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Baroque and Rococo
Martin van Meytens
ART ON THE MOVE
Luxury coaches, first invented in Hungary and eventually appearing in Western Europe, led to a golden age of coach design and decoration. The decorative arts were lavishly applied to this privileged mode of transport. Glass and mirrors, materials and carpets, inlaid woods, and gold and silver leaf transformed the bulky, lumbering vehicles into artistic showcases, Rubens painted a state coach for the imperial family and. during the 18th century, the ruling Bourbons commissioned coaches and sedan chairs that were magnificent examples of decorative art, executed by well-known artists. The carriage museums in Madrid and Lisbon house two of the most interesting collections of their kind. Moreover, there are many paintings that depict the pomp and circumstance that accompanied the arrival of royalty or ambassadors in capital cities, with the long processions of richly decorated, horse-drawn carriages.
Martin van Meytens the Younger
(1695-1770)
Martin van Meytens the Younger
The Arrival of Isabella of Parma on the Occasion of Her Wedding to Joseph II, 1760
