The Artistic Movement: Rococo
“I have just completed a forty-two-day voyage around my room. The fascinating observations I made and the endless pleasures I experienced along the way made me wish to share them with the public… Be so good as to accompany me on my voyage.” Xavier de Maistre
Renee L. Winter
University of Calgary
Word count: 2044
Abstract
This paper looks at the artistic movement known as Rococo in France after the death of Louis XIV. Artwork by France’s Jean-Antoine Watteau, and Jean-Antoine Fragonard, as well as artwork done by Italian artist Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, and will be discussed to demonstrate that Rococo and the themes of the pictures represented a form of escapism for the aristocracy in Europe.
According to Pignatti (1988, p.203), the decorative art and design movement known as Rococo featured light-hearted romance and care-free aristocrats at play in imaginary settings. This style is characterized by pastel colors, gracefully delicate curving forms, fanciful figures, and a light-hearted mood. Paintings by Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (1675-1741), Jean-Antoine Fragonard (1732-1806), and Thomas Gainsborough (1721-1788) were all part of an emerging trend that started in France and spread throughout Europe in the last decades of the 17th century as described by Stinson in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Art (1969 p.302). These works reflected the escapism society strived for in a time of socio-economic and political decline after the death of Louis XIV and the heavy, authoritarian formality of the court at Versailles. Art responded to the new demands; depictions of the amusements, the pleasures, and the variety of life. Rococo art is the visual representation of the optimism people felt in response to new ideas emerging. Rococo was a reaction against the “grand manner” of art identified with the baroque formality and rigidity of court life, portraying a world of artificiality, make-believe, and game-playing.
Renee L. Winter
University of Calgary
Word count: 2044
Abstract
This paper looks at the artistic movement known as Rococo in France after the death of Louis XIV. Artwork by France’s Jean-Antoine Watteau, and Jean-Antoine Fragonard, as well as artwork done by Italian artist Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, and will be discussed to demonstrate that Rococo and the themes of the pictures represented a form of escapism for the aristocracy in Europe.
According to Pignatti (1988, p.203), the decorative art and design movement known as Rococo featured light-hearted romance and care-free aristocrats at play in imaginary settings. This style is characterized by pastel colors, gracefully delicate curving forms, fanciful figures, and a light-hearted mood. Paintings by Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (1675-1741), Jean-Antoine Fragonard (1732-1806), and Thomas Gainsborough (1721-1788) were all part of an emerging trend that started in France and spread throughout Europe in the last decades of the 17th century as described by Stinson in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Art (1969 p.302). These works reflected the escapism society strived for in a time of socio-economic and political decline after the death of Louis XIV and the heavy, authoritarian formality of the court at Versailles. Art responded to the new demands; depictions of the amusements, the pleasures, and the variety of life. Rococo art is the visual representation of the optimism people felt in response to new ideas emerging. Rococo was a reaction against the “grand manner” of art identified with the baroque formality and rigidity of court life, portraying a world of artificiality, make-believe, and game-playing.
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