Venetian Rococo Painting

Rococo in Venice was similar to Rococo in France (click here). The general idea is that it is lighter, fluffier without the darkness and austerity of Baroque art. Rococo art looks as if it's been 'bathed in light' and is generally less intense.

Giambattista Tiepolo, An Allegory with Venus and Time, 1753-8

Banqueting of Cleopatra, 1740

Meeting of Anthony and Cleopatra, 1747-9

Alexander the Great and Compaspe in the Studio of Apelles, 1725-6

Rosalba Carriera, Self Portrait Holding Picture of her Sister, 1715
Carriera used pastels because she was painting on the go. It is feminine and light.

Felicita Sartori, 1728-41
The sitter, Felicita, is dressed in Turkish clothes with a mask. This was typically a mascarade costume as a Turkish hareem. The idea of perhaps flirting anonymously under a mask came to embody Venice - a city whose personification is that of Venus.

Charles Sackville, 2nd Duke of Dorset, 1730
I find portraits of men during the Rococo period were far girlier than those of the Baroque period!

Gustavus Hamilton, Viscount Boyne, 1730-1

Pietro Longhi, the Charlatan, 1757
Another allusion to Venice as a place of masks and deceit.

The Geography Lesson, 1752
Delicately taking the piss out of contemporary subjects: e.g teaching your ever so stupid lady geography.

Exhibition of a Rhino at Venice, 1751
Only in the delicate and soft Rococo would a Rhino look like a massive pug.