Rococo and Romantic Art

In order to conduct the comparison of the Rococo and Romantic styles it appears opportune to provide a short description of each artistic movement first and then proceed to the detection of similarities and differences between the styles. Rococo style precedes Romanticism chronologically and is the first one to dwell upon. The term “Rococo” (deriving from “rocaille”, which means “shell work”) stands for the art movement, which appeared in France in the 18th century and followed the Baroque style era.The movement itself represented new philosophy of human existence, which was introduced at that time. Rococo brought the desired change in the art forms. Its manner differed drastically from rigid and formal “grand” Baroque art (Kitson 1997).

Still remaining rather aristocratic, Rococo art was less formal. Rococo art strived for lighter, more casual, charming and intimate approach to art. In its essence Rococo art described the world of game-playing and artificiality.Chief characteristic features of Rococo were the following: graceful forms, pastel colors, physical and visual lightness.

Light was the core of Rococo art – colors and emotions revolved around it. Rococo artists attributed close attention to the finest details. Creating asymmetrical compositions the artists were struggling for aesthetic balance. Great interest towards oriental motives should also be mentioned. At first Rococo style was predominant in interior and decorative art, promoting delicate and playful designs with lighter elements, patterns and curves.

However, by the middle of the 18th century Rococo had spread to sculpture and painting. Francois Boucher and Antoine Watteau created the works, which can serve as vivid examples of Rococo style (Hubala 1989). The Rococo reality was world as a theatre, where everyone was involved in the action – people, things, nature, interior. The Rococo art portrayed the world of eternal “gallant festivities”.

The chief purpose of this approach to reality was contradicting the cult of reason, manifesting ironic attitude to seriousness.At the same time among the major characteristic features of this style one should mention great attention to minute details, to the nuances of feelings, which under close scrutiny might appear crude and unveiled. The main object of rococo art was not exceptional, but human, however art itself was viewed as multifaceted and phantasmagoric. Romanticism as an art movement developed at the beginning of the 19th century and gained strength in the following decades.Speaking about its chief characteristic features the following have to be mentioned: intense expression of feelings, imaginative approach, subjective attitude. The essence of Romantic art was infinite aspiration (Galitz 2000).

In the works of Romantic artists close connection to nature was shown, exotic and mysterious subjects were chosen. Feeling was the object of Romantic art, as well as its subject. Works by Theodore Gericault's, Eugene Delacroix fully manifest the Romantic art. Romantic art denied the power of the reason as means to realize the best of human possibilities.

The romantic mind was free of all social barriers, such as religion, government, morale. As a result of disillusionment with values and principles of Enlightenment, which placed order and reason on the pedestal, romantic art emphasized boundless imagination and unrestrained emotion. While dwelling on the similarities between the rococo art and romantic art mention must be made of the fact that both art styles abandoned classicistic pre-determination of the characters’ position, stable social structure, the theme of eternal struggle of man with his destiny.Deeply hidden layers of person’s characters, subtle shades of emotions came to the foreground. At the same time the suspense caused by the consequences in the character’s life was replaced by mere chance, which played a great part in the outcome of events. Speaking about rococo style, one of its main themes was the relationship between people in the world reigned by chance and resistance of the strong and spiritually pure character to the socially imperfect world, in which nothing was predictable.

While in the Romantic style the unpredictability and uncontrollable power of nature was brought under the spotlight and man’s hopeless struggle against represented metaphorical depiction of man’s struggle in the unfair world full of imperfections. Strong expression of feelings is common for both styles, however in the case of the romantic style it acquired revolutionary coloring while the rococo style concentrated on systematically and vividly conveying the feeling. Another common feature uniting rococo and romantic styles is belief in the multi-faceted character of the human nature, combining sensuality and practicality.By means of sophisticated allegory the artists aspired to break the concept of moral code and the triumph of feelings was acknowledged as gospel truth. Concentrating on the human psychology, the artists were trying to determine the limits of the feeling, of the morale.

It is characteristic of both the romantic and the rococo styles to depict the world as imperfect and unfair, however in the former case the artistic reality and the artist himself views himself as part of it while the latter style portrays the world as something alien and indifferent.In conclusion, Rococo and Romantic art movements do possess certain similar characteristics, such as attention to detail, concentration on emotion rather than reason, portraying the world’s imperfections, but they also differ in certain ways, for instance, Rococo doesn’t possess any of the Romantic revolutionary coloring. Characterized by elusion of clear definition of the feelings expressed, both Rococo and Romantic style represent a stark contrast to the restrained and calm Classical, as well as Neo-Classical art, which were characterized by restrained, calm and clear expression.