Sunday, April 3, 2016

French Period 2: Baroque Style

When Louis XIII died in 1643, Louis XIV, who was 5 at the time, was proclaimed King. Louis XIV created a national style of art and also established a school for 60 children under the King's protection that became "Masters" of their craft.

Vaux-le-Vicomte

  • Home of Nicholas Fouquet, Superintendent of Finances 1655-61
    • in prison for life
  • 105 lavish rooms
  • 170 acres of gardens
  • persian carpets
  • crystal chandeliers
  • gold clocks
  • silver vases
  • entertained 6,000 guests
  • Architect: Louis Le vau
  • garden designer: Andre Le Notre
  • painter for the interiors, decorator, and architect: Charles LeBrun
  • sculptor: Puget
Palais de Versailles
  • original hunting lodge of Louis XIII
  • started in 1668- continued for almost a century
  • 12 miles southwest of Paris
  • housed 10,000 people
  • Le Vau designed the central block around the original Louis XIII building
  • "A toutes les Glories de la France"
  • architect: Louis Le Vau
  • painter for the interiors: Charles LeBrun
  • sculptor: Puget
  • decorative engravings: Jean Berain
  • housed 1667 gobelins workshops
    • 800 craftsmen
    • all decorative furniture for royal residences
  • hall of mirrors
    • classical architecture and decoration
    • classic orders
    • rectangular shapes
    • regal dimensions 15' ceilings, 11' doors (normal width)
    • symmetrical design
      • real doors matched with fake doors
    • balanced windows with mirrors
  • public rooms
    • large and dignified
    • Galerie des Glaces (hall of mirrors)
      • 240' long, 34' wide, 43' high
      • barrel vault- Le Brun largest allegorical painting in the world
      • windows match mirrors
        • enlarge rooms and multiply light
      • furniture, chandelier, sconces, planters all solid silver (destroyed 1689)
  • interiors
    • royal monogram "L" always doubled
    • color emphasized architecture
      • colored marble pilaster shafts
    • paneling usually white, off-white or gray with moldings- carved ornament gilded
    • brighter colors in paintings, tapestries, rugs
    • furniture against walls
  • garden facade
    • advancing and receding planes
    • floor levels visible on the exterior
    • ground level- large round arched windows
    • piano nobile- pilasters and columns
    • attic (low wall or story extending beyond a cornice or entablature)
    • tied to the architecture by Le Notre
    • attempt to recreate ancient Roman villas
    • reflecting pools project images of the buildings
Furniture
  • master of marquetry- Andre Charles Boulle
    • chief cabinetmaker
    • worked at Versailles where the mirrored walls, the floors of mosaic, the inlaid paneling and the marquetry furniture in the Cabinet du Dauphin (1682-86) were regarded as his most remarkable work
  • materials for marquetry were: tortoise shell, metal (brass or silver), ebony
  • process
    • thin sheet of brass and tortoiseshell-cartoon glued
    • design cut with saws
    • two sheets separated
    • preferred is tortoiseshell ground/brass design
      • de premiere partie
    • brass ground and tortoiseshell design
      • de contra-partie
    • brass engraved
    • shell colored red or green
    • affected by heat and steam
  • Andre Charles Boulle
    • commode
    • cabinet of ebony, metal and tortoise shell
    • master of ornamentation
  • Louis XIV Chairs
    • high backs
    • sense of greatness
    • wide seat for wide dresses
    • bergere-introduced
      • enclosed-upholstered french arm chair with an upholstered back and armrests on upholstered frames
  • materials from china and japan
    • porcelain figures
    • vases
    • lacquer work
    • silk
    • screens
Palais de Versailles Grande Trianon
  • get away for the king
  • located on the Versailles complex
  • Peristyle link the two wings
Palais de Versailles Petite Trianon
  • dedicated to Marie Antoinette
  • symmetry, classical ordering, monumental scale, and center focus
Past Examples:



Current Examples:



Extra Credit:
This is a tour of the Palace of Versailles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=852eroBwDrA
This is a documentary on the Palace of Versailles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3a72XmInag
Peer Review:
Angie: You did a nice job covering the whole powerpoint and I like how you labeled your images so we knew what they were of. 
Amanda: You did a very nice job of concisely covering all of the information about the Baroque style. I also enjoyed your current application images.

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