Rococo Flashcards
1
Q
French Rococo - Background
A
- death of Louis XIV brought changes to French high society
- Louis XV reigned
- aristocrats abandoned Versailles for town houses of Paris
- favored a cheerful and lighthearted decorative style
- rise of culture salon - learned women hosted salons and dominated the art trend - feminine taste
- end of rococo due to rise of Enlightenment
2
Q
Rococo art - characteristic
A
- rocaille + coquille (stone debris + seashell)
- decorative style based on arabesque patterns (sinuous and spiraling) and gold filigree (fine delicate jewelry work using gold and silver) work
- “C” and “S” shape sometimes in asymmetrical layout, imitating forms of organic objects, e.g. seashell,sea waves and leaves etc
- themes - adopted from minor categories of art
— e.g. italian theatre, comedies, love, country parties, fete galantes - style - bright light, iridescent color, pastel color, cold and silvery cones
- format - small in scale to fit cozy intimate interiors of town houses
3
Q
Antoine Watteau
A
- influenced by Antwerp School, peter paul rubens and anthony van dyck - delicate shiny tones, rosy pink flesh
- transformed the grandiosity of baroque art into light-hearted, playful scenes
4
Q
Antoine Watteau -Pierrot (formerly known as Gilles)
A
- stereotyped figure of a sad clown from the Commedia dell’Arte (Italian Comedy)
- 4 other stock characters are hidden in the foilage
5
Q
Antoine Watteau - La Gamme d’Amour (the scale of love)
A
- idealized, enclosed landscape for the drama
- iridescent quality of the palette - use of a wide spectrum of colour
6
Q
Antoine Watteau - Pilgrimage to the Isle of Cythera
A
- submitted for the admission into Royal Academy
- scenes of gallantry - new genre of painting created for Watteau
- combination of history painting, genre scene, landscape, portrait and theatrical subject
- plot
— 1. beginning to wooing her
— 2. made some advance and the man is helping her on her feet
— 3. man has won her love and is allowed to touch her body
— groups of lovers waiting to embark a gondola
7
Q
Antoine Watteau - Gersiant’s shop sign
A
- painted for his good friend, an art dealer
- paying homeage to peter paul rubens and anthony van dyck (Antwerp school), critical against the academic style (Nicolas Poussin)
- typical rococo colours: pastel colours, cold silvery tones
8
Q
Francois Boucher
A
- french rococo painters
- typical works - cheerful shepherds, cupids, nymphs, and goddess in idyllic pastoral scenes (sensual and flirtatious)
- reflection of life of wealthy french - hedonic and immoral life without concern of social reality
- received patronage from Madame de Pompadour
9
Q
Jean Honore Fragonard
A
- french rococo painters
- student of francois boucher
10
Q
Francois Boucher - Breakfast
A
- modern and fashionable home - interiors in rococo style, large windows, buddha statue, tin/pewter ware
- family having breakfast, drinking chocolate (or coffee(
- sensitive to fashion - typical of rococo art
11
Q
Francois Boucher - Madame de Pompadour
A
- mistress of Louis XV, a woman of style and cultivation, dominated the taste of time
- rococo style = pompadour style
- perfect woman - beautiful, elegant and has refined taste
- french fashion - magnificent flower-and-ribbon-bedecked satin gown
- cultivated person - drawings, books, maps, manuscripts, etchings
- supporter of advanced thinkers - encyclopaedia reflected in the mirror behind her
12
Q
francois boucher - toilet of Venus
A
- implied portraiture of Madame de Pompadour
- artificial doll-like beauty
- cool rosy flesh tone resembles porcelain
13
Q
francois boucher - porcelain figure
A
- flirting scene of shepherds
14
Q
francois boucher - cupid a captive
A
- sensual playfulness
- lively and light-hearted
- criticized as lack of depth (no didactive value, no reference to classical art)
15
Q
Francois boucher - nude lying on a sofa
A
- provocative pose of an innocent girly nude
- libertine attitude of the girl
