Category: Rococo Art

Top 5 Rococo Artworks

Image collage of the top 5 Rococo artworks

Rococo artwork is known for its flamboyant depiction of wealth and the aristocracy in the 18th century. This article covers the top five Rococo artworks that I think are important to the movement. You can also watch my video of these 5 artworks on YouTube.

Pilgrimage to Cythera (#1)

Pilgrimage to Cythera by Jean-Antoine Watteau was completed in 1717. This artwork was the catalyst to the Rococo movement. Approved by the French academy of painting and sculpture, this piece introduced wealth, flamboyance, and a new art style into painting. Characteristics of this new art style (Rococo) included loose brush strokes, pastel colors, and flamboyant escapades of the wealthy class – which is what the Rococo art movement would become known for. They even had to create a new genre in the academy called the fete gelante in order to fit this into their hierarchy of art.

Madame de Pompadour (#2)

Madame de Pompadour by Francois Boucher - Rococo artworks images
Madame de Pompadour by Francois Boucher (1756)

Francois Boucher completed Madame de Pompadour in 1756. Boucher took over the Rococo art movement after Watteau. In fact, he was one of the most well-known artists of the 18th century. A lot of this had to do with his main patroness, the Marquis de Pompadour, aka the Madame de Pompadour, aka King Henry the 15th’s famous mistress.

The Madame de Pompadour loved Boucher’s work so much that she had him paint almost every single one of her portraits. These artworks all hold a typical Rococo style in portraiture – loose brushstrokes, pastel colors, whimsical looks on their young idealized faces, and lots of symbols of wealth and power. Because of her wealth, power, and connections (you know, being connected to the king and all), she actually helped propel the Rococo art movement forward.

Self-Portrait, Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun (#3)

Image of Self-Portrait, Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun (A Rococo artwork)
Self-Portrait, Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun (1790)

Number three of my top five Rococo artworks is Vigee Le Brun’s self-portrait. Vigee Le Brun shifts between Rococo and Neoclassical. The style she does is Rococo, but her subject matter is more Neoclassical. I think she is an important Rococo artist because first of all, she was the lead portrait artist of Marie Antoinette who lived in Versailles and was an important figure in Versailles history. Second, her husband Victor Le Brun was the interior decorator of Versailles, which was very Rococo/Baroque. Victor also started the French academy of painting and sculpture. So, she’s just kind of a big name.

Not only was she connected to important Rococo persons, but she is a very talented painter. Vigée-LeBrun is fantastic with the Rococo styles of loose brush strokes (just look at her hair in the above picture!), pastel colors, and whimsical youthful faces. She also shows us what Rococo artists thought of themselves. She paints herself in the manner of painting, a serious artist. In addition, you can tell by the way she is dressed that she belongs to this wealthy class that she’s so associated with. It’s her way of bringing artists to the level of those people who are doing fete gelante.

Marriage A-la-Mode (#4)

Marriage A-la-Mode by William Hogarth (1743)

The Marriage A-la-Mode, by William Hogarth was completed in 1743. This Rococo artwork is a series of six paintings that makes fun of Rococo. It’s not necessarily done in the Rococo style, but in order to better understand the Rococo movement, you have to check this piece out.

In this piece, Hogarth satirizes the upper class – those people who can spend all of their money conversing in salons and going on fete gelantes. The six paintings show the story of an arranged marriage full of wealth and class that does not end well. It dramatizes the downfall of living a life like the aristocracy was doing during Rococo. What happens when you age and you no longer look beautiful and you no longer can go on these escapades? Or even worse, what happens if you lose all your money?

The Swing (#5)

Image of The Swing by Fragonard - A Rococo artwork
The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1767)

Finally, I can’t not pick The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Fragonard was able to build on the foundation that Watteau and Boucher had created for him to create a masterpiece. And in my opinion, this is the quintessential Rococo art piece. It has the perfect representation of all of those Rococo art characteristics – it’s frilly, it’s frivolous, it’s frothy, it’s full of wonder and secrecy. There’s lots of dynamic movement that connects it to the Baroque art period. You’ll find loose brush strokes, pastel colors, and this feeling of romance and love. The Swing is just perfectly Rococo.

Understanding these top 5 Rococo artworks helps you connect with the history, artists, and people surrounding the Rococo art movement.

Pilgrimage to Cythera by Jean-Antoine Watteau

Pilgrimage to Cythera by Jean-Antoine Watteau is one of the most important pieces of art in the 18th century. It took 5 years to complete (1717) and was Watteau’s submission to get into the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. His acceptance into the academy with Pilgrimage to Cythera was a key turning point in art history.

Historical Context

In the 1700s, the French aristocracy was gaining power and clout both politically and socially. They had so much time and money on their hands that they were able to gallivant through gardens, have large parties, and dress pretty outrageously. The aristocracy was gaining more control and power within the art scene of the time. In art history, this art movement is called Rococo and Pilgrimage to Cythera was the catalyst for the movement.

What’s Happening in Pilgrimage to Cythera by Watteau

The Pilgrimage to Cythera by Jean-Antoine Watteau (1717)

At first glance you may see a lot of wealthy people gallivanting in a park, and you’re not too far off. What we have here is a group of luxuriously dressed couples and they’ve made a Pilgrimage to Cythera

What is the importance of cythera?

Cythera is the supposed birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite, who’s the goddess of love. It’s an island in Greece and known for its beautiful, gorgeous, and fertile landscape. Cythera is a place to fall in love. In fact, off to the right you can see a statue of Aphrodite robed in flowers. The statue is a bust, so the top half is nude. She looks beautiful as she looks down on the group of lovers that have come to pay homage to her.

The lovers in pilgrimage to cythera

Let’s take a look at the couples in the painting, starting from the Aphrodite statue on the right and working our way left across the painting. You’ll notice they are all separate couples. Looking at the first couple on the right, you’ll see a young woman elegantly dressed. Her eyes look down, and she looks demure. The young man with her is kind of whispering in her ear. Maybe a flirtatious conversation. At their feet you’ll notice two things: (1) his weapon or walking stick is laid down as if to show this is harmless and his focus is on her, and (2) a little cupid. The cupid is half clothed and tugging at her dress, seemingly egging her on or goading her to fall into this flirtatious conversation. This couple doesn’t look overtly sensual in any way. Their romance feels harmless and cute.

Then, as your eyes go across the painting you can see this act of romance and falling in love kind of taking shape. With the next couple, the young woman is being helped up by her admirer. It seems she’s fallen into the flirtatious conversation. Moving on, the man in the next couple has his arm wrapped around the woman and is leading her away. Then, as you continue to look at the rest of the couples from right to left, you can see the couples getting more comfortable with each other. They have their arms wrapped around each other and there’s no more pressuring needed. No goading. More sensuality is happening. Remember, this is the island of love.

The boat

The couples who have fallen in love are making their way to a boat in the left-hand corner. The boat is gilded and you can see it’s wrapped in this beautiful red drapery. Next, notice the putti or little cupid baby angels. They’re very cute and playful and their purpose is to inspire romance and love.

the background

When looking at the trees, clouds, and landscape, you’ll notice individual brush strokes (a painterly style). The painterly style gives it a kind of airy feel. It feels feathery and flowy – a perfect scene for these couples to fall in love.

In the background, if you follow the river back to the left, you can see what looks like a little town in the distance. Historians flip-flop on whether the couples are leaving the island of Cythera or going to the island of Cythera. Due to the fact that we’ve got the Aphrodite statue, to me the evidence is convincing that the boat is at Cythera. Also, because the level of intimacy increases from right to left, in my opinion they are heading back to the boat after a luxurious, love-filled trip to the island. But this is all up for debate.

Pilgrimage to Cythera is the Catalyst to the Rococo Art Movement

Pilgrimage to Cythera was a very unique painting at the time. We’re coming from the Baroque period, when the art is heavy and has really sharp lines and contrasts between light and dark. Pilgrimage to Cythera shows a dream-like landscape depicting the aristocracy on a beautiful love-filled escapade to an island where they can fall in love. It’s a very new feel in 1717.

As already mentioned, Watteau uses this famous piece for his entrance into the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He gets accepted, and this is really important not only him but also to art history in general. The academy had a hierarchy of categories in which paintings could fit into. They couldn’t find a category that fit perfectly for this piece, so they created a new category called fete gelante, which basically means wealthy people doing things in nature.

So, with this piece he not only creates a new category to display art but he also is a big part of starting the Rococo Art Movement, which starts in Paris and moves throughout Europe. The movement is characterized by depicting the aristocracy doing fun, sensual things. Rococo art is also full of pastel blues, yellows, greens, and pinks. For a perfect example, just take a look at my blog “The Swing by Fragonard – The Quintessential Rococo Piece”.

The Swing by Fragonard – The Quintessential Rococo Piece

Here is The Swing by Fragonard - the best-known Rococo piece

The Swing by Fragonard has become the quintessential art piece of the Rococo Art Movement. By studying this playful, hedonistic piece you basically come to understand Rococo and the art history context of the time. This blog article covers some of the most common questions about The Swing:

  • Who is the artist?
  • Why was it painted?
  • What’s going on in the painting?
  • How is this painting Rococo?

Who is the artist of The Swing

Jean-Honoré Fragonard painted The Swing in 1767, which became his best-known painting. Fragonard is a well-known French Rococo painter who completed over 550 paintings. He was known for his hedonistic Rococo style.

Why was The Swing painted?

Although we don’t know for sure, the person who commissioned the piece is thought to be Baron Louis-Guillaume Baillet de Saint-Julien. Rumor has it that the baron wanted to be looking up the skirt of the swinging lady, while a bishop was swinging her (scandalous!).

Doyen was the original artist requested for the painting. But due to the sexual nature of the piece, Doyen did not end up taking the work. Fragonard took the commission and would later be thankful, as it propelled his career.

What’s going on in the painting?

The Woman

The focus of the painting is unmistakably the flirtatious woman on the swing. The lighting coming from the upper left hand corner and moving down towards the woman helps direct our attention to her. (Diagonals that help direct focus is a baroque art style, the art movement leading up to Rococo.)

You can see her shoe flying off as she flips up her dress. She doesn’t seem to be too worried about the man looking up her dress (scandalous!). In fact, she almost seems to be inviting his sensual gaze.

The Men

Besides the woman, we have two men in this painting. It looks as if the two men are not aware of each other’s presence. As previously mentioned, the man looking up the woman’s dress is said to be the patron who commissioned the piece. The man in the background (with a coy smirk on his face) is perhaps a bishop or other religious leader who is seeking a more “righteous” love. But little does he know that the woman is giving permission to another man to look up her dress.

The Statues

First, we have a cupid statue on the left side of the painting. You can see he is holding his finger to his lips, as if to say, “shh”. This helps add to the sensuality and nauthiness of the piece.

Just below the woman, you’ll also notice two more cupids attached to an aquatic animal. Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty is said to be born of the sea. Therefore, she is often associated with aquatic animals, dolphins being the most common. All the more adding to the theme of love and sensuality throughout the piece.

The Garden

Finally, a couple of important aspects of the garden are important to point out. At first glance you may miss it, but in between the women and religious leader, you’ll notice what looks like a fence in the background. Perhaps this is a private, luxurious garden? A place for mischief to happen? Common to the aristocracy? These may be aspects that the patron or Fragonard himself was considering while painting The Swing.

In addition to the fence, there is some sort of barrier below the two cupids. Notice that the Bishop is outside the barrier, whereas the man looking up the dress is not. Hmm. . .

Lastly, the green lusciousness of the garden is difficult to miss. All the more adding to the feeling of abundant love, sensuality, mischief, and fun happening throughout the piece

How is Fragonard’s The Swing Rococo?

Fragonard’s The Swing has come to be known as the quintessential Rococo art piece. This piece fully embodies the history leading up to and surrounding Rococo and the important art characteristics and themes that come from the movement, including the following:

  • The power and influence of the aristocracy
  • Pastel colors with a more painterly style
  • Lingering Baroque characteristics (the diagonal lighting)
  • An absence of monarchy and religious themes that were common in previous art periods. (In this case, The Swing goes a step further with an almost rebellious tone towards religion.)
  • Themes of sexual, mischievous love

These themes and characteristics are more sporadically found throughout Rococo art. But to have them all in one piece, and in prominent fashion, really makes The Swing by Fragonard the best example of what the Rococo Art Movement was all about.

If you enjoy Rococo and The Swing and/or need a good study guide, download a Rococo infographic PDF, which includes a summary of the movement and an analysis of The Swing.

Understanding The Rococo Art Movement

Key pieces of the Rococo Art Movement included The Swing by Fragonard and Embarkation for Cythera by Watteau

The Rococo Art Movement was all about flamboyance, wealth, fun, and romance. During this time, the rich were attempting to answer the question – how do you live a happy life? And the art shows they had just a little fun in testing out this answer. To get the full picture, let’s dive into all the details of the movement.

What Inspired the Rococo Art Movement

The Rococo Art Movement was inspired by 3 things:

  1. Baroque Art Movement
  2. Aristocracy replacing the monarchy in France
  3. Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture

How Baroque influenced Rococo

Baroque (1600’s) followed the Renaissance (1400-1500’s). The Renaissance is a tough period to follow (how do you follow perfection?!). But Baroque art added in more drama when compared to Renaissance art. This included more diagonals, painterly brush strokes, contrasting light and dark, and more movement in the art.

This Baroque art style paved the way for the Rococo Art Movement. You can start to see the two styles blend together in architecture. As an example, the Church of Vierzehnheiligen in Germany has both Baroque and Rococo aspects. A lot of the architectural characteristics in this building come from Baroque. But then you see pastel colors and more organic features that exemplify Rococo.

In general, the Baroque art style had a big influence on Rococo art. As you study Rococo, you’ll see a lot of Baroque style layered into Rococo characteristics.

The Church of Vierzehnheiligen in Germany shows both Baroque and Rococo characteristics.
Church of Vierzehnheiligen, in Germany. Construction began in 1720.

Aristocracy replacing the monarchy

King Louis XIV was a flamboyant, dominant monarch that fit what the Rococo movement came to be known as – wealthy people having fun. But it wasn’t until his death in 1715 that there was an important shift from the monarchy to the aristocracy. The monarchy actually left Versailles, and the aristocracy gained a lot of political and economic power. During this time, a small percentage of the population owned 90% of the wealth in France. This laid the grounds for the Rococo Art Movement.

With lots a leisure time, people turned their attention to personal affairs and worldly pleasures. A culture of luxury and excess became prevalent in France. And that’s when the shift from Baroque to Rococo can really be seen.

Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in France

The Baroque art style and the rise of aristocracy in France created the perfect soil for the Rococo Art Movement. Finally, if there was a catalyst of the movement that you can point to, the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture and key decisions that were made within the academy, might have been that catalyst.

The Royal Academy was a prestigious art school that was difficult to get into. In the late 1600s and into the 1700s, the Academy created exhibitions for artists to display their art work. These exhibitions were a place to exchange and talk about art, literature, politics, and science. They were the birthplace of the art museum. And the perfect place for the aristocracy. Now the church and the monarchy weren’t the only ones controlling art, but the aristocracy was playing a major role in art movements.

In 1717, The Royal Academy accepted Jean-Antoine Watteau’s art piece, Pilgrimage to Cythera. This decision was huge at the time, because they couldn’t fit the piece into their hierarchy of categories. So, they created a brand new category – Fete galante. Fete Galante was a type of outdoor entertainment for rich people. It basically meant rich people doing rich things. (You’re kidding right? No, no I’m not). And so, this decision really ushered in the Rococo Art Movement.

The Rise and Fall Rococo

Birthed in France’s fertile soil of aristocracy and The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, the Rococo Art movement spread throughout Europe. Rococo’s themes of flamboyance, wealth, and fun had less religious themes than previous periods. The art depicted wealthy people doing wealthy things (fete galante), and enjoying plenty of romantic escapades. (For more on that, just study The Swing by Fragonard.)

But Rococo didn’t last very long. Following Rococo was Neoclassicism and the Enlightenment. This was a time for showing moral behavior. During these movements following Rococo, humans were at their most noble behavior, truly concerned about the human condition. So with all their fun, maybe they didn’t find how to live a happy life after all?