ROCOCÓ ART

ROCOCO ART

Rococo was an art style of 18th century painting and decoration characterized by lightness, delicacy and elaborated ornamentation. The Rococo period corresponds roughly to the reign of Louis XV of France (1715-1774). In decoration, the style is characterized by decoration based on arabesques, shells, elaborated curves and asymmetry. In painting, it is typified by iridescent pastel colours. It exact origins are obscure, but it appears to have begun with work of the French designer Pierre Lepautre, who introduced arabesques and curves into the interior architecture of the royal residence at Marly. Later, the paintings of Antoine Watteau, whose delicate paintings about aristocratic women and men in idyllic surroundings broke with the heroism of Louis XIV style. Another important painter was Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French painter whose Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance and hedonism.   Click on the picture to see some masterpieces