Rocaille on the borderlands of Europe : adaptation and development

The paper discuss the problem of the influence of ornamental fashions on the art of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 18th century. It may therefore be assumed that the art of Poland at that time provides a perfect example of a mechanism for disseminating ornamental models. As the area of the Commonwealth covered much of what is now called Central Europe, this model is fully representative. Two main directions in the development of the rocaille are examined, as it may be said that this ornament appeared in the area of the Commonwealth twice. The earliest examples of this fashion arrived as French imports, straight from Paris, and were based on designs by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier. The second stage of the development, which may be characterised as ‘local’, but which in reality was to a large extent shaped by German ‘ornamental prints’ (from Augsburg), was crucial for the subsequent immense popularity of the ornament in Poland in the entire second half of the eighteenth century.