Abstract
This essay examines Hans Sedlmayr's long-forgotten interpretation of the Rococo, principally in an article that he wrote for the Encyclopedia of world art in 1966. The essay unpacks Sedlmayr's unusual language and rhetoric as he locates the historicity of these churches in south Germany. Specifying Sedlmayr's peculiar brand of Catholic anti-modernism in his nomination of the Rococo as the 'last style', the essay looks at its broader implications for time and history. Via a close, micro-logical reading of elements of artistic and architectural form in this one art historian's writing, the essay comes to grips with the national and medium-centred politics of rococo historiography.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 255-271 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century |
| Issue number | 12 |
| State | Published - 2014 |