Decorative painting courses: Trompe l'oeil Chinoiseries and Verdures Draping Faux marbre (marbling) Faux bois (woodgraining) Grotesques Secrets of painted decoration Faux sky painting Fausse moulure (faux moldings) Verdure Decorative gilding Painting with lime Traditional decorative painting

Chinoiseries and Verdures

Chinoiseries is a technique which is found in European decorative art from the 18th century onwards:

• Venetian furniture painted in a Chinese style,
• facings,
• mural decorations,
• wall papers.

 
This fantastical genre, which made it possible to combine imaginary plants and pagodas, characters and ruins, was very fashionable and provided the requisite touch of exoticism to the décor.

An exercise in landscapes and subjects, chinoiseries was commonly used for mantelpieces, above doors and central panels. It was also to be found in grotesques. Its realisation will require the student to free himself from the constraints of realist painting and encompass the charcacters of decorative stylisation which can be given scholarly expression.