ROCOCO Flashcards
derived from the French word rocaille, which denoted the shell-covered rock work that was used to decorate artificial grottoes. It is characterized by lightness, elegance, and an exuberant use of curving natural forms in ornamentation.
was perhaps the most rebellious of design styles. Often described as the final expression of the Baroque movement, it was exceptionally ornamental and theatrical – a style without rules. Compared to the order, refinement and seriousness of the Classical style, Rococo was seen as superficial, degenerate and illogical.
Rococo
first emerged in France during the 1720s and 30s as a style developed by craftspeople and designers rather than architects. This explains why it is found primarily in furniture, silver, and ceramics.
is a highly ornate architecture, art, and interior design. It is characterized by its use of light colors, intricate designs, and elaborate furniture.
FRENCH ROCOCO
CHARACTERISTICS OF FRENCH ROCOCO
A palette of pastel colors.
Serpentine, or S-curved, patterns.
Asymmetrical design.
gold and gilded ornaments
Naturalistic motifs, such as flowers, vines, rocks, pebbles, and seashells in ornamentation.
Furniture made from mahogany, beech, oak, and walnut.
is regarded as the first Rococo artist (or the father of the movement), and was known for popularizing the fête galante style. He sensuously painted Rococo canvases conveyed courtly love and ideas of reverie, longing, and utopia.
JEAN-ANTOINE WATTEAU
a French goldsmith, interior decorator, and architect, often considered the leading originator of the influential Rococo style in the decorative arts.He had a powerful and fertile imagination; his fantastic grottoes and swirling, animated, asymmetrical metalwork designs combined contrasting and original motifs.
JUSTE-AURELE MEISSONIER
was a French architect and interior decorator whose mastery of the new Louis XV or rococo style widely influenced 18th-century architecture in France and abroad. He codified and disseminated the supple rococo style which borrowed, in miniature scale, more from the Italian baroque of Francesco Borromini and Guarino Guarini than from the stringent academic classicism favored in France since the Renaissance.
GERMAIN BOFFRAND
was a French architect. He and Pierre Contant d’Ivry were among the most eminent Parisian architects of the day and designed in both the restrained French Rococo manner, known as the “Louis XV style” and in the “Goût grec” (literally “Greek taste”) phase of early Neoclassicism.
JEAN-MICHAEL CHEVOTET
This French armchair, called a “fauteuil à la reine” for its upright back and “à chassis” for its easily removable upholstery, exemplifies the transition between Rococo and Neoclassical styles.
the chair retains Rococo features like cabriole legs and curved, set-back arm supports. However, Neoclassical influences are evident in the laurel garlands and husk motifs decorating the seat rail, knees, and back.
FAUTEUILS
is a distinctive piece of furniture that exudes elegance and sophistication. Originating in France during the 18th century, these chairs are characterised by their upholstered frames, exposed wooden elements and generous cushioning. The ———- first appeared at the start of the 18th century, during the reign of Louis XV in France. The chair’s creation is attributed to the growing demand for comfortable seating solutions that showcased the opulence and grandeur of the time.
BERGERE CHAIRS
It is a chair of the 18th century used at game tables, having a padded top rail on which spectators could lean. Each chair back has a frieze of double scrolls and garlands of beads; a frieze of shells on the apron is interrupted at the corners by squares containing crescent shapes; the “Etruscan-style” saber legs, ending in hoofed feet, are adorned with festoons of beads.
VOYEUSE CHAIRS
This elegant Louis XV-style —– is an exceptional example of 18th-century-inspired craftsmanship. Constructed from fine wood, likely mahogany, it features a luxurious white marble top that complements its rich, warm tones. The piece is adorned with six spacious drawers and two lockable cabinets, offering both practicality and beauty. The shape of this —-, with its serpentine outline, two drawers, and shaped apron resting on tall cabriole legs, became the standard form of the Rococo —-.
COMMODES
was created in the early 1700’s for the Prince and Princess de Soubise (Anne de Rohan-Chabot, a former mistress of Louis XIV). One of its most splendid rooms is the Salon de la Princesse, above, an oval chamber embellished in finest Rococo fashion with intricate, gilded boiserie (carved wood), cherubs, ceiling paintings and mirrors. They are designed by Germain Boffrand and Charles-Joseph Natoire (1735 – 1740)
Hôtel de Soubise in Paris
Many parts of —- demonstrate Rococo, including the dramatic statues at the garden’s fountains and the
rich decorations in its salons.
Palace of Versailles
is a
highly-skilled art
form in which
wood paneling is
carved in
painstaking detail
and then gilded or
painted.
Boiserie
It is a historic French château located in the town of Chantilly, Oise, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Paris. The château’s art gallery, the Musée Condé, houses one of France’s finest collections of paintings. With its décor of white and gold panels, it is typical of the early Rococo style. The woodwork was executed by the architect Jean Aubert around 1720 for Louis-Henri de Bourbon, 7th Prince of Condé (1692-1740), and minister of King Louis XV.
Château de Chantilly
is one of the more
prominent aspects of the
Rococo style of architecture and
decoration that developed in
France during the reign of King
Louis XV (1715–74). It features
elaborately stylized shell-like,
rocklike, and scroll motifs.
—- has been defined as a
reaction both to the classic
rigidity of the waning Baroque
style and to the new interest in
nature and the natural sciences.
In French,——- means
“rubble,” or “pebbles,” and style
—— is synonymous with
Rococo.
Rocaille
are
characterised by elaborate
curved and floral
ornamentation, gilding, white
and pastel colours, stylised
shapes inspired by nature
(vegetables, shell and rock
motifs were popular), animals
and Chinese and Japanese
motifs. Rococo was a
lighthearted and elegant
response to its aesthetic
predecessor, the formal and
heavy Baroque / Louis XIV
style.
CARTOUCHES
or “gilding with
gold paste”, is a gold-
coloured alloy of copper,
zinc, and sometimes tin, in
various proportions but
usually containing. —-
is used in mounts
(ornaments on borders,
edges, and as angle guards)
for furniture, especially
18th-century furniture, and
other decorative purposes.
Its gold color may be
heightened by immersion
in dilute sulfuric acid or by
burnishing
ORMOLU
used mainly in conjunction with Baroque and Rococo styles, featured extensive gilding and lacquering; much use of blue-and-white (e.g., Delftware); asymmetrical forms; disruptions of orthodox perspective; and Oriental figures and motifs. The style—with its lightness and asymmetry and the capriciousness of many of its motifs—also appeared in the fine arts, as in the paintings of the French artists Antoine Watteau and François Boucher
CHINOSERIE
Rococo flourished in —– design between 1740 and 1770. a highly ornate and decorative style of art that emerged in France during the early 18th century and spread to other parts of Europe – including England. Often referred to as Late Baroque, —– is characterized by its opulent decoration and nature-themed designs.
ENGLISH ROCOCO
Characteristics of ENGLISH ROCOCO
mainly influenced furniture, silver and ceramics.
naturalism
short curves, scrolls and counter curves, often elaborated with fantasy.
He was one of the leading cabinetmakers of 18th-century England and one of the most perplexing figures in the history of furniture. His name is synonymous with the Anglicized Rococo style.
Thomas Chippendale
—- was the only important English portrait painter to devote much time to landscape drawing. He composed a great many drawings in a variety of mediums including chalk, pen and wash, and watercolour, some of them varnished. —–was intimately involved with avant-garde rococo art and design, and seems to have assisted Francis Hayman on his genre paintings for the decoration of Vauxhall Gardens.
Thomas Gainsborough
designs fall into three main styles: Gothic, Rococo (called modern in the pattern book), and Chinese. —– blended these disparate stylistic elements into harmonious and unified designs. The term —– specifically refers to English furniture of the 1750s and ’60s made in a modified Rococo style. —– incorporated pointed arches and ogee (S-shaped) curves into the backs of chairs and, more successfully, in the glazing bars (wooden tracery holding the glass) and pediments of massive bookcases.
CHIPPENDALE STYLE FURNITURES
