Rococo and The Enlightenment

18th Century : Rococo to Roman Revival

The Reader, Fragonard Am I Not a Man and a Brother?, Wedgwood

Early 18th Century Rococo Architecture

• Shift of power after Louis XIV died

• Emerging middle class• Paris townhouses

(Rococo style hôtels)• Style spread to

European painting and sculpture

Salon de la Princesse, Hôtel de Soubise , 1732

Dynamic and moving spatial environment

No empty spaces

Unified art & architecture

Imperial Hall, Wurzburg, Balthasar Neumann with Fresco by Tiepolo

Rococo Architecture: More is MORE

Rococo Painting: Elegant parties?

• Watteau - fête galante paintings. • Refined, fanciful, and often playful style• Pastel colors, dainty figures, light hearted

Playful Rococo Paintings

The Swing, Fragonard, 1766Concept Art for Tangled,

Rapunzel, 2006

Royal Academies were the main source of training and obtaining wealthy patrons.

Charles Sackville, 2nd Duke of Dorset, 1730, Rosalba Carriera, pastel on paper

Women Artists: A Foot in the Academy Doors

Marie Antoinette with Her Children, Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1787

Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, 1785

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard

Mid-18th Century: The Age of Reason

And of Roman style…

George Washington, 1788, Jean-Antoine Houdon

NeoClassic sculptors revived erotic Roman myths and style.

Cupid and Psyche, Antonio Canova, 1787.

Architects returned to Palladio and ancient Rome to create NeoClassical buildings like Monticello by Jefferson.

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air-Pump, Joseph Wright, oil on canvas, 1768

Enlightenment Paintings Glorify Science and Reason

The Drunken Cobbler, Greuze. 1785 Inspired by Diderot, “art’s proper function is to improve virtue and purify manners”

Morality Paintings Reject Rococo Excess

The Marriage Contract, William Hogarth, 1743, from Marriage a la Mode series

NeoClassical History Paintings: Academy Approved

Considered the highest form of art, they use classical allusions even when showing current events or contemporary portraits,.

Lady Sarah Banbury Sacrificing to the Graces, Joshua Reynolds, 1765

History Painting Portraits

Rococo did not die…

Rival Artists, Rival Styles

Disagreed with Sir Reynolds about having to do classical history style in portraits

Blue Boy, late 18th century