National Gallery of Art - THE COLLECTION

Tour: Rococo Decorative Arts of the Mid-1700s

Overview | Start Tour

image of Dream of Rinaldo image of Chest of Drawers (commode) image of Corner-Cupboard (encoignure)
1 2 3
image of Lean-to Writing Desk (table à abbattant) image of Lean-to Writing Desk (secrétaire en pente) image of Work and Writing Table (table en chiffonnière)
4 5 6
»next
« back to decorative arts

Overview

Reacting against the rigid court etiquette under the seventeenth century's “Sun King,” Louis XIV, eighteenth-century French art patrons sought greater informality. A new, more intimate style emerged under Louis XV, great-grandson of the old king. The early phase of the Louis XV style is called the régence because from 1715 to 1723 Philippe, duc d'Orléans, ruled as regent for the young king, who was only five years old when he came to the throne.

(continue)


Captions

1.
1design and cartoon by François Boucher; woven under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Oudry and Nicolas Besnier at the Beauvais manufactory, Dream of Rinaldo, c. 1751
2Jean Desforges, Chest of Drawers (commode), 1745/1749
3Jean Desforges, Corner-Cupboard (encoignure), probably 1745/1749
4Attributed to Pierre Migeon II, Lean-to Writing Desk (table à abbattant), c. 1750
5Bernard van Risenburgh II, Lean-to Writing Desk (secrétaire en pente), c. 1750
6Bernard van Risenburgh II, Work and Writing Table (table en chiffonnière), c. 1750/1760
2.
7Attributed to Jean-François Oeben, Writing and Toilet Table (table mécanique), c. 1750/1755