Rococo was an artistic style that began in France in the early eighteenth century, as a lighter and more playful successor to the grandeur of the Baroque. Its name comes from the French word rocaille, referring to the shell-like ornament used in decoration. It favoured pastel colours, curving lines and delicate ornament, and was applied above all to interiors, furniture and porcelain. Painters such as Antoine Watteau, Francois Boucher and Jean-Honore Fragonard depicted aristocratic leisure, romance and pastoral scenes. In southern Germany and Austria the style was used in churches, as in the pilgrimage church of Wies. Rococo was criticised as frivolous and was replaced by the severe Neoclassicism.
Before and after
- 1729Founding of Karachi
- 12 January 1729Birth of Edmund Burke
- 2 May 1729Birth of Catherine II of Russia
- 1730Founding of Southbridge
- from c. 1730s to 1780sRise of Rococo
- from 1730 to 1735Ottoman–Persian War of 1730–1735
- 1730Founding of Fitchburg
- from March 1730 to August 1730Western Persia campaign of 1730
- 24 April 1731Death of Daniel Defoe
More in Art, literature & culture
- 1605Publication of Don Quixote
- 1652Origins of Quakers
- c. 1653The Taj Mahal is completed
- from 1660 to 1725Rise of Classicism
- 1661Construction of Palace of Versailles
- 1759Construction of British Museum
The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.