1. Rococo Art

2. There were four famous Rococo style painters from France: Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard, and Vigée-Le Brun.

3. All of these Rococo painters were from France.

4. The Rococo style is fancy, like Baroque, but it is also lighthearted and not serious.

5. Painting #41 Watteau’s Gilles Say “g” with a hard G as in goat, then ee

6. Antoine Watteau 1684-1721

7. Clowns are people who dress up and act in silly ways, to make us laugh.

8. A comedy is a funny show.

9. Italian people loved comedies.

10. Watteau’s painting Gilles is a painting of a clown from an Italian comedy.

12. Watteau’s Gilles Do you think he looks happy or sad? Wouldn’t I look silly if I dressed like that? What do you think the other people are doing? (They are actors in a comedy, too.)

13. Painting #43 Watteau’s Embarkation for Cythera

14. To embark is to leave on a trip. So, embarkation means leaving on a trip.

15. Cythera is an island of Greece.

16. Cythera is famous because Venus (also called Aphrodite) was born there, or so say stories.

17. Here is Watteau’s Embarkation for Cythera.

20. Watteau’s Embarkation for Cythera Venus was the goddess of love and Cythera was her island. So everyone is in love and having fun…

21. François Boucher 1703-1770

22. Painting #42 Boucher’s Le Déjeuner (which means The Afternoon Meal)

25. Boucher’s Le Déjeuner (which means The Afternoon Meal) These children lived a long time ago, but do you think are they like us? Is the mother feeding a baby? Is the little girl playing with a horse and doll? But isn’t the room very, very fancy?

26. Painting #44 Boucher’s Madame de Pompadour

27. This is King Louis XV of France. He was king when Boucher was painting.

28. Like all kings, King Louis XV had many friends and helpers. One of his friends was called Madame de Pompadour.

29. Madame de Pompadour was famous when she was alive, and many paintings were made of her. Here is one of Boucher’s paintings of her.

31. Boucher’s Madame de Pompadour Is her dress plain and simple, or fancy? What does she have in her hand? Can you find a candle? A dog?

32. Painting #45 Fragonard’s The Reader

33. Jean-Honoré Fragonard 1732-1806

36. Fragonard’s The Reader Fragonard painted this very quickly. What is that around her neck? (It is called a ruff.) Is the book very small or very large? What do you think she is reading?

37. Paintings #46, 47, and 48 Vigée-Le Brun’s Self-Portraits

38. Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun 1755-1842

39. Until the 1900s, there were not many great women painters. Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun was one of the best. She made many self-portraits, or paintings of herself.

40. Le Brun’s Self-Portrait What is she holding in her hands? What is she doing? Does she have a ruff? She is putting paint on canvas. Is there anything on her canvas yet? Look closely!

41. Le Brun’s Self- Portrait in a Turban with Her Child A turban is a kind of hat. Was she a mother as well as a painter?

42. The End