3.1. General overview of architectural monuments trends, directions, development
In the formation of French architecture in the 17th century. the following principles, directions and tendencies can be distinguished.
1. Closed, fenced-in castles are transformed into open, unfortified palaces, which are included in the general structure of the city (and palaces outside the city are connected with a vast park). The form of the palace - a closed square - opens and turns into an "U-shaped" or, as later in Versailles, even more open. The separated parts are transformed into elements of the system.
By order of Richelieu, from 1629, it was forbidden to build defensive structures in the castles of the nobility, moats with water became elements of architecture, walls and fences were of a symbolic nature, and did 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 - brings a significant proportion of the Italian Baroque to French architecture.
However, during the formation of the nation, restoration takes place, attention is paid to their national roots, artistic traditions.
French architects often came from building artels, from the families of hereditary masons, they were more practitioners, technicians than theoreticians.
The pavilion system of castles is popular in medieval France, when the pavilion was built and the gallery was connected to the rest. Initially, the pavilions could be built at different times and even have little to do with each other in appearance and structure.
Materials and construction techniques also left their imprints on the established traditions: well-processed limestone was used in the construction - the nodal points of the building, supporting structures were made from it, 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 provided the craftsmen with magnificent examples of antiquity, with the most common motif being a free-standing column (rather than a pilaster or column in a wall).
3. By the end of the XVI century. in construction, magnificent Gothic, late Renaissance features and baroque traditions were intertwined.
Gothic was preserved in the verticalism of the main forms, in the complex lines of the horizon of the building (due to the convex roofs, and each volume was covered with its own roof, numerous pipes 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.
The 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 different 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-tiered 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, pediments began to be made curvilinear, with broken lines. The entablature line of the third tier often broke through, creating an 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 pediment were aligned.
The Luxembourg Palace in Paris (architect Solomon de Bross, 1611) can be considered a representative of the architecture of the beginning of the century, synthesizing these traditions.
4. Classicism grows on this rich soil of French traditions 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 being freed, cleaned of decor, becoming more open and clear. The laws, according to which the building is built, are being unified: gradually one order appears for all facades, one level of floor divisions for all parts of the building. The upper part of the building becomes lighter, it becomes more constructively built - at the bottom there is a heavy basement, covered with large rustication, higher is the lighter main floor (floors), sometimes an attic. The skyline of the building ranges from the almost flat horizontal of the eastern façade of the Louvre to the picturesque line of Maison-Laffitte and Vaux-le-Vicomte.
An example of "pure" classicism, freed from the influences of other styles, is considered the eastern facade of the Louvre and, after it, the building of the Versailles complex.
However, as a rule, architectural monuments of France of the 17th century. represent an organic living combination of several influences, which allows us to speak of the originality of French classicism of the era in question.
5. Among secular palaces and castles, two areas can be distinguished:
1) the castles of the nobility, the new bourgeois, they represented freedom, the strength of the human person;
2) the official, representative direction, visualizing the ideas of absolutism.
The second direction was just beginning to emerge in the first half of the century (Palais Royal, the Versailles complex of Louis XIII), but it was formed and fully manifested in the creations of mature absolutism of the second half of the century. It is with this direction that __________________________ Lecture 87________________________________________
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), François Mansart (1598 - 1666) became the leading architect.
6. The most striking example of a group of castles of the first direction is the Maison-Laffitte Palace near Paris (architect François Mansart, 1642-1651). It was built for the President of the Paris Parliament, Rene de Langeuil, near Paris, on the high bank of the Seine. The building is no longer a closed square, but a U-shaped structure in the plan (three pavilions are connected by galleries). The facades have clear floor divisions and are divided into separate volumes. Traditionally, each volume is covered with its own roof, the skyline of the building becomes very picturesque, it is complicated by pipes. The line separating the main volume of the building from the roof is also quite complex and picturesque (while the divisions between the floors of the building are very clear, clear, straight and never break through, not distorted). The facade as a whole has a flat character, however, the depth of the facade of the central and side projections is quite large, the order either leans against the wall with thin pilasters, then recedes from it in columns - depth appears, the facade becomes open.
The building opens to the outside world and begins to interact with it - it is visually connected with the surrounding space of the “regular park”. However, the interaction between the building and the surrounding space is different from how it was implemented in Italy in the Baroque monuments. In French castles, a space arose around the building, subordinate to architecture, it was not a synthesis, but rather a system in which the main element and subordinates were clearly distinguished. The park was located in accordance with the axis of symmetry of the building, elements closer to the palace repeated the geometric shapes of the palace (the parterres and pools had clear geometric shapes). Thus, nature seemed to be subordinate to the building (man).
The center of the façade 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 heavily loaded. The building has a distinctly Gothic vertical and an aspiration to the sky, but it is already balanced and dissected by clear horizontal lines. It can be seen how horizontal and analyticism dominate in the lower part of the building, geometrism, clarity and tranquility of forms, simplicity of boundaries, but the higher, the more complicated the boundaries are, verticals begin to dominate.
The work is a model of a strong man: at the level of earthly affairs, he is strong in reason, rationalistic, strives to be clear, subordinates nature, sets models and forms, but in his faith he is emotional, irrational, sublime. A skillful combination of these characteristics is characteristic of the work of François Mansart and the masters of the first half of the century.
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The Maison-Laffitte castle played an important role in the development of the type of small "intimate palaces", including the small palaces of Versailles.
An interesting landscape ensemble of Vaux-le-Vicomte (author Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1656 - 1661). It is the culmination of the line of palaces of the second direction and the basis for the creation of a masterpiece of French architecture - the garden and park ensemble of Versailles.
Louis XIV appreciated the created creation and took a team of craftsmen for the construction of the royal country residence of Versailles. However, what they did on his order, collects both the experience of Vaux-le-Vicomte and the built eastern facade of the Louvre (a separate section will be devoted to the Versailles ensemble).
The ensemble is built like a large regular space dominated by a palace. The building was built in the traditions of the first half of the century - high roofs over each volume (even a "blown roof" over the central projection), clear-cut floor divisions in the lower part of the building and the complexity of the upper structure. The palace contrasts with the surrounding space (even separated by a moat with water), it does not merge 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 apparent 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 strength of the human personality, which interacts with the world as a hero (opposing the world and subjugating it with visible effort). Versailles, however, synthesizes the experience of both directions.
7. Second half of c. gave development to the second direction - buildings that visualize the idea of \u200b\u200babsolutism. 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, with Gothic high roofs, broken pipes) and a small part of the southwestern building, created by the architect Pierre Lescaut.
Jacques Lemercier repeats the image of Leveaux in the northwestern building, and between them sets the Pavilion of the Clock (1624).
The western façade is characterized by baroque dynamics, culminating in the blown roof of the Clock Pavilion. The building has a loaded high upper tier, a triple pediment. On the façade, the porticoes of Delorma are repeated several times.
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 façade solved the problem of reconstruction, restoration of what had been developed by French architects and renovation using new material from the 17th century.
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In 1661, Louis Leveaux began to complete the complex and by 1664 he completed the Louvre square. The southern and northern facades repeat the southern one. The project of the eastern facade was suspended and a competition was announced, participation in which was actively proposed 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 surprisingly unexpected - it does not follow from the development of the other three buildings. The eastern façade of the Louvre is considered an example of the 17th century official absolutist classicism.
A sample was taken - 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 parted on the main axis; on the side risalits, the columns turn into pilasters.
The building is extremely analytical - clear, easily identifiable volumes, straight boundaries between parts. The building is built clearly - from one point you can see the structure of the entire facade. Dominated by the horizontal roof.
The Perrault façade has three projections, continuing the logic of the pavilion system. In addition, Perrault's order is not placed 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 of creating the facade - all the main volumes are kept in the proportions of the human body. The facade simulates a human society, understanding French citizenship as "alignment", subordination to the same laws, which are kept, set by Louis XIV depicted on the axis of the pediment. The facade of the Louvre, like any masterpiece of art, transforms the person-recipient standing in front of it. Due to the fact that it is based on the proportion of the human body, a person identifies himself with the colonnade in the emerging illusory world and straightens up, as it were, in a row 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, coming to naught towards the side facades; the building is decorated, the columns are very elegant and voluminous and are not evenly spaced, but accented 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 complete the square. As a solution to this problem, a false wall was built along the southern façade, which, like a screen, enclosed the old façade. Thus, the apparent clarity and severity hides deception in itself, the external appearance of the building does not correspond to the internal one.
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 Louvre square was placed a semicircular facade wall, on the axis of which there is a large domed temple and Lecture 87
a portico protruded towards the palace. Thus, the ensemble visually gathers 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 has nothing to do with the semicircular wall - again, the reception of theatrical screen is repeated, which performs an important symbolic, but not constructive function.
The resulting ensemble gathers the history of France - from the Renaissance Tuileries palaces through the architecture of the beginning of the century and to mature classicism. The ensemble also brings together secular France and Catholic, human and natural (river).
8. In 1677, the Academy of Architecture was created, the task was to accumulate the experience of architecture in order to develop "ideal eternal laws of beauty", which were to be followed by all further construction. 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 facade 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 of a secular nature, 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 churches.
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 Val-de-Gras convent (architect François Mansart, Jacques Lemercier), 1645 - 1665 ). In these churches, magnificent baroque motives 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 is cruciform in plan, columnar porticoes with pediments at the ends of the branches of the cross, a dome on a drum above the cross. Lemercier introduced Gothic flying buttresses into the construction of the church, giving them the appearance of small volutes. The domes of the temples 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 cult buildings, the Cathedral of the Invalides (architect J.A. Mansart, 1676 - 1708), attached to the House of Invalids, a strict military structure, should be noted. This building has become one of the verticals of Paris; it is a representative of the classicism style in religious buildings. The building is a grandiose rotunda, each of the entrances is designated by a two-tiered portico with a triangular pediment.
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The building is extremely symmetrical (square in plan, three identical porticos on the sides, round dome). The 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 you can see the middle - 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 (dominant dome, flying buttans in the dome in the form of volutes, etc.) and strict classicism. The cathedral almost did not perform the function of a temple; it soon became a secular building. Apparently, this is due to the fact that it was built not for reasons of ensuring the Catholic cult, but as an iconic building - a 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 Invalids, a large regular space was built, subordinate to the cathedral. The cathedral is the focal point for Paris.
10. Restructuring of Paris
Paris developed rapidly and became the largest city in Europe at that time. This posed difficult tasks for the city planners: it was necessary to streamline the tangled, spontaneously formed network of streets, provide the city with water and dispose of waste, build many new housing, build clear landmarks and dominants that will mark the new capital of the world.
It would seem that to solve these problems it is necessary to rebuild the city. But even rich France cannot do it. City planners have found great ways to cope with the difficulties that have arisen.
This was solved by including in the cobweb of medieval streets of individual large buildings and squares, building a large space around them in a regular manner. This is, first of all, the large ensemble of the Louvre (which has gathered around itself "palace Paris"), the Palais Royal, the ensemble of the Invalides Cathedral. The main verticals of Paris were built - the domed churches of the Sorbonne, Val-de Grae, the Invalides. They set landmarks in the city, making it clear (although in fact, huge areas continued to be a network of tangled streets, but by setting a coordinate system, a sense of clarity of a huge city arises). In some parts of the city, straight avenues were built (rebuilt), opening a view of the named landmarks.
Squares were an important means of ordering the city. They locally set the ordering of space, often hiding chaos of residential areas behind the facades of buildings. Representative of the square of the beginning of the century - Place des Vosges (1605 - 1612), the second half of the century - Place Vendôme (1685 - 1701).
Place Vendôme (J.A. Mansart, 1685 - 1701) is a square with cut corners. The square is built up with a united front of buildings Lecture 87
palace type (mature classicism) with porticoes. In the center stood an equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Girardon. The entire square was created as a decoration for the statue of the king, which explains its closed nature. Two short streets open onto the square, overlooking the image of the king and covering other points of view.
It was strictly forbidden in Paris to have large private land plots and, especially, vegetable gardens. This led to the fact that the monasteries were for the most part 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 driveable streets and green paths for walking. The boulevards were built in such a way that they overlooked one of the iconic points of absolutist Paris.
The entrances to the city were ordered and marked with triumphal arches (Saint-Denis, architect F. Blondel, 1672). The entrance to Paris from the west was supposed to correspond to the entrance to Versailles; the Champs Elysees were built in the design of the Parisian part - an avenue with symmetrical front buildings. 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 landmark point (square, small ensemble) was built, symbolizing the united France and the power of the Sun King.
11. The problem of creating new housing was solved by creating a new type of hotel that dominated French architecture for two centuries. The hotel was located inside the courtyard (in contrast to the bourgeois mansion, which was built along the street). The courtyard, bounded by the services, faced the street, and the residential building was located in the back, separating the courtyard from a small garden. This principle was laid down by the architect Lescaut back in the 16th century, and was reproduced by the masters of the 17th century: Hotel Carnavale (architect F. Mansart rebuilt Lescaut's creation in 1636), Hotel Sully (architect Andruet-Duceseau, 1600-1620) , Hotel Tübeuf (architect Plemue, 1600 - 1620), and others.
This layout had an inconvenience: the only courtyard was both ceremonial and economic. In the further development of this type, the residential and economic parts of the house are differentiated. In front of the windows of the residential building there is a front yard, and on the side of it there is a second, utility one: Hotel Liancourt (architect Plemue, 1620 - 1640).
François Mansart built many hotels, introducing many improvements: a clearer layout of the premises, low stone walls from the street side, the 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 a must-have part of the hotel. Hotel Batsinier (architect F. Mansart, first half of the 17th century), Hotel Carnavale (1655 - 1666).
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Along with the reconstruction 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 mansards), the separate overlap of each part of the house is replaced by a common one, the porch and protruding porticos remain only in hotels in the squares. There is a tendency towards flattening of roofs.
Thus, the hotel is being transformed from a small analogue of a country palace into a new type of urban dwelling.
12. Paris of the XVII 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 since the 60s, when Perrault won the competition from Bernini himself, Paris could present to architects around the world magnificent examples of architecture of various types of buildings, the principles of urban planning.
Works for review
The Luxembourg Palace in Paris (architect Solomon de Bross, 1611);
Palais Royal (architect Jacques Lemercier, 1624);
Sorbonne Church (architect Jacques Lemercier, 1629);
Orleans building of the castle in Blois (architect François Mansart, 1635 - 1638);
Maison-Laffite Palace near Paris (architect François Mansart, 16421651);
Val de Grae Church (architect Francois Mansart, Jacques Lemercier), 1645 -
College of the Four Nations (architect Louis Levo, 1661 - 1665);
House and Cathedral of the Invalides (architect Liberal Bruant, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1671 - 1708);
Ensemble of the Louvre:
Southwest building (architect Lesko, XVI century);
Western building (the building of architect Lescaut is continued, built by architect Jacques Lemercier, 1624);
Clock Pavilion (architect Jacques Lemercier, 1624);
North and South buildings (architect Louis Levo, 1664);
East building (architect Claude Perrot, 1664);
Place des Vosges (1605 - 1612), Place Vendôme (architect Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1685 - 1701).
Hotels: Hotel Carnavale (architect F. Mansart rebuilt Lescaut's creation in 1636), Hotel Sully (architect Andrue-Dyceseau, 1600-1620), Hotel Tübeuf (architect P. Lemue, 1600-1620), Hotel Liancourt ( architect P. Lemue, 1620 - 1640), Hotel Batsinier (architect F. Mansart, first half of the 17th century);
Arc de Triomphe Saint-Denis, (architect F. Blondel, 1672);
The Vaux-le-Vicomte palace and park ensemble (author Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1656 - 1661);
Palace and park ensemble of Versailles (author Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin Mansart, André 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 structure, a representative of the art of the 17th century. The consistency of the ensemble, its grandeur and structure allows to reveal its essence through the concept of an artistic model. It will be shown below how this monument functions as an artistic model.
Cognition with the help of a model is based on the replacement of the object of modeling by another object that is isomorphic to the one being investigated by a number of relevant properties. Due to the fact that the model is more accessible to research than the cognized object, it allows you to discover new properties and essential connections. The results obtained in the study of the model are extrapolated to the cognizable object.
The operability 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 the cognizable object. The model concentrates in itself 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 cognized 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 itself include the following:
The master, acting as a researcher, models extremely complex objects that reveal the meaning of human existence; he necessarily builds isomorphism between obviously non-isomorphic structures;
The property of visualization acquires an attributive character in artistic models;
Due to the high status of visibility in artistic models, ontology increases (identification of the model with the object under study, model interaction with a real relationship);
A work of art realizes its cognitive essence through a special skill. The tempting beginning of the artistic model unfolds in relation to the artist and the artistic material, giving rise to a new quality in the form of a sensibly manifested 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 to when the subject is not eliminated from the relation, but remains Lecture 87
a necessary element of it. Therefore, the attitude becomes an attribute 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 gigantic complex of various structures, built on the outskirts of the small town of Versailles, 24 kilometers from Paris. The complex is located along a single axis and includes sequentially:
1) access roads to the city of Versailles,
2) the square in front of the palace,
3) the Grand Palace itself with many pavilions,
4) water and herbal parterres,
5) the main alley,
6) The Grand Canal,
7) many bosquets,
8) a variety of fountains and grottoes,
9) regular park and irregular,
10) two other palaces - the Grand and the 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, by the degree of distance from the center, the building of the new palace, the regular park, the irregular park and the access roads to 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 the laws and rules common to the entire ensemble.
1. The king's large bedroom is located in the building of an old palace from the time of Louis XIII, it is highlighted from the outside by the "Delorme portico", a balcony and an elaborate pediment. The entire ensemble is systematically organized and subordinated to the Large bedroom, this is provided in several ways.
Firstly, it was in the King's Great Bedroom and the rooms surrounding it that the main official life of Louis XIV took place - the bedroom was the most significant place in the life of the French court. Second, it is located on the axis of symmetry of the ensemble. Thirdly, the figurative symmetry of the facade of the old palace breaks down into submission to mirror symmetry, further emphasizing the elements of the axis. Fourth, a fragment of the old palace, in which the bedroom is located, is surrounded by the main building of the palace as a protective wall, it seems to be 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, curved Lecture 87
pretentious pediment, 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 (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 porticoes, on which instead of a pediment there are sculptures, the flat roof is also decorated with sculptures. The building has a clear structure, geometric shapes, clear divisions, powerful figurative and mirror symmetry, a clear dominant of the horizontal, it adheres to the principle of modularity and antique proportions. At all times, the palace was painted yellow, sunny. On the side of the park facade, on the axis of symmetry, there is the Mirror Gallery - one of the main diplomatic rooms of the king.
The new palace plays its part in a holistic composition. First, it surrounds the old building with the main element - the King's Great Bedroom, designating it as the central, dominant element. The new palace is located on the axis of symmetry of the ensemble. Secondly, the building of the palace in the clearest, most concentrated way sets the main standards of the ensemble - the geometrism of forms, clarity of structure, clarity of articulations, modularity, hierarchy, "sunshine". The palace displays samples to which all other elements of the ensemble correspond to one degree or another. Thirdly, the new palace has a great length, thanks to which it is visible from many points of the park.
3. The regular park is located near the palace in accordance with the same main axis of the ensemble. It combines in itself, on the one hand, the liveliness and organic nature of nature, on the other hand, the geometry 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 at the same time filled with a different - natural - content. Many researchers reflect this in the metaphor of "living architecture".
The regular park, like all elements of the structure, obeys the main axis of the ensemble. In the park, the axis is distinguished by the Main Alley, which then turns into the Grand Canal. On the Main alley, fountains are sequentially located, also emphasizing and highlighting the main axis.
The regular park is divided into two parts according to 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 rectangular pools, doubling the image of the palace and creating another line of symmetry between water and sky. Grass, flowers, shrubs - everything is planted and trimmed in accordance with the forms of classical geometry - rectangle, cone, circle. The parterres as a whole obey the axis of symmetry of the palace. The space of the parterres is open, its structure is clearly readable.
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The atmosphere of sunshine is preserved. As well as 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 bosquettes (baskets) - a small open area surrounded by trees. The bosquets contain sculptures and fountains. 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 (usually central) and a ray structure. In the direction of one of the alleys emanating from the bosquet, the palace is definitely visible. The bosquets as an element of the system are subordinated to the palace in a different way than the parterres - exemplary forms are less clearly read, although the general principles are still preserved.
The main alley turns into the Grand Canal. Water spaces are built in the same way as vegetation: water spaces of a clear geometric shape are located on the axis and near the palace, and distant pools have a more free shape, 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 - one-man command - of the Main Axis.
4. The so-called irregular park differs from the rest of the really "irregular" curvilinear alleys, asymmetric plantings and free, uncut, seemingly unkempt, untouched greenery. However, in fact, he is extremely thoughtfully connected with the whole ensemble, obeying the same rational, but more hidden laws. Firstly, the main axis is never crossed by plantings or buildings - it remains free. Secondly, small architectural forms clearly repeat the motives of the palace. Thirdly, so-called "ah-ah-gaps" are made in the foliage, through which the palace is visible even at a great distance. Fourth, fountains, grottoes and small sculptural groups are linked by a single theme and style to each other and to the corresponding elements of the regular park. Fifth, the connection with the whole is established 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 Arms Square at the point of the sculptural image of the monarch. Highways lead to Paris (central), as well as to Saint-Cloud and Sau, where in the 17th century. were the residences of Louis and from where there were direct trips 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, identical in Lecture 87
both sides of the highway. Three axes converge in front of the balcony of the Great King's Bedroom. Thus, even a space of several kilometers around the ensemble is subordinate to the system-forming element of the model.
Moreover, the ensemble is built into a large supersystem - Paris and France. Arable land and vineyards (about 20 km) were located from Versailles to Paris in the middle of the 17th century, and it was simply impossible to build the Versailles-Paris link directly. The task of including the model in the supersystem was skillfully solved due to the appearance of the Champs Elysees at the exit from Paris - a ceremonial avenue with a symmetrical building, 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 have their own unique feature. This means that the Versailles ensemble can claim to be a model, since any model is a well-thought-out system of elements. However, to reveal the modeling essence of the chosen work of this fact is not enough, 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 (simulates) 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 Leveaux (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 to work. The sculptors Kuazevox, Toubi, Leongre, Mazelin, Juvane, Kuazvo and many others participated in the creation of various elements of the complex.
Traditionally, in the art studies of Versailles, one of the main authors of the ensemble, Louis XIV, remains aside. It is known that the king was not only the customer for the construction of the complex, but also the main ideologist. Louis XIV was well versed in architecture and considered architecture an extremely important symbolic part of state power. He professionally read the drawings and carefully, repeatedly discussed with the craftsmen 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 some of its aspects became the object of modeling. The creation of the Versailles complex helped its authors understand how a united powerful France can be arranged, how it is possible to assemble 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 a model of the King of France.
in several ways. First, by placing the King's Bedroom in the center of the ensemble.
Secondly, using the traditional lily as an important element - the oldest symbol of the king. Louis XIV gave a new meaning to this ancient symbol. Known for his saying "I will gather France into a fist!" The "lily" sign is located above the entrance to the residence, its stylized image is repeated many times in various interiors of the palace.
However, the most important thing is that the geometry of the royal symbol "lily" is the basis for the composition of the ensemble. The composition "lilies" is realized through three highways converging in front of the royal balcony, continuing from the park side with alleys, and the isthmus joining 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 location of the ensemble at the cardinal points and its axial structure give grounds for comparing the complex with a giant, ecumenical Catholic church. The most holy place of the temple - the altar - corresponds to the Great Royal Bedroom. This correlation is reinforced by the surroundings of the bedroom with more powerful modern buildings, the shrine is placed inside and guarded, even somewhat hidden.
Thus, the ensemble simulates the leading role of the king in Versailles and, therefore, in France in the 17th century. According to the constructed model, the role of the king is to resolutely, even if forcibly, pull together 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 dominant feature of the ensemble is the bedroom). The king is the absolute ruler, collecting both secular and spiritual power.
2. Versailles ensemble - a model of France in the second half of the 17th century.
Known thesis of Louis XIV "France is me". According to this
to thesis, the Versailles complex, simulating the king, simultaneously simulates 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 country's state structure. Above all, France - One Lecture 87
a hierarchical system, collected by a single law, rule, will. This unified law is based on the will of the king - Louis XIV, next to whom the world is built and becomes clear, geometrically precise.
This is superbly visualized by the architect L. Levo in the overall compositional structure of the ensemble. The new classicist palace hugs the center - the Royal Grand Bedroom - and sets the standard 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 parterres), then the standards begin to gradually erode, the forms become freer and more diverse (bosquets and an irregular park). However, even in the far corners (seemingly free from the power of the king), gazebos, rotundas and other small architectural forms with their symmetry and clarity of forms remind of the law to which the whole obeys. In addition, through the “ah-ah-tears” skillfully cut in the foliage, now and then a palace appears in the distance as a symbol of the presence of the law in all of France, wherever her subjects are.
The palace sets the norms for the structure of France as a system (clarity, clarity, hierarchy, the presence of a single law, etc.), showing the most distant elements of the periphery what to strive for. The main building of the palace with a dominant horizontal line, powerful portable symmetry and Ionic porticoes 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 the structure of an ideal state with a powerful single power.
3. The Versailles ensemble simulates 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 a model.
First of all, this is done with the help of the composition "sun", which, by virtue of the well-known metaphor of the "Sun King", draws to the leading role of Louis XIV. The composition "lily" turns into the composition "sun", since the symbolism of the sun has a broader context. We are talking about world domination, because the sun is one for the whole world and shines for everyone. The monument simulates the role of Louis XIV \u003d France as shining to the whole world, revealing light, bringing wisdom and goodness, laws and life. The rays of the "sun" radiate from the center - the Grand Royal Bedroom - around the world.
In addition to the indicated symbolism of the sun, it is further emphasized:
By creating a common solar atmosphere of the ensemble - yellow and white in the color of the palace itself, the sun shine of jets of water, Lecture 87
large windows and mirrors in which the sun color multiplies and fills all spaces;
Numerous fountains and sculptural groups correspond to the "solar theme" - ancient heroes of myths associated with the sun god Apollo, allegories of 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 in a chariot, surrounded by trumpeting newts, jumps out of the water, welcoming his older brother" (Le Tru 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 arranged according to the ray structure; the motive of the circle is constantly repeated in the fountains;
The sun symbol is located on the altar of the royal chapel, and its ceiling contains the image of the diverging rays of the sun, etc.
In addition to the symbolism of the sun, Versailles modeled the dominant position of France in Europe at that time and with the help of "direct analogy", surpassing all the royal residences of Europe of that time in many parameters.
First of all, the ensemble under consideration had the largest dimensions for similar structures - in area (101 hectares), in 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 European residences in the diversity, splendor, and skill of its elements (each of which was a separate work of art), in their rarity and uniqueness, and in the high cost of materials. The multitude of fountains in the absence of water in most European capitals of the 17th century was “defiant”.
The superiority of the Versailles royal ensemble corresponded to the historical position of France in Europe in the second half of the 17th century: during the time of Louis XIV, the country gradually annexed its border regions, the regions 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, navy and merchant fleet “surpassing even the English”, the largest industrial growth, the most thoughtful tariff policy, and so on. The superlative degree was applicable to the position of France in the period under review in many respects.
The large area of \u200b\u200bthe park, its "endlessness" created the impression of the unlimited possession of France, the center of not even Europe, but the world. This simulated quality (to be the capital of the world, to own the world) was enhanced by the considerable length of the main alley of the park (about 10 km together with an irregular part) and the resulting promising optical effect. Since parallel lines converge at infinity, the direct visibility of the convergence of parallel lines. Lecture 87
lines (the boundaries of the alley and the canal) visualizes infinity, makes infinity visible.
The main alley was perfectly visible from the Mirror Gallery, one of the palace's most formal places for diplomatic meetings and processions. We can say that “from the windows of the gallery a view of infinity opened up”, and this infinity of the world belonged to the park, the sovereign, France. The astronomical discoveries of modern times turned the idea of \u200b\u200bthe 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 infinite, and this whole world is owned by Louis XIV \u003d France. 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 to the cardinal points ensured the highest actualization of the modeled position at sunset, when it was seen from the windows of the Mirror Gallery 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 its elder brother and, obeying his will (his rule, his park), sits in the place of the world that is intended for him.
Significant complexity and incredible, unprecedented for those times, diversity of the ensemble's components, which included, according to the descriptions of contemporaries, "everything in the world", turned Versailles into a model of the world as a whole.
France's claim to owning the world required modeling everything known to Europeans in the world. In this respect, palm trees are indicative as a model of Africa - a tree outlandish for a northern country and specific precisely for the conquered and annexed “southern end of the world”. The model was incorporated into the royal ensemble, thus demonstrating the inclusiveness and subordination of the southern continent of France.
France's leading role in Europe has been modeled and cleverly designed with access roads. L.Levo led three highways to the Marble Courtyard, into which the windows of the Great King's Bedroom open. The highways led to the main residences of Louis - Paris, Saint-Cloud and Sault, from where the main routes to the main European states went. The main highway Paris-Versailles at the exit from Paris (Champs Elysees) repeated in 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 international politics has been modeled through the Mirror Gallery, which connects two corner pavilions - the Hall of War and the Hall of Peace. Each of the halls is decorated according to the name Lecture 87
and, according to the descriptions of contemporaries, it was even accompanied by appropriate - warlike or peaceful - music. The reliefs of each of the halls model Louis XIV and France, sometimes as a powerful aggressive force, sometimes as merciful to those who bow to its will.
The situation modeled by the Mirror Gallery corresponded to the complex domestic and foreign policy of the king and the state, which combined a powerful, aggressive military strategy with "cunning", full of intrigues and secret alliances. On the one hand, the country was constantly at war. On the other hand, Louis XIV did not miss a single opportunity to strengthen the influence of France through "peaceful means", from claims to the inheritance of his Spanish wife, to bringing all legally inaccurate provisions in his direction and organizing multiple secret and explicit alliances.
The plan of the palace reveals a large number of courtyards, the existence of which is impossible to guess, 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 systematic nature of the work as a whole. On the contrary, in the context of modeling, this fact indicates the real situation in the formation of the French state in the second half of the 17th century: external prosperity and clarity of rules, on the one hand, and the presence of secret intrigues and shadow politics, on the other. In the process of creating the most complex system of Versailles, the authors deliberately introduced secret passages and hidden courtyards, thereby revealing and proving the need for state administration of political intrigues and secret conspiracies, unions.
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 Levoy, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, André Le Nôtre, Charles Lebrun and others modeled a powerful absolute monarchy as an ideal state. To do this, they selected old means of artistic modeling, came up with new means or changed existing ones.
Using the experience of modeling the state structure already accumulated in the history of art, the authors acted as users of available artistic models - Ancient Egyptian architectural complexes, Roman forums of the empire 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 the masters to be called the authors of the model.
Architects, artists, interior, garden and park masters of subsequent generations mastered the methodological and technical principles and techniques created by the authors of the ensemble. Lecture 87 was built throughout Europe in subsequent centuries in the leading European states.
numerous "Versailles" - royal residences, modeling the general principles of the structure of the monarchical state of a particular country. These are the garden and park complexes Caserta in Italy, JIa Granya 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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In France, absolutism. Louis 14 said: "I am the state." A new philosophical direction is emerging - rationalism... René Descartes stated: "I think and therefore I exist." On the basis of these ideas, a new style was formed - classicism, that is, it was based on a work of art recognized as examples of perfection, an ideal. The whole system was built on the study of antiquity and revival.
Versailles ensemble. The main idea: to create a special world, where it is subject to strict law. In the park of Versailles, there is a strict order: green spaces are trimmed, flower beds form regular geometric shapes, alleys intersect at right angles.
Example, Place Vendome... It is a closed small quadrangle with cut corners that surround administrative buildings with a uniform facade design. In the center is the equestrian statue of Louis 14. At the beginning of the 19th century, the statue was replaced with a triumphal column in honor of Napoleon. The idea of \u200b\u200bthe square is the glorification of the monarch and the dream of a perfectly ordered world living according to his will.
At the beginning of the 18th century, a new style appears - rococo (translated from French - shell).
Characteristic features: exquisite shapes, whimsical lines, a world of feelings, subtle shades of mood.
The style did not last long - until the 40s of the 18th century. The style appeared mainly in the design of interiors and country palaces.
Most buildings rococo style - these are the rich city mansions - hotels. In plan they had curvilinear outlines, formed asymmetrical compositions. The rooms were smaller than in palaces, the ceilings were lower, the windows were large almost to the floor, and the mirrors or paintings with landscapes were placed in the walls. That is, there was a visual destruction of space. Example, hotel Soubise in Paris.
From the middle of the 18th century, society again returned to classicism. Reasons: the beginning of the excavation of the city of Pompeii, the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment. Enlighteners came to search for the ideal, which they saw in the culture of ancient Greece and Rome. This style was named - neoclassicism.
Architect - Jean Ange Gabriel. Place de la Concorde in Paris (at the time, Place Louis 15). This square is open to the city from the west and east, it is adjoined by the avenue alleys (Champs Elysees and Tuileries Park). From the south embankment of the Seine River. And only on the north side are the buildings of the palaces overlooked. In the center of the square there is an equestrian statue of Louis 15. During the French Revolution, a guillotine was installed on the site of the statue. In 1836, the place of the guillotine was taken by an obelisk, 23 m high, brought from the temple of Ramses 2 in Thebes.
The most significant building in Paris was church of Saint Genevieve, architect - Jacques Germain Soufflot.In terms of the church, it was a Greek equal-pointed cross. The portico resembles the portico of the ancient Roman Pantheon. Length 110 m, width 83 m.
For the neoclassicists, architecture was a way of rebuilding the world. Utopian projects appeared, which embodied the ideas of the Enlightenment.
"Talking architecture"
The art of the "Age of Enlightenment" had to speak to convey a message to the viewer. For example, at the entrance to the bank building, powerful columns were supposed to speak of the bank's reliability. The architects also used difficult-to-understand forms: a cube as a symbol of justice, a ball as a symbol of public morality.
Cenotaph of Newton. Architect - Louis Bull (The cenotaph is a false tomb of an unknown hero, it appeared in ancient Rome). The shape of the building is associated with an apple or a globe.
Architect - Claude Nicola Ledoux. Outposts of Paris (built).
Sho city project - a new social model of society. In plan, the city was an ellipse. In the center is the director's house, which resembles an antique temple. Workers' houses were located along the perimeter. There are public buildings: a market, a stock exchange, an arms factory, a lumberjack's house (pyramidally built of logs), the house of the director of the river's source (a cylinder through which the riverbed passed) and others. There was also a Temple of Virtue and a church, but not an ordinary one, but intended for various family rituals.
There were no prisons or hospitals in the city, because crime and disease would disappear in the future.
Most of the projects were utopian, so they ended up only on paper, they were called - paper architecture.
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Architecture in FranceXVII century. 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, the theory of the infinity of worlds should have shaken the consciousness of people, changed their worldview. Renaissance anthropocentrism and naive belief 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 entire visible world is just a barely perceptible touch in the vast bosom of nature. A man in infinity - what does he mean? " - wrote Pascal in the 17th century, as if in response to the Renaissance idea of \u200b\u200bman as a "great miracle" that God put at the head of the world. In the 17th century, man already understands that he is neither the focus of the universe, nor the measure of all things.
The difference in the understanding of the place, role and capabilities of man is what distinguishes, first of all, the art of the 17th century from the Renaissance. This different attitude towards man is expressed with extraordinary clarity and accuracy by the same great French thinker Pascal: "Man is only a reed, the weakest of the creations of nature, but he is a thinking reed." In the 17th century, man created the most powerful absolutist states in Europe, formed the outlook 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 national states in Europe determined the nature of the new culture, which is customarily 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 the history of successive styles. The semicircular arches of the Romanesque style were replaced by the Gothic pointed arches, which later emerged in Italy, the Renaissance spread throughout Europe, defeating the Gothic. At the end of the Renaissance, a style arose that was called "baroque". However, if the previous styles have easily distinguishable features, it is not so easy to identify 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 others. In a sense, it would be fair to say that the Renaissance style prevailed from the beginning of Brunelleschi's activity up to our time, and in many works on architecture this entire period is designated by the concept of "Renaissance". Of course, tastes, and with them architectural forms, have undergone significant changes over such a long time, and in order to reflect these changes, a need arose 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 the style "Gothic", which 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, of which the critics of the 17th century accused the artists of the previous period. The word "baroque", meaning "bizarre", "ridiculous", "strange", also appeared later as a stinging 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 willful 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 directions in architecture. We are accustomed to structures in which there is both a daring challenge to classical rules and their complete misunderstanding [Gombrich 1998: 289].
Art critics cannot agree on the style in the art of that time. The main question is how to distinguish between concepts such as baroque and classicism. Let's make a reservation right away that for different countries works of art that belong to one style or another will have their own characteristics. It is worth noting that the existence of the style in different parts of Europe has its own duration, which means that the time frame will be blurred. Let's turn to one of the modern dictionaries to indicate 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 the Swiss art critics J. Burckhardt and G. Wölfin. The style embraced all types of creativity: literature, music, theater, but it manifested itself especially clearly in architecture, fine and decorative arts. The Renaissance feeling of a clear harmony of the universe was replaced by a dramatic understanding of the conflict nature of being, endless diversity, immeasurable and constant changeability of the surrounding world, the power of powerful natural elements over man. The expressiveness of baroque works is often built on contrasts, dramatic collisions between the sublime and the low, the majestic and the insignificant, the beautiful and the ugly, the illusory and the real, light and darkness. The penchant for composing complex and verbose allegories coexisted with extreme naturalism. Baroque works of art were distinguished by redundancy of forms, passion and tension of images. As never before, there was a strong feeling of the "theater of life": fireworks, masquerades, a passion for dressing up, reincarnation, all kinds of "tricks" brought a playful beginning to a person's life, an unprecedented spectacle and bright festivity [National Historical Encyclopedia: http://interpretive.ru / dictionary / 968 / word / baroko].
In his book “Baroque. Architecture between 1600 and 1750 "Frederic Dassa writes:" The term "baroque" cannot be given a specific definition, and the question arises whether it is worth doing. In many respects, this problem relates more to historiography than to history. The concept of baroque, developed in the last century to rehabilitate two centuries of Italian art, cannot be transferred to the study of Spanish, Dutch, English or French art, whose meaning is not determined by a more or less pronounced desire to imitate Roman or Turin artists and architects ”[Dassa 2002 : 127]. Koch writes that: “The style of this absolutist era - from about 1600 to 1800 - is the baroque<…> Throughout Europe, the baroque permeates everything: sculpture and painting, which easily fit into architectural structures without labor and transitional periods, music that gives the final touch of brilliance, fanatical religiosity to court and church holidays, literature, as well as into such everyday things as furniture, clothes or hairstyles, manner of speaking. Baroque art appeals to the entire society and is personified by it ”[Koch 2005: 236]. An important detail in Koch's study is that he distinguishes several currents during this period: the Baroque movement and the classical movement, which determines the development of architecture primarily in France and northern Europe. Indeed, the baroque style with its usual features did not receive such a development in France as it was in Italy, therefore there is a point of view that the baroque style did not develop here at all, and the baroque monuments are classified as monuments of classicism.
Let us turn to one of the modern editions of the French dictionary "Le Petit Robert des noms propres" to introduce the concept of "classicism" into our work. "Classicism is a term that in a narrow sense applies to French literature and art during the reign of Louis XIV, and in a broader sense defines the aesthetic ideal of rigor and restraint inherent in numerous writers and artists in France and other countries since the 17th century." In the same dictionary entry, in the section on architecture, "le premier classicisme" (literally "first classicism") and "le second classicisme" (literally "second classicism") are distinguished, which is associated with the difference in the development of architecture in the period before the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV, when French classicism was still under the strong influence of Italian art, and directly during the reign of the "Sun King".
The 17th century is the time of the formation of a single French state, the French nation. In the second half of the century, France is the most powerful absolutist power in Western Europe. This is also the time of the formation of the French national school in the visual arts, the formation of the classicist trend, the birthplace of which is rightfully considered France [Ilyina 2000: 129].
Studying the question of style in the architecture of the XVII century in France, one can come across such a concept as "baroque classicism", which, in our opinion, can reconcile two different views on style in the architecture of that period. However, in this work, we will adhere to the point of view presented in the General Encyclopedia of Arts, namely, to define the architectural style in 17th century France as classicism and highlight two periods of its development.
2. First half architectureXVII century
2 .1 Urban planning in France in the era of absolutism
architectural style classicism baroque
In the first half and middle of the 17th century, the principles of classicism developed and gradually took root in French architecture. The state system of absolutism also contributes to this.
Construction and control over it are concentrated in the hands of the state. A new position of "king's architect" and "king's first architect" is introduced. Huge funds are spent on construction. Government agencies control construction not only in Paris, but also in the provinces.
Urban planning is being widely deployed throughout the country. New cities arise as military outposts or 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 the plan, or in the form of more complex polygonal shapes formed by defensive walls, moats, bastions and towers. Inside them, a strictly regular rectangular or radial-ring system of streets with a city square in the center is planned. As an example, you can point to the cities of Vitry Vitry-le-Francois, Saarlouis, Anrishmont, Marle, Richelieu, etc. [cm. Appendix Fig. 12].
Old medieval towns are being rebuilt based on new principles of regular planning. Straight highways are being laid, urban ensembles and geometrically regular squares are being built on the site of the disorderly network of medieval streets.
In urban planning of the era of classicism, the main problem is a large urban ensemble with buildings carried out according to a single plan. In 1615, the first planning works were carried out in Paris in the north-western part of the city, the Ile Saint-Louis was built up. New bridges are being erected and the boundaries of the city are expanding.
On the left and right banks of the Seine, large palace complexes were being built - the Luxembourg Palace and the Palais Royal (1624, architect - J. Lemercier). The further development of urban planning work in Paris was expressed in the creation of two regular in shape (square and triangular) squares included in the medieval building of the city: Place Royale (1606-1612, architect - L. Metezo) and Place Dauphin (started in 1605) in the western part of Site Island [Bykov, Kaptereva 1969: http://artyx.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000022/index.shtml].
2 .2 Formation of the principles of classicism
The principles of classicism, the ground for which was prepared by the architects of the French and Italian Renaissance, in the first half of the seventeenth century were not yet distinguished by their integrity and uniformity. They were often mixed with the traditions of the Italian Baroque, whose buildings are characterized by a complicated shape of triangular and curved pediments, an abundance of sculptural decor and cartouches, especially in interior decoration.
Medieval traditions were so strong that even classical orders acquired a peculiar interpretation in the buildings of the first half of the century. The composition of the order - its location on the wall surface, proportions and details - obeys the structure of the wall, which has developed in Gothic architecture, with its clearly defined vertical elements of the building's supporting frame (piers) and large window openings located between them. This motif, combined with the subdivision of the facades with the help of angular and central risalits, gives the building a vertical aspiration that is not characteristic of the classical system of order compositions and a clear, calm silhouette of volume.
Baroque techniques are combined with the traditions of French Gothic and the new classicist principles of understanding beauty. Many religious buildings, built according to the type of basilica church established in the Italian Baroque, received magnificent main facades, decorated with orders of columns and pilasters, with numerous rips, sculptural inserts and volutes. An example is the Church of the Sorbonne - the first religious building in Paris, topped with a dome [Bykov, Kaptereva 1969: http://artyx.ru/books/item/f00/ z0000022 / index.shtml].
2 .3 Luxembourg Palace
One of the earliest palace structures was the Luxembourg Palace (1615-1620), built by Solomon de Bros for Marie de Medici. A magnificent park was laid out near the palace, which was considered one of the best at the beginning of the 17th century.
The composition of the palace is characterized by the placement of the main and lower service wing buildings around the large ceremonial palace. One side of the main building faces the front courtyard, the other - to the park. In the volumetric composition of the palace, traditional features characteristic of French palace architecture of the first half of the 17th century were clearly manifested, for example, the allocation of corner and central volumes crowned with high roofs in the main three-story building of the palace, as well as the division of the inner space of the corner towers into completely identical residential sections.
The appearance of the palace, in some features of which still retains a similarity with the castles of the previous century, thanks to a natural and clear compositional structure, as well as a clear rhythmic structure of two-tier orders dismembering the facades, is distinguished by monumentality and representativeness.
The massiveness of the walls is emphasized by horizontal rustication, which completely covers the walls and order elements. This technique, borrowed from the masters of the Italian Baroque, in the work of de Brosa received a peculiar sound, imparting a special richness and splendor to the appearance of the palace [see. Appendix Fig. 3].
Among other works by de Brosa, the Church of Saint-Gervais (begun in 1616) in Paris occupies a prominent place. In this church, built according to the plan of churches of the Italian Baroque, the traditional elements of the church baroque facades are combined with the Gothic elongation of proportions [Bykov, Kaptereva 1969: http://artyx.ru/books/item/f00/ z0000022 / index.shtml].
2 .4 City of Richelieu
The earliest examples of large ensemble compositions date from the first half of the 17th century. Jacques Lemercier was the creator of the first ensemble of the palace, park and city of Richelieu (started in 1627) in the architecture of French classicism.
The layout of the now not preserved ensemble was based on the intersection of two compositional axes at an angle. One of them coincides with the main street of the city and the park alley connecting the city with the square in front of the palace, the other is the main axis of the palace and park. The park's layout is built on a strictly regular system of alleys intersecting at right angles or diverging from one center.
Located away from the palace, the city of Richelieu was surrounded by a wall and a moat, forming a rectangle in the plan. The layout of streets and quarters of the city is subject to the same strict system of rectangular coordinates as the ensemble as a whole, which testifies to the addition of new urban planning principles in the first half of the 17th century and the overcoming of medieval methods of building the city with curved narrow streets and small tight squares.
The building of the Richelieu Palace was divided into the main building and wings, which formed in front of it a large closed rectangular courtyard with a main entrance. The main building with outbuildings, according to a tradition dating back to medieval castles, was surrounded by a moat filled with water. The layout and volumetric composition of the main building and the wings with clearly defined corner tower-like volumes, completed with high pyramidal roofs, were close to the Luxembourg Palace discussed above, which indicates the influence of the Middle Ages.
The Richelieu Palace, like its regular park with deep vistas of alleys, extensive parterre and sculpture, was created as a majestic monument designed to glorify the all-powerful ruler of France. The interiors of the palace were richly decorated with stucco and painting, which exalted Richelieu's personality and deeds [see. Appendix Fig. 4].
The ensemble of the palace and the city of Richelieu was still not sufficiently imbued with unity, but in general Lemercier managed to create a new type of complex and strict spatial composition, unknown to the architecture of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque [Bykov, Kaptereva 1969: http://artyx.ru/books/item/f00 /s00/z0000022/index.shtml].
2 .5 Creations of Francois Mansart
Along with Lemercier, François Mansart (1598-1666) was the largest architect of the first half of the century. Among his outstanding works is the Maison-Laffitte Palace (1642-1650), erected near Paris for the President of the Parisian Parliament, Rene de Langeuil. Unlike the traditional compositions of earlier country castles, there is no closed courtyard formed by the main building and service wings. All offices are located in the basement of the building.
The monumental volume of the palace, crowned by the ancient tradition with high pyramidal roofs above the side and central projections, is distinguished by its compact integrity and expressive silhouette. The building is surrounded by a moat filled with water, and its location as if on an island in a beautiful water frame well connects the palace with the natural park environment, emphasizing its primacy in the composition of the ensemble. The architecture of the Maison-Laffitte Palace is complemented by a regular French park with extensive parterres, bosquets and lush green spaces [see. Appendix Fig. five].
Another major work of Francois Mansart is the church of the convent of Val de Grasse (1645-1665), built after his death. The composition of the plan is based on the traditional scheme of a domed basilica with a wide central nave covered with a cylindrical vault, a transept and a dome on the middle cross. As in many other French religious buildings of the 17th century, the facade of the building dates back to the traditional solution of the church facade by the architecture of the Italian Baroque. The dome of the church, raised on a high drum, is one of the three tallest domes in Paris [see. Appendix Fig. 6].
In 1630, François Mansart introduced into the practice of building a city dwelling a high broken roof shape using an attic for housing (hence the concept of "attic").
Thus, in the first half of the 17th century, both in the field of urban planning and in the formation of the types of buildings themselves, the process of maturation of a new style is underway, and conditions are created for its flourishing in the second half of the century [Bykov, Kaptereva 1969: http://artyx.ru /books/item/f00/s00/z0000022/index.shtml].
3. Second half of the 17th century
3 .1 Great century, characteristics of the period
In the second half of the 17th century, the absolute monarchy in France reaches its greatest economic and political power and external flourishing. This is the time of the long reign of Louis XIV, the "sun king". It is not without reason that this time was named in Western literature "Le grand siècle" - "The Great Age". Great - first of all for the splendor of the ceremony and all types of arts, in different genres and in different ways, glorifying the person of the king. Since the beginning of the independent reign of Louis XIV, i.e. since the 60s of the 17th century, a process of regulation, complete submission and control by the royal power, which is very important for its further development, has been taking place in art. The Academy of Painting and Sculpture, created back in 1648, is now under the official jurisdiction of the first minister of the king. In 1671 the Academy of Architecture was founded, control over all types of artistic life was established [Ilyina 2000: 138] .
Despite the control by the authorities, the second half of the 17th century for the architecture of France is the time of its heyday. In Paris, extensive city squares and large palace, public and religious buildings are being reconstructed and erected. Extensive and expensive construction work is being carried out to create the country residence of the king - Versailles.
One of the reasons for the leading position of architecture among other types of arts in the second half of the 17th century was rooted in its specific features. It was architecture that could most fully and forcefully express the ideas of this stage in the development of a centralized national monarchy. During this period, the organizing role of architecture in the artistic synthesis of all types of fine arts was especially clearly manifested. Architecture had a huge impact on the formation of decorative sculpture, painting and applied arts of this time.
New artistic features in the architecture of the middle and second half of the 17th century, which developed within the framework of classicism, are manifested, first of all, in the huge spatial scope of buildings and ensembles, in a more consistent application of the classical order system, in the predominance of horizontal divisions over vertical ones, in greater integrity and unity. volumetric composition and internal space of the building. Along with the classical heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance, the creation of the style of French classicism in the second half of the 17th century was greatly influenced by the architecture of the Italian Baroque. This is reflected in the borrowing of some architectural forms (curved pediments, volutes, lush cartouches), in the order compositions of facades and the principles of solving their internal space (enfilade), in some features of the layout of large ensembles (longitudinal-axial construction), as well as in the inherent architecture French classicism of increased pomp of architectural forms, especially in interiors. However, the forms of classical and baroque architecture underwent radical reworking in the 17th century in connection with national artistic traditions, which made it possible to bring these often contradictory elements to artistic unity [Bykov 1963: 487-513].
3 .2 Vaux-le-Vicomte
The first piece of French classicism architecture of the second half of the 17th century, in which the predominance of the artistic principles of classicism over the old traditions is clearly felt, was the ensemble of the palace and park of Vaux-le-Vicomte (1655-1661). The creators of this remarkable work, built for the Comptroller General of Finance Fouquet and in many ways anticipating the ensemble of Versailles, were the architect Louis Leveaux, André Le Nôtre and the painter Charles Lebrun.
According to the composition of the plan, the allocation of the central and corner tower-like volumes, crowned with high roofs, the general open character of the building surrounded by a moat filled with water, the palace of Vaux-le-Vicomte resembles the Maison-Laffitte palace. Like Maison-Laffitte, some of the traditional features of French architecture dating back to centuries past are still preserved in the architecture of this palace. Nevertheless, in the appearance of the building, as well as in the compositional ensemble as a whole, there is no doubt the triumph of classicist architectural principles. This is manifested, first of all, in the logical and strictly verified planning solution of the palace and park. The building and the park are subordinated to a strictly centralizing compositional principle, which makes it possible to bring the various elements of the Vaux-le-Vicomte ensemble to a great artistic unity and to highlight the palace as the most important component of the ensemble.
The unity in the construction of the interior space and volume of the building is typical of the principles of classic architecture. The large oval salon is highlighted as the center of the composition and is crowned with a domed roof, giving its silhouette a calm, balanced character. The introduction of a large order of pilasters, covering two floors above the basement, and a powerful horizontal line of a smooth, straight-line classical entablature, the prevalence of horizontal articulations over vertical ones, generalization and integrity of the facades and volume of the building, unusual for palaces of an earlier period, is achieved. All this gives the appearance of the palace a monumental representativeness and splendor.
The park ensemble of the Vaux-le-Vicomte palace was built according to a single strictly regular system. Skillfully trimmed green spaces, alleys, flower beds, paths form clear, easily perceived geometric shapes and lines. Fountains and decorative statues flank the vast parterre and pool with a grotto in front of the palace façade. Appendix Fig. 7].
In the ensemble of Vaux-le-Vicomte, peculiar principles of the synthesis of architecture, sculpture, painting and gardening art created by French classicism of the 17th century developed, which gained even greater scope and maturity in the ensemble of Versailles [Bykov 1963: 487-513].
3 .3 East facade of the Louvre
One of the first works of the second half of the 17th century, in which the fundamental principles of French classicism were most fully expressed, is the eastern facade of the Louvre (1667-1678), in the design and construction of which François d'Orbet (1634-1697), Louis Leveaux and Claude participated Perrault (1613-1688).
The eastern façade of the Louvre, which is often called the Louvre Colonnade, is part of the ensemble of two palaces united in the 17th century - the Tuileries and the Louvre. The large facade (173 m) has a central and two lateral projections, between which on a monumental smooth plinth with rare openings rest powerful (12 m high) double Corinthian columns, forming deep shaded loggias together with the wall receding into the depths. The rizalit of the central entrance with a three-span portico, richest in its forms, decor and divisions, is crowned with a triangular pediment. The tympanum of the pediment is richly decorated with a sculptural relief. The flat architectural relief of the lateral projections creates a logical transition to the lateral facades of the Louvre, which repeated the composition of the eastern facade, with the difference that the double Corinthian columns are replaced in them by single pilasters of the same order [Bykov 1963: 487-513].
The monumental facade of the building with its enlarged forms and accentuated scale is full of grandeur and nobility, but at the same time, one senses in it a shade of rational coldness characteristic of mature classicism [Bykov 1963: 487-513].
3 .4 Creations of Arduin-Mansart
The problem of the architectural ensemble, which stood for almost the entire century in the center of attention of the masters of classicism of the 17th century, found its expression in French urban planning. One of the striking examples of the skillful solution of large urban planning tasks is the construction by Arduin-Mansar of the Church of the Invalides (1693-1706), completing a huge complex, built according to the project of Liberal Bruant (c. 1635-1697).
The House of Invalides, intended to house the hostels of war veterans, is conceived as one of the most grandiose public buildings of the 17th century. In front of the main facade of the building, located on the left bank of the Seine, stretches a vast square, the so-called Esplanade of Invalides. The strictly symmetrical complex of the House of Invalides consists of four-storey buildings closed along the perimeter, forming a developed system of large rectangular and square courtyards, subordinate to a single compositional center - a large courtyard and a monumental church associated with it.
The church is a centric structure with a square plan and a large, 27 m in diameter, dome, which crowns a vast central space. In the strict and restrained in its forms architecture of the temple, one can still feel the influence of baroque compositions not alien to the work of Arduin-Mansart. This is reflected in the proportions of the dome weighted with respect to the lower volume and in the plastic enrichment of the central part of the facade with order elements, characteristic of the Baroque [see. Appendix Fig. 8].
For the French urban planning practice of the 17th century, Louis the Great Square (later Place Vendôme) (1685-1701) and Victory Square (1684-1687), erected according to the designs of the architect Arduin-Mansart, are of great importance.
The square of Louis the Great, rectangular in plan with cut corners, was conceived as a ceremonial building in honor of the king. In accordance with the design, the equestrian statue of Louis XIV, located in the center of the square, played the dominant role in the composition. The facades of the buildings forming the square, of the same type in composition, with slightly protruding porticos at the cut corners and in the central part of the buildings, serve as the architectural frame of the square's space. Connected to the adjacent quarters by only two short stretches of streets, the square is perceived as a closed, isolated space [see. Appendix Fig. nine].
Another ensemble is Victory Square, which has the shape of a circle with a diameter of 60 m in plan, which is close to the square of Louis the Great by the uniformity of the facades surrounding the square and the location of the monument in the center. However, the location of the square at the intersection of several streets, which are actively connected with the general planning system of the city, deprives it of isolation and isolation.
By creating Victory Square, Arduen-Mansart laid the foundations for progressive urban planning trends in the construction of open public centers closely related to the city's planning system [Bykov 1963: 487-513].
3 .5 Versailles
The progressive tendencies in the architecture of French classicism of the 17th century are fully and comprehensively developed in the ensemble of Versailles (1668-1689), grandiose in scale, boldness and breadth of artistic design. The main creators of this most significant monument of French classicism of the 17th century were Hardouin-Mansart and the master of gardening art André Le Nôtre (1613-1700).
Versailles, as the main residence of the king, was supposed to exalt and glorify the boundless power of French absolutism. The peculiarities of building a complex ensemble as a strictly ordered centralized system based on the absolute compositional dominance of the palace over everything around it are due to its general ideological concept.
Three wide, perfectly straight ray avenues of the city converge to the Palace of Versailles, located on a terrace overlooking the surrounding area - thus, Versailles was connected by roads that approach it with different regions of France.
In the vicinity of the main building from the side of the city, in two large independent buildings, forming a large rectangular square in front of the central building of the palace, the palace services were located.
Luxurious interior decoration, in which baroque motifs are widely used (round and oval medallions, complex cartouches, ornamental fillings above doors and in the walls) and expensive finishing materials (mirrors, chased bronze, marble, gilded wood carving), widespread use of decorative painting - all this is designed to create an impression of grandeur and splendor. One of the most remarkable premises of the Palace of Versailles is the magnificent Mirror Gallery (73 m long) built by Arduin-Mansart and located on the second floor of the central part, with adjacent square living rooms. The wide arched openings offer a magnificent view of the main alley of the park and the surrounding landscape. The inner space of the gallery is illusoryly enlarged by a number of large mirrors located in niches opposite the windows. The interior of the gallery is richly decorated with marble Corinthian pilasters and a magnificent stucco cornice, which serves as a transition to an even more complex in composition and color scheme baroque plafond by the artist Lebrun [see. Appendix Fig. ten].
The architecture of the facades created by Arduin-Mansart, especially from the side of the park, is distinguished by great unity. Strongly stretched horizontally, the building of the palace is in good harmony with the strict geometrically correct layout of the park and natural surroundings. In the composition of the facade, the second, front floor of the palace is clearly distinguished, dismembered by the order of columns and pilasters, which are strict in proportions and details, resting on a heavy rusticated plinth.
In contrast to the architecture of the palace facades, which are not devoid of a somewhat baroque representativeness, as well as overloaded with decorations and gilded interiors, the park's layout, made by Le Nôtre, is distinguished by classical purity and clarity of lines and forms. In the layout of the park and the forms of its "green architecture" Le Nôtre was the most consistent exponent of the aesthetic and ethical ideal of classicism. He saw in the natural environment an object of intelligent human activity. Le Nôtre transforms the natural landscape into an impeccably clear, complete architectonic system based on the principles of rationality and order [see. Appendix Fig. eleven].
A general view of the park opens from the side of the palace. From the main terrace, a wide staircase leads along the main axis of the composition of the ensemble to the Fountain of Latona, then the Royal Alley, bordered by clipped trees, leads to the Fountain of Apollo. The composition ends with a large canal extending towards the horizon, framed by alleys of trimmed trees.
The rich and varied sculptural decoration of the park is in organic unity with the park's layout and the architectural appearance of the palace. The park sculpture of Versailles is actively involved in the formation of the ensemble. The architectural image of the Versailles ensemble is built in an organic connection with the natural environment, in a logical and consistent disclosure of various internal and external perspective aspects, in the synthesis of architecture, sculpture and painting [Bykov 1963: 487-513].
Conclusion
The 17th century is one of the brightest eras in the development of Western European artistic culture. This is the time of the brilliant flourishing of a number of the largest national schools, a multitude of creative directions and a constellation of great names and famous masters, truly extraordinary for one century. The most significant and valuable thing that was created by this era is associated primarily with the art of five European countries - Italy, Spain, Flanders, Holland and France.
The difference between the 17th century and the previous 16th century was that none of the named countries now occupied an undoubtedly dominant position in the overall evolution of artistic culture. Nevertheless, one cannot fail to note the special role of the two countries in the initial and final stages of this stage. So, speaking of its initial phase, first of all it is necessary to name Italy. The country of ancient ancient culture, the cradle of the Renaissance, Italy became in the 17th century a place of pilgrimage for all artists of the world. It is even more important that in the Italian art of the first half of the 17th century, new figurative and stylistic foundations of architecture, sculpture and painting were laid that met the requirements of their time and therefore received a general European response. One has only to remember how much the Italian Baroque contributed to all types of plastic arts, how much the realism of Caravaggio enriched European painting.
What Italy was for the first half of the 17th century, so for the second half of the century was France, which in its artistic achievements gave samples for other European countries. Her art has passed a long and difficult path since the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, marked by the creative activities of many famous masters.
In no other European country has artistic culture found itself in such close connection with the development of absolutism as in France. To a large extent, this was due to the fact that it was France that was the classical country of absolutism, the historical role of which at a certain stage of social development was largely progressive. In these conditions, the idea of \u200b\u200bstate unity acquired a particularly important meaning, meeting the requirements of the growing and independent French nation.
The essential features of the era were most deeply reflected in the art of classicism. This complex and contradictory style manifested itself in different ways in drama and poetry, in architecture and visual arts [Bykov, Kaptereva 1969: http://artyx.ru/books/item/f00/z00022/index.shtml].
Bibliographic list
Literature
1. Bykov V.E. Art of France, architecture // General history of arts in 6 volumes / otv. ed. R.B. Klimov, I.I. Nikonov. Volume 4: Art of the 17th - 18th centuries. - M .: Art, 1963.1101 p.
2. Bykov V.E., Kaptereva T.P. French art of the 17th century. - M .: Art, 1969 URL: http://artyx.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000022/index.shtml
3. Gombrich E. History of Art. - M .: Publishing house ACT, 1998.688 p.
4. Dassa F. Baroque. Architecture between 1600 and 1750. - Moscow: Astrel Publishing House, 2002.160 p.
5. Ilyina T.V. Art history. Western European art. - M .: Higher. shk., 2000.368 p.
6. Koch F. Encyclopedia of architectural styles. - M .: BMM AO, 2005.528 p.
Dictionaries and reference publications
7. Le Petit Robert des noms propres, Varese, La tipografica Varese, 2010.
Internet resources
8. National Historical Encyclopedia. http://interpretive.ru/
Illustrations
9. Figures 1-2: Architecture and Urban Planning URL: http://townevolution.ru/books/item/f00/z0021/st030.shtml
10. Illustrations 3-8, 11: General history of art in 6 volumes / otv. ed. R.B. Klimov, I.I. Nikonov. Volume 4: Art of the 17th - 18th centuries. - M .: Art, 1963.1101 p.
11. Illustrations 9-10 URL: http://www.mafrance.ru/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/vandomskaya-ploshad.jpg
application
Figure: 1 Plans for French fortified cities of the 17th century. Anrishmon
Figure: 2 City of Richelieu. Built according to the project of Jacques Lemercier in the early 30s of the 17th century. Left - the park of the country castle of Cardinal Richelieu
Figure: 3 Salomon de Bros. Luxembourg Palace in Paris. 161 5 - 1620 (21)
Figure: 4 Jacques Lemercier. Richelieu Palace in Poitou. Started in 1627 Perel's engraving
Figure: 5 Francois Mansart. Maison-Laffite Palace near Paris. 1642-1650. Main facade
Figure: 6 Francois Mansart. Church of Val de Grasse in Paris. 1645-1665. Facade
Figure: 7 Louis Leveaux, André Le Nôtre. Palace and park Vaux-le-Vicomte near Melin. 1655-1661 General view from the park.
Figure: 8 Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Church of Les Invalides in Paris. 1693-1706 Completed in 1708 by Robert de Cott. View from the south
Figure: 9 Place Louis the Great (Place Vendôme)
Figure: 10 Mirror gallery of the Palace of Versailles
Figure: 11 Versailles. View of the Royal Palace and the park from the west. Architects Louis Leveaux, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, André Le Nôtre. Aerial photography
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And in general, through the palaces of France, we cannot but look into the most probably famous palace and park complex in France. Let it be known to everyone, you've heard a lot about it, but let's take a virtual look and there for a couple of minutes.
Versailles - this name is associated all over the world with the idea of \u200b\u200bthe most significant and magnificent palace, built by the will of one monarch. The Versailles palace and park ensemble, recognized as a masterpiece of world heritage, is quite young - it is only three and a half centuries old. The Palace and Park of Versailles is one of the outstanding architectural ensembles in the history of world architecture. The layout of the vast park, the territory associated with the Palace of Versailles, is the pinnacle of French park art, and the palace itself is a first-class architectural monument. A galaxy of brilliant masters worked on this ensemble. They created a complex, complete architectural complex, which includes a monumental palace building and a number of park structures of "small forms", and, most importantly, a park that is exceptional in its compositional integrity.
The Versailles Ensemble is a highly characteristic and striking work of 17th century French classicism. The palace and park ensemble of Versailles is the greatest architectural monument of the 17th century, which had a strong influence on the urban planning of the 18th century. Versailles generally became a kind of "ideal city", which the Renaissance authors dreamed and wrote about and which, by the will of Louis XIV, the "sun king", and the art of his architects and gardeners, was realized in reality, and in the immediate vicinity of Paris. But let's talk about everything in more detail ...
The mention of Versailles first appeared in the 1038 charter issued by the abbey of St. Peter. It spoke of a certain lord Hugh of Versailles - the owner of a small castle and adjacent territories. The emergence of the first settlement - a small village around the castle - is usually dated to the middle of the 11th century. Another village soon grew up around the church of St. Julian.
The 13th century (especially the years of the reign of Saint Louis) for Versailles, as well as for the whole of Northern France, became a century of prosperity. However, the 14th century that followed brought with it a terrible plague and the Hundred Years War between England and France. All these misfortunes led Versailles to a very deplorable state: by the end of the 14th century, its population numbered just over 100 people. He began to recover only in the next 15th century.
Versailles as an architectural and park ensemble did not appear immediately, it was not created by one architect like many palaces of the 17th-18th centuries that imitated him. At the end of the 16th century, Versailles was a small village in the forest, where he sometimes hunted Henry IV... Ancient chronicles report that at the beginning of the 17th century Versailles was a village with a population of about 500 people, a mill stood on the site of the future palace, and fields and endless swamps were spread all around. In 1624 it was built on behalf of Louis XIII, by the architect Philibert Le Roi, a small hunting lodge next to a village called Versailles.
Near it was a medieval dilapidated castle - the possession of the house of Gondi. Saint-Simon in his memoirs calls this ancient castle of Versailles "house of cards". But soon this castle was rebuilt by the architect Lemercier by order of the king. At the same time, Louis XIII acquired the Gondi plot, along with the dilapidated palace of the archbishop, and demolished it to expand his park. The small castle was located 17 kilometers from Paris. It was a U-shaped structure with a moat. In front of the castle there were four buildings of stone and brick with metal bars on the balconies. The courtyard of the old castle, which later received the name Marble, has survived to this day. The first gardens of the Versailles Park were laid out by Jacques Boissot and Jacques de Menoir.
In the middle of the 16th century, Martial de Loménie, the finance minister under King Charles IX, became the only Versailles lord. Charles granted him the right to hold four annual fairs in Versailles and the opening of a weekly market (on Thursdays). The population of Versailles, which was still a small village, was at this time about 500 people. However, the French religious wars between Catholics and Protestants led to an imminent change of the seigneurial dynasty. Martial was arrested for his sympathies with the Huguenots (French Protestants) and thrown into prison. Here he was visited by the Duke de Retz, Albert de Gondi, who had long hatched plans to seize the Versailles territories. By means of threats, he forced de Loménie to sign a paper according to which the latter ceded Versailles to him at a negligible price.
At the beginning of the 17th century, King Louis XIII began to frequently visit Versailles, who enjoyed hunting in the local forests. In 1623 he ordered to build a small castle, where hunters could stop for a halt. This building became the first royal palace in Versailles. On April 8, 1632, Louis XIII bought the seigneur in full from the last Versailles owner Jean-François de Gondi for 66,000 livres. In the same year, the king appointed his valet, Arnault, as administrator of Versailles. In 1634, the architect Philibert le Roy was commissioned to rebuild the old Versailles castle into a royal palace. However, despite the changes taking place, by the end of the reign of Louis XIII, Versailles did not change its appearance much. He, as before, was a small village.
Everything changed with the accession to the throne of the king - the sun, Louis XIV. It was during the reign of this monarch (1643-1715) that Versailles became a city and a favorite royal residence.
In 1662, Versailles began to be built according to the Le Nôtre plan. André Le Nôtre (1613-1700) by this time had already become famous as the builder of country estates with regular parks (in Vaux-le-Vicomte, Sault, Saint-Cloud, etc.). It is interesting that in 1655-1661 N. Fouquet, the largest financier of absolutist France, according to the project of the architect Louis le Vaux rebuilt his country castle. The main thing in the palace and park ensemble of Vaux-le-Vicomte was not even the palace itself (at that time quite modest), but the general principle of creating a country residence. All of it has been turned into a gigantic park, skillfully designed by the architect-gardener André Le Nôtre. The Palais Vaux-le-Vicomte demonstrated the new lifestyle of the French aristocrat - in nature, outside the walls of a cramped, crowded city. I liked the palace and the park so much Louis XIVthat he could not come to terms with the idea that they were not his property. The French king immediately imprisoned Fouquet, and commissioned the architects Louis le Vaux and André Le Nôtroux to build his palace at Versailles. The architecture of the Fouquet estate was adopted as a model for Versailles. Having preserved the Fuke Palace, the king took out everything that could be removed and taken away from it, including the orange trees and marble statues of the park.
Le Nôtre began with the construction of a city that was to house the courtiers of Louis XIV and a large staff of palace servants and military guards. The city was designed for thirty thousand inhabitants. Its layout was subordinated to three ray highways, which diverged from the central part of the palace in three directions: in Sau, Saint-Cloud, Paris. Despite the direct analogy with the Roman three-ray, the Versailles composition was significantly different from its Italian prototype. In Rome, the streets diverged from the Piazza del Popolo, while at Versailles they rapidly converged to the palace. In Rome, the width of the streets was less than thirty meters, in Versailles - about a hundred. In Rome, the angle formed between the three highways was 24 degrees, and in Versailles, 30 degrees. For the early settlement of the city Louis XIV distributed plots for building to everyone (of course, nobles) for a reasonable price with the only condition to build buildings in the same style and not higher than 18.5 meters, that is, the level of the entrance to the palace.
In 1673 it was decided to demolish the old Versailles buildings, including the church. The new Cathedral of St. Julian was erected in its place in 1681-1682. On May 6, 1682, Louis XIV, along with his entire court, moved from Paris to Versailles. This marked a turning point in the history of the city. By the first quarter of the 18th century (that is, by the end of the reign of Louis) Versailles had become a luxurious royal residence, and its population was 30,000 inhabitants.
As a result of the second construction cycle, Versailles was formed into an integral palace and park ensemble, which is a wonderful example of the synthesis of arts - architecture, sculpture, and garden and park art of French classicism of the 17th century. However, after the death of the cardinal Mazarin, Versailles, created by Levo, began to seem not majestic enough to express the idea of \u200b\u200babsolute monarchy. Therefore, for the restructuring of Versailles was invited Jules Hardouin Mansart, the largest architect of the end of the century, whose name is associated with the third construction period in the history of the creation of this complex, the great-nephew of the famous François Mansart. Mansart enlarged the palace even more, erecting two wings, each five hundred meters long, at right angles to the southern and northern facades of the palace. In the north wing, he placed a church (1699-1710), whose vestibule was finished by Robert de Cott. In addition, Mansart added two more floors above the Levo terrace, creating a Mirror Gallery along the western facade, which closes with the rooms of War and Peace (1680-1886).
Adam Frans van der Meulen - Construction of the Château de Versailles
On the axis of the palace in the direction of the entrance on the second floor, Mansart placed the royal bedroom with a view of the city and the equestrian statue of the king, erected later at the vanishing point of the trident of the roads of Versailles. In the northern part of the palace were the chambers of the king, in the southern - the queen. Mansar also built two buildings of Ministers (1671-1681), which formed the third, the so-called “court of Ministers”, and connected these buildings with a rich gilded lattice. All this completely changed the appearance of the building, although Mansart left the same height of the building. Gone are contrasts, freedom of imagination, nothing is left, except for the extended horizontal line of the three-story building, which is the same 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, the simple and calm rhythm of the entire composition.
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Mansar 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 the Mirror Gallery, he applied a single architectural motive - a uniform alternation of walls with openings. This classic foundation creates a sense of clear form. Thanks to Mansar, the expansion of the Palace of Versailles acquired a natural character. The annexes received a strong relationship with the central buildings. The ensemble, outstanding for its architectural and artistic qualities, was successfully completed and had a great influence on the development of world architecture.
Each of the inhabitants of the Palace of Versailles left its mark on its architecture and decoration. Louis XV, the great-grandson of Louis XIV, who succeeded to the throne in 1715, only towards the end of his reign in 1770 decided to make changes to the architecture of the palace. He ordered to equip separate apartments to protect his life from court etiquette. In turn, Louis XV inherited from his great-grandfather a love for the arts, as evidenced by the decoration of his inner chambers; and the penchant for secret political intrigues passed to him from the Italian ancestors of the Medici family and the Savoy dynasty. It was in the Inner Offices, far from the curious courtyard, that the one who was called the "General Favorite" made some of the most important government decisions. At the same time, the king did not neglect either the etiquette established by his predecessor, or the life of the family, which he was reminded of by the queen and especially his beloved daughters.
After the death of the sun king, Philip of Orléans, who became regent under the minor Louis XV, decided to move the French court back to Paris. This was a notable blow to Versailles, which immediately lost about half of its inhabitants. However, everything returned to its previous state when in 1722 the matured Louis XV moved to Versailles again. Under his successor, Louis XVI, the city had to go through many dramatic moments. By a whim of fate, this luxurious royal residence was to become the cradle of the French Revolution. It was here in 1789 that the States General gathered, and here on June 20, 1789, the deputies from the third estate took a solemn oath not to disperse until their demands for political reforms in France were accepted. A crowd of heated revolutionaries arrived here in early October 1789 from Paris, which, having seized the palace, forced the royal family to return to the capital. After that, Versailles again began to rapidly lose population: its number decreased from 50,000 people (in 1789) to 28,000 people (in 1824). During the revolutionary events, almost all the furniture and valuables were removed from the Versailles Palace, but the building itself was not destroyed. During the reign of the Directory, restoration work was carried out in the palace, after which a museum was located here.
Louis XVI, the heir to Louis XV, whose reign was tragically interrupted by the revolution, inherited from his maternal grandfather, the Polish king Augustus of Saxony, an enviable heroic strength; on the other hand, his Bourbon ancestors gave him not only a true passion for hunting, but also a deep interest in science. His wife Marie Antoinette, daughter of the Duke of Lorraine, who later became Emperor of Austria, left a deep mark on the musical life of Versailles thanks to her love for music, inherited from both the Austrian Habsburgs and Louis XIII. Unlike his ancestors, Louis XVI did not have the ambitions of a creative king. Known for the simplicity of his tastes, he lived in a palace out of necessity. During his reign, the interior of the palace was renewed, and, first of all, the Queen's Small Offices, which were located parallel to his Large Chambers. During the revolution, all furniture and decorations of the palace were plundered. Napoleon and then Louis XVIII carried out restoration work at Versailles. After the July Revolution of 1830, the palace was supposed to be demolished. This issue was put to a vote in the Chamber of Deputies. Versailles saved the advantage by one vote. The last of the dynasty, King Louis-Philippe ruled France from 1830 to 1848. In 1830, after the July Revolution, which elevated him to the throne, the House of Representatives passed a law under which Versailles and Trianon came into the possession of the new king. Wasting no time, Louis-Philippe ordered the creation in Versailles of the Museum in honor of the glorious victories of France, which opened on June 1, 1837. This purpose of the castle has survived to this day.
The creators of the palace were not only Louis Le Vaux and Mansart. A significant group of architects worked under their leadership. Le Vaux worked with Lemue, Dorbay, Pierre Guittard, Bruant, Pierre Cottard and Blondel. Mansart's main assistant was his student and relative Robert de Cott, who continued to lead the construction after Mansart's death in 1708. In addition, Charles Davilay and Lassurance worked at Versailles. The interiors were made according to drawings by Beren, Vigarani, and also by Lebrun and Mignard. Due to the participation of many masters, the architecture of Versailles is currently of a heterogeneous nature, especially since the construction of Versailles - from the emergence of the hunting castle of Louis XIII and to the arrangement of the battle gallery of Louis Philippe - lasted for about two centuries (1624-1830).
During the Napoleonic Wars, Versailles was twice captured by Prussian troops (in 1814 and in 1815). The Prussian invasion was repeated again during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. The occupation lasted 174 days. In the Palace of Versailles, chosen by the Prussian king William I as a temporary residence, on January 18, 1871, the creation of the German Empire was announced.
In the 20th century, Versailles also witnessed major international events more than once. It was here in 1919 that the peace treaty was signed, which put an end to the First World War and laid the foundation for the Versailles system of international relations.
Main palace complex(Chateau de Versailles) was built in the 17th century by King Louis XIV, who wanted to move here from the unsafe Paris. The luxurious rooms are richly decorated with marble, velvet and wood carvings. The main attractions here are the Royal Chapel, the Salon of Venus, the Salon of Apollo and the Hall of Mirrors. The decoration of the state rooms was dedicated to the Greek gods. The Apollo Salon was originally the throne room of Louis. The Hall of Mirrors contains 17 huge mirrors reflecting tall arched windows and crystal candelabra.
Grand Trianon - a beautiful pink marble palace was built by Louis XIV for his beloved Madame de Maintenon. Here the monarch loved to spend his free time. Later, the palace was home to Napoleon and his second wife.
Little Trianon- another love nest built by King Louis XV for Madame de Pompadour. Later, the Lesser Trianon was occupied by Marie Antoinette, and even later by Napoleon's sister. The nearby Temple of Love is said to have been a favorite place for Marie Antoinette's parties.
Colonnade - the circle of marble columns and arches, located within the gardens, continues the theme of the gods of Olympus. The place was the king's favorite outdoor dining.
During the Second World War, Versailles was occupied by German troops. In addition, the city had to endure several brutal bombing raids, which killed 300 Versailles. The liberation of Versailles took place on 24 August 1944, and was carried out by French troops under the command of General Leclerc.
On February 25, 1965, a government decree was issued, according to which Versailles was to be turned into the prefecture of the new department of Yvelines, the official creation of which took place on January 1, 1968.
Today the city retains this status. Being one of the most attractive tourist destinations, Versailles is proud of its history and architectural monuments. In 1979, the palace and park of Versailles were officially included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Pierre-Denis Martin - View of Versailles
Versailles gardens with their sculptures, fountains, pools, cascades and grottoes, they soon became an arena for the Parisian nobility for brilliant court festivities and baroque entertainments, during which one could enjoy both Lully's operas and plays by Racine and Moliere.
The parks of Versailles spread over an area of \u200b\u200b101 hectares. There are many viewing platforms, alleys and promenades, there is even its own Grand Canal, or rather, a whole system of canals, which was called "Little Venice". The Palace of Versailles itself is also striking in its size: the length of its park facade is 640 meters, the Mirror Gallery located in the center is 73 meters long.
Versailles is open to visitors
in May - September from Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 17:30.
fountains are open on Saturdays from July 1 to September 30 and on Sundays from early April to early October.
How to get there - Versailles
To Versailles there are trains (commuter trains) from the "Gare Montparnasse" station, the Montparnasse Bienvenue metro station (Metro line 12). The entrance to the station is directly from the metro. Follow to Versailles Chantiers stop. Travel time is 20 minutes. A round trip ticket costs 5.00 euros.
Exit the train station in direction "Sortie" (exit), then continue straight. The road will lead you to the palace in 10 - 15 minutes.
In the 17th century, a special form of government was established in France, later called absolutism. Famous sacramental statement king Louis XIV (1643 - 1715) “The state is me” had a weighty basis: loyalty to the monarch was considered the height of patriotism. The religious life of the country was also subject to royal power. The Catholic Church of France strove to be independent from the Pope and acted independently in many issues.
At the same time, a new philosophical trend emerged - rationalism (from the Latin rationalis - "reasonable"), which recognized the human mind as the basis of knowledge. The ability of a person to think, according to philosophers, raised him, turned him into a true likeness of God. On the basis of these ideas, a new style in art was formed - classicism... This name (from Lat. Classius - “exemplary”) can literally be translated as “based on the classics,” that is, works of art that are recognized as examples of perfection, an ideal - both artistic and moral. The creators of this style believed that beauty exists objectively and its laws can be comprehended with the help of reason. The ultimate goal of art is the transformation of the world and man according to these laws and the embodiment of the ideal in real life.
The entire arts education system classicism was based on the study of antiquity and the art of the Renaissance. The creative process consisted, first of all, in observing the rules established during the study of ancient monuments, and plots from ancient mythology and history were considered worthy of embodiment in works of art.
The 17th century is the time of the formation of a single French state, the French nation. In the second half of the century, France is the richest and most powerful absolutist power in Western Europe. This is the time of the formation of the French national school in the visual arts, the formation of the classicist movement, which is rightfully considered the birthplace of France.
French art of the 17th century is based on the traditions of the French Renaissance. Painting and graphics Fouquet and Clouet, sculptures Goujon and Pylon, castles of the time of Francis I, fontainebleau palace and Louvre, the poetry of Ronsard and the prose of Rabelais, the philosophical experiments of Montaigne - all this bears the stamp of a classicist understanding of form, strict logic, rationalism, a developed sense of the graceful - that is, what is destined to be fully embodied in the 17th century in the philosophy of Descartes, in drama by Corneille and Racine.
In literature, the rise of classicism is associated with the name of Pierre Corneille, the great poet and creator of the French theater. In 1635, the Academy of Literature was organized in Paris and the classical trend became the official, dominant literary movement recognized at court.
In the field of fine arts, the process of the formation of classicism was not so uniform. In the first architecture, the features of a new style are outlined, although they are not completely formed. AT Luxembourg Palacebuilt for the widow of Henry IV, regent Maria de Medici (1615-1621), Salomon de Bruce, much is taken from gothic and Renaissancehowever, the facade is already divided by an order, which will be typical for classicism. Mason-Laffite Palace, the creation of François Mansart (1642 - 1650), with all the complexity of the volumes, is a single whole, clear design tending to classicist norms.
In painting, the situation was more complicated, because the influences of Mannerism, Flemish and Italian Baroque intertwined here. French painting of the first half of the century was influenced by both caravaggism and the realistic art of Holland. Classicism arose on the crest of the social upsurge of the French nation and the French state. The basis of the theory of classicism was rationalism, based on the philosophy of Descartes, the object of the art of classicism was proclaimed only the beautiful and the sublime, antiquity served as the ethical and aesthetic ideal.
But classicism was not the only trend in the art of that time. In parallel with it, at least two more directions were formed and developed - the court and the democratic.
The court was headed by Simon Vouet (1590-1649). With a broad outlook and a good knowledge of Italian art, Vouet received the title of “the first painter of the king”. The official court art that was created in the 30s of the 17th century was fenced off from its individual and original, from its intimate, expressing the cherished thoughts and feelings of a person.
Typical representatives of the democratic or realistic direction were artists Louis Le Nain, Georges de Latour, schedule Jacques Callot... Their art, in fact, was the opposite of the courtier. The works are imbued with love for France and the French, sound like an insistence on the rights and dignity of ordinary people.
Versailles - a masterpiece of classicism
In the first half of the 17th century, the capital of France gradually turned from a city - a fortress into a city - residence. The appearance of Paris was now determined not by fortress walls and castles, but by palaces, parks, a regular system of streets and squares.
AT architecture the transition from castle to palace can be traced by comparing the two buildings. Luxembourg Palace in Paris (1615 - 1621), all the buildings of which are located along the perimeter of a large courtyard, with its powerful forms still resembles a castle fenced off from the outside world. In maison Palace - Laffite near Paris (1642 - 1650) there is no longer a closed courtyard, the building has a U-shaped shape in the plan, which makes its appearance more open (although it is surrounded by a moat with water). This phenomenon in architecture received support from the state: a royal decree of 1629 forbade the construction of military fortifications in castles.
Around the palace, the architect now necessarily arranged a park in which a strict order reigned: green spaces were neatly trimmed, alleys intersected at right angles, flower beds formed regular geometric shapes. Such a park is called regular or French.
The pinnacle of the development of a new direction in architecture was Versailles - the grandiose ceremonial residence of the French kings near Paris.
First, a royal hunting castle appeared there (1624). The main construction began under Louis XIV at the end of the 60s. But to Versailles we'll come back a little later.
Construction in France, significantly reduced under Henry III during the period of religious wars, reactivated under Henry IV. In cult architecture the Jesuits instilled the style of the Counter-Reformation, but despite this, France did not abandon its national traditions, and already during the reign of Louis XIII, the attempt to completely “romanize” church architecture failed.
In the time of Henry IV, secular architecture played a predominant role, great attention was paid to the layout of the Gordian environment, and as a result, two squares, the Vosges and the Dauphin, were decorated in Paris. The architecture of this time was dominated by mannerism - heavy pomp, richly decorated interiors, decorative painted and gilded panels.
It might seem that this style will eventually develop into baroque and architecture of france will follow the path laid by Italy.
However, in 1635-1640 a different tendency prevailed: in France the foundations of classicism, which determined the directions of further development until the end of the 18th century.
Already in creativity Jacques Lemercier (1580 - 1654)who took part in further construction Louvre and chapels at the Sorbonne, architectural forms are freed from the complexity of mannerism, and the use of the order acquires a complex logic. However, elements of the present french classicism first appeared at Francois Mansart (1598 - 1666) during the construction Orleans wing of the castle of Blois (1635)... The stone façade of this building is divided into a three-tiered order, the proportions of which are harmoniously combined with pointed roofs and thin chimneys, a characteristic decorative element that became traditional in France since the Renaissance. This type of building was improved by Mansar during the construction of the palace already mentioned above.
Maison - Laffite (1642 - 1650); here are the classic addictions architect manifested themselves with particular brightness in the interior decor, where instead of the traditional panels edged with gold, the main decoration of the wall is an exceptionally strict system of stone divisions. The building itself is deployed horizontally; it has no courtyards.
When the king decided to move the court and government to Versailles, he commissioned the construction of the palace (1661), due to his plan, to outshine all the royal residences of Europe with its splendor, Left, Lebrun and Le Nôtru (this team of craftsmen created the Vaux-le-Vicomte palace for Nicolas Fouquet). Palace architecture, built intermittently over the years, expanding and undergoing changes, in itself is not unusual. Not very good proportions Levo improved Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646 - 1708)... The purity of the classical forms of his architectural language is especially evident in the building of the Grand Trianon or in the Marble Trianon, a smaller amusement palace built near the main building. and also in cathedral of the Invalides (1679)where is this architect harmoniously horizontal division of the order system by introducing traditional vertical accents. In interior design Palace of Versailles - Large chambers and the Mirror Gallery - J. Hardouin-Mansart and Lebrunabandoning the traditional panels with gilded corners in the spirit of Louis XIII, they turned to luxurious decoration in the Italian style with the use of multicolored marble, gilded bronze and painting.
Interiors of the Palace of Versailles
J. Hardouin-Mansart designed all buildings in the same style. The facades of the buildings were divided into three tiers. The lower one, modeled on the Italian Renaissance palazzo, is decorated with rustic wood. the middle - the largest - is filled with high arched windows, between which are columns and pilasters. The upper tier is shortened, and it ends with a balustrade (a fence consisting of a row of figured posts connected by handrails) and sculptural groups that create a feeling of lush decoration, although all the facades have a strict look. The interiors of the palace differ from the facades in the luxury of decoration.
Versailles park
Of great importance in the palace ensemble belongs to the park, designed André Le Nôtrome... He abandoned the artificial waterfalls and cascades in the Baroque style, symbolizing the spontaneous principle in nature. The Le Nôtre pools have a clear geometric shape with a mirror-smooth surface. Each major alley ends with a pond: the main staircase from the terrace of the Grand Palace leads to the Latona fountain; at the end of the royal alley there is the Apollo fountain and the canal. The park is oriented along the west-east axis, therefore, when the sun rises and its rays are reflected in the water, an amazingly beautiful and picturesque play of light appears. The layout of the park is associated with architecture - the alleys are perceived as an extension of the halls of the palace.
The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe park is to create a special world where everything is subject to strict laws. It is no coincidence that many consider Versailles a brilliant expression of the French national character, in which cold reason, will and determination are hidden behind the outward lightness.
Literature and art in the 17th century reached undeniable heights thanks to the upsurge that the progressive social forces of the country experienced in connection with its economic and social development.
Despite the aggravation of internal contradictions in the country at this time, despite the wars, uprisings and riots, this period is outstanding in the development of French culture.
The absolute monarchy sought to subordinate the entire cultural life of the country to ideological control. In art for the king, the idea of \u200b\u200bglorifying his power was dominant; neither funds nor efforts were spared on it.
The most prominent French architects, painters and sculptors, gardeners and furniture makers were involved in decorating Versailles. The best engineers and technicians, thousands of workers and artisans participated in its construction. The construction and maintenance of Versailles, which became a symbol of the greatness of absolutism, required huge costs, but those in power went to any expenses, understanding the ideological orientation of such structures.
Gradually classicism - the style, addressed to the highest spiritual ideals, - began to proclaim political ideals, and art from a means of moral education turned into a means of ideological propaganda. Although, probably, not a single era escaped this ...
But we are infinitely grateful to these famous and unknown artists, sculptors, architects who created this beauty, embodied it in stone, because it is thanks to them that we can admire it, understand it. This style is gone, as its creators have gone, as the era of the sun king has gone, but we remember them, because there have never been more beautiful buildings and parks than these! How far the architecture of our time is before them!
