Download or read book French Painting in the Golden Age written by Christopher Allen and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 17th century has always been considered the golden age - the grand siècle - of French culture. The reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV witnessed an unprecedented flowering of literature and philosophy, of music, architecture and art. The poetic history painting of Poussin, the landscapes of Claude Lorrain, the portraits of Philippe de Champaigne, and the celebratory art of Le Brun at the court of Louis XIV at Versailles were among its greatest achievements. Yet the subject-matter and formal conventions most prized at the time can make it difficult for the modern viewer to appreciate the artists’ aims and to judge success or failure. Thanks to new research, it is now possible to set the major figures within the framework of the concerns and theoretical debates of the grand siècle itself. Christopher Allen, one of the few authorities on the subject outside the French-speaking world, brilliantly enables us to see beyond mere form to the meanings the artists intended us to enjoy.
Download or read book The Reign of Louis XIV written by Paul Sonnino and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Splendid Century written by W. H. Lewis and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-09 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The Splendid Century,” penned by the brother of famous author C. S. Lewis (“Alice in Wonderland”), is a depiction of various aspects of life in France during the reign of Louis XIV, gleaned through the author’s thorough research of records, correspondence, and journals of the time. Using anecdotal evidence, the book probes in detail various facets of life in France during this time, including the lives of nobles (particularly those at court) as well as commoners, religious institutions and conflicts, the organization of the French army and its restructuring, rural life and city life, what life was like on galley ships and passenger sailing ships, how doctors were trained, and the state of women’s education. The author also discusses the background behind Louis XIV’s policies, illustrating their impact on French civilization, both during this time and for generations to come. A must-read for anyone interested in French history.
Download or read book A Kingdom of Images written by Peter Fuhring and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2015-06-18 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once considered the golden age of French printmaking, Louis XIV’s reign saw Paris become a powerhouse of print production. During this time, the king aimed to make fine and decorative arts into signs of French taste and skill and, by extension, into markers of his imperialist glory. Prints were ideal for achieving these goals; reproducible and transportable, they fueled the sophisticated propaganda machine circulating images of Louis as both a man of war and a man of culture. This richly illustrated catalogue features more than one hundred prints from the Getty Research Institute and the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, whose print collection Louis XIV established in 1667. An esteemed international group of contributors investigates the ways that cultural policies affected printmaking; explains what constitutes a print; describes how one became a printmaker; studies how prints were collected; and considers their reception in the ensuing centuries. A Kingdom of Images is published to coincide with an exhibition on view at the Getty Research Institute from June 18 through September 6, 2015, and at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris from November 2, 2015, through January 31, 2016.
Download or read book Woven Gold written by Charissa Bremer-David and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2015-12-15 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meticulously woven by hand with wool, silk, and gilt-metal thread, the tapestry collection of the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, represents the highest achievements of the art form. Intended to enhance the king’s reputation by visualizing his manifest glory and to promote the kingdom’s nascent mercantile economy, the royal collection of tapestries included antique and contemporary sets that followed the designs of the greatest artists of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, including Raphael, Giulio Romano, Rubens, Vouet, and Le Brun. Ranging in date from about 1540 to 1715 and coming from weaving workshops across northern Europe, these remarkable works portray scenes from the bible, history, and mythology. As treasured textiles, the works were traditionally displayed in the royal palaces when the court was in residence and in public on special occasions and feast days. They are still little known, even in France, as they are mostly reserved for the decoration of elite state residences and ministerial offices. This catalogue accompanies an exhibition of fourteen marvelous examples of the former royal collection that will be displayed exclusively at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from December 15, 2015, to May 1, 2016. Lavishly illustrated, the volume presents for the first time in English the latest scholarship of the foremost authorities working in the field.
Download or read book Louis XIV The Golden Age of France written by ChatStick Team and published by ChatStick Team. This book was released on 2024-08-16 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 📖 Louis XIV: The Golden Age of France 📖 ✨ Unveil the Grandeur of the Sun King's Reign ✨ Journey into the heart of 17th century France and explore the life and legacy of Louis XIV, the monarch who elevated France to unparalleled heights of power and culture. Brought to you by the ChatStick Team, this book offers a vivid portrayal of the era that came to be known as the Golden Age of France. What Awaits You in This Book: Absolute Power: Discover how Louis XIV consolidated power and redefined the monarchy. Versailles: Delve into the splendor of the Palace of Versailles and its significance in French history. Military Dominance: Understand the pivotal wars and military strategies that shaped Europe. Cultural Renaissance: Explore the flourishing of arts, literature, and music during Louis XIV’s reign. Economic Strategies: Learn about the policies that fueled the grandeur and their impact on the common people. Life in France: Gain insights into the daily lives of citizens under Louis XIV’s rule. This book is a must-read for history buffs, students, and anyone fascinated by the power dynamics and cultural transformations of early modern Europe. "Louis XIV: The Golden Age of France" brings the Sun King's reign to life, offering a captivating narrative that will transport you to an era of opulence, intrigue, and enduring legacy. ✨ Immerse yourself in the world of Louis XIV and witness the splendor of France’s Golden Age! ✨
Download or read book Le si cle de Louis XIV extraits written by Voltaire and published by . This book was released on 1948 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book France in the Golden Age written by Pierre Rosenberg and published by Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book was released on 1982 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book King of the World written by Philip Mansel and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 669 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Louis XIV was a man in pursuit of glory. Not content to be the ruler of a world power, he wanted the power to rule the world. And, for a time, he came tantalizingly close. Philip Mansel’s King of the World is the most comprehensive and up-to-date biography in English of this hypnotic, flawed figure who continues to captivate our attention. This lively work takes Louis outside Versailles and shows the true extent of his global ambitions, with stops in London, Madrid, Constantinople, Bangkok, and beyond. We witness the importance of his alliance with the Spanish crown and his success in securing Spain for his descendants, his enmity with England, and his relations with the rest of Europe, as well as Asia, Africa, and the Americas. We also see the king’s effect on the two great global diasporas of Huguenots and Jacobites, and their influence on him as he failed in his brutal attempts to stop Protestants from leaving France. Along the way, we are enveloped in the splendor of Louis’s court and the fascinating cast of characters who prostrated and plotted within it. King of the World is exceptionally researched, drawing on international archives and incorporating sources who knew the king intimately, including the newly released correspondence of Louis’s second wife, Madame de Maintenon. Mansel’s narrative flair is a perfect match for this grand figure, and he brings the Sun King’s world to vivid life. This is a global biography of a global king, whose power was extensive but also limited by laws and circumstances, and whose interests and ambitions stretched far beyond his homeland. Through it all, we watch Louis XIV progressively turn from a dazzling, attractive young king to a belligerent reactionary who sets France on the path to 1789. It is a convincing and compelling portrait of a man who, three hundred years after his death, still epitomizes the idea of le grand monarque.
Download or read book The Sun King written by Nancy Mitford and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2012-05-08 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “devastatingly witty” biography of Louis XIV and the Court of Versailles—at once a historical record of late 17th- and early 18th-century France and a gossip-filled narrative of lovers and rivals, artists and warriors (The New York Times) The Sun King is a dazzling double portrait of Louis XIV and Versailles, the opulent court from which he ruled. With characteristic élan, Nancy Mitford reconstructs the daily life of king and courtiers during France’s golden age, offering vivid sketches of the architects, artists, and gardeners responsible for the creation of the most magnificent palace Europe had yet seen. Mitford lays bare the complex and deadly intrigues in the stateroom and the no less high-stakes power struggles in the bedroom. At the center of it all is Louis XIV himself, the demanding, mercurial, but remarkably resilient sovereign who guided France through nearly three quarters of the Grand Siècle. Brimming with sumptuous detail and delicious bons mots, and written in a witty, conversational style, The Sun King restores a distant glittering century to vibrant life.
Download or read book City of Light City of Poison Murder Magic and the First Police Chief of Paris written by Holly Tucker and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An artful reconstruction of seventeenth-century Paris with riveting storytelling." —The New Yorker In the late 1600s, Louis XIV assigns Nicolas de la Reynie to bring order to Paris after the brutal deaths of two magistrates. Reynie, pragmatic and fearless, discovers a network of witches, poisoners, and priests whose reach extends all the way to the king’s court at Versailles. Based on court transcripts and Reynie’s compulsive note-taking, Holly Tucker’s engrossing true-crime narrative makes the characters breathe on the page as she follows the police chief into the dark labyrinths of crime-ridden Paris, the halls of royal palaces, secret courtrooms, and torture chambers.
Download or read book Love and Louis XIV written by Antonia Fraser and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2010-06-25 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The superb historian and biographer Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette, casts new light on the splendor and the scandals of the reign of Louis XIV in this dramatic, illuminating look at the women in his life. The self-proclaimed Sun King, Louis XIV ruled over the most glorious and extravagant court in seventeenth-century Europe. Now, Antonia Fraser goes behind the well-known tales of Louis’s accomplishments and follies, exploring in riveting detail his intimate relationships with women. The king’s mother, Anne of Austria, had been in a childless marriage for twenty-two years before she gave birth to Louis XIV. A devout Catholic, she instilled in her son a strong sense of piety and fought successfully for his right to absolute power. In 1660, Louis married his first cousin, Marie-Thérèse, in a political arrangement. While unfailingly kind to the official Queen of Versailles, Louis sought others to satisfy his romantic and sexual desires. After a flirtation with his sister-in-law, his first important mistress was Louise de La Vallière, who bore him several children before being replaced by the tempestuous and brilliant Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. Later, when Athénaïs’s reputation was tarnished, the King continued to support her publicly as Athénaïs left court for a life of repentance. Meanwhile her children’s governess, the intelligent and seemingly puritanical Françoise de Maintenon, had already won the King’s affections; in a relationship in complete contrast to his physical obsession with Athénaïs, Louis XIV lived happily with Madame de Maintenon for the rest of his life, very probably marrying her in secret. When his grandson’s child bride, the enchanting Adelaide of Savoy, came to Versaille she lightened the King’s last years – until tragedy struck. With consummate skill, Antonia Fraser weaves insights into the nature of women’s religious lives – as well as such practical matters as contraception – into her magnificent, sweeping portrait of the king, his court, and his ladies.
Download or read book Antiquarianism and the Visual Histories of Louis XIV written by Robert Wellington and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Antiquarianism and the Visual Histories of Louis XIV: Artifacts for a Future Past provides a new interpretation of objects and images commissioned by Louis XIV (1638-1715) to document his reign for posterity. The Sun King's image-makers based their prediction of how future historians would interpret the material remains of their culture on contemporary antiquarian methods, creating new works of art as artifacts for a future time. The need for such items to function as historical evidence led to many pictorial developments, and medals played a central role in this. Coin-like in form but not currency, the medal was the consummate antiquarian object, made in imitation of ancient coins used to study the past. Yet medals are often elided from the narrative of the arts of ancient r?me France, their neglect wholly disproportionate to the cultural status that they once held. This revisionary study uncovers a numismatic sensibility throughout the iconography of Louis XIV, and in the defining monuments of his age. It looks beyond the standard political reading of the works of art made to document Louis XIV's history, to argue that they are the results of a creative process wedded to antiquarianism, an intellectual culture that provided a model for the production of history in the grand si?e.
Download or read book The Sovereign Artist written by Wolf Burchard and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph examines the wide artistic production of Louis XIV's most prolific and powerful artist, Charles Le Brun (1619-1690), illustrating the magnificence of his paintings and focusing particularly on the interiors and decorative art works produced according to his designs. In his joint capacities of Premier peintre du roi, director of the Gobelins manufactory and rector of the Acad mie royale de peinture et de sculpture, Le Brun exercised a previously unprecedented influence on the production of the visual arts - so much so that some scholars have repeatedly described him as 'dictator' of the arts in France. The Sovereign Artist explores how Le Brun operated in his diverse fields of activities, linking and juxtaposing his portraiture, history painting and pictorial theory with his designs for architecture, tapestries, carpets and furniture. It argues that Le Brun sought to create a repeatable and easily recognizable visual language associated with Louis XIV, in order to translate the king's political claims for absolute power into a visual form. How he did this is discussed through a series of individual case studies ranging from Le Brun's lost equestrian portrait of Louis XIV, and his involvement in the Querelle du coloris at the Acad mie, to his scheme for 93 Savonnerie carpets for the Grande Galerie at the Louvre, his Histoire du roy tapestry series, his decoration of the now destroyed Escalier des Ambassadeurs at Versailles and the dramatic destruction of the Sun King's silver furniture. One key theme is the relation between the unity of the visual arts, to which Le Brun aspired, and the strong hierarchical distinctions he made between the liberal arts and the mechanical crafts: while his lectures at the Acad mie advocated a visual and conceptual unity in painting and architecture, they were also a means by which he attempted to secure the newly gained status of painting as a liberal art, and therefore to distinguish it from the mechanical crafts which he oversaw the production of at the Gobelins. His artistic and architectural aspirations were comparable to those of his Roman contemporary Gianlorenzo Bernini, summoned to Paris in 1665 to design the Louvre's East fa ade and to create a portrait bust of Louis XIV. Bernini's failure to convince the king and Colbert of his architectural scheme offered new opportunities for Le Brun and his French contemporaries to prove themselves capable of solving the architectural problems of the Louvre and to transform it into a palace appropriate "to the grandeur and the magnificence of the prince who was] to inhabit it" (Jean-Baptiste Colbert to Nicolas Poussin in 1664). The comparison between Le Brun and Bernini not only illustrates how France sought artistic supremacy over Italy during the second half of the 17th century, but further helps to demonstrate how Le Brun himself wanted to be perceived: beyond acting as a translator of the king's artistic ambition, the artist appears to have sought his own sovereign authority over the visual arts.
Download or read book Visitors to Versailles written by Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide and published by Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book was released on 2018-04-16 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What was it like to visit one of the most magnificent courts of Europe? Based on a wealth of contemporary documents and surviving works of art, this lavish book explores the experiences of those who swarmed the palace and grounds of Versailles when it was the seat of the French monarchy. Engaging essays describe methods of transportation, the elaborate codes of dress and etiquette, precious diplomatic gifts, royal audiences, and tours of the palace and gardens. Also presented are the many types of visitors and guests who eagerly made their way to this center of power and culture, including day-trippers and Grand Tourists, European diplomats, overseas ambassadors, incognito travelers, and Americans. Through paintings and portraits, furniture, costumes and uniforms, arms and armor, guidebooks, and other works of art, Visitors to Versailles illuminates what travelers encountered at court and what impressions, gifts, and souvenirs they took home with them. In bringing to life their experiences, this sumptuously illustrated volume reminds us why Versailles has enchanted generations of visitors from the ancien régime to the present day.
Download or read book Louis XIV written by Michel (Prince of Greece) and published by HarperCollins Publishers. This book was released on 1983 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Louis XIV, whose great prestige earned him the title of "the Sun King," is the most famous of all the French kings. He ruled France in one of its most glorious periods, and remains to this day the supreme symbol of absolute monarchy. Now, in a brilliant new biography, Prince Michael of Greece has revealed a darker side to the Sun King. Drawing on detailed evidence from contemporary records, letters and memoirs, he explored the possibility that, underneath it all, this epitome of kingship was a shy, weak, unstable man of unexpected and intriguing complexity. Prince Michael assesses the continued and enduring influence of Cardinal Mazarin and Louis' mother, Anne of Austria, on the little boy who came to the throne at the age of five but who learned early on to hide his profound insecurity behind the ever more elaborate trappings of monarchy. Here, then, is a vivid portrait of a not particularly intelligent king, secretly poring over textbooks, preferring to command sieges rather than battles because they were more convenient, whose voracious sexual appetite right into his seventies flouted the very conventions he himself tried to impose on a reluctant court at Versailles. Without simply debunking Louis, Prince Michael of Greece succeeds in presenting an iconoclastic biography which shatters many of the accepted myths about the man and his century. The result is a glimpse of the human frailties and inadequacies that lay behind the arrogance, protocol and pageantry of France's greatest king. - Jacket flap.
Download or read book The Story of French written by Jean-Benoit Nadeau and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2006 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the French language.
