The second half of the 17th century was the time of the highest flowering of French classicism architecture.
One of the reasons for the leading importance of architecture among other types of art in the second half of the 17th century was rooted in its specific features. It was architecture, with the monumental nature of its forms and durability, that could most powerfully express the ideas of a centralized national monarchy in its maturity. During this era, the social role of architecture, its ideological significance and organizing role in the artistic synthesis of all types of fine, applied and landscape arts became especially pronounced.
The organization of the Academy of Architecture, whose director was the prominent architect and theorist François Blondel (1617 - 1686), had a great influence on the development of architecture. Its members were outstanding French architects L. Briand, J. Guitard, A. Le Nôtre, L. Levo, P. Mignard, J. Hardouin-Mansart and others. The Academy's task was to develop the basic aesthetic norms and criteria for the architecture of classicism, which were to guide architects.
The development of the economy and trade caused intensive construction in the second half of the 17th century of new and further expansion of old French cities. Marshal and military fortification engineer Sebastian Vauban built more than thirty new fortified cities and reconstructed about three hundred old ones. Among them, the cities of Longwy, Vitry-le-François and the city of Neuf-Brisac were built anew and were shaped like a square and an octagon, surrounded by walls, moats and bastions. Their internal layout was geometrically the right system streets and neighborhoods with a square in the center.
The port cities of Brest, Rochefort, Lorient are being built on the Atlantic coast and Sète on the Mediterranean Sea. At the countryside royal residence, the city of Versailles begins to be built.
Architects Bullet and Blondel drew up a plan for the expansion of Paris in 1676, so that the appearance of the capital would correspond to the splendor and grandeur of the monarchy of Louis XIV. The expansion of the territory of Paris to the northwest was envisaged; On the site of ancient fortifications, landscaped “promenades” are being designed, marking the beginning of the future Grand Boulevards. The main entrances to the city are decorated and architecturally secured by the construction of gates in the form of triumphal arches: Saint-Denis, Saint-Martin, Saint-Bernard and Saint-Louis.
Based on the designs of J. Hardouin-Mansart, new large ensembles of Place Vendôme and Place des Victories, dedicated to Louis XIV, are being created. In 1664, the architect L. Levo completed the quadrangular composition of the Louvre with a closed courtyard with the construction of its northern, southern and eastern buildings. The eastern façade of the Louvre, created by C. Perrault, F. d'Orbe and L. Levo, gives the final appearance to this wonderful ensemble. On the left bank of the Seine, according to the design of L. Bruant, a complex of the Invalides with a vast green esplanade in front of it, completed by the construction of a magnificent rotundal church in its center, designed by J. Hardouin-Mansart.
Large urban planning works in Paris, mainly on the completion of previously established ensembles, undertaken by Colbert, significantly changed the appearance of the capital's center, but in general they turned out to be isolated from the system of medieval development by inclusions that were not organically connected with the system of highways and streets. This approach to the composition of closed urban ensembles was influenced by the urban planning principles of the Italian Baroque.
New large ensembles and squares were created at this time in other cities of France - in Tours, Pau, Dijon, Lyon, etc.
The architectural features of the mid- and second half of the 17th century are reflected both in the enormous volume of construction of large ceremonial ensembles designed to exalt and glorify the ruling classes of the era of absolutism and the powerful monarch - the Sun King Louis XIV, and in the improvement and development of the artistic principles of classicism.
In the second half of the 17th century, a more consistent application of the classical order system was observed: horizontal divisions predominated over vertical ones; high separate roofs are constantly disappearing and being replaced by a single roof, often masked by a balustrade; the volumetric composition of the building becomes simpler, more compact, corresponding to the location and size of the internal premises.
Along with the influence of architecture ancient Rome the influence of Italian Renaissance and Baroque architecture is increasing. This latter is reflected in the borrowing of some Baroque forms (crooked torn pediments, magnificent cartouches, volutes), in the principles of solving the internal space (enfilade), as well as in the increased complexity and pomp of architectural forms, especially in interiors, where their synthesis with sculpture and painting is often bears more features of Baroque than classicism.
One of the works of architecture of the second half of the 17th century, in which the predominance of the mature artistic principles of classicism is already clearly felt, is the suburban ensemble of the palace and park of Vaux-le-Vicomte near Melun (1655 - 1661).
The creators of this outstanding work, built for the controller general of finance Fouquet and in many ways anticipating the ensemble of Versailles, were the architect Louis Levo (c. 1612 - 1670), the master of landscape art Andre Le Nôtre, who planned the park of the palace, and the painter Charles Lebrun, who took part in decoration of palace interiors and painting of lampshades.
In terms of the composition of the plan, the highlighting of the central and corner tower-like volumes, crowned with high separate roofs, and the general open nature of the building - it is placed on an island surrounded by a moat filled with water - the Vaux-le-Vicomte Palace resembles Maisons-Laffitte.
Nevertheless, in the structure and appearance of the building, as well as in the composition of the ensemble as a whole, there is undoubtedly a more consistent application of classicist architectural principles.
This is manifested primarily in the logical and strictly calculated planning solution of the palace and park as a single whole. The large oval-shaped salon, which forms the central link of the enfilade of ceremonial rooms, became the compositional center not only of the palace, but also of the ensemble as a whole, since its position is at the intersection of the main planning axes of the ensemble (the main park alley leading from the palace, and the transverse ones, coinciding with the longitudinal axis building) makes it the “focus” of the entire complex.
Thus, the palace building and the park are subject to a strictly centralized compositional principle, which makes it possible to bring the various elements of the ensemble to artistic unity and highlight the palace as the main component of the ensemble.
The composition of the palace is characterized by the unity of the internal space and volume of the building, which distinguishes works of mature classicist architecture. The large oval salon is highlighted in the volume of the building by a curvilinear risalit, topped with a powerful domed roof, creating a static and calm silhouette of the building. By introducing a large order of pilasters spanning two floors above the base, and a powerful horizontal of a smooth, strictly profiled classical entablature, the predominance of horizontal divisions over vertical ones in the facades is achieved, the integrity of the order facades and volumetric composition, which is not typical for castles more early period. All this gives the appearance of the palace a monumental presence and splendor.
In contrast to some restraint of forms in the external appearance of the palace, the interiors of the building received a rich and free architectural interpretation. In one of the most ceremonial rooms - the oval salon - a rather strict order of Corinthian pilasters dissects the wall, and arched openings and niches located between the pilasters are combined with a lavishly decorated second tier of the wall, with heavy baroque caryatids, garlands and cartouches. The interior space is illusively expanded by a favorite Baroque technique - the introduction of mirrors in niches located opposite the windows. The perspectives opening from the windows of cozy living rooms and salons onto the surrounding landscape, into the space of the ground floor and alleys of the park, are perceived as a kind of logical continuation of the outer space of the interiors.
The park ensemble of Vaux-le-Vicomte was created according to a strictly regular system. Skillfully trimmed green spaces, alleys, flower beds, paths form clear, easily perceived geometric volumes, planes and lines. Fountains and decorative statues frame the vast parterre, which stretches out on terraces in front of the façade of the palace.
Among Levo's other buildings - country palaces, hotels and churches - the monumental building of the College of the Four Nations (1661 - 1665), created on the instructions of Cardinal Mazarin for the education of natives of various provinces of France, stands out for its original composition and features of a mature classicist style. At the College of the Four Nations (now the building of the French Academy of Sciences), Levo develops the principles of classicist architecture in the context of an urban ensemble. By placing the College building on the left bank of the Seine, Levo opens the powerful, widely deployed semicircles of its main facade towards the river and the Louvre ensemble in such a way that the domed church, which is the center of the College’s composition, falls on the axis of the Louvre. This achieves the spatial unity of these large urban complexes, forming one of the outstanding ensembles of the center of Paris, connected by the river bed.
In the architecture of the College building with its extensive semicircle of a courtyard open to the Seine, a developed silhouette, highlighting the center of the composition, the dominant significance of which is emphasized by the enlarged divisions and shapes of the entrance portal and dome, the image of a public building of great national significance was successfully found. Based on the creative processing of the forms of palace and religious architecture, Levo creates the appearance of a public building with a domed compositional center, which served as the prototype for many government buildings in European history. architecture XVIII- XIX centuries.
One of the works in which the aesthetic principles of French classicism and the canons developed by the Academy of Architecture received the most complete expression is the eastern facade of the Louvre (1667-1678), in the design and construction of which Claude Perrault (1613 - 1688), Francois d'Orbe participated (1634 - 1697) and Louis Leveau.
The eastern façade of the Louvre, often called the Colonnade of the Louvre, forms part of the ensemble of two palaces united in the 17th century - the Tuileries and the Louvre. The long facade (173 m) has a central and two side projections, between which, on a monumental smooth plinth with rare window openings, rest powerful (12 m high) twin columns of the Corinthian order, supporting a high entablature and forming shaded loggias. The risalit of the central entrance, richest in forms, decoration and order divisions, with a three-bay portico, is topped with a strict triangular pediment, antique in shape and proportions. The tympanum of the pediment is richly decorated with sculptural relief. The side projections, which have less rich plastic development, are dissected by double pilasters of the same order.
Francois d'Orbe, Louis Levo, Claude Perrault. Eastern façade of the Louvre (Colonnade of the Louvre). 1667 - 1678
The flat architectural relief of the side projections creates a logical transition to the side facades of the Louvre, which repeat the composition of the eastern facade, with the difference that the double Corinthian columns are replaced by single pilasters of the same order.
In the simple and laconic volumetric structure of the building, in the clear and logical division of the volume into supporting and load-bearing parts, in the details and proportions of the Corinthian order, close to the classical canon, and, finally, in the subordination of the composition to the strongly identified rhythmic order principle, the mature artistic principles of the classicist style are developed. architecture of the 17th century. The monumental façade, with its enlarged forms and emphasized scale, is full of grandeur and nobility, but at the same time it has a touch of academic coldness and rationality.
An important contribution to the theory and practice of French classicism was made by Francois Blondel (1617 - 1686). Among his best works, the triumphal arch, usually called the Porte Saint-Denis in Paris, should be noted. The architecture of the monumental arch, erected to the glory of French weapons, in commemoration of the passage of French troops across the Rhine in 1672, is distinguished by its great laconicism, generalized forms and emphasized ostentation. Blondel's great merit lies in the deep creative reworking of the type of Roman triumphal arch and the creation of a unique composition that had a strong influence on the architecture of similar structures in the 18th - 19th centuries.
The problem of the architectural ensemble, which was at the center of attention of the masters of classicism of the 17th century for almost the entire century, found its expression in French urban planning. An outstanding innovator in this area is the largest French architect of the 17th century, Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646 - 1708; since 1668 he bore the name Hardouin-Mansart).
The Place Louis the Great (later Vendôme; 1685 - 1701) and the Place des Victories (1684 - 1687), built according to the designs of Hardouin-Mansart in Paris, are very important for the urban planning practice of the second half of the 17th century. Having a rectangular plan with cut corners (146x136 m), Place Louis the Great was conceived as a ceremonial building in honor of the king.
In accordance with the plan, the dominant role in the composition was played by the one located in the center of the square. equestrian statue Louis XIV by the sculptor Girardon. The facades of the buildings forming the square, of the same type in composition, with slightly protruding porticoes on the cut corners and in the central part of the buildings, serve as an architectural frame for the space of the square. Connected to the adjacent neighborhoods by only two short stretches of streets, the square is perceived as a closed, isolated space.
Another ensemble - the Place des Victories, which has a circular plan with a diameter of 60 m - is close to Place Louis the Great in terms of the uniformity of the facades surrounding the square and the location of the monument in the center. In her compositional design - a circle with a statue in the center - the ideas of absolutism were even more clearly reflected. However, placing the square at the intersection of several streets connected with the general planning system of the city deprives its space of isolation and isolation. With the creation of Place des Victories, Hardouin-Mansart laid the foundations for progressive urban planning trends in the field of construction of open public centers closely connected with the city planning system, which were implemented in European urban planning in the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. Another example of the skillful solution of large urban planning tasks is the construction by Hardouin-Mansart of the Church of the Invalides (1693 - 1706), completing a huge complex built according to the design of Liberal Bruant (c. 1635 - 1697). The Invalides House, intended to house war veterans, was conceived as one of the most grandiose public buildings of the 17th century. In front of the main facade of the building, located on the left bank of the Seine, stretches a vast square, the so-called Esplanade des Invalides, which, adjacent to the river, seems to pick up and continue the development of the right bank ensemble of the Tuileries and the Louvre in the left bank part of the city. The strictly symmetrical complex of the House of Invalids consists of four-story buildings closed along the perimeter, forming developed system large rectangular and square courtyards subordinated to a single compositional center - a large courtyard and a monumental domed church erected in its central part. By placing the large compact volume of the church along the main, compositional axis of the sprawling complex of buildings, Hardouin-Mansart created the center of the ensemble, subordinating all its elements and completing it with a general expressive silhouette.
The church is a monumental centric structure with a square plan and a 27 m diameter dome crowning a vast central space. The proportions and order divisions of the church are restrained and strict. The author originally conceived the under-dome space of the church with a floor recessed on several steps and three crowning domed shells. The lower one, with a large hole in the center, covers the light openings cut in the second dome shell, creating the illusion of an illuminated celestial sphere.
The dome of the Church of the Invalids is one of the most beautiful and tall domes in world architecture, which also has important urban planning significance. Along with the domes of the Val de Graeux church and the Pantheon built in the 18th century, it creates an expressive silhouette of the southern part of Paris.
Progressive trends in the architecture of classicism of the 17th century receive full and comprehensive development in a grandiose scale, boldness and breadth artistic design ensemble of Versailles (1668 - 1689). The main creators of this most significant monument of French classicism of the 17th century were the architects Louis Levo and Hardouin-Mansart, the master of landscape art Andre Le Nôtre (1613 - 1700) and the artist Lebrun, who participated in the creation of the interiors of the palace.
The original concept of the Versailles ensemble, consisting of a city, a palace and a park, belongs to Levo and Le Nôtre. Both masters began working on the construction of Versailles in 1668. In the process of implementing the ensemble, their concept underwent numerous changes. The final completion of the ensemble of Versailles belongs to Hardouin-Mansart.
Versailles, as the main residence of the king, was supposed to exalt and glorify the limitless power of French absolutism. However, this does not exhaust the content of the ideological and artistic concept of the Versailles ensemble, as well as its outstanding significance in the history of world architecture. Shackled by official regulations, forced to submit to the despotic demands of the king and his entourage, the builders of Versailles - a huge army of architects, artists, masters of applied and landscape art - managed to embody in it the enormous creative forces of the French people.
The peculiarities of constructing the ensemble as a strictly ordered centralized system, based on the absolute compositional dominance of the palace over everything around it, are due to its general ideological plan. Three wide straight radial avenues of the city converge on the Palace of Versailles, located on a high terrace, forming a trident. Middle Avenue continues on the other side of the palace in the form of the main alley of a huge park. Perpendicular to this main compositional axis of the city and the park is located the palace building, which is very elongated in width. The middle avenue of the trident leads to Paris, the other two lead to the royal palaces of Saint-Cloud and So, as if connecting the main country residence of the king with various regions of the country.
The Palace of Versailles was built in three periods: the most ancient part, framing the Marble Court, is the hunting castle of Louis XIII, which began construction in 1624 and was subsequently extensively rebuilt. In 1668 - 1671, Levo built it with new buildings facing the city along the axis of the middle ray of the trident. From the side of the Marble Court, the palace resembles the early buildings of French architecture of the 17th century with extensive court d'honneurs, towers topped with high roofs, granularity of forms and details. The construction was completed by Hardouin-Mansart, who in 1678 - 1687 further enlarged the palace with the addition of two buildings, southern and northern, each 500 m long, and from the central part of the park facade - a huge Mirror Gallery 73 m long with side halls of War and Peace. Next to the Mirror Gallery, he located the bedroom of the Sun King on the side of the Marble Court, where the axes of the trident of the city’s avenues converge. The royal family's apartments and state reception halls were grouped in the central part of the palace and around the Marble Courtyard. The huge wings housed the quarters of the courtiers, guards and the palace church.
The architecture of the palace facades created by Hardouin-Mansart, especially from the park side, is distinguished by great stylistic unity. Strongly stretched in breadth, the palace building fits well with the strict, geometrically correct layout of the park and the natural environment. The composition of the facade clearly highlights the second, front floor with large-scale arched window openings and orders of columns and pilasters between them, strict in proportions and details, resting on a heavy rusticated plinth. The heavy attic floor crowning the building gives the palace a monumental and representative appearance.
The premises of the palace were distinguished by luxury and variety of decoration. They widely use Baroque motifs (round and oval medallions, complex cartouches, ornamental fillings above the doors and in the walls) and expensive finishing materials (mirrors, chased bronze, marble, gilded wood carvings, valuable types of wood), and widespread use of decorative painting and sculpture - all this is designed to give the impression of stunning pomp. The reception halls were dedicated to the ancient gods: Apollo, Diana, Mars, Venus, Mercury. Their decorative decoration reflected the symbolic meaning of these rooms, associated with the glorification of the virtues and virtues of the king and his family. During balls and receptions, each of the halls served a specific purpose - a place for banquets, games of billiards or cards, a concert hall, a salon for playing music. In the Hall of Apollo, which surpassed the rest in the luxury of decoration, there was a royal throne - a very high chair made of cast silver under a canopy. But the largest and most ceremonial room of the palace is the Mirror Gallery. Here, through the wide arched openings, a magnificent view of the main alley of the park and the surrounding landscape opens. The interior space of the gallery is illusively expanded by a number of large mirrors located in niches opposite the windows. The interior of the gallery is richly decorated with marble Corinthian pilasters and a lush stucco cornice, which serves as a transition to an even more complex composition and color scheme to the huge lampshade of the painter Lebrun.
The spirit of official solemnity reigned in the Versailles chambers. The premises were luxuriously furnished. In the mirrored gallery, thousands of candles were lit in shining silver chandeliers and a noisy, colorful crowd of courtiers filled the palace enfilades, reflected in the tall mirrors. The Venetian ambassador, describing in his report from France one of the royal receptions in the Versailles Mirror Gallery, says that there “it was brighter than during the day” and “the eyes did not want to believe the unprecedented bright outfits, men in feathers, women in magnificent hairstyles.” He likens this spectacle to a “dream,” an “enchanted kingdom.”
In contrast to the architecture of the palace facades, which are somewhat baroque representative, as well as the interiors, which are overloaded with decorations and gilding, the layout of the Versailles Park, which is the most outstanding example of a French regular park, made by Andre Le Nôtre, is distinguished by its amazing purity and harmony of forms. In the layout of the park and the forms of its “green architecture,” Le Nôtre is the most consistent exponent of the aesthetic ideal of classicism. He saw the natural environment as an object of intelligent human activity. Le Nôtre transforms the natural landscape into an impeccably clear, complete architectural system based on the idea of rationality and order.
A general view of the park opens from the palace. From the main terrace, a wide staircase leads along the main axis of the ensemble composition to the Latona Fountain, then the Royal Alley, bordered by trimmed trees, leads to the Apollo Fountain with a vast oval pool.
The composition of the Royal Alley ends with the huge water surface of the cross-shaped canal stretching far to the horizon and the perspectives of the alleys, framed by topiary trees and bosquets, either converging towards the main ray or diverging from it. Le Nôtre gave the park a west-east orientation, making it seem especially magnificent and radiant in the rays of the rising sun, reflected in the large canal and pools.
In organic unity with the layout of the park and the architectural appearance of the palace is the rich and varied sculptural decoration of the park.
The park sculpture of Versailles actively participates in the formation of the ensemble. Sculptural groups, statues, herms and vases with reliefs, many of which were created outstanding sculptors of their time, close the vistas of green streets, frame squares and alleys, form complex and beautiful combinations with a variety of fountains and pools.
The Park of Versailles, with its clearly defined architectural structure, richness and variety of forms of marble and bronze sculptures, foliage of trees, fountains, pools, geometrically clear lines of alleys and shapes of lawns, flower beds, bosquets, resembles a large “green city” with enfilades of various squares and streets . These “green enfilades” are perceived as a natural continuation and outward development of the interior space of the palace itself.
The architectural ensemble of Versailles was complemented by the building of the Grand Trianon (1687 - 1688), an intimate royal residence, built in the park according to the design of Hardouin-Mansart. The peculiarity of this small, but monumental in appearance, one-story structure is its free asymmetrical composition; formal living rooms, galleries and living spaces are grouped around small landscaped courtyards with fountains. The central entrance part of the Trianon is configured as a deep loggia with paired columns of the Ionic order supporting the ceiling.
Both the palace and especially the park of Versailles, with its wide promenades, abundance of water, easy visibility and spatial scope, served as a kind of magnificent “stage area” for the most diverse, unusually colorful and magnificent spectacles - fireworks, illuminations, balls, ballet divertissements, performances, masquerade processions, and the canals for strolls and festivities of the pleasure fleet. When Versailles was under construction and had not yet become the official center of the state, its “entertainment” function prevailed. In the spring of 1664, the young monarch, in honor of his favorite Louise de La Vallière, established a series of festivities under the romantic name “The Delights of the Enchanted Island.” In the beginning, there was still a lot of spontaneity and improvisation in these peculiar eight-day festivals, which included almost all types of arts. Over the years, the festivities became more and more grandiose, reaching their apogee in the 1670s, when a new favorite reigned at Versailles - the wasteful and brilliant Marquise de Monttespan. In the stories of eyewitnesses, in many engravings, the fame of Versailles and its holidays spread to other European countries.
In parallel with the Baroque style, the classicism style was emerging in France. Classicism architecture in many cases faced the same tasks as Baroque architecture - glorifying the power of the absolute monarch, exalting the ruling class. But the architects of classicism use other means for this. The 17th century represents the first stage of classicism, when the features of this style did not reach their most rigorous and pure expression. The public and palace buildings, city ensembles, and palace and park complexes erected by French architects are imbued with the spirit of solemn pomp; their spatial solution is distinguished by clear logic, the facades are characterized by a calm harmony of compositional structure and proportionality of parts, and the architectural forms are distinguished by simplicity and rigor.
Strict orderliness is even introduced into nature - the masters of classicism created a system of the so-called regular park. Architects of classicism widely turn to the ancient heritage, studying the general principles of ancient architecture, and above all the system of orders, borrowing and reworking individual motifs and forms. It is no coincidence that religious buildings in the architecture of classicism do not have the enormous importance that they occupy in baroque architecture: the spirit of rationalism inherent in classicist art was not conducive to the expression of religious and mystical ideas. Perhaps, to an even greater extent than in Baroque architecture, the figurative content of the best monuments of classical architecture turns out to be broader than their representative functions: the buildings of Hardouin-Mansart and the park complexes of Le Nôtre glorify not only the power of the king, but also the greatness of the human mind.
In the second half of the 17th century. the absolute monarchy in France reaches its greatest economic and political power. Life at court becomes an endless holiday. At the center of this life is the personality of the Sun King Louis XIV. His awakening from sleep, morning toilet, lunch, etc. - everything was subject to a certain ritual and took place in the form of solemn ceremonies.
It was during this period that French architecture flourished. In the capital of France, Paris, vast city squares and large palace, public and religious buildings are being reconstructed and rebuilt. Grandiose, expensive construction work is being carried out to create the king's country residence - Versailles.
Only under the conditions of a powerful centralized monarchy was it possible at that time to create huge city and palace ensembles designed according to a single plan, designed to embody the idea of the power of an absolute monarch. The desire to search for a strict and monumental image, compositional integrity and stylistic unity of building structures is more clearly manifested. The architecture of this period had a huge impact on the formation of decorative sculpture, painting and applied art.
In addition to the enormous spatial scope of buildings and ensembles, new artistic features in the architecture of the mid and second half of the 17th century were manifested in a more consistent use of the classical order system, in the predominance of horizontal divisions over vertical ones, in greater integrity and unity of the volumetric composition and the internal space of the building. Along with the classical heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance, the creation of the style of French classicism of the second half of the 17th century. was greatly influenced by Italian Baroque architecture. This was reflected in the borrowing of certain architectural forms (curved pediments, volutes, magnificent cartouches), in the order compositions of facades and the principles of designing their internal space (enfilade), in some features of the layout of large ensembles (longitudinal-axial construction), as well as in the inherent architecture French classicism with increased pomp of architectural forms, especially in interiors. However, forms of classical and baroque architecture were exposed in the 17th century. radical processing in connection with national artistic traditions, which made it possible to bring these often contradictory elements to artistic unity.
Since the 70s. 18th century we can talk about a new stage, when classicism is gradually becoming the leading direction not only in architecture, where it was defined earlier, but also in painting and sculpture. The art of this period embodied the “thirst for energetic action” that had seized the French.
Classicism of the first half of the 17th century. Formation of style.
Urban planning work is being widely deployed throughout the country. Old medieval cities are being rebuilt on the basis of new principles of regular planning. Straight highways are being laid, urban ensembles and geometrically correct squares are being built on the site of a chaotic network of medieval streets. The main problem becomes a large urban ensemble with development carried out according to a single plan. In the development of Paris and other French cities, the role of churches and monastery complexes is significant. Baroque techniques are combined with the traditions of French Gothic and new classical principles of understanding beauty. Many religious buildings, built according to the basilica church type established in the Italian Baroque, received magnificent main facades, decorated with orders of columns and pilasters, with numerous braces, sculptural inserts and volutes.
Palais Royal Palace(royal palace) - the residence of Cardinal Richelieu was built in 1629. This is at the same time a majestic palace, an open square, and a beautiful well-kept park. The author of the project was the famous French architect of that time, Jacques Lemercier. The palace served as the last refuge of the powerful cardinal; he lived here until his death in 1642. After the death of Richelieu, the palace was occupied by the widowed Anna of Austria with the young Louis XIV, who later became the Sun King. Then Cardinal Mazarin settled here. Then the palace ensemble became the property of the Duke of Orleans, the younger brother of King Louis XIII. At the end of the 18th century, significant changes were made to the architecture of the Palais Royal - slender columns, covered galleries, small shops and cozy cafes appeared here, and a beautiful garden with rare plants was open to the general public.
The palace, built for Cardinal Richelieu, burned down in 1871, and in its place there is a restored reconstruction, the architectural ensemble of which exactly replicates the ancient buildings.
Palais Royal Palace
Palace of Richelieu in Poitou
Early examples of large ensemble compositions date back to the first half of the 17th century. The creator of the first ensemble of the palace, park and city of Richelieu in the architecture of French classicism was Jacques Lemercier (c. 1585 - 1654). In terms of the ensemble there are two compositional axes. One axis coincides with the main street of the city and the park alley connecting the city with the square in front of the palace, the other is the main axis of the palace and the park. The layout of the park is built on a strictly regular system of alleys intersecting at right angles and diverging from one center. Located away from the palace, the city of Richelieu was surrounded by a wall and a moat, forming a rectangle in plan. The layout of the streets and quarters of the city is subject to the same strict system of rectangular coordinates as the ensemble as a whole. The building of the Richelieu Palace was divided into the main building and wings, which formed in front of it a large closed rectangular courtyard with a main entrance. The main building with outbuildings, according to a tradition dating back to medieval castles, was surrounded by a moat filled with water. The composition of the main building and wings features angular tower-like volumes topped with high pyramidal roofs.
Jacques Lemercier. Palace of Richelieu in Poitou. Started in 1627 Engraving by Perel
The Richelieu Palace, like its regular park with deep vistas of alleys, extensive parterres and sculpture, was created as a majestic monument designed to glorify the all-powerful ruler of France. The interiors of the palace were richly decorated with stucco and paintings, which exalted the personality of Richelieu and his deeds.
Classicism of the second half of the 17th century.
The second half of the 17th century was the time of the highest flowering of the architecture of French classicism. The organization of the Academy of Architecture, whose director was the prominent architect and theorist Francois Blondel (1617 - 1686), had a great influence on the development of architecture. In 1664, the architect L. Levo completed the quadrangular composition of the Louvre with a closed courtyard with the construction of its northern, southern and eastern buildings. The eastern façade of the Louvre, created by C. Perrault, F. d'Orbe and L. Levo, gives the final appearance to this remarkable ensemble.
Ensemble of the palace and park of Vaux-le-Vicomte (1655 - 1661).
The first work of architecture of French classicism of the second half of the 17th century, in which the predominance of the artistic principles of classicism over old traditions is clearly felt, was the ensemble of the palace and park of Vaux-le-Vicomte (1655 - 1661).
The creators of this remarkable work, built for the controller general of finance Fouquet and in many ways anticipating the ensemble of Versailles, were the architect Louis Levo (c. 1612-1670), the master of landscape art Andre Le Nôtre, who laid out the park of the palace, and the painter Charles Lebrun, who took part in decoration of palace interiors and painting of lampshades.
The Vaux-le-Vicomte ensemble developed unique principles created by French classicism of the 17th century. a synthesis of architecture, sculpture, painting and landscape art, which received even greater scope and maturity in the ensemble of Versailles.
The composition of the palace is characterized by the unity of the internal space and volume of the building, which distinguishes works of mature classicist architecture. The large oval salon is highlighted in the volume of the building by a curvilinear risalit, topped with a powerful domed roof, creating a static and calm silhouette of the building. By introducing a large order of pilasters spanning two floors above the base, and a powerful horizontal of a smooth, strict profile classical entablature, the predominance of horizontal divisions over vertical ones in the facades is achieved. This gives the appearance of the palace a monumental presence and splendor.
The formation of classicism in French architecture is associated with the buildings of F. Mansart, marked by clarity of composition and order divisions. High examples of mature classicism in the architecture of the 17th century - the eastern facade of the Louvre (C. Perrault), the work of L. Levo, F. Blondel. From the 2nd half. 17th century French classicism absorbs some elements of Baroque architecture (the palace and park of Versailles - architect J. Hardouin-Mansart, A. Le Nôtre).
Versailles. Architects Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Andre Le Nôtre.
The pinnacle of the development of a new direction in architecture was Versailles - the grandiose ceremonial residence of the French kings near Paris. First, a royal hunting castle appeared there (1624). The main construction began during the reign of Louis XIV in the late 60s. The most prominent architects participated in the creation of the project: Louis Levo (circa 1612-1670), Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1613-1708) and the outstanding decorator of gardens and parks Andre Le Nôtre (1613-1700). According to their plan, the Grand Palace - the main part of the complex - was to be located on an artificial terrace where the three main avenues of Versailles converge. One of them - the middle one - leads to Paris, and the two side ones - to the country palaces of Seau and Saint-Cloud.
Jules Hardouin-Mansart, having started work in 1678, designed all the buildings in the same style. The facades of the buildings were divided into three tiers. The lower one, modeled on an Italian Renaissance palazzo, is decorated with rustication, the middle one - the largest - is filled with high arched windows, between which there are columns and pilasters. The upper tier is shortened and ends with a balustrade (a fence consisting of a number of figured columns connected by railings) and sculptural groups that create a feeling of lush decoration, although all facades have a strict appearance. The interiors of the palace differ from the facades in the luxury of decoration.
The first Trianon Palace, called the "Porcelain Trianon", was built in 1672 and lasted 15 years. In the eyes of Europeans, the building was given a Chinese-style flavor by facing the walls with faience tiles, faience vases and decorative elements of a high mansard roof made of gilded lead. Due to bad weather, the faience very quickly lost its appearance and the king soon ceased to like the palace; he ordered to destroy it and build a new building on this site, more spacious and in a completely different style. On the site of the destroyed Porcelain Trianon, a new one was erected - Marble Trianon, with pilasters made of pink and green marble, which gave the building its name. Construction was entrusted to the first royal architect, Jules Hardouin Mansart.
Of great importance in the palace ensemble is the park designed by Andre Le Nôtre. He abandoned artificial waterfalls and cascades in the Baroque style, which symbolized the spontaneous beginning in nature. Lenotre pools have a clear geometric shape, with a mirror-smooth surface. Each major alley ends with a reservoir: the main staircase from the terrace of the Grand Palace leads to the Latona fountain; At the end of the Royal Avenue there is the Apollo Fountain and the canal. The park is oriented along the “west - east” axis, so when the sun rises and its rays are reflected in the water, an amazingly beautiful and picturesque play of light appears. The layout of the park is connected with architecture - the alleys are perceived as a continuation of the halls of the palace.
Main idea park - to create a special world where everything is subject to strict laws. It is no coincidence that many consider Versailles a brilliant expression of the French national character, in which cold reason, will and determination are hidden behind external lightness and impeccable taste.
Louis XIV wanted to see Versailles as one of the greatest palaces in Europe. He ordered the castle to be equipped with lush gardens, fountains where one could indulge in reflection, halls with stucco, precious fabrics and expensive gold paintings. The renovated Palace of Versailles appeared to the discerning king in its full glory in 1684, becoming an architectural ideal for the rulers of many countries of that era. To this day, the palace has not lost its charm. Perfectly manicured gardens, fountains with graceful water jets and lighting, as well as well-preserved structural elements of buildings - all this recreates the spirit of the era of the Sun King.
The rise of French absolutism in the second half of the 17th century was clearly reflected in the direction of construction in those years. Large structures are being created in the country glorifying the king as the head of absolutism. Participation in them by teams of the greatest masters, collaboration architects with sculptors, painters, masters of applied arts, bold and inventive solutions to engineering and constructive problems led to the creation of wonderful examples of French architecture.
Louis Levo. The first large ceremonial park ensemble in French architecture was the Vaux-le-Vicomte Palace (1656-1661) created by Louis Leveau (1612-1670). The building, like the Maison F. Mansart Palace, stands on an artificial island, but the canals are made much wider, and the level of the “island” is raised compared to the level of the surrounding territory. The extensive park located behind the house includes, in addition to large ground floor areas, a number of pools and canals framed by stone, a large terrace with grottoes, staircases, etc. The gardens of the Vaux-le-Vicomte castle were the first example of the so-called French regular system that was emerging at that time. parka. In the creation of the Vaux-le-Vicomte palace, together with Levo, the gardener Andre Le Nôtre (1613-1700), whose name is associated with the final creation of the regular park system with its geometric planning technique, which later received the name “French park,” and the painter Charles Lebrun (see . below). All three of these masters then went on to build the largest palace building in France in the 17th century - the royal palace at Versailles.
As Lemercier's successor as chief royal architect, Leveaux continued the construction of the Louvre, adding the eastern half of the palace to the parts previously built by Lescaut and Lemercier, thus enclosing its main square courtyard.
Ensemble of Versailles. The ensemble of Versailles, located 17 kilometers southwest of Paris, covers a huge territory, including vast parks with various structures, swimming pools, canals, fountains and the main building - the building of the palace itself. The construction of the Versailles ensemble (the main work was carried out from 1661 to 1700) cost enormous amounts of money and required the hard work of a huge number of craftsmen and artists of various specialties. The entire territory of the park was leveled, and the villages located there were demolished. With the help of special hydraulic devices, a complex system of fountains was created in this area, to feed which very large pools and canals for that time were built. The palace was decorated with great luxury, using valuable materials, richly decorated with sculptural works, paintings, etc. Versailles became a household name for a magnificent palace residence.
The main works at Versailles were carried out by the architect Louis Leveau, the horticultural planner André Le Nôtre and the painter Charles Lebrun.
The work to expand Versailles constituted the final stage of Levo's activity. It was noted above that back in the 1620s, Lemercier built a small hunting castle in Versailles. Louis XIV planned to create on the basis of this building, through its complete reconstruction and significant expansion, a large palace surrounded by a vast, beautiful park. The new royal residence had to match the grandeur of the “Sun King” in its size and its architecture.
Levo rebuilt the old castle of Louis XIII on three external sides with new buildings, which formed the main core of the palace. In addition, he demolished the wall that closed the Marble Courtyard, attached new rooms to the ends of the building, thanks to which a second central courtyard was formed between the two parts of the palace protruding towards the city. As a result of the reconstruction, the palace increased several times.
The facade of the palace from the side of Levo Park was decorated with Ionic columns and pilasters located on the second - main floor. The wall of the first floor, covered with rustication, was interpreted in the form of a pedestal serving as the basis for the order. Levo considered the third floor as an attic crowning the same order. The facade ended with a parapet with fittings. The roofs, usually very high in French architecture, were made low here and completely hidden behind the parapet.
The next period in the history of Versailles is associated with the name of the largest architect of the second half of the 17th century - Jules Hardouin Mansart (1646-1708), who led the further expansion of the palace from 1678. J. Hardouin Mansart the Younger significantly changes the park facade of the palace, constructing the famous “Mirror Gallery” by building on the former terrace in the center of this facade.
In addition, Mansar attaches two large long wings to the main part of the palace - northern and southern. The height and layout of the facades of the southern and northern wings were set in common with the central part of the building. The same height and emphasized linearity of all buildings fully corresponded to the “planar” style of the park’s layout (see below for details).
The main room of the palace - the Mirror Gallery - occupies almost the entire width of the central part of the structure. The system of arched window openings on the outer wall is matched on the opposite wall by flat niches covered with mirrors. Paired pilasters divide the pylons between them. Just like the entire wall cladding up to the crowning cornice, they are made of polished multi-colored marble. The capitals and bases of the pilasters and numerous reliefs on the walls are made of gilded bronze. The vaulted ceiling is completely covered with paintings (C. Lebrun's workshop, see below), dissected and framed with lush modeling. All these pictorial compositions are dedicated to the allegorical glorification of the French monarchy and its head - the king; from the adjacent on the edges of the Mirror Gallery, located in the corner parts of the central building of the square-shaped War and Peace halls, the enfilades of other ceremonial rooms located along the side facades begin.
The composition of Versailles perfectly embodied the idea of absolutism, the idea of autocratic royal power and feudal social hierarchy: in the center is the residence of the king - a palace that subjugates the entire surrounding landscape. The latter was brought into a strict geometric system, fully consistent with the clear linear forms of the palace buildings.
The entire park layout is subordinated to a single axis coinciding with the axis of the palace. In front of its main facade there is a central “water parterre” with two symmetrical reservoirs. From the ground floor, stairs lead to the Latona pool. Further, the central alley, called the “Green Carpet” in this area, leads to the pool of Apollo, riding out in a chariot to meet his mother Latona. Behind the Apollo Pool begins the Grand Canal, which has a cross-shaped plan. On the right side of the Grand Canal is the Trianon area with the Grand Trianon pavilion, the work of J. Hardouin Mansart. The sun sets behind the Grand Canal, thus even nature is associated with the layout of Versailles. The cult of the sun was given a special place in the decoration of Versailles: after all, the king himself was named the sun, the pool of the sun god Apollo was located in the center of the park.
On the sides of the alleys there were bosquets of trimmed greenery; the so-called “star” technique was also widely used in the layout of the park - a platform with radially diverging paths.
The park featured many sculptures - marble and bronze; partly they were located against the backdrop of trimmed bosquets of greenery, partly in specially created structures (colonnades with fountains around Girardon’s “The Rape of Proserpina”, a grotto for a large group of Apollo and the muses of his own work).
Construction in Paris. Along with construction in Versailles, extensive work was carried out during these years in Paris itself. A particularly prominent place among them belongs to the further construction of the Louvre. Work to expand the Louvre was undertaken even before the full development of construction at Versailles, in the years when it was not finally decided where the main ceremonial royal residence should be created - in Paris itself or in its environs. The organized competition did not produce satisfactory results. After negotiations, he was invited to France Italian master L. Bernini (see above), who created a project that provided for the demolition of all the buildings standing on this site, clearing the entire vast territory between the Louvre and the Tuileries from construction, and creating a new vast palace on this site. However, Bernini's project was not implemented in kind.
Claude Perrault. Construction of the Louvre began according to the design of Claude Perrault. (1613-1688). Perrault also envisaged the unification of the Louvre and the Tuileries into a single building, with the creation of a new external appearance of the building, but with the preservation of all its previous parts and courtyard facades (Goujon-Lescaut, Lemercier, Levo, etc.). Perrault's plan was only partially realized. The most interesting and significant part was the famous eastern facade of the Louvre with its Corinthian colonnades on the sides of the central ceremonial portal - the entrance to the front courtyard.
Francois Blondel. A prominent place among the buildings of Paris of this time is occupied by the triumphal arch, built by Francois Blondel (1618-1686) at the entrance to Paris from the Faubourg Saint-Denis. Blondel managed to solve in a completely new way the traditional theme of the triumphal arch, represented in ancient architecture by so many examples. In a large, close-to-square massif, completed with a strict Doric entablature, an opening with a semicircular completion is cut through. The pylons on its sides are decorated with flat obelisks with relief images placed on them.
Both the Louvre colonnade by Perrault and the Arch of Saint-Denis by Blondel testify to the classicist orientation of French architecture of the 17th century.
F. Blondel and C. Perrault also acted as theorists. Blondel owns the extensive “Course of Architecture” (1675-1683), Perrault published “The Rules of the Five Orders” (1683) and a new translation of Vitruvius with his drawings, which for a long time was rightfully considered the best (1673). Since the organization of the Royal Academy of Architecture in 1666, Blondel and Perrault took part in its work, and Blondel was at the head of the Academy for a long time.
Jules Hardouin Mansart. Somewhat younger in age than Perrault and Blondel was the above-mentioned Jules Hardouin, a relative and student of François Mansart, who later took his surname and was called J. Hardouin Mansart. Unlike Blondel and Perrault, he worked exclusively as a practitioner, but in terms of the volume of what he built, he far surpassed them. The most significant buildings of Hardouin Mansart (besides the work at Versailles, which were already discussed above) were the creation of the Place Vendôme in Paris and the building of the Cathedral of the Invalides.
Place Vendôme(1685-1698) was a new interpretation of the theme of the front city square. The residential palace-type houses framing it were united by Mansart with single facades, which created the impression of a square enclosed by two symmetrical large buildings. Their lower floors were rusticated, the upper two were united by pilasters of the Ionic order (in the center and at the cut corners the motif of half-columns with pediments was introduced), and the windows of attic living quarters protruded above the roofs (“attic” - on behalf of Mansar). In the middle of the square, an equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Girardon was placed on a pedestal (it was removed during the French bourgeois revolution, and under Napoleon I the Vendôme Column was installed in this place).
The Cathedral of the Invalides (1675-1706) was added by Mansart to the extensive House of the Invalides that already existed, which was supposed to emphasize the care of Louis XIV for the numerous disabled people who were victims of the wars of conquest that took place under him. The cathedral building, almost square in plan, includes a central hall, above which rises a dome. Through passages cut into the arrays of domed pylons, this hall is connected with four round corner chapels. In appearance, on the high rectangular mass of the lower tier, corresponding to the main hall and chapels, there is a high dome on a large drum. The proportions of the parts are excellent, and the silhouette of the cathedral is one of the most expressive in the appearance of Paris.
In carrying out his extensive works, Mansart relied on the staff of his workshop, which at the same time was also a practical school for young architects. Many major architects of the early 18th century came from Mansart's workshop.
Absolutism in France XVII V. considered devotion to the monarch the height of patriotism. The famous phrase of King Louis XIV: “I am the state.”
But it is also known that at this time a new philosophical direction took hold in France - rationalism, which considered the human mind to be the basis of knowledge. One of the founders of the new doctrine, Rene Descartes, argued: “I think, therefore I exist.”
On the basis of this philosophy, a new style in art began to take shape - classicism. It was built on the models of antiquity and the Renaissance.
Architecture
Architecture changed its priorities and moved away from fortified cities to residential cities.
Maison-Laffite
Maison-Laffite- the famous castle (palace) in the suburb of Paris of the same name, one of the few surviving creations of the architect Francois Mansart.
Francois Mansart(1598-1666) - French architect, considered not only the greatest master of the French Baroque, but also the founder of classicism in France.
The Maisons-Laffite Palace differs, for example, from the Luxembourg Palace in Paris, which resembles a castle fenced off from the outside world. Maison-Laffite has a U-shape, there is no longer a closed space.
A park was usually built around the palace, characterized by an ideal order: the plants were trimmed, the alleys intersected at right angles, and the flower beds were of regular geometric shape. It was the so-called regular (French) park.
Palace and park ensemble of Versailles
The ensemble of Versailles is considered the pinnacle of a new direction in architecture. This is a huge ceremonial residence of the French kings, built near Paris.
Versailles was built under the leadership of Louis XIV from 1661. It became an artistic and architectural expression of the idea of absolutism. Architects: Louis Levo and Jules Hardouin-Mansart.
The creator of the park is Andre Le Nôtre.
Carlo Maratta. Portrait of André Le Nôtre (c. 1680)
The Versailles ensemble is the largest in Europe. It is distinguished by the unique integrity of its design, the harmony of architectural forms and landscape. Before the French Revolution, Versailles was the official royal residence. In 1801 it received the status of a museum and is open to the public. In 1979, the Palace of Versailles and the park were included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.
Parterre in front of the greenhouse
Versailles is an example of a synthesis of arts: architecture, sculpture and landscape art. In 1678-1689 The ensemble of Versailles was rebuilt under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart. All buildings were decorated in the same style, the facades of the buildings were divided into three tiers. The lower one, modeled on an Italian Renaissance palazzo, is decorated with rustication, the middle one is filled with high arched windows, between which there are columns and pilasters. The upper tier is shortened and ends with a balustrade (a fence consisting of a series of figured columns connected by railings) and sculptural groups.
The park of the ensemble, designed by Andre Le Nôtre, has a clear layout: geometric swimming pools with a mirror-smooth surface. Each major alley ends with a reservoir: the main staircase from the terrace of the Grand Palace leads to the Latona fountain; At the end of the Royal Avenue there is the Apollo Fountain and the canal. The main idea of the park is to create a unique place where everything is subject to strict laws.
Fountains of Versailles
Latona Fountain
At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. art in France gradually began to turn into a means of ideology. In the Place Vendôme in Paris, the subordination of art to politics is already visible.
Place Vendôme. Architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart
In the center of Place Vendôme there is a 44-meter Vendôme Column with a statue of Napoleon on top, modeled after the Roman Column of Trajan.
Vendôme Column
The closed quadrangle of the square with cut corners is surrounded by administrative buildings with a single decoration system.
One of the most significant monumental buildings of the 17th century. in France - the Cathedral of the Invalides (1680-1706).
Bird's eye view of the Invalides' Home
The Palais des Invalides (State House of Invalids) began to be built by order of Louis XIV in 1670 as a home for elderly soldiers (“invalids of war”). Today it still accepts disabled people, but it also houses several museums and a military necropolis.
The cathedral of the Palais des Invalides was created by Jules Hardouin-Mansart. The cathedral with its powerful dome changed the panorama of the city.
Cathedral
Cathedral dome
East façade of the Louvre
Louvre. Eastern façade. Architect K. Perrault. Length 173 m
The eastern façade of the Louvre (Colonnade) is a striking example of French classicism. The project was chosen through a competition. Among the participants were famous masters, but no one won famous architect Claude Perrault(1613-1688), since it was his work that embodied the main ideas of the French: severity and solemnity, scale and simplicity.
Sculpture
In the second half of the 17th century. French classicism already served to glorify the monarchy, therefore, from the sculpture that decorated the palaces, what was required was not so much classical severity and harmony, but solemnity and splendor. Effectiveness, expressiveness, monumentality - these are the main features of French sculpture of the 17th century. The traditions of the Italian Baroque, especially the work of Lorenzo Bernini, helped in this.
Sculptor François Girardon (1628-1715)
G. Rigo. Portrait of Francois Girardon
He studied in Rome with Bernini. Girardon completed the sculptural part of the Apollo Gallery in the Louvre. Since 1666, he has been working in Versailles - creating the sculptural group “The Abduction of Proserpina by Pluto”, the sculptural group “Apollo and the Nymphs” (1666-1673), the relief of the reservoir “Bathing Nymphs” (1675), “The Abduction of Persephone” (1677-1699) , “Victory of France over Spain”, sculpture “Winter” (1675-1683), etc.
F. Girardon “Victory of France over Spain” (1680-1682), Palace of Versailles
Among the sculptor’s best works is the equestrian statue of King Louis XIV (1683), which adorned the Place Vendôme in Paris and was destroyed during the French Revolution of 1789-1799.
F. Girardon. Equestrian statue of Louis XIV (c. 1699). Bronze. Louvre (Paris)
This is a smaller copy of the equestrian monument of Louis XIV, which adorned Place Vendôme. The model was an ancient Roman statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The monument fit perfectly into the architectural ensemble of the square. Girardon's work throughout the 18th century. served as a model for equestrian monuments of European sovereigns. A hundred years later, the monument - a symbol of royal power - was destroyed.
Antoine Coyzevox (1640-1720)
French Baroque sculptor. He worked a lot in Versailles: he designed the War Hall and the Gallery of Mirrors.
Mirror gallery at Versailles
Coyzevox also created sculptural portraits, which were distinguished by their accuracy and psychological characteristics. He used Baroque techniques: unexpected poses, free movements, lush attire.
Pierre Puget (1620-1694)
Pierre Puget. Self-Portrait (Louvre)
Pierre Pugene is the most talented master of that time: French painter, sculptor, architect and engineer. His work shows the influence of Bernini and classical theater.
Pierre Puget "Milon of Croton with a lion" (Louvre)
Puget's sculptures are distinguished by their vital convincingness in conveying tension and suffering, combining expression with clarity of composition. Sometimes he gets carried away with exaggeration and theatricality of poses and movements. But his style was very consistent with the tastes of his era. His compatriots even nicknamed him the French Michelangelo and Rubens.
Painting
In the 17th century The Royal Academy of Paris was established, it became the center of artistic activity and maintained this path throughout the long reign of Louis XIV. All branches of art were centralized.
Charles Lebrun was appointed the first painter of the court.
Charles Lebrun (1619-1690)
Nicola Largilliere. Portrait of the artist Charles Lebrun
He personally led the Academy, influenced the tastes and worldview of an entire generation of artists, becoming the most important figure in the “style of Louis XIV.” In 1661, the king ordered Le Brun a series of paintings from the history of Alexander the Great; the first of them brought the artist nobility and the title of “First Royal Painter” and a lifelong pension.
C. Lebrun “The Entry of Alexander into Babylon” (1664)
Since 1662, Lebrun controlled all artistic orders of the court. He personally painted the halls of the Apollo Gallery in the Louvre, the interiors of the Castle of Saint-Germain and Versailles (War Hall and Peace Hall). But the artist died before finishing the painting of Versailles, which was completed according to his sketches by Noel Coypel.
Ch. Lebrun “Equestrian portrait of Louis XIV” (1668). Chartreuse Museum (Douai)
Pierre Mignard (1612-1695)
Pierre Mignard. Self-portrait
Famous French artist. He competed with Lebrun. Became head of the Academy of St. Luke in Paris, opposed to the Royal Academy. In 1690, after the death of Lebrun, he became the main court artist, director of the royal art museums and manufactories, a member and professor of the Paris Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and then its rector and chancellor. At almost 80 years of age, he created designs for paintings in the Cathedral of the Invalides, which are still kept in the Louvre, painted two lampshades in the small apartments of the king in the Palace of Versailles, painted a series of delicately colored religious paintings: “Christ and the Samaritan Woman,” 1690 (Louvre) ; "Saint Cecilia", 1691 (Louvre); "Faith" and "Hope", 1692.
The main advantage of his works is the harmonious color. But in general, he paid tribute to his time in art: external brilliance, theatrical composition, graceful, but affected figures.
P. Mignard “Virgin with grapes”
These shortcomings are least noticeable in his portraits. He owns numerous portraits of courtiers, the king's favorites and Louis XIV himself, whom he painted about ten times.
P. Mignard. Equestrian portrait of Louis XIV
Of Mignard's fresco works, the most important were the painting in the dome of Val-de-Grâce, which soon deteriorated due to the poor quality of the paints, and the mythological wall paintings in the great hall of the Saint-Cloud palace, which perished along with this building in 1870.
Pierre Mignard. Fresco of the dome of Val-de-Grâce "The Glory of God"
3.1. General overview of architectural monuments, trends, directions, development
In the formation of French architecture of the 17th century. The following principles, directions and trends can be identified.
1. Closed, fenced castles turn into open, unfortified palaces, which are included in the general structure of the city (and palaces outside the city are associated with an extensive park). The shape of the palace - a closed square - opens and turns into a “U-shaped” or, as later at Versailles, into an even more open one. The separated parts turn into elements of the system.
By order of Richelieu, from 1629 it was forbidden for the nobility to build defensive structures in the castles, moats with water became elements of architecture, walls and fences were of a symbolic nature, and did not perform a defensive function.
2. Orientation towards the architecture of Italy (where most of the French architects studied), the desire of the nobility to imitate the nobility of Italy - the capital of the world - introduces a significant share of Italian Baroque into French architecture.
However, during the formation of a nation, restoration occurs, attention is paid to one’s national roots and artistic traditions.
French architects often came from construction cooperatives, from families of hereditary masons; they were practitioners and technicians rather than theorists.
The pavilion system of castles was popular in medieval France, when a pavilion was built and connected to the rest by a gallery. Initially, the pavilions could have been built at different times and even had little correlation with each other in appearance and structure.
The materials and construction techniques also left their mark on established traditions: well-processed limestone was used in construction - the building’s key points and load-bearing structures were made from it, and the openings between them were filled with bricks or large “French windows” were made. This resulted in the building having a clearly visible frame - paired or even stacked columns or pilasters (arranged in “bundles”).
Excavations in the south of France have produced superb examples of antiquity, with the most common motif being the free-standing column (rather than a pilaster or column in a wall).
3. By the end of the 16th century. The construction intertwined magnificent Gothic, late Renaissance features and Baroque traditions.
Gothic style was preserved in the verticalism of the main forms, in the complex horizon lines of the building (due to convex roofs, with each volume covered by its own roof, numerous pipes and turrets broke through the horizon line), in the load and complexity of the upper part of the building, in the use of individual Gothic forms.
Late Renaissance features were expressed in clear floor divisions of buildings, analyticity, and clear boundaries between parts.
________________________________________ Lecture 87________________________________________
A representative of the synthesis of various traditions is the “portico of Delorme” - an architectural element that has been actively used in France since mid-16th century V. It is a three-tier portico with clear horizontal divisions so that the vertical dominates the overall volume, and the horizontal dominates in each of the tiers. The upper tier is heavily loaded with sculpture and decoration, the portico is decorated with a pediment. The influence of the Baroque led to the fact that from the end of the 16th century pediments began to be made curved, with broken lines. Often the line of the entablature of the third tier broke through, creating the energy of upward movement in the upper part of the building. By the middle of the 17th century, Delorme's portico became more classical, the upper tier was lightened, and the lines of the entablature and pediment were aligned.
The Luxembourg Palace in Paris (architect Solomon de Brosses, 1611) can be considered a representative of the architecture of the beginning of the century, synthesizing these traditions.
4. On this rich soil of French traditions in architecture, classicism grows.
Classicism of the first half of the century coexists in interaction with Gothic and Baroque features, and is based on the specifics of French national culture.
The facades are freed up, cleared of decor, becoming more open and clear. The laws by which the building is built are unified: one order gradually appears for all facades, one level of floor divisions for all parts of the building. The upper part of the building becomes lighter, it becomes more structurally constructed - below is a heavy base, covered with large rustication, above is a lighter main floor (floors), sometimes an attic. The skyline of the building varies - from the almost flat horizontal of the eastern facade of the Louvre to the picturesque line of Maisons-Laffite and Vaux-le-Vicomte.
An example of “pure” classicism, freed from the influences of other styles, is the eastern facade of the Louvre and, after it, the building of the Versailles complex.
However, as a rule, architectural monuments of France of the 17th century. represent an organic living combination of several influences, which allows us to speak about the originality of French classicism of the era in question.
5. Among secular palaces and castles, two directions can be distinguished:
1) castles of nobles, new bourgeois, they represented freedom, the strength of the human personality;
2) official, representative direction, visualizing the ideas of absolutism.
The second direction was just beginning to emerge in the first half of the century (the Palais Royal, the Versailles complex of Louis XIII), but it was formed and fully manifested in the works of mature absolutism in the second half of the century. It is with this direction that _________ Lecture 87 is associated _____________________________________________
the formation of official imperial classicism (primarily the eastern façade of the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles).
The first direction was implemented mainly in the first half of the century (which corresponded to a different situation in the state), the leading architect was Francois Mansart (1598 - 1666).
6. The most striking example of a group of castles of the first direction is the Maisons-Laffite Palace near Paris (architect Francois Mansart, 1642 - 1651). It was built for the President of the Paris Parliament Rene de Langey near Paris, on the high bank of the Seine. The building is no longer a closed square, but a U-shaped structure in plan (three pavilions are connected by galleries). The facades have clear floor divisions and are divided into separate volumes. Traditionally, each volume is covered with its own roof, the skyline of the building becomes very picturesque, it is complicated by pipes. The line separating the main volume of the building from the roof is also quite complex and picturesque (at the same time, the divisions between the floors of the building are very clear, clear, straight and are never broken or distorted). The facade as a whole has a planar character, however, the depth of the façade of the central and side projections is quite large, the order either leans against the wall with thin pilasters, or recedes from it with columns - depth appears, the facade becomes open.
The building opens up to the outside world and begins to interact with it - it is visibly connected with the surrounding space of the “regular park”. However, the interaction of the building and the surrounding space differs from how it was realized in Italy in Baroque monuments. In French castles, a space arose around the building, subordinate to architecture; it was not a synthesis, but rather a system in which the main element and subordinates were clearly distinguished. The park was located in accordance with the axis of symmetry of the building; elements closer to the palace repeated the geometric shapes of the palace (parterres and pools had clear geometric shapes). Thus, nature seemed to submit to the building (man).
The center of the facade is marked by the Delorme portico, which combines Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque traditions, however, compared to earlier buildings, the upper tier is not so loaded. The building clearly presents Gothic verticality and aspiration to the sky, but it is already balanced and dissected by clear horizontal lines. It can be seen how the lower part of the building is dominated by horizontality and analyticity, geometricism, clarity and calmness of forms, simplicity of boundaries, but the higher you go, the more complex the boundaries become, and the verticals begin to dominate.
The work is a model of a strong man: at the level of earthly affairs he is strong in mind, rationalistic, strives to be clear, subjugates nature, sets patterns and forms, but in his faith he is emotional, irrational, sublime. A skillful combination of these characteristics is characteristic of the work of Francois Mansart and the masters of the first half of the century.
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The Chateau Maisons-Laffite played a big role in the development of the type of small “intimate palaces”, including the small palaces of Versailles.
The garden and park ensemble of Vaux-le-Vicomte (author Louis Leveau, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1656 - 1661) is interesting. It is the culmination of the line of palaces of the second direction and the basis for the creation of a masterpiece of French architecture - the garden and park ensemble of Versailles.
Louis XIV appreciated the creation and took a team of craftsmen to build the royal country residence of Versailles. However, what they did on his order combines both the experience of Vaux-le-Vicomte and the built eastern façade of the Louvre (a separate section will be devoted to the Versailles ensemble).
The ensemble is built as a large regular space dominated by the palace. The building was built in the traditions of the first half of the century - high roofs over each volume (even a “blown roof” over the central projection), clear, clear floor divisions in the lower part of the building and complexity in the structure of the upper one. The palace contrasts with the surrounding space (even separated by a moat with water), and is not fused with the world into a single organism, as was done at Versailles.
The regular park is a composition of water and grass parterres strung on an axis; the axis is closed by a sculptural image of Hercules standing on a raised platform. The visible limitation, the “finitude” of the park (and, in this sense, the finiteness of the power of the palace and its owner) was also overcome at Versailles. In this sense, Vaux-le-Vicomte continues the second direction - the visualization of the strength of the human personality, which interacts with the world as a hero (confronting the world and subjugating it with visible effort). Versailles synthesizes the experience of both directions.
7. Second half of the century. gave development to the second direction - buildings that visualize the idea of absolutism. First of all, this was manifested in the construction of the Louvre ensemble.
By the end of the 16th century, the ensemble contained the Tuileries palaces (Renaissance buildings with clear floor divisions, with Gothic high roofs, torn pipes) and a small part of the southwestern building, created by the architect Pierre Lescaut.
Jacques Lemercier repeats the image of Levo in the northwestern building, and between them he installs the Clock Pavilion (1624).
The development of the western facade is distinguished by baroque dynamics, the culmination of which is the blown roof of the Clock Pavilion. The building has a loaded high upper tier and a triple pediment. The Delorme porticos are repeated several times along the façade.
In the second half of the 16th century. very little was built in France (due to civil wars); by and large, the western façade is one of the first large buildings after a long break. In a sense, the western façade solved the problem of reconstruction, restoring what had been achieved by French architects and updating it with new material from the 17th century.
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In 1661, Louis Levo began completing the construction of the complex and by 1664 he completed the Louvre square. The southern and northern facades repeat the southern one. The project of the eastern facade was suspended and a competition was announced, participation in which was actively offered to Italian architects, in particular, the famous Bernini (one of his projects has survived to this day).
However, Claude Perrault's project won the competition. The project is surprising - it in no way follows from the development of the three other buildings. The eastern facade of the Louvre is considered an example of official, absolutist classicism of the 17th century.
A sample was selected - paired Corinthian columns, which are carried along the entire facade with variations: in the galleries the columns are far from the wall, rich chiaroscuro appears, the facade is open and transparent. On the central projection, the columns are close to the wall and slightly spaced out on the main axis; on the side projections, the columns turn into pilasters.
The building is extremely analytical - clear, easily distinguishable volumes, straight boundaries between parts. The building is laid out clearly - from one point you can see the structure of the entire facade. The horizontal of the roof dominates.
The Perrault facade has three risalits, continuing the logic of the pavilion system. In addition, Perrault's order is not arranged in single columns along the facade, as Bernini intended, but in pairs - this is more in line with French national traditions.
An important principle in creating the facade was modularity - all the main volumes are designed in the proportions of the human body. The façade models human society, understanding French citizenship as “ordered”, subordination to the same laws that are held and set by Louis XIV depicted on the axis of the pediment. The façade of the Louvre, like any masterpiece of art, transforms the human recipient standing in front of it. Due to the fact that it is based on the proportion of the human body, a person identifies himself with the colonnade in the emerging illusory world and straightens up, as if becoming one with other citizens, while knowing that the top of everything is the monarch.
It should be noted that in the eastern facade, despite all the severity, there is a lot of baroque: the depth of the facade changes several times, tapering off towards the side facades; the building is decorated, the columns are very elegant and voluminous and are not evenly spaced, but accentuated - in pairs. Another feature: Perrault was not very careful about the fact that three buildings had already been built, and its façade was 15 meters longer than necessary to complete the square. As a solution to this problem, a false wall was built along the southern facade, which, like a screen, blocked the old facade. Thus, the apparent clarity and severity hides deception; the exterior of the building does not correspond to the interior.
The Louvre ensemble was completed by the building of the College of the Four Nations (architect Louis Leveau, 1661 - 1665). On the axis of the Louvre square, a semicircular wall of the facade was placed, on the axis of which there is a large domed temple and Lecture 87
A portico jutted out towards the palace. Thus, the ensemble visibly gathers a large space (the Seine flows between the two buildings, there is an embankment, squares).
It must be emphasized that the College building itself is located along the Seine and does not in any way correlate with the semicircular wall - again the technique of the theatrical screen is repeated, which performs an important symbolic, but not constructive function.
The resulting ensemble collects the history of France - from the Renaissance palaces of the Tuileries through the architecture of the turn of the century and to mature classicism. The ensemble also brings together secular France and Catholic, human and natural (river).
8. In 1677, the Academy of Architecture was created, the task was to accumulate architectural experience in order to develop “ideal eternal laws of beauty”, which all further construction should follow. The Academy gave a critical assessment of the principles of the Baroque, recognizing them as unacceptable for France. The ideals of beauty were based on the image of the eastern façade of the Louvre. The image of the eastern facade with one or another national treatment was reproduced throughout Europe; the Louvre for a long time was a representative of the city palace of the absolutist monarchy.
9. Artistic culture France was secular in nature, so more palaces were built than temples. However, in order to solve the problem of unifying the country and creating an absolute monarchy, it was necessary to involve the church in solving this problem. Cardinal Richelieu, the ideologist of absolutism and counter-reformation, was especially attentive to the construction of churches.
Small churches were built throughout the country, and a number of large religious buildings were created in Paris: the Church of the Sorbonne (architect Lemercier, 1635 - 1642), the cathedral of the convent of Val-de-Grâce (architect François Mansart, Jacques Lemercier), 1645 - 1665 ). These churches clearly display lush Baroque motifs, but still the general structure of the architecture is far from the Baroque of Italy. The layout of the Sorbonne Church subsequently became traditional: the main volume is cruciform in plan, columned porticoes with pediments at the ends of the branches of the cross, a dome on a drum above the middle cross. Lemercier introduced Gothic flying buttresses into the design of the church, giving them the appearance of small volutes. The domes of the churches of the first half of the century are grandiose, have a significant diameter, and are loaded with decoration. Architects of the first half of the century were looking for a measure between the grandeur and scale of the dome and the balance of the building.
Of the later religious buildings, it should be noted the Cathedral of the Invalides (architect J.A. Mansart, 1676 - 1708), attached to the Invalides House - a strict military building. This building has become one of the verticals of Paris; it is a representative of the “classicism” style in religious buildings. The building is a grandiose rotunda, each of the entrances is marked by a two-tier portico with a triangular pediment.
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The building is extremely symmetrical (square in plan, three identical porticos on the sides, round dome). The interior space is based on a circle, it is emphasized by the fact that the floor in the center of the hall is lowered by 1 meter. The cathedral has three domes - the outer gilded dome “works” for the city, the inner one is broken and in its center you can see the middle one - a parabolic dome. The cathedral has yellow windows, which means there is always sunlight in the room (symbolizing the Sun King).
The cathedral interestingly combines the tradition of church building that arose in France (dominant dome, flying buttresses in the dome in the form of volutes, etc.) and strict classicism. The cathedral almost did not serve as a temple; it soon became a secular building. Apparently, this is due to the fact that it was built not for reasons of providing Catholic worship, but as a symbolic building - the supporting point of the grandiose ensemble of the left bank of the Seine, symbolizing the power of the Sun King.
A large regular space was built around the House and the Cathedral of Invalides, subordinate to the cathedral. The cathedral is the focal point that brings Paris together.
10. Rebuilding Paris
Paris developed rapidly and became the largest city in Europe at that time. This posed difficult tasks for city planners: it was necessary to streamline the intricate, spontaneously formed network of streets, provide the city with water and dispose of waste, build a lot of new housing, build clear landmarks and dominant features that would mark the new capital of the world.
It would seem that to solve these problems it is necessary to rebuild the city. But even rich France cannot do this. City planners have found great ways to cope with the difficulties that have arisen.
This was solved by including individual large buildings and squares in the web of medieval streets, building a large space around them in a regular manner. This is, first of all, the large ensemble of the Louvre (which brought together “palace Paris”), the Palais Royal, and the ensemble of the Cathedral of Invalides. The main verticals of Paris were built - the domed churches of the Sorbonne, Val de Graeux, and the Cathedral of the Invalides. They set landmarks in the city, making it clear (although in fact, huge areas continued to be a network of intricate streets, but by setting a coordinate system, a feeling of clarity of a huge city is created). In certain parts of the city, straight avenues were built (rebuilt), offering views of the named landmarks.
Squares were an important means of organizing the city. They locally set the orderliness of space, often hiding the chaos of residential areas behind the building facades. A representative square of the beginning of the century is Place des Vosges (1605 - 1612), of the second half of the century - Place Vendôme (1685 - 1701).
Place Vendôme (J.A. Mansart, 1685 - 1701) is a square with cut corners. The square is arranged with a single front of buildings Lecture 87
palace type (mature classicism) with porticoes. In the center stood an equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Girardon. The entire square was created as a setting for the statue of the king, this explains its closed character. Two short streets open onto the square, offering a view of the image of the king and blocking other points of view.
It was strictly forbidden in Paris to have large private land plots and, especially, vegetable gardens. This led to the fact that the monasteries were mostly moved out of the city, hotels from small castles were turned into city houses with small courtyards.
But the famous Parisian boulevards were built - places that combined thoroughfares and green paths for walking. The boulevards were built so that they offered a view of one of the iconic points of absolutist Paris.
The entrances to the city were ordered and marked with triumphal arches (Saint-Denis, architect F. Blondel, 1672). The entrance to Paris from the west was supposed to correspond to the entrance to Versailles; the design of the Paris part was built on the Champs Elysees - an avenue with symmetrical ceremonial buildings. The nearest suburbs were annexed to Paris and in each of them, either due to several open streets, a view of the vertical landmarks of the city was provided, or their own iconic point (a square, a small ensemble) was built, symbolizing a united France and the power of the Sun King.
11. The problem of creating new housing was solved by creating a new type of hotel, which dominated French architecture for two centuries. The hotel was located inside the courtyard (in contrast to the bourgeois mansion, which was built along the street). The courtyard, limited by services, faced the street, and the residential building was located in the back, separating the courtyard from a small garden. This principle was laid down by the architect Lescaut back in the 16th century, and was reproduced by the masters of the 17th century: Hotel Carnavalet (architect F. Mansart rebuilt Lescaut’s creation in 1636), Hotel Sully (architect Andruet-Ducersault, 1600 - 1620) , Hotel Tubef (architect P. Lemuet, 1600 - 1620), and others.
This layout had an inconvenience: the only courtyard was both front and utility. IN further development In this type, the residential and utility parts of the house are separated. In front of the windows of the residential building there is a front courtyard, and on the side of it there is a second, utility courtyard: Hotel Liancourt (architect P. Lemuet, 1620 - 1640).
Francois Mansart built many hotels, introducing many improvements: a clearer layout of the premises, low stone fences on the street side, relegating services to sides yard Trying to minimize the number of passage rooms, Mansar introduces a large number of stairs. The lobby and main staircase become an essential part of the hotel. Hotel Bacinier (architect F. Mansart, first half of the 17th century), Hotel Carnavale (1655 - 1666).
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Along with the restructuring of the structure, the facades and roofs of hotels also change: the roofs become not so high due to their broken shape (living spaces in the attics were called attics), the separate ceiling of each part of the house is replaced by a common one, the porch and protruding porticos remain only in hotels on squares. There is an emerging trend towards flattening roofs.
Thus, the hotel turns from a small analogue of a country palace into a new type of urban dwelling.
12. Paris XVII century. is a school for European architects. If until the middle of the 17th century. Most of the architects went to study in Italy, then from the 60s, when Perrault won a competition with Bernini himself, Paris could present to architects all over the world magnificent examples of architecture of various types of buildings, principles of urban planning.
Works for review
Luxembourg Palace in Paris (architect Solomon de Brosses, 1611);
Palais Royal (architect Jacques Lemercier, 1624);
Church of the Sorbonne (architect Jacques Lemercier, 1629);
Orleans building of the castle in Blois (architect Francois Mansart, 1635 - 1638);
Palace Maisons-Laffite near Paris (architect Francois Mansart, 16421651);
Church of Val de Graeux (architect François Mansart, Jacques Lemercier), 1645 -
College of the Four Nations (architect Louis Levo, 1661 - 1665);
House and Cathedral of the Invalides (architect Liberal Bruant, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1671 - 1708);
Louvre Ensemble:
Southwestern building (architect Lesko, 16th century);
Western building (continued by the building of architect Lesko, implemented by architect Jacques Lemercier, 1624);
Pavilion of the Clock (architect Jacques Lemercier, 1624);
Northern and southern buildings (architect Louis Levo, 1664);
Eastern building (architect Claude Perrault, 1664);
Place des Vosges (1605 - 1612), Place Vendôme (architect Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1685 - 1701).
Hotels: Hotel Carnavalet (architect F. Mansart rebuilt Lescaut's creation in 1636), Hotel Sully (architect Andruet-Ducerseau, 1600 - 1620), Hotel Tubef (architect P. Lemuet, 1600 - 1620), Hotel Liancourt ( architect P. Lemuet, 1620 - 1640), Hotel Bacinier (architect F. Mansart, first half of the 17th century);
Arc de Triomphe of Saint-Denis, (architect F. Blondel, 1672);
Palace and park ensemble Vaux-le-Vicomte (author Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1656 - 1661);
The palace and park ensemble of Versailles (designed by Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin Mansart, Andre Le Nôtre, begun in 1664).
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3.2. Analysis of a masterpiece of French architecture of the 17th century. Garden and park ensemble of Versailles
The garden and park ensemble of Versailles is a grandiose structure, representative art XVII V. The consistency of the ensemble, its grandeur and structure allows us to reveal its essence through the concept of an artistic model. Below it will be shown how this monument functions as art model.
Cognition using a model is based on replacing the modeled object with another object that is isomorphic to the object under study in a number of relevant properties. Due to the fact that the model is more accessible to research than the cognizable object, it allows us to discover new properties and essential connections. The results obtained during the study of the model are extrapolated to the cognizable object.
The operationality of the model makes it possible to perform certain actions with it, to construct experiments in which the essential properties of the model and, therefore, the object under study are manifested. Effective schemes of action can be transferred to the study of a cognizable object. The model concentrates the essential properties of the object being studied and has a large information capacity.
The basis of model substitution is the isomorphism (correspondence) of the cognizable object and the model, therefore the knowledge obtained in the modeling process is true in the classical sense of correspondence to the object under study.
A work of art meets all the principles of the general scientific method of modeling and, therefore, is a model. TO specific features works of art as models and the process of artistic modeling itself include the following:
The master, acting as a researcher, models extremely complex objects that reveal the meaning of human existence; he necessarily builds isomorphism between obviously non-isomorphic structures;
The property of visibility acquires an attributive character in artistic models;
Due to the high status of visibility in artistic models, ontology increases (identification of the model with the object under study, model interaction with a real relationship);
A work of art realizes its cognitive essence through special skill. The tempting beginning of the artistic model unfolds in relation to the artist and the artistic material, giving rise to a new quality in the form of a sensually revealed essence. Spectator in progress ideal relationship with a work of art, one discovers new knowledge about oneself and the world.
The creation and action of an artistic model are carried out only in a relationship when the subject is not eliminated from the relationship, but remains Lecture 87
its necessary element. Therefore, attitude becomes an attributive quality of the artistic model and the modeling process.
The landscape gardening ensemble of Versailles is a system of artistic elements.
The construction of the Versailles ensemble began in 1661, the main buildings were erected during the 17th century, but transformations continued throughout the next century. The garden and park ensemble of Versailles is a gigantic complex of various structures, built on the outskirts of the small town of Versailles, 24 kilometers from Paris. The complex is located along a single axis and includes sequentially:
1) access roads around the city of Versailles,
2) the square in front of the palace,
3) the Grand Palace itself with many pavilions,
4) water and grass parterres,
5) Main Alley,
6) Grand Canal,
7) many bosquets,
8) a variety of fountains and grottoes,
9) regular park and irregular,
10) two other palaces - Grand and Small Trianons.
The described multitude of buildings is subject to a strict hierarchy and forms a clear system: the main element of the composition is the King’s Great Bedroom, then, in order of distance from the center, the building of the new palace, a regular park, an irregular park and access roads through the city of Versailles. Each of the named components of the ensemble is a complex system and, on the one hand, is uniquely different from other components, on the other hand, it is included in an integral system and implements patterns and rules common to the entire ensemble.
1. The king's large bedroom is located in the building of the old palace from the time of Louis XIII, it is highlighted from the outside by the “Delorme portico”, a balcony and an ornate pediment. The entire ensemble is systematically organized and subordinated to the Large Bedroom; this is achieved in several ways.
Firstly, it was in the King’s Great Bedchamber and the surrounding rooms that the main official life Louis XIV - the bedroom was the most significant place of life at the French court. Secondly, it is located on the axis of symmetry of the ensemble. Thirdly, the figurative symmetry of the façade of the old palace breaks down into subordination to mirror symmetry, further highlighting the elements of the axis. Fourthly, the fragment of the old palace in which the bedroom is located is surrounded by the main building of the palace as a protective wall; it seems to be protected by the main building as something most sacred, like an altar (which is emphasized by the location of the ensemble relative to the cardinal points). Fifthly, the specific architecture of the first half of the 17th century. contrasts with the new building and other parts of the ensemble: the old building has high roofs with lucarnes, curvilinear Lecture 87
an elaborate pediment, the vertical clearly dominates - in contrast to the classicism of the rest of the ensemble. The axis of symmetry above the king's bedroom is marked by the high point pediment.
2. The new palace was built in the style of classicism. It has three floors (rusticated basement, large main floor and attic), arched windows on the first and second floors and rectangular windows on the third, classical Ionic porticoes, on which instead of a pediment there are sculptures, the flat roof is also decorated with sculpture. The building has a clear structure, geometric shapes, clear divisions, powerful figurative and mirror symmetry, a clear dominant horizontal line, it adheres to the principle of modularity and antique proportions. At all times, the palace was painted in yellow, sunny color. On the side of the park facade, on the axis of symmetry, there is the Mirror Gallery - one of the main diplomatic premises of the king.
The new palace plays its role in the overall composition. Firstly, it surrounds the old building with the main element - the Great King's Bedchamber, designating it as the central, dominant element. The new palace is located on the axis of symmetry of the ensemble. Secondly, the building of the palace in the most clear, concentrated way sets the main standards of the ensemble - geometricism of forms, clarity of structure, clarity of divisions, modularity, hierarchy, “solarity”. The palace displays examples that, to one degree or another, correspond to all other elements of the ensemble. Thirdly, the new palace has a large extent, thanks to which it is visible from many points in the park.
3. A regular park is located near the palace in accordance with the same main axis of the ensemble. It combines, on the one hand, the liveliness and organic nature of nature, and on the other, the geometricity and clarity of the building. Thus, the regular park is correlated with the main element of the system, subordinate to it in form and structure, but at the same time filled with a different - natural - content. Many researchers reflect this in the metaphor of “living architecture”.
The regular park, like all elements of the structure, is subordinate to the main axis of the ensemble. In the park, the axis is distinguished by the Main Alley, which then turns into the Grand Canal. On the Main Alley, fountains are located sequentially, also emphasizing and highlighting the main axis.
The regular park is divided into two parts in accordance with the distance from the palace and the erosion of the patterns set by the main building - these are parterres and bosquets.
Water and grass parterres are located in close proximity to the palace and follow its shape. Water fills the rectangular pools, doubling the image of the palace and creating another line of symmetry between water and sky. Grass, flowers, shrubs - everything is planted and trimmed in accordance with the shapes of classical geometry - rectangle, cone, circle. The stalls generally obey the axis of symmetry of the palace. The space of the stalls is open, its structure is clearly readable.
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The sunny atmosphere remains. Just like the palace building, the strict geometric straight boundaries of the parterres are decorated with sculpture.
On the sides of the main axis are the so-called bosquets (baskets) - this is a small open area surrounded by trees. There are sculptures and fountains on the bosquets. The bosquets are no longer symmetrical to the single axis of the palace and are extremely varied; the space of the bosquets is less clear. However, they all have internal symmetry (usually central) and a radial structure. In the direction of one of the alleys emanating from the bosquet, the palace is always visible. Bosquets as an element of the system are subordinated to the palace in a different way than the parterres - the exemplary forms are read less clearly, although the general principles are still preserved.
The main alley turns into the Grand Canal. The water spaces are built in the same way as the plant ones: on the axis and near the palace there are water spaces of a clear geometric shape, and the distant pools have a freer shape, a less clear and open structure.
There are many alleys running between the bosquets, but only one of them - the Main Canal Alley - has no visible end - it seems to dissolve in a haze due to its great length. All other alleys end with a grotto, a fountain or just a platform, once again emphasizing the uniqueness - unity of command - of the Main Axis.
4. The so-called irregular park differs from the rest by truly “irregular” curvilinear alleys, asymmetrical plantings and free, untrimmed, seemingly unkempt, untouched greenery. However, in fact, it is extremely thoughtfully connected with the whole of the ensemble, obeying the same rational, but more hidden laws. Firstly, the main axis is never intersected by plantings or buildings - it remains free. Secondly, small architectural forms clearly repeat the motifs of the palace. Thirdly, the so-called “ah-ah-gaps” are made in the foliage, through which the palace is visible even at a great distance. Fourthly, fountains, grottoes and small sculptural groups are connected by a single theme and style with each other and with the corresponding elements of the regular park. Fifthly, the connection with the whole is established by maintaining a sunny, open atmosphere.
5. The entrance to the residence is a system of three highways that converge in front of the main palace on the Place d'Armes at the point of the sculptural image of the monarch. Highways lead to Paris (central), as well as to Saint-Cloud and Sceaux, where in the 17th century. Louis' residences were located and from where there were direct exits to the main European states.
Access roads to the ensemble are also an element of the system, since they obey its basic rules. All three highways have buildings that are symmetrical about their axes. The symmetry of the main axis (going to Paris) is especially emphasized: on either side of it are the stables of the royal musketeers and other service buildings, identical in Lecture 87
both sides of the highway. The three axes converge in front of the balcony of the Great Royal Bedroom. Thus, even the space of several kilometers around the ensemble turns out to be subordinate to the system-forming element of the model.
Moreover, the ensemble is built into a large supersystem - Paris and France. From Versailles to Paris in the middle of the 17th century there were arable lands and vineyards (about 20 km), and it was simply impossible to directly build a link between Versailles and Paris. The task of including the model in the supersystem was skillfully solved by the appearance of the Champs Elysees at the exit from Paris - a ceremonial avenue with symmetrical buildings, repeating the structure of the central access highway in Versailles.
So, the garden and park ensemble of Versailles is a strict hierarchical system in which all elements are subject to a single rule, but at the same time have their own unique feature. This means that the ensemble of Versailles can claim to be a model, since any model is a well-thought-out system of elements. However, this fact is not enough to reveal the modeling essence of the chosen work; it is also necessary to show that the Versailles ensemble serves as a means of cognition, replacing a certain object under study.
Next, the Versailles ensemble is analyzed as an actual model that implements cognitive functions. To do this, it is necessary to show that the work replaces (models) a certain object, the study of which was relevant for the authors of the model. The creators of this model are several masters. Initially, in 1661, Louis Levo (architect) and André Le Nôtre (master of park art) were involved in the project. Then the circle of authors expanded - Charles Lebrun (interiors, fine arts), Jules Hardouin-Mansart (architect) began work. The sculptors Coisevox, Tubi, Leongre, Mazelin, Juvanet, Coisevo and many others participated in the creation of various elements of the complex.
Traditionally, in art historical studies of Versailles, one of the main authors of the ensemble, Louis XIV, remains aside. It is known that the king was not only the customer for the construction of the complex, but also the main ideologist. Louis XIV was well versed in architecture and considered architecture an extremely important symbolic part of state power. He professionally read the drawings and carefully, repeatedly discussed the construction of all his residences with the craftsmen.
The Versailles ensemble was deliberately built by the masters (including Louis XIV, the architect) as the main official royal residence, so it is natural to assume that the object of modeling was the French statehood or certain aspects of it. The creation of the Versailles complex helped its authors understand how a united, powerful France could be structured, how it was possible to gather disparate parts of the country into a single whole, how to unite the nation, Lecture 87
what is the role of the king in creating and maintaining a powerful national state, etc.
The proof of this statement will be carried out in several stages.
1. The Versailles ensemble is the model of the King of France.
in several ways. Firstly, by placing the Large Royal Bedroom in the center of the ensemble.
Secondly, using the traditional lily - the oldest symbol of the king - as an important element. Louis XIV gave new meaning to this ancient symbol. His statement “I will gather France into a fist!” is known, while he made a gesture with his hand, as if collecting scattering unruly petals into a fist and repeating the structure of the royal symbol: three diverging petals and a ring that tightens them, which does not allow them to scatter. The “lily” sign is located above the entrance to the residence; its stylized image is repeated many times in various interiors of the palace.
However, the most important thing is that the geometry of the royal symbol “lily” is the basis for the composition of the ensemble. The “lily” composition is realized through three converging thoroughfares in front of the royal balcony, continuing on the park side with alleys, and an isthmus connecting them - the royal part of the palace, including the Great Bedroom of the old castle and the Mirror Gallery of the new building.
Thirdly, the placement of the ensemble in the cardinal directions and its axial structure gives grounds for comparing the complex with a gigantic, universal Catholic church. The most sacred place of the temple - the altar - corresponds to the Great Royal Bedroom. This correlation is reinforced by surrounding the bedroom with stronger modern structures, the shrine is placed inside and protected, even somewhat hidden.
The ensemble thus models the leading role of the king in Versailles and, therefore, in 17th-century France. The role of the king, according to the constructed model, is to decisively, even forcibly, pull together the “stubborn petals” - the provinces and regions of the state. The king’s entire life consists of official service to the state (it’s not for nothing that the bedroom turns out to be the dominant feature of the ensemble). The king is the absolute ruler, collecting both temporal and spiritual power.
2. The Versailles ensemble is a model of France in the second half of the 17th century.
Louis XIV’s thesis “France is Me” is well known. According to this
According to the thesis, the Versailles complex, modeling the king, simultaneously models France. The strict systematicity and hierarchy of the model is extrapolated to the role and place of the king in the French state of the 17th century, but also to France itself of the period under review. Everything that has been said above about the king can be extrapolated to France.
The Versailles complex as a model of France allows us to clarify the main features of the country's government. First of all, France is one Lecture 87
hierarchical system, assembled by a single law, rule, will. This single law is based on the will of the king - Louis XIV, next to whom the world is built and becomes clear, geometrically clear.
This is superbly visualized by the architect L. Levo in the overall compositional structure of the ensemble. The new classicist palace embraces the center - the Great Royal Bedroom - and sets standards of clarity and clarity for the entire structure. Near the palace, nature submits and takes on the forms and patterns of the building (first of all, this is realized in the parterres), then the standards begin to gradually blur, the forms become more free and varied (bosquets and an irregular park). However, even in the far corners (at first glance, free from the power of the king), gazebos, rotundas and other small architectural forms, with their symmetry and clarity of form, remind of the law to which the whole obeys. In addition, through the skillfully trimmed “ah-ah-gaps” in the foliage, every now and then a palace appears in the distance as a symbol of the presence of law throughout France, wherever its subjects are.
The palace sets the norms for the structure of France as a system (clarity, clarity, hierarchy, the presence of a single law, etc.), showing the most remote elements of the periphery what they should strive for. The main building of the palace, with its dominant horizontal position, powerful figurative symmetry and Ionic porticoes along the entire length of the façade, models France as a state relying on its citizens. All citizens are equal and subject to the main law - the will of King Louis XIV.
The Versailles complex reveals the principles of an ideal state with a powerful unified government.
3. The Versailles ensemble models the role of France as the capital of Europe and the world.
Louis XIV laid claim not only to the creation of a powerful unified state, but also to a leading role in Europe at that time. The authors of the ensemble realized this idea in various ways, revealing in the process of building the model the essence of France - the capital of the world.
First of all, this is done with the help of the “sun” composition, which, due to the well-known metaphor of the “Sun King,” refers to the leading role of Louis XIV. The composition “lily” turns into the composition “sun”, since the symbolism of the sun has a broader context. We are talking about world domination, because the sun is one for the whole world and shines for everyone. The monument models the role of Louis XIV = France as shining to the whole world, revealing light, bringing wisdom and goodness, laws and life. The rays of the “sun” diverge from the center - the Great Royal Bedroom - throughout the world.
In addition to the indicated symbolism of the sun, it is additionally emphasized:
By creating a common solar atmosphere ensemble - yellow and white in the color of the palace itself, the sunny shine of streams of water, Lecture 87
large windows and mirrors in which the color of the sun multiplies and fills all spaces;
Numerous fountains and sculptural groups correspond to the “solar theme” - ancient mythical heroes associated with the sun god Apollo, allegories of day, night, morning, evening, seasons, etc. For example, the Apollo fountain, located on the central axis, was read by contemporaries as follows: “The sun god Apollo on a chariot, surrounded by trumpeting tritons, jumps out of the water, greeting his elder brother” (Le Trou a);
a variety of solar symbols were used, appropriate flowers were selected (for example, the most common flowers in the park are jonquil daffodils);
the bosquets are built according to a radial structure, the circle motif is constantly repeated in the fountains;
The symbol of the sun is located on the altar of the royal chapel, and its ceiling contains an image of the diverging rays of the sun, etc.
In addition to the symbolism of the sun, Versailles modeled the dominant position of France in Europe at the time and, through “direct analogy,” surpassed all the royal residences of Europe at the time in a variety of ways.
First of all, the ensemble in question had the largest dimensions for similar structures - in area (101 hectares), in the length of the main alleys and canals (up to 10 km), in the length of the palace facade (640 m). Versailles also surpassed all the residences of Europe in the variety, splendor, skill of its elements (each of which was a separate work of art), in their rarity and uniqueness, and in the high cost of materials. The multitude of fountains during water shortages in most European capitals of the 17th century was “defiant.”
The superiority of the Versailles royal ensemble corresponded to the historical position of France in Europe in the second half of the 17th century: during the time of Louis XIV, the country gradually annexed its border regions, regions of the Spanish Netherlands, some territories of Spain, Germany, Austria, and expanded colonies in America and Africa; Paris was largest city Europe at that time; France had the largest army, military and merchant fleet, “superior even to England,” the greatest industrial growth, the most thoughtful customs tariff policy, etc. The superlative degree was applicable to the situation of France in the period under review in many respects.
The large area of the park and its “endlessness” created the impression of the boundless possession of France, the center not even of Europe, but of the world. This simulated quality (to be the capital of the world, to own the world) was enhanced by the significant length of the main alley of the park (about 10 km including the irregular part) and the promising optical effect resulting from this. Since parallel lines converge at infinity, the direct visibility of the convergence of parallel lines Lecture 87
lines (alley and canal boundaries) visualizes infinity, makes infinity visible.
The main avenue was clearly visible from the Gallery of Mirrors, one of the most official places of the palace, intended for diplomatic meetings and processions. We can say that “from the gallery windows there was a view of infinity,” and this infinity of the world belonged to the park, the sovereign, and France. The astronomical discoveries of the New Age turned the idea of the structure of the Universe upside down and showed that the world is infinite, and man is just a grain of sand in the vast expanse of space. However, the masters (the authors of the ensemble) skillfully “placed infinity within the framework of the royal residence”: yes, the world is infinite, and Louis XIV = France owns this entire world. At the same time, the scale of Europe turned out to be insignificant and was lost, Versailles became the capital of the world. Extrapolating from this statement, any citizen of France and representative of another state understood that France is the capital of the world.
The location of the ensemble along the cardinal points ensured the highest actualization of the simulated position at sunset, when from the windows of the Mirror Gallery it was clear that the sun was setting exactly at the point of infinity of the park (and therefore the world). If we take into account the “Sun King” metaphor, then the extrapolated knowledge about the world turns into the following: the sun at sunset says goodbye to its older brother and, obeying his will (his rule, his park), sets in the place of the world that is intended for him.
The significant complexity and incredible, unprecedented at that time, variety of components of the ensemble, which included, according to contemporaries’ descriptions, “everything in the world,” turned Versailles into a model of the world as a whole.
France's claim to mastery of the world required modeling the entire world known to Europeans. In this regard, palm trees are indicative as a model of Africa - a tree that is unusual for a northern country and specific specifically for the defeated and annexed “southern edge of the world.” The model was integrated into the royal ensemble, thereby demonstrating the inclusion and subordination of the southern continent of France.
France's leading role in Europe was also modeled through cleverly designed access roads. L. Levo brought three highways to the Marble Courtyard, into which the windows of the Great Royal Bedroom open. The highways led to the main residences of Louis - Paris, Saint-Cloud and Sceaux, from where the main routes to the main European states went. The main Paris-Versailles highway at the exit from Paris (Champs Elysees) repeated its structure as the entrance to the Versailles ensemble, again subordinating Paris to Versailles, despite the distance of tens of kilometers.
Thus, thanks to the modeling capabilities of the Versailles ensemble, all of Europe converged on the square in front of the palace, visualizing the phrase “All roads lead... to Paris.”
Important aspect France's international policy was modeled through the Gallery of Mirrors, which connects two corner pavilions - the Hall of War and the Hall of Peace. Each of the halls is decorated according to the name Lecture 87
and, according to the descriptions of contemporaries, it was even accompanied by appropriate - warlike or peaceful - music. The reliefs in each of the halls model Louis XIV and France, either as a powerful aggressive force or as a merciful force towards those who bow to its will.
The situation modeled by the Gallery of Mirrors corresponded to the complex domestic and foreign policy of the king and state, which combined a powerful, aggressive military strategy with “cunning” actions, rich in intrigue and secret alliances. On the one hand, the country was constantly at war. On the other hand, Louis XIV did not miss a single opportunity to strengthen the influence of France through “peaceful means,” starting from claims to the inheritance of his Spanish wife, ending with bringing all legally inaccurate provisions in his favor and organizing multiple secret and overt alliances.
The plan of the palace reveals a large number of courtyards, the existence of which cannot be guessed when standing in front of the façade of the palace or even walking through its halls. The presence of secret courtyards and passages, false walls and other spaces does not contradict the systematic nature of the work as a whole. On the contrary, in the context of modeling, this fact indicates the real situation in the formation of the French state in the second half of the 17th century: external prosperity and clarity of rules, on the one hand, and the presence of secret intrigues and shadow politics, on the other. In the process of creating the most complex system of Versailles, the authors deliberately introduced secret passages and hidden courtyards, thereby revealing and proving the need for political intrigue and secret conspiracies and alliances in public administration.
Thus, each element of the ensemble has modeling capabilities, and the entire system of elements as a whole represents a model of French statehood, its principles of structure and contradictions.
The authors of the ensemble - Louis XIV, Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Andre Le Nôtre, Charles Lebrun and others modeled a powerful absolute monarchy as an ideal state. To do this, they selected old means of artistic modeling, came up with new means or changed existing ones.
Using the experience already gained in the history of art in modeling the state structure, the authors acted as users of available artistic models - Ancient Egyptian architectural complexes, Roman forums of the imperial period, national palace ensembles of the early 17th century. and others. However, as a result of collective creative activity, the authors of Versailles created a fundamentally new artistic model, which allows us to call the masters the authors of the model.
Architects, artists, masters of interiors, gardens and parks of subsequent generations mastered the methodological and technical principles and techniques created by the authors of the ensemble. Throughout Europe in subsequent centuries, leading European countries were built Lecture 87
numerous “Versailles” - royal residences that model the general principles of the structure of the monarchical state of a particular country. These are the garden and park complexes of Caserta in Italy, JIa Gragna in Spain, Drottningholm in Sweden, Hett Loo in Holland, Hamptoncourt in England, Nymphenburg, San Souci, Herrnhausen, Charlottenburg in Germany, Schönbrunn in Sweden, Peterhof in Russia. Each of the creators of such ensembles used certain modeling principles developed by the creators of the Versailles complex.