Rococo Art This PowerPoint is a compilation of slides and information from PowerPoints created by Matt Curliss, Avneesh Kohli, Jade Nguyen, and William V. Ganis, PhD, and from books by Marilyn Stokstad Dr. Schiller: AP History of Art

“Rococo” Style that was mainly used in smaller works, often containing furniture, utensils, and other delicate accessories Rococo interiors were lively works of art with elegant furniture, enchanting small sculptures, and plenty cheerful light A characteristic of Rococo architecture was its union of various arts Many of the accessories that were once in these interiors have been removed or stolen and all that remains are the exquisite relief sculptures and gilded moldings Good acoustics for the chamber of music that was played within them Born in Paris during the reign of Louis XV The style was a special display ground for curvilinear, delicate ornamentation with complicated patterns Artists avoided straight lines Figures were slender Like an extreme Baroque, or baroque gone wild

Germain Boffrand Salon de la Princesse with painting by Charles- Joseph Natoire and sculpture by J.B. Lemoine Hôtel de Soubise, Paris, France Gardner plate This room is comparable to the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles The only difference is that it is a more softened style and the panels are flexible sinuous curves that adapt to the mirror’s reflections

François de Cuvilliès the Amalienburg Nymphenburg Palace Park, Munich, Germany early 18th C.

François de Cuvilliès Hall of Mirrors, the Amalienburg Nymphenburg Palace Park, Munich, Germany early 18th C. Gardner plate Exhibits the curving flow of lines and planes that cohere in a sculptural unity that conveys a sense of great elegance The most famous room is also the circular hall of mirrors which has a silver and blue theme color of architecture, stucco relief, bronze mirrors, and crystal

François de Cuvilliès Hall of Mirrors, the Amalienburg Nymphenburg Palace Park, Munich, Germany early 18th C.

Francis Mansart Orléans wing of the Château de Blois Blois, France

Antoine Watteau L’Indifferent ca oil on canvas 10 x 7 in. Gardner plate Portrayed the pompous majesty in supreme glory Portrait of Louis XIV as a young boy as the common heavy or staid style It is much more delicate The mincing minuet that the king is being depicted doing portrays his playful manner

Antoine Watteau Return from (or Pilgrimage to )Cythera oil on canvas 4 ft. 3 in. x 6 ft. 4 in. Gardner plate This painting was used for artist’s admission to the royal academy It portrays his style as a derivative of Ruben’s style The painting represents a group of lovers departing from an island of youth and love, sacred to Aphrodite There is an elegant and tender sense of contentment. There is also a carefully crafted attitude of the different figures

The artist was credited with the creation of fete galante painting This picture does not depict every day life as most Rococo paintings usually do It has soft and feathery brush strokes, dainty figures, and muted colors

Antoine Watteau View through the Trees in the Park of Pierre Crozat (La Perspective) ca oil on canvas 18 3/8 x 21 3/4 in.

Francois Boucher, Cupid a Captive, 1754 Gardner plate Boucher was a follower of Watteau and the painter for Madame de Pompadour ( the influential mistress of Louis XV) His fame was gained through his paintings of graceful allegories, with Arcadian shepherds, nymphs, and goddesses cavorting in shady glens engulfed in pink and sky blue light. “Boucher’s paintings are highly caloric with little nutritional value”

This painting presents viewers with a rosy pyramid of infant and female flesh set off against a cool and leafy background Conveys a sense of masterly composition combined with the dynamic use of criss-crossing diagonal and curvilinear forms A common subject of Rococo paintings is the pursuit of love

Francois Boucher, Marquise de Pompadour 1756.

Jean-Honré Fragonard, The Swing, 1766 Gardner plate 24-86

Fragonard was a student of Boucher and is considered by many to have surpassed the genius of his master. This is a typical “intrigue” picture. A young gentleman has managed an arrangement whereby an unsuspecting old bishop swings the young man’s pretty sweetheart higher and higher, while her lover (and the work’s patron), in the lower left-hand corner, stretches out to admire her ardently from a strategic position on the ground. The young lady flirtatiously and boldly kicks off her shoe at the little statue on the god of discretion, who holds his finger to his lips.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Bathers, 1766.

Giambattista Tiepolo The Apotheosis of the Pisani Family fresco Gardner plate 24-79

A “painted festival for the imagination” Tiepolo was the last great Italian painter to have an international impact until the 20th century bright, cheerful colors and relaxed compositions this fresco shows airy populations fluttering through vast sunlit skies and fleecy clouds, making dark accents against the brilliant light of high noon the Pisani members are elevated to the rank of gods in a heavenly scene

The difference between quadro riportato and di soto in sù paintings is that di sotto in sù paintings have figures that are placed as if they were over your head Ceiling fresco in the Villa Pisani at Stra in Northern Italy Depicts airy populations flying in bright clouds and skies This shows how the Pisani family members are being elevated to the rank of the gods In his future paintings, Tiepolo painted with less symbolic rhetoric and more with elegance and grace used to create ceiling paintings into the Rococo period. Di sotto in sù

Clodion Nymph and Satyr ca terracotta 1 ft. 11 in. high Gardner plate This sculpture has an open and vivid composition suggestive of its dynamic roots There’s an overarching source of erotic playfulness To energize him, his eager nymph pours wine into his mouth The sculpture’s medium is terracotta It is a masterly display of Rococo’s style of sensual exhilaration