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Glossary

Rococo Art

Index

Just as the building of Versailles is associated with Louis XIV, the most significant art movement in France in the first half of the 18th century is associated with his son, Louis XV. The term rococo comes from the French word meaning "shell" because the scallop shell motif is common in Rococo interior decoration. Whereas Rococo interior decoration spread to other countries, notably Germany, the painting style called Rococo is predominantly a French phenomenon. Here are some prominent characteristics:

Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)

Embarcation for Cythera
1717

Embarcation for Cythera

One of the most famous examples of Rococo art, this painting depicts a party of aristocrats returning from the mythical island of Cythera, a place associated with Venus. How many of the characteristics listed above do you see in this work?

Mezetin
1718

Mezetin


Watteau is also interested in the psychology of love. Presumably the male in this painting is wooing a woman, but the statue in the background may indicate that his advances are being rejected. This work does have a melancholy theme but being rejected in a love suit hardly has the seriousness of some of the religious or political themes we examined in the art of the Baroque period.

Francois Boucher (1703-70)

Marquise de Pompadour
1756

Marquise de Pompadour

This is a typical Rococo portrait. The aristocratic woman, Louis XV's mistress, is elegant, beautifully dressed and coifed, and has the necessary lap dog. (Aristocratic males have large hunting dogs, poor people have mutts, and "ladies" have small lap dogs.) Note the profusion of roses.

The Bath of Diana
1742

The Bath of Diana

Boucher is famous for his depiction of the nude female. Typically these women have prettified baby-doll features, porcelain flesh, and slender but mature bodies. This subject is made "respectable" because Diana is a mythical figure.

Reclining Girl
1752

Reclining Girl

This, however, is no mythical woman; she is yet another mistress of Louis XV. The absolutist monarch has certain sexual privileges! The "divine right" of kings apparently did not mean that the king was subject to the Commandments of the Divine.

Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806)

The Swing
ca. 1766-69

The Swing

This famous painting depicts aristocrats at play -- and flirting. The hidden man on the left gets a look up his loved one's petticoat as her shoe goes flying off. What other elements of Rococo paintings are evident here?

The Meeting
1771-3

The Meeting

This painting is the first in a series called the "Progress of Love." Here the romantic swain jumps over a wall while his lover seems surprised. Is she? The statue may comment on the event, saying "Not yet." Note the elegant outdoor park, again with roses and feathery trees.

The Stolen Kiss
ca. 1766

The Stolen Kiss


Aristocrats at play again. But note the date. In slightly more than two decades aristocrats would be worrying about their heads, not stolen kisses.


Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842)

Self-portrait
1790

Self-portrait

Before leaving France, we should note the works of an important 18th century woman painter who was very well-known are respected internationally. Vigée Le Brun was one of two female members of the French Academy for painters--a rare privilege and tribute both to her talent and political connections.

Marie-Antionette
1784

Hubert Robert
1788

Marie-Antionette Hubert Robert

She specialized in portraits, painting both fellow painters and aristocrats, typically flattering the latter in her depictions. She did a number of portraits of Louis XVI's wife, Marie-Antoinette, who was later executed, as he was, during the French Revolution.
Varvara Ivanovna Ladomirsky
1800

Varvara Ivanovna Ladomirsky

During the French Revolution Vigée Lebrun fled to Russia where she then did paintings of Russian aristocrats.
See also this site for additional information on Rococo art.


Art History for Humanities: Copyright © 1997 Bluffton College.
Text and image preparation by Mary Ann Sullivan. Design by Gerald W. Schlabach.

All images marked MAS were photographed on location by Mary Ann Sullivan. All other images were scanned from other sources or downloaded from the World Wide Web; they are posted on this password-protected site for educational purposes, at Bluffton College only, under the "fair use" clause of U.S. copyright law.

Page maintained by Gerald W. Schlabach, gws@bluffton.edu. Last updated: 5 May 1998.