Rococo

Rococo emerged in early 18th-century France as a lighter, more playful reaction to Baroque grandeur. Where Baroque served popes and monarchs with dramatic intensity, Rococo pleased aristocrats seeking pleasure and wit. Pastel colors replaced deep shadows. Cherubs and flirtatious lovers replaced tortured saints. Ornament became an end in itself.

Antoine Watteau pioneered the fête galante, depicting elegant figures in parkland settings. Jean-Honoré Fragonard's famous The Swing captures the style perfectly: a young woman kicks off her slipper while a hidden lover watches from the bushes. François Boucher painted mythological scenes with rosy flesh and pink clouds. In Venice, Tiepolo created dazzling ceiling frescoes.

Rococo extended beyond painting to architecture, furniture, and decorative arts, characterized by asymmetrical curves, shell motifs, and gold leaf. Critics dismissed it as frivolous, and the French Revolution swept it away along with the aristocracy that patronized it. Today, Rococo paintings hang in the Louvre, the Wallace Collection in London, and the Frick Collection in New York.