Read complete books and articles on: Rococo Art and Architecture

Rococo - rəkōˈkō, rō–, style in architecture, especially in interiors and the decorative arts, which originated in France and was widely used in Europe in the 18th cent. The term may be derived from the French words rocaille and coquille (rock and shell), natural forms prominent in the Italian baroque decorations of interiors and gardens. The first expression of the rococo was the transitional régence style. In contrast with the heavy baroque plasticity and grandiloquence, the rococo was an art of exquisite refinement and linearity. Through their engravings, Juste Aurèle Meissonier and Nicholas Pineau helped spread the style throughout Europe. The Parisian tapestry weavers, cabinetmakers, and bronze workers followed the trend and arranged motifs such as arabesque elements, shells, scrolls, branches of leaves, flowers, and bamboo stems into ingenious and engaging compositions. The fashionable enthusiasm for Chinese art added to the style the whole bizarre vocabulary of chinoiserie motifs. In France, major exponents of the rococo were the painters Watteau, Boucher, and Fragonard and the architects Robert de Cotte, Gilles Marie Oppenord, and later Jacques Ange Gabriel. The rococo vogue spread to Germany and Austria, where François de Cuvilliès was the pioneer. Italian rococo, particularly that of Venice, was brilliantly decorative, exemplified in the paintings of Tiepolo. The furniture of Thomas Chippendale manifested its influence in England. During the 1660s and 1670s, the rococo competed with a more severely classical form of architecture, which triumphed with the accession of Louis XVI.

See F. Kimball, The Creation of the Rococo (1943); A. Schönberger and H. Soehner, The Rococo Age (tr. 1960); H. A. Millon, Baroque and Rococo Architecture (1961); G. Bazin, Baroque and Rococco (tr. 1964); H. Hitchcock, German Rococco (1970).

Show Excerpt Only

12 of the Best Books and Articles on: Rococo Art and Architecture

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

The Creation of the Rococo » Read Now
by Fiske Kimball. 358 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...American Architecture, Samuel...CREATION OF THE ROCOCO BY FISKE...Museum of Art First published...Select Architecture , before...Creation of the Rococo...
2.

Rococo, Classicism, and Romanticism » Read Now
by Arnold Hauser. 234 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

First published in 1951 Arnold Hausers commanding work presents an account of the development and meaning of art from its origins in the Stone Age through to the Film Age. Exploring the interaction between art and society, Hauser effectively details social and historical movements and sketches the...
Read More

First published in 1951 Arnold Hausers commanding work presents an account of the development and meaning of art from its origins in the Stone Age through to the Film Age. Exploring the interaction between art and society, Hauser effectively details social and historical movements and sketches the frameworks in which visual art is produced.This new edition provides an excellent introduction to the work of Arnold Hauser. In his general introduction to The Social History of Art, Jonathan Harris asseses the importance of the work for contemporary art history and visual culture. In addition, an introduction to each volume provides a synopsis of Hausers narrative and serves as a critical guide to the text, identifying major themes, trends and arguments.
Show less
3.

The Rococo Age: Art and Civilization of the 18th Century » Read Now
by Arno Schönberger, Halldor Soehner. 398 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
4.

Italian Baroque and Rococo Architecture » Read Now
by John Varriano. 329 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

From the late 1500s to the mid-1700s, Italy gave the world some of the liveliest and most imaginative structures in the history of architecture. This profusely illustrated book is the first comprehensive study in English of the works that emerged throughout the Italian peninsula during this critical...
Read More

From the late 1500s to the mid-1700s, Italy gave the world some of the liveliest and most imaginative structures in the history of architecture. This profusely illustrated book is the first comprehensive study in English of the works that emerged throughout the Italian peninsula during this critical period. "If Renaissance architecture was to be contemplated on an intellectual level," John Varriano writes, "Baroque architecture was to be experienced with the emotions and the senses." The grandiloquent projects of the Baroque age were generally sponsored, either directly or indirectly, by the Catholic Church, but as Varriano notes, their appeal has always transcended the immediate self-promotion of their patrons and held powerful sway over people of diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. Coming from an era when architecture was considered a true art, the best Baroque buildings are capable of provoking universal human responses. Italian Baroque and Rococo Architecture offers chapters on the key architects of the time--Gianlorenzo Bernini, Francesco Borromini, Pietro da Cortona, Guarino Guarini--as well as detailed treatments of the work of many less well-known architects who were active from Sicily to Venice. More than half of the 190 photographs and illustrations were made expressly for this book or have not previously been published. These pictures wre chosen to convey the actual experience of the site. About the Author: John Varriano is Professor of Art History at Mount Holyoke College. He has published numerous articles in his field and is the co-author of Roma Resurgens: Papal Medals from the Age of the Baroque. The first comprehensive study of a key era in architectural history
Show less
5.

The Loom of Art (Chap. VIII "Enchantment - Baroque and Rococo") » Read Now
by Germain Bazin, Jonathan Griffin. 328 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...dominance of classicism in architecture forced the craftsman...profusion of the Baroque and Rococo styles assured the prosperity...ancillary crafts. In the art of...
6.

Architecture through the Ages (Chap. 24 "The Rococo in Germany and England") » Read Now
by Talbot Goodwin Hamlin. 682 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 464 24. THE ROCOCO IN GERMANY AND ENGLAND 476...BOOK VII: NINETEENTH-CENTURY ARCHITECTURE 27. THE SPIRIT OF THE NINETEENTH...RESTORED MODEL. Metropolitan...
7.

Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning (Chap. 17 "Baroque and Rococo Architecture") » Read Now
by Leland M. Roth. 542 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...the Unavoidable Art 1...THE ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE 6...17 Baroque and Rococo Architecture...Lauros-Giraudon; Art Resource, New York...17 Baroque and Rococo Architecture...
8.

A Concise History of Painting, from Giotto to Cezanne (Chap. V "From the Rococo to Goya") » Read Now
by Michael Levey. 326 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...153 V FROM THE ROCOCO TO GOYA 211...the ungodliness of art and had recommended...perspective of the architecture and solid, satisfyingly...pictures, and a rococo grace...
9.

The Rule of Taste from George I to George IV (Chap. III "Chinese and Rococo") » Read Now
by John Steegmann. 203 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...narrowly, Palladian architecture were mastered, the art in England...Baroque" and "rococo" are no longer...drawingrooms; and architecture is not a drawing-room art. The...
10.

A Cupid's Head with Wings, in Contemporary Review » Read Now
by James Parkhill-Rathbone. 4 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...Effner, however, soon became interested in architecture and began working under Boffrand. The...for native craftsmen who could execute Rococo work. Among these was J. B...
11.

Praeger Picture Encyclopedia of Art: A Comprehensive Survey of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture and Crafts, Their Methods, Styles and Technical Terms, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day ("Baroque and Rococo" begins on p. 318) » Read Now
by Frederick A Praeger. 584 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...292 Baroque and Rococo 318 Architecture 323...Art in the Modern...forcefulness of Baroque art was transformed...light-heartedness during the Rococo period. The...
12.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Discussion of Rococo begins on p. 452) » Read Now
by Ian Chilvers. 584 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists, Second Edition is an authoritative and up-to-date guide to Western art from Ancient Greece to the present day. It offers over two thousand entries on painting, sculpture, and the graphic arts, covering not only artists and their work, but also...
Read More

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists, Second Edition is an authoritative and up-to-date guide to Western art from Ancient Greece to the present day. It offers over two thousand entries on painting, sculpture, and the graphic arts, covering not only artists and their work, but also patrons and dealers, collectors and writers, materials and techniques, and museums and galleries. For this new edition much new material has been added on twentieth-century art, including subjects such as Neo-Expressionism and the Turner Prize. Written in clear, lively prose, this invaluable reference maintains a careful balance between fact and appraisal. In its pages, we encounter artists ranging from Polyclitus of Argos to Leonardo da Vinci, from Grandma Moses to Mary Cassatt, from Max Beckmann to Andy Warhol. Here also are periods and movements, including the Classical period, the Renaissance, the Ancients, Impressionism, the Ash-can School, and Cubism, as well as techniques and styles such as encaustic painting, encarnado, lithography, cabinet painting, and blot drawing. For this abridgement, Ian Chilvers has retained all of the essential features of the original while adding new entries and eliminating the more peripheral articles. By presenting the information in a pithier format, he is able to focus more sharply on Western and Western-inspired art. The dictionary also provides a very helpful cross-referencing system for names, art media, styles, and terms. Art enthusiasts of every kind will find this entirely reliable and highly readable volume indispensable.
Show less