The fame of both, the Bolognese Academy and the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome promoted the creation of the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris, in 1648. The French Academy was in part created due to the artists’ will to free themselves from the ‘iron’ regime of guilds, which was based on apprenticeship and on the presence of a chef d’oeuvre (‘master of works’), whom had the full power to authorize or not the exercise of the artistic profession. Certain artists who worked for the king had already freed themselves from that formula. Now everyone who entered the Academy would be free from such a routine. Except for Simon Vouet, almost all the renowned painters in Paris were members of this institution, whose school was directed by the then young painter Charles Le Brun, who had recently returned from a stay in Rome.
The Academy suffered a bitter opposition, and although in 1654 it obtained the right to monopolize artistic teaching, this privilege was then of little effectiveness. The effective power of the institution began when Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert was named in January 1664 as Superintendent of Bâtiments (‘buidings’), decided to officially protect the Academy, and decreed, a few months later, that “the King resolved to use, from now on, his Academy for the decoration of royal residences”. As a result of this, the institution received new statutes, and it was established the famous Prix de Rome, a group of scholarships that was awarded by the French government between 1663 and 1968 to enable young French artists to study in Rome. The students who won the first place in each artistic category went to study at the subsidiary of the Académie de France in Rome.
Painter Charles Le Brun went on to direct the Academy, and was in charge of the interior decoration of the Palace of Versailles. Le Brun, under Minister of Finance Nicolas Fouquet, had previously directed a tapestry-making workshop founded by said Minister in Maincy, near Vaux. When Fouquet fell into disgrace for his abuses in the management of State funds, Louis XIV took charge of the workers of the factory, the tools and the director, and re-installed it in the former dye factory of the Gobelin brothers, in Paris, for the direct service of the Crown. Thus was born the world-famous tapestry manufactory of “the Gobelins”, which gave so many lusters to the royal house of France, and to its first director Le Brun.
Louis XIV visits the Gobelins Factory, tapestry from the series “Histoire du Roi“, designed by Charles Le Brun and produced at the Gobelins Manufactory in Paris, woven between 1667 and 1672, 370 cm height x 576 cm width (Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France).
In the old tapestry workshop created by Fouquet in Maincy, furniture was also manufactured. Minister Colbert then also oversaw these factories, and in 1667 installed the Manufacture Royale des Meubles de la Couronne (‘Royal Crown Furniture Manufacture’) in the Louvre, where talented cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) created a new style (known now as Boulle work*) that involved the inlay of tortoiseshell, brass and pewter into ebony, a type of furniture decoration that would achieve great prestige.
Commode, walnut veneered with ebony, marquetry of engraved brass and tortoiseshell, gilt-bronze mounts, verd antique marble, by André-Charles Boulle, ca. 1710–1720, 87.6 × 128.3 × 62.9 cm (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States of America). This type of ‘commode’ was destined for the Grand Trianon. Its flamboyant design reflects the view of the late Louis XIV period, in which court art was characterized by opulence and ostentation, all for the glorification of its owner: this commode was intended to impress. The details of this furniture speak about the unsurpassed skill and artistic imagination of the Boulle workshop and explain why Boulle’s pieces dominate the space around them, becoming the focal point of any room. The acanthus-leaf scroll mount on the upper drawer was a signature ornament of Boulle’s work that he employed on many of his pieces. The female figures and acanthus paws that support the sarcophagus-shaped body of the piece are of an extraordinary manufacture, with a delicate finishing of the bronze surface. Boulle’s furniture creations with their unique look, reached a level of artistry where furniture becomes sculpture.
The ornamental style of the court, in turn, was directed by the great ornamentist Jean Bérain (1640-1711), a draughtsman and designer, painter and engraver of ornaments, that became the artistic force in the Royal office of the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi (‘Minor Pleasures of the King’) in charge of all the designs for court spectacles (from parties to funerals), and many designs for furnishings not covered by the Royal office of the Bâtiments du Roi (‘King’s buildings’). The “Berainesque” style of light arabesques and playful grotesques would become very influential for the Régence style predominant during the reign of Louis XV, that ultimately led to the development of Rococo.
Thus, now we are able to understand how the entire official machinery of French art was formed under the rule of the Sun King, Louis XIV. All these Royal offices and workshops were joined by the manufactory of tapestries of Beauvais, and the carpet manufactory of the Savonnerie, founded by Louis XIII and which was then restated.
Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) served as a court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him to be “the greatest French artist of all time”. Le Brun, whose art was influenced by that of Nicolas Poussin, is well known for his colorfully rhetorical decorative compositions with which he filled Versailles, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte and the Hôtel Lambert in Paris, but his true personality is revealed in certain single or group portraits, like TheChancellor Séguier (ca. 1660-1661), and especially in the preparatory sketches of his works.
Portrait of Louis XIV, King of France, oil on canvas, by Charles Le Brun, ca. 1661-1662, 68 x 57 cm (Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France). From the beginning of his reign, Louis XIV aspired to military glory. Therefore, it is not coincidence that in the midst of a period of peace Le Brun chose to portray the young king dressed in fleur-de-lis armor. This portrait, reproduced by engravings, was copied and admired by contemporaries.
The Chancellor Séguier, oil on canvas, by Charles Le Brun, ca. 1660-1661, 2,95 x 3,57 m (Musée du Louvre, Paris, France). Le Brun’s composition forms an enormous pyramid with the figure of Chancellor of France Pierre Séguier at its apex, surrounded by the members of his entourage. The equestrian portrait of Séguier was possibly painted in relation to the Entry of Louis XIV in Paris. Le Brun placed pages and attendants in a timeless way, mirroring each other on either side of the horse and rider. This composition makes the event portrayed to almost disappear. We see here no reference to a place or a time. We see no city, the space is almost abstract, but the slow movement is there, without temporality. Le Brun took great care in depicting the clothes with gold brocade. He also paid particular attention to the representation of the horse.
Allegory in Honor of Cardinal Richelieu, black chalk, traces of stumping, brush, and black and grey wash on paper, by Charles Le Brun, 1641, 37.3 x 74.9 cm (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States of America). In the 17th century, it was customary to publicly display the conclusions of theses, adorned with printed images glorifying the dedicatee. This drawing is the lower part of a larger composition, part of an engraved thesis by Michel Lasne commissioned by the abbot of Saint-Sernin, who in turn dedicated it to the Cardinal Duke of Richelieu. In this allegory, Mars and Apollo, portrayed with their attributes, are seated on either side of a ship’s prow. Both bear the mantle of a coat of arms at the center which includes a shield surmounted by a ducal crown, above which a cardinal’s hat is held by two putti. Empty medallions, framed with wreaths, are hung in the background at either side. The naval attributes refer to Richelieu’s role as High Admiral of France, while Mars and Apollo symbolize his excellence in war and peace. Le Brun executed this work on two attached sheets, with a balanced and symmetrical composition that’s remarkable for its degree of finish and detail. In this preparatory drawing, by creating strong contrasts (see the dark shading just behind the figures), Le Brun transmitted to the engraver a way to convey the impression of a shallow sculpted relief.
Study for the Cupola of the Grand Oval Salon of the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, pen and ink with wash, by Charles Le Brun, late 1650s, 43,1x 56,7 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris, France). In the center are the three superior planets: Saturn holding a large circle, Jupiter and Mars. Below, seated under a portico, Apollo commands the Dawn to light a new star, the star of Fouquet, the owner of the palace. Large porticoes with columns connect the central part to the peripheral compositions dedicated to the Seasons.
For King Louis XIV, Le Brun primarily executed large, gigantic paintings at Versailles and the Louvre palaces, but he also painted large quantities of works for religious corporations and private patrons. He was also a fine portraitist and an excellent draughtsman. Le Brun was not fond of landscape painting, which he thought as a mere exercise for the developing of technical abilities. What mattered the most for Le Brun was scholarly composition, with the ultimate goal to ‘nourish the spirit’. As director of the French academy, he promoted a philosophy to make paintings ‘speak’, through a series of symbols, costumes and/or gestures that allow artists to select for their compositions a series of narrative elements that gave their works a particular depth. For Charles Le Brun, a painting represented a story the viewer could read.
Capture of the city and citadel of Gand in six days, 1678, oil on backed canvas, by Charles Le Brun, 1681-1684, 600 x 400 cm (Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France). For the ceiling of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, the decorative program depicts the history of Louis XIV’s reign, particularly the main episodes in the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1679). In this particular scene Le Brun referred, in an allegorical way, to the capture of the city of Ghent (Gand), which was Louis XIV’s last success during the Franco-Dutch war, after which the war was leading to an end. Louis XIV is depicted riding on the Eagle of Zeus, who flies him through the air. He carries the thunderbolt in his right hand, while he holds the shield of Athena on his left arm. The cloud surrounding him can be imagined as a grenade from which flashes of fire crash down all around, producing billows of smoke, thunder and lightning, thus inspiring fear in the towns that are represented as cowering figures. Athena, to the right, has taken the standard of the city of Ghent from her hand and takes the keys to the city, while the female personification of Ghent tries in vain to keep them. Above Louis, the figures of the Politics, the Council and the Providence of Spain are portrayed unsettled, as a bolt of lightning sent out by Louis strikes down their symbol, the Spanish Imperial eagle. Art as propaganda.
The various nations of Asia, black chalk, white chalk, sanguine and black pencil gridding, mounted on canvas, by Charles Le Brun, ca. 1674-1679, 1,68 x 2,35 m (Musée du Louvre, Paris, France). This cartoon was prepared for the decoration of the Ambassadors’ staircase at the Palace of Versailles. The staircase, destroyed by order of Louis XV in 1752, had walls decorated with four tapestries with panels representing the nations of the four parts of the world. The Louvre Museum houses several large cartoons by Le Brun, destined for large wall compositions, like this one.
In his treatise published after his death, Méthode pour apprendre à dessiner les passions (‘Method for learning to draw passions’, 1698), Le Brun promoted in painting the expression of the emotions, which were known as “passions” at the time. Le Brun’s view on emotions were heavily influenced from the writings of French philosopher René Descartes. In this treatise, Le Brun outlined a diversity of human facial expressions as a template for subsequent artists to follow. He believed these “passions” could reveal the condition of the human soul. His thoughts and treatise had much influence on art theory during the following two centuries.
‘Sadness: two heads from the front and one in profile’, from Méthode pour apprendre à dessiner les passions, black chalk, pen and black ink, on yellowed white paper, by Charles Le Brun, published in 1702, 20,9 x 25,7 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris, France). This head is part of the ‘Diagrams’ series included in his series of drawings relating to the expression of ‘passions’. The book was a product of Le Brun’s lectures on the subject that he gave at the Academy in 1668.
The Four Temperaments, pen drawing, by Charles Le Brun, ca. 1674, 48.6 x 32.4 cm (Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France). This is a preparatory drawing for a part of the Grande Commande project at the Palace of Versailles. The Grande Commande was ordered by Louis XIV and included a series of statues intended to decorate the parterre d’eau of the gardens of the Palace of Versailles. The commission included 24 statues belonging to four thematic groups. The whole ensemble was designed by Charles Le Brun based on Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia from 1593, in a series of preparatory drawings that were later executed as statues by the most important sculptors of the day. Owing to concerns about aesthetic effects produced by the vertical lines of the statues in relations to the garden façade of the château, the sculptures ended up in other locations in the gardens. The illustration represents the “Four Humors of Man”, namely (from left to right) Choleric, Sanguine, Melancholic and Phlegmatic.
Two heads of men (or women?) inspired by a Weasel, black chalk, pen and black ink, brush and gray wash on paper, by Charles Le Brun, ca. 1670, 17,4 x 10,4 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris, France). Le Brun was very interested in physiognomy, the practice of assessing a person’s character on the basis of his or her physical features, and the expression of “passions” such as hope and fear in the human face. He gave lectures in the new French Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture both on “the Physiognomy of Man and its Relations with that of Animals”, and on emotion in paintings, published posthumously in his Méthode pour apprendre à dessiner les passions (1698).
When Colbert retired from the ministry, Charles Le Brun was succeeded as director of the Academy and as the king’s first painter by Pierre Mignard (1612-1695), a talented portraitist, although with a sweet and flattering style. Mignard painted religious and mythological scenes, but most of his work focused on portraying the courtesans of his time: Maria Mancini, Madame de Grignan, Madame de Montespan, the Duchess of Portsmouth (beloved of Charles II of England)… Except for the portrait of Madame de Maintenon (the future morganatic wife of Louis XIV), all these beauties look the same.
The Virgin of the Grapes, oil on canvas, by Pierre Mignard, 1655-1657, 121 x 94 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris, France). This painting, intended for private devotion, was inspired by Raphael’s Madonnas. The subject, which gave Mignard exceptional success, fits into the context of the spirituality of the Catholic Reformation, bringing Christ Child closer to His Passion, as the bunch of grapes alludes to blood and sacrifice. Mignard’s Virgins and Child from the 17th century, enjoyed great success and were popularly called the “Mignardes“.
Louise de Kéroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, oil on canvas, by Pierre Mignard, 1682, 120.7 x 95.3 cm (National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom). The sitter was the mistress of king Charles II of England. The identity of the enslaved African child is unknown, and it is possible that she may have been included in the composition only as a device to further elevate the status of the duchess. At the time, adding the figure of a servant or slave to a formal portrait as a ‘prop’ was a common artistic practice. The child is shown presenting precious coral and pearls in a shell to the duchess to, again, emphasize her wealth and social standing. The presence of the child also serves to further emphasize the whiteness of the duchess’ complexion. At the time, beauty and class ideals prevalent in Europe considered the palest complexions to be the most ‘beautiful’ and an indicating factor of the person’s class. During the 17th and 18th centuries both men and women used several artifices to make their complexions even whiter to keep up with beauty standards. Some bleaching agents commonly used included the toxic white lead, which causes serious health problems and even death, but then people in high levels of society were willing to take the risks for pure vanity.
Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, oil on canvas, by Pierre Mignard, 1694, 1,3 x 0,96 m (Musée du Louvre, Paris, France).
Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743) was born in Perpignan, when the Catalan region of Roussillon had just been ceded by Spain to France during the Treaty of the Pyrenees. His real name was Jacint Rigau-Ros i Serra. Rigaud arrived in Paris in 1681, where he won the prestigious scholarship of the Prix de Rome in 1682, but advised by Charles Le Brun he didn’t travel to Rome which was included in the scholarship, and was later received into the Académie in 1710, where he would rose to the top of the institution.
Self Portrait in a Turban, oil on canvas, by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1698, 83 x 67 cm (Musée du Louvre, on long-term loan to Musée Hyacinthe-Rigaud, Perpignan, France). This self-portrait of Rigaud is the artist’s most famous, a demonstration of the influence Dutch painting had on Rigaud. At the end of his forties, Rigaud showed us himself wearing a dull red velvet cap lined with brocade and holding a bundle of brushes in his hand, imitating the manner of Rembrandt’s self portraits.
La Menaceuse (“The Menace”), oil on canvas, by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1708, 68,5 x 56,5 cm (Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence, France). This work is completely unique in Rigaud’s body of work, particularly for its subject. This pretty woman stares at the viewer. With generous shoulders and breasts exposed up to the nipple, she raises her hand, extending a warning finger that could also be interpreted as an invitation. Her hair is pulled up in an ordered bun, garnished with a pearl necklace, a wine-colored fabric and a feather. She seems surprised at her undress, letting her shirt fall to the bottom of one of her elbows. This original theme was a total invention of Rigaud. The anonymity of the model perhaps implies the fixation of a romantic memory. The great finesse of the fabrics, the precision of the brushstroke and the very original pose prove that Rigaud had fun executed this canvas and that he undoubtedly had complete freedom to give free rein to his imagination.
Rigaud would succeed in Paris and became the official painter of the court of Louis XIV. During his period in the Academy, he cultivated the ancient tradition of the solemn portrait. In Rigaud’s portraits, the king or ‘great’ figures appear wrapped in the magnificent drapes of their mantles, wearing their enormous wigs and with their faces full of pompous vainglory. Since Rigaud’s paintings captured very exact likenesses along with the subject’s costumes and background details, his paintings are considered precise records of contemporary fashions.
Portrait of Charles-Louis-Auguste Fouquet de Belle-Isle, oil on canvas, by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1713, 91.4 x 73 cm (Château de La grange, Manom, France). The Marshal was portrayed in half-length, wearing shiny armor accompanied by a velvet-lined, leopard skin mantle. The Sash of the Order of the Holy Spirit is across his chest and with his left hand he holds the baton of the Marshal of France with the emblem of the fleur-de-lis.
In the famous Portrait of Louis XIV (1701), Rigaud achieved a work that became the very epitome of the portrait of an absolutist ruler. It has since become the most recognizable portrait of the Sun King and the absolute image of royal power. Yet, this portrait represents more than just power, pomp and circumstance. The large canvas shows us an aging (62 years old) King, having reached the summit of his glory. Louis is depicted standing upright, three quarters to the left and with his feet in view, a pose calculated to presenting the greater part of his person. The king occupies the central space of the painting, the composition includes some vertical lines (column, king, and throne?), while the sovereign’s figure inscribes a pyramid that helps to give the impression of an elevated space.
Portrait of Louis XIV, oil on canvas, by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701, 277 × 194 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris, France).
A large marble pillar, the traditional symbol of power since the Renaissance as a stability symbol, holds the composition at the left. This massive column rests on a high stylobate whose two visible sides are decorated with reliefs depicting two royal virtues: the allegories of Justice (front, as the goddess Themis holding a set of scales in her hand) and strength (left, and hard to see). The painting is signed and dated on the base of the column, above the figure of Justice.
The sumptuous red/purple and gold drapery hanging as background is not only a motif of dignity (deep red/purple has been considered as the color of power and wealth since antiquity), but also echoes the drapes of the ornate, ermine-lined coronation robe wore by Louis. This coronation mantle of blue velvet brocade ornamented with the golden fleur-de-lis of the house of Bourbon is repeated in the upholstery of the chair, the cushion, and the cloth draped over the table below it: the royal regalia clearly “sets the scene”.
Rigaud painted Louis’ face on a small rectangular canvas that was later sewn onto the larger definitive canvas with his figure and the background. Rigaud exceled in depicting the king’s facial expression: his unapproachability is revealed in an ageing, impenetrable physiognomy. His lips are closed decisively and with a hint of irony, the eyes have a harsh, dark sheen, while his whole expression suggests intolerance. This is a ruler who is neither good nor bad, but beyond all moral categories.
The king stands before his throne and is placed high up on a platform. He is not bearing his regalia (he is uncrowned, the crown is placed at the table next to him as well as the ‘hand of justice’ scepter, Louis holds the scepter of his grandfather Henry IV upside down like a cane…), except for the sword of Charlemagne which hangs by his side and the sumptuous coronation mantle. The monarch wears a leonine wig and court garments (lace shirt and cuffs, brocade breeches, red-heeled shoes adorned with diamond buckles, and silk stockings), and the necklace of the Order of the Holy Spirit hangs from his neck.
Louis XV in Coronation Robes, oil on canvas, by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1729, 271 x 174 cm (Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France). With a high visual impact and similar in intention and design to the portrait of his great-grandfather Louis XIV (see picture before), the young king Louis XV (here 17 years old) is dressed in his grand royal costume, placed in a palatial environment, with an air of magnificence. Although the hieratic pose enhance the impression of severity and grandeur typical of a Louis, the expression of his face emanates some gentleness and affability, appearing thus much less severe than that of the previous monarch. Compared to Louis XIV’s portrait, this of Louis XV asserts its power by being represented in an even more ostentatious way, worthy of the purest rococo style that was developing.
Rigaud’s are magnificent canvases by technique and color palette, as were those painted by Nicolas de Largillière (1656-1746), director of the Academy during the last years of the Sun King. They denote the same style and show the same soft and nuanced polychromy. But how different are all these portraits, including the famous portrait of Louis XIV, by Rigaud, from the magnificent portrait of Richelieu dressed in his cardinal’s clothes that, in his youth, Philippe de Champaigne had painted. The mood, certainly, had changed…
Self-Portrait, Oil on canvas, by Nicolas de Largillière, 1707, 93 x 73 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., United States of America). In the present portrait, the 50 year old artist is seated in his studio. On the stone shelf behind him is a still-life composed of articles commonly found in an artist’s studio: a rectangular wooden palette, paint-stained brushes, and an array of plaster, terracotta, or marble sculptures used as props in his portraits.
La Belle Strasbourgeoise, oil on canvas, by Nicolas de Largillière, 1703, 138 × 106 cm (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg, France). Largillière was an expert portraitist. With this painting he demonstrated his wonderful skill in depicting textiles (gray lace and black satin) and employed the provincial hat to reach a superb compositional effect. La Belle Strasbourgeoise is the most famous of the circa 1,500 portrait paintings known by Largillière. The identity of the sitter is unknown: she may be someone from the Strasbourg bourgeoisie, or a young Parisian in disguise, or even the painter’s own sister, Marie Elisabeth de Largillière.
Elizabeth Throckmorton, Canoness of the Order of the Dames Augustines Anglaises, oil on canvas, by Nicolas de Largillière, ca. 1729, 82 x 66 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., United States of America). Largillière was in his seventies when he portrayed so delicately and perceptively Elizabeth Throckmorton in her habit as a Blue Nun. With a pale-complexion, pensive, and distanced from the world, she also exudes a living presence, with brilliant eyes and scarlet mouth that strongly contrasts with the austere white fabrics that enfold her. Her right hand rests in her lap and her index finger marks a page in the small book she holds. The other hand is not visible to us, and we can assume that is tucked under the folds of her garment. The background with a diagonal line suggests a curtain pulled to the right of the painting.
François-Marie Arouet known as Voltaire, writer, oil on canvas, by Nicolas de Largillière, 1724-1725, 81 x 65 cm (Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France). Voltaire, the French Enlightenment writer, philosopher, satirist, and historian, is shown in a three-quarter bust portrait, wearing a powdered wig and dressed in the Regency style: long turnback cuffs and many small buttons. This masterfully executed canvas with its harmonious chromatic palette was widely admired and served as the model for numerous replicas and variants.
Portrait of Marguerite de Sève, Wife of Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil, oil on canvas, by Nicolas de Largillière, 1729, 138.4 x 106.3 cm (Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, California, United States of America). As a successful portraitist, Nicolas de Largillière was sought out by important new clients from the provinces of France. One of them was Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil, who received two judicial appointments in Lyon after his marriage in 1722 to Marguerite de Sève, the subject of this portrait. His wife wears a costume with an embossed and jeweled bodice that looks made of metal but may be silk mounted on molded stiff cotton. The music book she touches with her left hand is opened at a ‘drinking’ song of those that sophisticated women then sang at an evening gathering at home.
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Boulle work: (Also known as buhl work). A type of rich marquetry process or inlay perfected by the French cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle (1642–1732). It involves veneering furniture with tortoiseshell inlaid primarily with brass and pewter in elaborate designs, often incorporating arabesques.
The Artistic Adventure of Mankind 