Les Petits romantiques et le rococo

In the 19th century, the very pejorative term rococo was associated with everything outdated, ridiculous, and obsolete. However, under the July Monarchy, eighteenth century art would occasionally arouse more positive commentary; enamoured with the liberty of an art hostile to the rules of classicism, some writers appear naturally attracted by the joyful and twisted forms of rococo. Thus, fanciful romanticism finds in eighteenth-century decoration, architecture, and literature the expression of values that it had recouped as its own and which would characterise it in the minds of critics. Surprisingly, this vision of past aesthetics reveals the new directions of literature; the transition from a negative representation of eighteenth-century art to a distinct interest in rococo style relates to the evolution of conventional romanticism towards an aesthetic favouring liberty, irregularity and caprice

Aesthetics · Art · Classicism · Literature · Monarchy · Pejorative · Representation (politics · Ridiculous · Romanticism · Style (visual arts · Historical and Literary Analyses · Historical and Literary Studies · Historical Art and Culture Studies · Law · Philosophy