Rococo

From the French rocaille and coquille meaning “rock” and “shell” used to decorate Baroque

gardens. Scholars are divided on whether Rococo is own style or refinement of Baroque

Rococo – expression of wit and frivolity, although at its best there are more serious, somber and satirical undercurrents.

A world of fantasy and grace with tastes for the exotic – “Chinoserie” – taste for Chinese imagery during the 18th century.

After the death of Louis XIV, royal patronage declines. Tastes turn to Salons and Hotels.

Rococo overlaps with Romanticism and Neoclassicism (next chapters) – especially due to unearthing of Herculaneum (1709) and Pompeii (1748)

Political and cultural background:Despite frivolity of Rococo – major advances in other fieldsTime of Vivaldi, Hayden, Bach and MozartLeibniz developed calculusPreistley discovered oxygenHalley discovered the comet that bears his nameMechanized spinning and Watt’s steam engine

Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) between France/Austria and Prussia

Settlement of the New World – England has control over North American colonies; Spain rules Central America, Louisiana Territory, Texas and parts of California; French control Canada

The Age of Enlightenment: “Cogito, ergo sum” I think therefore I am – DescartesComplex concepts derived from philosophical ideas.

Empiricism – all knowledge of matters of fact derives from experience

Chinoiserie – interest in Chinese imagery developed in France and England

Germain Boffrand, Salon de la Princesse, Hotel de Soubise, Paris, 1740

Joseph Wright, An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, 1768, oil on canvas

Joseph Wright of Derby, A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrey, 1763-1765, oil on canvas

Antoine Watteau, Pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717, oil on canvas

Beginnings of Art Theory and Art History:

Johann Joachim Winkelmann – put in charge of the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum – Published The History of Ancient Art in 1764. This book led him to be called the father of art history because he believed style was determined

by culture. Expanded beyond biographical approach of Vasari and classical tradition, and beyond philosophical views of Plato and Aristotle. Beauty for

Winkelmann was a matter of intuition and spirit.

Antoine Watteau, Gilles, oil on canvas

Francois Boucher, Venus Consoling Love, 1751, oil on canvas

Jean-Honore Fragonard, The Swing, 1766, oil on canvas

Hyacinthe Rigaud, Louis XIV, 1701, oil on canvas

Rosalba Carriera, Louis XV, pastel on paper, 1751

Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun, Marie Antoinette and Her Children, 1788, oil on canvas

Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun, Self-Portrait, 1790 oil on canvas

Thomas Gainsborough, Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1785-1787, oil on canvas

William Hogarth; Tete a Tete, from Marriage ala Mode, 1743 oil on canvas video

William Hogarth, Marriage a la Mode II, 1745 engraving by B. Baron after oil painting of 1743

William Hogarth, Time Smoking a Picture, 1761, Etching and mezzotint

Balthasar Neumann, the Residenz, Wurzburg, Germany, 1719-1753

Staircase of the Residenz showing the ceiling fresco of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Wurzburg, Germany, 1752-1753

Ceiling of staircase at Residenz,Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Wurzburg, Germany

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Investiture of Bishop Harold, a detail of the ceiling frescoes in the Kaisersaal, the Residenz

Matthaus Daniel Poppelmann, Wallpavillion, the Zwinger, Dresden, Germany, 1711-1722

Plan of the Wieskirche – “Church of the Meadow”

Dominikus Zimmerman, Weiskirche, Bavaria, 1745-1754, The nave is a Rococo development of Borromini’s oval church plans in Baroque Rome

Richard Boyle (Earl of Burlington), Chiswick House, near London, begun 1725

Plan of Chiswick house

Palladio’s Villa Rotunda

Robert Adam, fireplace niche, Osterley Park House, Middlesex, England, begun 1761

Horace Walpole, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, near London, 1749-1777

18th century:European Painting; Bourgeois Realism

Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, La Fontaine, oil on canvas, first exhibited 1733

Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, Pipe and Jug, undated, oil on canvas

Neoclassicism

Angelica Kauffman, Amor and Psyche

American Painting

John Singleton Copley, Paul Revere, 1768-1770, oil on canvas

Benjamin West, Death of General Wolfe, 1770, oil on canvas