The main stages in the development of French architecture in the 17th - 18th centuries. Classicism in the architecture of France in the 17th century Classicism in the architecture of France in the 17th and 18th centuries

Art of France in the second half of the 17th century. Architecture.

The rise of French absolutism in the second half of the 17th century was clearly reflected in the direction of construction in those years. Large structures are being created in the country glorifying the king as the head of absolutism. The participation of teams of leading masters in them, the joint work of architects with sculptors, painters, masters of applied art, and the bold and inventive solution of engineering and constructive problems led to the creation of remarkable examples of French architecture.

Louis Levo. The first large ceremonial park ensemble in French architecture was the Vaux-le-Vicomte Palace (1656-1661) created by Louis Leveau (1612-1670). The building, like the Maison F. Mansart Palace, stands on an artificial island, but the canals are made much wider, and the level of the “island” is raised compared to the level of the surrounding territory. The extensive park located behind the house includes, in addition to large ground floor areas, a number of pools and canals framed by stone, a large terrace with grottoes, staircases, etc. The gardens of the Vaux-le-Vicomte castle were the first example of the so-called French regular system that was emerging at that time. parka. The gardener Andre Le Nôtre (1613-1700), whose name is associated with the final creation of the regular park system with its geometric planning technique, which later received the name “French park,” and the painter Charles Le Brun (see . below). All three of these masters then went on to build the largest palace building in France in the 17th century - the royal palace at Versailles.

As Lemercier's successor as chief royal architect, Leveaux continued the construction of the Louvre, adding the eastern half of the palace to the parts previously built by Lescaut and Lemercier, thus enclosing its main square courtyard.

Ensemble of Versailles. The ensemble of Versailles, located 17 kilometers southwest of Paris, covers a huge territory, including vast parks with various structures, swimming pools, canals, fountains and the main building - the building of the palace itself. The construction of the Versailles ensemble (the main work was carried out from 1661 to 1700) cost enormous amounts of money and required the hard work of a huge number of craftsmen and artists of various specialties. The entire territory of the park was leveled, and the villages located there were demolished. With the help of special hydraulic devices, a complex system of fountains was created in this area, to feed which very large pools and canals for that time were built. The palace was decorated with great luxury, using valuable materials, richly decorated with sculptural works, paintings, etc. Versailles became a household name for a magnificent palace residence.

The main works at Versailles were carried out by the architect Louis Leveau, the horticultural planner André Le Nôtre and the painter Charles Lebrun.

The work to expand Versailles constituted the final stage of Levo's activity. It was noted above that back in the 1620s, Lemercier built a small hunting castle in Versailles. Louis XIV planned to create on the basis of this building, through its complete reconstruction and significant expansion, a large palace surrounded by a vast, beautiful park. The new royal residence had to match the grandeur of the “Sun King” in its size and its architecture.

Levo rebuilt the old castle of Louis XIII on three external sides with new buildings, which formed the main core of the palace. In addition, he demolished the wall that closed the Marble Courtyard, attached new rooms to the ends of the building, thanks to which a second central courtyard was formed between the two parts of the palace protruding towards the city. As a result of the reconstruction, the palace increased several times.

The facade of the palace from the side of Levo Park was decorated with Ionic columns and pilasters located on the second - main floor. The wall of the first floor, covered with rustication, was interpreted in the form of a pedestal, serving as the basis for the order. Levo considered the third floor as an attic crowning the same order. The facade ended with a parapet with fittings. The roofs, usually very high in French architecture, were made low here and completely hidden behind the parapet.

The next period in the history of Versailles is associated with the name of the largest architect of the second half of the 17th century - Jules Hardouin Mansart (1646-1708), who led the further expansion of the palace from 1678. J. Hardouin Mansart the Younger significantly changes the park facade of the palace, constructing the famous “Mirror Gallery” by building on the former terrace in the center of this facade.

In addition, Mansar attaches two large long wings to the main part of the palace - northern and southern. The height and layout of the facades of the southern and northern wings were set in common with the central part of the building. The same height and emphasized linearity of all buildings fully corresponded to the “planar” style of the park’s layout (see below for details).

The main room of the palace - the Mirror Gallery - occupies almost the entire width of the central part of the structure. The system of arched window openings on the outer wall is matched on the opposite wall by flat niches covered with mirrors. Paired pilasters divide the pylons between them. Just like the entire wall cladding up to the crowning cornice, they are made of polished multi-colored marble. The capitals and bases of the pilasters and numerous reliefs on the walls are made of gilded bronze. The vaulted ceiling is completely covered with paintings (C. Lebrun's workshop, see below), dissected and framed with lush modeling. All these pictorial compositions are dedicated to the allegorical glorification of the French monarchy and its head - the king; from the adjacent on the edges of the Mirror Gallery, located in the corner parts of the central building of the square-shaped War and Peace halls, the enfilades of other ceremonial rooms located along the side facades begin.

The composition of Versailles perfectly embodied the idea of absolutism, the idea of autocratic royal power and feudal social hierarchy: in the center is the residence of the king - a palace that subjugates the entire surrounding landscape. The latter was brought into a strict geometric system, fully consistent with the clear linear forms of the palace buildings.

The entire park layout is subordinated to a single axis coinciding with the axis of the palace. In front of its main facade there is a central “water parterre” with two symmetrical reservoirs. From the ground floor, stairs lead to the Latona pool. Further, the central alley, called the “Green Carpet” in this area, leads to the pool of Apollo, riding out in a chariot to meet his mother Latona. Behind the Apollo Pool begins the Grand Canal, which has a cross-shaped plan. On the right side of the Grand Canal is the Trianon area with the Grand Trianon pavilion, the work of J. Hardouin Mansart. The sun sets behind the Grand Canal, thus even nature is associated with the layout of Versailles. The cult of the sun was given a special place in the decoration of Versailles: after all, the king himself was named the sun, the pool of the sun god Apollo was located in the center of the park.

On the sides of the alleys there were bosquets of trimmed greenery; the so-called “star” technique was also widely used in the layout of the park - a platform with radially diverging paths.

The park featured many sculptures - marble and bronze; partly they were located against the backdrop of trimmed bosquets of greenery, partly in specially created structures (colonnades with fountains around Girardon’s “The Rape of Proserpina”, a grotto for a large group of Apollo and the muses of his own work).

Construction in Paris. Along with construction at Versailles, extensive work was carried out during these years in Paris itself. A particularly prominent place among them belongs to the further construction of the Louvre. Work to expand the Louvre was undertaken even before the full development of construction at Versailles, in the years when it was not finally decided where the main ceremonial royal residence should be created - in Paris itself or in its environs. The organized competition did not produce satisfactory results. After negotiations, the Italian master L. Bernini (see above) was invited to France, who created a project that provided for the demolition of all the buildings standing on this site, clearing the entire vast territory between the Louvre and the Tuileries from construction, and creating a new vast palace on this site. However, Bernini's project was not implemented in kind.

Claude Perrault. Construction of the Louvre began according to the design of Claude Perrault. (1613-1688). Perrault also envisaged the unification of the Louvre and the Tuileries into a single building, with the creation of a new external appearance of the building, but with the preservation of all its previous parts and courtyard facades (Goujon-Lescaut, Lemercier, Levo, etc.). Perrault's plan was only partially realized. The most interesting and significant part was the famous eastern facade of the Louvre with its Corinthian colonnades on the sides of the central ceremonial portal - the entrance to the front courtyard.

Francois Blondel. A prominent place among the buildings of Paris of this time is occupied by the triumphal arch, built by Francois Blondel (1618-1686) at the entrance to Paris from the Faubourg Saint-Denis. Blondel managed to solve in a completely new way the traditional theme of the triumphal arch, represented in ancient architecture by so many examples. In a large, close-to-square massif, completed with a strict Doric entablature, an opening with a semicircular completion is cut through. The pylons on its sides are decorated with flat obelisks with relief images placed on them.

Both the Louvre colonnade by Perrault and the Arch of Saint-Denis by Blondel testify to the classicist orientation of French architecture of the 17th century.

F. Blondel and C. Perrault also acted as theorists. Blondel owns the extensive “Course of Architecture” (1675-1683), Perrault published “The Rules of the Five Orders” (1683) and a new translation of Vitruvius with his drawings, which for a long time was rightfully considered the best (1673). Since the organization of the Royal Academy of Architecture in 1666, Blondel and Perrault took part in its work, and Blondel was at the head of the Academy for a long time.

Jules Hardouin Mansart. Somewhat younger in age than Perrault and Blondel was the above-mentioned Jules Hardouin, a relative and student of François Mansart, who later took his surname and was called J. Hardouin Mansart. Unlike Blondel and Perrault, he worked exclusively as a practitioner, but in terms of the volume of what he built, he far surpassed them. The most significant buildings of Hardouin Mansart (except for the work at Versailles, which were already discussed above) were the creation of Place Vendôme and the building of the Cathedral of the Invalides in Paris.

Place Vendôme (1685-1698) was a new interpretation of the theme of the front city square. The residential palace-type houses framing it were united by Mansart with single facades, which created the impression of a square enclosed by two symmetrical large buildings. Their lower floors were rusticated, the upper two were united by pilasters of the Ionic order (in the center and at the cut corners the motif of half-columns with pediments was introduced), and the windows of attic living quarters protruded above the roofs (“attic” - on behalf of Mansar). In the middle of the square, an equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Girardon was placed on a pedestal (it was removed during the French bourgeois revolution, and under Napoleon I the Vendôme Column was installed in this place).

The Cathedral of the Invalides (1675-1706) was added by Mansart to the extensive House of the Invalides that already existed, which was supposed to emphasize the care of Louis XIV for the numerous disabled people who were victims of the wars of conquest that took place under him. The cathedral building, almost square in plan, includes a central hall, above which rises a dome. Through passages cut into the arrays of domed pylons, this hall is connected with four round corner chapels. In appearance, on the high rectangular mass of the lower tier, corresponding to the main hall and chapels, there is a high dome on a large drum. The proportions of the parts are excellent, and the silhouette of the cathedral is one of the most expressive in the appearance of Paris.

In carrying out his extensive works, Mansart relied on the staff of his workshop, which at the same time was also a practical school for young architects. Many major architects of the early 18th century came from Mansart's workshop.

Absolutism in France. Louis 14 said: “I am the state.” A new philosophical direction is emerging - rationalism. Rene Descartes stated: “I think and therefore I exist.” On the basis of these ideas, a new style emerged - classicism, that is, it was based on works 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. There is a strict order in the Versailles park: green spaces are trimmed, flower beds form regular geometric shapes, alleys intersect at right angles.

Example, Place Vendôme. It is a closed small quadrangle with cut corners that surround administrative buildings with a uniform façade design. In the center is an 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 the 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 appeared - rococo(translated from French - sink).

Characteristic features: exquisite shapes, fancy 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 interior design and country palaces.

Most buildings Rococo style– these are rich city mansions – hotels. They had curvilinear outlines in plan and formed asymmetrical compositions. The rooms were smaller than in palaces, the ceilings were lower, the windows were large almost to the floor, and mirrors or paintings with landscapes were placed in the walls. That is, there was a visual destruction of space. Example, Hotel Soubise in Paris.

Since the mid-18th century, society has returned to classicism. Reasons: the beginning of excavations of the city of Pompeii, the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment began to search for an ideal, which they saw in the culture of ancient Greece and Rome. This style is called - neoclassicism.

Architect – Jean Ange Gabriel. Place de la Concorde in Paris (at that time Place Louis 15). This square is open to the city from the west and east; it is adjacent to the alleys of the avenue (Champs Elysees and Tuileries Park). From the south is the embankment of the Seine River. And only on the northern side do the palace buildings emerge. In the center of the square is an equestrian statue of Louis 15. During the French Revolution, a guillotine was installed in the place of the statue. In 1836, the place of the guillotine was taken by an obelisk, 23 m high, brought from the Temple of Ramses II in Thebes.

The most significant building in Paris was Church of Saint Genevieve, architect - Jacques Germain Souflot. The plan of the church was a Greek equal-armed cross. The portico is reminiscent of the portico of the ancient Roman Pantheon. Length 110 m, width 83 m.

For neoclassicists, architecture was a way to restructure the world. Utopian projects appeared that embodied the ideas of the Enlightenment.

"Talking Architecture"

The art of the "Enlightenment" had to speak in order to convey a message to the viewer. For example, at the entrance to the bank building, powerful columns were supposed to speak about the reliability of the bank. Architects also used forms that were difficult to understand: a cube as a symbol of justice, a ball as a symbol of public morality.

Newton's cenotaph. Architect – Louis Bulle(A cenotaph is a false tomb of an unknown hero, which appeared in ancient Rome). The shape of the structure is associated with an apple or a globe.

Architect: Claude Nicolas 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, reminiscent of an ancient temple. Along the perimeter there were houses for workers. There are public buildings: a market, a stock exchange, an arms factory, a lumberjack's house (built in a pyramid of logs), the house of the director of the river source (a cylinder through which the river bed 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 in the future crime and disease would disappear.

Most of the projects were utopian, so they ended up only on paper, they were called - paper architecture.

In parallel with the Baroque style, the classicism style was emerging in France. Classicism architecture in many cases faced the same tasks as Baroque architecture - glorifying the power of the absolute monarch, exalting the ruling class. But the architects of classicism use other means for this. The 17th century represents the first stage of classicism, when the features of this style did not reach their most rigorous and pure expression. The public and palace buildings, city ensembles, and palace and park complexes erected by French architects are imbued with the spirit of solemn pomp; their spatial solution is distinguished by clear logic, the facades are characterized by a calm harmony of compositional structure and proportionality of parts, and the architectural forms are distinguished by simplicity and rigor.

Strict orderliness is even introduced into nature - the masters of classicism created a system of the so-called regular park. Architects of classicism widely turn to the ancient heritage, studying the general principles of ancient architecture, and above all the system of orders, borrowing and reworking individual motifs and forms. It is no coincidence that religious buildings in the architecture of classicism do not have the enormous importance that they occupy in baroque architecture: the spirit of rationalism inherent in classicist art was not conducive to the expression of religious and mystical ideas. Perhaps, to an even greater extent than in Baroque architecture, the figurative content of the best monuments of classical architecture turns out to be broader than their representative functions: the buildings of Hardouin-Mansart and the park complexes of Le Nôtre glorify not only the power of the king, but also the greatness of the human mind.

In the second half of the 17th century. the absolute monarchy in France reaches its greatest economic and political power. Life at court becomes an endless holiday. At the center of this life is the personality of the Sun King Louis XIV. His awakening from sleep, morning toilet, lunch, etc. - everything was subject to a certain ritual and took place in the form of solemn ceremonies.
It was during this period that French architecture flourished. In the capital of France, Paris, vast city squares and large palace, public and religious buildings are being reconstructed and rebuilt. Grandiose, expensive construction work is being carried out to create the king's country residence - Versailles.
Only under the conditions of a powerful centralized monarchy was it possible at that time to create huge city and palace ensembles designed according to a single plan, designed to embody the idea of the power of an absolute monarch. The desire to search for a strict and monumental image, compositional integrity and stylistic unity of building structures is more clearly manifested. The architecture of this period had a huge impact on the formation of decorative sculpture, painting and applied art.
In addition to the enormous spatial scope of buildings and ensembles, new artistic features in the architecture of the mid and second half of the 17th century were manifested in a more consistent use of the classical order system, in the predominance of horizontal divisions over vertical ones, in greater integrity and unity of the volumetric composition and the internal space of the building. Along with the classical heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance, the creation of the style of French classicism of the second half of the 17th century. was greatly influenced by Italian Baroque architecture. This was reflected in the borrowing of certain architectural forms (curved pediments, volutes, magnificent cartouches), in the order compositions of facades and the principles of designing 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 with increased pomp of architectural forms, especially in interiors. However, forms of classical and baroque architecture were exposed in the 17th century. radical processing in connection with national artistic traditions, which made it possible to bring these often contradictory elements to artistic unity.

Since the 70s. 18th century we can talk about a new stage, when classicism is gradually becoming the leading direction not only in architecture, where it was defined earlier, but also in painting and sculpture. The art of this period embodied the “thirst for energetic action” that had seized the French.

Classicism of the first half of the 17th century. Formation of style.

Urban planning work is being widely deployed throughout the country. Old medieval cities are being rebuilt on the basis of new principles of regular planning. Straight highways are being laid, urban ensembles and geometrically correct squares are being built on the site of a chaotic network of medieval streets. The main problem is becoming a large urban ensemble with development carried out according to a single plan. In the development of Paris and other French cities, the role of churches and monastery complexes is significant. Baroque techniques are combined with the traditions of French Gothic and new classicist principles of understanding beauty. Many religious buildings, built according to the basilica church type established in the Italian Baroque, received magnificent main facades, decorated with orders of columns and pilasters, with numerous braces, sculptural inserts and volutes.

Palais Royal Palace(royal palace) - the residence of Cardinal Richelieu was built in 1629. This is at the same time a majestic palace, an open square, and a beautiful well-kept park. The author of the project was the famous French architect of that time, Jacques Lemercier. The palace served as the last refuge of the powerful cardinal; he lived here until his death in 1642. After the death of Richelieu, the palace was occupied by the widowed Anna of Austria with the young Louis XIV, who later became the Sun King. Then Cardinal Mazarin settled here. Then the palace ensemble became the property of the Duke of Orleans, the younger brother of King Louis XIII. At the end of the 18th century, significant changes were made to the architecture of the Palais Royal - slender columns, covered galleries, small shops and cozy cafes appeared here, and a beautiful garden with rare plants was open to the general public.

The palace, built for Cardinal Richelieu, burned down in 1871, and in its place there is a restored reconstruction, the architectural ensemble of which exactly replicates the ancient buildings.

Palais Royal Palace

Palace of Richelieu in Poitou

Early examples of large ensemble compositions date back to the first half of the 17th century. The creator of the first ensemble of the palace, park and city of Richelieu in the architecture of French classicism was Jacques Lemercier (c. 1585 - 1654). In terms of the ensemble there are two compositional axes. One axis 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 the park. The layout of the park is built on a strictly regular system of alleys intersecting at right angles and 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 plan. The layout of the streets and quarters of the city is subject to the same strict system of rectangular coordinates as the ensemble as a whole. 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 composition of the main building and wings features angular tower-like volumes topped with high pyramidal roofs.

Jacques Lemercier. Palace of Richelieu in Poitou. Started in 1627 Engraving by Perel

The Richelieu Palace, like its regular park with deep vistas of alleys, extensive parterres 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 paintings, which exalted the personality of Richelieu and his deeds.

Classicism of the second half of the 17th century.

The second half of the 17th century was the time of the highest flowering of the architecture of French classicism. The organization of the Academy of Architecture, whose director was the prominent architect and theorist Francois Blondel (1617 - 1686), had a great influence on the development of architecture. In 1664, the architect L. Levo completed the quadrangular composition of the Louvre with a closed courtyard with the construction of its northern, southern and eastern buildings. The eastern façade of the Louvre, created by C. Perrault, F. d'Orbe and L. Levo, gives the final appearance to this remarkable ensemble.

Ensemble of the palace and park of Vaux-le-Vicomte (1655 - 1661).
The first work of architecture of French classicism of the second half of the 17th century, in which the predominance of the artistic principles of classicism over 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 controller general of finance Fouquet and in many ways anticipating the ensemble of Versailles, were the architect Louis Levo (c. 1612-1670), the master of landscape art Andre Le Nôtre, who laid out the park of the palace, and the painter Charles Lebrun, who took part in decoration of palace interiors and painting of lampshades.

The Vaux-le-Vicomte ensemble developed unique principles created by French classicism of the 17th century. a synthesis of architecture, sculpture, painting and landscape art, which received even greater scope and maturity in the ensemble of Versailles.

The composition of the palace is characterized by the unity of the internal space and volume of the building, which distinguishes works of mature classicist architecture. The large oval salon is highlighted in the volume of the building by a curvilinear risalit, topped with a powerful domed roof, creating a static and calm silhouette of the building. By introducing a large order of pilasters spanning two floors above the base, and a powerful horizontal of a smooth, strict profile classical entablature, the predominance of horizontal divisions over vertical ones in the facades is achieved. This gives the appearance of the palace a monumental presence and splendor.

The formation of classicism in French architecture is associated with the buildings of F. Mansart, marked by clarity of composition and order divisions. High examples of mature classicism in the architecture of the 17th century - the eastern facade of the Louvre (C. Perrault), the work of L. Levo, F. Blondel. From the 2nd half. 17th century French classicism incorporates some elements of Baroque architecture (the palace and park of Versailles - architect J. Hardouin-Mansart, A. Le Nôtre).

Versailles. Architects Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Andre Le Nôtre.

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 during the reign of Louis XIV in the late 60s. The most prominent architects participated in the creation of the project: Louis Levo (circa 1612-1670), Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1613-1708) and the outstanding decorator of gardens and parks Andre Le Nôtre (1613-1700). According to their plan, the Grand Palace - the main part of the complex - was to be located on an artificial terrace where the three main avenues of Versailles converge. One of them - the middle one - leads to Paris, and the two side ones - to the country palaces of Seau and Saint-Cloud.

Jules Hardouin-Mansart, having started work in 1678, designed all the buildings in the same style. The facades of the buildings were divided into three tiers. The lower one, modeled on an Italian Renaissance palazzo, is decorated with rustication, the middle one - the largest - is filled with high arched windows, between which there are columns and pilasters. The upper tier is shortened and ends with a balustrade (a fence consisting of a number of figured columns connected by railings) and sculptural groups that create a feeling of lush decoration, although all facades have a strict appearance. The interiors of the palace differ from the facades in the luxury of decoration.

The first Trianon Palace, called the "Porcelain Trianon", was built in 1672 and lasted 15 years. In the eyes of Europeans, the building was given a Chinese-style flavor by facing the walls with faience tiles, faience vases and decorative elements of a high mansard roof made of gilded lead. Due to bad weather, the faience very quickly lost its appearance and the king soon ceased to like the palace; he ordered its destruction and the construction of a new building in this place, more spacious and in a completely different style. In place of the destroyed Porcelain Trianon, a new one was erected - Marble Trianon, with pilasters made of pink and green marble, which gave the building its name. Construction was entrusted to the first royal architect, Jules Hardouin Mansart.

Of great importance in the palace ensemble is the park designed by Andre Le Nôtre. He abandoned artificial waterfalls and cascades in the Baroque style, which symbolized the spontaneous beginning in nature. Lenotre pools have a clear geometric shape, with a mirror-smooth surface. Each major alley ends with a reservoir: the main staircase from the terrace of the Grand Palace leads to the Latona fountain; At the end of the Royal Avenue there is the Apollo Fountain and the canal. The park is oriented along the “west - east” axis, so 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 connected with architecture - the alleys are perceived as a continuation of the halls of the palace.

The main idea of the 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 external lightness and impeccable taste.
Louis XIV wanted Versailles to be one of the greatest palaces in Europe. He ordered the castle to be equipped with lush gardens, fountains where one could indulge in reflection, halls with stucco, precious fabrics and expensive gold paintings. The renovated Palace of Versailles appeared to the discerning king in its full glory in 1684, becoming an architectural ideal for the rulers of many countries of that era. To this day, the palace has not lost its charm. Perfectly manicured gardens, fountains with graceful water jets and lighting, as well as well-preserved structural elements of buildings - all this recreates the spirit of the era of the Sun King.

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Architecture in FranceXVIIcentury. The problem of defining style

Introduction

The great geographical discoveries that began in the Renaissance, followed by the colonization of the New World, then the victory of heliocentric cosmogony, the theory of the infinity of worlds were supposed to shake the consciousness of people and change their worldview. Renaissance anthropocentrism and naive faith in the harmony of the world no longer met the spiritual needs of man. If anthropocentrism remains unshakable, then where is this center in the infinity of the Universe? “The entire visible world is just a barely noticeable touch in the vast bosom of nature. Man in infinity - what does he mean? - Pascal wrote in the 17th century, as if in response to the Renaissance idea of man as a “great miracle”, which God placed at the head of the world. In the 17th century, man already understands that he is neither the center of the Universe nor the measure of all things.

The difference in understanding 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 precision by the same great French thinker Pascal: “Man is just a reed, the weakest of nature’s creations, but he is a thinking reed.” Man created the most powerful absolutist states in Europe in the 17th century and shaped the worldview of the bourgeoisie, 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 usually associated in the history of art with the Baroque style, but which is not limited to this style. 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 viewed as a history of successive styles. The semicircular arches of the Romanesque style were replaced by Gothic pointed arches, and later the Renaissance, which originated in Italy, spread throughout Europe, defeating the Gothic style. At the end of the Renaissance, a style emerged that was called “Baroque”. However, while previous styles have easily distinguishable characteristics, identifying the characteristics of Baroque is not so easy. 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 decoration, and so on. In a certain sense, it would be fair to say that the Renaissance style dominated from the beginning of Brunelleschi’s work until our time, and in many works on architecture this entire period is designated by the concept “Renaissance”. Of course, over such a long period of time, tastes, and with them architectural forms, have undergone significant changes, and to reflect these changes, the need arose for smaller style categories.

It is curious that many concepts denoting styles were at first just abusive, contemptuous nicknames. Thus, the Italians of the Renaissance called “Gothic” a style that they considered barbaric, brought by the Gothic tribes - the destroyers of the Roman Empire. In the word “mannerism” we can still discern the original meaning of mannerism, superficial imitation, which critics of the 17th century accused artists of the previous era of. The word "baroque", meaning "bizarre", "ridiculous", "strange", also arose later as a caustic mockery in the fight against the style of the 17th century. This label was used by those who considered arbitrary combinations of classical forms in architecture unacceptable. With the word “baroque” they branded willful deviations from the strict norms of the classics, which for them was tantamount to bad taste. Nowadays 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 historians cannot come to a consensus regarding the style in art of that time. The main question is how to distinguish between such concepts as baroque and classicism. Let us immediately make a reservation that for different countries, works of art that are classified as one or another style will have their own characteristics. It is also worth noting that the existence of a style in different parts of Europe has its own duration, which means that the time frame will be blurred. Let us turn to one of the modern dictionaries to identify the main features of the Baroque. Baroque- (from Italian barocco - bizarre, strange), an artistic style that occupied a leading position in European art from the late 16th to the mid-18th centuries. Originated in Italy. The term was introduced at the end of the 19th century by Swiss art historians J. Burckhardt and G. Wölfflin. The style covered all types of creativity: literature, music, theater, but was especially pronounced in architecture, fine and decorative arts. The Renaissance feeling of the clear harmony of the universe was replaced by a dramatic understanding of the conflict of existence, the endless diversity, vastness and constant variability of the surrounding world, and the power of powerful natural elements over man. The expressiveness of Baroque works is often built on contrasts, dramatic collisions of the sublime and the base, the majestic and the insignificant, the beautiful and the ugly, the illusory and the real, light and darkness. A penchant for composing complex and verbose allegories went hand in hand with extreme naturalism. Baroque works of art were distinguished by redundancy of forms, passion and intensity of images. More than ever before, there was a strong feeling of the “theater of life”: fireworks, masquerades, a passion for dressing up, impersonation, all kinds of “deceptions” brought a playful element into a person’s life, unprecedented entertainment 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 concrete definition, and the question arises whether it is worth doing so. In many respects, this problem relates more to historiography than to history. The concept of Baroque, developed in the last century for the rehabilitation of two centuries of Italian art, cannot be transferred into the field of 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 Baroque<…>Throughout Europe, Baroque permeates everything: sculpture and painting, which fit into architectural structures without difficulty and transition periods, music, which gives the final touch of brilliance, fanatical religiosity to court and church holidays, literature, as well as such everyday things as furniture, clothing or hairstyles, manner of speaking. Baroque art addresses the entire society and is personified by it” [Koch 2005: 236]. An important detail in Koch's study is that he identifies several movements in 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 development in France as it did in Italy, so there is a point of view that the Baroque style did not develop here at all, and Baroque monuments are classified as classicism monuments.

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 of France and other countries since the 17th century." In the same dictionary entry in the section on architecture, “le premier classicisme” (literally “the first classicism”) and “le second classicisme” (literally “the second classicism”) are distinguished, which is due to the difference in the development of architecture in the period before the reign of Louis XIV, when French classicism was still strongly influenced by the art of Italy, and directly during the reign of the “Sun King”.

The 17th century was the time of the formation of a unified French state, the French nation. In the second half of the century, France is the most powerful absolutist power in Western Europe. This was also the time of the formation of the French national school in fine arts, the formation of the classicist movement, the birthplace of which is rightfully considered France [Ilyina 2000: 129].

When studying the issue of style in the architecture of the 17th century in France, one may encounter 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 the Arts, namely, to define the architectural style in France of the 17th century as classicism and to distinguish two periods of its development.

2. Architecture of the first halfXVIIcentury

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 took shape 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 "architect to the king" and "first architect to the king" is introduced. Huge amounts of money are spent on construction. Government agencies control construction not only in Paris, but also in the provinces.

Urban planning work is being carried out widely 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 as a square or rectangle in plan, or as more complex polygonal shapes formed by defensive walls, ditches, 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, we can point out the cities of Vitry Vitry-le-Francois, Saarlouis, Henrichmont, Marl, Richelieu, etc. [cm. Appendix Fig. 12].

Old medieval cities are being rebuilt on the basis of new principles of regular planning. Straight highways are being laid, urban ensembles and geometrically correct squares are being built on the site of a chaotic network of medieval streets.

In the urban planning of the Classical era, the main problem becomes a large urban ensemble with development carried out according to a single plan. In 1615, the first planning work was carried out in Paris in the northwestern part of the city, and the island of Saint-Louis was built up. New bridges are being built and the city's borders are expanding.

Large palace complexes are being built on the left and right banks of the Seine - the Luxembourg Palace and the Palais Royal (1624, architect - J. Lemercier). The further development of urban planning in Paris was expressed in the creation of two regular shaped (square and triangular) squares included in the medieval development of the city: the Royal Square (1606-1612, architect - L. Metezot) and the Dauphine Square (started in 1605) in western part of the island of Site [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, were not yet distinguished by their integrity and homogeneity in the first half of the 17th century. They were often mixed with the traditions of the Italian Baroque, whose buildings were characterized by a complicated form of triangular and curvilinear pediments, an abundance of sculptural decoration and cartouches, especially in interior decoration.

Medieval traditions were so strong that even classical orders acquired a unique interpretation in the buildings of the first half of the century. The composition of the order - its location on the surface of the wall, proportions and details - is subject to the structure of the wall that has developed in Gothic architecture, with its clearly defined vertical elements of the supporting frame of the building (piers) and large window openings located between them. This motif, combined with the division of the facades using corner and central projections, gives the building a vertical aspiration that is not characteristic of the classical system of order compositions and the clear, calm silhouette of the volume.

Baroque techniques are combined with the traditions of French Gothic and new classicist principles of understanding beauty. Many religious buildings, built according to the basilica church type established in the Italian Baroque, received magnificent main facades, decorated with orders of columns and pilasters, with numerous braces, sculptural inserts and volutes. An example is the Sorbonne Church - 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 buildings was the Luxembourg Palace (1615-1620), built by Solomon de Brosse 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 wings around the large ceremonial palace. One side of the main building faces the front courtyard, the other faces the park. The volumetric composition of the palace clearly showed traditional features characteristic of French palace architecture of the first half of the 17th century, for example, the allocation of corner and central volumes in the main three-story building of the palace, topped with high roofs, as well as the division of the internal space of the corner towers into completely identical residential sections.

The appearance of the palace, in some features of which still remains similar to the castles of the previous century, thanks to the natural and clear compositional structure, as well as the clear rhythmic structure of the two-tier orders dividing the facades, is distinguished by its monumentality and representativeness.

The massiveness of the walls is emphasized by horizontal rustication, completely covering the walls and order elements. This technique, borrowed from the masters of the Italian Baroque, in the work of de Brosse received a unique sound, giving the appearance of the palace a special richness and splendor [see. Appendix Fig. 3].

Among de Brosse's other works, the Church of Saint-Gervais (begun in 1616) in Paris occupies a prominent place. In this church, built according to the plan of Italian Baroque churches, traditional elements of Baroque church facades are combined with Gothic elongation of proportions [Bykov, Kaptereva 1969: http://artyx.ru/books/item/f00/z0000022/index.shtml].

2 .4 City of Richelieu

The layout of the now defunct 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 the park. The layout of the park is based on a strictly regular system of alleys intersecting at right angles or diverging from one center.

Situated to the side of the city palace, Richelieu was surrounded by a wall and a moat, forming a rectangle in plan. The layout of the streets and blocks of the city is subject to the same strict system of rectangular coordinates as the ensemble as a whole, which indicates the formation of new urban planning principles in the first half of the 17th century and the overcoming of medieval methods of city development with crooked narrow streets and small cramped 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 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 parterres 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 paintings, in which the personality of Richelieu and his deeds were exalted [see. Appendix Fig. 4].

The ensemble of the palace and the city of Richelieu was not yet sufficiently imbued with unity, but on the whole 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 François Mansart

Along with Lemercier, the largest architect of the first half of the century was François Mansart (1598-1666). Among his outstanding works is the Maisons-Laffite Palace (1642-1650), erected near Paris for the President of the Parisian Parliament, René de Langey. Unlike the traditional compositions of earlier country castles, there is no enclosed courtyard formed by the main building and service wings. All office premises are located in the basement of the building.

The monumental volume of the palace, crowned according to ancient tradition with high pyramidal roofs over 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 Maisons-Laffite Palace is complemented by a regular French park with an extensive parterre, bosquets and dense green spaces [see. Appendix Fig. 5].

Another major work of François Mansart is the church of the convent of Val de Grace (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 by a barrel 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 goes back to the traditional solution of the church facade with Italian Baroque architecture. 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 urban housing 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 was underway, and conditions were 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 The Great Century, characteristics of the period

In the second half of the 17th century, the absolute monarchy in France reached its greatest economic and political power and external prosperity. This is the time of the long reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King”. It is not for nothing that this time was called in Western literature “Le grand siècle” - “The Great Age”. Great - primarily in the pomp of the ceremony and all types of arts, in different genres and in different ways glorifying the person of the king. From the beginning of the independent reign of Louis XIV, i.e. Since the 60s of the 17th century, a very important process of regulation, complete subordination and control by the royal authority has been taking place in art. Created back in 1648, the Academy of Painting and Sculpture is now under the official jurisdiction of the king's first minister. In 1671, the Academy of Architecture was founded, control over all types of artistic life was established [Ilyina 2000: 138] .

Despite government control, the second half of the 17th century for French architecture was its heyday. In Paris, vast city squares and large palace, public and religious buildings are being reconstructed and rebuilt. Grandiose, expensive construction work is being carried out to create the king's country residence - Versailles.

One of the reasons for the leading position of architecture among other 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 became especially pronounced. Architecture had a huge impact on the formation of decorative sculpture, painting and applied art 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 enormous 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 interior 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 Italian Baroque architecture. This was reflected in the borrowing of certain architectural forms (curved pediments, volutes, magnificent cartouches), in the order compositions of facades and the principles of designing 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 with increased pomp of architectural forms, especially in interiors. However, the forms of classical and baroque architecture underwent a 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 work of architecture of French classicism of the second half of the 17th century, in which the predominance of the artistic principles of classicism over 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 controller general of finance Fouquet and in many ways anticipating the ensemble of Versailles, were the architect Louis Leveau, Andre Le Nôtre and the painter Charles Lebrun.

In terms of the composition of the plan, the allocation of central and corner tower-like volumes topped with high roofs, and the general open nature of the building surrounded by a moat filled with water, the Vaux-le-Vicomte Palace resembles the Maisons-Laffite Palace. As at Maisons-Laffite, the architecture of this palace still retains some traditional features of French architecture dating back to past centuries. Nevertheless, in the appearance of the building, as well as in the compositional ensemble as a whole, there is undoubtedly a 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 subject to a strictly centralizing compositional principle, which makes it possible to bring the various elements of the Vaux-le-Vicomte ensemble to great artistic unity and highlight the palace as the most important component of the ensemble.

Unity in the construction of the internal space and volume of the building is typical of the principles of classicist architecture. The large oval salon is highlighted as the center of the composition and is topped with a domed roof, giving its silhouette a calm, balanced character. The introduction of a large order of pilasters spanning two floors above the base, and the powerful horizontal of a smooth, strictly profiled classical entablature, achieves the predominance of horizontal divisions over vertical ones, the generality and integrity of the facades and volume of the building, unusual for palaces of an earlier period. All this gives the appearance of the palace a monumental presence 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 frame the vast parterre and pool with a grotto, spread out in front of the palace facade [see. Appendix Fig. 7].

In the Vaux-le-Vicomte ensemble, the original principles of the synthesis of architecture, sculpture, painting and landscape art created by French classicism of the 17th century were formed, which received even greater scope and maturity in the Versailles ensemble [Bykov 1963: 487-513].

3 .3 East façade of the Louvre

One of the first works of the second half of the 17th century, in which the fundamental principles of French classicism received the most complete expression, is the eastern facade of the Louvre (1667-1678), in the design and construction of which Francois d'Orbe (1634-1697), Louis Levo and Claude participated Perrault (1613-1688).

The eastern facade of the Louvre, which is often called the Colonnade of the Louvre, forms part of the ensemble of two palaces united in the 17th century - the Tuileries and the Louvre. The long façade (173 m) has a central and two side projections, between which, on a monumental smooth plinth with rare openings, rest powerful (12 m high) twin columns of the Corinthian order, forming, together with the wall receding inward, deep shaded loggias. The richest in its forms, decoration and divisions is the design of the central entrance with a three-bay portico and topped with a triangular pediment. The tympanum of the pediment is richly decorated with sculptural relief. The flat architectural relief of the side projections creates a logical transition to the side facades of the Louvre, which repeated the composition of the eastern facade, with the difference that the double Corinthian columns were replaced by single pilasters of the same order [Bykov 1963: 487-513].

The monumental façade of the building, with its enlarged forms and emphasized scale, is full of grandeur and nobility, but at the same time there is a shade of rational coldness characteristic of mature classicism [Bykov 1963: 487-513].

3 .4 Creations of Hardouin-Mansart

The problem of the architectural ensemble, which was at the center of attention of the masters of classicism of the 17th century for almost the entire 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 Hardouin-Mansart of the Church of the Invalides (1693-1706), completing a huge complex built according to the design of Liberal Bruant (c. 1635-1697).

The Invalides' House, intended to house hostels for war veterans, was conceived as one of the most grandiose public buildings of the 17th century. In front of the main façade of the building, located on the left bank of the Seine, stretches a vast area, the so-called Esplanade des Invalides. The strictly symmetrical complex of the House of Invalids consists of four-story 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 diameter dome that crowns a vast central space. In the strict and restrained architecture of the temple, one can still feel the influence of baroque compositions, which are not alien to the work of Hardouin-Mansart. This is reflected in the weighted proportions of the dome in relation to the lower volume and in the plastic enrichment of the central part of the façade with order elements, characteristic of the Baroque [see. Appendix Fig. 8].

For the French urban planning practice of the 17th century, the Place Louis the Great (later Place Vendôme) (1685-1701) and the Place des Victories (1684-1687) built according to the designs of the architect Hardouin-Mansart were of great importance.

Having a rectangular plan with cut corners, Place Louis the Great was conceived as a ceremonial building in honor of the king. In accordance with the plan, the dominant role in the composition was played by the equestrian statue of Louis XIV located in the center of the square. The facades of the buildings forming the square, of the same type in composition, with slightly protruding porticoes on the cut corners and in the central part of the buildings, serve as an architectural frame for the space of the square. Connected to the adjacent neighborhoods by only two short stretches of streets, the square is perceived as a closed, isolated space [see Appendix Fig. 9].

Another ensemble is the Place des Victories, which has the shape of a circle with a diameter of 60 m in plan; in terms of the uniformity of the facades surrounding the square and the location of the monument in the center, it is close to Place Louis the Great. However, placing the square at the intersection of several streets, actively connected with the general planning system of the city, deprives it of isolation and isolation.

With the creation of Victory Square, Hardouin-Mansart laid the foundations for progressive urban planning trends in the construction of open public centers closely connected with the city planning system [Bykov 1963: 487-513].

3 .5 Versailles

Progressive trends in the architecture of French classicism of the 17th century received full and comprehensive development in the ensemble of Versailles (1668-1689), grandiose in scale, boldness and breadth of artistic concept. The main creators of this most significant monument of French classicism of the 17th century were Hardouin-Mansart and the master of landscape art Andre 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 constructing a complex ensemble as a strictly ordered centralized system, based on the absolute compositional dominance of the palace over everything around it, are determined by its general ideological concept.

Three wide, completely straight radial avenues of the city converge on the Palace of Versailles, located on a terrace rising above the surrounding area - thus, Versailles was connected by roads approaching it with different regions of France.

Next to the main building on the city side, palace services were located in two large independent buildings, forming a large rectangular area in front of the central building of the palace.

Luxurious interior decoration, in which Baroque motifs are widely used (round and oval medallions, complex cartouches, ornamental fillings above the doors and in the walls) and expensive finishing materials (mirrors, chased bronze, marble, gilded wood carvings), widespread use of decorative painting - all this is designed to create an impression of grandeur and pomp. One of the most remarkable rooms of the Palace of Versailles is the magnificent Mirror Gallery (73 m long) built by Hardouin-Mansart and located on the second floor of the central part with adjacent square living rooms. Through the wide arched openings there is a magnificent view of the main alley of the park and the surrounding landscape. The interior space of the gallery is illusively expanded 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 lush stucco cornice, which serves as a transition to the Baroque ceiling by the artist Lebrun, which is even more complex in composition and color scheme [see. Appendix Fig. 10].

The architecture of the facades created by Hardouin-Mansart, especially on the park side, is distinguished by great unity. Strongly stretched horizontally, the palace building harmonizes well with the strict geometrically correct layout of the park and the natural environment. The composition of the façade clearly highlights the second, front floor of the palace, dissected by a strict order of proportions and details of columns and pilasters resting on a heavy rusticated base.

In contrast to the architecture of the palace facades, which are somewhat baroque in their representativeness, as well as the interiors, which are overloaded with decorations and gilding, the layout of the park, made by Le Nôtre, is distinguished by classical purity and clarity of lines and shapes. 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 the natural environment as an object of intelligent human activity. Le Nôtre transforms the natural landscape into an impeccably clear, complete architectural system based on the principles of rationality and order [see. Appendix Fig. eleven].

A general view of the park opens from the palace. From the main terrace, a wide staircase leads along the main axis of the ensemble composition to the Latona Fountain, then the Royal Alley, bordered by trimmed trees, leads to the Apollo Fountain. The composition ends with a large canal stretching towards the horizon, framed by alleys of trimmed trees.

In organic unity with the layout of the park and the architectural appearance of the palace is the rich and varied sculptural decoration of the park. The park sculpture of Versailles actively participates in the formation of the ensemble. The architectural image of the Versailles ensemble is built in an organic connection with the natural environment, in the natural 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 a time of brilliant flowering of a number of the largest national schools, many creative directions and a constellation of great names and illustrious masters that is truly extraordinary for one century. The most significant and valuable that was created during 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 these countries now occupied an unconditionally dominant position in the general evolution of artistic culture. However, one cannot fail to note the special role of the two countries in the initial and final stages of this stage. So, speaking about its initial phase, first of all we have 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. Even more important, in Italian art of the first half of the 17th century, new figurative and stylistic foundations of architecture, sculpture and painting were laid, which met the requirements of their time and therefore received a pan-European response. One has only to remember how much the Italian Baroque contributed to all types of plastic arts, how much Caravaggio’s realism enriched European painting.

What Italy was for the first half of the 17th century, France became for the second half of the century, providing models for other European countries in its artistic achievements. Her art has traveled a long and complex path since the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, marked by the creative activity 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 France was a classic country of absolutism, the historical role of which at a certain stage of social development was largely progressive. Under these conditions, the idea of state unity, which met the requirements of the growing and independent French nation, acquired especially important meaning.

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 the fine arts [Bykov, Kaptereva 1969: http://artyx.ru/books/item/f00/z00022/index.shtml].

Bibliography

Literature

1. Bykov V.E. Art of France, architecture // General history of arts in 6 volumes / rep. ed. R.B. Klimov, I.I. Nikonova. Volume 4: Art of the 17th - 18th centuries. - M.: Art, 1963. 1101 p.

2. Bykov V.E., Kaptereva T.P. Art of France 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.: ACT Publishing House, 1998. 688 p.

4. Dassa F. Baroque. Architecture between 1600 and 1750. - M.: Astrel Publishing House, 2002. 160 p.

5. Ilyina T.V. History of art. Western European art. - M.: Higher. school, 2000. 368 p.

6. Koch F. Encyclopedia of architectural styles. - M.: BMM AO, 2005. 528 p.

Dictionaries and reference books

7. Le Petit Robert des noms propres, Varese, La tipografica Varese, 2010.

Internet resources

8. National Historical Encyclopedia. http://interpretive.ru/

Illustrations

9. Illustrations 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 / rep. ed. R.B. Klimov, I.I. Nikonova. 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

Rice. 1 Plans of French fortified cities of the 17th century. Henrishmont

Rice. 2 City of Richelieu. Built according to the design of Jacques Lemercier in the early 30s of the 17th century. On the left is the park of the country castle of Cardinal Richelieu

Rice. 3 Salomon de Bros. Luxembourg Palace in Paris. 161 5 - 1620 (21)

Rice. 4 Jacques Lemercier. Palace of Richelieu in Poitou. Started in 1627. Engraving by Perel

Rice. 5 Francois Mansart. Palace of Maisons-Laffite near Paris. 1642-1650. Main facade

Rice. 6 Francois Mansart. Church of Val de Grace in Paris. 1645-1665. Facade

Rice. 7 Louis Leveau, Andre Le Nôtre. Palace and park of Vaux-le-Vicomte near Melun. 1655-1661 General view from the park.

Rice. 8 Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Church of the Invalides in Paris. 1693-1706 Completed in 1708 by Robert de Cotte. View from the south

Rice. 9 Place Louis the Great (Place Vendôme)

Rice. 10 Mirror Gallery of the Palace of Versailles

Rice. 11 Versailles. View of the Royal Palace and park from the west. Architects Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Andre Le Nôtre. Aerial photography

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The main stages of the new art

Let us return to French architecture at the end of the 16th century, at the time of the end of the religious wars. Architecture experiences all the vicissitudes of the period of return to peace and prosperity: it is modest and prudent after the wars of the League, wasteful under Richelieu, majestic and solemn to the point of excess under Louis XIV, cold and strict on the eve of the revolution. Let us consider sequentially the means that she used either separately or simultaneously.

French architecture of the 17th century

Architecture of stone and brick and its forms

A combination of brick and stone.- Under Henry IV, decorative effects were often achieved by such constructive techniques in which color contrasts give, at little expense, facades a lively and varied appearance; This is the construction of the walls in the form of a frame of cut stones filled with rough masonry.

The infill surface is covered with colored plaster: according to tradition dating back to the early Renaissance, the frame of the openings is connected through all floors ( rice. 437), forming long white stripes from the foundation to the lucarnes, standing out against the red background of the walls and against the blue background of the slate roofs.

Always using simple means, this architecture strives simultaneously for color contrasts and clear contours, for the patterned outlines of roofs and hatches; she uses little profiling and completely avoids small details: there are only contours and a play of colors.

The earliest monuments of this style include Palais Mayenne on Rue Saint-Antoine, dating back to the era of Henry III.

Then follow: under Henry IV Palace of Cardinal Bourbon in the Abbey of Saint-Germain des Pres, buildings on Place Dauphine and Place des Vosges ( rice. 437); under Louis XIII - the main core of the Palace of Versailles; one of the latest examples of this style is Mazarin Palace(National Library), built by François Mansart during the minority of Louis XIV. The same architecture belongs to Rambouillet Palace.

The use in stone architecture of forms arising from a combination of stone and brick.- The previous group, as a derivative of it, includes a whole series of buildings built entirely of stone, but borrowing decoration from the mixed structure we have just described.

As examples of this peculiar transfer of forms, we give: under Louis XIII - Palais Sully on Rue Saint-Antoine, built J. Ducerseau, Sorbonne And Cardinal's Palace, built Lemercier; at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV - Palace d'Aumont on Rue Jouy, built Fr. Mansar.

Decoration with orders

The architecture of brick and stone, clearly imbued with a desire for economy, is best suited to buildings from which nothing more than graceful simplicity is required. For monumental buildings, they resort to order decorations, and in France, as in Italy, they hesitate between two decisions: whether to make these decorations in accordance with the scale of the entire facade, or on the scale of only the floor they decorate. Hence, in order architecture there are two trends, which we will trace below.

Decoration linked to the scale of the floors.- When decoration is linked to the scale of floors, then usually different orders are placed on each floor; These are the buildings of Tanlais (department of Ionna), erected at the end of the reign of Henry IV.

Under Louis XIII, the tradition of using small orders was continued by S. de Brosses in Luxembourg Palace and on the facade Saint Gervais.

The same method is used to build Lemercier central pavilion in Louvre courtyard and in the palace Liancourt(rice, 438) - his main work, from which only some drawings have reached us.

At the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV Lepautre applies the same method of decoration in Beauvais Palace(François Miron Street); we meet in the same way in the castle Bussy Rabutin(Côte d'Or); the last representative of this system was Fr. Mansar (Chateau de Maison, Pavilion of Gaston d'Orléans in Blois).

The system of small orders enjoyed the least success at the beginning of the 17th century. At Thorpann Palace an attempt was made to find a compromise solution: to preserve the entablature and destroy the pilasters or replace them with pillars.

During the entire reign of Henry IV, we encounter only one overt application of the traditional system - the Louvre gallery ( rice. 439). This beautiful composition gives us an idea of the flexibility that art still retained. The lower floor was built earlier (it dates back to the era of Catherine de Medici), and it was necessary to coordinate it with the wing of the palace, the cornice of which was at level M; this transition is provided by mezzanines MN.

Now consider the opposite system:

Decoration with a colossal order.- Among the first buildings where several floors were combined into one large order of pilasters, we already called the wing Chantilly Castle, dating from the era of Henry II.

We present a fragment of the facade ( rice. 440, C). It clearly shows the difficulties associated with this system. The entablatures reach an exorbitant size in order to maintain proportionality with the pilasters; the windows are lost and seem to fade away. For the sake of the entablature, they make concessions to classical proportions, but in order not to deprive the windows of their significance, they capture part of the roof with them, turning them into a kind of lucarnes, not connected with either the facade or the roof; sometimes they even try to cover the windows of two floors with one frame, as if simulating one common opening.

Thanks to all these compromises, the colossal order becomes one of the common elements of French architecture. We meet him under Henry III in Palace of Diane de France(Rue Pave, in the Marais); under Henry IV it was used in the gallery connecting the Louvre with the Tuileries (Fig. 440, L); built during the time of Louis XIII Palace of the Duchess of Savoy(rue Garencière) provides an example of Ionian pilasters decidedly out of scale. Dorian pilasters of more modest sizes adorn the Palace of Versailles.

By the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV, the tendency towards large orders became more and more decisive. They find in them that greatness that meets the new claims of the monarchy. Left And Dorbe they are used in the old southern facade of the Louvre, in the castle of Vaux, in the College of the Four Nations (Institute); Lemuet uses this solemn form to Palace d'Avo(Temple Street); Fr. Mansart uses it on the main façade Minim monastery in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.

Subsequently, Perrault, in 1670, borrowed the colossal order as a theme for his Louvre colonnade, and in the 18th century. Gabriel will repeat this order in the palaces of the Place de la Concorde.

Treatment of facades with rustications and panels

Rustic processing.- We have already pointed out the consequences that follow from the use of a colossal order: the need for huge cornices and the need to excessively enlarge the openings. It is possible to preserve to some extent the grandeur that the order, rising from the very foundation of the building, gives to the architectural composition, if the pilasters are replaced with rusticated blades. At the same time, costs are reduced, and at the same time, since the forms of the order become, as it were, only implied, the requirements of proportions become less imperative, which makes it possible to limit both the meaning of the entablatures and the size of the windows.

The division of facades with rusticated blades instead of pilasters was used by Lemercier during the reign of Louis XIII century Richelieu Castle and in the Cardinal's Palace; under Louis XIV these techniques were used L. Bruant- for processing facades Homes for the disabled, Fr. Mansar - for Val de Grae, Perrault - for the northern ledge of the Louvre.

Decoration through panels.- Architecture does not stop on this path to simplification. In the end, these rusticated blades are also destroyed; the entablature that crowns the facade rests on bare walls, barely decorated with frames that outline the boundaries of the intervening panels.

The courtyard of the House of Invalids is an excellent example of such facades, where only the profiles of the cornices and blades remain from the orders. In the same spirit, Perrault decorates

Observatory, Fr. Blondel - the gate of Saint-Denis, Bullet - the gate of Saint-Martin.

French architecture of the late 17th and 18th centuries

Official style.- In the last third of the 17th century. the impoverishment of taste begins, the onset of decline is felt. To prevent this, Colbert established the Academy of Architecture in 1671 and charged it with teaching theory to fill the gaps in craft apprenticeship. He sends architects to Rome to draw inspiration there, orders the publication of works on the monuments of classical antiquity, and tries to revive art by elevating the position of its masters. But decrepit art is powerless to revive and become younger. Generation Lemercier and Fr. Mansara is dying out; the generation that follows still creates several works worthy of the previous period, but in general the style becomes flabby and the execution mediocre.

Striving for a false ideal of nobility, they stop, following the example of the Italians, on monotonous facades that repeat the same motifs throughout - and this cold symmetry hides the arrangement of parts of the building so much that behind the same facade there are both chapels and stairs, and even baths; Even the roofs are camouflaged. The main desire is not to reveal anything from the outside that would remind one of the material needs of everyday life.

It is this kind of architecture, as if not created for mere mortals, that the king likes. Jules Hardouin-Mansart fully applied it to the Palace of Versailles ( rice. 441, A); The facade, in which all these trends are clearly visible, dates back to 1675. Traditions of high art and the decline of the 18th century. - The last years of the 17th century. marked by a return to more varied forms; then the style of Hardouin-Mansart acquires greater flexibility; this, perhaps, should be attributed to the collaboration with him of other architects, among whom Saint-Simon names Lassurance.

Be that as it may, before the death of Hardouin-Mansart (1708), there seems to be some revival: he ends his work with two masterpieces - the House of Ing.
Valides and the Versailles Chapel. The calamities of the end of the reign of Louis XIV checked this revival, and it was decisively resumed only after the establishment of the Regency. From this point on, there are, so to speak, two architectures: one continues the strict traditions of the previous period, the other takes the path of refined grace, which very truthfully reflects the sophistication of its contemporary society.

The style of the new school, the “Rococo” genre, was established only by 1730 and found its main exponent in the person of Boffrand; The style of the classical school has its representatives successively Gabriel, Soufflot, and finally Louis and Antoine.

Throughout the second half of the reign of Louis XV, both schools exist completely independently: while the palaces of Nancy are overloaded with Rococo decorations, the Place de la Concorde is distinguished by the majestic dignity and grandeur of its magnificent outlines ( rice. 441, V, 1750) Chaotic school of the mid-18th century. fizzles out by the time of Louis XVI: the philosophical movement directs minds towards antiquity. Tastes change completely, and in purity of form they try to surpass even the school of Gabriel and Soufflot. With the approach of the revolution they fall into dryness, and with the revolution a crisis of art begins, a way out of which is barely visible only in our era.

General state of architecture in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries

In the 17th and 18th centuries. Europe is influenced partly by modern Italy, partly by France. In general, French influences predominate; Thus, French architects erected most of their palaces for the German princes: in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, and Mannheim.

Inigo Jones, with whom classical architecture began in England, apparently developed his own style through direct study of the monuments of Italy and founded a school, which was continued in the 18th century. Chambers, the builder of Somerset Palace, appeared.

Wren (S. Wren), architect of St. Paul's in London, adjacent to the school that created the Invalides in France; The Cathedral of St. Paul, in turn, served as the main model for America in the construction of the Capitol in Washington.

In Russia in the 18th century. Italian influence is manifested mainly in the palaces of St. Petersburg.

As for Italian art, the echo of which is represented by all modern architectural schools, its latest creations were: Bernini's colonnade in St. Petra, a majestic, but not strict facade, given by the architect Al. The Galilee of the church of San Giovanni in Laterano, and the cold buildings of Vanvitelli in Caserta.