French Art: The Ancien Regime, 1620 - 1775
Paris: Flammarion, 1996. Hardcover. Black cloth over boards; Black pictorial dj.; 399 pp.; Profusely illustrated with color and bw plates and figures. VG+ but with museum ex-lib. book plate inside front cover, sticker on spine and pocket inside back cover. Item #118349
ISBN: 9782080136176
Divided into four sections: Classical and Baroque, A Heroic Era 1620-1660, A Regal Era 1660-1710, An Era of Grace and Craft 1710-1775; Includes art and architecture; Beautifully illustrated. The third volume of Andre Chastel's sweeping history of French art explores the extraordinary painting, sculpture, and architecture that emerged during the reigns of Louis XIII, Louis XIV, and Louis XV. During this 150-year period, three major styles dominated French art. Under Louis XIII, the official court painter was Peter Paul Rubens, and the order of the day was the baroque, a continuation of the Italian influence which had spread to France during the Renaissance. However, over the course of Louis XIV's 60-year reign, a uniquely French style of triumphal classicism emerged, whose monumental proportions reflected the Sun King's drive for French hegemony in Europe. This striving for glory was expressed artistically in the grandiose architecture of Versailles and its complex painted and sculpted allegorical program. Louis XV's tastes were very different from those of his celebrated predecessor. He had the monumental apartments at Versailles subdivided to create more refined, intimate settings, and had them hung with charming rococo pastoral scenes and fetes galantes. This period also saw a flowering of the decorative arts, in which stylistic developments paralleled those in painting, sculpture, and architecture. Contents: A heroic era 1620-1660. 1. Preciosity ; 2. Architectural inventiveness ; 3. Experimentation in painting ; 4. Master architects: Francois Mansart and Louis Le Vau -- A regal era 1660-1710. 1. The age of Louis XIV ; 2. Royal palaces: The Louvre and Versailles ; 3. The Grand Manner in painting and decoration ; 4. The Grand Manner in furniture and sculpture ; 5. The Grand Manner in architecture ; 6. Around 1700 -- An era of grace and craft 1710-1775. 1. The Aristocratic age of Rococo and the Enlightenment ; 2. Spectacular urban development ; 3. Pride of craft ; 4. Painting and sculpture: genres and themes ; 5. Culture and "deconstruction" -- Introduction to the history of French art extracts.
OCLC: 36142982
Price: $29.97