TIMELINE: Baroque and Rococo
Baroque and Rococo The arts of the 1600s are known as Baroque and the arts of the 1700s became Rococo.
Baroque This style began in Rome, Italy in the 1600s and spread throughout most of Europe due to the encouragement of the Roman Catholic Church. Baroque meant irregular, grotesque, and contorted. Baroque art contained exaggerated movement to produce drama, tension, and exuberance within the piece. This term described the movement, curves, and frivolous elegance seen in art and architecture.
Baroque Paintings of the period contained twisted figures, movement, and dramatic lighting.
Aeneas’ Flight from Troy, 1598 Barocci
Baroque Statues appeared in hallways, gardens, and even lined rooftops. Particular sculptures of the era were groundbreaking because they implied movement and psychological intensity.
David, 1624 Bernini (David preparing to throw the stone to take down Goliath) - sculpted for a Cardinal’s villa
The Baroque Period Scientific knowledge made monumental gains during the Baroque period. Scientific discoveries from this period include Newton’s laws of gravity, calculus, laws of basic chemistry, and the beginning of modern medicine.
The Baroque Period Western European kingdoms expanded in the wake of exploration. France created trading posts and colonies in Canada and the Mississippi Valley down to New Orleans. France became the dominant power of the western world, and French became the language of culture and diplomacy.
The Baroque Period France built lavish courts for kings and nobles. King Louis XIV epitomized the glory of court life. His preoccupation with everything on a grand scale was not simply an expression of taste – the arts were used as tools to illustrate the power of the state and the position of the king as ruler by divine right.
The Baroque Period Artists became residents of the court, painting portraits of the king, his family, and friends.
The Baroque Period The architecture at this time was extremely ornate, inside and out. Stylized curves and leaves, gold leaf and gold paints, silks, plaster work in designs of cherubs, and many other types of decoration made interiors appear like oaks with much icing.
Palace of Versailles, 1632 Versailles, France
Palace of Versailles, 1632 Versailles, France
Palace of Versailles, 1632 Versailles, France
Palace of Versailles, 1632 Versailles, France
Palace of Versailles, 1632
Palace of Versailles, 1632 Versailles, France
Palace of Versailles, 1632
The Baroque Period King Louis created elaborate rules of etiquette and occupied every moment with trivial duties and entertainments. The monarchs and nobility of this period, both men and women, dressed in powdered wigs, high heels, laces and ruffles, jeweled buttons and buckles with jewelry on both hands and their necks. Elaborate balls, carnivals, and festivals were held on most any occasion.
Louis XIV of France Riguad 1701
The Baroque Period With France as the forefront for lavish living, it gave way for a new artistic movement.
Rococo Rococo was a term given to a refined form of Baroque art. The style developed in the 1700s in Paris, France as a reaction against the grandeur, symmetry, and strict regulations of the Baroque style. Rococo artists opted for a more jocular, florid, and graceful approach to Baroque art and architecture. Rococo was more ornate and made strong usage of asymmetrical designs, curves, and gold.
Rococo King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette ushered in the waive of Rococo in Versailles.
Rococo Their ornate and lavish fashions spread the Rococo style throughout all of France.
Rococo Fashions of silk, satins, and laces with lavish jewelry and stylized wigs were realistically and beautifully painted in rich colors.
Marie Antoinette at age 13 Portrait of Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria Martin van Meytens 1767
King Louis XVI at age 20 Portrait of Louis XVI, King of France Joseph Duplessis 1776
Marie Antoinette at age 19 in her coronation robes. Portrait of Marie-Antoinette of Austria Jean-Baptiste Gautier 1775
Louis XVI, King of France Antoine-Francois Callet 1789
Marie Antoinette Archduchess Marie Antoinette, Queen of France Louise Le Brun 1778
Rococo It was a time when the wealthy were happy and carefree and the lower classes suffered in poverty. This difference would bring about the rebellions of both the American colonists and the French lower classes.
Rococo throughout Europe
Church of the Augustinian Cannons, 1763 Polling, Germany
St. Andriy’s Church, 1744 Kiev, Ukraine
Imperial Abbey of Ottobeuren, 1737 Ottobeuren, Germany
Imperial Abbey of Ottobeuren, 1737 Ottobeuren, Germany