ROCOCO ART

1599 - 1656

A light-hearted, decorative style grew in reaction to the dark religious drama of the Baroque era. There was a gilded glow revolving around the sparkling Versailles Court of Louis XIV.

The dramatic story-telling art of the Baroque years, was soon pulled from its religious moorings and transformed into the over-the-top ornamentation of the Rococo era. Now bright pastel colors, complex shapes, and ostentatious materials were used to change the subject from saints in battle to frolicking aristocrats in idyllic landscapes. Architecture and sculptures followed on this gilded path. In the history of art, Rococo could be considered a brief bout of whimsy that both started and ended in the 18th century. Many artists were its master, but King Louis XIV, the Sun King, was its unabashed patron.