& ROCOCO FRENCH BAROQUEblaylockmphs.weebly.com/.../3n_-_french_baroque.ppt_1.pdfFRENCH BAROQUE & ROCOCO French Baroque & Rococo This is a typical French Rococo Room. The room is comprised

FRENCH BAROQUE & ROCOCO

FRENCH BAROQUE& ROCOCO


French Baroque & Rococo

FRENCH BAROQUE

Louis XIV

Nicolas Poussin

Claude Lorrain

ROCOCO

Antoine Watteau

Francois Boucher

Jean-Honore Fragonard

Know these people…



BerniniBust of Louis XIV

1665FRENCH BAROQUE


French Baroque & Rococo Portrait of Louis XIV, 1701.

FACTS ABOUT LOUIS XIVAdopted the name “le Roi Soleil” (‘The Sun King’). Many of the small elements on buildings at this time included a sun design.

Believed he was center of Universe and was “God’s Will” that he be King

Kept complete control of France and his followers

Founded the Royal Academy of Painting & Sculpture in 1648(to promote the French Classical Style)

Invented red heel shoes due tobeing only 5’4”



Louis XIV, Palace of Versailles, c.1680.

The Palace of Versailles is one of the most beautiful achievements of 18th-

century French art. The site began as Louis XIII’s hunting lodge before his son Louis XIV transformed and expanded it,

moving the court and government of France to Versailles in 1682. Each of the

three French kings who lived there until the French Revolution added

improvements to make it more beautiful.

HERE’S HOW YOU REMEMBER:Louis XIV built it

Louis XV lived in itLouis XVI “paid” for it (with his head!)


French Baroque & Rococo Louis XIV, Palace of Versailles, c.1680.


French Baroque & Rococo Louis XIV, Palace of Versailles, c.1680.


French Baroque & Rococo Painting of Versailles from 1722



Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles, c1680.

The Versailles of old was dimly lit, as lighting was used sparingly to protect its ornate walls

and ceilings from smoke damage. Mirrors gained favor as a way of boosting available

candlelight, an infatuation that culminated in the Hall of Mirrors.

On grand occasions, twenty thousand candles and glittering chandeliers would be used to transform the Hall of Mirrors into a

“corridor of light”.

The Hall of Mirrors originally known as the Great Hall, used to be an outdoor terrace. It

was later converted into a dazzling indoor space to showcase one of Louis XIV’s most

prized collections—his sculptures of antiquity. The room was magnificent (and still

is) at sunset, when the Sun on the horizon illuminates the Hall!


French Baroque & Rococo Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles, c1680.


French Baroque & Rococo Chapel inside Versailles


French Baroque & Rococo Hall of Battles, Versailles.






French Baroque & Rococo Bed of Louis XIV


French Baroque & Rococo Bedchamber of Marie Antoinette


French Baroque & Rococo Bedchamber of Marie Antoinette

“secret” passage of Marie Antoinette





Life at the court was narrowly regulated by court etiquette. Etiquette became the means of social advancement for the court.

Louis XIV’s elaborate rules of etiquette included the following:

• People who wanted to speak to the king could not knock on his door. Instead, using the left pinkie finger, they had to gently scratch on the door, until they were granted permission to enter. As a result, many courtiers grew that fingernail longer than the others;

• A lady never held hands or linked arms with a gentleman. Besides being in bad taste, this

practice would have been impossible because a woman’s hooped skirts were so wide. Instead, she was to place her hand on top of the gentleman’s bent arm as they strolled through the gardens and chambers of Versailles. It is also mentioned that the ladies were only allowed to touch fingertips with the men.

• When a gentleman sat down, he slid his left foot in front of the other, placed his hands on the sides of the chair and gently lowered himself into the chair. There was a very practical reason for this procedure. If a gentleman sat too fast, his tight trousers might split;

• Women and men were not allowed to cross their legs in public;

• When a gentleman passed an acquaintance on the street, he was to raise his hat high off his head until the other person passed;

Court Etiquette



Nicolas Poussin(pronounced poo-SAHN)

Foremost painter of 17th century French Classicism


French Baroque & Rococo Nicolas Poussin, Rape of the Sabines, 1640s.


French Baroque & Rococo Nicolas Poussin, The Death of Germanicus, 1627-28.


French Baroque & Rococo Nicolas Poussin, The Shepherds of Arcadia, 1638.


French Baroque & Rococo Nicolas Poussin, Triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite, 1634.



Claude Lorrain, Landscape with Apollo Guarding the

Herds of Admetus , 1645.


French Baroque & RococoClaude Lorrain, Port Scene with the Departure of Ulysses from the Land of the Feaci, 1646.




French Baroque & Rococo Claude Lorrain, Aeneas's Farewell to Dido in Carthago, 1676.


French Baroque & RococoClaude Lorrain, Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, 1648.


French Baroque & Rococo François de Cuvillies, Hall of Mirrors, Munich, Germany, early 1700s.

Delicate, Organic, Ornate, Detailed, Reflective, Fanciful, Festive


French Baroque & Rococo Germain Boffrand, Salon de la Princesse , Paris, France ca 1737-1740



This is a typical French Rococo Room.

The room is comprised of sinuous curves luxuriantly multiplied in mirror reflections.

Painting, architecture, and sculpture combine to form a single ensemble.

tendrils: A twisting, threadlike structure by which a twining plant, such as a grape or cucumber, grasps an object or a plant for support.

Germain Boffrand, Salon de la Princesse , Paris, France ca 1737-1740



Antoine Watteau, L’Indefferent, 1716.Portrait of Louis XIV, 1701.



Antoine Watteau,Return from Cythera, 1717-1719

This painting represents a group of lovers preparing to depart from the island of

eternal youth and love, sacred to Aphrodite.

Young and luxuriously costumed, they perform, as it were, an elegant, tender,

and graceful ballet, moving from the protective shade of a woodland park,

peopled with amorous cupids and voluptuous statuary, down a grassy slope

to an awaiting golden barge.

Fete Galante = ‘elegant outdoor entertainment’



Antoine Watteau, Pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717.



Francois Boucher, Cupid a Captive, 1754

Boucher was a follower of Watteau and the painter for Madame de Pompadour ( the influencial mistress

of Louis XV)

His fame was gained through his paintings of graceful allegories, with Archadian shepherds,

nymphs, and goddesses cavorting in shady glens engulfed in pink and sky blue light.

“Boucher’s paintings are highly caloric with little nutritional value”



Francois Boucher,Marquise de Pompadour , 1756.



Jean-Honré Fragonard,The Swing, 1766

Fragonard was a student of Boucher and is considered by many to have

surpassed the genius of his master.

This is a typical “intrigue” picture. A young gentleman has managed an

arrangement whereby an unsuspecting old bishop swings the young man’s pretty

sweetheart higher and higher, while her lover (and the work’s patron), in the lower

left-hand corner, stretches out to admire her ardently from a strategic position on

the ground.

The young lady flirtatiously and boldly kicks off her shoe at the little statue on

the god of discretion, who holds his finger to his lips.


French Baroque & Rococo Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Bathers, 1766.

Documents

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