ROCOCO
106
ROCOCO
Bishop of Ballarat. Dr. Higgins studied in May-
nooth, was subsequently President of the Diocesan
Seminary at Navan, and in ISSS was chosen auxiUary
bishop to the Cardinal .\rchbishop of Sydney with
the title of titular Bishop of Antifelle. He had
zealously laboiu-ed in the Archdiocese of Sydney for
over ten years, when appointed to RockJiampton.
He traversed his new diocese from end to end,
gauged its wants, attracted priests to his aid, placed
students for the mission in various ecclesiastical col-
leges, introduced new religious teaching orders,
built and dedicated churches, convents, and schools
in several centres, bringing the blessings of religion
and Cliristian education to the children of the back-
blocks.
On 15 October, 1899, the beautiful new cathedral was dedicated by the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney assisted by several other distinguished Australian prelates in the presence of a great concourse of people. The remains of Dr. Cani were transferred thither. Dr. Higgins visited Rome and Ireland in 1904, and returned with renewed energy to carry on his great work. On the death of Dr. 'Moore, Bishop of Bal- larat, Victoria, he was translated to that important See, where he has ever since laboured with cliarac- teristic zeal and devotedness. The present Bishop of Rockhampton is Right Rev. Dr. James Duhig, bom at Broadford, Co. Limerick, Ireland, 1870. Dr. Duhig emigrated from Ireland with his famih' at the age of thirteen, studied with the Christian Brothers at Brisbane and at the Irish College, Rome, was ordained priest, 19 Sept., 1896, and, returning to Queensland in the following year, was appointed to a curacy in the parish of Ipswich. In 1905 he was appointed administrator of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Bri.sbane, and received the briefs of his appointment to the See of Rockhampton. At present (1911) there are in the Diocese of Rockhampton: about 28,000 Catholics; 19 missions or districts; 30 priests (4 of whom belong to the Marist Congregation, who have 1 house in the diocese); 12 Christian Brothers; 150 nuns; and 26 Cathohc schools, attended by about 5000 children,
J. Duhig.
Rococo Style, — This style received its name in the nineteenth century from French emigres, who used the word to designate in whimsical fashion the shell work style {style rocaille), then regarded as Old Frankish, as opposed to the succeeding more simple styles. Essentially, it is the same kind of art and decoration as flouri.shed in France during the regency following Louis XIV's death, and remained in fashion for about forty years (1715-50). It might be termed the climax or degeneration of the Baroque, which, coupk^l with French grace, began towards the end of the reign of Ix)uis XIV to convert grotesques into curve*, linfs, and bands fjcan B<rain, 16.38-1711). As its efT«-ct was less pronounced on architectural construction than elsewhere, it is not so much a real style as a new kind of decoration, which culminates in the resrjlution of architectural forms of the interiors (pilasters and architraves; by arbitrary ornamenta- tion after the fashion of an unregulated, enervated Barofjue, while also influencing the arrangement of space, the construction of the facades, the portals, tne forms of the doors and windows. The Rococo style was rea/lily received in Germany, where it was still further perverted into the arbitrary, un- symmetrical, and unnatural, and remained in favour until 1770 Cor even longer); it found no welcome in England. In Italy a tendency towards the Rococo stvle is evinced by tlie Borromini, Guarini, and others. The French them.H<-lve8 speak only of the Style lUgence and Louii XV, which, however, is by no means confined to this one tendency.
To a race grown effeminate the Baroque forms
seemed too coarse and heavj', the lines too straight
and stiff, the whole impression too weighty and forced.
The small and the light, sweeps and flourishes, caught
the public taste; in the interiors the architectonic had
to yield to the picturesque, the curious, and the whim-
sical. There develops a style for elegant parlours,
dainty sitting-rooms and boudoirs, drawing-rooms
and libraries, in which walls, ceiUng, furniture, and
works of metal and porcelain present one ensemble
of sportive, fantastic, and sculptured forms. The
horizontal lines are almost completely superseded
by curves and interruptions, the vertical varied at
least by knots; everywhere shell-like curves appear
in a hundred forms, pronged, blazed, and sharpened
to a cusp; the natural construction of tlie walls is
concealed behind
thick stucco-
framework ; on
the ceiling per-
haps a glimpse of
Olympus en-
chants the view —
all executed in a
beautiful white or
in bright colour
tones. All the
simple laws and
rules being set
aside in favour of
free and enchant-
ing imaginative-
ness, the fanc}' rc-
ceived all tin
greater incenti\< •
to activity, and
the senses were
the more keenly
requisitioned.
Everything vigor-
ous is banned,
every suggestion
of earnestness;
nothing disturbs
the shallow re-
pose of distinguished banality; the sportively grace-
ful and light appears side by side with the elegant
and the ingenious. The sculptor Bouchardon repre-
sented Cupid engaged in carving his darts of love
from the club of Hercules; this serves as an ex-
cellent symbol of the Rococo style — the demigod is
transformed into the soft child, the bone-shattering
club becomes the heart-scathing arrows, just as
marble is so freely replaced by stucco. Effeminacy,
softness, and caprice attitudinize before us. In
this connexion, the French sculptors, Robert le
Lorrain, Michel Clodion, and Pigalle may be men-
t ioned in passing. For small i)last i(; figures of gypsum,
clay, biscuit, porcelain (Sevres, Meissen), the gay
Rococo is not unsuitable; in wood, iron, and royal
metal, it h;is created some valuable works. How-
ever, (confessionals, ])ulpits, altars, and even fa9ade9
lead ever more into the territory of the architectonic,
which does not ejisily combine with the curves of
Rococo, the light and the petty, with forms whose
whence and wherefore baffle inquiry. Even as mere
decoration on the walls of the interiors the new forms
could maintain their ground only for a few decades.
In France the sway of Rococo practically ceases with
Oppenord (d. 1742) and Meissonier (d. 1750). In-
auguratcfl in some rooms in the Palace of Versailles,
it unfolds its magnificence in several Parisian buildings
(esnecially the Hotel Soubise). In Germany French
anrl German artists fCuvillies, Neumann, Knobels-
dorfT, etc.) effected the dignified equipment of the
Amalienburg near Muiiieli. and the castles of Wiirz-
burg, Potsdam, Charlottenburg, Briihl, Bruchsal,
Schcinbrunn, etc. In France the style remained some-
DooRWAY AT Toulouse,
France
