Absolutism in 17th century France considered devotion to the monarch to be the height of patriotism. The phrase of King Louis XIV is known: "The state is me."
But it is also known that at this time in France a new philosophical direction was established - rationalism, which considered the human mind to be the basis of knowledge. One of the founders of the new doctrine, Rene Descartes, said: "I think, therefore I am."
Based on this philosophy, a new style in art began to take shape - classicism. It was built on the samples of antiquity and the Renaissance.
Architecture
Architecture changed its priorities and moved away from fortress cities to residence cities.
Maisons-Laffitte
Maisons-Laffite- the famous castle (palace) in the eponymous suburb of Paris, 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-Laffitte 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.
Around the palace, a park was usually arranged, which was distinguished by an ideal order: the plants were trimmed, the alleys intersected at right angles, 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 front 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 Leveaux and Jules Hardouin-Mansart.
The creator of the park is Andre Le Nôtre.
Carlo Maratta. Portrait of André Le Nôtre (c. 1680)
The Ensemble of Versailles is the largest in Europe. It is distinguished by a unique integrity of design, 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 the synthesis of the 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 are columns and pilasters. The upper tier is shortened, ending with a balustrade (a fence consisting of a number of figured columns connected by a railing) and sculptural groups.
The park of the ensemble, designed by André Le Nôtre, is distinguished by a clear layout: geometric pools with a mirror-smooth surface. Each large alley ends with a reservoir: the main staircase from the terrace of the Grand Palace leads to the fountain of Latona; at the end of the Royal Alley are the fountain of Apollo 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
Fountain of Latona
At the end of the XVII-beginning of the XVIII centuries. art in France gradually began to turn into a means of ideology. In the Place Vendôme in Paris, one can already see the subordination of art to politics.
Place Vendôme. Architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart
In the center of Place Vendôme, there is a 44-meter Vendome column with a statue of Napoleon at the top, modeled on the Roman column of Trajan.
Vendôme column
The closed quadrangle of the square with cut corners is surrounded by administrative buildings with a single system of decoration.
One of the most significant monumental structures of the 17th century. in France - the Cathedral of the Invalides (1680-1706).
View of the House of Invalids from a bird's eye view
The Palace of Invalides (State House of Invalids) began to be built on the orders of Louis XIV in 1670 as a home for elderly soldiers (“war invalids”). Today it still accepts disabled people, but it also houses several museums and a military necropolis.
The cathedral of the Palace of the Invalides was created by Jules Hardouin-Mansart. The cathedral with its powerful dome changed the panorama of the city.
Cathedral
dome of the cathedral
East facade of the Louvre
Louvre. East facade. Architect K. Perro. Length 173 m
The eastern facade of the Louvre (Colonnade) is a vivid example of French classicism. The project was selected by competition. Among the participants were famous masters, but the victory was won by an unknown architect Claude Perrault(1613-1688), since it was his work that embodied the main ideas of the French: rigor and solemnity, scale and simplicity.
Sculpture
In the second half of the XVII century. French classicism already served to glorify the monarchy, so the sculpture that adorned the palaces was required not so much classical rigor and harmony as solemnity and splendor. Effectiveness, expressiveness, monumentality - these are the main features of French sculpture of the 17th century. This was helped by the traditions of the Italian Baroque, especially the work of Lorenzo Bernini.
Sculptor Francois Girardon (1628-1715)
G. Rigaud. Portrait of Francois Girardon
Studied in Rome under Bernini. Girardon completed the sculptural part of the Apollo Gallery in the Louvre. Since 1666, he has been working in Versailles - he creates the sculptural group "The Abduction of Proserpine 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 best works of the sculptor is the equestrian statue of King Louis XIV (1683), which adorned 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 reduced copy of the equestrian monument of Louis XIV, which adorned Place Vendôme. An ancient Roman statue of the emperor Marcus Aurelius served as a model. The monument perfectly fit into the architectural ensemble of the square. The work of Girardon throughout the XVIII 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 Coisevox (1640-1720)
French Baroque sculptor. He worked a lot in Versailles: he designed the War Hall and the Mirror Gallery.
Mirror gallery in Versailles
Kuazevoks also created sculptural portraits, which were distinguished by their accuracy and psychological characteristics. He used baroque techniques: unexpected poses, free movements, lush robes.
Pierre Puget (1620-1694)
Pierre Puget. Self portrait (Louvre)
Pierre Pugne is the most talented master of that time: a French painter, sculptor, architect and engineer. In his work, the influence of Bernini and the classic theater is felt.
Pierre Puget "Milon of Croton with a lion" (Louvre)
Puget's sculptures are notable for their lifelike persuasiveness in conveying tension and suffering, and for their combination of expression and clarity of composition. Sometimes he is fond of exaggeration and theatricality of poses and movements. But his style was very much in keeping with the tastes of his era. Compatriots even called 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 kept this path throughout the long reign of Louis XIV. All branches of art were centralized.
The first painter of the court was Charles Lebrun.
Charles Lebrun (1619-1690)
Nicola Largilliere. Portrait of the painter Charles Lebrun
He personally directed the Academy, influenced the tastes and worldview of a whole generation of artists, becoming the most important figure in the “Louis XIV style”. In 1661, the king commissioned Lebrun for a series of paintings from the history of Alexander the Great; the first of them brought the artist the nobility and the title of "First Royal Painter" and a lifetime pension.
Ch. Lebrun "Alexander's Entry into Babylon" (1664)
From 1662, Lebrun controlled all artistic commissions 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 (the Military Hall and the Peace Hall). But the artist died before he could complete the murals of Versailles, which Noel Coypel completed according to his sketches.
C. Lebrun "Equestrian portrait of Louis XIV" (1668). Chartreuse Museum (Duai)
Pierre Mignard (1612-1695)
Pierre Mignard. self-portrait
Renowned French artist. Competed with Lebrun. Became head of the Academy of St. Luke in Paris, opposing the Royal Academy. In 1690, after the death of Lebrun, he became chief court painter, director of the royal art museums and manufactories, member and professor of the Paris Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and then its rector and chancellor. Almost at the age of 80, he creates projects for murals in the Cathedral of the Invalides, which are still kept in the Louvre, paints two plafonds in the small apartments of the king in the Palace of Versailles, paints a series of delicate religious paintings: “Christ and the Samaritan Woman”, 1690 (Louvre) ; "Saint Cecilia", 1691 (Louvre); "Faith" and "Hope", 1692.
The main advantage of his works is harmonious coloring. But in general, he paid tribute to his time in art: external brilliance, theatrical composition, gracefulness, but cutesy figures.
P. Minyar "Virgin with grapes"
These shortcomings are least noticeable in his portraits. He owns numerous portraits of courtiers, favorites of the king and Louis XIV himself, whom he painted about ten times.
P. Minyar. Equestrian portrait of Louis XIV
Of Mignard's frescoes, the most important were the painting in the dome of the 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 the Val-de-Grâce "Glory of the Lord"
L.S.Aleshina
If the 17th century in the architecture of France was marked by grandiose construction works for the king, the main result of which was the creation of the monumental ensemble of Versailles, where the very style of classicism in its imposing splendor reveals elements of an internal connection with baroque architecture, then the 18th century brings with it new trends.
Construction has moved to cities. The new needs of the era posed the problem of creating a type of urban residential building-mansion. The development of bourgeois relations, the growth of trade and industry, the strengthening of the role of the third estate in public life put forward the task of building new public buildings - stock exchanges, commercial premises, public theaters. The growing role of cities in the economic and political life of the country, the emergence of new types of private and public buildings pose new requirements for architects in creating an urban ensemble.
Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Robert de Cotte. Chapel in the Palace of Versailles. 1699-1710 Interior view
The architectural style of the era also undergoes changes. Characteristic of the classicism of the last century, the great unity of figurative solutions of the external appearance and internal space by the beginning of the 18th century. breaks up. This process of decay is accompanied by a separation of building practice and theoretical teachings, a difference in the principles of interior and facade design. Leading architects in their theoretical works still worship antiquity and the rules of the three orders, but in direct architectural practice they depart from the strict requirements of logical clarity and rationalism, subordination of the particular to the whole, and clear constructiveness. The work of Robert de Cotte (1656-1735), the successor of Jules Hardouin-Mansart as royal architect (he completed the construction of the chapel of the Palace of Versailles, beautiful in its strict, noble architecture), is a convincing example of this. In those built by him in the 1710s. in Parisian mansions (the Hotel de Toulouse and the Hotel d'Estre) one can notice the relief of architectural forms, the free development of decor.
The new style, called rococo or rocaille, cannot be viewed only from one side, seeing in it only a reactionary and unpromising product of a decadent class. This style reflected not only the hedonistic aspirations of the aristocracy. In Rococo, some of the progressive trends of the era were also peculiarly refracted; hence the demands for a freer and more appropriate planning for real life, for a more natural and lively development, for interior space. The dynamism and lightness of the architectural masses and decor opposed the ponderous pomposity of interior design in the era of the highest power of French absolutism.
At the beginning of the 18th century the main construction is still being carried out by the aristocracy, but its character is changing significantly. The place of manor castles is occupied by city mansions, the so-called hotels. The weakening of absolutism was also reflected in the fact that the nobility left Versailles and settled in the capital. In the green suburbs of Paris - Saint Germain and Saint Opore - one after another, during the first half of the century, luxurious mansions-hotels with extensive gardens and services were built (fig. on p. 258). In contrast to the palace buildings of the previous century, which pursued the goals of imposing representativeness and solemn grandeur, in the mansions being created now much attention is paid to the real convenience of life. The architects are abandoning the chain of large halls, stretching out in a solemn enfilade, in favor of smaller rooms, located more naturally in accordance with the needs of the private life and public representation of the owners. Numerous high windows provide good illumination of the interior.
According to their location in the city, hotels of the first half of the 18th century. represented to a large extent still a transitional phenomenon from a country estate to a city house. This is a closed architectural complex, a kind of estate inside the city quarter, connected to the street only by the front gate. The house itself stands in the depths of the site, overlooking a vast courtyard, lined with low office space. The opposite façade faces the garden, which maintains a regular layout.
In hotels of the first half of the 18th century. the characteristic contradiction of the French architecture of this era was most clearly manifested - the discrepancy between the external architecture and the interior decor. The facade of the building, as a rule, retains traditional order elements, interpreted, however, more freely and lightly. Decor
on the other hand, interior spaces often break completely with the laws of tectonics, merging the wall with the ceiling into an integral shell of the interior space that has no definite boundaries. It is no coincidence that such a large role was acquired at that time by decorators, who were able to decorate the interior with amazing subtlety and perfection. The period of early and mature Rococo knows a whole galaxy of masters who created exquisite masterpieces of interior decoration (Gilles Marie Oppenor, 1672-1742; Just Aurel Meissonier, 1693-1750, and others). Often a building was built by one architect and designed by another. But even when all the work was carried out by one master, his approach to solving the external appearance of the hotel and its interior was fundamentally different. One of the most prominent Rococo architects, Germain Beaufran (1667-1754), in his treatise Livre d "Architecture" (1745), said directly that at present, interior decor is a completely separate part of architecture that does not take into account the decor of the exterior of the building. in his practice, he consistently pursued this thesis.In the architecture of the castle of Luneville, in the hotels in Naisi, built in the 1720s, one can feel following the traditions of classicism - the central part is clearly distinguished, emphasized by a portico with columns or pilasters.Only a few speak of the rococo style here stucco details and comparative lightness of order elements.
Jean Curton. Hotel Matignon in Paris. Plan.
Pierre Delamere. Hotel Subise in Paris. 1705-1709 Facade.
Bofran decides his interiors in a completely different way. A brilliant example of this is the interior decor of the Hotel Soubise (1735-1740). Regardless of the appearance of the mansion, which was made by Delamere in 1705-1709. in the classical tradition, Beaufran gives the rooms of the hotel the character of elegant bonbonnieres. Carved panels, stucco ornaments, picturesque panels cover the walls and ceiling with a solid carpet. The effect of these exquisitely ornate, whimsically light forms should be especially impressive in contrast to the more restrained architecture of the facade.
Religious construction in this period was incomparably less important than secular. Most of the buildings of the previous century were completed.
Such is the church of Saint Roche in Paris, begun by Robert de Cotte at the end of the 17th century. and Finished after the death of this architect by his son J.-R. de Cottom.
Jean Nicola Servandoni. Church of Saint Sulpice in Paris. 1733-1745 Facade.
The more interesting Parisian church of Saint-Sulpice, also begun in the 17th century. By the 20s. 18th century the main façade was left unfinished. It was designed by several architects. The project of the famous decorator Meissonier (1726), who tried to transfer the principles of rocaille to outdoor architecture, was rejected. In 1732, another decorator, Jean Nicola Servandoni (1695-1766), won the competition announced for the design of the façade, turning to classical forms in his decision. His idea formed the basis for further construction. The facade of the church is divided into two tiers, each of which has its own order. Towers rise on both sides of the façade.
From the second quarter of the 18th century the rich trading cities of the province began to play an increasingly prominent role in French construction. The matter was not limited to the construction of individual buildings. The whole system of the old feudal city with chaotic buildings, with an intricate grid of streets included in the narrow framework of city fortifications, came into conflict with the new needs of growing commercial and industrial centers. The preservation of many key positions for absolutism led, however, at first to a rather compromise solution of urban planning problems. In many cities, the reconstruction of certain parts of the old city is due to the construction of royal squares. The tradition of such squares dates back to the 17th century, when they were created not to bring order to the chaos of a medieval city, but as an open place to install a statue of a king. Now the occasion remained, as it were, the same - all that arose in the 18th century. during the period of the monarchy, the squares were called upon to serve as a monument to the monarch, but the architects themselves pursued much broader urban planning tasks.
One of the first squares of a new type, associated with the redevelopment and development of entire city blocks, was the square in Bordeaux. Its designer and builder was Jacques Gabriel (1667-1742), a representative of the well-known since the 16th century. dynasty of architects, father of the famous architect Jacques Ange Gabriel.
Work on the layout and building of the square was started in 1731. A site for it was allocated on the banks of the wide Garonne. The architect widely and diversified the possibilities of creating a new ensemble, covering a significant part of the city and connecting it with the natural environment.
Jacques Gabriel began his work in Bordeaux with the demolition of old nondescript buildings on the banks of the river and the construction of a magnificent embankment. The city turned to face the Garonne - its main decoration. This turn was intended to secure both the square, which was wide open to the river, and the layout of the two streets flowing into the square. Using the planning principle of Versailles, the architect applied it to a new social and artistic organism - the city, solving it on a broader basis. The buildings located on the sides of the square were intended for the commercial and economic needs of the city: on the right - the stock exchange, on the left - the building of the tax department. Their architecture is characterized by restraint and elegant simplicity. The construction of the exchange and the central pavilion between the two streets was completed after the death of Jacques Gabriel by his son. A number of innovative principles of the Place de Bordeaux - its open character, its orientation to the river, its connection with the city blocks with the help of rays-streets - Jacques Ange Gabriel soon developed brilliantly in his work on the Place Louis XV in Paris.
Emmanuel Ere de Corney. Ensemble of Place Stanislas, Place Carrière and Place de la Government in Nancy. 1752-1755 Aerial photography.
If the ensemble of the square in Bordeaux provided a solution that anticipated many planning principles of the subsequent time, then another remarkable ensemble of the mid-18th century, the complex of three squares in Nancy, to a greater extent connected with the past, sums up, as it were, the methods of organizing the space of the Baroque era.
Emmanuel Ere de Corney. Government Square in Nancy. 1752-1755 General form.
Three squares of different outlines - the rectangular Stanislav Square, the long Carrière Square and the oval Government Square - form a closely united and internally closed organism that exists only in a very relative connection with the city. The oval court of the Palace of the Government is separated by an arcade from the surrounding space of the city and the park. Active movement from it can, in essence, develop only forward through the boulevard-shaped Carrière Square and the triumphal arch, so that, having entered Stanislav Square, it immediately turns out to be blocked by the monumental building of the town hall. One gets the impression of two monumental Cour d'honneurs spread out in front of magnificent palaces and interconnected by a straight alley. Characteristically, the streets leading to Stanislav Square are separated from it by bars. The charm of the ensemble is created by the festive architecture of the palaces, amazing skillfully forged gilded gratings, fountains at two corners of the square, sustained in a single elegant and elegant rococo tone. The planner of the squares and the architect of the main buildings was Beaufran's pupil Emmanuel Eray de Corny (1705-1763), who worked mainly in Lorraine. Built in 1752-1755, this complex, in terms of its forms and planning principles, already looked like an anachronism in comparison with the new movement in architecture that began at the end of the first half of the 18th century.
This movement, whose influence had already marked the design of the square in Bordeaux, was expressed in the rejection of the excesses and fads of the Rococo in favor of a more reasonable, ordered architecture, in an increased interest in antiquity. The connection of this movement with the strengthening of the position of the bourgeoisie is beyond doubt.
Just at the turn of the first and second half of the century, the speech of the encyclopedists, who put forward the criterion of reason as the only measure of all things, dates back. From these positions, the entire feudal society and its offspring - the Rococo style - are criticized as devoid of logic, rationality, and naturalness. And vice versa, all these qualities are seen in the architecture of the ancients. During these years, there appeared uvrazh dedicated to the monuments of ancient architecture. In 1752, the well-known lover and philanthropist Count de Caylus began to publish the work "Collection of Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities." Two years later, the architect David Leroy travels to Greece and then releases the “Ruins of the most beautiful buildings in Greece” project. Among the theoreticians of architecture, Abbé Laugier stands out, whose "Studies in Architecture" published in 1753 evoked a lively response in wide circles of French society. Speaking from the standpoint of rationalism, he stands up for reasonable, that is, natural architecture. The pressure of educational, ultimately democratic ideas was so great that it also had an impact on official artistic circles. The leaders of the artistic policy of absolutism felt the need to oppose something to the positive program of the Encyclopedists, their convincing criticism of the illogicality and unnaturalness of Rococo art. The royal power and the Academy are taking certain steps to wrest the initiative from the hands of the third estate and lead the emerging movement themselves. In 1749, a kind of artistic mission was sent to Italy, headed by the brother of the all-powerful favorite of Louis XV, Madame Pompadour, the future Marquis of Marigny, who served as director of royal buildings. He was accompanied by the engraver Cochin and the architect Jacques Germain Souflot, the future builder of the Paris Pantheon. The purpose of the trip was to get acquainted with Italian art - this cradle of beauty. They visited the recently begun excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Souflot also studied the ancient monuments of Paestum. This whole trip was a sign of new phenomena in art, and its consequence was a further turn towards classicism and a sharper struggle against the principles of rocaille, even in various types of decorative art. At the same time, this journey provides vivid evidence of how differently the appeal to the ancient heritage was understood and what different conclusions were drawn from this by representatives of the ruling class and the artists themselves. The results of Italian impressions and reflections resulted from Marigny in the words: "I do not want at all either the current excesses or the severity of the ancients - a little bit of this, a little bit of another." It was this compromise artistic policy that he adhered to in the future throughout his many years of activity as the head of the fine arts.
His traveling companions, Cochin and Souflo, took a much more progressive and active stance. The first published on his return a treatise “Review of the antiquities of Herculaneum with several reflections on the painting and sculpture of the ancients” and then led a very sharp struggle in print against the principles of rocaille art, for the rigor, purity and clarity of architectural and decorative forms. As for Souflo, his very extra trip to Paestum and the study on the spot of two remarkable monuments of Greek architecture testify to his deep interest in antiquity. In his construction practice, upon his return from Italy, the principles of classicism completely and uncompromisingly triumph.
In this transitional era, the work of the most captivating master of French architecture, Jacques Ange Gabriel (1699-1782), takes shape and flourishes. Gabriel's style seems to meet the requirements of Marigny, but this is an extremely original and organic phenomenon, generated by the natural, "deep" development of French architecture. The master has never been to Italy, much less to Greece. Gabriel's work, as it were, continued and developed the line of French architecture that emerged in the later buildings of Jules Hardouin-Mansart (the Grand Trianon and the chapel at Versailles), in the eastern facade of the Louvre. At the same time, he also adopted those progressive tendencies that were contained in Rococo architecture: its closeness to a person, intimacy, as well as the exquisite subtlety of decorative details.
Gabriel's participation in the town-planning works of his father in Bordeaux prepared him well for solving ensemble problems that occupied by the middle of the 18th century. increasingly prominent role in architectural practice. Just at this time, the press intensified attention to Paris, to the problem of turning it into a city worthy of the name of the capital.
Paris had beautiful architectural monuments, a number of squares created in the previous century, but all these were separate, isolated, isolated islands of organized development. In the middle of the 18th century, an area appeared that played a huge role in the formation of the ensemble of the Parisian center - the current Place de la Concorde. It owes its appearance to a whole team of French architects, but its main creator was Jacques Ange Gabriel.
In 1748, at the initiative of the metropolitan merchants, the idea of staging a monument to Louis XV was put forward. The Academy announced a competition to create a square for this monument. As you can see, the beginning was quite traditional, in the spirit of the 17th century - the square was intended for the statue of the monarch.
As a result of the first competition, none of the projects was selected, but the place for the square was finally determined. After the second competition, held in 1753 only among the members of the Academy, the design and construction were entrusted to Gabriel, so that he would take into account other proposals.
The site chosen for the square was a vast wasteland on the banks of the Seine on the then outskirts of Paris, between the garden of the Tuileries Palace and the beginning of the road leading to Versailles. Gabriel has exploited the benefits of this open and coastal location with unusual fruitfulness and perspective. Its square became the axis of the further development of Paris. This was made possible by her versatile orientation. On the one hand, the square is thought of as the threshold of the palace complexes of the Tuileries and the Louvre: it is not without reason that three beams provided by Gabriel lead to it from outside the city - the alleys of the Champs Elysees, the mental intersection point of which is located at the entrance gate of the Tuileries Park. In the same direction - facing the palace - the equestrian monument of Louis XV is oriented. At the same time, only one side of the square is architecturally accentuated - parallel to the Seine. It provides for the construction of two majestic administrative buildings, and between them the Royal Street is being designed, the axis of which is perpendicular to the axis of the Champs Elysees - Tuileries. At the end of it, the Madeleine church by the architect Contan d'Ivry begins to be built very soon, closing the perspective with its portico and dome. On the sides of his buildings, Gabriel designs two more streets parallel to the Royal. This gives another possible direction of movement, connecting the square with other quarters growing city.
Very witty and in a completely new way, Gabriel solves the boundaries of the square. Building only one of its northern side, putting forward the principle of free development of space, its connection with the natural environment, he at the same time seeks to avoid the impression of its amorphousness, uncertainty. On all four sides, he designs shallow dry ditches, lined with green lawns, bordered by stone balustrades. The gaps between them give an additional clear accent to the rays of the Champs Elysees and the axis of the Royal Street.
Jacques Ange Gabriel. Development of the north side of Place de la Concorde (formerly Place Louis XV) in Paris. 1753-1765
In the appearance of the two buildings that close the northern side of the Place de la Concorde, the characteristic features of Gabriel's work are well expressed: a clear, calm harmony of the whole and the details, the logic of architectural forms that is easily perceived by the eye. The lower tier of the building is heavier and more massive, which is emphasized by the large rustication of the wall; it carries two other tiers, united by Corinthian columns, a motif that goes back to the classical eastern facade of the Louvre.
But Gabriel's main merit lies not so much in the masterful solution of facades with their slender fluted columns rising above the powerful arcades of the lower floor, but in the specifically ensemble sound of these buildings. Both of these buildings are inconceivable without each other, and without the space of the square, and without a structure located at a considerable distance - without the Madeleine Church. Both buildings of the Place de la Concorde are oriented towards it - it is no coincidence that each of them does not have an accentuated center and is, as it were, only one of the wings of the whole. Thus, in these buildings, designed in 1753 and begun to be built in 1757-1758, Gabriel outlined such principles of volumetric and spatial solutions that would be developed in the period of mature classicism.
Gabriel. Petit Trianon at Versailles. Plan.
Jacques Ange Gabrirl. Petit Trianon at Versailles. 1762-1768
The pearl of French architecture of the 18th century is the Petit Trianon, created by Gabriel in Versailles in 1762-1768. The traditional theme of a country castle is solved here in a completely new way. A small building, square in plan, faces space with all four of its facades. Here there is no predominant accentuation of the two main facades, which until recently was so characteristic of palaces and estates. Each of the parties has an independent meaning, which finds expression in their different decisions. And at the same time, this difference is not cardinal - it is, as it were, variations of one theme. The facade facing the open space of the parterre, perceived from the farthest distance, is interpreted in the most plastic way. Four attached columns, uniting both floors, form a kind of slightly protruding portico. A similar motif, but already in a modified form - the columns are replaced by pilasters - sounds on two adjacent sides, but each time differently, because due to the difference in levels in one case the building has two floors, in the other - three. The fourth facade, facing the thickets of the landscape park, is quite simple - the wall is divided only by rectangular windows of different sizes in each of the three tiers. Thus, with stingy means, Gabriel achieves amazing wealth and richness of impressions. Beauty is extracted from the harmony of simple, easily perceived forms, from the clarity of proportional relationships.
The interior layout is also designed with great simplicity and clarity. The palace consists of a number of small rectangular rooms, the decoration of which, built on the use of straight lines, light cold colors, and avarice of plastic means, corresponds to the elegant restraint and noble grace of the external appearance.
Gabriel's work was a transitional link between the architecture of the first and second half of the 18th century.
In the buildings of the 1760-1780s. a younger generation of architects formed a new stage of classicism. It is characterized by a decisive turn to antiquity, which has become not only an inspiration for artists, but also a treasure trove of the forms they use. The requirements of the rationality of an architectural work reach the rejection of decorative ornaments. The principle of utilitarianism is put forward, which is linked together with the principle of the naturalness of the building, an example of which are ancient buildings, as natural as utilitarian, all forms of which are dictated by reasonable necessity. The column, entablature, pediment, which have become the main means of expressing the architectural image, are returned to their constructive, functional significance. Accordingly, the scale of order divisions is enlarged. Park construction is characterized by the same desire for naturalness. Related to this is the abandonment of the regular, "artificial" park and the flourishing of the landscape garden.
Souflo. Pantheon in Paris. Plan.
Jacques Germain Souflot. Pantheon (formerly the church of St. Genevieve) in Paris. Started in 1755. General view.
A characteristic phenomenon of the architecture of these pre-revolutionary decades is the predominance in the construction of public buildings. It is in public buildings that the principles of the new architecture are most clearly expressed. And it is very significant that one of the outstanding architectural works of this period - the Pantheon - very soon turned from a religious building into a public monument. Its construction was conceived by Louis XV as the church of the patroness of Paris - St. Genevieve, the place of storage of her relics. The development of the project was entrusted in 1755 to Jacques Germain Souflo (1713-1780), who had only recently returned from a trip to Italy. The architect understood his task much more broadly than his client. He presented a plan that, in addition to the church, provided for a vast area with two public buildings - the faculties of law and theology. In further work, Souflot had to abandon this idea and limit his task to the construction of a church, the whole appearance of which testifies, however, that the architect conceived it as a building of great public resonance. The cruciform building is crowned with a grandiose dome on a drum surrounded by columns. The main facade is emphasized by a powerful deep six-column portico with a pediment. All other parts of the wall are left completely blank, without openings. The clear logic of architectural forms is clearly perceived at first glance. Nothing mystical and irrational - everything is reasonable, strict and simple. The same clarity and strict consistency are characteristic of the spatial solution of the temple interior. The rationalism of the artistic image, expressed so solemnly and monumentally, turned out to be extremely close to the worldview of the revolutionary years, and the newly completed church was turned in 1791 into a monument to the great people of France.
Of the public buildings built in Paris in the pre-revolutionary decades, the Surgical School of Jacques Gonduin (1737-1818) stands out. The project, on which he began to work in 1769, was distinguished by a great breadth of conception, which is generally a characteristic feature of the architecture of these years. Together with this building, Gonduin conceived the restructuring of the entire quarter. And although Gonduin's plan was not fully implemented, the building of the Surgical School itself, completed in 1786, was decided on a grand scale. This is a vast two-story building with a large yard. The center of the building is marked by an imposing yurt. The most interesting part of the interior is the large semicircular hall of the anatomical theater with benches rising like an amphitheater and a capped vault - a kind of combination of half of the Roman Pantheon with the Colosseum.
The theater became a new widespread type of public building during this period. Both in the capital and in many provincial cities, one after another, theatrical buildings grow up, conceived in their appearance as an important part in the architectural ensemble of the urban public center. One of the most beautiful and significant buildings of this kind is the theater in Bordeaux, built in 1775-1780. architect Victor Louis (1731-1807). A massive volume of rectangular outlines is placed on an open area of the square. A twelve-column portico adorns one of the narrow sides of the theater building, conveying solemn representativeness to its main entrance façade. On the entablature of the portico there are statues of muses and goddesses, defining the purpose of the building. The main staircase of the theatre, at first single-flight, then divided into two sleeves leading in opposite directions, served as a model for many later French theatrical buildings. The simple, clear and solemn architecture of the theater in Bordeaux, the clear functional solution of its interior space make this building one of the most valuable monuments of French classicism.
In the years under review, the activities of a number of architects began, whose work as a whole already belongs to the next period of French Architecture, inspired by the ideas of the revolution. In some projects and buildings, those techniques and forms are already outlined that will become characteristic features of the new stage of classicism associated with the revolutionary era.
Architecture in FranceXVIIcentury. Style definition problem
Introduction
The great geographical discoveries, begun back in the Renaissance, followed by the colonization of the New World, then the victory of heliocentric cosmogony, theories of the infinity of worlds were supposed to shake people's minds, change their worldview. Renaissance anthropocentrism and naive faith in the harmony of the world no longer met the spiritual needs of man. If anthropocentrism remains unshakable, then where is this center in the infinity of the Universe? “The whole visible world is just a barely perceptible touch in the vast bosom of nature. Man in infinity - what does he mean? - Pascal wrote in the 17th century, as if in response to the Renaissance idea of man as a “great miracle”, which God placed at the head of the world. In the 17th century, man already understands that he is neither the center of the universe nor the measure of all things.
The difference in understanding of the place, role and capabilities of a person distinguishes, first of all, the art of the 17th century from the Renaissance. This different attitude towards man is expressed with extraordinary clarity and precision by the same great French thinker Pascal: "Man is just a reed, the weakest of the creatures of nature, but he is a thinking reed." Man created the most powerful absolutist states in Europe in the 17th century, formed the worldview of the bourgeois, who was to become one of the main customers and connoisseurs of art in subsequent times. The complexity and inconsistency of the era of intensive formation of absolutist nation-states in Europe determined the nature of the new culture, which is usually associated in the history of art with the Baroque style, but which is not limited to this style alone. The 17th century is not only baroque art, but also classicism and realism [Ilyina 2000: 102] .
1. Architectural style in France 17th century
The history of art is sometimes seen as a history of successive styles. The semicircular arches of the Romanesque style were replaced by Gothic lancet arches, later the Renaissance, which originated in Italy, spread throughout Europe, defeating the Gothic. At the end of the Renaissance, a style arose that received the name "Baroque". However, if the previous styles have easily distinguishable features, it is not so easy to determine the features of the Baroque. The fact is that throughout the historical period from the Renaissance to the 20th century, architects operated with the same forms drawn from the arsenal of ancient architecture - columns, pilasters, cornices, relief decor and so on. In a certain sense, it would be fair to say that the Renaissance style dominated from the beginning of Brunelleschi's activity until our time, and in many works on architecture this entire period is designated by the concept of "Renaissance". Of course, over such a long time, tastes, and with them architectural forms, have undergone significant changes, and in order to reflect these changes, there was a need for smaller style categories.
It is curious that many of the concepts denoting styles were at first just abusive, contemptuous nicknames. Thus, the Italians of the Renaissance called "Gothic" a style that they considered barbaric, brought by the tribes of the Goths - the destroyers of the Roman Empire. In the word "mannerism" we can still distinguish the original meaning of mannerism, superficial imitation, which critics of the 17th century accused of artists of the previous period. The word "baroque", meaning "bizarre", "absurd", "strange", also arose later as a caustic mockery in the fight against the style of the 17th century. This label was used by those who considered arbitrary combinations of classical forms in architecture unacceptable. With the word "baroque" they branded masterful deviations from the strict norms of the classics, which for them was tantamount to bad taste. It is no longer so easy to see the differences between these trends in architecture. We are accustomed to constructions in which there is both a daring challenge to classical rules and their complete misunderstanding [Gombrich 1998: 289].
Art historians cannot come to a consensus regarding the style in the art of that time. The main question is how to distinguish between such concepts as baroque and classicism. Let's make a reservation right away that for different countries, works of art that are attributed to a particular style will have their own characteristics. It is worth noting that the existence of style in different parts of Europe has its own duration, which means that the time frame will be blurred. Let us turn to one of the modern dictionaries to identify the main features of the Baroque. Baroque- (from Italian barocco - bizarre, strange), an artistic style that occupied a leading position in European art from the end of the 16th to the middle of the 18th centuries. Born in Italy. The term was introduced at the end of the 19th century by Swiss art historians J. Burkhardt and G. Wölfflin. The style embraced all types of creativity: literature, music, theater, but was especially pronounced in architecture, fine and decorative arts. The Renaissance sense of the clear harmony of the universe was replaced by a dramatic understanding of the conflict of being, the infinite diversity, the immensity and constant variability of the surrounding world, the power of powerful natural elements over a person. The expressiveness of baroque works is often built on contrasts, dramatic clashes between the sublime and the base, the majestic and the insignificant, the beautiful and the ugly, the illusory and the real, light and darkness. A penchant for composing complex and wordy allegories coexisted with extreme naturalism. Baroque works of art were distinguished by redundancy of forms, passion and intensity of images. As never before, there was a strong feeling of the "theatre of life": fireworks, masquerades, a passion for dressing up, reincarnations, all kinds of "tricks" brought into a person's life a playful beginning, unprecedented entertainment and bright festivity [National Historical Encyclopedia: #"667315.files/image001 .gif">
Rice. 9 Place Louis the Great (Place Vendôme)
Rice. 10 Mirror Gallery of the Palace of Versailles
Rice. 11 Versailles. View of the Royal Palace and park from the west. Architects Louis Leveaux, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, André Le Nôtre. aerial photography
3.1. General overview of architectural monuments trends, directions, development
In the development of French architecture of the XVII century. the following principles, trends and trends can be identified.
1. Closed, fenced castles are transformed into open, unfortified palaces, which are included in the general structure of the city (and the palaces outside the city are associated with a vast park). The form of the palace - a closed square - opens and turns into a "p-shaped" or, as later in Versailles, into an even more open one. Separated parts turn into elements of the system.
By order of Richelieu, since 1629, it was forbidden to build defensive structures in the castles of the nobility, ditches with water become elements of architecture, walls and fences are symbolic, and do not perform a defensive function.
2. Orientation to 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 takes place, attention is paid to their national roots, artistic traditions.
French architects often came from building artels, from families of hereditary masons, they were more practical, techies than theorists.
The pavilion system of castles was popular in medieval France, when a pavilion was built and connected with the rest by a gallery. Initially, the pavilions could be built at different times and even slightly correlated with each other in appearance and structure.
Materials and construction techniques also left their imprints on the established traditions: well-worked limestone was used in construction - it was used to make the key points of the building, load-bearing structures, and the openings between them were laid with bricks or large “French windows” were made. This led to the fact that the building had a clearly visible frame - paired or even triple columns or pilasters (arranged in "bundles").
Excavations in the south of France have provided masters with magnificent examples of antiquity, the most common motif being a free-standing column (rather than a pilaster or a column in a wall).
3. By the end of the XVI century. magnificent gothic, late renaissance features and baroque traditions intertwined in the construction.
Gothic was preserved in the verticalism of the main forms, in the complex horizon lines of the building (due to convex roofs, each volume was covered by its own roof, numerous chimneys and turrets broke through the horizon line), in the loading 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, in analyticity, clear boundaries between parts.
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A representative of the synthesis of various traditions is the "portico of Delorme" - an architectural element that has been actively used in France since the middle of the 16th century. It is a three-tier portico with clear horizontal divisions so that the vertical dominates in the total volume, and the horizontal dominates in each of the tiers. The upper tier is heavily loaded with sculpture and decor, the portico is decorated with a pediment. The influence of the Baroque led to the fact that from the end of the 16th century the pediments began to be made curvilinear, 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, the portico of Delorme became more classical, the upper tier was lightened, the lines of the entablature and the pediment were aligned.
The Luxembourg Palace in Paris (architect Solomon de Brosse, 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, classicism grows in architecture.
Classicism of the first half of the century coexists in interaction with Gothic and Baroque features, based on the specifics of French national culture.
Facades are freed, cleared of decor, becoming more open and clear. The laws according to which the building was built are unified: one order gradually appears on all facades, one level of floor divisions on all parts of the building. The upper part of the building is lightened, it becomes more structurally built - at the bottom there is a heavy basement covered with large rustication, above is a lighter main floor (floors), sometimes an attic. The building's skyline varies from the almost flat horizontal of the Louvre's eastern façade 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 XVII 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 the secular palaces and castles, two directions can be distinguished:
1) the castles of the nobles, the new bourgeois, they represented freedom, the strength of the human personality;
2) official, representative direction, visualizing the ideas of absolutism.
The second trend was just beginning to emerge in the first half of the century (the Palais Royal Palace, the Versailles complex of Louis XIII), but it took shape and fully manifested itself in the creations of the mature absolutism of the second half of the century. It is with this direction that __________________________ Lecture 87________________________________________ is associated
the formation of official imperial classicism (this is primarily the eastern facade 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), Francois Mansart (1598 - 1666) became the leading architect.
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, René de Languey, near Paris, on the high bank of the Seine. The building is no longer a closed square, but a U-shaped building in plan (three pavilions are connected by galleries). The facades have clear divisions by floors 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 never break through, are not distorted). The facade as a whole has a flat character, however, the depth of the facade of the central and side risalits is quite large, the order either leans against the wall with thin pilasters, then recedes from it with columns - depth arises, 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 appeared around the building, subordinate to architecture, it was not a synthesis, but rather a system in which the main element and subordinates clearly stood out. The park was located in accordance with the axis of symmetry of the building, the elements closer to the palace repeated the geometric shapes of the palace (parterres and pools had clear geometric shapes). Thus, nature, as it were, obeyed the building (man).
The center of the facade is marked by the portico of Delorme, which combines Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque traditions, but compared to earlier buildings, the upper tier is not so loaded. The building is clearly represented by the Gothic vertical and aspiration to the sky, but it is already balanced and dissected by clear horizontal lines. It can be seen how in the lower part of the building horizontality and analyticity, geometrism, clarity and calmness of forms, simplicity of borders dominate, but the higher, the more complicated the borders, 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, exalted. 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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Maisons-Laffite castle 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-Viscount (author Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1656 - 1661) is interesting. It is the culmination of the line of palaces of the second direction and the basis for creating a masterpiece of French architecture - the garden and park ensemble of Versailles.
Louis XIV appreciated the created creation and took a team of craftsmen to build the suburban royal residence of Versailles. However, what they did on his order combines the experience of Vaux-le-Vicomte and the constructed eastern facade 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 risalit), clear, distinct divisions in the lower part of the building and complexity in the arrangement of the upper one. The palace contrasts with the surrounding space (even separated by a moat), it is not merged with the world into a single organism, as was done in Versailles.
The regular park is a composition of water and grass parterres strung on an axis; the sculptural image of Hercules, standing on a dais, closes the axis. The visible limitation, the “finiteness” 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 power of the human personality, which interacts with the world like a hero (opposing the world and subordinating it to itself with a visible effort). Versailles, on the other hand, synthesizes the experience of both directions.
7. Second half of c. gave development to the second direction - buildings that visualize the idea of absolutism. First of all, this manifested itself 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, high Gothic roofs, torn pipes) and a small part of the southwestern building, created by the architect Pierre Lesko.
Jacques Lemercier repeats the image of Leveaux in the northwestern building, and between them sets the Pavilion of the Clock (1624).
The development of the western façade is notable for its baroque dynamics, culminating in the puffed roof of the Clock Pavilion. The building has a loaded high upper tier, a triple pediment. Delorme's porticoes are repeated several times along the façade.
In the second half of the XVI century. in France, very little was built (due to civil wars), by and large the western facade is one of the first large buildings after a long break. In a sense, the western facade solved the problem of reconstruction, restoring what had been developed by French architects and updating on the new material of the 17th century.
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In 1661, Louis Leveau began to complete the construction of the complex, and by 1664 he was completing the square of the Louvre. 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, the competition was won by the project of Claude Perrault. The project is surprising - it does not follow from the development of the other three buildings. The east façade of the Louvre is considered an example of the official, absolutist classicism of the 17th century.
A sample was selected - paired Corinthian columns, which are drawn along the entire facade with variations: on the galleries, the columns are far from the wall, rich chiaroscuro appears, the facade is open, transparent. On the central risalit, the columns are close to the wall and slightly part on the main axis; on the side risalits, the columns turn into pilasters.
The building is extremely analytical - clear, easily distinguishable volumes, direct boundaries between parts. The building is built clearly - from one point you can see the structure of the entire facade. Dominates the horizontal of the roof.
The facade of Perrault 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.
Modularity was an important principle in the creation of the facade - all the main volumes are designed in proportions of the human body. The facade models the human society, understanding the citizenship of France as “alignment”, subordination to one laws, which are held, are set by Louis XIV depicted on the axis of the pediment. The facade of the Louvre, like any masterpiece of art, transforms the human recipient standing in front of it. Due to the fact that the basis is the proportion of the human body, a person identifies himself with the colonnade in the emerging illusory world and straightens up, as if becoming a number of 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, disappearing 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 have already been built, and its facade is 15 meters longer than necessary to close 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 rigor hides a deception in itself, the exterior of the building does not match the interior.
The Louvre ensemble was completed by the building of the College of the Four Nations (architect Louis Leveaux, 1661 - 1665). On the axis of the square of the Louvre, a semicircular wall of the facade was placed, on the axis of which there is a large domed temple and Lecture 87
a portico protruded towards the palace. Thus, the ensemble visibly collects a large space (the Seine flows between the two buildings, there is an embankment, squares).
It should be emphasized that the building of the College itself is located along the Seine and does not correspond in any way with the semicircular wall - again the method of the theater 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 beginning of the century and to mature classicism. The ensemble also collects secular France and Catholic, human and natural (the river).
8. In 1677, the Academy of Architecture was established, the task was to accumulate experience in architecture in order to develop “ideal eternal laws of beauty”, which all further construction had to 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 facade of the Louvre. The image of the eastern façade with various national treatments was reproduced throughout Europe, the Louvre was for a long time a representative of the city palace of the absolutist monarchy.
9. The artistic culture of France was secular, so more palaces were built than temples. However, in order to solve the problem of uniting 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 temples.
Small churches were built throughout the country, and a number of large religious buildings were created in Paris: the Sorbonne Church (architect Lemercier, 1635 - 1642), the cathedral of the convent of Val-de-Grace (architect Francois Mansart, Jacques Lemercier), 1645 - 1665 ). In these churches, magnificent baroque motifs are clearly manifested, but still the general structure of architecture is far from the baroque of Italy. The scheme of the Sorbonne church later became traditional: the main volume cruciform in plan, columned porticoes with pediments at the ends of the branches of the cross, a dome on a drum above the crossroads. Lemercier introduced Gothic flying buttresses into the construction 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 decor. The 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 Les Invalides - a strict military building. This building has become one of the verticals of Paris, it is a representative of the "classicism" style in places of worship. The building is a grandiose rotunda, each of the entrances is marked by a two-tiered portico with a triangular pediment.
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The building is extremely symmetrical (square in plan, three identical porticoes on the sides, round dome). The inner 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 through and in its center one can see the middle one - a parabolic dome. The cathedral has yellow windows, as a result of which there is always sunlight in the room (symbolizing the Sun King).
The cathedral interestingly combines the tradition of building churches that arose in France (the 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 a Catholic cult, but as a landmark building - the reference point of the grandiose ensemble of the left bank of the Seine, symbolizing the power of the Sun King.
Around the House and the Cathedral of the Invalides, a large regular space was built, subordinate to the cathedral. The cathedral is the focal point of Paris.
10. Rebuilding Paris
Paris developed rapidly and became the largest city in Europe at that time. This posed complex tasks for urban 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 dominants that will mark the new capital of the world.
It would seem that in order to solve these problems it is necessary to rebuild the city. But even rich France cannot do it. City planners have found great ways to cope with the difficulties that have arisen.
This was solved by including separate 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 gathered around itself "palace Paris"), the Palais Royal, the ensemble of the Cathedral of the Invalides. The main verticals of Paris were built - the domed churches of the Sorbonne, Val de Grae, 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 the coordinate system, a feeling of clarity of a huge city arises). In some parts of the city, direct avenues were built (rebuilt), offering a view of the named landmarks.
Squares were an important means of ordering the city. They locally set the orderliness of space, often hiding the chaos of residential areas behind the building facades. The representative of the square at the beginning of the century is Place des Vosges (1605 - 1612), the second half of the century is Place Vendôme (1685 - 1701).
Place Vendôme (J.A. Mansart, 1685 - 1701) is a square with cut corners. The square is lined with a united front of buildings Lecture 87
palace type (mature classicism) with porticos. In the center stood an equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Girardon. The whole area was created as a decoration of the statue of the king, this explains its closed nature. 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 plots of land and, especially, vegetable gardens. This led to the fact that the monasteries for the most part were taken out of the city, hotels from small castles turned into city houses with small courtyards.
But the famous Parisian boulevards were built - places that combined passing streets and landscaped paths for walking. The boulevards were built so that they offer a view of one of the iconic points of absolutist Paris.
The entrances to the city were streamlined and marked with triumphal arches (Saint-Denis, architect F. Blondel, 1672). The entrance to Paris from the west had to correspond to the entrance to Versailles, the Champs Elysees, an avenue with a symmetrical front building, was built to decorate the Paris part. The nearest suburbs were attached 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 its own symbolic point (square, small ensemble) was built, symbolizing united France and the power of the Sun King.
11. The problem of creating new housing was solved with the creation of a new type of hotel that dominated French architecture for two centuries. The hotel was located inside the courtyard (in contrast to the mansion of the bourgeoisie, which was built along the street). The yard, limited by services, went out onto the street, and the residential building was located in the depths, separating the yard from a small garden. This principle was laid down by the architect Lesko back in the 16th century, and was reproduced by the masters of the 17th century: Hotel Carnavalet (architect F. Mansart rebuilt the creation of Lescaut in 1636), Hotel Sully (architect Androuet-Ducerso, 1600 - 1620) , Hotel Tubef (architect Plemue, 1600 - 1620), and others.
Such a layout had an inconvenience: the only courtyard was both front and utility. In the further development of this type, the residential and economic parts of the house are demarcated. In front of the windows of the residential building there is a front courtyard, and on the side of it is the second, economic one: the Liancourt Hotel (architect Plemue, 1620 - 1640).
François Mansart built many hotels, introducing many improvements: a clearer layout of the premises, low stone fences from the side of the street, assignment of services to the sides of the courtyard. Trying to minimize the number of walk-through rooms, Mansart introduces a large number of stairs. The lobby and the main staircase become an indispensable 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 reorganization of the structure, the facades and roofs of hotels also change: the roofs become not so high due to the broken shape (the living quarters in the attics were called attics), the separate overlap of each part of the house is replaced by a common one, the porch and protruding porticos remain only in the hotels on the squares. There is a trend towards flattening roofs.
Thus, the hotel is transformed from a small analogue of a country palace into a new type of urban dwelling.
12. Paris, 17th century is a school for European architects. If until the middle of the XVII century. most of the architects went to study in Italy, then from the 60s, when Perrault won the competition from Bernini himself, Paris could present magnificent examples of architecture of various types of buildings, principles of urban planning to architects around the world.
Works for acquaintance
Luxembourg Palace in Paris (architect Solomon de Brosse, 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);
Maisons-Laffite Palace near Paris (architect Francois Mansart, 16421651);
Church of the Val de Grae (architect François Mansart, Jacques Lemercier), 1645 -
College of the Four Nations (architect Louis Leveaux, 1661 - 1665);
House and Cathedral of the Invalides (architect Liberal Bruant, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1671 - 1708);
Ensemble of the Louvre:
Southwestern building (architect Lesko, 16th century);
Western building (continued by architect Lesko, built by architect Jacques Lemercier, 1624);
Pavilion of the Clock (architect Jacques Lemercier, 1624);
Northern and southern buildings (architect Louis Leveau, 1664);
Eastern building (architect Claude Perrault, 1664);
Place des Vosges (1605 - 1612), Place Vendôme (architect Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1685 - 1701).
Hotels: Hotel Carnavale (architect F. Mansart rebuilt the creation of Lescaut in 1636), Hotel Sully (architect Androuet-Ducerso, 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 Saint-Denis, (architect F. Blondel, 1672);
The palace and park ensemble of Vaux-le-Viscount (author Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1656 - 1661);
The palace and park ensemble of Versailles (author Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin Mansart, Andre Le Nôtre, beginning in 1664).
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3.2. Analysis of the masterpiece of French architecture of the 17th century. Garden and park ensemble of Versailles
The garden and park ensemble of Versailles is a grandiose building, a representative of the art of the 17th century. The consistency of the ensemble, its grandiosity and spaciousness allows us to reveal its essence through the concept of an artistic model. Below will be shown how this monument functions as an art model.
Cognition with the help of a model is based on the replacement of the object of modeling with another object 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 you to discover new properties and essential relationships. The results obtained in the study of the model are extrapolated to a cognizable object.
The operationality of the model makes it possible to perform certain actions with it, to build 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 under study and has a large information capacity.
The model substitution is based on the isomorphism (correspondence) of the cognizable object and the model, therefore, the knowledge obtained in the process of modeling 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. The specific features of a work of art as a model and the process of artistic modeling include the following:
The master, acting as a researcher, models extremely complex objects that reveal the meaning of human existence, he necessarily builds an isomorphism between obviously non-isomorphic structures;
The property of visualization acquires an attributive character in artistic models;
Due to the high status of visualization 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 a special skill. The tempting beginning of the artistic model unfolds in relation to the artist and artistic material, giving rise to a new quality in the form of a sensually manifest essence. The viewer, in the process of an ideal relationship with a work of art, discovers new knowledge about himself and the world.
The creation and action of an artistic model are carried out only in relation when the subject is not eliminated from the relation, but remains Lecture 87
its essential element. Therefore, the attitude becomes an attributive quality of the artistic model and the modeling process.
The garden and park 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 the transformations continued throughout the next century. The garden and park ensemble of Versailles is a giant complex of various structures built on the outskirts of the small city of Versailles, 24 kilometers from Paris. The complex is located along a single axis and includes in series:
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) various fountains and grottoes,
9) regular park and irregular,
10) two other palaces - Big and Small Trianons.
The described set of buildings obeys a strict hierarchy and forms a clear system: the main element of the composition is the King's Large Bedroom, further from the center - the building of the new palace, a regular park, an irregular park and access roads around 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 large bedroom of the king is located in the building of the old palace of the times of Louis XIII, it is separated from the outside by the “portico of Delorme”, a balcony and an ornate pediment. The entire ensemble is systematically organized and subordinated to the Large Bedroom, this is ensured in several ways.
Firstly, it was in the Great Bedroom of the King and the premises surrounding it that the main official life of Louis XIV proceeded - the bedroom was the most significant place in the life of the French court. Second, it is located on the symmetry axis of the ensemble. Thirdly, the figurative symmetry of the facade of the old palace breaks down in submission to mirror symmetry, highlighting the elements of the axis even more. 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 is as if guarded 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). Fifth, 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
artsy 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 highest point of the pediment.
2. The new palace was built in the style of classicism. It has three floors (a rusticated basement, a large main floor and an attic), arched windows on the first and second floors and rectangular windows on the third, classical Ionic porticos, on which sculptures are located instead of a pediment, a flat roof is also decorated with sculptures. The building has a clear structure, geometric shapes, clear articulations, powerful figurative and mirror symmetry, a clear horizontal dominant, it maintains the principle of modularity and ancient proportions. At all times, the palace was painted in yellow, sunny color. From 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 whole composition. Firstly, it surrounds the old building with the main element - the Large Bedroom of the King, designating it as a 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 - the geometrism of forms, clarity of structure, clarity of divisions, modularity, hierarchy, "solarness". The palace demonstrates patterns that all other elements of the ensemble correspond to one degree or another. Thirdly, the new palace has a large length, due to which it is visible from many points in the park.
3. The 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, on the other hand, the geometricity and clarity of the building. Thus, the regular park is correlated with the main element of the system, obeying it in form and structure, but 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 subject to the main axis of the ensemble. In the park, the axis is distinguished by the Main Alley, which then passes into the Grand Canal. Fountains are successively located on the Main Alley, 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 the immediate vicinity of the palace and repeat its shape. Water fills the rectangular pools, doubling the image of the palace and setting another line of symmetry between water and sky. Grass, flowers, shrubs - everything is planted and trimmed in accordance with the forms of classical geometry - a rectangle, a cone, a circle. Parterres as a whole obey the axis of symmetry of the palace. The space of parterres is open, its structure is clearly readable.
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The atmosphere of sunshine is preserved. Just like the building of the palace, the strict geometric straight borders 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 diverse, the space of the bosquets is less clear. However, they all have internal symmetry (as a rule, central) and a ray structure. In the direction of one of the alleys emanating from the bosquet, the palace is always visible. The bosquets, as an element of the system, are subordinate to the palace in a different way than the parterres - exemplary forms are read less clearly, although the general principles are still preserved.
The main alley passes 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, while the distant pools have a freer shape, a less clear and open structure.
There are many alleys between the bosquets, but only one of them - the Main Alley-Canal - 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 really “irregular” curvilinear alleys, asymmetrical plantings and free, uncut, at first glance, untidy, untouched greenery. However, in fact, it is extremely thoughtfully connected with the single whole of the ensemble, obeying the same rational, but more hidden laws. Firstly, the main axis is never crossed by landings or buildings - it remains free. Secondly, small architectural forms clearly repeat the motifs of the palace. Thirdly, the so-called “ah-ah-breaks” 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 a regular park. Fifthly, the connection with the whole is set by maintaining the solar open atmosphere.
5. The entrance to the residence is a system of three highways that converge in front of the main palace on the Square of Arms at the point of the sculptural image of the monarch. Highways lead to Paris (central), as well as to Saint-Cloud and So, where in the 17th century. there were residences of Louis and from where there were direct departures 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 the sides of it are the stables of the royal musketeers and other service buildings, the same according to Lecture 87
both sides of the highway. Three axes converge in front of the balcony of the Large Royal Bedroom. Thus, even the space for several kilometers around the ensemble turns out to be subordinate to the backbone 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 build a link between Versailles and Paris directly. The task of including the model in the supersystem was skillfully solved by the appearance of the Champs-Elysées at the exit from Paris - a front avenue with symmetrical buildings, repeating the structure of the central access highway in Versailles.
So, the landscape gardening ensemble of Versailles is a strict hierarchical system in which all elements are subject to a single rule, but at the same time they also have their own unique feature. This means that the ensemble of Versailles can claim the role of 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.
Further, 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 at once. 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 Kuazevoks, Toubi, Leongres, Mazelin, Zhuvanet, Kuazvo and many others participated in the creation of various elements of the complex.
Traditionally, one of the main authors of the ensemble, Louis XIV, remains aloof in the art criticism studies of Versailles. 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 to be an extremely important symbolic part of state power. He professionally read the drawings and carefully, repeatedly discussed with the masters the construction of all his residences.
The Versailles ensemble was deliberately built by masters (including Louis XIV - the architect) as the main official royal residence, so it is natural to assume that the French statehood or its individual aspects became the object of modeling. The creation of the Versailles complex helped its authors to understand how a single powerful France could be arranged, how it was possible to unite the 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 nation-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 Big Royal Bedroom in the center of the ensemble.
Secondly, using as an important element the traditional lily - the oldest symbol of the king. Louis XIV gave a 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 flying recalcitrant petals into a fist and repeating the structure of the royal symbol: three divergent petals and a ring that tightens them, which does not allow them to crumble. The sign "lily" 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 of the composition of the ensemble. The composition of the "lily" is realized through three highways converging in front of the royal balcony, continuing from the park side with alleys, and the 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 on the cardinal points and its axial structure gives grounds for comparing the complex with a gigantic, ecumenical Catholic church. The most sacred place of the temple - the altar - corresponds to the Large Royal Bedroom. This correlation is reinforced by surrounding the bedroom with stronger modern buildings, the shrine is placed inside and protected, even somewhat hidden.
Thus, the ensemble models the leading role of the king in Versailles and, consequently, in France in the 17th century. The role of the king, according to the constructed model, consists in a decisive, even if forcible, contraction of the “stubborn petals” - the provinces and regions of the state. The whole life of the king consists in official service to the state (it is not for nothing that the bedroom is the dominant feature of the ensemble). The king is the absolute ruler, collecting on himself both secular and spiritual power.
2. The Versailles Ensemble - a model of France in the second half of the 17th century.
The thesis of Louis XIV "France is I" is well-known. According to this
The Versailles complex, while modeling the king, simultaneously models France. The strict systemic and hierarchical nature 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 consideration. Everything that has been said above about the king can be extrapolated to France.
The Versailles complex as a model of France makes it possible to find out the main features of the state structure of the country. First of all, France is a single Lecture 87
a 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 Large Royal Bedroom - and sets the standards for clarity and clarity for the entire structure. Near the palace, nature obeys and takes on the forms and patterns of the building (first of all, this is realized in the stalls), then the standards begin to gradually blur, the forms become freer and more diverse (bosquets and an irregular park). However, even in the far corners (at first glance, free from the power of the king), pavilions, rotundas and other small architectural forms, with their symmetry and clarity of form, remind of the law that the whole obeys. In addition, through the “ah-ah-breaks” masterfully cut in the foliage, every now and then a palace appears in the distance as a symbol of the presence of the law in all of France, wherever its subjects are.
The palace sets the norms for organizing France as a system (clarity, clarity, hierarchy, the existence of a single law, etc.), showing the most remote elements of the periphery what to strive for. The main building of the palace with a dominant horizontal, strong portable symmetry and Ionic porticos along the entire length of the facade models France as a state based 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 power.
3. The Versailles ensemble models the role of France as the capital of Europe and the world.
Louis XIV claimed not only the creation of a powerful unified state, but also a leading role in Europe at that time. The authors of the ensemble implemented this idea in various ways, revealing the essence of France, the capital of the world, in the process of building the model.
First of all, this is done with the help of the “sun” composition, which, by virtue of 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 wider 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 the one who shines throughout the world, revealing light, bringing wisdom and goodness, laws and life. The rays of the "sun" diverge from the center - the Large Royal Bedroom - all over the world.
In addition to the indicated symbolism of the sun, it is additionally emphasized:
By creating a general solar atmosphere of the ensemble - yellow and white in the color of the palace itself, the solar brilliance of water jets, 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 the day, night, morning, evening, seasons, etc. For example, the fountain of Apollo, 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);
various 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 the ray 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 divergent rays of the sun, etc.
In addition to the symbolism of the sun, Versailles modeled the dominant position of France in Europe at that time and with the help of "direct analogy", surpassing all the royal residences of Europe at that time in many parameters.
First of all, the ensemble under consideration had the largest dimensions for similar structures - in terms of area (101 hectares), along the length of the main alleys and canals (up to 10 km), along the length of the palace facade (640 m). Versailles also surpassed all the residences of Europe in diversity, splendor, skillfulness of its elements (each of which was a separate work of art), in their rarity and uniqueness, in the high cost of materials. A lot of fountains with a shortage of water in most European capitals of the 17th century were "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, areas of the Spanish Netherlands, some territories of Spain, Germany, Austria, expanded colonies in America and Africa; Paris was the largest city in Europe at that time; France had the largest army, a navy and merchant fleet "superior even to that of England", the greatest growth of industry, the most thoughtful policy of customs tariffs, and so on. Superlatives were applicable to the position of France in the period under review in many respects.
The large area of the park, 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 considerable length of the park's main alley (about 10 km including the irregular part) and the resulting perspective optical effect. Since parallel lines converge at infinity, then the direct visibility of the convergence of parallel Lecture 87
lines (borders of the alley and the channel) visualizes infinity, makes infinity visible.
The main avenue was perfectly visible from the Mirror Gallery, one of the most official places of the palace, intended for diplomatic meetings and processions. It can be said that “there was a view of infinity from the windows of the gallery”, and this infinity of the world belonged to the park, the sovereign, 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 boundless space of space. However, the masters (the authors of the ensemble) skillfully “placed infinity within the framework of the royal residence”: yes, the world is endless, and Louis XIV = France owns this whole world. At the same time, the scale of Europe turned out to be insignificant and lost, Versailles became the capital of the world. Extrapolating this statement, any French citizen and representative of another state understood that France is the capital of the world.
The location of the ensemble on the cardinal points provided the highest actualization of the simulated position at sunset, when it was clear from the Mirror Gallery windows that the sun was setting exactly at the infinity point of the park (hence, 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 his elder brother and, obeying his will (his rule, his park), sits in the place of the world that is intended for him.
Considerable complexity and an incredible variety of components of the ensemble, unprecedented at that time, which, according to the descriptions of contemporaries, included “everything in the world”, turned Versailles into a model of the world as a whole.
France's claim to the world required modeling of the entire world known to Europeans. In this regard, palm trees are indicative as a model of Africa - a tree that is outlandish for a northern country and specific specifically for the conquered and annexed "southern edge of the world." The model was built into the royal ensemble, thus demonstrating the inclusion and subordination of the southern continent of France.
France's leading role in Europe was also modeled with skillfully designed access roads. L. Levo led to the Marble Court, into which the windows of the Large Royal Bedroom open, three highways. Highways led to the main residences of Louis - Paris, Saint-Cloud and So, from where the main routes to the main European states went. The main highway Paris-Versailles at the exit from Paris (Champs-Elysées) repeated with its structure 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."
An important aspect of France's foreign policy has been 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, was even accompanied by appropriate - militant or peaceful - music. The reliefs of each of the halls model Louis XIV and France either as a powerful aggressive force, or as merciful to those who bow to her will.
The situation modeled by the Mirror Gallery corresponded to the complex domestic and foreign policy of the king and state, which combined a powerful, aggressive military strategy with "cunning", saturated with intrigues and secret alliances of actions. 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 "by peaceful means", from claims to the inheritance of his Spanish wife, ending with bringing all legally inaccurate provisions in his favor and organizing multiple secret and explicit unions.
The plan of the palace reveals a large number of courtyards, the existence of which is impossible to guess when standing in front of the facade 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 systemic 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 hidden passages and hidden courtyards, thereby revealing and proving the need for political intrigues and secret collusions and alliances in the state administration.
Thus, each element of the ensemble has modeling capabilities, and the entire system of elements as a whole is 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 the old means of artistic modeling, invented new means or changed the existing ones.
Using the experience of modeling the state structure already accumulated in the history of art, the authors acted as users of existing 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 the following centuries, in the leading European states, Lecture 87
numerous "Versailles" - royal residences, modeling the general principles of the structure of the monarchical state of a particular country. These are landscape gardening complexes of Caserta in Italy, JIa Granja in Spain, Drottningholm in Sweden, Hett Loo in Holland, Hemptoncourt in England, Nymphenburg, Sanssouci, 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.
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12-49. French architecture 17th century. Growth of cities. Gardens and parks. Rise of classicism. Works by Leveaux, Mansara. Ensemble of Versailles. Parisian squares.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669;background:#ffffff">XVII century one of the brightest eras in the development of Western European artistic culture. The most significant and valuable that was created by this era is associated primarily with the art of five European countries Italy, Spain, Flanders, Holland, France... I'll tell you about France
;text-decoration:underline;color:#ff0000">City growth
;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669;background:#ffffff">The architecture of French classicism of the 17th century was characterized by logical and balanced compositions, clarity of straight lines, geometric correctness of plans and strict proportions.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">Construction and control are concentrated in the hands of the state. A new position of "architect of the king" and "first architect" is introduced. Huge amounts of money are spent on construction. Public institutions control construction not only in Paris , but also in the provinces. Urban planning work is widely deployed throughout the country. New cities arise as settlements near the palaces and castles of the kings and rulers of France. In most cases, new cities are designed in the form of a square or rectangle in plan or in the form of more complex forms - five, six, eight, etc. squares formed by defensive walls, moats, bastions and towers.Inside them, a strictly regular rectangular or radial-circular system of streets is planned with a city square in the center.Examples include the cities of Vitry-le-Francois, Saarlouis, Henrishmont, Marl, Richelieu, etc.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">Old medieval cities are being rebuilt on the basis of new principles of regular planning. Straight highways are being laid, urban ensembles and geometrically regular squares are being built on the site of a chaotic network of medieval streets.
However, during the years of the French Revolution, steps were taken that played a significant role in the history of architecture. In 1794, the Commission of Artists was formed, which was engaged in the improvement of the city, and also planned changes in its appearance. These plans had an impact on subsequent urban transformations in Paris, already implemented in the Napoleonic era.
;text-decoration:underline;color:#ff0000">Paris squares
;color:#ff0000">1) ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#258fcc"> Place Vendôme
R ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">Located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, the octagonal Place Vendôme was named after the son of Henry IV and his mistress, the Duchess de Beaufort, the Duke of Vendôme, whose mansion was located nearby.
P ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">The horse was designed by an architect;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">Jules Hardouin-Mansart;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">and was built in 1699-1701 according to the classical "royal" scheme: houses with elegant facades form a closed space, in the center of which there is an equestrian monument to Louis XIV. Unfortunately, the monument like many other symbols of the monarchy, it was destroyed during the French Revolution.
P ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, a bronze column was erected in the center of Place Vendôme, made (1806-1810) by the architects Jacques Gonduin and Jean-Baptiste Leper. The column, 44 meters high, was cast from Austrian and Russian cannons, and the Roman column of Trajan served as a model for the Vendome column.
IN ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">the Andome column is adorned with a spiral bas-relief depicting Napoleon's victories and surmounted by a statue of the emperor (sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet). In 1814, the figure of Napoleon was replaced by the white flag of the Bourbon dynasty, and the sculpture itself was later melted down.
IN ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929"> In 1833, a new statue of Napoleon was erected on top of the column by order of Louis Philippe I. And a little later, by order of Napoleon III, who feared that the statue would suffer from bad weather conditions , in the 1850s, the sculpture was exhibited in the Les Invalides, and a copy replaced it on the column.
IN ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">during the Paris Commune in 1871, the Vendome Column was dismantled member of the Central Committee, the artist Gustave Courbet, insisted on this. But this was not enough for the Parisians as a result, the column was completely destroyed. After defeat of the Paris Commune, the Vendome column was restored and crowned with another copy of the statue of Napoleon (Gustave Courbet was obliged to pay all expenses).
H ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">Dating back to the Second Empire, Place Vendôme houses the most luxurious boutiques and famous jewelry houses, including Chanel and Cartier. The Ritz Hotel, whose creator Cesar Ritz offered its guests interior and comfort worthy of royal blood.The guests of the hotel at one time were Coco Chanel (by the way, she lived in the hotel for the last 37 years of her life), Charlie Chaplin, Agnes Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald and many more.
;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#258fcc">2)Charles de Gaulle Square or Star Square
ABOUT ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">one of the busiest squares in the French capital Place Charles de Gaulle (also known as Place des Stars) is located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, on top of Chaillot hill.
P ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">the appearance of the square was not mentioned in any urban planning project, but the construction of the Tuileries Palace and the garden of the same name required a worthy design of the residence of the kings. Therefore, the famous landscape architect of the 17th century, Andre Le Nôtre, right up to the hill of Chaillot paved an avenue (now the famous Champs Elysees), which ended in a round square, and 5 new roads diverged from it in different directions - it was from here that the square originally got the name of Star Square. more like a fork in the road than a square.
WITH ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">1836, the square is decorated with the majestic Arc de Triomphe, erected in its very center by order of Napoleon Bonaparte and glorifying the military victories of France.
ABOUT ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">the shape of the square was finally formed only in 1854, when, according to the plan of the prefect of Paris, Baron Haussmann, 7 more streets were added to the square, and then there were 12 avenues-beams. The most famous and wide of these Champs-Elysées, connecting the Place des Stars with Place de la Concorde.
IN ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929"> In 1970, Place des Stars was officially renamed Place Charles de Gaulle in honor of the first president of the Fifth Republic, but Parisians often continue to use the old name.
;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#258fcc">3) Place de la Concorde
;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">The central square of Paris Place de la Concorde is a magnificent creation of the Classical era and is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful in the world.
;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">The architectural project of the future square, the place for which the square was chosen by Louis XV himself, was completed in 1757. The construction was completed only in 1779, and in the very center of the new square, originally called Royal, an equestrian statue was erected by sculptors E. Bouchardon and J.-B. Pigalle.
;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">During the French Revolution, it was decided to rename the square into the Place de la Révolution and demolish the equestrian monument. A guillotine was placed here, on which Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, L A. Saint-Just, C. Corday, J. J. Danton, C. Desmoulins and M. Robespierre In total, more than a thousand executions were carried out.
;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">In 1795, as a sign of reconciliation of the estates, after the end of the revolutionary events, the square was again renamed this time into the Place de la Concorde.
;font-family:"Verdana";color:#000000;background:#ffffff">The ancient Egyptian obelisk (Luxor obelisk), two fountains, equestrian groups and marble statues depicting the cities of France appeared under Louis Philippe. In 1835, the architect Gittorf completed the design of the square, observing the principles of Gabriel's planning: it is not built up around the perimeter with houses, thanks to which wide vistas open up from any point of the square.
;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#258fcc">4) Pyramid Square
R ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">Located opposite the entrance to the Tuileries Garden, the Pyramid Square got its name in memory of Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt.
P ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929">formerly, on the site of the square was the Academy of Horse Riding, which was run by the personal groom of three monarchs Henry III, Henry IV and Louis XIII Antoine de Pluvenel.
IN ;font-family:"Helvetica";color:#292929"> in the center of the square is an equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, made by sculptor Emmanuel Fremier. The monument was commissioned by the republican government back in 1870 after the fall of the Second Empire and installed on the square in 1874 not far from the place where Joan of Arc was wounded in 1429 during the siege of Paris.
More squares in Paris:
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Greve Square
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Pigalle
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Place de la Bastille
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Victory Square
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Place des Vosges
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Republic Square
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Place Tertre
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Chatelet Square
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Place Saint-Michel
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Nation Square
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Place Madeleine
;text-decoration:underline;color:#ff0000">Rise of Classicism. Works by Leveaux, Mansart. Ensembles of Versailles
;color:#000000;background:#ffffff">The most profound reflection of the essential features of the era manifested itself in France in the forms and progressive trends in the art of classicism.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669;background:#ffffff">Classicism- A stylistic trend in European art, the most important feature of which was the appeal to ancient art as a standard and reliance on the traditions of the High Renaissance.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000;background:#ffffff">The second half of the 17th century was the time of the highest flowering of French classicism architecture.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000;background:#ffffff">The organization of the Academy of Architecture, whose director was appointed 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. Guittar, A. Le Nôtre, L. Levo, P. Miyan, etc. The task of the Academy was to develop the main aesthetic norms and criteria of classicism architecture, which should guide the architects.;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000"> Features of the architecture of the middle and second half of the 17th century are reflected in the huge 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.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">In the second half of the 17th century, a more consistent use of the classical order system is observed: horizontal divisions prevail over vertical ones; high separate roofs constantly disappear and are replaced by a single roof, often masked by a balustrade; three-dimensional composition buildings become simpler, more compact, corresponding to the location and size of the interior.
;color:#000000;background:#ffffff">Representatives of classicism found the embodiment of their social ideals in Ancient Greece and Republican Rome, just as ancient art was the personification of aesthetic norms for them.
;color:#000000;background:#ffffff">Main stylistic features of Classicism architecture on the example of the Palace of Versailles.
;color:#000000;background:#ffffff">Only under the conditions of a powerful centralized monarchy was it possible at that time to create huge urban and palace ensembles made according to a single plan, designed to embody the idea of the power of an absolute monarch. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the flowering of French architecture Classicism belongs to the second half of the 17th century, when the centralization of absolutist power reached its peak.Progressive tendencies in the architecture of French classicism of the 17th century were fully and comprehensively developed in the ensemble of Versailles, grandiose in scale, boldness and breadth of artistic design (16681689).
;font-family:"Arial";color:#333333;background:#ffffff">The pinnacle of the development of classicism in French architecture of the 17th century was the Versailles Palace and Park Ensemble, a grandiose front residence of the French kings, built near Paris. The history of Versailles begins in 1623 from a very modest feudal-like hunting castle, built of brick, stone and roofing slate at the request of Louis XIII.;font-family:"Arial";color:#6699cc;background:#ffffff">Louis Leveaux;font-family:"Arial";color:#333333;background:#ffffff"> (c. 161270) and famous garden and park decorator;font-family:"Arial";color:#6699cc;background:#ffffff">André Le Nôtra;font-family:"Arial";color:#333333;background:#ffffff"> (16131700) Modifying and expanding the original modest castle, Levo creates a composition that is imaginative in plan with an imposing façade overlooking the park, over the design of which works Le Nôtre. A colossal order, which has long belonged to the typical and favorite means of Levo, is placed on the basement. However, the architect tried to bring some freedom and liveliness into the solemn architectural spectacle: the garden and park facade of Levo had a terrace on the second floor, where it was later built;font-family:"Arial";color:#6699cc;background:#ffffff">Mirror Gallery;font-family:"Arial";color:#333333;background:#ffffff">. As a result of the second building cycle, Versailles formed into an integral palace and park ensemble, which was a wonderful example of the synthesis of the arts architecture, sculpture and garden and park art In 167889 the ensemble of Versailles was rebuilt under the direction of the greatest architect of the end of the century;font-family:"Arial";color:#6699cc;background:#ffffff">Jules Hardouin-Mansart;font-family:"Arial";color:#333333;background:#ffffff"> (1b4b1708) Hardouin-Mansart further enlarged the palace by erecting two five-hundred-meter-long wings at right angles to the south and north façades Hardouin-Mansart built two more floors above the terrace of Levoux, creating along the western facade the famous;font-family:"Arial";color:#6699cc;background:#ffffff">Mirror Gallery;font-family:"Arial";color:#333333;background:#ffffff">, ending with the Halls of War and Peace (168086). Hardouin-Mansart also built two corps of Ministers (167181), which formed the so-called "Court of the Ministers", and connected these buildings with a rich gilded lattice. The architect designed all the buildings in the same style. The facades of the buildings were divided into three tiers. The lower one, modeled on the Italian Renaissance palace-palazzo, is decorated with rustication, the middle the largest is filled with high arched windows , between which are columns and pilasters.The upper tier is shortened, it ends with a balustrade (a fence consisting of a number of figured columns connected by railings) and sculptural groups that create a feeling of magnificent decoration, although all facades have a strict appearance.All this completely changed the appearance of the building , although Hardouin-Mansart left the same height of the building.Gone are the contrasts, the freedom of fantasy, nothing remains but an extended horizontal three-story structure, united in the structure of its facades with the basement, front and attic floors. The impression of grandeur that this brilliant architecture produces is achieved by the large scale of the whole, by the simple and calm rhythm of the whole composition. Hardouin-Mansart knew how to combine various elements into a single artistic whole. He had an amazing sense of ensemble, striving for rigor in decoration. For example, in;font-family:"Arial";color:#6699cc;background:#ffffff">Mirror Gallery;font-family:"Arial";color:#333333;background:#ffffff"> he applied a single architectural motif uniform alternation of piers with openings. Such a classicist basis creates a feeling of clear form. Thanks to Hardouin-Mansart, the expansion of the Palace of Versailles acquired a natural character The extensions were strongly connected with the central buildings.The ensemble, outstanding in terms of architectural and artistic qualities, was successfully completed and had a great influence on the development of world architecture.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">One of the works of architecture of the second half of the 17th century, in which the predominance of mature artistic principles of classicism is already clearly felt, is the country ensemble of the palace and park of Vaux-le-Vicomte near Melun (1655 -1661).
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">The creators of this outstanding work, built for the general controller of finances Fouquet, were the architect Louis Leveaux (c. 1612-1670), the master of landscape art André Le Nôtre, who planned the park of the palace , and the painter Charles Lebrun, who took part in decorating the interiors of the palace and painting the plafonds.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">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 classic architectural principles.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">This is manifested primarily in the logical and strictly calculated planning solution of the palace and the park as a whole. The large oval-shaped salon, which forms the central link of the suite of front rooms, has become the compositional center not only of the palace, but also of the ensemble as a whole, since its position at the intersection of the main planning axes of the ensemble (the main park alley running from the palace and the transverse ones, coinciding with the longitudinal axis of the building) makes it the "focus" of the entire complex.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">Thus, the building of the palace and the park are subject to a strictly centralized compositional principle, which allows bringing the various elements of the ensemble to artistic unity and highlighting the palace as the main component of the ensemble.
;font-family:"Arial";color:#000000">For the composition of the palace, the unity of the internal space and volume of the building is typical, which distinguishes works of mature classical architecture. the tranquility of the silhouette of the building.The introduction of a large order of pilasters, covering two floors above the basement, and a powerful horizontal of a smooth, strict classical entablature in the profiles, the predominance of horizontal articulations over vertical ones in the facades, the integrity of the order facades and volumetric composition, not characteristic of castles of an earlier period. gives the appearance of the palace monumental representativeness and splendor.
