The Rococo represents the European art from 1730 to 1780. It followed the Baroque, whose severe, pompous and pathetic forms it changed into the light, playful and dainty. Thus the pastel with its soft and delicate colours became the favourite technique of the Rococo.
The portrait emphasizes the individual features (of a certain person) or the typical features (the depicted person as representative of his class or estate). At the beginning of the portrait painting there was the whole figure, then the restriction to the upper half of the person followed (half-figure) and finally to the face (bust portrait). Profile and front view are the common forms of presentation. Until the 14th century the individual effigy was of less importance – portraits were symbols of an office or an estate represented by the depicted person. The emphasis on the true physiognomic composition of a face, thus the “discovery of the individual” in fine arts is due to Renaissance.