Classicism in the architecture of France in the 17th century. 17th century French art East façade of the Louvre
Chapter “The Art of France. Architecture". Section "Art of the 18th century". General history of art. Volume IV. Art of the 17th and 18th centuries. Author: L.S. Aleshina; under the general editorship of Yu.D. Kolpinsky and E.I. Rotenberg (Moscow, State Publishing House "Art", 1963)
If the 17th century in French architecture was marked by grandiose construction work for the king, the main result of which was the creation of the monumental ensemble of Versailles, where the very style of classicism in its impressive pomp reveals elements of internal connection with Baroque architecture, then the 18th century brings with it new trends.
Construction moved to cities. The new needs of the era posed the problem of creating a type of urban residential mansion house. The development of bourgeois relations, the growth of trade and industry, the strengthening of the role of the third estate in public life put forward the task of constructing new public buildings - exchanges, trading premises, public theaters. The increasing role of cities in the economic and political life of the country, the emergence of new types of private and public buildings pose new requirements for architects in creating an urban ensemble.
The architectural style of the era is also undergoing changes. Characteristic of the classicism of the last century, the great unity of figurative solutions of the external appearance and internal space by the beginning of the 18th century. disintegrates. This process of disintegration is accompanied by a separation of construction practice and theoretical teachings, a difference in the principles of interior and facade design. Leading architects in their theoretical works still worship antiquity and the rules of the three orders, but in direct architectural practice they move away from the strict requirements of logical clarity and rationalism, subordination of the particular to the whole, and clear constructiveness. The work of Robert de Cotte (1656-1735), the successor of Jules Hardouin-Mansart as royal architect (he completed the construction of the chapel of the Versailles Palace, beautiful in its strict, noble architecture), provides a convincing example of this. In those built by him in the 1710s. In Parisian mansions (Hotel de Toulouse and Hotel d'Estrée), a lighter architectural form and free development of decor are noticeable.
The new style, called Rococo or Rocaille, cannot be viewed from only one side, seeing in it only a reactionary and unpromising product of a decadent class. This style reflected not only the hedonistic aspirations of the aristocracy. Some progressive trends of the era were also refracted in a unique way in Rococo; hence the demands for a freer layout that corresponds to real life, a more natural and lively development, and internal space. The dynamics and lightness of architectural masses and decor contrasted with the ponderous pomp of interior design in the era of the supreme power of French absolutism.
At the beginning of the 18th century. the main construction is still carried out by the aristocracy, but its character is changing significantly. The place of manor castles is taken by city mansions, the so-called hotels. The weakening of absolutism was also reflected in the fact that the nobility left Versailles and settled in the capital. In the green suburbs of Paris - Saint-Germain and Saint-Opère - one after another during the first half of the century, luxurious mansion-hotels with extensive gardens and services were built. Unlike the palace buildings of the previous century, which pursued the goals of impressive representativeness and solemn grandeur, in the mansions being created now, much attention is paid to the actual convenience of life. Architects abandon the chain of large halls, stretching out in a solemn enfilade, in favor of smaller rooms, arranged more casually in accordance with the needs of private life and the public representation of the owners. Many tall windows illuminate the interior well.
According to their location in the city, hotels of the first half of the 18th century. represented to a large extent a transitional phenomenon from a country estate to a city house. This is a closed architectural complex, a kind of estate inside a city block, connected to the street only by the front gate. The house itself stands in the back of the plot, facing a vast courtyard lined with low service premises. The opposite facade faces the garden, which maintains a regular layout.
In hotels of the first half of the 18th century. The characteristic contradiction of French architecture of this era was most clearly manifested - the discrepancy between the external architecture and the interior decor. The facade of the building, as a rule, retains traditional order elements, interpreted, however, more freely and lightly. Decor
However, interior spaces often completely break with the laws of tectonics, merging the wall with the ceiling into a complete shell of internal space that has no definite boundaries. It is no coincidence that decorative artists, who were able to decorate the interior with amazing subtlety and perfection, acquired such a large role at this time. The period of early and mature Rococo knows a whole galaxy of masters who created exquisite masterpieces of interior decoration (Gilles Marie Oppenor, 1672-1742; Just Aurèle Meissonnier, 1693-1750, and others). Often a building was built by one architect and designed by another. But even when all the work was carried out by one master, his approach to solving the external appearance of the hotel and its interior was fundamentally different. One of the most prominent Rococo architects, Germain Beaufran (1667-1754), in his treatise “Livre d'Architecture” (1745), directly said that currently interior decor is a completely separate part of architecture, which does not take into account the decor of the exterior of the building. In his practice, he consistently pursued this thesis. In the architecture of the Lunéville castle, in the hotels in Naisy, built in the 1720s, one can feel the adherence to the traditions of classicism - the central part is clearly distinguished, emphasized by a portico with columns or pilasters. Only a few speak about the Rococo style here molded details and comparative lightness of order elements.
Beaufran decides his interiors completely differently. A brilliant example of this is the interior decor of the Hotel Soubise (1735-1740). Regardless of the external appearance of the mansion, which was completed by Delamere in 1705-1709. In the classical tradition, Beaufran gives the hotel rooms the character of graceful bonbonnieres. Carved panels, stucco ornaments, and picturesque panels cover the walls and ceiling like a continuous carpet. The effect of these exquisitely elegant, whimsically light forms should be especially impressive in contrast to the more restrained architecture of the facade.
Religious construction during this period was of incomparably less importance than secular construction. The buildings of the previous century were mostly completed.
Such is the church of Saint Roch in Paris, begun by Robert de Cotte at the end of the 17th century. and completed after the death of this architect by his son J.-R. de Cottom.
The more interesting Parisian church of Saint-Sulpice, also begun in the 17th century. By the 20s. 18th century The main façade remained unfinished. It was designed by several architects. The project of the famous decorator Meissonnier (1726), who tried to transfer the principles of Rocaille to outdoor architecture, was rejected. In 1732, another decorator, Jean Nicolas Servandoni (1695-1766), won the competition announced for the design of the facade, turning to classical forms in his decision. His idea formed the basis for further construction. The façade of the church is divided into two tiers, each of which has its own order. Towers rise on both sides of the façade.
From the second quarter of the 18th century. The rich trading cities of the province began to play an increasingly prominent role in French construction. The matter was not limited to the construction of individual buildings. The entire system of the old feudal city with its chaotic buildings, with an intricate grid of streets included in the tight confines of the city fortifications, came into conflict with the new needs of the growing commercial and industrial centers. The retention of many key positions by absolutism led, however, at first to a rather compromise solution to urban planning problems. In many cities, the reconstruction of certain parts of the old city is carried out through the construction of royal squares. The tradition of such squares dates back to the 17th century, when they were created not with the aim of bringing order to the chaos of the medieval city, but as an open place for the installation of a statue of the king. Now the reason remained, as it were, the same - all that arose in the 18th century. During the period of the monarchy, the squares were intended to serve for the installation of a monument to the monarch, but the architects themselves pursued much broader urban planning goals.
One of the first squares of a new type associated with the redevelopment and development of entire city blocks was the square in Bordeaux. Its designer and builder was Jacques Gabriel (1667-1742), a representative of the famous building from the 16th century. dynasty of architects, father of the famous architect Jacques Ange Gabriel.
Work on the planning and development of the square began in 1731. The site for it was allocated on the banks of the wide Garonne. The architect widely and diversifiedly developed the possibilities of creating a new ensemble, covering a significant part of the city and connecting it with the natural environment.
Jacques Gabriel began his work in Bordeaux with the demolition of old, nondescript buildings on the river bank and the construction of a magnificent embankment. The city turned its face to the Garonne - its main decoration. This turn was intended to consolidate both the square, wide open to the river, and the layout of the two streets flowing into the square. Using the planning principle of Versailles, the architect applied it to a new social and artistic organism - the city, solving it on a broader basis. The buildings located on the sides of the square were intended for the trade and economic needs of the city: on the right is the stock exchange, on the left is the tax office building. Their architecture is distinguished by restraint and elegant simplicity. The construction of the exchange and the central pavilion between the two streets was completed after the death of Jacques Gabriel by his son. A number of innovative principles of the Place de Bordeaux - its open character, its facing the river, the connection with the city quarters with the help of ray-streets - Jacques Ange Gabriel soon brilliantly developed in his work on the Place Louis XV in Paris.
If the ensemble of the square in Bordeaux provided a solution that anticipated many planning principles of subsequent times, then another remarkable ensemble of the mid-18th century. - a complex of three squares in Nancy, more closely associated with the past, - seems to summarize the methods of organizing space of the Baroque Era.
Three squares of different shapes - the rectangular Stanislaus Square, the long Carrière Square and the oval Government Square - form a closely united and internally closed organism that exists only in a very relative connection with the city. The oval cour d'honneur of the Government Palace is separated by an arcade from the surrounding city and park. Active movement from it can, in essence, only develop forward through the boulevard-shaped Carrière Square and the triumphal arch, so that, upon entering Stanislav Square, it will immediately be blocked by the monumental building of the town hall. One gets the impression of two monumental court d'honneurs, spread out in front of magnificent palaces and connected by a straight alley. It is characteristic that the streets facing Stanislav Square are separated from it by bars. The charm of the ensemble is created by the festive architecture of the palaces, amazing craftsmanship of forged and gilded grilles, fountains on two corners of the square, designed in a single elegant and elegant rococo tone. The planner of the area and the architect of the main buildings was Beaufran's student Emmanuel Eray de Corney (1705-1763), who worked mainly in Lorraine. Built in 1752-1755, this complex in its forms and planning principles already looked somewhat anachronistic in comparison with the new movement in architecture that began at the end of the first half of the 18th century.
This movement, the influence of which had already marked the design of the square in Bordeaux, was expressed in the rejection of the extremes and quirks of Rococo in favor of a more reasonable, ordered architecture, in an increased interest in antiquity. The connection of this movement with the strengthening of the positions of the bourgeoisie is undeniable.
Just at the turn of the first and second half of the century, the speech of the encyclopedists, who put forward the criterion of reason as the only measure of all things, dates back. From these positions, the entire feudal society and its offspring - the Rococo style - are criticized as devoid of logic, rationality, and naturalness. And vice versa, all these qualities are seen in the architecture of the ancients. During these years, exhibitions dedicated to monuments of ancient architecture appeared. In 1752, the famous amateur and philanthropist Count de Caylus began publishing the work “Collection of Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities.” Two years later, the architect David Leroy travels to Greece and then releases the book “Ruins of the Most Beautiful Structures of Greece.” Among the theorists of architecture, Abbé Laugier stands out, whose “Studies on Architecture”, published in 1753, evoked a lively response in wide circles of French society. Speaking from the standpoint of rationalism, he advocates for reasonable, that is, natural architecture. The pressure of educational, ultimately democratic ideas was so great that it also had an impact on official artistic circles. The leaders of the artistic policy of absolutism felt the need to contrast something with the positive program of the encyclopedists, their convincing criticism of the illogicality and unnaturalness of Rococo art. The royal power and the Academy are taking certain steps to wrest the initiative from the hands of the third estate and themselves lead the nascent movement. In 1749, a kind of artistic mission was sent to Italy, led by the brother of the all-powerful favorite of Louis XV, Madame Pompadour, the future Marquis of Marigny, who served as director of royal buildings. He was accompanied by the engraver Cochin and the architect Jacques Germain Soufflot, the future builder of the Parisian Pantheon. The purpose of the trip was to get acquainted with Italian art - this cradle of beauty. They visited the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii that had recently begun. Soufflot, in addition, studied the ancient monuments of Paestum. This whole trip was a sign of new phenomena in art, and its consequence was a further turn to classicism and a more acute struggle with the principles of rocaille even in various types of decorative art. At the same time, this journey provides clear evidence of how differently the appeal to the ancient heritage was understood and what different conclusions were drawn from this by representatives of the ruling class and the artists themselves. The results of Italian impressions and reflections were expressed by Marigny in the words: “I don’t want either the current excesses or the severity of the ancients - a little of this, a little of that.” He subsequently adhered to this compromise artistic policy throughout his many years of activity as a director of fine arts.
His travel companions, Cochin and Soufflot, took a much more progressive and active position. The first published upon his return the treatise “Review of the Antiquities of Herculaneum with Several Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Ancients” and then led a very sharp struggle in print against the principles of rocaille art, for the rigor, purity and clarity of architectural and decorative forms. As for Souflo, his very additional trip to Paestum and the on-site study of two remarkable monuments of Greek architecture testify to his deep interest in antiquity. In his construction practice upon his return from Italy, the principles of classicism triumphed completely and uncompromisingly.
During this transitional era, the work of the most captivating master of French architecture, Jacques Ange Gabriel (1699-1782), took shape and flourished. Gabriel's style seems to meet the requirements of Marigny, but this is an extremely original and organic phenomenon generated by the natural, “deep” development of French architecture. The master had never been to Italy, much less Greece. Gabriel's work seemed to continue and develop the line of French architecture that emerged in the later buildings of Jules Hardouin-Mansart (Grand Trianon and the chapel at Versailles), in the eastern facade of the Louvre. At the same time, he also assimilated those progressive trends that were contained in Rococo architecture: its closeness to people, intimacy, as well as the exquisite subtlety of decorative details.
Gabriel's participation in his father's urban planning work in Bordeaux prepared him well for solving ensemble problems that occupied him by the mid-18th century. an increasingly prominent role in architectural practice. Just at this time, the press was intensifying attention to Paris, to the problem of turning it into a city worthy of the name of capital.
Paris had beautiful architectural monuments, a number of squares created in the previous century, but all of these were separate, self-contained, isolated islands of organized development. In the mid-18th century, a square appeared that played a huge role in the formation of the ensemble of the Parisian center - the current Place de la Concorde. It owes its appearance to a whole team of French architects, but its main creator was Jacques Ange Gabriel.
In 1748, on the initiative of the capital's merchants, the idea of erecting a monument to Louis XV was put forward. The Academy announced a competition to create a square for this monument. As you can see, the beginning was completely traditional, in the spirit of the 17th century - the area was intended for a statue of the monarch.
As a result of the first competition, none of the projects were selected, but the location for the square was finally established. After a second competition, held in 1753 only among members of the Academy, the design and construction were entrusted to Gabriel, so that he would take into account other proposals.
The site chosen for the square was a vast wasteland on the banks of the Seine on what was then the outskirts of Paris, between the garden of the Tuileries Palace and the beginning of the road leading to Versailles. Gabriel took unusually fruitful and promising advantage of this open and coastal location. Its area became the axis of further development of Paris. This was possible thanks to her versatile orientation. On the one hand, the square is thought of as the threshold of the palace complexes of the Tuileries and the Louvre: it is not without reason that three rays envisaged by Gabriel lead to it from outside the city - the alleys of the Champs Elysees, the mental intersection of which is located at the entrance gates of the Tuileries Park. The equestrian monument of Louis XV is oriented in the same direction - facing the palace. At the same time, only one side of the square is architecturally accentuated - parallel to the Seine. The construction of two majestic administrative buildings is planned here, and between them Royal Street is being designed, the axis of which is perpendicular to the Champs-Elysees - Tuileries axis. At the end of it, very soon, the Madeleine Church by the architect Contan d'Ivry begins to be built, closing the perspective with its portico and dome. On the sides of its buildings, Gabriel designs two more streets, parallel to the Royal. This gives another possible direction of movement, connecting the square with other quarters growing city.
Gabriel solves the boundaries of the square in a very witty and completely new way. By building up only one of its northern sides, putting forward the principle of free development of space, its connection with the natural environment, he at the same time strives to avoid the impression of its amorphousness and uncertainty. On all four sides he designs shallow dry ditches, covered with green lawns, bordered by stone balustrades. The gaps between them give an additional clear emphasis to the rays of the Champs Elysees and the axis of the Royal Street.
The appearance of the two buildings that close the northern side of the Place de la Concorde clearly expresses the characteristic features of Gabriel’s work: a clear, calm harmony of the whole and details, the logic of architectural forms easily perceived by the eye. The lower tier of the building is heavier and more massive, which is emphasized by the large rustication of the wall; it carries two other tiers united by Corinthian columns, a motif that goes back to the classical eastern façade of the Louvre.
But Gabriel’s main merit lies not so much in the masterful design of the facades with their slender fluted columns rising above the powerful arcades of the lower floor, but in the specific ensemble sound of these buildings. Both of these buildings are unthinkable without each other, and without the space of the square, and without a structure located at a considerable distance - without the Church of the Madeleine. It is towards this that both buildings of the Place de la Concorde are oriented - it is no coincidence that each of them does not have an accentuated center and is, as it were, just one of the wings of the whole. Thus, in these buildings, designed in 1753 and began construction in 1757 -1758, Gabriel outlined the principles of volumetric-spatial solutions that would be developed during the period of mature classicism.
The pearl of French architecture of the 18th century is the Petit Trianon, created by Gabriel at Versailles in 1762-1768. The traditional theme of a country castle is solved here in a completely new way. The small building, square in plan, faces space with all four of its facades. There is no predominant emphasis on the two main facades, which was until recently so characteristic of palaces and estates. Each of the parties has an independent meaning, which is expressed in their different decisions. And at the same time, this difference is not cardinal - these are, as it were, variations of the same theme. The facade facing the open space of the ground floor, perceived from the farthest distance, is interpreted in the most plastic way. Four attached columns connecting both floors form a kind of slightly protruding portico. A similar motif, however in a modified form - the columns are replaced by pilasters - sounds in two adjacent sides, but each time differently, since due to the difference in levels, in one case the building has two floors, in the other - three. The fourth facade, facing the thickets of the landscape park, is completely simple - the wall is dissected only by rectangular windows of different sizes in each of the three tiers. Thus, with meager means, Gabriel achieves amazing richness and richness of impressions. Beauty is derived from the harmony of simple, easily perceived forms, from the clarity of proportional relationships.
The interior layout is also designed with great simplicity and clarity. The palace consists of a number of small rectangular rooms, the decorative decoration of which, built on the use of straight lines, light cold colors, and the parsimony of plastic materials, corresponds to the elegant restraint and noble grace of the external appearance.
Gabriel's work was a transitional link between the architecture of the first and second half of the 18th century.
In buildings of the 1760-1780s. The younger generation of architects is already forming a new stage of classicism. It is characterized by a decisive turn to antiquity, which became not only an inspiration for artists, but also a treasury of the forms they used. The requirements for the reasonableness of an architectural work go as far as the rejection of decorative embellishments. The principle of utilitarianism is put forward, which is linked together with the principle of the naturalness of the building, an example of which are ancient buildings, as natural as utilitarian, all forms of which are dictated by reasonable necessity. The column, entablature, and pediment, which have become the main means of expressing the architectural image, are returned to their constructive, functional meaning. Accordingly, the scale of order divisions is enlarged. Park construction is characterized by the same desire for naturalness. Associated with this is the abandonment of the regular, “artificial” park and the flourishing of the landscape garden.
A characteristic phenomenon of the architecture of these pre-revolutionary decades was the predominance in the construction of public buildings. It is in public buildings that the principles of new architecture are most clearly expressed. And it is very significant that one of the outstanding architectural works of this period - the Pantheon - very soon turned from a building of religious significance into a public monument. Its construction was conceived by Louis XV as the church of the patroness of Paris - St. Genevieve, the place where her relics are kept. The development of the project was entrusted in 1755 to Jacques Germain Soufflot (1713-1780), who had only recently returned from a trip to Italy. The architect understood his task much more broadly than his client. He presented a plan that, in addition to the church, included a vast area with two public buildings - the faculties of law and theology. In his further work, Souflot had to abandon this plan and limit his task to the construction of a church, the whole appearance of which testifies, however, that the architect conceived it as a building of great social significance. The building, cruciform in plan, is topped with a grandiose dome on a drum surrounded by columns. The main facade is emphasized by a powerful, deep six-column portico with a pediment. All other parts of the wall are left completely blank, without openings. The clear logic of architectural forms is clearly perceived at first glance. Nothing mystical or irrational - everything is reasonable, strict and simple. The same clarity and strict consistency are characteristic of the spatial design of the temple interior. The rationalism of the artistic image, expressed so solemnly and monumentally, turned out to be extremely close to the worldview of the revolutionary years, and the newly completed church was turned in 1791 into a monument to the great people of France.
Of the public buildings built in Paris in the pre-revolutionary decades, the Surgical School of Jacques Gondoin (1737-1818) stands out. The project, which he began working on in 1769, was distinguished by its great breadth of concept, which is generally a characteristic feature of the architecture of these years. Along with this building, Gondoin planned to rebuild the entire quarter. And although Gondoin’s plan was not fully implemented, the building of the Surgical School itself, completed in 1786, was completed on a grand scale. This is an extensive two-story structure with a large courtyard. The center of the building is marked by an impressive portico. The most interesting part of the interior is the large semicircular hall of the anatomical theater with raised amphitheater-style benches and a capped vault - a peculiar combination of half of the Roman Pantheon with the Colosseum.
The theater became a new widespread type of public building during this period. Both in the capital and in many provincial cities, theater buildings are rising one after another, designed in their appearance as an important part in the architectural ensemble of the city public center. One of the most beautiful and significant buildings of this kind is the theater in Bordeaux, built in 1775-1780. architect Victor Louis (1731-1807). A massive volume of rectangular outlines is placed on an open area of the square. A twelve-column portico adorns one of the narrow sides of the theater building, imparting a solemn presence to its main entrance façade. The entablature of the portico contains statues of muses and goddesses, defining the purpose of the building. The main staircase of the theatre, at first single-flight, then divided into two arms leading in opposite directions, served as a model for many later French theater buildings. The simple, clear and solemn architecture of the theater in Bordeaux, the clear functional solution of its internal space make this building one of the most valuable monuments of French classicism.
In the years under review, the activities of a number of architects began, whose work as a whole already belongs to the next period of French Architecture, inspired by the ideas of the revolution. In some projects and buildings, those techniques and forms are already outlined that will become characteristic features of the new stage of classicism associated with the revolutionary era.
There is 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.
Unlike Italy, in absolutist France architecture and art served to glorify the monarch, not the church.
The urban redevelopment carried out in the 17th century in Paris differed from the Roman one in that the squares, as well as the large avenues, were independent of the buildings that were symbols of the city.
French Baroque was most clearly manifested in secular architecture - in the construction of palaces, castles, houses for the bourgeoisie and public buildings. The predominant type of palace is U-shaped, consisting of a central building and side projections. The building is inextricably linked with the park laid out behind it and the honorary courtyard in front of the facade. The courtyard was fenced off from the street with a gilded grille. Often such gratings themselves were wonderful works of art by Baroque bronze casters. Thanks to the architect's innovation J.A.Mansara , which raised the roof and gave the attic space functionality, attics appeared (attic-type living space formed on the top floor of a house with mansard roof). The picturesqueness was added by bright roofs, laid out either with colored checkerboard tiles or with slate and entwined with grapes or ivy that turned red in autumn. Examples of French architecture modeled after Italian are Four Nations College (1662) works Louis Levo .
Church at the Sorbonne (1635) Jacques Lemercier ,
Cathedral of the Invalides (1706) Jules Hardouin-Mansart – examples of Baroque religious buildings.
TO 
Lod Perrault
(1613 – 1688) creates a project for the main eastern facade Louvre
(1667 – 1673) – royal palace in paris
. His work embodied the ideas and moods closest to the French: severity and solemnity, scale and extreme simplicity. The eastern façade of the Louvre became an example of purely French baroque. It is fifteen meters longer than the actual length of the building, divided into tiers, decorated with an order with columns standing in pairs. The central protruding part of the facade is decorated with a portico with a pediment. This three-part composition was typical for the facades of palaces and state villas of the Renaissance. The master managed to show that old traditions still remain a source of beauty.
Question 22. The ensemble of Versailles in Paris (palace and park ensemble)
TO 
One of the outstanding architectural structures of world architecture is the well-known palace and park ensemble at Versailles, built under the auspices of such brilliant masters as Louis Leveau, Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Andre Le Nôtre. The layout of the extensive park and the areas associated with the Palace of Versailles are the pinnacle of French park art, and the palace itself is a first-class architectural monument. They created a complex, complete architectural complex, which included a monumental palace building and a number of park structures of “small forms”, and, most importantly, a park that was exceptional in its compositional integrity.
A 
The architecture of the palace 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 second, main floor of the palace is divided into a row of columns and pilasters, strict in proportions and details, resting on a heavy rusticated base. The topmost, smaller floor is conceived as an attic crowning the building, giving the image of the palace greater monumentality and representativeness.
It is noteworthy that the layout of the park, made by Le Nôtre, is distinguished by classical purity and clarity of lines and shapes. 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.
It should be noted that nature took strictly geometric forms in it, as if prescribed to it by the human mind. The park is distinguished by the clear symmetry of alleys and ponds, strictly calibrated rows of trimmed trees and flower beds, and the solemn dignity of the statues located in it.
Construction of the palace began in 1661 and more than 30 thousand builders were involved in the work (to increase the number of workers, Louis banned all private construction in the vicinity of the city, and in peacetime soldiers and sailors were sent to construction). Despite the fact that during construction they saved on literally everything, in the end a huge amount of money was spent - 25 million liras or 19.5 tons of silver (almost 260 billion euros).
In the final version, the total area of the palace premises, not including the park, was about 67 thousand square meters. It had 25 thousand windows, 67 staircases, 372 statues.
Grand Trianon. The castle is in a classic style, lined with pink marble. Monarchs were used for a wide variety of purposes: from meetings with favorites to hunting.
M 
scarlet Trianon.
D 
The vortex represents a transition from the Rococo style to classicism and was built on the initiative of one of the favorites of Louis XV, the Marquise de Pompadour. True, she died several years before the completion of construction, and therefore another favorite, Countess DuBarry, lived in it. When Louis XVI became king, he handed over the castle to Marie Antoinette, where she took a break from palace life (even the king had no right to come here without her permission).
Park and gardens. The Palace of Versailles and the park are two inseparable concepts. The gardens of Versailles consist of a huge number of terraces, which gradually decrease as they move away from the castle. They occupy an area of about one hundred hectares, and this entire territory is absolutely flat and it is impossible to find any small hill on it.
There are several palace buildings here, among them the Grand and Petit Trianon, the Empress Theater, the Belvedere, the Temple of Love, the French pavilion, a grotto, as well as observation decks, alleys, sculptures, a system of fountains and canals, which is why the gardens of Versailles are nicknamed “ little Venice."
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 accuracy 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: #"667315.files/image001 .gif">
Rice. 9 Place Louis the Great (Place Vendôme)
Rice. 10 Mirror Gallery of the Palace of Versailles
Rice. 11 Versailles. View of the Royal Palace and park from the west. Architects Louis Levo, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Andre Le Nôtre. Aerial photography