One of the most influential Rococo artists of the early 18th century was fascinated by an early form of theater and it reflects in his paintings. Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) invented a completely new genre of painting and this laid the foundation for the frivolous Rococo paintings in the following decades. In this article, we take …
Rococo paintings
If there is one art movement that beats all others in terms of exuberance then it’s definitely this 18th-century style that emerged in France. Rococo art followed Baroque art and is sometimes referred to as “Late Baroque.” That’s because Rococo artists built onto the already theatrical Baroque style of the 17th century. The movement didn’t …
When a young female French painter started to make a name for herself in the second half of the 18th century, she adopted the popular Rococo style. Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) lived through the transition between Rococo art and Neoclassical art and gradually transformed her style to suit the contemporary artistic preference. She worked …
Very few artists in history have lived through 3 different art movements. This makes the career of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) quite special. She became the favorite portraitist at the French court during the final years of the Ancien Régime. The Rococo artist produced dozens of portraits of the royal family during this period. …
Although the career of Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) abruptly ended when he was still in his thirties, he left a permanent mark on the world of art. He invented an entirely new genre called “Fêtes Galantes,” depictions of people having a good time in extremely theatrical parkland surroundings. The idyllic settings of his paintings became the …
One of the greatest Engish artists in history became famous because he painted marvelous portraits of upper-class individuals. His true passion, however, was to spend time in nature and paint landscapes. Both types of paintings are featured in this remarkable list of masterpieces. Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) lived in a time that Rococo masters painted frivolous …
A frail artist from Valenciennes, a city in the northern part of France, moved to Paris in the early 18th-century to make a name for himself as a painter. While he only partially succeeded in his goal during his lifetime, this French artist did manage to transform the world of art in the 18th century …
One of the greatest British portrait painters in history preferred to paint landscapes. He despised the upper-class people who sat before him but needed to do his job to support his family. We can only imagine that he didn’t have the same feeling when painting this fascinating artwork of the Rococo era. It depicts a …
Theatrical and flamboyant, often hidden behind a veil of subtle eroticism. This is how we could briefly describe the famous Rococo paintings produced by Rococo artists during the final decades of the Ancien Régime in France. The pleasure-loving court of Louis XV adored this style and one of his most famous mistresses, Madame de Pompadour, …