Editing Rococo (section)

==France==
{{See also|Rocaille|Louis Quinze}}

The ''[[Rocaille]]'' style, or French Rococo, appeared in Paris during the reign of [[Louis XV]], and flourished between about 1723 and 1759.<ref>Lovreglio, Aurélia and Anne, ''Dictionnaire des Mobiliers et des Objets d'art'', Le Robert, Paris, 2006, p. 369</ref> The style was used particularly in salons, a new style of room designed to impress and entertain guests. The most prominent example was the salon of the Princess in [[Hôtel de Soubise]] in Paris, designed by [[Germain Boffrand]] and [[Charles-Joseph Natoire]] (1735–1740). The characteristics of French Rococo included exceptional artistry, especially in the complex frames made for mirrors and paintings, which were sculpted in plaster and often gilded; and the use of vegetal forms (vines, leaves, flowers) intertwined in complex designs.{{Sfn|Hopkins|2014|pp=92–93}} The furniture also featured sinuous curves and vegetal designs. The leading furniture designers and craftsmen in the style included [[Juste-Aurele Meissonier]], [[Charles Cressent]], and [[Nicolas Pineau]].{{Sfn|de Morant|1970|page=382}}<ref name="Kleiner2010">{{cite book|last=Kleiner|first=Fred|title=Gardner's art through the ages: the western perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IJrN8rDirxkC&pg=PA587|access-date=21 February 2011|date=2010|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-495-57355-5|pages=583–584}}</ref>

The Rocaille style lasted in France until the mid-18th century, and while it became more curving and vegetal, it never achieved the extravagant exuberance of the Rococo in Bavaria, Austria and Italy. The discoveries of Roman antiquities beginning in 1738 at [[Herculaneum]] and especially at [[Pompeii]] in 1748 turned French architecture in the direction of the more symmetrical and less flamboyant [[Neoclassicism in France#Architecture|neo-classicism]].
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Salon de la princesse hotel de soubise.jpg|Salon of the [[Hôtel de Soubise]] in Paris (1735–1740) by [[Germain Boffrand]]
File:Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier - Table de Cabinet., 6th Plate (Study for a Table), pl. 47 in Oeuvre de Juste-Aurele Meissonnier - Google Art Project (down table cropped).jpg|Table design by [[Juste-Aurele Meissonier]] (1730)
File:Hotel de Soubise - Grande chambre de la princesse 3.JPG|Grand Chamber of the Prince, Hôtel de Soubise (1735–1740)
File:Boiserie from the Hôtel de Varengeville MET DP214174.jpg|Woodwork in the Hôtel de Varengeville by [[Nicolas Pineau]] (1735)
File:Charles Cressent, Chest of drawers, c. 1730 at Waddesdon Manor.jpg|Chest of drawers by [[Charles Cressent]] (1730), [[Waddesdon Manor]]
File:Paris Hôtel de Samuel Bernard 34.JPG|Detail of a door of the [[Hôtel de Samuel Bernard]] from Paris (1740s)
Consoleklok van verguld en geciseleerd brons, BK-NM-12289-2.jpg|Gilt and hammered bronze [[corbel]] of a clock by Jean Joseph de Saint-Germain and J. Boullé ({{circa|1745|1749}})
File:Hotel de Marsilly, July 4, 2007.jpg|The door of the [[Hôtel de Marsilly]], with two [[corbel]]s and a [[cartouche (design)|cartouche]] above it, all of them being rococo
File:Bordeaux Notre-Dame R01.jpg|Eglise Notre-Dame, [[Bordeaux]] (1684–1707)
</gallery>