Versailles and the Rococo
Rococo
“(pronounced roh-cocoa), also referred to as "Late Baroque",
is an 18th-century style which developed
as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry
and became increasingly
ornate, florid, and playful.”
Wikipedia
Ie. Refined, playful, and ornate.
Versailles, France. The Palace of Louis XIV, XV, XVI, (L. XVII)
Versailles, Hall of Mirrors
Because France was so powerful in Europe, Rococo exported, here German Rococo
Rococo Revival Parlor, c. 1850es, NY, now in MMA
Italian Renaissance
(Santa Maria Nova
Florence
Spanish Rococo
Church of San Francisco
Mexico
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Most famous French
Rococo painter
François Boucher was Fragonard’s teacher
Boucher
The Toilet of Venus
Odalisque
Note love of pink & gold colors
(and pastels)
Fragonard, The Stolen Kiss, late 1780es
On the Topic of Love
The Love Letter
Note similar to Vermeer but
Pastels
Fragonard
The Happy Accidents of
The Swing
1767
Paris
Fragonard
The Happy Accidents of
The Swing
1767
Here is the scandal:
The man getting the
“interesting” view is just
A flirting nobleman,
Her lover is the PRIEST
Pulling the swing.
Note that aristocratic
Marriages were
arranged
Jean-Antoine Watteau
France
Voulez-vous triompher des Belles ?
Do you want to succeed w/ Cuties?
Watteau
The Return from Cythera
The painting portrays a "fête galante"; an amorous celebration or party enjoyed by the elite
aristocracy of France during the reign of Louis XV. The aristocracy would retreat to pastoral
settings to cavort in love and flirtations. The many cupids flying around the couples and pushing
them closer together, as well as the statue of Venus (the goddess of sexual love) are included as
erotic overtones,
Watteau,
Pilgrimage to Cythera
Oil
Jean Siméon Chardin, (1699-1779, master of still life and genre scenes
Louis XV gave him a studio in the Louvre. “He favored simple yet beautifully textured
still lifes, and sensitively handled domestic interiors and genre paintings.”
Jean Siméon Chardin ,
The Soap Bubble
France
The
Top
Vermeer
Like?
Interior
w/
Car.
light
Jean Siméon Chardin, House of Cards, France
Anne Vallayer-Coster, Still life with lobster
Admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1770, one of VERY
Few female artists.
Marguerite Gérard
The first steps