Rococo

The Rococo style of art emerged in France in the early 18th century. It is characterized by opulence, grace, playfulness, and lightness in contrast to the heavier themes and darker colors of the earlier Baroque period. Rococo motifs focused on the carefree aristrocratic life and on lighthearted romance rather then heroic battles or religious figures. In the mid-late 18th century, rococo was surpassed by the Neoclassical style.

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.)

Related Topics:
Chinoiserie - 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.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
Gypsum - Clay - Biscuit - Porcelain - Sèvres - Meissen - Confessional - Pulpit - Altar

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
Marquetry - Antoine Gaudreau - Charles Cressent - Jean-Pierre Latz - François Oeben - Bernard II van Risenbergh

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

French designers like François Cuvilliés and Nicholas Pineau 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.

Related Topics:
François Cuvilliés - Munich - Saint Petersburg - Juste-Aurèle Meissonier

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
English - Thomas Johnson

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Architecture

Solitude Palace in Stuttgart (image at left) and the Bavarian church of Wies are examples of how Rococo made its way into European architecture.

Related Topics:
Stuttgart - Bavarian - Wies

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
Architectonic - Stucco - Furniture - Porcelain

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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 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.

Related Topics:
James Gibbs - Franchini brothers

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Inaugurated in some rooms in of 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.

Related Topics:
Hôtel Soubise - Cuvilliés - Neumann - Knobelsdorff - Amalienburg - Munich - Würzburg - Potsdam - Charlottenburg - Brühl - Bruchsal - Stuttgart - 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.

Related Topics:
Palladian - Kentian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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. Their 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.

Related Topics:
1684 - 1721 - François Boucher - 1703 - 1770 - Jean-Honoré Fragonard - 1732 - 1806 - Thomas Gainsborough - 1727 - 1788

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
Étienne-Maurice Falconet - 1716 - 1791 - Sèvres

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
Bouchardon - Cupid - Hercules - Marble - Robert le Lorrain - Michel Clodion - Pigalle

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

Related Topics:
Galante Style - Music history - Jean Philippe Rameau - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~