The Rococo

The Rococo emerged in early eighteenth-century France as a lighter, more playful successor to the Baroque. Where Baroque art aimed for grandeur and emotional intensity, the Rococo cultivated elegance, wit, and sensual pleasure. Watteau invented the fête galante, dreamy parkland scenes of aristocratic courtship suffused with melancholic beauty. Boucher and Fragonard painted mythological fantasies and amorous encounters in pastel confections of pink, blue, and gold.

In Venice, Tiepolo created the last great ceiling frescoes of the European tradition, while Canaletto and Guardi painted the city's architecture and festivals for Grand Tour visitors. Chardin's quiet still lifes and domestic scenes offered a bourgeois counterpoint to aristocratic splendor. The Rococo was also the age of the great portrait, with masters like Drouais and Nattier creating images of dazzling material luxury.