Eighteenth Century Art in Europe and the
Americas
Rococo
“intentional visual redundancy”
Enlightenment
Strong belief in ratonality, science, new forms of governance, epsecially democracy
Rococo Style in Europe
Elegant designs and pastel color base
Frivolous, playful subjects
Curves and dainty figures
Favored by aristocratic class which
were more concerned with pursuit of
pleasure
Mainly developed in France in wake of
death of Louis XIV
SLIDE: Germain Boffrand’s Salon de La Princesse, Hotel de Soubise, Paris. Begun 1732
Jean Honore Fragonard,
The Swing, 1766. Oil on
canvas.
This room is the setting for an ensemble of canvases by Fragonard and a remarkable group of French
eighteenth-century furniture. Four of these canvases — The Pursuit, The Meeting, The Lover Crowned, and
Love Letters — were commissioned in 1771 for Madame du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, and were installed
in a new pavilion on the grounds of her château at Louveciennes. Upon their completion they were rejected
in favor of a series commissioned from Joseph-Marie Vien.
"If exclusive privileges were not granted, and if the financial
system would not tend to concentrate wealth, there would be
few great fortunes and no quick wealth. When the means of
growing rich is divided between a greater number of citizens,
wealth will also be more evenly distributed; extreme poverty
and extreme wealth would be also rare."
-- Diderot
Chardin, Saying Grace, 1740
William Hogarth, The Marriage Contract, from “Marriage a la Mode.” 1743-45
Joseph Wright of Derby, An Experiment on a Bird in the Pump, 1768. Oil on canvas.
Richard Boyle (Lord Burlington)
Chiswick House
1724-29
Classical Revival, England
Palladio, Villa Rotunda, Vicenza. Begun 1560s
J. L. David, Oath of the Horatii,
J. L David, The Death of Marat
1793
Thomas Jefferson. In 1796, Jefferson began to build a great house for himself atop a small
mountain near Charlottesville, Virginia (Monticello means "small mountain" in Italian). He continued
to build and modify the house until his death in 1826. The house is an expression of the Age of
Enlightenment, with such features as a built-in calendar and a greenhouse. The design is
Neoclassical in style, employing elements from Greek and Roman architecture.
Four of these canvases — The Pursuit, The Meeting, The Lover Crowned, and Love Letters —
were commissioned by Madame Du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, for a new pavilion in the garden of her château
at Louveciennes.
These masterpieces of rococo painting decorated the London residence of J. Pierpont Morgan
before Mr. Frick acquired them.