What is Rococo Art?
Jean Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, c. 1767–68, oil on canvas, 31 ⅞ x 25 ¼ in. (81 × 64.2 cm)
Wallace Collection, London; photo: © Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank
Fragonard's The Swing
Jean-Honoré Fragonard's The Swing embodies the Rococo, an 18th-century art movement, which is one of the most distinctive in art history for its elegance, sensuality, and fascination with pleasure. In this video, learn to identify Rococo visual characteristics and themes. Originating in early eighteenth-century Paris after the death of Louis XIV, the Rococo reflected the newfound freedom and luxurious tastes of French aristocrats. Fragonard’s scene of a young woman on a swing, observed by a hidden lover, humorously conveys romantic intrigue and carefree leisure. Technically refined and visually enchanting, Rococo’s decadence ultimately fell out of favor as social inequality and Enlightenment ideals led toward revolution and more restrained artistic styles.
This video features works by artists such as Fragonard, Antoine Watteau, and François Boucher to help identify Rococo painting, decorative arts, and architecture, and to explore its characteristic themes of love, pleasure, and beauty.
Speaker: Dr. Heather Graham
CHAPTERS
0:00 The Sensory Appeal of Rococo
0:23 Defining Rococo
1:07 Life under Louis XIV: Baroque Grandeur
2:07 Life after Louis XIV: Freedom and Excess
2:32 Fragonard’s The Swing: A Scene of Seduction
3:51 Cupid and the Language of Love
4:30 The Rococo Aesthetic
5:08 Rococo and Revolution
