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Rhymes: -əʊkəʊA style of baroque architecture and decorative art, from 18th century France, havingelaborate ornamentation.AdjectiveOf, or relating to the rococo style.Over-elaborate orcomplicated.Old-fashioned.Extensive DefinitionRococo is a style of 18th centuryFrenchart and interiordesign. Rococo style rooms were designed as total works of artwith elegant and ornate furniture, small sculptures, ornamentalmirrors, and tapestrycomplementing architecture, reliefs, and wall paintings. It waslargely supplanted by the Neoclassicstyle.The word Rococo is seen as a combination of theFrench rocaille, or shell, and the Italian barocco, or Baroque style. Dueto Rococo love of shell-like curves and focus on decorative arts,some critics used the term to derogatively imply that the style wasfrivolous or merely fashion; interestingly, when the term was firstused in English in about 1836, it was a colloquialism meaning"old-fashioned". However, since the mid 19th century, the term hasbeen accepted by arthistorians. While there is still some debate about thehistorical significance of the style to art in general, Rococo isnow widely recognized as a major period in the development ofEuropean art.Historical developmentRococo developed first in thedecorative arts and interior design. LouisXV's succession brought a change in the court artists andgeneral artistic fashion. By the end of the old king's reign, richBaroque designs were giving way to lighter elements with morecurves and natural patterns. These elements are obvious in thearchitectural designs of NicolasPineau. During the Régence, courtlife moved away from Versaillesand this artistic change became well established, first in theroyal palace and then throughout French high society. The delicacyand playfulness of Rococo designs is often seen as perfectly intune with the excesses of LouisXV's regime.The 1730s represented the height of Rococodevelopment in France. The style had spread beyond architecture andfurniture to painting and sculpture, exemplified by the works ofAntoineWatteau and FrançoisBoucher. Rococo still maintained the Baroque taste for complexforms and intricate patterns, but by this point, it had begun tointegrate a variety of diverse characteristics, including a tastefor Oriental designs and asymmetric compositions.The Rococo style spread with French artists andengraved publications. It was readily received in the Catholicparts of Germany, Bohemia, andAustria,where it was merged with the lively German Baroque traditions.German Rococo was applied with enthusiasm to churches and palaces,particularly in the south, while FredericianRococo developed in the Kingdomof Prussia. Architects often draped their interiors in cloudsof fluffy white stucco. In Italy, the lateBaroque styles of Borrominiand Guariniset the tone for Rococo in Turin, Venice, Naples and Sicily, whilethe arts in Tuscany and Rome remained more wedded to Baroque.Rococo in England was always thought of as the"French taste." The architectural stylings never caught on, thoughsilverwork, porcelain, and silks were strongly influenced by thecontinental style. ThomasChippendale transformed English furniture design through hisadaptation and refinement of the style. WilliamHogarth helped develop a theoretical foundation for Rococobeauty. Though not intentionally referencing the movement, heargued in his Analysis of Beauty (1753) that the undulating linesand S-curves prominent in Rococo were the basis for grace andbeauty in art or nature (unlike the straight line or the circle inClassicism). Thedevelopment of Rococo in England is considered to have beenconnected with the revival of interest in Gothicarchitecture early in the 18th century.The beginning of the end for Rococo came in theearly 1760s as figures like Voltaire andJacques-François Blondel began to voice their criticism of thesuperficiality and degeneracy of the art. Blondel decried the"ridiculous jumble of shells, dragons, reeds, palm-trees andplants" in contemporary interiorshttp://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/sammlung6/allg/buch.xml?docname=blondel1737.By 1785, Rococo had passed out of fashion in France, replaced bythe order and seriousness of Neoclassical artists like JacquesLouis David. In Germany, late 18th century Rococo was riduculedas Zopf und Perücke ("pigtail and periwig"), and this phase issometimes referred to as Zopfstil. Rococo remained popular in theprovinces and in Italy, until the second phase of neoclassicism,"Empirestyle," arrived with Napoleonic governments and swept Rococoaway.There was a renewed interest in the Rococo stylebetween 1820 and 1870. The English were among the first to revivethe "Louis XIV style" as it was miscalled at first, and paidinflated prices for second-hand Rococo luxury goods that couldscarcely be sold in Paris. But prominent artists like Delacroixand patrons like EmpressEugénie also rediscovered the value of grace and playfulness inart and design.Rococo in different artistic modesFurniture and decorative objectsThe lighthearted themesand intricate designs of Rococo presented themselves best on asmaller scale than the imposing Baroque architecture and sculpture.It is not surprising, then, that French Rococo art was at homeindoors. Metalwork, porcelain figures,frills and especiallyfurniture rose to new pre-eminence as the French upper classessought to outfit their homes in the now fashionable style.Rococo style took pleasure in asymmetry, a tastethat was new to European style. This practice of leaving elementsunbalanced for effect is called contraste.During the Rococo period, furniture waslighthearted, physically and visually. The idea of furniture hadevolved from a symbol of status and took on a role in comfort andversatility. Furniture could be easily moved around for gatherings,and many specialized forms came to be such as the fauteuil chair,the voyeuse chair, and the berger en gondola. Changes in design ofthese chairs ranges from cushioned detached arms, lengthening ofthe cushioned back (also known as "hammerhead") and a loose seatcushion. Furniture was also freestanding, instead of being anchoredby the wall, to accentuate the lighthearted atmosphere andversatility of each piece. Mahogany was widely used in furnitureconstruction due to its strength, resulting in the absence of thestretcher as seen on many chairs of the time. Also, the use ofmirrors hung above mantels became ever more popular in light of thedevelopment of unblemished glass.In a full-blown Rococo design, like the Tabled'appartement (ca. 1730), by German designer J. A. Meissonnier,working in Paris (illustration, below), any reference to tectonicform is gone: even the marble slab top is shaped. Apron, legs,stretcher have all been seamlessly integrated into a flow ofopposed c-scrolls and "rocaille." The knot (noeud) of the stretchershows the asymmetrical "contraste" that was a Rococoinnovation.For small plastic figures of gypsum, clay, biscuit,porcelain (Sèvres,Meissen),Rococo is not unsuitable; in wood, iron, and royal metal, it hascreated some valuable works. However, confessionals, pulpits, altars, and even facades lead evermore into the territory of the architectonic, which does not easilycombine with the curves of Rococo, the light and the petty, withforms whose whence and wherefore baffle inquiry.Dynasties of Parisian ébénistes, some of themGerman-born, developed a style of surfaces curved in threedimensions (bombé), where matched veneers (marquetry temporarily being ineclipse) or vernis martin japanning was effortlessly complementedby gilt-bronze ("ormolu") mounts: AntoineGaudreau, CharlesCressent, Jean-PierreLatz, FrançoisOeben, Bernard II van Risenbergh are the outstanding names. Frenchdesigners like François de Cuvilliés, Nicholas Pineau and BartolomeoRastrelli exported Parisian styles in person to Munich and SaintPetersburg, while the German Juste-AurèleMeissonier found his career at Paris. The guiding spirits ofthe Parisian rococo were a small group of marchands-merciers, theforerunners of modern decorators, led by Simon-PhilippenisPoirier.In France the style remained somewhat morereserved, since the ornaments were mostly of wood, or, after thefashion of wood-carving, less robust and naturalistic and lessexuberant in the mixture of natural with artificial forms of allkinds (e.g. plant motives, stalactitic representations, grotesques,masks, implements of various professions, badges, paintings,precious stones).English Rococotended to be more restrained. Thomas Chippendale's furnituredesigns kept the curves and feel, but stopped short of the Frenchheights of whimsy. The most successful exponent of English Rococowas probably ThomasJohnson, a gifted carver and furniture designer working inLondon in the mid 1700s.Interior designSolitudePalace in Stuttgart andChinesePalace in Oranienbaum,the Bavarian church ofWies andSanssouciin Potsdamare examples of how Rococo made its way into Europeanarchitecture.In those Continental contexts where Rococo isfully in control, sportive, fantastic, and sculptured forms areexpressed with abstract ornament using flaming, leafy or shell-liketextures in asymmetrical sweeps and flourishes and broken curves;intimate Rococo interiors suppress architectonic divisions ofarchitrave, frieze and cornice for the picturesque, the curious,and the whimsical, expressed in plastic materials like carved woodand above all stucco (asin the work of the WessobrunnerSchool). Walls, ceiling, furniture, and works of metaland porcelain presenta unified ensemble. The Rococo palette is softer and paler than therich primary colors and dark tonalities favored in Baroquetastes.A few anti-architectural hints rapidly evolvedinto full-blown Rococo at the end of the 1720s and began to affectinteriors and decorativearts throughout Europe. The richest forms of German Rococo arein Catholic Germany (illustration, above).Rococo plasterwork by immigrant Italian-Swissartists like Bagutti and Artari is a feature of houses by James Gibbs,and the Franchinibrothers working in Ireland equalled anything that wasattempted in England.Inaugurated in some rooms in Versailles, itunfolds its magnificence in several Parisian buildings (especiallythe HôtelSoubise). In Germany, French and German artists (Cuvilliés,Neumann,Knobelsdorff, etc.) effected the dignified equipment of theAmalienburgnear Munich,and the castles of Würzburg,Potsdam,Charlottenburg,Brühl, Bruchsal, Solitude(Stuttgart), andSchönbrunn.In England, one of Hogarth'sset of paintings forming a melodramatic morality tale titledMarriage à la Mode, engraved in 1745, shows the parade rooms of astylish London house, in which the only rococo is in plasterwork ofthe salon's ceiling. Palladianarchitecture is in control. Here, on the Kentianmantel, the crowd of Chinese vases and mandarins are satiricallyrendered as hideous little monstrosities, and the Rococo wall clockis a jumble of leafy branches.In general, Rococo is an entirely interior style,because the wealthy and aristocratic moved back to Paris fromVersailles. Paris was already built up and so rather than engagingin major architectural additions, they simply renovated theinteriors of the existing buildings.PaintingThough Rococo originated in the purely decorativearts, the style showed clearly in painting. These painters useddelicate colors and curving forms, decorating their canvases withcherubs and myths of love. Portraiture was also popular amongRococo painters. Some works show a sort of naughtiness or impurityin the behavior of their subjects, showing the historical trend ofdeparting away from the Baroque's church/state orientation.Landscapes were pastoral and often depicted the leisurely outingsof aristocratic couples.Jean-AntoineWatteau (1684–1721) is generally considered the first greatRococo painter. He had a great influence on later painters,including FrançoisBoucher (1703–1770) and Jean-HonoréFragonard (1732–1806), two masters of the late period. EvenThomasGainsborough's (1727–1788) delicate touch and sensitivity arereflective of the Rococo spirit. Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun's (1755-1842) style also shows agreat deal of Rococo influence, particularly in her portraits ofMarieAntoinette.SculptureSculpture was another area that Rococo artistsbranched into. Étienne-Maurice Falconet (1716–1791) is widely considered oneof the best representatives of French Rococo. In general, thisstyle was best expressed through delicate porcelain sculpturerather than imposing marble statues. Falconet himself was directorof a famous porcelain factory at Sèvres. Thethemes of love and gaiety were reflected in sculpture, as wereelements of nature, curving lines and asymmetry.The sculptor Bouchardonrepresented Cupid engaged incarving his darts of love from the club of Hercules; thisserves as an excellent symbol of the Rococo style—the demigod istransformed into the soft child, the bone-shattering club becomesthe heart-scathing arrows, just as marble is so freely replaced bystucco. In this connection, the French sculptors, Robert leLorrain, MichelClodion, and Pigallemay be mentioned in passing.MusicThe GalanteStyle was the equivalent of Rococo in musichistory, too, between Baroque and Classical, and it is not easyto define in words. The rococo music style itself developed out ofbaroque music, particularly in France. It can be characterized asintimate music with extremely refined decoration forms. Exemplarsinclude JeanPhilippe Rameau and Louis-ClaudeDaquin.Boucher's painting (above) provides a glimpse ofthe society which Rococo reflected. "Courtly" would be pretentiousin this upper bourgeois circle, yet the man's gesture is gallant.The stylish but cozy interior, the informal decorous intimacy ofpeople's manners, the curious and delightful details everywhere oneturns one's eye, the luxury of sipping chocolate: all are"galante."Rococo "worldliness" and the Roman Catholic ChurchAcritical view of the unsuitable nature of Rococo in ecclesiasticalcontexts was taken up by the Catholic Encyclopedia:See alsoRococoin PortugalQueluzNational PalaceCulturalmovementCathedralof MurciaGildedwoodcarvingExternal linksExamplesRococoin the "History of Art"Further readingFiske Kimball, 1943. Creation of the Rococo (Reprinted as TheCreation of the Rococo Decorative Style, 1980).Arno Schönberger and Halldor Soehner, 1960. The Age of RococoPublished in the US as The Rococo Age: Art and Civilization of the18th Century (Originally published in German, 1959).Michael Levey, 1980. Painting in Eighteenth-Century Venice,(Revised edition).Pal Kelemen, 1967. Baroque and Rococo in Latin America, (2ndedition).rococo in Arabic: روكوكوrococo in Belarusian (Tarashkevitsa):Ракакоrococo in Bosnian: Rokokorococo in Bulgarian: Рококоrococo in Catalan: Rococórococo in Czech: Rokokorococo in Danish: Rokokorococo in German: Rokokorococo in Estonian: Rokokoorococo in Modern Greek (1453-): Ροκοκόrococo in Spanish: Rococórococo in Esperanto: Rokokorococo in French: Rococorococo in Galician: Rococórococo in Korean: 로코코rococo in Croatian: Rokokorococo in Italian: Rococòrococo in Hebrew: רוקוקוrococo in Georgian: როკოკოrococo in Latvian: Rokokorococo in Luxembourgish: Rokokorococo in Hungarian: Rokokórococo in Dutch: Rococorococo in Japanese: ロココrococo in Norwegian: Rokokkorococo in Polish: Rokokorococo in Portuguese: Rococórococo in Romanian: Rococorococo in Russian: Рококоrococo in Slovak: Rokokorococo in Slovenian: Rokokorococo in Serbian: Рококоrococo in Serbo-Croatian: Rokokorococo in Finnish: Rokokoorococo in Swedish: Rokokorococo in Thai: ศิลปะโรโคโคrococo in Vietnamese: Kiến trúc Rococorococo in Turkish: Rokokorococo in Ukrainian: Рококоrococo in Chinese: 洛可可Synonyms, Antonyms and RelatedWordsGothic,arabesque, archaic, baroque, baroqueness, bizarre, brain-born, busy, bygone, chichi, chinoiserie, dated, deformed, dream-built, elaborate, elaborateness, elegance, elegant, extravagant, fanciful, fanciness, fancy, fancy-born, fancy-built,fancy-woven, fantasque, fantastic, fine, fineness, flamboyance, flamboyant, florid, floridity, floridness, floweriness, flowery, freak, freakish, frilly, fussy, grotesque, high-wrought,labored, luxuriance, luxuriant, luxurious, luxuriousness, maggoty, malformed, misbegotten, misshapen, moldy, monstrous, moresque, moth-eaten, notional, old hat, ornate, ostentation, ostentatious, outdated, outlandish, overelaborate, overelaborateness,overelegance,overelegant,overlabored,overornamentation,overworked, overwrought, passe, picturesque, preposterous,pretty-pretty, rich,richness, teratogenic, teratoid, whimsical, wild

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