Figure 10.19Hyacinthe Rigaud,Portrait of Louis XIV, 1701. Oil on canvas, 9 ft. 1 in. × 6 ft. 4 in. Striking a mannered pose, the king stands in his coronation robes; he is surrounded by royal paraphernalia: two scepters, the crown (on the cushion at the left), and the sword of state. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photo © Stéphane Maréchalle/RMN-Grand Palais. Louis XIV and the Arts Louis cultivated the arts as an adjunct to majesty. Following the tradition of his father, Louis XIII (1601–1643), who had instituted the French Royal Academy of Language and Literature in 1635, he created and subsidized government- sponsored institutions in the arts, appointing his personal favorites to oversee each. In 1648, at the age of ten, Louis founded the Academy of Painting and Sculpture; in 1661 he established the Academy of Dance; in 1666, the Academy of Sciences; in 1669, the Academy of Music; and in 1671, the Academy of Architecture. The creation of the academies was a symptom of royal efforts to fix standards, but Louis also had something more personal in mind: He is said to have told a group of academicians, “Gentlemen, I entrust to you the most precious thing on earth—my fame.” His trust was well placed, for the academies brought glory to the king and set guidelines that would govern the arts for at least two centuries. These standards were enshrined in “rules” inspired by the legacy of ancient Greece and Rome. ThusNeoclassicism—the revival of Classical style and subject matter—was a prime ingredient of France’s Aristocratic Baroque style. Supported by the academies, Louis exercised immense cultural influence. Under his leadership, the center of European artistic patronage shifted from Italy to France, and French culture—from architecture to fine cuisine—came to dominate European tastes.
