Key Images Jean-Antoine Watteau, A Pilgrimage to Cythera, p. 760, 22.1 Jean-Antoine Watteau, Mezzetin, p. 760, 22.2 Jean-Antoine Watteau, Seated Young Woman, p. 760, 22.3 Jean-Antoine Watteau, Gersaint’s Signboard, p. 761, 22.4 François Boucher, The Toilet of Venus, p. 762, 22.5 Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, p. 764, 22.6 Jean-Siméon Chardin, Back from the Market, p. 765, 22.7 Jean-Siméon Chardin, Kitchen Still Life, p. 766, 22.8 Jean-Siméon Chardin, Blowing Bubbles, p. 766, 22.9 Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-LeBrun, Marie Antoinette and Her Children, p. 767, 22.10 Nicolas Pineau, Varengeville Room in the Hôtel de Varengeville, p. 768, 22.11 Potpourri container, p. 769, 22.12 Claude Michel (Clodion), Nymph and Satyr Carousing, p. 769, 22.13
• The Rococo style often is viewed as a final, specialized, phase of the Baroque.
• A sense of fantasy and lightheartedness differentiates Rococo art from the Baroque.
• At the end of the seventeenth century, followers of Poussin (the Poussinistes) and followers of Rubens, (the Rubénistes) engaged in a dispute over the primacy of drawing or color. The Rubénistes favored color over drawing, while the Poussinistes preferred drawing. This debate factionalized the French Academy.
• The Rubénistes eventually prevailed, due in large part to the popularity of the paintings of Jean-Antoine Watteau.
• Jean-Antoine Watteau developed the fête galante in which aristocrats were depicted in idyllic settings in luxurious clothing. The fête galante joined the hierarchy of genres recognized by the Academy.
• The tradition of the fête galante was continued with François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard.
• Chardin′s still lifes are characterized by very balanced compositions with few objects, while his Blowing Bubbles is tied to the tradition of Dutch genre painting.
• In Marie Antoinette and Her Children, Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-LeBrun, the court painter to Marie Antoinette, portrayed the queen as a good mother.
• The Rococo style flourished in the decorative arts and interior design became a significant aspect of architectural form.
• French Rococo sculpture was used to decorate the interiors of rooms and was meant to be seen from close range.
• Clodion′s style was influenced by the paintings of Boucher and Fragonard, whose works he transformed into three-dimensional sculptures.
England: Painting and Printmaking
Key Images William Hogarth, The Orgy, Scene III from The Rake′s Progress, p. 770, 22.14 William Hogarth, He Revels (The Orgy), Scene III of The Rake′s Progress, p. 771, 22.15 Thomas Gainsborough, Robert Andrews and His Wife, p. 771, 22.16 Thomas Gainsborough, Mrs. Siddons, p. 772, 22.17 Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse, p. 773, 22.18
• William Hogarth developed a new style called the serial painting. In these works he created stage-like settings for his characters as they played out dramatic scenes. These works had a moral undertone and were known as serial moral genre paintings.
• Thomas Gainsborough began his career as a landscape painter but became best known as a portraitist.
• Joshua Reynolds was Gainsborough′s greatest rival.
• Gainsborough′s and Reynolds′ portraits of Mrs. Siddons communicate the distinction between elegant portraiture and the academic ″grand style.″
Germany and Austria and the Rococo in Central Europe
Key Images Johann Fischer von Erlach, Façade of St. Charles Borromaeus, p. 774, 22.19 Jakob Prandtauer, Monastery Church, Melk, Austria, p. 775, 22.21 Balthasar Neumann, Kaisersaal Residenz, Würzburg, Germany, p. 776, 22.22 Dominikus Zimmermann, Interior of ″Die Wies,″ Upper Bavaria, Germany, p. 777, 22.23
• In Germany and Austria the Rococo style was mainly communicated through architecture.
• Johann Fischer von Erlach designed a façade for the church of St. Charles Borromaeus that borrowed from Baroque and Roman models to create a brand new style.
• Balthasar Neumann′s designs represented the culmination of the Rococo period in Central Europe, melding characteristics of the French Rococo style with German Rococo architecture.
Italy
Key Images Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Ceiling fresco (detail), Kaisersaal Residenz, Würzburg, p. 778, 22.25 Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, The Marriage of Frederick Barbarossa, p. 779, 22.26 Canaletto, The Bucintoro at the Molo, p. 780, 22.27
• Italian artists worked outside Italy, with Giovanni Battistta Tiepolo creating the illusionistic fresco paintings for several palaces and churches throughout Germany and Spain.
• Canaletto, most known for his vedute, or ″view″ paintings, of Venice became very well-known in England after his works were purchased in Venice and then brought to England.
• Canaletto often included scenes from daily life in his extremely detailed paintings.
Key Terms /Places/Names
″Poussinistes″ and ″Rubénistes″ fête galante commedia dell’arte trios crayons technique moral genre painting Marie Antoinette ancien régime the good mother portrait Reynolds′ Discourses vedute camera obscura
Discussion Questions
1. What aspects of French Rococo art are related to the move of the nobility from Versailles to elegant town houses in Paris?
2. What characterizes the work of Jean-Antoine Watteau?
3. In what ways is Rococo art both related to and different from Baroque art?
4. How would you define the unique role of the decorative arts during the Rococo period?
5. Compare and contrast the artistic styles of Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds in their portraits of Mrs. Siddons (Figs. 22.17 and 22.18). How are these different approaches manifested in their paintings?
6. Why do portraits give us the ″clearest understanding of the French Rococo″?
7. In what ways do you think that Marie Antoinette and Her Children functioned as a work of propaganda for the French monarchy? What sorts of messages are embedded in the work? Do you find this work effective as a propaganda work or not?
8. In what way can the paintings of Canaletto serve as important cultural documents?
Resources
Books
Boucher, François. François Boucher, 1703–1770. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986.
Grassellli, Margaret and Pierre Rosenberg. Watteau, 1684–1721. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1984.
Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Late Baroque and Rococo Architecture. History of World Architecture. New York: Rizzoli, 1985.
Rosenberg, Pierre. Chardin, 1699–1779, tr. Emillie P. Kadish and Ursula Korreitchouk, ed. Sally W. Goodfellow. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979.
Rosenberg, Pierre. Fragonard. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988.
DVDs
Landmarks of Western Art—From Rococo to Revolution—A Journey of Art History across the Ages. (2006). Kultur Video. 50 min.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ReplyDeleteTHE ROCOCO
France: The Rise of the Rococo
Key Images
Jean-Antoine Watteau, A Pilgrimage to Cythera, p. 760, 22.1
Jean-Antoine Watteau, Mezzetin, p. 760, 22.2
Jean-Antoine Watteau, Seated Young Woman, p. 760, 22.3
Jean-Antoine Watteau, Gersaint’s Signboard, p. 761, 22.4
François Boucher, The Toilet of Venus, p. 762, 22.5
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, p. 764, 22.6
Jean-Siméon Chardin, Back from the Market, p. 765, 22.7
Jean-Siméon Chardin, Kitchen Still Life, p. 766, 22.8
Jean-Siméon Chardin, Blowing Bubbles, p. 766, 22.9
Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-LeBrun, Marie Antoinette and Her Children, p. 767, 22.10
Nicolas Pineau, Varengeville Room in the Hôtel de Varengeville, p. 768, 22.11
Potpourri container, p. 769, 22.12
Claude Michel (Clodion), Nymph and Satyr Carousing, p. 769, 22.13
• The Rococo style often is viewed as a final, specialized, phase of the Baroque.
• A sense of fantasy and lightheartedness differentiates Rococo art from the Baroque.
• At the end of the seventeenth century, followers of Poussin (the Poussinistes) and followers of Rubens, (the Rubénistes) engaged in a dispute over the primacy of drawing or color. The Rubénistes favored color over drawing, while the Poussinistes preferred drawing. This debate factionalized the French Academy.
• The Rubénistes eventually prevailed, due in large part to the popularity of the paintings of Jean-Antoine Watteau.
• Jean-Antoine Watteau developed the fête galante in which aristocrats were depicted in idyllic settings in luxurious clothing. The fête galante joined the hierarchy of genres recognized by the Academy.
• The tradition of the fête galante was continued with François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard.
• Chardin′s still lifes are characterized by very balanced compositions with few objects, while his Blowing Bubbles is tied to the tradition of Dutch genre painting.
• In Marie Antoinette and Her Children, Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-LeBrun, the court painter to Marie Antoinette, portrayed the queen as a good mother.
• The Rococo style flourished in the decorative arts and interior design became a significant aspect of architectural form.
• French Rococo sculpture was used to decorate the interiors of rooms and was meant to be seen from close range.
• Clodion′s style was influenced by the paintings of Boucher and Fragonard, whose works he transformed into three-dimensional sculptures.
England: Painting and Printmaking
Key Images
William Hogarth, The Orgy, Scene III from The Rake′s Progress, p. 770, 22.14
William Hogarth, He Revels (The Orgy), Scene III of The Rake′s Progress, p. 771, 22.15
Thomas Gainsborough, Robert Andrews and His Wife, p. 771, 22.16
Thomas Gainsborough, Mrs. Siddons, p. 772, 22.17
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse, p. 773, 22.18
• William Hogarth developed a new style called the serial painting. In these works he created stage-like settings for his characters as they played out dramatic scenes. These works had a moral undertone and were known as serial moral genre paintings.
• Thomas Gainsborough began his career as a landscape painter but became best known as a portraitist.
• Joshua Reynolds was Gainsborough′s greatest rival.
• Gainsborough′s and Reynolds′ portraits of Mrs. Siddons communicate the distinction between elegant portraiture and the academic ″grand style.″
Germany and Austria and the Rococo in Central Europe
Key Images
Johann Fischer von Erlach, Façade of St. Charles Borromaeus, p. 774, 22.19
Jakob Prandtauer, Monastery Church, Melk, Austria, p. 775, 22.21
Balthasar Neumann, Kaisersaal Residenz, Würzburg, Germany, p. 776, 22.22
Dominikus Zimmermann, Interior of ″Die Wies,″ Upper Bavaria, Germany, p. 777, 22.23
• In Germany and Austria the Rococo style was mainly communicated through architecture.
• Johann Fischer von Erlach designed a façade for the church of St. Charles Borromaeus that borrowed from Baroque and Roman models to create a brand new style.
• Balthasar Neumann′s designs represented the culmination of the Rococo period in Central Europe, melding characteristics of the French Rococo style with German Rococo architecture.
Italy
Key Images
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Ceiling fresco (detail), Kaisersaal Residenz, Würzburg, p. 778, 22.25
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, The Marriage of Frederick Barbarossa, p. 779, 22.26
Canaletto, The Bucintoro at the Molo, p. 780, 22.27
• Italian artists worked outside Italy, with Giovanni Battistta Tiepolo creating the illusionistic fresco paintings for several palaces and churches throughout Germany and Spain.
• Canaletto, most known for his vedute, or ″view″ paintings, of Venice became very well-known in England after his works were purchased in Venice and then brought to England.
• Canaletto often included scenes from daily life in his extremely detailed paintings.
Key Terms /Places/Names
″Poussinistes″ and ″Rubénistes″
fête galante
commedia dell’arte
trios crayons technique
moral genre painting
Marie Antoinette
ancien régime
the good mother portrait
Reynolds′ Discourses
vedute
camera obscura
Discussion Questions
1. What aspects of French Rococo art are related to the move of the nobility from
Versailles to elegant town houses in Paris?
2. What characterizes the work of Jean-Antoine Watteau?
3. In what ways is Rococo art both related to and different from Baroque art?
4. How would you define the unique role of the decorative arts during the Rococo
period?
5. Compare and contrast the artistic styles of Thomas Gainsborough and Sir
Joshua Reynolds in their portraits of Mrs. Siddons (Figs. 22.17 and 22.18).
How are these different approaches manifested in their paintings?
6. Why do portraits give us the ″clearest understanding of the French Rococo″?
7. In what ways do you think that Marie Antoinette and Her Children functioned as a work of propaganda for the French monarchy? What sorts of messages are embedded in the work? Do you find this work effective as a propaganda work or not?
8. In what way can the paintings of Canaletto serve as important cultural documents?
Resources
Books
Boucher, François. François Boucher, 1703–1770. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art,
1986.
Grassellli, Margaret and Pierre Rosenberg. Watteau, 1684–1721. Washington, D.C.: National
Gallery of Art, 1984.
Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Late Baroque and Rococo Architecture. History of World
Architecture. New York: Rizzoli, 1985.
Rosenberg, Pierre. Chardin, 1699–1779, tr. Emillie P. Kadish and Ursula Korreitchouk, ed. Sally W. Goodfellow. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979.
Rosenberg, Pierre. Fragonard. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988.
DVDs
Landmarks of Western Art—From Rococo to Revolution—A Journey of Art History across the Ages. (2006). Kultur Video. 50 min.