Diploma Lecture Series 2012 Absolutism to enlightenment: European art and culture

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1 Diploma Lecture Series 2012 Absolutism to enlightenment: European art and culture The court at Versailles: space, ritual and the courtly body Mark de Vitis 29 February / 1 March 2012 Lecture summary: The Palace of Versailles was one of the most significant building projects of the seventeenth century. More than simply a private royal residence, Versailles increasingly became a site of political meaning over the course of the reign of King Louis XIV of France ( ). The palace was expanded and developed in a program which sought to shape aristocratic identity through newly devised architectural features, spatial arrangements and embellishments. I aim to present Versailles as an active force in re-forming the French political landscape at a time of intense political change. By examining Versailles spaces and the way that bodies operated within them, we can fully access the concerns of the age of Louis XIV. Slide list: 1. Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin Mansart, Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France. a. Patte d oie (approach to the east goose foot) b. Cour d Armes (Court of Arms) c. Cour de Marbre (Marble court) d. L'escalier des Ambassadeurs ou Grand escalier (Stair case of the Ambassadors) e. Enfilade (Suite of rooms in alignment) f. Grand Appartement de la Reine (The State Apartments of the Queen) * g. Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) 2. Peter Paul Rubens ( ), Portrait of Louis XIII of France, , oil on canvas, cm, The Norton Simon Foundation, California. 3. Charles Le Brun ( ), Portrait of Louis XIV, ca.1663, oil on canvas, 67 x 57 cm, Versailles. 4. Gian Lorenzo Bernini ( ), Self-Portrait, c. 1623, oil on canvas, cm, Museo e Galleria Borghese, Rome. Proudly sponsored by

2 5. Gian Lorenzo Bernini ( ), Project for the Louvre, Paris, east facade elevation, a. First Project for the Louvre, Paris, east facade elevation, 1664, (drawing), Cabinet des Dessins, Musee du Louvre, Paris. b. Second project for the Palais du Louvre, Paris, East façade and elevation, 1665, (pen and brown wash, 25.2 x 50 cm), Statens Konstmuseer, Stockholm c. Third project for the Palais du Louvre, Paris, West facade elevation. Engraving by Jean Marot, after Bernini, (30.5 x 43.2 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York d. Fourth project for the Palais du Louvre, East façade elevation, 1666, (pen and wash drawing, 59.3 x cm), Statens Konstmuseer, Stockholm 6. Pierre Patel (ca ), Perspective view of the gardens and chateau of Versailles seen from the Paris Avenue, 1668, oil on canvas, 151 x 161 cm, Versailles. 7. Jean-Léon Gérôme, Réception du Grand Condé par Louis XIV (Versailles, 1674), oil on canvas, 1878, musee d Orsay, Paris. 8. Claude Lefebvre ( ), Jean-Baptiste Colbert, 1666, oil on canvas, 138 x 113 cm, Versailles. * 9. Henri and Charles Beaubrun ( ) and ( ), Marie-Thérèse d'autriche, ca.1660, oil on canvas, 180 x 140 cm, Versailles. 10. Anon., Elisabeth Charlotte, duchesse d Orléans as Dianna, c.1670s, oil on canvas. 11. Le Brun, Charles ( ) [designer] Gobelins Manufactory (1662- ) [manufactory] - Meulen, Adam Frans van der (1631/ ) [artist], The history of the king [series of tapestries], Louis XIV visiting the Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory, , wool, silk, gold and silver thread (haute-lisse). * 12. Charles Le Brun, Le Roi gouverne par lui-meme (The King Rules Alone), 1681, oil, ceiling of the Galerie des Glaces, Versailles. * 13. Rigaud, Hyacinthe ( ), Louis XIV, King of France, in robes of state, 1701, oil on canvas, 279 x 190 cm, Musee du Louvre (Paris). 14. Adam Frans van der Meulen (1631/ ), Louis XIV and Maria Theresa walking in front of the Chateau de Vincennes, c. 1660s, oil on canvas, 53 x 95 cm, Versailles. Reference: Adamson, John (ed.), The princely courts of Europe : ritual, politics and culture under the ancien régime, , London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Berger, Robert W., A royal passion: Louis XIV as patron of architecture, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Duindam, Jeroen,Vienna and Versailles : the courts of Europe's dynastic rivals, , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Goldstein, Claire, Vaux and Versailles: the appropriations, erasures, and accidents that made modern France, Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, Walton, Guy, Louis XIV's Versailles, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.

3 Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin Mansart, Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France, Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors)

4 Henri and Charles Beaubrun ( ) and ( ), Marie-Thérèse d'autriche, ca.1660, oil on canvas, 180 x 140 cm, Versailles.

5 Charles Le Brun, Le Roi gouverne par lui-meme (The King Rules Alone), 1681, oil, ceiling of the Galerie des Glaces, Versailles.

6 Rigaud, Hyacinthe ( ), Louis XIV, King of France, in robes of state, 1701, oil on canvas, 279 x 190 cm, Musee du Louvre (Paris).

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