Analysis Of Antoine Watteau's Embarkation For Cythera

With the death of the Baroque era of art, came the birth of a new style, Rococo. It would emerge in the early eighteenth century and would carry over to the nineteenth century (however the Neoclassical period would take some of the lime-light away towards the end). Rococo was staged, planned out art, like the preceding style of Baroque. This however, was dripping in: sweet, happy, light, soft, flashy decorations, and set in lush, luxuries, scenic destinations. Although it was stiff and strained the art was a refresher from the even more uncomfortable art that came before it.

Like all art, the Rococo style was a representation of what was going on in the world. Artist took the events surrounding them and put them to canvas. During the seventeen-hundreds the art style was almost forced onto the artist.

Louis XIV demanded art that was younger and more lively yet still appealing to the rich; thus bright colors, outrageous details, and fancy decorations were used. The focus point of: beauty, fashion, lives to envy, etc. was shifting from Rome to Paris. That’s why most of the subjects are portrayed in French-style clothing. What was produced in the Rococo Era also showed a battle that was going on between two groups: Poussinistes vs Rubenistes. The Poussinistes believed detail was the most important aspect of art, while the Rubenistes believed color was the critical key. Rococo was a mixture of multiple different events going on during the eighteenth century.
Rococo art was not only contained to paintings; it came in a wide array of different styles. In France, paintings, mirrors, frames, and all other types of wall hanging expressed the elegant, sweet style. Furniture pieces in Italy often were produced. Over in Germany and Russia, architecture, that still stands to this day, was crafted in the Rococo style.
Many artists had different ways of expression that would combine to form the style of Rococo. One artist, François Boucher, would be the most influential. His “most original contribution to Rococo painting was his reinvention of the pastoral, a form of idealized landscape populated by shepherds and shepherdesses in silk dress, enacting scenes of erotic and sentimental love.” The art he created would impact so many of the other Rococo artist, almost setting a precedent for them to follow all throughout the Rococo Era.
One painting that really captures the Rococo essence is the painting, “Embarkation for Cythera,” by Antoine Watteau (See next page).

In his painting he has a lavish pink and blue sky that seems to be almost made entirely of clouds. The plants, trees, and grass all look soft and kind. The people are posed in unnatural Baroque ways, but are dressed in Cinderella-like costumes. The people, statues, and angels are all round-faced and happy. The colors of everything all are soft and appealing to the eyes; nothing is too bright or harsh. This painting is a fine example of the art that was crafted during the Rococo Period.

During the years of Rococo art there were tons of other artists, whose works are still very famous to this day. Some of them including: Jean Honoré Fragonard and his piece, “The Swing,” Antoine Watteau and his work, “Les Champs Elysées,” and Francois Lemoyne and his piece, “Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy.” All these paintings, done by very different men living in different parts of the eighteenth-century all share the common sickly sweet, airy, lightness of Rococo art; from the people, to the clothes, and colors all of the art is very

similar.
The Rococo art period was a new way of expression that would influence the many different styles of art that would follow it. It had old elements from Baroque works, but a sweetness that was never experimented with until then. Eventually, the NeoClassical style would develop and form a period total opposite of Rococo and end its reign of the art world.