Epochs · France

Rococo

c. 1715 – 1775

After the death of Louis XIV, French aristocratic taste turned from grandeur to pleasure. Rococo painting favours pastel colour, feathery brushwork and scenes of flirtation in dreamlike gardens. Watteau's fêtes galantes and Fragonard's playful eroticism define a world of elegance that the Revolution would sweep away.

Hallmarks

Pastel palette and feathery touch
Fêtes galantes and aristocratic leisure
Playful, often erotic, subject matter
Asymmetry and ornament

Artists here

Antoine Watteau · 1684 – 1721
Thomas Gainsborough · 1727 – 1788
Jean-Honoré Fragonard · 1732 – 1806

Read further on Wikipedia ↗

Works (5)

Pilgrimage to Cythera
Antoine Watteau · 1717
Mr and Mrs Andrews
Thomas Gainsborough · c. 1750
The Swing
Jean-Honoré Fragonard · 1767
The Blue Boy
Thomas Gainsborough · c. 1770
A Young Girl Reading
Jean-Honoré Fragonard · c. 1770