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Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin
1732-1806
Romantic
French
Rococo
Painter
Stylistically Influenced by
the following Painters:
Antoine Watteau
and
François Boucher
Chardin created art that
is thoughtful,
appealing,
serene, and that
resonated both
intellectually and
emotionally with 18th
century viewers. His
paintings do not require
an elaborate explanation
to make them
understandable. Chardin's
style reveals a taste
for what is charming and
elegant.
He specialized in
still-lifes and genre
scenes with inspiring
moral themes set in
bourgeois households.
The painter
lived during a time of
political unrest and
social upheaval. The
impoverished French
masses were tired of
supporting an
ineffectual monarchy and
self-serving nobility. Europe
was torn asunder by the
French Revolution and
later the Napoleonic
Wars. The world was
in transition. The old
social order imposed by greedy monarchs and
enforced by corrupt
clergymen was buckling
under freedom of the
press and an
intellectual movement
called "The
Enlightenment". The
first French
Encyclopedia was
printed. People were
becoming curious about
modern science, art and
philosophy. France, Chardin's
birth place, was an
enchanting land of
green meadows, vineyards,
wine, rich
cheeses, beautiful
architecture,
magnificent art and
literature.
About the Rocco Movement
'The Art of the
Aristocracy'
The
word is derived from
"rocaille" (pebble), but
the term referred in
particular to the small
stones and shells used
to adorn the interiors
of grottoes. Such shells
or shell forms were the
primary motifs in Rococo
ornament.
The
Rococo style began as a
backlash against
Baroque formality
and stuffiness. Unlike
Baroque, Rococo is not
concerned with religious
matters or dramatic
expression. The highly
decorative art and
design movement began in
Paris, France in the
early 1700s. The style
is profoundly symbolic
of the self-indulgence
of European aristocratic
rulers. Rocco
manner is characterized by graceful, enchanting,
lighthearted themes
and
seldom features anything
of substance.
Paintings are
animated and clever,
reflecting an impishly
sensual daydream.
Rococo Portraiture
Rocco
paintings feature
beautiful aristocrats
decked out in velvet,
elegant laces and rich
golden embroideries. The
figures are tall and
willowy, stylish and
charming. The faces are
presented as soft and
rosy, effeminate and
eternally young.
Noblemen are depicted
wearing feminine
coiffeurs, rouged lips
and cheeks, often
sporting high heels. In
a way they resemble
modern day drag queens.
The Rocco female figures
are delicate and light;
the faces, are childish
and sentimental. The
lines of the mouth curve
in soft mischief or in a
delicate enchanting
smile.
Characteristic of Rococo
art was paintings of
carefree aristocrats at
play in make-believe
settings. These romantic
scenes depict
luxuriously costumed
ladies and gentlemen
flirting, picnicking and
playing music at gallant
country parties.
The background scenery
is often a serene
natural setting with
delicate trees and
sprays of roses. Colors
are a profusion of
soothing, light pastels.
The Rococo movement was
initially restricted to
France, later spreading
to all of Europe and
above all to Germany.
The movement continued
to develop until the
arrival of
Neoclassicism which
attempted to return to
the purism of
classical antiquity.
Principle Artists of the
Rococo Period
Pompeo Batoni
Bernardo Bellotto
Francois Boucher
Canaletto
Jean-Baptiste Simeon
Chardin
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Thomas Gainsborough
Francisco de Goya
Thomas Hudson
Jean-Marc Nattier
Joshua Reynolds
Paul Sandby
Jean Antoine Watteau
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