Baroque and Rococo by Barbara Borngässer

These qualities went on to inspire later Rococo greats, including Jean-Honoré Fragonard and François Boucher. He presented nature as idyllic and untamed. Combining influences from Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens and Venetian Renaissance giants like Titian and Paolo Veronese with theater, Watteau created dynamic compositions in brilliantly articulated colors. Jean-Antoine Watteau is credited with the birth of Rococo painting. What follow are 10 iconic artworks that exemplify Rococo in its varied iterations, from mythological scenes to historical portraits, and lush landscapes to lavish interiors. While it ultimately fell out of favor due to its perceived frivolity, while proponents of Neoclassicism prevailed in popularizing a more sober style, Rococo painting remains enchanting-not just in its cotton-candy colors, but also in its playfulness, combination of naturalism and ornament, and celebration of recreation, love, and youth.

The style quickly spread to the rest of France, and then to Germany, Austria, England, and other European countries. Drawing its name from the French word rocaille (meaning rock or pebble), which originally referred to the Renaissance penchant for decorating artificial grottos with shells and stones, Rococo began as an interior design style favored by the urban upper class.Ĭharacterized by elegance, levity, floral motifs, muted colors, and curving, asymmetrical lines, Rococo soon extended to painting, where its aesthetics combined with themes of sensual love and nature.

This more personal milieu found its artistic expression in Rococo, which represented a rejection of Baroque art’s formal grandeur. Following the death of King Louis XIV in 1715, the cultural center of the French elite shifted away from the royal palace in Versailles and toward private homes in Paris.

Baroque and Rococo by Barbara Borngässer