Chapter 10 - 18th Century - Background - Students - 1 C H A...

1
C H A P T E R 10
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
c. 1700 - 1800

Historical Background
•
1643–1715 – Louis XIV
•
1715-1774 - Followed by his great-grand-son Louis XV
•
1774-1793 - Followed by his grandson, Louis XVI
2

Historical Background
•
Baroque art style gradually changes to the Rococo
(by the 1720s)
• Less massive- Curves were more slender & delicate
•
Emphasis placed on asymmetrical balance
3
Antoine Wateau, Pilgrimage on the Isle of
Cythera (1717, Louvre) captures the frivolity and
sensuousness of Rococo painting.
François Boucher, Le Déjeuner , (1739,
Louvre), shows a rocaille interior of a
French bourgeois family in the 18th
century. The porcelain statuette and
vase add a touch of chinoiserie.

4
The French Court continued as center of fashion during the
reigns of
Louis XIV, XV, XVI

Historical
Background
• Louis XV
Louis XV
•
NOT adept at ruling the country
• Sought entertainment in hunting & women
• Madame de Pompadour
Madame de Pompadour
• One of his mistresses
•
Served as the king's political advisor
• Wars
Wars brought defeat & debts
•
Louis XV died a hated king in 1774
• France
France still
dominated the culture
dominated the culture of western Europe
• Set the style
• Fashion literature, decorative arts & philosophical theories
5
Louis XV as a child in
coronation robes, portrait by
Rigaud
Portrait of a lady, c.1750
Jean-Marc Nattier

Louis XV as a child
?
id_article=229
Louis XV
-
strasbourg.fr/pedago/lettres/Victor
%20Hugo/Notes/Louis_XV.htm
6

7
Maria
Leszczinska
Wife of Louis XV
Daughter of the
King of Portland
English: Portrait of Marie Leszczyńska
(1703-1768), Queen of France

Madame
de
Pompadour
.
Jeanne-
Antoinnette
Poisson
.
Mistress of Louis
XV
Charles-Andre (Carle) van Loo
Artist
8

Historical
Background
• Louis XVI
Louis XVI
•
Married Marie Antoinette
•
She was 14 (Austrian Princess)
•
He an inept ruler & she unpopular
•
France helped
finance American Revolution
finance American Revolution
• French government went bankrupt bankrupt in 1789
• Forced the calling of the Estates General
•
Declared itself a
National Assembly
National Assembly
• Abolished feudalism @ began to write a constitution
•
The French Revolution was taken over by a
group of
radicals
radicals
• Ended the monarchy
Ended the monarchy & executed the King & Queen in
1793
9
Maria Antoinette
1888
Saint-Amend,
Imbert de. Marie
Antoinette and the
End of the Old
Regime . New York:
Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1896

Louis XVI, King of France
1774-1793
Louis XVI in Revolutionary
Attire
ecollete/revolt/louis10.jpg
10

Marie
Antoinett
e