I decided to choose French rococo as my research topic because it is relevant to what we are studying at the moment and I believe it is an important period in design history.

I have chosen Baroque & Rococo: Art & Culture by Vernon Hyde Minor as my book with a single author source because it covers the entire baroque/Rococo era and includes an illustrated historical timeline to help me establish the evolution of design from this period. The book also includes readings about Heinrich Wolfflin who is well known as an art historian because he was one of the first to acknowledge the baroque as era rather than a branch of an earlier style (renaissance).

Minor, V. H. (1991) “Baroque & Rococo: Art & Culture”. New Jersey, USA. Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0130856495

  The article I selected as my source is The Creation of Rococo By Fiske Kimball. This will be a helpful resource in my research because it discusses the origin of Baroque art and architecture and the principles of defining the rococo style.  

Kimball, F. (1942) Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. “The Creation of the Rococo”  Vol. 4, No ¾. pp 119-123.

  The edited book I am using for research on the baroque / rococo is Gardeners art through the ages because it has a clear definition of the rococo style and is filled with examples of architecture and art that I can use in my writing.

Kleiner, F. S. (2008) “Gardners Art Through the Ages-Enhanced Thirteenth Edition”  Boston USA. Wadesworth Cengage Learning.  ISBN-10: 0495799866

  The image I chose was Juste-Aurele Meissonnier’s design for a table in 1730. This image shows a design for a piece of rococo furniture in the 18th century. It embodies the characteristics of Rococo such as, curled legs and built in carvings representing forms in nature.  Rococo designs emit a sensation of higher social class.

”Fig. 1 Meissonnier, J-A. (1730) “Table Design”  Drawing of Rococo styled table. Size and measurements:unknown

The website I have sourced is DiscoverFrance.net. The website gives an in depth description of what Rococo is and also talks about the essence of the rococo style and its specific characteristics.  It is a really interesting website concerning Rococo as it starts from the birth of Rococo to its decline in late 18th century when Rococo was seen as a “tasteless” art period.