Name: Rococo: Before Bedtime
Released: 2014-01-21T00:00:00.000Z
Cast: Waldemar Januszczak

TV Show · Documentary · History

Following the grandeur of Baroque, Rococo art is often dismissed as frivolous and unserious, but Waldemar Januszczak disagrees. In this three-part series he re-examines Rococo art and argues that the Rococo was actually the age in which the modern world was born.

2014 · 1h 0m

Starring Waldemar Januszczak

EPISODE 1

Travel

Travel in the 18th century greatly impacted some of the finest art ever made. The world was getting smaller and took on new influences shown in the glorious Bavarian pilgrimage architecture, Canaletto's romantic Venice and the blossoming of exotic designs and tastes all over Europe.
EPISODE 2

Pleasure

Waldemar looks at the pursuit of pleasure in the Rococo age to which a huge amount of cultural energy was devoted For the first time in history pleasure and happiness were seen as unalienable human rights that everyone was free to pursue and is reflected so poignantly in the art
EPISODE 3

Madness

When you spend as much time as the Rococo did having fun and escaping reality, madness soon sets in. The 18th century is seen as the era of frivolity and enjoyment, but in an age of such decadence there was also the brutish satire of Hogarth, the mysterious masked figures of Longhi, the anguish of Messerschmidt and the depths of Goya's macabre genius.