TARAVAL, Guillaume-Thomas-Raphaël

French painter, part of a family of artists, father of Louis-Gustave Taraval and Hugues Taraval. He first came to Sweden in 1732 and was mainly active in Stockholm.

Taraval produced a series of elegant ceiling paintings and introduced the RococoGLOSSARYA style of design, painting, and architecture dominating the 18th century, often considered the last stage of the Baroque. Developing in the Paris townhouses of the French aristocracy at the turn of the 18th century, Rococo was elegant and ornately decorative, its mood lighthearted and witty. Louis XV furniture, richly decorated with organic forms, is a typical product. Leading exponents of the Rococo sryle included the French painters Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), and the German architect Johann Balthasar Neumann (1687-1753). Rococo gave way to Neo-classicism. decorative style to Sweden. He also painted portraits, altarpieces and still-lifes. He also played a major part in the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, becoming its first director on its foundation in 1735.