The Spiritual Rococo: Decor and Divinity from the Salons of Paris to the Missions of Patagonia (Visual Culture in Early Modernity)

Exploring for the very first time the global reach and spiritual dimension of Rococo décor, particularly in France, Central Europe, Portugal, Brazil, and Spanish South America, this study investigates the socio-religious motives for the importation of this style into an ecclesiastical setting and its commonalities with Enlightenment values, overturning the cliché of Rococo as a frivolous style and acknowledging its essential modernity.