The Differences Between Baroque and Rococo in Art: Style, Characteristics, Most Important Artists and Main Works.
Baroque and Rococo are two artistic and cultural movements. Studying the different aspects of a movement or a cultural style is essential to understand its true meaning. Identifying the differences between Baroque and Rococo is useful to fully understand the starting point of these two styles. Let’s see them together.
Baroque and Rococo: where they originate
Both flourished in Europe. However, while Baroque began in Rome, Rococo was born in France. Consequently, Baroque is clearly influenced by the Roman Catholic Church. The Church has always surrounded itself with religiously themed art, especially after the birth of Protestantism . Rococo, on the other hand, originated with the French monarchy and then spread to most of the rest of Europe.
Baroque and Rococo: period
Baroque was born around the seventeenth century. Rococo, on the other hand, began in the first half of the eighteenth century as an evolution of the late Baroque. In fact, the word Rococo seems to be a combination of the French word rocaille (which means shell or conch) and the Italian word barocco. Furthermore, Baroque lasted longer than Rococo.
The Baroque and Rococo style
Rococo has features of delicacy, grace, elegance, joy and brightness, while Baroque has heavier features and the colours are stronger and more intense.
Rococo art depicted the typical aristocratic life, made of lightness and free from worries. Baroque art tended to represent heroes in battle and, above all, religious figures.
Consequently, the Rococo style is found inside the houses, in small-scale works that embellish the interiors. Rococo painters used warm colors, curvilinear shapes, cherubs to paint images of love and lunches on the grass of aristocratic families.
On the contrary, some of the main recurring motifs of the Baroque were the sinuous line, the drape, the juxtaposition, the deliberate widening and narrowing of the visual fields, the strong colours in the painting, in short a whole series of techniques to amaze the observer.
Baroque decorations are sumptuous, sculptures and paintings are not harmonious but complex and lively. Baroque is a style suitable to represent the greatness and importance of the Church, using light to represent the divine.
Baroque Works and Artists
The most remembered artists of the Baroque era are Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini in architecture, Caravaggio in painting, Antonio Vivaldi in music.
In particular, Bernini created the sculpture Truth Unveiled by Time , now preserved in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, and the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni , a sculpture preserved in the Basilica of Sant’Andrea della Valle in Rome. Another important artist was Peter Paul Rubens who painted the Fall of Phaeton .
Rococo Works and Artists
Among the works of the Rococo, we remember the painting Country Scene by François Boucher, painted in 1747 and preserved in the National Museum of Stockholm, and the sculpture Threatening Love , made in 1757 and located in the Louvre in Paris. The Stucco Gallery of Palazzo Pianetti, in Jesi, is also in the Rococo style.
Baroque Works and Artists
The most remembered artists of the Baroque era are Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini in architecture, Caravaggio in painting, Antonio Vivaldi in music.
In particular, Bernini created the sculpture Truth Unveiled by Time , now preserved in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, and the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni , a sculpture preserved in the Basilica of Sant’Andrea della Valle in Rome. Another important artist was Peter Paul Rubens who painted the Fall of Phaeton .
Rococo Works and Artists
Among the works of the Rococo, we remember the painting Country Scene by François Boucher, painted in 1747 and preserved in the National Museum of Stockholm, and the sculpture Threatening Love , made in 1757 and located in the Louvre in Paris. The Stucco Gallery of Palazzo Pianetti, in Jesi, is also in the Rococo style.
