IDES 310 – Rococo – Supplemental Reading
Harwood et al,
Architecture and Interior Design: An Integrated History to Present chapter 20,
Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall.
HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL
When Louis XIV dies in 1715, his grandson, who is next in line, is only five years old. The Duc d’Orleans becomes regent until Louis reaches the age of 13. Louis XIV had left France heavily in debt from various wars and the royal building campaigns, so the Duc d’Orleans attempts to restore financial and social order. Because he lives in Paris rather than at Versailles, the court follows him, making Paris the artistic, social, and intellectual center of Europe. Louis XV obtains his legal majority and the throne in 1723. However, he fails to halt the political and economic decline begun in the last decades of his grandfather’s regime. Unlike his grandfather, Louis XV has little interest in government. Along with his nobles and courtiers, he pursues pleasure and gaiety and is often influenced by his mistresses. His policies at home and abroad are inconsistent. High taxes, wars, loss of the New World colonies, corruption, and mismanagement cripple France and increase dissatisfaction and unrest among the middle and lower classes. In the last years of his reign, Louis attempts some reforms with the help of his ministers, but the new policies are reversed after his death in 1774. France and the monarchy continue their downward slide toward the Revolution.
CONCEPTS
The Rococo of Louis XV, in contrast to the Baroque of Louis XIV, reflects the taste of the nobility, not the king. Upon Louis XIV’s death, the aristocracy reacts to the rigidity and formality of court life by seeking comfort and enjoyment. This polished but hedonistic society devotes itself to pleasure, fantasy, and gaiety, which are reflected in Rococo’s forms, themes, and motifs of romance, exoticism, comfort, individuality, and novelty. The tastes of women, especially the king’s mistress Madame du Pompadour, dictate fashions, and the feminine shape is reflected in the prevalent curvilinear forms. For the first time since the Renaissance, a style does not model itself on classical antiquity. This will help lead to its demise after mid-century.
MOTIFS
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Motifs. Engaged columns, pilasters, pediments, quoins, stringcourses, brackets, and corbels appear sparingly and discretely on exteriors. Interior and furniture motifs include flowers, bouquets tied with ribbon, baskets of flowers, garlands, shells,
Chinoiserie and
singerie designs, romantic landscapes, Italian comedy figures, musical instruments, hunting and fishing symbols, cupids, bows and arrows, torches, shepherds and shepherdesses, Turkish arabesques and figures, pastoral emblems such as shepherd crooks, and an allover trellis pattern with flowers in the center of intersecting lines.
ARCHITECTURE
Le Régence and Louis XV architecture continue the classicism of the Baroque era, but with an increased elegance and lightness in scale and appearance. Plain walls with surface decoration concentrated around doors and windows are characteristic. Larger windows reduce wall space and help to integrate outside and inside. Classical elements, such as the orders, are less common but still adorn noble houses to demonstrate rank and wealth.
Hôtels or townhouses built in Paris for the aristocracy are the chief Rococo building type. As in earlier periods, most sit at the rear of large plots of land in the city to create gracious cours d’honner (the forecourt of a building) with majestic gates of entry. Architects experiment with courtyard shapes that relate to the site’s shape.
Private Buildings
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Floor Plans. Plans are generally symmetrical with rectangular rooms. A few plans have oval spaces. As before, designers carefully plan the distribution of rooms to give the appropriate dignity and grandeur required for the nobility while still providing comfort and privacy. As earlier, organization centers on
appartements. Each has a variety of spaces within it. Apartments include rooms for ceremonies, such as receiving important guests, and for socializing with friends and private spaces that include bedchambers and ladies’ boudoirs.
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Materials. Most
hôtels are of local stone and trabeated construction.
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Façades. Hôtels exhibit a scale suitable for the nobility. Façade
INTERIORS
Interiors and furnishings are the primary expressions of the
Le Régence and Louis XV (Rococo) styles. Although associated with the reign of Louis XV, the Rococo style does not confine itself to those years. Attributes of Rococo begin to manifest in the late 17th century in the published designs and ornament of Jean Bérain and others and in the early-18th-century rooms at Versailles.
The first three decades of the 18th century are a transitional period between late Baroque and Rococo called
Le Régence. During this time Rococo characteristics begin to appear on and modify Baroque forms and details.
Le Régence characteristics include a general lightening in the size of rooms and scale of finishes and decoration; asymmetry; and the appearance of naturalistic, curvilinear ornamentation. During the 1670s and 1680s, rooms become less formal. Wood paneling replaces heavy marble-paneled walls, columns and pilasters disappear, and cornices diminish in size. Corners and tops of paneling, doors, and windows begin to curve. Naturalistic, exotic, or fanciful ornamentation, which is usually asymmetrical, replaces classical.
Rocaille decoration with its asymmetrical profusion of curving tendrils, foliage, flowers combined with shells, and minute details defines the Louis XV interior. Also characteristic are themes and motifs of gaiety, pleasure, romance, youth, and the exotic. In all but the grandest and most formal rooms, classical elements are rare. Most rooms maintain a rectangular form, but curving lines, continuity of parts, and asymmetrical arrangements of naturalistic decorations characterize wall panels and finishes, ceilings, textiles, furniture, and decorative arts. Paneling may be designed to incorporate sofas, consoles, tables, beds, and/or mirrors.
Ornate Rococo interiors contrast with refined, plainer exteriors. Important and ceremonial spaces retain their monumental scale, whereas private rooms become smaller and more intimate. Some spaces are designed for special purposes, such as music rooms, but dining rooms remain uncommon. The planning and decoration of private spaces reflects a desire for comfort and convenience, whereas state apartments continue to proclaim wealth and rank. To a greater degree than ever before, Rococo achieves a complete synthesis of interior design, furniture, and decorative arts.
Room decoration remains hierarchical as earlier; the more important the space, the larger its size and more lavish its decoration.
As the main reception for important persons, the
chambre de parade is the most formal and lavish room in the house and least likely to exhibit Rococo characteristics. The room has rich colors, costly materials, the orders, portraits, tapestries, antiques, and formal furniture that demonstrate and reinforce the owner’s social position. Similarly, the state bedchamber and its antechamber retain their formal and opulent decor. Social rooms, such as the
salon, usually feature Rococo themes and less formal decorations.
Private Buildings
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Color. During
Le Régence, most paneling is painted white with gilded details. By the 1730s, a yellow, blue, or green palette joins white and gold Single hues and contrasting values of the same hue decorate paneling.
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Floors. The most common flooring is wood blocks or parquet. Entries, halls, landings, and grand
salons may have marble or stone in blocks or squares. Rugs include Orientals, Savonneries, and Aubussons. The latter two are made in Rococo colors and motifs.
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Walls. Boiserie with alternating wide and narrow panels is the most common wall treatment French
boiserie, in contrast to earlier French Baroque and coeval English paneling, shows a strong continuity of wall surface. Panels, moldings, and other architectural elements do not greatly project, giving little interruption in the flatness and smooth articulation of the walls. In contrast to its ornament and moldings, paneling remains symmetrical even to the point of a false door to balance a real one, and it retains the tripartite divisions of earlier, which implies an order, although no columns are evident. Asymmetrical curves, foliage, and shells soften the corners, bottoms, and tops of panels. Decoration, which at times obscures form, extends beyond moldings and borders. Curves may be free form or resemble a woman’s upper lip; complex compositions feature multiple C, reverse C, and S scrolls.
Boiserie may in contrast to earlier French Baroque and coeval English paneling, shows a strong continuity of wall surface. Panels, moldings, and other architectural elements do not greatly project, giving little interruption in the flatness and smooth articulation of the walls. In contrast to its ornament and moldings, paneling remains symmetrical even to the point of a false door to balance a real one, and it retains the tripartite divisions of earlier, which implies an order, although no columns are evident. Asymmetrical curves, foliage, and shells soften the corners, bottoms, and tops of panels. Decoration, which at times obscures form, extends beyond moldings and borders. Curves may be free form or resemble a woman’s upper lip; complex compositions feature multiple C, reverse C, and S scrolls. Boiserie may be left natural, painted, or lacquered. Panels and moldings may contrast in color or be two shades of the same hue. Panel centers may have fabrics or colorful painted arabesques with or without figures and naturalistic motifs or landscapes.
Elevation, side of a
grande salon, mid-18th century; France.
· Tapestries, usually limited to grand rooms, depict Rococo themes in numerous colors and the subtle shadings of paintings. Wallpapers gain favor but are not used in rooms of state. Types include hand-painted Chinese papers, flocked English papers, and patterns imitating textiles. English papers dominate the French market until the late 1750s when war between the two countries halts their importation. Larger and more numerous mirrors with complex curvilinear frames are located on walls, over fireplaces, on ceilings, inside fireplaces in summer, and on window shutters.
· As the focal point, the fireplace sets proportions for paneling. The mantel shelf is slightly higher than the dado. The panel above the fireplace is the same size as larger ones in the room and features a
trumeau. The chimneypiece is smaller and projects less than before. The marble mantel itself is curvilinear, and its color may match tabletops in the room. Red is the most desired color, followed by yellow, gray, and violet.
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Windows and Doors. Windows are larger than before and have curving tops. Most have interior shutters that match the paneling. Divided curtain panels and festoons are common in important rooms. Fabric valances come into general use after 1720. Door panels match those of walls. Above most doors are paintings of pastoral, mythological, or romantic scenes in asymmetrical curvilinear frames. Important rooms have
portieres that help prevent drafts and add to the interior opulence.
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Ceilings. Coved ceilings, curving corners, and
rocaille decoration extending onto the ceiling proper are the most common treatments. Some ceilings are plain with a central plaster rosette.
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Textiles. Heavy brocades and damasks are no longer in vogue. Silks (especially painted), linens, chintzes, and other printed cottons are used in summer, while plain or patterned velvets or damasks replace them in winter. Sets of furniture often have matching tapestry covers. Textile colors are strong and brilliant. Crimson is most favored, followed by blue, yellow, green, gold, and silver. Patterns, which are frequently asymmetrical, depict Rococo themes and motifs. In 1760, Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf opens a textile factory in Jouy-en-Josas near Versailles that quickly becomes known for its toile de Jouy
. These fabrics are frequently used in bedrooms and boudoirs.
Lighting. Large windows, light-colored walls, shiny surfaces, and numerous mirrors, along with ornate lighting fixtures help to light rooms. Lanterns are more common than the
lustre à cristeaux in
salons and stair halls. Small and large
appliques, flambeaus, and
candelabra on mantels and tables, and
torcheres also provide light. Elaborate
guéridons may hold either a
candelabra or large
flambeau. To multiply light, candles often are placed in front of mirrors. Fixtures are made of
ormolu, porcelain, or silver in asymmetrical, naturalistic shapes. Some have crystal or lead glass drops.
Later Interpretations. Beginning in the 1840s, Rococo Revival interiors repeat the curves and naturalistic ornament of the 18th-century Rococo style, primarily in details such as mantels, wallpaper, textiles, and furniture. The goal is to evoke images of the style, not to recreate it. A more accurate rendition of Rococo occurs in the late 19th century as paneling and furnishings copy original scale, curves, and ornament. Neo-Rococo becomes a fashionable interior style in the early 20th century as critics and designers recommend it in place of heavy Victorian styles. The asymmetry, naturalistic ornament, and sensuous curves of Rococo also influence the
fin-de-siécle style, Art Nouveau, of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Human scale and curvilinear appeal ensure Rococo’s continued use today.
