Rococo Retrospective

Doomed to be thrust from power by the onrushing forces of history, the aristocracy of 18th century Europe elected to live out its autumn in a sort of perpetual costume party. It was an age of elaboration, in manners and art, essentially frivolous but with a concealed streak of autumnal sadness. Its curlicued style came to be called rococo.

Typical of the rococo was its enchantment with porcelain. Early in the 18th century, a German alchemist discovered the Oriental secret of making true hard-paste porcelain, and soon princes were avidly collecting the stuff. Many noblemen established their own porcelain factories.

Stingy Wages. Of all the rococo porcelain artists, none achieved finer art with his difficult and limited medium than Franz Anton Bustelli. His life story is obscure. It is not even known for sure whether he was German, Italian or Swiss by birth. One of the few firmly established details of biography is the date of his death: April 18, 1763. In observance of the bicentennial of his death, Munich's Bavarian National Museum is displaying a complete collection of his work—102 figurines.

Bustelli created all of his known works in the employ of the Elector of Bavaria, owner of a renowned porcelain factory at Nymphenburg. Although the factory got high prices for Bustelli figurines, the artist never received more than stingy wages. At his death, his worldly possessions consisted of a few articles of furniture, 228 engravings, some of his own figurines, and 31 books on chemistry.

Enduring Trace. Unlike the unnatural sugar-dolls of lesser rococo porcelain artists, Bustelli's figurines show a keen eye for the actual. Especially prized in his own time was his 16-piece series of figures from the commedia dell' arte, the endless, semi-improvised popular comedy in which stock characters mimicked Europe's manners and morals, and lack of them (see color). There was Il Dottore, the gulled pedant; Mezzetino, the capering servant; Octavio, the youthful courtier; Scaramouche, the blustering rogue. Bustelli placed them in theatrical stances on curvilinear pedestals that swept up in rococo curlicues to counterbalance the curves and bends of the figures.

Besides comedy characters, Bustelli molded Turks and Chinese, cherubs and beggars, a mushroom venderess and a mousetrap vendor. Together, his figurines make up a cross section of the rococo age. Shortly after Bustelli's death, rococo faded away, leaving an enduring trace in the spirited forms and vibrant colors preserved beneath the glaze of an obscure artist's figurines.