LECTURE rococo 1715 1780 from french rocaille shell shaped curvilinear because of the soft pastel colors and curved forms often seen as the most feminine style marks the european aristocracy s turn to the pursuit of pleasure hedonism has a feathery feel architecture and interior design where profession interior design gets started hotel de soubise begun 1730s in paris rooms inside were salons for gathering and parties and meetings ex salon de la princesse looks like plant life is growing on the walls similarities but difference in that during louis s time there is a clear separation between wall ceiling in rococo you cannot see where wall meets ceiling walls curve into ceiling and corners are concealed very organic style candlesticks grow out of the walls the amalienburg nymphenburg park 1720s in munich germany its pink curved steps and exterior borromini is an enormous influence on rococo architecture take on oval shape like him hall of mirrors 1720s in amalienburg munich done by FRANCOIS DE CUVILLIES birds are hidden in this can see people too so elaborate and overwhelming wealthy was rebelling against classical style rococo is all about pleasure rather than morality a refutation of the rigid french baroque people enjoying life a lot of sexually charged making it almost immoral plant life often seems lushed and idealized FRANCOIS BOUCHER cupid a captive 1754 nymphs have captured cupid and they re teasing him nothing moralizing about it painterly handling completely idealized similar to rubens in the treatment of women this is called rubenesque full bodied fleshy women diagonal lines like ruben as well doing the same thing as baroque artists but lighten up story and colors both come from mythology ruben s is more serious epic and grand rococo people use it as an excuse to use nudity botcher s is much more feathery JEAN HONORE FRAGONARD the swing 1766 upperclass people did what they wanted all day because they didn t have to do much work kicking shoe to sculpture of cupid representative fo sexual abandonment he has a direct view right up her dress cupid has a hush motion he is hiding in bush man to right is church member father ANTOINE WATTEAU self portrait as gilles 1718 1719 has more depth than others painted himself as sad clown gilles clown is always pursuing women and they are rejecting him he s sad about this actors at bottom separating themselves sad clown concept of theatre in rococo style DISCUSSION WATTEAU pilgrimage to the island of cythera 1717 his submission to be in the academy usually had to be about a grand subject but this is not this a theme he created fete galante amorist festival aristocrats like a genre theme in dutch baroque made an exception and let him in cythera is a mythological island home of venus goodness of love and beauty these are the types of things they would act out can see pastel colors and feathery looks they are all arriving at the sculpture of venus brushwork is so loose so hard to see some things they are paying respects to love the decadent rococo style of the aristocratic culture did not go unchallenged almost as soon as the rococo style develops in architecture another style emerges to reject it RICHARD BOYLE AND WILLIAM KENT chiswick house 1725 much different than the amalienburg because they were rejecting the style much more classical in england the interior is also more classical with corners and gridded ceiling harmonious amalienburg decadence and extravagance chiswick house dignity stately decorum responsibility this is called the palladian revive 1720s 1770s short movement like rococo ANDREA PALLADIO architecture venetian renaissance architect perhaps he most influential of all renaissance architects due to his four books on thomas jefferson referred to it as the bible of architecture boyle and kent model after his villa rotunda have read his book and follow him central plan buildings palladio s four books were translated into english and published in england in giacomo leoni an italian architect who moved to england in 1714 buildings are very similar porticos comes from ancient roman architecture the front porch area that is 1715 by sheltered palladian revival is found in the new world by thomas jefferson also an architect tomas jefferson designed the monticello in charlottesville united states part of the palladian revival gorgian style neoclassicism a number of forces emerge to dismantle the absolute hold on power possessed by the aristocracy and with that dismantling the rococo style falls out of favor happens as a movement because of interest in antiquity they still have a lot to owe to rococo style salons rooms used as meeting rooms this brews in to the enlightenment one major force was the rise of enlightenment philosophers questioning everything and status quo DENIS DIDEROT philosopher and moralizing social critic of 1700s france detested the decadence of the aristocratic elite especially boucher encyclopedia begun in 1751 an early attempt to catalogue all available info on science art history political theory edited by diderot for the next 20 years in numerous volumes initially banned by the french government for its criticisms of religion and government but illegal copies were available also banned by the catholic church the enlightenment sutured by the notion of progress that human kind could better itself through the accumulation and democratization of knowledge characterized by a faith in empirical evidence and a distrust of superstition the french american and the revolutions occurred during this period oxygen discovered at this time newton made realizations JOSEPH WRIGHT OF DERBY a philosopher giving a lecture at the orrery 1763 1765 orrery a mechanical model of the solar system planets revolve around the sun voltaire and rousseau were great enlightenment philosophers JOHANN WINCKELMANN by the 1750s rococo culture is seen as the decadent and critics and theorists are calling for a renewal of the arts through than examination of classical art winckelmann the first modernrn art historian and wrote things He presented a fresh and persuasive account of art of classical antiquity first modern individual to recognize that the greeks invented classicism and romans adopted the only way for us to become great is to imitate the ancients POMPEII HERCULANEUM another major force behind the renewed interest in classicism ins the rediscovery of pompeii and herculaneum in italy modern excavations begin in 1740 mount vesuvius