| The image of a refined and aristocratic eighteenth-century held a privileged place in the French cultural imagination under the Second Empire (1852-1870). Addressing issues of historical memory, this dissertation is a broad consideration of the ways in which the elegant rococo style of the ancien regime was appropriated by a wide variety of artists, writers, collectors and others in mid-nineteenth-century France. The rococo style, which was one of the many historical styles popular at this time, had originally been developed during the regency and rule of Louis XV and persisted through Louis XVI's reign. The visual principles of the rococo period, stressing sensuality and grace, and epitomized in the genre of the fete galante pioneered by Jean-Antoine Watteau, appealed to a diverse audience, from the imperial elite to avant-garde artistic circles.;The first chapter explores the ways that eighteenth-century French art was discussed by writers such as Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, Charles Blanc and Arsene Houssaye. The second chapter analyzes a cross section of artworks that evoke the rococo era in contrasting manners. These include Franz-Xaver Winterhalter's imperial portraits, Ernest Meissonier's meticulously rendered genre scenes, Adolphe Monticelli's vigorous reinterpretations of fete champetres, Charles Chaplin's portraits of languid young women in eighteenth-century guise, and Jean-Bapstiste Carpeaux's sculpted memorial to Watteau. The third chapter examines ways in which reflections of the previous century could be found in ceremonial and leisure activities under the Second Empire, as well as in fashion and interior design. This chapter also contextualizes early Impressionist works in terms of how the interaction of figure and landscape provides a link to the past, even while capturing the character of modern life. The last chapter investigates four different examples of how eighteenth-century art was assembled in Second Empire exhibitions and collections, including the Goncourts' homes in Paris and Auteuil, the celebrated 1860 exhibition of the "ecole francaise ancienne " on the Boulevard des Italiens, the Empress Eugenie's 1867 exhibition in honor of Marie-Antoinette held at Petit Trianon at Versailles, and the bequeathal of Louis La Caze's collection to the Louvre, which was particularly rich in eighteenth-century petit maitres. |
