A Royal Passion
A Royal Passion
Louis XIV as Patron of Architecture
Robert W. Berger
November 1994
Unavailable - out of print May 2004
Hardback
9780521440295
Out of Print
Hardback
Paperback
A Royal Passion is the first in-depth study of the Sun King as a patron of architecture. Surveying such monuments as the Louvre, Versailles, the Invalides, and other buildings that are closely identified with Louis XIV, Robert W. Berger demonstrates why these buildings, gardens, urban spaces, and their decorations were so important to him. Serving as functional necessities, objects of aesthetic delight, and as political statements, his architectural enterprises collectively underscored his absolutist authority. Moreover, by adopting the guise of 'builder-prince', Louis XIV reasserted his kinship with the Roman emperors, whose grandeur he sought both to emulate and to surpass.
- Author very well known scholar of French architecture
- Broad survey of Louis XIV and the architectural enterprises he initiated
- Extremely well written; aimed at a general and student audience
Product details
November 1994Hardback
9780521440295
224 pages
262 × 210 × 20 mm
0.91kg
160 b/w illus.
Unavailable - out of print May 2004
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The Regency (1643–1661)
- 3. The early years of personal rule: the King and Colbert (1661–1671)
- 4. The Louvre and Tuilleries
- 5. A building for the sciences: the Observatoire
- 6. Versailles I (1661–1677)
- 7. Paris I
- 8. A palace for a mistress: the Chateau of Clagny and the rise of Jules Hardouin-Mansart
- 9. The Invalides
- 10. Versailles II (1678–1715)
- 11. Marly
- 12. Paris II
- 13. Vauban and the architecture of war
- 14. Le Roi-Architecte
- 15. Absolutism and architecture
- 16. Epilogue: the old King in triumph and sorrow.
