In the wake of the death of King Louis the XIV, early 18th century France rejected the Baroque's harsh edge and dramatic subject matter, and a new movement rose from the aristocrats of France. Pastel, nature scenes come to popularity along with the replacement of the monarchy the everyday, upper class. French aristocrats take the stage along with soft nature and virtuous backgrounds.
Jean-Antoine Watteau, known as the father of the Rococo, was heavily influenced by artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, and Paolo Veronese. Watteau painted mostly idyllic nature scenes full of pastels, florals, and whimsical setting. Attending the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, Watteau went on to influence many of the artists acclaimed as Rococo masters today. Above is Watteau's painting, Pleasures of Love. While the style is Rococo, the audience can still see the influence of the Baroque as the lighting is still dramatic and the nature background fades into darkness. As the Rococo progresses, these characteristics will fade into more luminous qualities.
Taking lots of inspiration from earlier Rococo artist Watteau, Francois Boucher was also a Rococo artist. Boucher studied mostly Dutch landscape painting and the
Italian Baroque (click to see the art movement post) in Rome, one of the artistic hubs of the world at the time. Boucher's application of these past styles is very visible in his work. For example, in
The Secret Message, Boucher exemplifies the classic Rococo, play-like, and natural scene. The audience can see the influence of Dutch landscape painting and the Italian Baroque.
Much like his contemporary, Jean-Honore Fragonard took inspiration from the Dutch and the Italian Baroque. Fragonard liked to experiment with textures in his art through objects such as florals, clothing, nature, clouds, and others. In this painting, The Love Letter, he plays with texture and value through the curtains and folded cloth. While this painting is not what many think of as the typical Rococo painting with luminous, floral background, Fragonard still found a way to fit in nature through the small bunch of flowers.
Works Cited
Art History 101. The Meeting (from the Loves of the Shepherds), 1771-1773. Artsy, www.artsy.net/artwork/jean-honore-fragonard-the-meeting-from-the-loves-of-the-shepherds. Accessed 2 May 2021.
Kimball, Fiske. "The Creation of the Rococo." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 4, no. 3/4, 1941, pp. 119-23. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/750409. Accessed 2 May 2021.
Kleiner, Fred S., and Helen Gardner. Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History. Fifteenth edition, Student edition ed., Boston, Cengage Learning, 2016.
Lebowitz, Rachel. "10 Artworks That Defined the Rococo Style." Artsy, 28 May 2018, www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-10-artworks-defined-rococo-style. Accessed 2 May 2021.
