Rococo and Neoclassicism


Rococo: 1700-1750
Neoclassicism: 1750-1815
  • Period of European conquest
  • Armies became too expensive
  • European settlers built Baroque and Rococo inspired homes and imported Rococo fashions and garments in the new world
  • Death of Louis XIV in France: less power in the hands of the king and more in the nobility 
  • Rococo departs from the Baroque interest in royalty; aristocratic; Paris became the "hub" instead of Versailles 
  • Industrial Revolution brought machinery work and inhumane working conditions; mass production and technological innovation 
  • Population boomed 
  • The Enlightenment; ideas based on logic rather than spirituality 
  • Transformational movements in European politics 
  • Rome became a location of inspiration and tradition, but not of progress
  • Historical paintings and portraits were most important 
Rococo:
  • Shift of power to the aristocrats paralleled in Baroque and Rococo.
  • French Royal Academy set the taste for art in Paris
  • Strong Satirical paintings
  • Epitome: paintings that show aristocratic people enjoying leisures
  • Rococo shuns straight lines
  • Erotic, sensual
  • Curvilinear; seductive 
  • Playful scenes of love and romance with overt sexual undertones 
  • Originated in France, also in England and Venice 
  • Figures are slender, often seen from the back 
  • Park benches, meadows; plant life and flowers dominate 
Eighteenth-Century English Painting:
  • Freedom of expression; satirical paintings
  • Hogarth most famous of these
  • Themes stem from exposing political corruption to mockeries of the contemporary lifestyle 
  • Hogarth used his prints to expose the audience of the abuses in the upper class; knew many couldn't read, so he presented them in the easiest way possible: by painting 
  • Satirical painting flourished in England 
Neoclassical Architecture:
  • Were not adaptations of the rules of ancient architecture, but a clever revision of classical principles into modern framework 
  • Tailored to living in the fifteenth century 
  • From Renaissance sources, Neoclassicists learned about symmetry, balance, composition, and order 
  • Greek and Roman columns; symmetrical 
Neoclassical Painting:
  • Stories from great epics of antiquity spoke meaningfully to eighteenth century painters 
  • Mythological/Biblical scenes painted with a modern context in mind 
  • Themes of self sacrifice; exemplum virtutis 
  • Compositions were symmetrical, with linear perspective leading the eye; clarity of detail 
Neoclassical sculpture:
  • Recovery of artifacts from Pompeii inspired sculptors to work in the classical medium 
  • Sculpture in the Neoclassical style a continuation of ancient tradition 
Vocabulary: 
  • Exemplum virtutis: painting that tells a moral tale 
  • Fete galante: 18th century French style of painting that depicts the aristocracy walking through a foreign landscape 
  • Salon: government-sponsored exhibition of Parisian Art 
  • Grand Tour: English and Americans undertook a journey to Italy to absorb ancient and Renaissance work
Summary:
  • Royal imagery and rich coloring of Baroque painting replaced by lighter pastels and a theatrical flair 
  • Relaxed attitude in the eighteenth century towards criticism and censorship 
  • Discovery of Pompeii revived interest in the classics
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