What is a French rocaille?

What is a French rocaille?

rocaille, in Western architecture and decorative arts, 18th-century ornamentation featuring elaborately stylized shell-like, rocklike, and scroll motifs. In French, rocaille means “rubble,” or “pebbles,” and style rocaille is synonymous with Rococo.

What defines rococo style?

It is characterized by lightness, elegance, and an exuberant use of curving natural forms in ornamentation. The word Rococo is derived from the French word rocaille, which denoted the shell-covered rock work that was used to decorate artificial grottoes.

What is rocaille made of?

Rocaille decoration was heavily loaded with decoration modeled on seashells, cascades of leaves and flowers, palm leaves, and other natural elements. The decor on walls and furniture was usually made of carved wood or plaster which was gilded.

Which of the following were the principal motifs in rococo ornament?

The American adoption of the Rococo focused almost exclusively on the style’s ornamental motifs—shells and rocailles, scrollwork, acanthus leaves, and other flora and fauna, often in symmetrical compositions.

What are the classic features of Rococo?

Rococo style is characterized by elaborate ornamentation, asymmetrical values, pastel color palette, and curved or serpentine lines. Rococo art works often depict themes of love, classical myths, youth, and playfulness.

What is the meaning of Barocco?

Examples. The word “baroque” comes from the Italian word “barocco” which means bizarre. About.com Music Education. Derived from the Portuguese “barocco” for “irregular pearl,” Baroque was comprised of many diversions from Biblically based Renaissance painting.

Who were the best known Rococo painters?

Famous rococo painters include Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) especially his ‘fete galante’ outdoor courtship parties – See his Pilgrimage to Cythera (1717) Louvre, Paris; Charlottenburg, Berlin – Francois Boucher (1703-70) with his lavish pictures of decadent self-indulgence; Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) with …

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