Rococo was an 18th century art style that originated in France as a successor to the Baroque period from 1715-1774. It rejected traditional heroic and mythological themes in favor of representing the carefree lifestyle of the aristocracy. Rococo art was characterized by elegance, gaiety, bright colors, and excessive ornamentation. In architecture, it featured ornate decorations like shells and swirls on facades. Furniture had cabriole legs and serpentine curves. Paintings depicted lighthearted courtship and mythological scenes with rich brushwork and sensuous colors.

1. Rococo
(1715 – 1774)
Upasna rana
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2. Rococo
• Rococo is derived from the French word, Rocaille
[roh-kahy ]: a rock/shell ornamentation used in garden
architecture.
• The Rococo period followed the Baroque period and is
associated primarily with France in the 18th century
(1700s).
• 1715 – 1774
• Rococo rejected the traditional themes of heroes and
mythology and instead focused on representing the
carefree life characteristic of the aristocratic patrons
• The court of the French kings, at the palace of Versailles,
was the magnificent setting for the merry lives of the
French nobility in the 18th century.

3. Characteristics of Rococo period
• Elegance
• Gaiety
• Decorative
• Bright or pastel colors
• Excessive ornamentation
• a light, fanciful, feminine approach to decoration
• the preoccupation of society with a romantic view of
life, and a tendency towards eroticism and
superficiality
• In architecture, the style is mostly limited to the
exterior facade ornamentation.

4. Rococo
Architecture

5. • Shift from the classical to the expressionistic
• Ornate, fanciful and often playful artwork and architectural decoration
• Round arches, cornices, pilasters - and the principle of symmetry
• Overlaid with swags, shell and plant forms as to appear to melt
Hospicio de San Fernando (Madrid, 1722)Church of Il Gesù (Rome, 1584)

6. The Mirror Room – Amalienburg Palace (Munich 1734)
A pavilion for Royal relaxation by François de Cuvilliers
Boiserie
[bwah-zuh-ree]:
Interior
Sculptured Wall
Paneling
(usually floor to
ceiling) as a rule
enriched by
carving, gilding,
and painting

7. Furniture and
Decoration

8. Louis XVI
Cabriole Legs: tapering legs curving outward at the top and inward
farther down so as to end in a round pad, the semblance of an
animal's paw)
The chair was designed for the human body, in contrast to the
sculptural approach to furniture in the Classical Baroque.
Louis XIV Louis XV

9. French Rococo
Commode (storage cabinet)
Serpentine curves illustrate
decoration as organic growth
German Rococo (1765)
Console Table (usually topped
with a mirror)

10. Paintings

11. French Rococo painting in
general was characterized
by easygoing, light-hearted
treatments of mythological
and courtship themes, rich
and delicate brushwork, a
relatively light tonal key,
and sensuous coloring.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard “The Swing” (1767)

12. This is a scene of wish-
fullfilment - a warm dusk in
the marble-vaulted summer-
house of an Italian garden.
There is music from a rustic
band, dancing in fancy-dress,
romance, flirtation and chat.
Watteau provides a glimpse of
Earthly Paradise for the
urbane. To the eighteenth -
century viewer this scene
would have appeared far
more informal than it does to
us. This scene would have
conveyed the idea of liberty.
Antoine Watteau “Les Plaisirs du Bal”
(Pleasures of the Ball) (c. 1719)

13. Thank you