In 1688 to 1697 Europe was embroiled in the War of the Grand Alliance, also known as the Nine Year's War followed by the War of the Spanish Succession which lasted from 1701 to 1714, the War of the Austrian Succession and numerous other wars that occupied the rest of the 18th Century. Despite all of this warfare France and Britain maintained their territorial integrity and Europe embarked on “The Enlightenment”. Although Britain and the Netherlands turned towards more democratic forms of government the French and other parts of Europe experimented with absolute monarchy and establishing a huge gulf between a dilettante upper class and the population in general.
The enlightenment was a philosophical reaction to the new discoveries in science by Galileo, Newton, Leibniz and other scientists. Science demonstrated that the natural world was ruled by rational relations between its components and was not subject to miracles and magic. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the chief concern of philosophers was to reason how religion and science could co-exist and to re-visit the rational basis for morals and ethics. The chief philosophers of the Enlightenment were an early wave of philosophers such as Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, Renee Descartes, Spinoza, John Locke, then, in the eighteenth century, Hume, Kant, Adam Smith, Voltaire, de la Mettrie, Rousseau etc. What characterised all of these is that God must be explained and humanity becomes part of the natural environment, subject to reason. Some, such as de la Mettrie, even went as far as rational atheism.
This new philosophy loosened the bonds between the highly educated and the Church, even in Catholic countries such as France.
In France and to some extent in mainland Europe as a whole, the 17th and 18th centuries marked the rebirth of the Ancient Greek Symposium in the form of the “Salon”. The Salon was a place where a wealthy patron would gather together a group of people to discuss and study artistic, philosophical, scientific and political matters.
Salons became the place where the wealthier urban elite could show off new styles of decoration, furnishing, erudition and art. This new taste was then copied by their wealthy friends.
The new style in the arts, although sometimes labelled “Late Baroque” or "High Baroque", owes little to the Council of Trent and a great deal to the looser tastes of the Enlightened rich. “Rococco” is a more appropriate name.
Fête champêtre and Fête Galante
The Fête champêtre was a form of garden party that was popular in 17th century France. Such parties would involve orchestras and fancy dress. The Fête Galante was a courtship party – a Fête champêtre attended by eligible young folk. Paintings of such parties became popular amongst the wealthy.
Claude Gilot 1673 – 1722
Gilot was a commercial artist who painted theatre sets, produced engravings, illustrated books and produced paintings. He ran a successful studio in Paris. His style of art was highly commercial and adapted to theatre set design. His studio provided employment for two famous Rococco artists: Watteau and Lancret.
Gilot introduced the painting of Fête champêtres and this style was perfected by his pupils.
Jean-Antoine Watteau 1684-1721
Watteau was born in Valenciennes. In 1702 he moved to Paris where he obtained employment making copies of Dutch genre paintings. He then became apprenticed to Claude Gilot between 1703 and 1708.
Watteau became a member of Academy in 1714 but only finished his reception piece, the demonstration artwork to justify his membership, in 1717. His reception piece was the Embarkation for Cythera. The French Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (which subsequently became the Academy des Beaux Arts) created a special category, the Fête champêtre, to allow Watteau's painting to be accepted as an equal of the biblical, historical and mythological paintings that were generally allowed as fine art.
Cythera is the mythical island where Venus, the goddess of love, was said to be born. Watteau's painting shows a Fête galante with nobles enacting a journey to the island.
François Boucher 1703-1770
Francois Boucher's painting marked the high point of the French Rococco. He was born in Paris to an artist father. In 1730 he became a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and became First Painter to the King in 1765.
Like Gilot and Watteau, Boucher also designed and executed paintings for theatrical sets. Many of Boucher's paintings were distinctly erotic and suited the moral climate of the pre-revolutionary French Court.
Boucher was a particular favourite of Madame de Pompadour, the Chief Mistress of Louis XV.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard 1732-1806
Fragonard was born in Grasse, France. He began work as a student notary but his gift for painting was evident and at 18 he was apprenticed to the artist Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, having been rejected as an apprentice by Francois Boucher. Six months later he was accepted into Boucher's studio.
Fragonard won the prix de Rome in 1752 with “Jeroboam Sacrificing to Idols”
This painting was in the Academic style but Fragonard is known for his Rococco work, the most famous being “The Swing”. Fragonard was an artist who could paint in either style with ease and by comparing his academic work with the Swing the stylistic features of the Rococco are obvious.
A lot of rather serious analyses of the Swing are available but it is really a sophisticated cartoon for the amusement of wealthy patrons. Fragonard truly summarises the rococco style in this picture with the lightly drawn faces and foliage, the whole painting is dedicated to communicating the joke.
You can almost imagine tipsy, wealthy Frenchmen swirling their brandies as they peruse the picture after lunch, one saying to the others “Mon dieu, imagine that!”. There is almost a hint of British 1950s seaside postcards in the Rococco.
But obviously Rococco paintings have more class.
The rococco spread across Europe. Its greatest exponents in Italy were Francesco Guardi and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 1696-1770.
Tiepolo was born in Venice Much of Tiepolo's work is truly high baroque rather than rococco, the focus being on grand mythological and religious themes.
But he was also capable of lighter hearted rococco paintings such as Rinaldo Enchanted by Almeda:
Francesco Guardi 1712 - 1793
Guardi was also a Venetian artist. Much of his work consisted of landscapes and especially urban views of Venice. Although a capable academic artist he adopted the freedom and inventiveness that was part of the rococco style.
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes 1746-1828
The Spanish artist Francisco Goya was the most prominent exponent of the Rococco style in Spain. He was born in Aragon and at age 14 he was apprenticed to the artist Jose Luzan and then moved to Madrid where he studied under Anton Mengs, one of the first neoclassical artists.
William Hogarth 1697-1764
Hogarth was the son of a Latin teacher who was also a bit of an entrepreneur. His father set up a coffee shop where the customers and staff spoke Latin. His father ended up in Fleet Debtors prison for 5 years. Hogarth trained as an engraver and his paintings were often models for subsequent engravings. He also produced numerous portraits for customers.
Captain George Graham, painted in 1745, is a good example of Hogarth's wit and skill. It is amusing to read critiques of this painting, incorrectly suggesting that Hogarth was painting the dogs as prominent members of the company to show what he thought of the people. The painting was a commission and so involved the acquiescence of Captain Graham. The dogs are part of the scene as dogs often are in British society, the dog that is sitting with the wig on is probably Hogarth's pug who is shown in a portrait of the same year. The intention of the painting is rococco hilarity, from the steward spilling gravy down the back of the clergyman to the dog in fancy dress. Captain Graham wanted to show that he could take life lightly despite his daily risk of death in war.
Hogarth's self portrait, shown above, is a picture within the picture.
Hogarth is most famous for his series of pictoral moral tales. These are the Harlot's and Rake's Progresses, Marriage à-la-mode, Industry and Idleness, “Beer Street and Gin Lane” and The Four Stages of Cruelty.
Each series was produced as a set of paintings and as engravings. The Rake's Progress consisted of 8 pictures. Painting 1 is reproduced below.
Epilogue
The Rococco was a short-lived period in art. It began in about 1700 but as early as 1750 Winckelmann was extolling the virtues of Classical Greek art and suggesting that artists should follow the example of Raphael in the absence of original Greek paintings. The new Neoclassical style offered the stillness and nobility that the revolutionary sentiment of the late Enlightenment required.
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