Versailles

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Versailles
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Outline

• Introduction
• Part I. Louis XIV, the Sun King
• Part II. Versailles, center of power
• Part III. The Hall of mirrors
• Conclusion
• References

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Introduction

• The wealth of art found at Versailles is famous
  for its quantity, quality, and diversity
• The system of absolute monarchy emphasized the
  role of the king, and no monarch was more
  successful in creating the image of monarchy than
  Louis XIV
• He took the sun as his emblem and connected
  himself to its radiant image. Portraits,
  woodcuts, and engravings of the king portrayed as
  the Greek sun god Apollo
• Throughout Versailles, decoration combines images
  and attributes of Apollo (laurel, lyre, tripod)
  with Louis XIVs portraits and emblems (the
  double LL, the royal crown, the sceptre and hand
  of justice)

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Part I. Louis XIV, the Sun King

• Louis XIV (1638-1715), King of France. Only five
  when he became king on the death of his father,
  Louis XIII
• Regency, confided to his mother, Anne of Austria,
  was marked by a period of rebellion known as the
  Fronde (16481653), led first by the nobility
• After Mazarin died in 1661, Louis declared that
  he would rule France without a chief minister,
  intended to rule as an absolute monarch,
  believing that his power as king was derived from
  God and that he was responsible to God alone
• Intimidating, majestic, and fully informed by his
  spies, the king controlled everything, he
  identified himself totally with the state in the
  famous phrase, 'I am the State'

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Part II. Versailles, center of power

• In 1623, Louis XIII built a 'hunting lodge, a
  little gentleman's chateau' of brick, stone, and
  slate at Versailles
• Then from 1661 to 1668 the young Louis XIV, had
  his own architect, Louis Le Vau, embellish the
  residence
• In May 6, 1682, Versailles became the official
  residence of the Court of France, supplanting the
  palaces at the Louvre and Saint-Germain-en-Laye
• Devoting himself to his people, he put himself
  constantly on public showVersailles was open to
  everyone
• Access to the monarch was governed by court
  ceremonial, and the immutable rites of the Sun
  King's day drove the entire 'court mechanism'

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Part III. The Hall of mirrors

• From 1678 to 1684, the terrace of the new chateau
  was transformed into the Hall of Mirrors,
  symbolizing the power of the absolute monarch
• Erected to the glory of Louis XIV and now the
  chief masterpiece of Versailles
• Le Brun designed thirty compositions, showing the
  monarch in various guises Roman emperor, great
  administrator of the kingdom, and victor over
  foreign powers
• The hall measures 73 metres long, 10.5 metres
  wide, and 12.3 metres high Seventeen windows
  overlooking the garden are matched by seventeen
  arcaded mirrors along the wall
• Exceptionally large mirrors were made in a Paris
  workshop founded by Colbert to compete with
  Venice's glass factories

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Conclusion

• Louis XIV ruled for 72 years, the longest reign
  in European history, he inherited a kingdom that
  was internally divided, militarily exhausted, and
  nearly bankrupt. He left to his heirs the
  greatest power in the Western world
• He expanded the effectiveness of the central
  government, increased the boundaries of France to
  the north and east, and placed one of his
  grandsons on the throne of Spain
• The Hall of Mirrors was not only the symbolic
  focus of the kingdom during the ancien régime,
  but also continued to play a key historical role
  after the Revolution. In 1919, the First World
  War officially ended when Germany signed the
  Treaty of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors

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References

• http//www.chateauversailles.fr
• http//encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.
  aspx?refid761572792
• http//www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/versai
  lles.html
• http//www.cupola.com/html/bldgstru/baroque/baroq0
  2.htm
• http//www.vitruvio.ch/arc/baroque/french/versaill
  es.htm
• http//www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Chateau_de
  _Versailles.html