I’m not always in the mood for the filigree excesses of the rococo era but this French collection of 200 engravings from the reign of the hated Louis XV (1710–1774) is a treat. Peter Jessen is the compiler and the publisher is Guérinet, the house responsible for Friedrich Hottenroth‘s book of costume through the ages. The rococo I prefer is often at the weirder end of the scale where animals start crawling out of the foliage, ogees sprout webs and the sweeping flourishes seem to take on a life of their own. Jessen’s selection includes a number of such examples, in addition to designs for furniture and architectural decoration. Ludwig II would have eagerly taken this as a guide book.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The etching and engraving archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Schloss Linderhof
• Oeuvres D’Architecture by Jean Le Pautre
• Saint-Aubin’s Butterfly People
• Filippo Morghen’s Voyage to the Moon
Hello,
I am in agreement with you, my favorite interpretations of the rococo is when it morphs from graceful folly to the bizarre and disturbing. I particularly enjoy the Neptune fountain image, the warped interior image is also engaging. The images remind me a bit of Ripa’s allegories, with the increasingly complicated cartouches ensnaring its unfortunate inhabitants. I’m sure others must have noticed this as some sort of dawn of surrealism . As usual just a wonderful post, something to linger over on this Sunday morning. Thank you.
Leonard
I like “The Winter”, esp. the architecture in the background. The monkey in the first print is a seller of orviétan, which I had to look up and is kind of amusing. Check out the list of ingredients.
Leonard: Yes, there’s definite precursors of Surrealism in this era, not least in the tradition of the capriccio print which was an excuse for an artist to let the imagination loose.
michelangelo: That’s rather an eye-popping mix!