CHAPTER THREE: Louis XIV Knows Weeds
continued from 9/15/05
Rococo has been called the final stage of Baroque. It began in France around 1700 and was more playful and less serious than Louis' Baroque austerity. It was noted for its delicate details, graceful curves and what I've always associated with the rococo style, those fat little cherubs painted on ceilings and gold statues in foyers with vapid expressions on their faces. Rococo was "an art of small courts," according to Kenneth Clark. "An art of elegance rather than greatness, an art in which religious motives were treated with grace and sentiment rather than solemn conviction."
Garden design also changed, in part to reflect the natural view that developed in the eighteenth century, and also because the "infinite" had become too costly and too impersonal. The garden, once again, set boundaries and became a place for contemplation. Caves and grottos were popular, especially with the French and the Italians. In England, gardens were designed to replicate rustic and pastoral scenes. With the less serious mood of rococo and the popularity of naturalistic themes, "diversity" became more acceptable ... well, as compared with the previous period. Grass did not necessarily have to be always the same height and spontaneity was tolerated in terms of the kind and variety of plants that would be allowed to appear. Artificiality and contrivance, nevertheless, did not vanish.
The appearance of the natural was what was important. Marie Antoinette was fond of dressing up and playing a dairymaid in the gardens of Versailles in the late eighteenth century and probably thought she demonstrated true understanding of her subjects. But what we most remember about Ms. Antoinette is not her milking the cows from time to time, but the remark about her subjects "eating cake." Her head soon "rolled" along with the hundreds of others.
The word "happiness" is heard often in the eighteenth century. Less anyone think it means merely the idle rich playing hide-and-go-seek on the country estate, Thomas Jefferson thought it sufficiently important to be included in the Declaration of Independence in 1776: and the Purfuit of Happinefs. Happiness became a desirable aim in the eighteenth century. Joy, love, and pleasure on a smaller and more intimate scale were not only acceptable but encouraged after the cold, imperial austerity of Louis XIV.
One of my favorite art and cultural styles is chinoiserie, a near obsession in the eighteenth century. It took Europe by storm and eventually reached the United States. The idealized view of nature that arose was frequently linked, as has been said, with the "superiority" of other cultures outside of Europe. The Chinese culture was one deemed better by many Europeans.
Missionaries in the seventeenth century were sending reports to Europe about the ancient Chinese culture, which seemed so incredibly exotic and mysterious to the intellectuals and aristocrats of Europe. It wasn't long before Chinese furniture, clothing, porcelain, parasols and numerous other items appeared in the houses and chateaus throughout Europe. It was only a matter of time before operas and plays with Chinese themes appeared, then Chinese philosophy. And of course the Chinese garden. Chinoiserie, however, was much more than a temporary European fad in the eighteenth and nineteenth century with things Chinese.
Over the centuries Chinese caravans had traveled throughout the various regions selling their wares and often dropping shards of broken dishes and vases along the way. Other cultures discovered these Chinese goods, learned the techniques, frequently improved upon them, and often enough sold them back to the Chinese.
What came to be called chinoiserie included not only a Chinese bronze statute from the fifth century B.C., but a thirteenth century brass canteen from Syria, a silver plate from Persia in the third century A.D., and an elaborate ewer from Korea in the twelfth century. Chinoiserie was all of the above and more. All of this eventually appeared in Europe and made the Europeans keenly aware of a world beyond theirs.
At the same time not all the interest was in only one direction--going to Europe. The Chinese Emperor Quin Long had a Jesuit priest and his colleagues construct a collection of Sino-European style buildings, along with a maze and a water clock in his Garden of Perfect Brightness, which was part of the summer palace. The fountains were operated by hydraulic machinery. Unfortunately, what must have been an extraordinary garden landscape was destroyed some seventy years later by French and British military forces.
A popular movie made in the mid-60s and based on Henry Fielding's novel was Tom Jones. The film captures exceedingly well the life of eighteenth century England; especially that unique class called the English gentry. Within the film's farce and comedy a telling visual and intellectual picture of the century emerges.
While the Baroque and rococo style were found in England, especially among London's elite, it did not exert the same influence as it did in the rest of Europe. For the increasingly powerful Whig aristocracy, whose social life resided primarily outside of the cities, these "foreign" styles smacked too much of monarchy and absolutism. The English gentry were interested in increasing the power and influence of parliamentary government, not imitating European royalty.
Along with fox hunting, hypocrisy, and hackneyed religious expression, the idyllic, pastoral landscape setting was highly desired among English country estates, portrayed so well in Tom Jones. In one scene Tom Jones, played by the actor Albert Finney, strolls over a wooden bridge where he finds his true love Miss. Sophie Weston, the daughter of a local squire, holding a birdcage that contains a thrush. The setting is perfect: The bridge spans a pond where swans are swimming. In the background are numerous wildflowers, trees, and bushes. Weeds are most definitely flourishing among this lush vegetation. And if you look closely you can almost make out a tiny cottage or perhaps a gazebo on the far side of the pond. Everything is meant to appear natural and unplanned. Absolutely the right place to set up your easel and finish that landscape you've been working on for the past several weeks, before heading back to the main house for a sumptuous meal. Of course I'd also include my favorite dog sitting at my feet.
This was also the time of the gifted amateur, the individual who might pursue architecture, astronomy, chemistry, engineering, geology or horticulture. Think of the Renaissance man revisited in the eighteenth century; think of Thomas Jefferson at home designing the University of Virginia.
In terms of gardening and landscaping, the English were continually tinkering and experimenting, be it in hydraulics, water technology, and terracing or mineral and plant collection. They picked up the Italian interest in grotto design and turned it into a mania. On many a country estate the squire, or his wife, would insist on some kind of cave, natural or manmade, occasionally with artificial ruins nearby, or real ones if the estate owner was lucky enough to have some Roman remains on his property or a collapsed medieval monastery. It was here in the cave where a young man could profess his undying love to the woman who'd captured his heart. As we will find out, the cave or grotto goes way back into antiquity.
to be continued....
Rococo has been called the final stage of Baroque. It began in France around 1700 and was more playful and less serious than Louis' Baroque austerity. It was noted for its delicate details, graceful curves and what I've always associated with the rococo style, those fat little cherubs painted on ceilings and gold statues in foyers with vapid expressions on their faces. Rococo was "an art of small courts," according to Kenneth Clark. "An art of elegance rather than greatness, an art in which religious motives were treated with grace and sentiment rather than solemn conviction."
Garden design also changed, in part to reflect the natural view that developed in the eighteenth century, and also because the "infinite" had become too costly and too impersonal. The garden, once again, set boundaries and became a place for contemplation. Caves and grottos were popular, especially with the French and the Italians. In England, gardens were designed to replicate rustic and pastoral scenes. With the less serious mood of rococo and the popularity of naturalistic themes, "diversity" became more acceptable ... well, as compared with the previous period. Grass did not necessarily have to be always the same height and spontaneity was tolerated in terms of the kind and variety of plants that would be allowed to appear. Artificiality and contrivance, nevertheless, did not vanish.
The appearance of the natural was what was important. Marie Antoinette was fond of dressing up and playing a dairymaid in the gardens of Versailles in the late eighteenth century and probably thought she demonstrated true understanding of her subjects. But what we most remember about Ms. Antoinette is not her milking the cows from time to time, but the remark about her subjects "eating cake." Her head soon "rolled" along with the hundreds of others.
The word "happiness" is heard often in the eighteenth century. Less anyone think it means merely the idle rich playing hide-and-go-seek on the country estate, Thomas Jefferson thought it sufficiently important to be included in the Declaration of Independence in 1776: and the Purfuit of Happinefs. Happiness became a desirable aim in the eighteenth century. Joy, love, and pleasure on a smaller and more intimate scale were not only acceptable but encouraged after the cold, imperial austerity of Louis XIV.
One of my favorite art and cultural styles is chinoiserie, a near obsession in the eighteenth century. It took Europe by storm and eventually reached the United States. The idealized view of nature that arose was frequently linked, as has been said, with the "superiority" of other cultures outside of Europe. The Chinese culture was one deemed better by many Europeans.
Missionaries in the seventeenth century were sending reports to Europe about the ancient Chinese culture, which seemed so incredibly exotic and mysterious to the intellectuals and aristocrats of Europe. It wasn't long before Chinese furniture, clothing, porcelain, parasols and numerous other items appeared in the houses and chateaus throughout Europe. It was only a matter of time before operas and plays with Chinese themes appeared, then Chinese philosophy. And of course the Chinese garden. Chinoiserie, however, was much more than a temporary European fad in the eighteenth and nineteenth century with things Chinese.
Over the centuries Chinese caravans had traveled throughout the various regions selling their wares and often dropping shards of broken dishes and vases along the way. Other cultures discovered these Chinese goods, learned the techniques, frequently improved upon them, and often enough sold them back to the Chinese.
What came to be called chinoiserie included not only a Chinese bronze statute from the fifth century B.C., but a thirteenth century brass canteen from Syria, a silver plate from Persia in the third century A.D., and an elaborate ewer from Korea in the twelfth century. Chinoiserie was all of the above and more. All of this eventually appeared in Europe and made the Europeans keenly aware of a world beyond theirs.
At the same time not all the interest was in only one direction--going to Europe. The Chinese Emperor Quin Long had a Jesuit priest and his colleagues construct a collection of Sino-European style buildings, along with a maze and a water clock in his Garden of Perfect Brightness, which was part of the summer palace. The fountains were operated by hydraulic machinery. Unfortunately, what must have been an extraordinary garden landscape was destroyed some seventy years later by French and British military forces.
A popular movie made in the mid-60s and based on Henry Fielding's novel was Tom Jones. The film captures exceedingly well the life of eighteenth century England; especially that unique class called the English gentry. Within the film's farce and comedy a telling visual and intellectual picture of the century emerges.
While the Baroque and rococo style were found in England, especially among London's elite, it did not exert the same influence as it did in the rest of Europe. For the increasingly powerful Whig aristocracy, whose social life resided primarily outside of the cities, these "foreign" styles smacked too much of monarchy and absolutism. The English gentry were interested in increasing the power and influence of parliamentary government, not imitating European royalty.
Along with fox hunting, hypocrisy, and hackneyed religious expression, the idyllic, pastoral landscape setting was highly desired among English country estates, portrayed so well in Tom Jones. In one scene Tom Jones, played by the actor Albert Finney, strolls over a wooden bridge where he finds his true love Miss. Sophie Weston, the daughter of a local squire, holding a birdcage that contains a thrush. The setting is perfect: The bridge spans a pond where swans are swimming. In the background are numerous wildflowers, trees, and bushes. Weeds are most definitely flourishing among this lush vegetation. And if you look closely you can almost make out a tiny cottage or perhaps a gazebo on the far side of the pond. Everything is meant to appear natural and unplanned. Absolutely the right place to set up your easel and finish that landscape you've been working on for the past several weeks, before heading back to the main house for a sumptuous meal. Of course I'd also include my favorite dog sitting at my feet.
This was also the time of the gifted amateur, the individual who might pursue architecture, astronomy, chemistry, engineering, geology or horticulture. Think of the Renaissance man revisited in the eighteenth century; think of Thomas Jefferson at home designing the University of Virginia.
In terms of gardening and landscaping, the English were continually tinkering and experimenting, be it in hydraulics, water technology, and terracing or mineral and plant collection. They picked up the Italian interest in grotto design and turned it into a mania. On many a country estate the squire, or his wife, would insist on some kind of cave, natural or manmade, occasionally with artificial ruins nearby, or real ones if the estate owner was lucky enough to have some Roman remains on his property or a collapsed medieval monastery. It was here in the cave where a young man could profess his undying love to the woman who'd captured his heart. As we will find out, the cave or grotto goes way back into antiquity.
to be continued....
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