Rococo Revival

A renewed interest among artists, writers and collectors between c. 1820 and 1870 in Europe, predominantly in France, and in America in the Rococo style in painting, the decorative arts, architecture and sculpture. The revival of the Rococo served diverse social needs. As capitalism and middle-class democracy triumphed decisively in politics and the economy, the affluent and well-born put increasing value on aristocratic culture of the previous century: its arts, manners and costumes. Championing the Rococo was a way of contesting what was seen as an oppressive and stern bourgeois morality. To praise Antoine Watteau was to proclaim oneself for pleasure and the freedom of the imagination.

See the Abbreviations for further details.