Tag Archives: Louis XIV

bernini: double down failure

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Dave

Bernini’s trip to France was a double failure. Not only was the sculptor unable to impose his artistic views upon the Frenchand at the same time letting his frustration morph into a contempt and endless cycle of provocation and manifestations … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion | Tagged Bernini and Louis XIV, Bernini Sculptures, Claude Perrault architect, Francois Girardon, Janson, Janson History of Art, Jean Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV, Madame Pickwick, madame pickwick art blog, Merritt Janson, Robert Hughs, Simon Schama | Leave a comment

arguing from bank to boudoir

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Dave

Powerful advocates brought Alexandrine’s pleas to the ear of the pope, and in November 1712, her vows were formally annulled. It was the liberation of Mme de Tencin. From convent to court, and from bank to boudoir, she was always … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion | Tagged Abbe Dubois, Abbe Raynal, Chevalier Destouches, Claudine Alexandrine Guerin de Tencin, Claudine de Tencin, D'Alembert, Denis Diderot, Jean Le Rond, Lord Bolingbroke, Louis XIV, Madame Pickwick, madame pickwick art blog, Matthew Prior, Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Mme de Ferriol, Mme de Tencin, Philippe d'Orleans | Leave a comment

gardens of magnificence

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Dave

We have no idea what the Garden of Eden resembled. Painters have generally rendered it as a flowering green background to highlight Eve’s white nakedness. What we do know is that humanity from the start has delighted in gardens. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Madame Pickwick Weekend | Tagged Andre Le Notre, francis bacon on gardens, Francois Boucher, Jean Antoine Watteau, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Louis XIV, Louis XIV Sun King, Moliere, Nicolas Poussin, renaissance gardens, Sir Francis Bacon, thomas traherne | Leave a comment

FORBIDDEN WORLD:IN THE SHADOW OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Dave

The forbidden world of Watteau. The witness of a life he could not share; one of France’s greatest painters transformed reality into the most poetic and lyrical visions in the history of art…. “This artist who said hardly anything about … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Miscellaneous, Visual Art/Sculpture/etc. | Tagged Barbara Cartland, Calvin Seerveld, Claude Adran, Claude Gillot, Comte de Caylus, Donald Posner, Edgar Degas, Etienne Jeurat, Fragonard, Francois Boucher, Georgia Cowart, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Jacopo da Pontormo, James Panero, Jean Antoine Watteau, Jed Perl, Julian Bell, Julie Anne Plax, Karen Rosenberg, Lisa MacDonald, Louis XIV, madame de Pompadour, Madame du Barry, Marquise de Pompadour, Mary Vidal, Perrin Stein, Peter Paul Rubens, Pierre Crozat, Pierre Rosenberg, Rigaud Louis XIV, Robert Baldwin, Sarah Cohen, Thomas Crow, Walter Pater, Watteau, William Hogarth | 1 Comment

ROYAL FLUSH & BLUSH WITH THE SUN KING: idiot bastard sons?

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Dave

It was the world of Saint-Simon. In his insultingly tiny Versailles room a noble diarist recorded life in the court of the Sun King. Prudery, malice, and consideration of status filled his pages and produced a masterpiece that recorded the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Cinema/Visual/Audio, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Literature/poetry/spoken word, Miscellaneous, Visual Art/Sculpture/etc. | Tagged Anthony Levi, Antonia Fraser, Carlos Perez, Charlotte-Elizabeth Duchesse d'Orleans, Claude Lefebvre, Duc de Saint-Simon, Duke of Marlborough, Gérard Corbiau, Hyancinthe Rigaud, Jamie S. Rich, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jonathan Spangler, Kathe Robin, Louis XIV, Louise de La Valliere, Lucy Norton, Lully, Paul Scarron, R.J Knecht, roberto rossellini, Saint Simon, Seigneur Colbert, Winston Churchill | 3 Comments

RITUAL & POMP WITH THE SUN KING:WHO WILL REMOVE THE ROYAL DUNG?

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Dave

We know a vast amount of what went on in Versailles at the court of the Louis XIV, especially between the years 1691 and 1723, when the French monarchy, having reached the apogee of its power, was descending and slowly … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Literature/poetry/spoken word, Miscellaneous, Visual Art/Sculpture/etc. | Tagged Algis Valiunas, Ann Lauren, Charles Poerson, Couperin, Duc de Lauzun, F. Arkwright, Giacomo Torelli, Henri Gissey, Isaac de Benserade, Jean Berain, Jean Froissart, Jean Froissart Chronicles, Joseph Epstein, Louis XIV, Lucy Norton, Lully, Mark A. Kishlansky, Mme de Charlus, Pierre gobert, Regency of the Duc d'Orleans, Rigaud Louis XIV, roberto rossellini, Saint Simon, Voltaire | 2 Comments

AT THE ZOO

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Dave

Someone told me It’s all happening at the zoo. I do believe it, I do believe it’s true. Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Whoooa. Mmmmm. The monkeys stand for honesty, Giraffes are insincere, And the elephants are kindly but They’re dumb. Orangutans are … Continue reading →