interior Design

   A Rococo interior in Gatchina.
   Enlarge
   A Rococo interior in Gatchina.

   Solitude Palace in Stuttgart and Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum, the
   Bavarian church of Wies and Sanssouci in Potsdam are examples of how
   Rococo made its way into European architecture.

   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. 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.

   A few anti-architectural hints rapidly evolved into full-blown Rococo
   at the end of the 1720s and began to affect interiors and decorative
   arts throughout Europe. The richest forms of German Rococo are in
   Catholic Germany (illustration, above).
   Rococo movement enlivens the façade of the Cathedral, Càdiz
   Enlarge
   Rococo movement enlivens the façade of the Cathedral, Càdiz

   Rococo plasterwork by immigrant Italian-Swiss artists like Bagutti and
   Artari is a feature of houses by James Gibbs, and the Franchini
   brothers working in Ireland equalled anything that was attempted in
   England.

   Inaugurated in some rooms in Versailles, it unfolds its magnificence in
   several Parisian buildings (especially the Hôtel Soubise). In Germany,
   French and German artists ( Cuvilliés, Neumann, Knobelsdorff, etc.)
   effected the dignified equipment of the Amalienburg near Munich, and
   the castles of Würzburg, Potsdam, Charlottenburg, Brühl, Bruchsal,
   Solitude (Stuttgart), and Schönbrunn.

   In England, one of Hogarth's set of paintings forming a melodramatic
   morality tale titled Marriage à la Mode, engraved in 1745, shows the
   parade rooms of a stylish London house, in which the only rococo is in
   plasterwork of the salon's ceiling. Palladian architecture is in
   control. Here, on the Kentian mantel, the crowd of Chinese vases and
   mandarins are satirically rendered as hideous little monstrosities, and
   the Rococo wall clock is a jumble of leafy branches.

Painting

   Pilgrimage to Cythera by Jean-Antoine Watteau, captures the frivolity
   and sensuousness of Rococo painting. (1721, Louvre)
   Enlarge
   Pilgrimage to Cythera by Jean-Antoine Watteau, captures the frivolity
   and sensuousness of Rococo painting. (1721, Louvre)

   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 behaviour 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 ( 1684– 1721) is generally considered the first
   great Rococo painter. He had a great influence on later painters,
   including François Boucher ( 1703– 1770) and Jean-Honoré Fragonard (
   1732– 1806), two masters of the late period. Even Thomas Gainsborough's
   ( 1727– 1788) delicate touch and sensitivity are reflective of the
   Rococo spirit.

Sculpture

   Sculpture was another area that Rococo artists branched into.
   Étienne-Maurice Falconet ( 1716– 1791) is widely considered one of the
   best representatives of French Rococo. In general, this style was best
   expressed through delicate porcelain sculpture rather than imposing
   marble statues. Falconet himself was director of a famous porcelain
   factory at Sèvres. The themes of love and gaiety were reflected in
   sculpture, as were elements of nature, curving lines and asymmetry.

   The sculptor Bouchardon represented Cupid engaged in carving his darts
   of love from the club of Hercules; this serves as an excellent symbol
   of the Rococo style—the demigod is transformed into the soft child, the
   bone-shattering club becomes the heart-scathing arrows, just as marble
   is so freely replaced by stucco. In this connection, the French
   sculptors, Robert le Lorrain, Michel Clodion, and Pigalle may be
   mentioned in passing.

Music

   The Galante Style was the equivalent of Rococo in music history, too,
   between Baroque and Classical, and it is not easy to define in words.
   The rococo music style itself developed out of baroque music,
   particular in France. It can be characterized as intimate music with
   extremely refined decoration forms. Exemplars include Jean Philippe
   Rameau and Louis-Claude Daquin.

   Boucher's painting (above) provides a glimpse of the society which
   Rococo reflected. "Courtly" would be pretentious in this upper
   bourgeois circle, yet the man's gesture is gallant. The stylish but
   cozy interior, the informal decorous intimacy of people's manners, the
   curious and delightful details everywhere one turns one's eye, the
   luxury of sipping chocolate: all are "galante."

Rococo "worldliness" and the Roman Catholic Church

   A critical view of the unsuitable nature of Rococo in ecclesiastical
   contexts was taken up by the Catholic Encyclopedia:
   Hints of Rococo can be discerned in the churches by the Brazilian
   master Aleijadinho.
   Enlarge
   Hints of Rococo can be discerned in the churches by the Brazilian
   master Aleijadinho.

          For the church the Rococo style may be, generally speaking,
          compared with worldly church music. Its lack of simplicity,
          earnestness, and repose is evident, while its obtrusive
          artificiality, unnaturalness, and triviality have a distracting
          effect. Its softness and prettiness likewise do not become the
          house of God. However, shorn of its most grievous outgrowths, it
          may have been less distracting during its proper epoch, since it
          then harmonized with the spirit of the age.

          As a development of Baroque, it will be found a congruous
          decoration for baroque churches.

          In general it makes a vast difference whether the style is used
          with moderation in the finer and more ingenious form of the
          French masters, or is carried to extremes with the consistency
          of the German. The French artists seem ever to have regarded the
          beauty of the whole composition as the chief object, while the
          German laid most stress on the bold vigour of the lines; thus,
          the lack of symmetry was never so exaggerated in the works of
          the former.

          In the church Rococo may at times have the charm of prettiness
          and may please by its ingenious technic, provided the objects be
          small and subordinate a credence table with cruets and plate, a
          vase, a choir desk, lamps, key and lock, railings or balustrade,
          do not too boldly challenge the eye, and fulfill all the
          requirements of mere beauty of form.

          Rococo is indeed really empty, solely a pleasing play of the
          fancy. In the sacristy (for presses etc.) and ante chambers it
          is more suitable than in the church itself—at least so far as
          its employment in conspicuous places is concerned.

          The Rococo style accords very ill with the solemn office of the
          monstrance, the tabernacle, and the altar, and even of the
          pulpit. The naturalism of certain Belgian pulpits, in spite or
          perhaps on account of their artistic character, has the same
          effect as have outspoken Rococo creations.

          The purpose of the confessional and the baptistery would also
          seem to demand more earnest forms.

          In the case of the larger objects, the sculpture of Rococo forms
          either seems pretty, or, if this prettiness be avoided,
          resembles Baroque. The phantasies of this style agree ill with
          the lofty and broad walls of the church. However, everything
          must be decided according to the object and circumstances; the
          stalls in the cathedral of Mainz elicit not only our approval
          but also our admiration, while the celebrated privileged altar
          of Vierzehnheiligen repels us both by its forms and its plastic
          decoration.

          There are certain Rococo chalices (like that at the monastery of
          Einsiedeln) which are, as one might say, decked out in choice
          festive array; there are others, which are more or less
          misshapen owing to their bulging curves or figures. Chandeliers
          and lamps may also be disfigured by obtrusive shellwork or want
          of all symmetry, or may amid great decorativeness be kept within
          reasonable limits.

          The material and technique are also of consequence in Rococo.
          Woven materials, wood carvings, and works in plaster of Paris
          are evidently less obtrusive than works in other materials, when
          they employ the sportive Rococo. Iron (especially in railings)
          and bronze lose their coldness and hardness, when animated by
          the Rococo style; in the case of the latter, gilding may be used
          with advantage. Gilding and painting belong to the regular means
          through which this style, under certain circumstances, enchants
          the eye and fancy. All things considered, we may say of the
          Rococo style—as has not unreasonably been said of the Baroque
          and of the Renaissance—that it is very apt to introduce a
          worldly spirit into the church, even if we overlook the figural
          accessories, which are frequently in no way conducive to
          sentiments of devotion, and are incompatible with the sobriety
          and greatness of the architecture and with the seriousness of
          sacred functions.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rococo"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
