Context• In France, the death of Louis XIV in 1715 lead the elites to leave the court at Versailles for the pleasures of Paris. Although they still swore allegiance to the French monarchy, the aristocrats expanded their social, political, and economic power. • The French aristocracy became leading patrons of art, favoring a style that was luxurious, frivolous, sensual, clever, and full of witty artifice – Rococo. • The word Rococo comes from a combination of the word “Baroque” and the French word rocaille (roh-KAI), meaning “pebbles,” referring to a style featuring elaborately stylized shell-like, rocklike, flower, fern, and scroll motifs. Originally designating the fanciful shell-work of artificial grottoes, rocaille came to be synonymous with Louis XV style.• A grotto is a natural or artificial cave, usually featuring water, that were used as decorations in gardens, and frequently housed sculptures.

Apollo’s Bath Grotto, Versailles

Rocaille ornamentation

The Salon• After the death of Louis XIV, hôtels (private townhomes, not hotels as we think of them) replaced the royal court at Versailles.• In these hôtels were held regular salons, or gatherings of people (often of different classes) under the roof of an inspiring host (usually female), held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of the participants through conversation. • At a time when society was defined and regulated almost completely by men, women could be a powerful influence only in the salon. Women were the center of the life in the salon and carried a very important role as regulators. They could select their guests and decide about the subjects (social, literary, or political) of their meetings. • The salon served as an informal university for women in which women were able to exchange ideas, receive and give criticism, read their own works and hear the works and ideas of other intellectuals. • The intellectual exchanges which occurred in the frequent Parisian salons was instrumental in fostering the ideas of the Enlightenment.

Reading from MoliereJean Francois de Troy

c. 1728

Salon de la Princesse• The feminine look of the Rococo style suggests the taste and social initiative of the women who held salons.• In comparison to the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles, the Salon de la Princesse featured softer, curvier contours instead of straight lines.• The rounded shape of the room is softened further by the gentle curve of the wall into the ceiling. • Arch-shaped openings (which housed windows or mirrors) are separated by sections of wall, topped by irregularly shaped painted sections. Above are sculptures and the arabesque tendrils of the rocaille decorations. • The rocaille decorations suggest growing foliage and shell-like shapes of nature. • In addition to their elaborate painted, sculptural, and architectural decorations, salons would have once been additionally decorated with small sculptures, ceramics, silver pieces, small paintings, elaborately carved furniture, and tapestries. • The setting would have harmonized with the sounds of chamber music, elaborate costumes, and witty conversations which once filled the room.

Salon de la PrincesseHôtel de Soubise,

Paris, FranceArchitect: Germain Boffrand

Painter: Charles-Joseph NatoireSculptor: Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne

c. 1740

Amalienburg• The French Rococo style quickly spread beyond Paris, as evidenced by the Amalienburg, a small lodge designed by the French architect François de Cuvilliés (KOO-vee-yay) in the park of the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, Germany. • The most spectacular room in the Amalienburg is the Hall of Mirrors, which was decorated with a silver and blue ensemble of architecture, stucco relief, silvered bronze mirrors, and crystal.• Silvery light pours in through the windows, and is amplified by the interior mirrors. • The organic decorations weave rhythmically around the upper walls and the ceiling coves, as though in motion.

Hall of MirrorsFrançois de Cuvilliés

The Amalienburg, Nymphenburg Palace Park.Munich, Germany. Early 1700s.

Vierzehnheiligen• Although most commonly used in domestic architecture, Rococo style was also occasionally used in churches as well, such as the Pilgrimage Church of Vierzehnheiligen (14 Saints), in Germany. • Numerous windows flood the church with light, giving it a feeling of lightness and delicacy. • Although the exterior of the church appears to be a typical rectilinear basilican plan, the interior is very unusual. In what way is the architectural style of the plan influenced by Borromini?• The fluid flow of the design of connected ovals and circles creates a sense of pulsing motion. • The designs fluidity of line, the floating and hovering surfaces, the interwoven spaces, and the dematerialized masses combine to suggest a “frozen” counterpart to the intricacy of voices in a Baroque fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750).

Interior of the Pilgrimage church of Vierzehnheiligen.

Balthasar Neumann.Near Staffelstein, Germany,

1743 – 1772.

L’Indifferent• The most significant Rococo artist was Jean-Antoine Watteau. • To understand the change in style from French Aristocratic Baroque to Rococo, compare Rigaud’s Portrait of Louis XIV to Watteau’s L’Indifferent.• How are the two paintings similar or different?• Consider also the contrast in size and patronage from one era to the next (from primarily royal patronage to primarily private aristocratic patronage).

L’IndifferentWatteau. C. 1716.

Oil on canvas.10” x 7”.

Louis XIVHyacinthe

Rigaud.1701.Oil on

canvas.9’2” x 6’3”.

Pilgrimage to Cythera• In this painting, Watteau presents luxuriously costumed lovers who have made a “pilgrimage” to Cythera, the island of eternal youth and love, sacred to Aphrodite. • Watteau was largely responsible for creating a specific type of Rococo painting, called a fête galante (amorous festival) painting, which depicted the outdoor amusements of French high society. • This painting was Watteau’s submission for entry into the respectable French Royal Academy of Painting. Fête galante paintings were not yet a category, but, rather than reject his painting, the Academy made a special new category for it.• At the time, the Academy was split between following Poussin (who emphasized form instead of color or detail) or Rubens (who emphasized a coloristic approach). With the admission of Watteau (a Rubens follower), the Rubenistes won out, establishing the coloristic Rococo style as preferred. • Watteau strove to depict elegance and sweetness, by using soft, hazy lighting and subtly modeled shapes. • He captured slow movement from unusual angles, searching for the smoothest, most poised, and most refined attitudes. • The hazy color, gliding motions, and the air of suave gentility appealed to Watteau’s wealthy patrons.

Pilgrimage to Cythera.Jean-Antoine Watteau. 1717.

Oil on canvas. 4’3” x 6’4”.

Signboard of Gersaint

• Watteau’s life was cut short by tuberculosis, of which he died at 36. The final weeks of his life were spent at the house of Edme François Gersaint, a prominent art dealer with an art gallery in Paris. • During his final illness, Watteau painted this image as a signboard for Gersaint’s shop. When hung, it proved so popular that it was sold shortly thereafter. • This is a generic image of an art gallery, not a specific depiction of Watteau’s shop. • Of what class are the people in the shop?

Signboard of Gersaint.Watteau. C. 1721. Oil on canvas. 5’4” x 10’1”

• A painting of Louis XIV is being lowered into a crate on the left. This may refer to the name of the shop, Au Grand Monarche. It may also be a reminder of his death a few years prior. • Above the painting of Louis is a clock, on top of which is a personification of Fame sheltering a pair of lovers. This is a reminder that the passage of time ravages fame and love.• The young woman gazing into a mirror on the right represents vanity (vanitas), and the frailty of human life.

Cupid a Captive• After Watteau’s passing, François Boucher (1703-1770) rose to prominence, in part because he was a favorite artist of Madame Pompadour (a popular salon hostess and mistress to Louis XV). • Boucher was well known for his depictions of nymphs and goddesses cavorting playfully in leafy Arcadian landscapes. • In this image, a pyramid of pink and ivory female and infant skin is set of against a cool, shady green background. • The soft pink and sky blue light seems to radiate off the pale flesh of the figures, which is both covered and revealed by the fluttering draperies. • The dramatic crisscrossing diagonals, curvilinear forms, and twisting of bodies are softened from the powerful drama of Baroque style to a lighthearted, sensual playfulness. • Although these scenes depict fictitious figures, they reflect the favorite aristocratic enjoyment of leisurely frolics in nature.

Cupid a CaptiveFrançois Boucher

1754. Oil on canvas.5’6” x 2’10”

Girl Reclining• Boucher created many decorations for Versailles, as well as provided designs to major tapestry manufacturing companies. • In 1765, Boucher became First Painter to the King. In this role he painted several portraits of Louis XV, scenes from daily life, mythological pictures, and a series of erotic works often depicting the adventures of Venus. • One such picture is Girl Reclining: Louise O’Murphy, which shows the 18 year old O’Murphy stretched out nude on a couch. • With her clothing and pillows strewn around her, and a pink rose fallen to the floor, there is little doubt as to the erotic connotation.• In contrast to Watteau’s images of gods, goddesses, and putti frolic around in unreal settings, Boucher’s painting depicts a very real human in a real Parisian room. • Images such as this one, when hung on a wall, would usually have a small curtain affixed to the front, so that only men could view the works, and women would be shielded from their “improper” content.

Girl Reclining: Louise O’MurphyFrançois Boucher. 1751. Oil on canvas. 29” x 23”.

The Swing• Fragonard was a student of Boucher whose coloristic, decorative skill matched his masters. • In this scene, a young aristocrat man has convinced an old bishop to swing the young man’s sweetheart higher and higher, while her lover (and the work’s patron), in the lower left, stretches out to admire her from a strategic position on the ground. • The young woman flirtatiously kicks off one shoe towards a statue of Cupid, who puts his a finger to his lips. • The Watteau-like landscape is lush with leaves and swirling branches. • The warm tones of the young woman make her stand out against the cool greens and blues of the background. • The glowing soft light and the pastel colors convey the theme’s sensuality. • The setting resembles that of a stage scene for one of the popular comic operas.

The SwingJean-Honoré Fragonard

1766. Oil on canvas.2’8” x 2’2”

Apotheosis of the Pisani Family• Giambattista Tiepolo was a Venetian painter, who was trained in the illusionistic style of Italian Baroque ceiling frescoes. • He was well travelled, producing works in Austria, Germany, Spain, and Italy. • Although trained in the Baroque ceiling style, he enjoyed the bright, cheerful colors and relaxed compositions of Rococo easel paintings, and strove to combine the two. • In this huge ceiling fresco, Tiepolo depicted seemingly weightless figures fluttering through vast sunlit skies and fleecy clouds, their figures dark against the white clouds behind. • Tiepolo elevated the rank of the members of the Pisani family to those of gods in a light-hearted, heavenly scene.

Apotheosis of the Pisani FamilyGiambattista Tiepolo.1762. Ceiling fresco in the Villa Pisani, Stra, Italy. 77’1” x 44’3”.

Invention of the Balloon• By the last quarter of the 1700s, Rococo fell mainly out of style, criticized for being frivolous and immoral. • One artist who continued in the Rococo style until the French Revolution was Claude Michel, known as Clodion, a sculptor who specialized in small, terracotta sculptures for tabletops.• This piece is one he made to win the commission for a monument commemorating the invention of the hot air balloon, which at the time were highly decorated with golden braids, tassels, and painted Rococo scenes. • Clodion’s balloon rises from a columnar launching pad in billowing clouds of smoke, heralded at the right by a trumpeting Victory.• Putti stoke the fire basket, providing the hot air to make the balloon ascend, while others gather reeds for fuel and fly up toward them.

Invention of the Balloon.Clodion. 1784. Terracotta model for a monument, height 43”.

Nymph and Satyr Cavorting• Clodion also made sensual figure sculptures to be placed on tabletops in elegant Rococo salons.• In this sculpture, depicting two followers of Bacchus, a nymph rushes to pour wine into the mouth of a half-man, half-goat satyr. • How is this sculpture reminiscent of Mannerist sculptures (such as Saltcellar of Francis I by Cellini and Abduction of the Sabine Women by Giovanni da Bologna)?• In what ways does this sculpture fit into the style of Rococo?

Nymph and Satyr CarousingClodion. 1790. Terra-cotta. 1’11” high.