Blog #6 - French Baroque and Rococo

The beginning of the 17^th century was marked by great strides in the collective knowledge found in many western societies of the time. It was the age of enlightenment, a period when forward thinking individuals like Isaac Newton and Johannes Kepler had begun to replace religious idealism with scientific reason. This intellectual development was observable in many forms, consequently reshaping the approach of common art and design. 

The Baroque is a period that in many ways embodied these changes, with architectural works such as the often mentioned Palace of Versailles offering an ideal example. This structure features the era’s strict attention to norm and regulation that was present in virtually all forms of art and design of the time. Thus the many gardens and walkways that span across this vast property feature very clear symmetry along with a clear linear layout enriched through careful landscaping and intricate garden features. The interior features include the use of many salons, each dedicated to a different planet of our solar system, again highlighting this period’s emphasis on scientific knowledge. These salons also give showcase to the typical artwork one associates with the Baroque, rich in motion, and filled with clear human imagery and emotion. One also sees strong distinctions in color, a technique employed to separate each of the salons and providing them with a unique character. Mirrored glass is often another element of noble baroque interiors, and Versailles offers an entire room dedicated to this, the Galerie des Glaces. The mirrors in this room are the product of the complex French guild system, responsible for the oversight of virtually all skilled crafts of the time, in order to maintain the aforementioned strict standards of the time.

 
The Rococo very much evolved out of the Baroque style of the early 18^th century, and begins to resent this rather stiff approach. The strong emphasis on norming every aspect of design began to give way to an era of comfort and informality. The elite begin to construct their residences to join great gardens onto striking interiors, and we see Rococo architecture make use of increasingly larger window-doors to accommodate for this. Interior spaces were created and developed not just by architects, but also by craftsmen and designers in order to create completely unique dwellings. While this led to the construction of stunning spaces, it did not yield overly crammed or busy environments. The rococo style instead employed a lightness of scale, and often asymmetric design to produce what may have been called minimalistic during the Baroque period, one great example of this is the use of white ceilings beginning to gain popularity during the Rococo.

Both of these periods resulted in a great expansion of furniture design and production methods, and we again see a trend of furniture being shaped by the surrounding architecture. We thus observe highly stylized tables, cabinets, commodes and pedestals originating from Baroque times. These featured Boulle Marquetry inlay and Bureau Plat, and made use of metals such as brass.

The furniture of the Rococo reflected an emphasis on comfort, and we see decorative padding being employed on nearly any seating surface of the time. This included the Bidet for Louis the XV, which featured a cushioned seat and backrest. The use of comfort rooms and spaces dedicated to communal often scholarly activity meant comfortable seating took many shapes, with arm chairs like the Voyeuse offering padding both to the one seated and the person leaning on its backrest. Similarly the Fauteuil can attribute its shape in part to providing comfortable seating to a women wearing a pannier skirt, and needing extra room to accommodate for its accentuated size.