|
Fragonard,
The Swing, 1732
|
By the 18th Century, the seriousness of Baroque gradually gave way to the lighter
style of Rococo. Many Rococo artists still used religious subject matter, as
in the Baroque period. This is why Rococo is sometimes characterized as being
a more delicate, final development of the Baroque movement. However, for the
most part, Rococo art is generally characterized by soft and pastel colors,
natural, care free and airy subjects. The artists used curving, dainty forms
in flirtatious light hearted and erotic scenes. The subjects are usually persons
of nobility and the upper class, since they commissioned these works. Works
like these were created with the ideals that only the aristocracy had the luxury
to pass time so enjoyably. Rococo was replaced by Neoclassicism, the popular
style of French and American revolutions.
A prime and very typical example of Rococo painting is that of French painter,
Honoré Fragonard, The Swing. In this image we witness two lovers in courtship
enjoying each other’s company on a swing. The male is looking up his unsuspecting
lover’s skirt, while a servant pushes her swing. Also, the lushness of
the magical surrounding gardens calls upon ideals of youth and fertility.
This piece was commissioned within a series of works by Louis XV’s mistress,
Madame du Barry. But by the time Fragonard completed the works, she no longer
accepted them suggesting that the style was dated. Madame du Barry quickly commissioned
another set in the Neoclassicist style.
Unlike Fragonard, Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo painted in the Rococo
style but with religious subject matter. This is clear in Immaculate Conception
(1769). Although the subject matter is religious, the colors are pastel tones
and the atmosphere of the scene exhumes a warm soft light.
This work was commissioned in order to decorate an altar of the Franciscan Convent
of San Pascual. However, much like Fragonard’s piece, the popularity of
|
|
Greuze, Broken Eggs, 1756
|
the Rococo, much like its subject matter, was fleeting, and the works were quickly
replaced by Neoclassicist trends. Other artists of the same era, although not
working in the Rococo style, still took on predominant Rococo themes in their
works. Jean-Baptiste Greuze depicts morality scenes involving peasants. The predominant
theme of his work Broken Eggs is erotic regardless of the immediate impression
the image gives the viewer. The broken eggs at the young girl’s side symbolize
the loss of innocence. This is further assured by the mother’s scolding
gaze, the young man’s uncomfortable position and the girls’ exposed
breast.
