составить аннотацию к прочитанному тексту на английском языке (несколько предложений). The Rococo style of art emerged in France in the early 18th century as a continuation of the
Baroque style, but in contrast to the heavier themes and darker colors of the Baroque, the Rococo
was characterized by grace, playfulness, and lightness. Rococo motifs focused on the carefree
aristocratic life and on lighthearted romance rather than heroic battles or religious figures; they
also revolve heavily around nature and exterior settings. In the mid-late 18 th century, Rococo was
surpassed by the Neoclassic style.
Rococo developed first in the decorative arts and interior design. Louis XV’s succession
brought a change in the court artists and general artistic fashion. By the end of the old king’s
reign, rich Baroque designs were giving way to lighter elements with more curves and natural
patterns.
The 1730s represented the height of Rococo development in France. The style had spread
beyond architecture and furniture to painting and sculpture, exemplified by the works of Antoine
Watteau and François Boucher.
The Rococo style spread with French artists. It was readily received in the Catholic parts of
Germany, Bohemia, and Austria, where it was merged with the lively German Baroque traditions.
In the south German Rococo was applied with enthusiasm to churches and palaces. In Italy, the
late Baroque styles of Borromini and Guarini set the tone for Rococo in Turin, Venice, Naples
and Sicily.
Rococo in England was always thought of as the “French taste”. Thomas Chippendale
transformed English furniture design through his adaptation of the style. William Hogarth helped
develop a theoretical foundation for Rococo beauty. He argued in his Analysis of Beauty (1753)
that the undulating lines (волнистые линии) and S-curves prominent in Rococo were the basis
for grace and beauty in art or nature (unlike the straight line or the circle in Classicism).
The beginning of the end for Rococo came in the early 1760s. By 1780, Rococo had passed
out of fashion in France, replaced by the order and seriousness of Neoclassical artists like Jacques
Louis David. It remained popular in the provinces and in Italy, until the second phase of
neoclassicism, “Empire style”, arrived with Napoleonic government and swept Rococo away.
There was a renewed interest in the Rococo style between 1820 and 1870 The British were
among the first to revive the "Louis XIV style". But prominent artists like Eugène Delacroix and
patrons like Empress Eugénie also rediscovered the value of grace and playfulness in art and
design.