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 ROCOCO

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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