Rococo

ロココ / 1730s–1770s / Style / Historical Styles

Turned Baroque grandeur toward interior intimacy: shell-like curves, pale color and asymmetrical ornament composing a light-footed social space. One of the first styles in which decoration broke free of architecture to take the lead.

Rococo — Interior of the Wieskirche (CC BY-SA 3.0) · © Llez
Interior of the Wieskirche (CC BY-SA 3.0) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © Llez
Rococo — Hall of Mirrors of the Amalienburg (CC BY 2.0) · © Fred Romero from Paris, France
Hall of Mirrors of the Amalienburg (CC BY 2.0) · CC BY 2.0 · © Fred Romero from Paris, France
Rococo — Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing 1767 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing 1767 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

At a glance

Visual cues

  • Rocaille shell curves
  • Pale pastels
  • Asymmetrical ornament
  • Mirrored white-and-gold rooms

Best used for

  • Turning a small room into a light and intimate setting for company
  • Letting ornament run free of structure and set the character at the edges

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Dictionary entry

Type
Fine script curves following the line of the frame
Composition
Asymmetry throughout, with corners dissolved by ornament at the edges
Material
Pale blue and pink walls carrying slender white and gold relief
Caution
Adding the curves and the gold while keeping everything symmetrical, which yields nothing but a heavy formal Baroque in miniature.
Further study
Cuvilliés's Amalienburg / the Hôtel de Soubise / the 19th-century Rococo revival

Related entries

Often confused with

More from Historical Styles

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https://indexstyle.org/styles/rococo
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