12/12/2016
Gabrielle Okun
Versailles: Louis XIV’s Political Masterpiece
The Palace of Versailles is an architectural masterpiece due to the Baroque influences that give it a larger than life theatrical flair. Versailles is intriguing due to the complex history into the building of it and the multidimensional designs of the palace, gardens, and town. Louis XIV’s building of Versailles Palace utilizes Baroque aesthetics to legitimize the absolute power of royalty. While the central style of Versailles originates from Louis XIV, there were many people that collaborated on the construction. One can examine the difference in personalities of the royal family the Bourbons. Louis XIV’s father Louis XIII used Versailles as a small getaway where he could hunt peacefully outside of Paris. His son used Versailles as a way to reflect his character, power, and wealth. However, others believe that the true reason he left Paris was to have time away and out of the public eye with his mistresses.1 Regardless of the rationale, in 1661 he ordered the reconstruction of the exterior and interior of Versailles.2 The palace of Versailles simply originated from an old hunting lodge belonging to his father, in the small village of Versailles. Marin writes that,
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Le Brun depicted both the wars that Louis XIV had fought and won by this date.”21 One of the most provocative paintings is “The tableau of Louis leading the French crossing of the 1672 sums up the bombastic approach. Hair streaming, dressed in Roman style and holding a thunderbolt like a projectile, Louis sits godlike on a silver chariot pushed by Hercules while riding roughshod over female personifications of nearby enemy towns.22 This painting emphasizes how Louis wanted to be remembered as a deistic force. While the painting alludes to classicism, Louis XIV wanted the captions to be written in french so that he could communicate with
The film is not entirely based on the positive details about Louis XIV or Versailles, but also the terrible working conditions during the building of Versailles. According to the film, it was very dangerous to work on the construction of the palace. A lot of people died on the site. People were very upset about the working conditions.
Towards the end of his reign, Louis began to lose much of the mystique and influence he had previously held, as his lack of financial resources and inability to adequately tax the nobility began to catch up to him. Document 6, a letter from French nobleman Francois Fenelon, criticizes Louis for his reckless warfare, warning, “God will one day lift the veil that covers your eyes… you will become a Christian only through humiliation.” As an educated nobleman, Fenelon likely held resentment towards the crown for its subjugation of his class. Additionally, Louis’ frequent, frivolous war campaigns caused great struggle in France as the nation struggled to supply the efforts; even Louis, by the end of his life, stated that “I have gone to war too lightly and pursued it for vanity’s sake.” However, regardless of the fact that sustained warfare drove France into debt and ruin, Louis’ ability to go to war based off of nothing more than his own will is even more evidence that supports his power as an absolute ruler, whether or not Fenelon agrees with his policy.
Still, the negative aspects of France’s rule under King Louis XIV far outweigh the positive ones. His reign can best be described by the statement “L’état, c’est moi,” (I am the state) that is attributed to him. King Louis XIV spent state money to pay for his own luxuries and monuments that glorified his image. It was also customary for the artists King Louis XIV sponsored to include direct or indirect allusions to him in their productions thus creating a god-like image of him. The Palace of Versailles alone used 5% of France’s income. This liberal
Castles, palaces, and cathedrals are scattered across Europe. Each one possesses unique characteristics and architecture bearing resemblance of their time. Some castles incorporate Greek influence, roman or gothic influence in design. Other castles and palaces are surrounded by sculptures outside in the courtyard or include sculptures worshiped as an altarpiece. While any one of these things would serve to make an ordinary castle more elaborate there is one palace that possesses all of these: The Palace of Versailles in France. The Palace of Versailles has managed to incorporate classic architecture, exquisite sculptures, and amalgamated the old design with the newer design trends of the day.
Le Chateau is a leading Canadian specialty retailer that offers contemporary fashion apparel, accessories and footwear. Founded in 1959 by Hershel Segal, the retailer was originally named “Le Chateau Men’s Wear”. The name was
Another great piece of evidence supporting the statement that Louis XIV is the best example of an absolute monarch is his palace at Versailles. This palace was bigger than any other palace, more expensive, and better in just about everyway, except for being good for its country, France. The palace at Versailles was originally built as a small hunting lodge by Louis XIV’s father, Louis XIII in 1624. In 1669, Louis XIV decided to expand the palace, and moved into the palace in 1682 while parts of the building were still under construction. The palace was of monumental size, with a around 2,000 rooms, 15,000 acres of gardens and lawns and woods, and costing what would cost an estimated $2 billion in 1994, a extremely large sum of money for France. To run the fountains, it would cost so much money and use so much water that Louis’ workers would turn the fountains on when they saw him coming, and turn them off when he passed. The palace usually held about 7,000
An analytical summary of Louis Marin 's "Classical, Baroque: Versailles, or the Architecture of the Prince"
Some people think that King Louis XIV did more harm to France than good. They cite his lack of moderation in managing his money. They also point out that Louis denied religious liberties to the Protestants of France and tightened control over his Roman Catholic subjects by revoking the Edict of Nantes. They also claim Louis’ war efforts were very costly and drained the treasury of France. Some say his arrogance, including his emblem of the “Sun King”, turned “his” people away from him. They think that Louis only cared about himself and what he wanted and didn’t think about future France.
The Palace of Versailles was built in 1624 as a modest hunting lodge and private residence for Louis XIII. Louis XIV spent time his here as a child during the civil war and grew fond of the site (Allen, 35). When Louis XIV came to power, he moved France’s capital in Paris to Versailles because he wanted to keep the royal court in one central place away from the gossip and business of Paris (Ropeik). By keeping the royal court together, he was able to centralize the French government in to an absolute monarchy and prevent any of his nobles from developing their own regional power. 1669, he expanded the existing small hunting lodge to 67,000 square meters, the equivalent to 12 football fields (Ropeik). The palace expansion was designed by Louis le Vau, the architect to the aristocracy, and took 21 years to complete. The 700 room building allowed Louis and his friends, family, courtiers, servants and soldiers to live in close proximity (Ropeik).
Louis XIV had a passion for glory and used it to fight four wars because he was motivated by personal and dynastic considerations.
A. The Palace of Versailles was built by Louis XIV. The last King to reside there was King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette who would be stripped of power and brought to Paris to ultimately
The Palace of Versailles, a great architecture feat that took 36,000 workers and 20 years to complete. A testament to Louis XIV power an ambition it shows the height of French baroque principles. As such, it should be noted that Louis XIV did establish the French classical baroque style that we see today. within the palace. As you first reach the palace, you will see the grandeur and the grandiose scale of the place. It is designed from outside to be shown as a place of higher superiority and class. But as you step inside you will see the elegance of the interior. With the interior. as the one shown in the place of Versailles, the elegant interior is shown to be one of the major important things to classify an architecture as baroque. Also,
According to Bresc-Bautier (2003 and Oliver (2007), the buildings constituted one of the principal residences of the kings and emperors of France. the Louvre palace was begun by King Francis I in 1546. Francis was a great art collector, and the Louvre was to serve as his royal residence. Almost every king was followed Francis to extend the function of Louvre especially the most additions were made by Louis XIII and Louis XIV that is the reason why Louvre would lots of crown’s art holdings. In 1682, Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, and the Louvre ceased to be the main royal residence. During the Enlightenment, Denis Diderot who the French writer and philosopher are the first to propose a national art museum for the public. Although there
Louis proved willing to pay the price of being a strong ruler . He established a consci entious routine from which he seldom deviated, but he did not look upon his duties as drudgery since he judged his royal profession to be "grand, noble, and delightful." Eager for glory, Louis created a grand and majestic spec tacle at the court of Versailles (see Daily Life at the Court of Versailles later in the chapter). Consequently, Louis and his court came to set the standard for monar chies and aristocracies all over Europe. Less than fifty years after his death, the great French writer Voltaire used the title "Age of Louis XIV" to describe his history of Europe
one that was a signature for associated with his name, which set the structure apart. Another major turning point for the French classicism design is when, “Louis XIV rejected Giovanni Bernini’s curvilinear design for the east facade of the Louvre in favor of Louis Le Vau and Claude Perrault’s more classicizing design with its celebrated colonnade (1667–70)” (Spicer, 2001). This decision set the French apart from the adopted form of Italian baroque, rejecting the exuberant behavior of common Italian practices during the time period. During the seventeenth century, the common practice for important building design was to include all prominent art forms in the research and development. We can see this happen in popular buildings such as the Louvre, where Louis Le Vau and Claude Perrault designed portions in unison. Arguably the most important building to come out of the mid-seventeenth century is the Palace of Versailles outside of Paris. The designers Le Vau, Mansart, Le Brun, and Andre Le Notre all worked in conjunction to complete everything from the building design to the colossal gardens and fountains. Another notable feature of the early-seventeenth century is the emergence of dignified, attractive city squares. A strong example of such square is the Palace of Vosges in Paris, constructed in the early-seventeenth century, incorporated a King’s house, Queen’s house, and a handful of steeply-pitched roofed buildings to form the square for festivities. Constructed of stucco