10 baroque & rococo
TRANSCRIPT
Rococo in different artistic modes Furniture and decorative objects
The lighthearted themes and intricate designs of Rococo presented themselves best at a
more intimate scale than the
imposing Baroque architecture and sculpture.
It is not surprising, then, that French Rococo
art was at home indoors. Metalwork, porcelain
figures and especially furniture rose to new
pre-eminence as the French upper classes
sought to outfit their homes in the now
fashionable style.
Rococo mirror and stuccowork inSchloss Ludwigsburg reflect the style's characteristic anti-
architectural integration of materials and forms
Rococo style took pleasure in asymmetry, a taste that was new to European style. This
practice of leaving elements unbalanced for effect is called contraste.
Baroque painting
Still-life, by Portuguese painterJosefa de Óbidos,
c.1679, Santarém, Portugal, Municipal Library
A defining statement of what Baroque signifies in
painting is provided by the series of paintings
executed by Peter Paul Rubens for Marie de
Medici at the Luxembourg Palace in Paris (now at the Louvre), in which a Catholic
painter satisfied a Catholic patron: Baroque-era conceptions of monarchy, iconography,
handling of paint, and compositions as well as the depiction of space and movement.
Baroque style featured "exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint,
and even a kind of artistic sensationalism". Baroque art did not really depict the life style
of the people at that time; however, "closely tied to the Counter-Reformation, this style
melodramatically reaffirmed the emotional depths of the Catholic faith and glorified both
church and monarchy" of their power and influence.
15 JULY 2014