Decorative paintings in courtly wall decorations form a hitherto hardly studied ty-pe of rococo picture of ambiguous status: they are neither autonomous panel painting nor mere decoration. This enables commissioners and artists to explore new avenues of design. Paintings in German and Austrian palace interiors show that the content loses its expressiveness and the formal side of art gains importance. This is a fundamental change in a conception of art that points ahead to modernism with meta-artistic approaches and an aesthetic emphasizing form.