Robert de Cotte was a French architect-administrator, under whose design control of the royal buildings of France from 1699, the earliest notes presaging the Rococo style were introduced. First a pupil of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, he later became his brother-in-law and his collaborator. After Hardouin-Mansart's death, de Cotte completed his unfinished projects, notably the royal chapel at Versailles and the Grand Trianon.
Robert de Cotte, 1701, pastel on paper by Joseph Vivien
Palais Rohan, Strasbourg, for Armand Gaston Maximilien, prince de Rohan, bishop of Strasbourg (planned 1727–8, built 1731–42)
Antechamber
Grand Cabinet (with decorated mirrors)
Rococo, less commonly Roccoco, also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, and trompe-l'œil frescoes to create surprise and the illusion of motion and drama. It is often described as the final expression of the Baroque movement.
Image: Ca' rezzonico, salone da ballo, quadrature di pietro visconti e affreschi di g.b. crosato (caduta di febo e 4 continenti), 1753, 02
Image: Charles Cressent, Chest of drawers, c. 1730 at Waddesdon Manor
Image: Kaisersaal Würzburg
Integrated rococo carving, stucco and fresco at Zwiefalten Abbey (1739 – 1745)