The baroque and the rococo are forms that dwell in spectacle: gilded and mirrored surfaces, ornate floral designs, sumptuous fabrics, and paintings and sculptures imbued with intense drama.

The position of Rococo in the historiography of art and architecture itself is not a consensus: it can be understood as a variation of the Baroque or as a movement and style in its own right ...

Rococo didn’t appear out of nowhere. It rose in the wake of Baroque absolutism—that is, the era when Louis XIV ruled France with total, unquestioned power. Everything from politics to palace ...