French Baroque / Rococo Flashcards
What were the four most significant ideas associated with the Baroque period in France?
Concetto
Absolutism & Hierarchy
Regularitie
Mercantilism
Mercantilism
An economic model that was in use in Europe in 17th century. Everything was
produced under government control. King is the center of everything. No importation.
Concetto
Connect Louis’ reign to heaven. Elsewhere, Baroque was all about the Catholic
church’s propaganda. In France, Louis XIV replaces God.
Absolutism & Hierarchy
Society had been subjected to centralized government that had sought
to control their thoughts. (This influenced the built environment immensely. How? For
example, Académie des Beaux-Arts educated talented students in various areas including
painting, sculpture, and architecture) The King was able to control architects and designers.
Regularitie
Louis XIV wanted to see a certain amount of regularity in design:
Gridded and controlled interiors
What are the major characteristics of French Baroque design?
Symmetrical floor plans (bilateral symmetry)
* Attention to privacy: Rooms become ever more socially exclusive towards the end of the wing. If you were
important and close enough you may be able to move to antechamber from the salon.
* Social hierarchy is represented through spaces. Social filters: 17th century spaces are significant in terms of
social screening.
* Gendered spaces: Two separate wings for husband and wife in the design of the French chateau. Gendered
themes for rooms (For example, in the Palace of Versailles Salon of Peace was for the Queen and Salon of
War was for the King)
* Stiff and formal furniture arrangements. Furniture was designed to be lined up against the wall.
What is Boulle work?
This technique invented by Charles Boulle (1642-1732), involved cutting the two sheets of
materials simultaneously; thus enough material was available for two pieces of furniture, one with tortoise
as the background and other with brass as background.
What are the two most significant spaces in the Baroque period? And
why?
- Salon: A public space used for balls. This is the public face of the owner of the chateau or the palace.
- Bedroom: Baroque is the high point of bedrooms. The bed had never been more important than the
Baroque period. It becomes an altar piece. Absolute monarchy is being invented at this time. The way
monarchs held their power is through the bedroom. The bedroom becomes a ceremonial space. The
lineage and stability of the dynasty depends on this space.
CHATEAU OF VAUX-LE-VICOMTE name the style/period. List the names of designers associated with it. Provide and
approximate date
Louis Le Vau (Architect),
Charles LeBrun (Interior Designer),
and André Le Nôtre (Landscape Architect)
Designed For M. Fouquet
1656 or The Second Half of the 17th century, or Mid 17th
century
French Baroque
Room of the Bull’s Eye Window
PALACE OF VERSAILLES, 1661-1715
* Louis XIV was getting older. Rooms become smaller and
more intimate towards the end of his reign.
* A lighter decoration is used in this space.
* Substitution of expensive materials with more modest
materials-No marble veneers for example. (France was
having financial problems)
* King is loosing control over architecture
Tabouret
Upholstered stool
Commode
Chest of drawers which was
introduced during Louis XIV period
Fauteuil
High-backed upholstered armchair
Torchiere
Floor lamp
Armoire
Cupboard
Chaise
High-backed upholstered armless chair
French Baroque Furniture details
Use of Boulle work (contrasting brass
and tortoiseshell surfaces)
* Use of ormolu: gilt-bronze mounts
* A preference for absolute symmetry
* Carvings are not figurative or as
heavy as they would have been in
Italy
* Balanced: Not top or bottom heavy.
Elegant.
* A preference for straight lines
compared to Italian Baroque. (Top
view)
* Lavish but tasteful ornamentation
Rococo Furniture Details
Bombé (Swell front chest). This particular
piece of furniture became fashionable in the
French Rococo period.
* More delicate in its ornamentation compared
to British examples
* A preference for three-dimensional free-
flowing curves (top and side views have
curvilinear lines)
* The decoration overcomes the structure of the
piece: It is not possible to identify the
structural components vs. decorative ones.
* Feet that look like seashells.
* While overall, the piece seems symmetrical, it
is not
What were the major ideas of the Rococo style?
A reaction against the French Baroque period and Louis XIV’s imposition of strict rules on architecture and
interiors
* Pursuit of pleasure and happiness
* A great rejection against regularité, formality and dullness
* Aesthetics of the period relied on feminine forms with curvilinear lines. Aesthetic theories were developed.
Line of beauty was thought to be found in a woman’s body. Things are beautiful as they have these kinds of
curved & soft lines. Rococo designers used three-dimensional free-flowing curves.
What were the major design themes of French Rococo?
Feminine influences
Fascination with nature
Overcome of decoration
Furniture becomes the synthesis of art
Gendered spaces
Functionalism
controls interiors
Feminine influences
Smaller, casual, intimate apartments (rooms)
General softening of ornamental style
The design of furniture becomes more conducive to conversation (lighter, better
scaled and easy to move pieces)
Greater attention to comfort
Fascination with nature
Nature overcomes architectural grid through idealized nature
representations, and asymmetrical forms
Overcome of decoration
The architectural framework of interiors begins to dissolve in Rococo
Disintegration of interiors and architecture
Even if a piece of furniture is composed of a number of pieces, the structure is
hidden under ornamentation
The structure is subverted to design and ornament
Furniture becomes the synthesis of art
Sculptural pieces
Gendered spaces
separate wings
Functionalism
controls interiors: Disengagement of stories for convenience and comfort (It is not possible to
tell the second floor plan by looking at the first floor plan
Le salon de la princesse, Hotel de Soubise, Paris, 1735
French Rococo
Germain Boffrand & Charles Natoire
* One of the best Rococo interiors.
* The concetto was a free standing garden pavilion.
* Designers gave the illusion of a garden pavilion by utilizing mirrors.
* These mirrors in panels implied the idea of opening to nature.
* Highly artificial wall elevation (False windows, etc.)
* Salon Ovale is the last room on the sequence of enfilade.
* Decorative elements illusionistically detaches themselves from the
architectural context.
