Rococo Characteristics of Rococo According to Stokstad Rococo

Rococo

Characteristics of Rococo: • According to Stokstad, Rococo is refined, fanciful, and often playful (939). • Rococo is characterized by pastel colors, delicately curving forms, dainty figuresm and a light-hearted mood. • Appeared in France around 1700, primarily as a style of interior design as the French court moved from Versailles back to Paris and all the rich courtiers (think entourage but incredibly wealthy) redecorated their hotels (mansions) in the latest style of the moment. • Paintings on canvas were used to decorate the walls.

Characteristics of Rococo: • According to Gardner, Rococo appeared in France around 1700, primarily as a style of interior design (780). • Shells and shell forms are the principal motifs in Rococo ornament • Expect irregular painted shapes surmounted by sculpture (imagine a painted surface with a white, sculpted putto on top). • Painting, architecture, and sculpture will combine to form a single ensemble, (see Francois de Cuvillies, Hall of Mirrors, the Amalienburg, Nymphenburg Palace park, Munich Germany, early 18 th century). • Expect soft colors; themes of love and happy scenes in outdoor settings a putto Hall of Mirrors

Characteristics of Rococo: Compare the style Rococo painting and Baroque; both these painting were made for the French court. Hyacinthe Rigaud Louis XIV 1701 Baroque Hyacinthe Rigaud State Portrait of Louis XV 1715 Baroque moving toward Rococo; this boy will grow up to become the man who befriends Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry

Jean-Antoine Watteau Pilgrimage to Cythera 1718 -20 Oil on canvas, 129 x 194 cm

Jean-Antoine Watteau The Festival of Love c. 1717 oil on canvas, 61 x 75 cm

Jean-Antoine Watteau Diana at her Bath 1715 -16 Oil on canvas, 80 x 101 cm

Jean-Antoine Watteau: the upper-class enjoys nature while on elaborate picnics; subject matter: fete galante (elegant outdoor entertainment)—a subset of genre painting intended for the rich? ; Watteau seems to love “soft-focus” trees and hazy atmospheric effects. Watteau died when he was only thirty-seven of the same disease that everyone in Wuthering Heights dies from…. .

François Boucher Diana Resting after her Bath 1742 Oil on canvas, 56 x 73 cm

François Boucher Diana Resting after the Hunt Oil on canvas, 56 x 73 cm

François Boucher The Toilet of Venus 1751 Oil on canvas, 108, 3 x 85, 1 cm This painting and its pendant, Venus Consoling Love (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. ), were commissioned by Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV, for her Château de Bellevue, near Paris. Madame de Pompadour had played the title role in La Toilette de Vénus staged at Versailles in 1750. (REALLY!!!? —those crazy 18 th century French courtiers…. ) From http: //www. metmuseum. org

François Boucher Portrait of Marquise de Pompadour 1759

François Boucher • moves the viewer closer to the subject; • the content of many of his works are based on mythological scenes; • Madame du Pompadour was François Boucher’s major patron; Pompadour was an amateur artist and took lessons from Boucher; • Boucher worked from 1735 on (and on…. ) decorating the royal palaces at Versailles and Fontainebleau; he was a court painter (which would be the opposite of selfexpression—the opposite of Northern Song or the literati).

Jean-Honoré Fragonard The Meeting 1773 Oil on canvas, 318 x 244 cm

Jean-Honoré Fragonard The Musical Contest c. 1754 oil on canvas

Jean-Honoré Fragonard The Love Letter 1770 s Oil on canvas

Jean-Honoré Fragonard The Stolen Kiss 1787 -89 oil on canvas

Jean-Honoré Fragonard The Swing 1767 Oil on canvas

Jean-Honoré Fragonard was an apprentice /assistant to Boucher. Notice that the content of Fragonard’s works seems to be “interrupted” or “frozen” moments between lovers. Because it seems as if time has suddenly been stopped in his paintings, the paintings have a tremendous immediacy. His patron was originally Madame du Barry (the last mistress of Louis XV), but unfortunately, du Barry decided the Rococo style was “over” and Neoclassicism was the new “hot” thing.

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin La Gouvernante (The Governess) 1739 Oil on canvas This type of work is called a genre painting.

Johannes Vermeer The Milkmaid c. 1658 Oil on canvas, 45, 5 x 41 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam In many ways, Vermeer’s work can be read as genre painting. However, Vermeer’s use of light and his incredibly sculptural forms (think Piero della Francesca) elevate his work beyond the actual subject….

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin Servant Returning from the Market (La Pourvoyeuse) 1738 Oil on canvas

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin The Attentive Nurse c. 1738 Oil on canvas

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin The Hard-working Mother 1740 Oil on canvas

Supplement your book knowledge with visual knowledge… Marie Antoinette (2006) PG-13 Sofia Coppola directs a stylized portrait of Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst), the naive Austrian princess who married Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman) to become queen of France at age 19. The film explores the effects of a luxurious yet terribly confining lifestyle on the young queen. Her resulting youthful indiscretion and frivolity ultimately led to her undoing. A Cannes Golden Palm nominee, this biopic also took Oscar honors for costume design. That’s the only one I can recommend…. the others are rated “R”…. .