Louis quinze

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Louis quinze desk (1760–1769) by Oeben and Riesener in Louis XV's study, Versailles Palace

Louis-quinze (or style rocaille ) is an art and furnishing style that was pronounced in France from around 1730 to around 1760 and corresponds to the Rococo . The name derives from King Louis XV. and his reign, analogous to his predecessor Louis XIV. and his successor Louis XVI. , whose respective era is also known as Louis-quatorze and Louis-seize . The Marquise de Pompadour , the mistress of Louis XV , also had a significant influence on the arts and crafts of the era .

Already towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV and even more in the transition phase of the Régence (1715-ca. 1730), the forms of interior decoration and furniture art became more curved, playful and lighter, the once popular strict division of the walls with the help of classic antiquing elements such as pilasters and pilaster strips , Entablature and frieze were loosened up more and more and finally disappeared. There was also an increasing tendency towards comfort and convenience and the intimate. Germain Boffrand's decoration in the Hôtel de Soubise in Paris is considered the first known example of the Louis-quinze style , especially the famous Salon ovale (from 1732, see illustration below).

François Boucher : Madame de Pompadour , 1756, Alte Pinakothek , Munich

The white wall paneling with carved ornaments ( boiseries ), which were already fashionable in the late Louis-quatorze, are more rounded in the Louis-quinze and are traversed by filigree tendrils. The boiseries are not only lighter and more delicate in shape, but there is also a tendency to use less gold, sometimes a colored version instead. One of the defining elements of the style is the shell- like shape of the rocaille , which gave the Rococo its name; floral motifs or exotic decorations such as chinoiseries are also popular . The colors of the wall coverings, which are now often chosen from silk, show a similar tendency towards the lighter: instead of strong colors, like that in the baroque era. a. popular red, one now chooses pastel tones such as rosé and patterned fabrics , which are preferably floral.

Although the Rococo has its origins in France, the Louis-quinze remains more moderate in comparison with the forms developed elsewhere, and the walls are still more clearly structured. There is also a tendency towards irregular and asymmetrical here , but not as strongly as e.g. B. in Germany (castles and churches in Bavaria and Frederick the Great's castles in Potsdam ) or in Austria ( Schönbrunn and others), where the Rococo often takes on exuberant and fantastic forms. T. seem to override the laws of gravity.

The art of furniture in the Louis-quinze reached the highest level of perfection, elegance and comfort. In contrast to the heavier and more straight-lined Louis-quatorze, seating is now given rounded shapes and curved legs everywhere; the backrests are a little lower, the whole furniture looks more delicate. The same applies to tables, consoles , chests of drawers and cupboards, for which curved walls and legs are also typical. As before, important furniture is provided with ornate inlays , mostly made of different woods. Important cabinet makers were u. a. Jean-François Oeben and Johann Heinrich Riesener , who u. a. the famous desk of Louis XV. made in his study in Versailles (see picture above).

Towards the end of the era, even before 1760, the forms became simpler and more rational and finally led to classicism and the Louis-seize style .

Porcelain production also took on significant forms during the period (manufacture in Sèvres ).

In painting, Jean-Baptiste Pater and Nicolas Lancret continued the direction of the Fêtes galantes that had become fashionable in the Régence through Watteau until around 1740 . Probably the most typical exponent of Louis-quinze was François Boucher , who took over the fragrant brushstrokes and the poetry of Watteau and also provided designs for the tapestry manufactory . He was also favorite painter of Madame de Pompadour, whom he portrayed several times, and was in 1765 appointed (after her death) for the first painter of the king, but moved with his virtuoso painted, decorative and often erotic scenes towards the end of the period, the criticism Diderot on himself, who used to be enthusiastic about him, but now accused him of frivolity. This type of painting was later continued by the technically sometimes almost impressionist Jean-Honoré Fragonard . The most important portrait painters of the era were Louis Tocqué and Jean-Marc Nattier , who painted numerous portraits of the royal family and the king's daughters. The intimate and introverted genre scenes and still lifes by Jean Siméon Chardin , who is also one of the most important French painters of the 18th century, occupy a certain outsider position . Other important painters, some of whom were also active in interior decoration, are François Lemoyne , Jean-Baptiste Oudry , Christophe Huet and various members of the Van Loo family, particularly Carle and Charles-André .


Gallery 1: interior decoration and furniture

  • Salon ovale de la princesse , Hôtel de Soubise , Paris

  • Astronomical pendulum clock by Passemant in the Cabinet de la Pendule , Versailles

  • Louis quinze furniture, approx. 1730–1755, Département des Objet d'Arts (Salle 42), Louvre , Paris

  • Humorous chinoiserie decor by Christophe Huet (approx. 1737) in the " Grande Singerie " (large monkey cabinet) of Chantilly Castle

  • Red and gold lacquer chinoiseries on a Louis XV desk ( bureau plat ), c. 1749, Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York

  • Louis quinze chest of drawers by Mathieu Criaerd, 1748, Library of the Dauphin, Versailles Palace

  • Large salon from the Château d'Abondant (Eure-et-Loir), around 1750, a harpsichord in the background, Département des Objet d'Arts (Salle 47), Louvre, Paris

  • Louis-quinze- woodwork with colored Grisailledekor of Carle Van Loo and Jean-Baptiste Pierre in the Salle du conseille , Fontainebleau

  • So-called bergère with a chinoiserie motif on the silk cover, around 1765, Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York

  • Louis-quinze-interior in the apartment of the daughters of Louis XV., Palace of Versailles

  • Cabinet intérieur of the Dauphine , chest of drawers by Antoine Robert Gaudreaux (1745), Palace of Versailles

  • The autumn by Jean-Baptiste Oudry and colored boiseries in the Cabinet intérieur of the Dauphine , Palace of Versailles

  • two chests of drawers, Adrien Faizelot Delorme and Nicolas Petit, c. 1765, Museu C. Gulbenkian , Lisbon

  • Louis-quinze-style library, winter apartment of the Palace of Versailles

Gallery 2: painting

See also

literature

  • "Louis-quinze" and various biographies in: Lexikon der Kunst, Vol. 7 , Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen, 1994, pp. 326-27
  • Lawrence Gowing: The Louvre Painting Collection , Dumont Verlag, 2001 (originally 1987/88)
  • Gérald van der Kemp: Versailles , translated from the French by Elisabeth Lysiak, Electa / Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart / Milan, 1977/1979
  • Jean-Pierre Samoyault: Fontainebleau - Tour guide , Les Éditions d'Arts, Versailles, 1985, pp. 48–49
  • Janine & Pierre Soisson: Versailles and the royal castles of Île-de-France , Parkland Verlag, Stuttgart, 1983

Web links

Commons : Louis-quinze  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c "Louis-quinze", in: Lexikon der Kunst, Vol. 7 , Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen, 1994, pp. 326-27
  2. ↑ a b c Lawrence Gowing: Die Gemäldesammlung des Louvre , Dumont Verlag, 2001 (originally 1987/88), p. 534
  3. ↑ Lawrence Gowing: Die Gemäldesammlung des Louvre , Dumont Verlag, 2001 (originally 1987/88), p. 557ff
  4. ↑ Lawrence Gowing: The painting collection of the Louvre , Dumont Verlag, 2001 (originally 1987/88), pp. 488 & 493
  5. ↑ Lawrence Gowing: Die Gemäldesammlung des Louvre , Dumont Verlag, 2001 (originally 1987/88), p. 512ff
  6. ↑ Jean-Pierre Samoyault: Fontainebleau - Guide to the tour , Les Éditions d'Arts, Versailles, 1985, pp. 48–49