A History of European Art

Lecture 38: French Art in the 18

th Century

the composition, whose unity is ¿ nalized by the light that grazes the handle

and rim of the pot and glows on the glass and garlic. Our point of view is

close and immediate; the intimacy is palpable; the harmony of each piece to

the whole is simply perfect.

Rococo derives from rocaille, a word referring to decorative rock work, as in

ornamental grottoes in parks and gardens. We turn now to the most famous

exponent of the high Rococo in painting, François Boucher (1703–1770), for

the embodiment of the style. The Setting of the Sun (1753) is the epitome of

the Rococo style and the epitome of Boucher’s art at its ¿ nest. This is one of

a pair of paintings commissioned for Mme. de Pompadour, mistress of Louis

XV. The other was The Rising of the Sun. The paintings are more than 10

½ feet high and are Boucher’s most ambitious works, which he reportedly

considered his masterpieces. Pompadour was Boucher’s great patron, and

her love of mythological reveries perfectly suited Boucher, for whom reality

seems to have held little appeal. In The Setting of the Sun, it is possible to see

the central nymph as Pompadour herself

and Apollo as a symbol of Louis XV. The

glowing pastel hues, the asymmetrical

composition governed by a long diagonal,

and the arabesque design of water and air,

light and dark, are all typical of this high

Rococo moment, more clearly seen in

painting by Boucher than anyone else.

Architecture was strongly affected by the

new style of the 18th century, especially

in the design and decoration of interior

spaces. Many buildings of the period give

no hint on their exteriors of the surprises

within. We see, for example, the Salon de la Princesse (1737–1740) by

Germain Boffrand (1667–1754). This apartment was on the second À oor of

a two-story oval pavilion that Boffrand designed as an addition to the earlier

hôtel. The oval ground plan of the salon was only the beginning of this

charming, fanciful structure. The curved frames of the allegorical paintings

between the windows and doors provide a continuously undulating cornice

or, rather, no traditional cornice at all, because it does not demarcate walls

We associate the Rococo

style with France, and

the term is best applied

there. But the stylistic

features, with national

modi¿ cations, are found

in other countries—in

architecture in Germany.