What is rococo style?

Rococo is a transliteration of French Rococo, and the word comes from French ro- caille (shell craft). This style is characterized by rocks and mussels. It is a gorgeous, exquisite and complicated artistic style, which combines Baroque style and China's decorative interest, and uses many S lines.

Baroque art is a period of masculinity, although it has strict etiquette, formal pride and exaggeration. The subsequent period, that is, Rococo art, began with the death of Louis XIV in 17 15, and it became more refined, more pretentious, more rigid, and therefore weaker. It can be considered that a sign of this period is the popularity of European porcelain at the beginning of18th century. At first, people ate with heavy silver tableware and made huge sculptures with big stones, but now they use fragile porcelain as tableware and also make small and exquisite porcelain statues, thus reflecting the spirit of this romantic period.

The monarchy and the absolute authority of the church promoted the development of those dynamic expressions in the17th century, which were exactly what the representatives of absolutism needed for self-expression and specific explanation of their arbitrary power requirements. In the18th century, these authoritative figures lost their prestige, not only because some secular and church nobles were completely discredited ideologically and morally because of their dissolute conduct, but also because natural science and philosophy developed rational thinking and made people realize the disadvantages of the old social system. This optimism and self-confidence based on critical thinking, coupled with the infinite self-confidence in one's own ability, finally leads to the elegance of personal emotional value. People like idyllic and relaxed lyricism, like Anacreon's poems, and don't want the heroic epic that conforms to moral obligation, honor and will in the17th century tragedy, but prefer the truthfulness, typicality close to reality and wonderful dialogue style of comedy.

In this period, plastic arts are loyal servants of this society with ideological and moral liberation. Nevertheless, Rococo art is not a unique, creative or completely different artistic style from Baroque art, because it is oval, and there are two smaller oval halls between the Central Hall and the West Factory. In short, inside the church, the oval hall and the circular hall repeatedly cross and infiltrate, and this "multi-voice" can be comparable to a fugue composed by Bach.

Madame de Pompadour (172 1 ~ 1764) is the founder of rococo art style. She not only participated in military diplomatic affairs, but also influenced the artistic style at that time as a cultural "protector". Madame de Pompadour, whose original name was Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, was born in a family of financial speculators in Paris, and later became the mistress of Louis XV, and was named Marquise. Under the advocacy of Madame de Pompadour, the rococo artistic style came into being, which made the sculpture style with prosperous weather in the17th century shine under the sun king, and was touched by this lady with a delicate hand in the18th century, which was particularly charming.

The characteristic of Rococo secular architecture art is the garden-style mansion with light structure, which increasingly crowds out the baroque grand palace architecture. Here, individuals can develop freely without interference from the boastful court society. For example, the names of Xiaoyao Palace or Guan Jing Mansion indicate the private characteristics of these mansions. Prince Eugene's garden palace is a vibrant whole, consisting of seven symmetrically arranged pavilion-style buildings, and its folding compound sloping roof spreads gracefully and symmetrically from the middle to the domes of four turrets (Figure 202). The single-story main hall with gables on it has almost the comfort of the middle class, while the two spread-out double-story wings show the luxury of the master, but not the pride of the princes and nobles. Two single-storey buildings with moderate width are located between the pagodas, and the magnificence of the pavilions makes the whole building have the characteristics of a solid castle-in short, completely different architectural concepts are unified in an elegant internal connection. It is this careless configuration of architectural groups whose forms and styles are almost contradictory that clearly embodies the spirit of rococo art.

The staircase hall of the archbishop's office in Wü rzburg left a good impression of the elegance of the late Baroque architecture. Neumann wasted a lot of space here and designed two symmetrical staircase halls, but only one was built. However, this alone is enough to give this magnificent indoor space a spectacular atmosphere, which is transmitted to a series of buildings such as the front hall, garden hall and pilgrimage hall (Figure 207). The zenith paintings painted by Venetian Tiepolo in the staircase hall and pilgrimage hall have brought the charm of architectural art to an unparalleled level. The ceiling was transformed into colorful light by the huge zenith painting of 600 square meters, as if it were shot into the room from the empty sky. The sky is full of grotesque images, which cleverly conceal the boundary between architecture and painting (for example, dogs stand on prominent horizontal decorations). Gypsum floral decorations are also squeezed into the painting, and the characters in the painting use the sculptures in their hands to occupy the architectural space. With this illusion, painting, sculpture and architectural art are completely unified.

The appearance of Rococo architecture is satisfied with rhythmic layout, natural building materials or a simple tone, while the interior decoration is colorful and diverse. The greatest feature is the hedonism of life, which is the secular enjoyment stage of life, mainly reflected in the palaces built by the royal nobles for themselves.

Comparison between Baroque architecture and Rococo architecture: The former pays attention to the sense of rhythm, quantity, space and varied three-dimensional sense of lines, which has the effect of painting. On the basis of the former, the latter pays more attention to the formal beauty of the wall, covers the wall with complex curves and decorative paintings, even enriches the indoor space with mirrors or candlesticks, and likes to decorate the interior with imported products (such as China porcelain, Japanese lacquerware, oriental silk and tapestries, African jewelry, Italian crystal lamps, etc.). ).

Interior decoration is usually based on white, with flowers, grass stems, palms, waves, foam or shells as decorative patterns, which brings an extremely slender and lively interest, but it destroys the sense of balance, solemnity and stability of the building, especially the dazzling colors such as gold, white, light green and pink. This complicated and artificial style is really the acme of decorative arts.

Representative works: G. Beaufland (1667 ~ 1754), the House of Subitz in Paris (1736-9, such as the Princess Hall inside). Kaisersal (1749 ~ 1754) in the residence in Wü rzburg, Germany, was built by architects B. Neumann (1687 ~ 1745) and Tibolo (G.

The appearance of Rococo architecture is satisfied with rhythmic layout, natural building materials or a simple tone, while the interior decoration is colorful and diverse. The greatest feature is the hedonism of life, which is the secular enjoyment stage of life, mainly reflected in the palaces built by the royal nobles for themselves.

Comparison between Baroque architecture and Rococo architecture: The former pays attention to the sense of rhythm, quantity, space and varied three-dimensional sense of lines, which has the effect of painting. On the basis of the former, the latter pays more attention to the formal beauty of the wall, covers the wall with complex curves and decorative paintings, even enriches the indoor space with mirrors or candlesticks, and likes to decorate the interior with imported products (such as China porcelain, Japanese lacquerware, oriental silk and tapestries, African jewelry, Italian crystal lamps, etc.). ).

Interior decoration is usually based on white, with flowers, grass stems, palms, waves, foam or shells as decorative patterns, which brings an extremely slender and lively interest, but it destroys the sense of balance, solemnity and stability of the building, especially the dazzling colors such as gold, white, light green and pink. This complicated and artificial style is really the acme of decorative arts.

representative works

Boffrand (G. Boffrand, 1667 ~ 1754), the house in Paris (1736-9, such as the Princess Hall inside).

Kaisersal (1749 ~ 1754), a residence in Wü rzburg, Germany, was built under the leadership of architect B. Neumann (1687 ~ 1745), and Tiboro (G. Danish Palace) is also a standard rococo building.