Rococo

Question 1

Answer 1

Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Louis XIV, 1701

Louvre, Getty

1. 1715, death of Louis XIV.
2. It didn’t put an end to absolutism, but it abolished the stifling control his rule had on intellectual and cultural life.

Question 2

Answer 2

Hyacinthe Rigaud, Louis XV at the Age of Five in the Costume of Sacre, c1716 - 24

MET

1. New social and intellectual freedom
2. succeeded to the throne from great-grandfather
3. Rococo - decorative and fine art style during Louis XV - The word comes from rocaille, refers to rockeries in contemporary gardens that presumably inspired these decorations.

Question 3

Answer 3

Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Gallery of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles, 1678 - 84

1. The King enterained powerful nobles to keep them from rising up against him. Meant to impress the French people.
2. 3,000 candles to light the room.

Question 4

Answer 4

François Boucher, The Toilet of Venus, 1751

MET

1. Commissioned by Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV mistress, for Château de Bellevue, near Paris.
2. Boucher assoicated with formation of mature Rococo style.
3. favoring blues and pinks

Question 5

Answer 5

François Boucher, The Chinese Fair, designed 1742, woven 1743-45 (wool, silk)

Mia

1. Exoticism of far East as trade expanded to China in 17th and 18th centuries.
2. Tapestry, one of six part series
3. European marketplace disguised as a Chinese fair.
4. Pagoda roofs, rickshaws, Asian costume, elephants, camels.
5. Tapestry hung on wall in Paris salon
6. Fasionable to hang tapestries on walls in 18c.

Question 6

Answer 6

Francois Boucher, Apollo and Clytie, 1747-67

Mia

1. A nymph, Clytie, was so beautiful that Apollo (God of the Sun) fell in love with her.
2. Apollo eventually fell in love with the King’s daughter and forgot about Clytie. Clytie didn’t know about this and wondered why Apollo never came to see her.
3. The King would not allow Apollo to be with his daughter.
4. Apollo disguised himself as her mother and came and went as he pleased.
5. Clytie secretly followed Apollo into the palace and found him making love to the King’s daughter.
6. Clytie told the King.
7. The King had his daughter killed.
8. Apollo turned her into a sweet smelling tree and Clytie into a flower with no scent.
9. Clytie never lost her love for Apollo and gazes up at the sun where ever he goes - hence the sunflower.

Question 7

Answer 7

Francois Boucher, Saint John the Baptist, 1755

Mia

1. Painted for Mme de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV
2. She commissioned religious paintings for chapels at her various residences and to please religious members of court.
3. Created for Capuchin convent in Paris

Question 8

Answer 8

Francois Boucher, four tapestries from the sixth weaving of the Loves of the Gods, c1775

Louvre

1. Manufacture des Gobelins
2. Boucher was directector of Gobelins from 1755 to 1770.
3. Pictoral Medallion in the center.
4. Maurice Jacques designed decorative crimson surrounds.
5. Psyche is shown holding an oil lamp over the sleeping cupid. In the other hand she holds a dagger. A little cupid on the left slays her hand.
6. This series adorned the bed chamber of the duchess of Bourbon.
7. Tapestries with decorative surrounds appeared in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, with the History of Don Quixote. This approach reached its hightest point with the collaboration of Boucher and Jacques.

Question 9

Answer 9

Charles-Antoine Coypel, The Cowardice of Sancho at the Hunt, 1772

Question 10

Answer 10

Charles-Antoine Coypel, Don Quixote Delivered From Folly by Wisdom, 1773

J. Paul Getty Museum

Question 11

Answer 11

Charles Antoine Coypel, Don Quixote Delivered From Folly by Wisdom, 1770 - 1772

J. Paul Getty Museum

Question 12

Answer 12

Jean-Honore Fragonard, The Secret Meeting, from the series The Progressive Love, 1771 - 1773

Frick Collection

1. one of four decorative panels
2. commissioned by Mme du Barry - last of Louis XV mistresses
3. secret rendezvous
4. guarded by statue of Venus and Cupid

Question 13

Answer 13

Artist Unknown, Console table, 1775 - 1800

Mia

1. guilded wood and marble
2. once thought to have been designed by Jean-Honore Fragonard

Question 14

Answer 14

Jean-Honore Fragonard, The Grand Staircase of the Villa d’Este at Tivoli, 1760

Mia

Question 15

Answer 15

Maurice-Quentin de La Tour, Portrait of Madame de Pompadour, Salon on 1755

Louvre

Question 16

Answer 16

Thomas Gainsborough, Portrait of Mary, Countess Howe, c.1760

Kenwood House, London

1. Rococo failed to take root in countries such as Britian, Netherlands, and northern German states.
2. demand for art was largely easel paintings
3. in Britian, wealthy nobles decorated their homes with Old Master paintings.
4. Contemporary artists had great demand for family portrait paintings.
5. lifesize portrait of evening stroll
6. nobility

Question 17

Answer 17

John Singleton Copley, Portrait of Sarah Allen, nee Sargent, c. 1763 (United States)

Mia

1. successful American colonists wished to be portrayed in the style of English and European artistocrates.
2. presented as a masculine-looking middle aged woman.

Question 18

Answer 18

Thomas Gainsborough, Portrait of John Langston, Esquire, of Sarsden, 1787

Mia

1. Gainsborough - talented and sought after British portraturist of 18th c.
2. landscape paintings were his first love, and portraiture brought wealth

Question 19

Answer 19

Thomas Gainsborough, The Honourable Mrs Graham, 1775 - 1777

National Galleries Scotland

1. Portrait in the tradition Van Dyke
2. dress echo 17th c. enhancing beauty and elegance.