South Pavilion
Plaza Level Galleries:
S109 French Decorative Arts 1750–1760 
S114 French Decorative Arts 1785–1790

COURTLY STYLES
As you know, styles always change. What is fashionable this year may not be the next. Styles change for a variety of reasons. With this activity you will compare two styles of French furniture and discover how and why the look of French furniture changed from a style called Rococo to a style called Neoclassical.

PART I – GALLERY S109
#1	READ a description of the Rococo style.
#2	SKETCH  a piece of Rococo furniture.
A furniture style known as Rococo was extremely popular 300 years ago in France. Rococo-style tables, chairs, chests, and wall lights are decorated with curving vines and leaves, twining plants, scrolls, seashells, and wave forms. Most of the decoration is asymmetrical—meaning that if you were to draw a line down the center the right and left sides would not mirror one another. Straight lines and precise geometric shapes are rarely seen in Rococo furniture.

Pick an object in this gallery that matches the above description. Sketch an outline of it below:

PART II – GALLERY S114
#1	READ a description of the Neoclassical style.
#2	SKETCH a piece of Neoclassical furniture.
#3	DESCRIBE the differences between the Rococo and Neoclassical styles.
In A.D. 79 the powerful volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the Italian city of Pompeii, burying it under ash and lava and killing almost all of its inhabitants. More than 1,500 years passed before archaeologists rediscovered Pompeii in the 1700s. Drawings of the ruins and artifacts at Pompeii were sent to France, where people began to incorporate these ancient styles into their own art, architecture, and furniture. This Neoclassical style reintroduced straight lines, columns, garlands, and symmetry (right and left sides are the same). The ancient Roman era is often called the “classical” period. The word “Neoclassical” describes the “new” classical style resulting from the discovery and rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman treasures and ruins. Objects in this gallery are examples of the Neoclassical style.

Pick a Neoclassical object to examine. Sketch an outline of it below:

Describe three ways in which the Rococo and Neoclassical styles are different.  Which style do you prefer?  Why?

To find out more about the discovery of ancient Roman ruins in the 1700s, visit the West Pavilion GettyGuide Room on the Plaza Level.