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Italian Rococo interior design refers to interior decoration (i.e. furniture, frescoing etc.) in Italy during the Rococo period, which went from the early 18th century to around the 1760s. [1]
By the early 18th century, Italian states were in a state of trouble. Few had not been conquered by France, Spain or Austria, [1] and only the Republic of Venice, the Republic of Genoa, Lucca and a few other states were still independent. This significant loss of power also resulted in Italy ceding artistic and social authority to France, which in the 18th century took Italy's position as the European cultural leader. Even though Italy still exerted some influence, it was not as much as in the Renaissance and the Baroque periods, and France by then was the cultural leader, from literature, the arts, high culture, architecture and fashion, to science, philosophy, cuisine, music and education. [1] By the early 18th century, the old-fashioned and heavy Baroque style went out of fashion in France, and a new, more feminine and lighter style called the Rococo emerged. Rococo was more delicate and romantic than the heavy and masculine Baroque, and often included features such as coquilles, or shells, and more curved edges. Italy was not immediately influenced by the Rococo, since by the early 18th century rich Italian landowners were still constructing their palaces in the conservative Baroque style, [1] but by the 1710s and 1720s, Italian architecture and interior design became more feminine and lighter.
Despite Rococo influences in the early 18th century, true Italian Rococo interiors began to be made in the late 1720s and early 1730s. The grace and charm of Rococo furnishing succeeded the heavy and imposing Baroque style. Italian Rococo interior design was in essence copied from that of the Régence and Louis XV styles. However, some elements were changed, and cities such as Sicily and Venice produced especially unusual Rococo furniture. Italian Rococo furniture was usually upholstered with rich and colourful fabrics, such as velvet and silk, and furniture was usually lacquered. [1] Furniture from Piedmont was typically very French in style, Lombardy produced more sober and wooden furnishings, Genoa was known for its rich fabrics and colourful styles, and Venice for its extravagant and luxurious interiors. [1] Italian chairs and sofas were also greatly inspired by the French fauteils, but Italian seats and settees' backs were usually longer and more fan-shaped, [1] rather than the French ones which were more oblong. As in the Baroque style, furniture for the wealthy was usually gilded with silver, gold or bronze. Middle-class families and Lombard workshops left furniture unpainted, and was often made with fruitwoods or walnut. [1] Armchairs and couches had several cartouches and cabriole legs as in French designs, but usually looked more like joined-together seats in the English fashion. [1] Italian settees tended to be low, and were usually placed in the borders of ballrooms and entrance halls for decoration or for seating at parties and balls. [2]
Console and side tables, however, remained very similar to the Baroque ones, often very rich in decoration, with caryatids and putti, and carvings gilded in gold and bronze. However, one major difference was that tables were given specific roles and were uniquely labelled. Trespoli served as commodes in bedrooms, to hold a candle and possibly some prized possessions and a crucifix, [2] Guérdions were used near sofas for visitors' gloves and other objects, and were often round with a tripod base. Console tables were used at entrances mainly for decoration, and were usually paired with a mirror or painting above.
Another major change from Baroque furnishings was that bureau cabinets or secretary desk surpassed writing tables (used in the 16th and 17th centuries) in popularity. Bureau cabinets were usually ornate, and were considered useful, as one could write, study or prepare oneself, yet store everything at hand. Even though women tended to use the bureaux more than men, they became highly popular with both genders, and even Pope Pius VI had one made for him. Bureau-bookcases were also made, since one could store books and study at the same time, [2] and these too became very popular in the 18th century. They were fully inspired by the English secretary, and were usually made with wood, especially walnut. [2] People of all classes still had a cassone, but credenze (singular: credenza) had become very popular, since they were elongated and refined cupboards. Whether expensive or cheap, credenze were considered elegant. [2]
Sicilian Rococo furniture tended to be highly unusual, and even though was based on the principles of French Rococo designs, usually included some traditional Sicilian elements. Commodes and console tables had cabriole legs, which were, however, plain, and usually had intricate scrollwork and arabesques. Sicilian tables were often painted, representing typical elements of Sicilian culture, society and life, such as festivals, fruits and Sicilian carts. [1] Such elements made Sicilian Rococo furniture relatively unusual in comparison to some other types.
Genoese Rococo was also highly unusual in style. The Genoese Rococo interior designers were famous for making grand beds and chairs. Genoese armchairs were similar to the French fauteils, but often had a wider, more exaggerated backs, gilded wood, and included intensely rich fabrics, such as silk and velvet. [2]
Rome remained possibly the most conservative city in Italy, and noblemen tended to prefer the grandiose majesty of Baroque interiors than the frivolity and grace of its Rococo counterpart. However, there were some elements which made Roman Rococo relatively distinguished, such as the bureau-cabinets made for Pope Pius VI, which were noted for the rich lacquerwork, japanning and its Chinoiserie themed pictures.
The Kingdom of Sardinia's greatest son in the field of Rococo interior designing was without a doubt Pietro Piffetti (1700–1770), who made Sardinian Rococo so refined and elegant. [1] His works and designs were so high-quality that he was envied across Italy and was a serious contender to French craftsmen and furniture-designers. His famous designs emerged as being Sardinian/Piedmontese and were famous for their highly intricate designs, exotic materials, flamboyant cartouches and the unique tortoiseshells, which became popular under Rococo zenith. [1] Despite this, Rococo interior designing in Piedmont and Turin remained virtually identical to that of France, its closest neighbour.
Venice arguably produced the most unusual and refined Rococo designs. At the time, Venice was in a state of trouble. It had lost most of its maritime power, was lagging behind its rivals in political importance and society had become decadent, with nobles wasting their money in gambling and partying. But without a doubt, Venice remained Italy's fashion capital, and was a serious contender to Paris in terms of wealth, architecture, luxury, taste, sophistication, trade, decoration, style and design. [3] Venetian Rococo was well known for being rich and luxurious, with usually very extravagant designs. Unique Venetian furniture, such as the divani da portego, or long Rococo couches and pozzetti, objects meant to be placed against the wall. Venetian bedrooms were usually sumptuous and grand, with rich damask, velvet and silk drapery and curtains, a beautifully carved Rococo beds with statues of putti, flowers and angels. [3] Venice was especially famous for its beautiful girandole mirrors, which remained amongst, if not the, finest in Europe. Chandeliers were usually very colourful, using Murano glass to make them look more vibrant and stand out from others, and precious stones and materials from abroad were used, since Venice still held a vast trade empire. Lacquer was very common, and many items of furniture were covered with it, the most famous being lacca povera (poor lacquer), in which allegories and images of social life were painted. Lacquerwork and Chinoiserie were particularly common in bureau cabinets. [4]
The Baroque or Baroquism is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo and Neoclassical styles. It was encouraged by the Catholic Church as a means to counter the simplicity and austerity of Protestant architecture, art, and music, though Lutheran Baroque art developed in parts of Europe as well.
Rococo, less commonly Roccoco, also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, and trompe-l'œil frescoes to create surprise and the illusion of motion and drama. It is often described as the final expression of the Baroque movement.
Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating, eating (tables), storing items, working, and sleeping. Furniture is also used to hold objects at a convenient height for work, or to store things. Furniture can be a product of design and can be considered a form of decorative art. In addition to furniture's functional role, it can serve a symbolic or religious purpose. It can be made from a vast multitude of materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Furniture can be made using a variety of woodworking joints which often reflects the local culture.
Ca' Rezzonico is a palazzo and art museum on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro sestiere of Venice, Italy. It is a particularly notable example of the 18th century Venetian baroque and rococo architecture and interior decoration, and displays paintings by the leading Venetian painters of the period, including Francesco Guardi and Giambattista Tiepolo. It is a public museum dedicated to 18th-century Venice and one of the 11 venues managed by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.
Chinoiserie is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other East Asian artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, literature, theatre, and music. The aesthetic of chinoiserie has been expressed in different ways depending on the region. It is related to the broader current of Orientalism, which studied Far East cultures from a historical, philological, anthropological, philosophical, and religious point of view. First appearing in the 17th century, this trend was popularized in the 18th century due to the rise in trade with China and the rest of East Asia.
Liberty style was the Italian variant of Art Nouveau, which flourished between about 1890 and 1914. It was also sometimes known as stile floreale, arte nuova, or stile moderno. It took its name from Arthur Lasenby Liberty and the store he founded in 1874 in London, Liberty Department Store, which specialized in importing ornaments, textiles and art objects from Japan and the Far East. Major Italian designers using the style included Ernesto Basile, Ettore De Maria Bergler, Vittorio Ducrot, Carlo Bugatti, Raimondo D'Aronco, Eugenio Quarti, and Galileo Chini.
Sicilian Baroque is the distinctive form of Baroque architecture which evolved on the island of Sicily, off the southern coast of Italy, in the 17th and 18th centuries, when it was part of the Spanish Empire. The style is recognisable not only by its typical Baroque curves and flourishes, but also by distinctive grinning masks and putti and a particular flamboyance that has given Sicily a unique architectural identity.
Rocaille was a French style of exuberant decoration, with an abundance of curves, counter-curves, undulations and elements modeled on nature, that appeared in furniture and interior decoration during the early reign of Louis XV of France. It was a reaction against the heaviness and formality of the Louis XIV style. It began in about 1710, reached its peak in the 1730s, and came to an end in the late 1750s, replaced by Neoclassicism. It was the beginning of the French Baroque movement in furniture and design, and also marked the beginning of the Rococo movement, which spread to Italy, Bavaria and Austria by the mid-18th century.
Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi is an urban palace, first of the Princes Valguarnera and then of the Princes Gangi, situated in the Piazza Croce dei Vespri, in the ancient quarter of the Kalsa in the city of Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy. The palace still retains its original rich Rococo interior decoration, and is located a block south of the church of Sant'Anna la Misericordia.
A cabriole leg is one of (usually) four vertical supports of a piece of furniture shaped in two curves; the upper arc is convex, while lower is concave; the upper curve always bows outward, while the lower curve bows inward; with the axes of the two curves in the same plane. This design was used by the ancient Chinese and Greeks, but emerged in Europe in the very early 18th century, when it was incorporated into the more curvilinear styles produced in France, England and Holland.
The Queen Anne style of furniture design developed before, during, and after the time of Queen Anne, who reigned from 1702 to 1714.
Italian Baroque architecture refers to Baroque architecture in Italy.
Italian Baroque interior design refers to high-style furnishing and interior decorating carried out in Italy during the Baroque period, which lasted from the early 17th to the mid-18th century. In provincial areas, Baroque forms such as the clothes-press or armadio continued to be used into the 19th century.
Italian Neoclassical interior design refers to furnishing and interior decorating trends in Italy which occurred during the Neoclassical period
The Seicento is Italian history and culture during the 17th century. The Seicento saw the end of the Renaissance movement in Italy and the beginning of the Counter-Reformation and the Baroque era. The word seicento means "six hundred" and is short for milleseicento, 1600.
The 1700s refers to a period in Italian history and culture which occurred during the 18th century (1700–1799): the Settecento. The Settecento saw the transition from Late Baroque to Neoclassicism: great artists of this period include Vanvitelli, Canaletto and Canova, as well as the composer Vivaldi and the writer Goldoni.
The Rococo Revival style emerged in Britain and France in the 19th century. Revival of the rococo style was seen all throughout Europe during the 19th century within a variety of artistic modes and expression including decorative objects of art, paintings, art prints, furniture, and interior design. In much of Europe and particularly in France, the original rococo was regarded as a national style, and to many, its reemergence recalled national tradition. Rococo revival epitomized grandeur and luxury in European style and was another expression of 19th century romanticism and the growing interest and fascination with natural landscape.
The Spanish Rococo style of the 18th century is relatively unexplored and bears little resemblance to its French equivalent. Under the reign of Philip V of the Bourbon Dynasty, architectural commissions were primarily awarded to Italian architects, rather than the French who were the pioneers of the rococo style. This is largely due to the influence of his second wife, Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, who aimed to transcend French influence through the promotion of the Italians. Consequently, Rococo was left to be discovered by the Spanish school and therefore evolved separately from French and other variations of Rococo.
The furniture of the Louis XV period (1715–1774) is characterized by curved forms, lightness, comfort and asymmetry; it replaced the more formal, boxlike and massive furniture of the Louis XIV style. It employed marquetry, using inlays of exotic woods of different colors, as well as ivory and mother of pearl.
The architecture of the Rococo period, roughly aligning with the reign of Louis XV in France from 1715 to 1774, was characterized by the use of rocaile motifs, including shells, curves, mascarons, arabesques, and other classical elements, as well as by the partial abandonment of symmetry of earlier Baroque styles in architectural design, including facades, cornices, and pediments, in favor of a more flexible and visually interesting design which still featured a degree of classical regularity. Light pastel colors, including blues, greens, and pinks replaced darker Baroque elements such as exposed limestone elevations and heavy use of gilding.