17th century French art Preliminary remarks. 17th century French architecture

1. General overview of the development of art

The appearance of French art in the 17th century was formed by the interaction of two currents - the Romanesque (southern) and the Gothic (northern), which determined its national characteristics. During the period under review, the Romanesque style received a sharp predominance as the influence of Catholicism increased in the country. The development of art patronizes the state, providing state support to art academies.

Two main currents, corresponding to the composition of the French nationality, alternately surfaced in the history of French spiritual life. They can be designated as North and South European, as national and classical, as Gallo-Frankish and Gallo-Roman currents. In the Gothic period, France gained spiritual and artistic domination in Europe thanks to the Gallo-Frankish current, and later, in the 17th century, after the Renaissance movement triumphed throughout Europe, it again gradually regained its state, spiritual and artistic dominance in large areas of Europe. , thanks to the growing manifestations of the Gallo-Roman current. It was the presence of a strong Romanesque fold in the French that made possible a kind of national development in this direction. The Gallo-Frankish genius, “esprit Gaulois,” gave way to a Gallo-Roman penchant for rationality, clarity, unity, order, and correctness. The individual submitted to the absolute and universally binding. Rome won in all areas. If under Henry IV (1589 to 1610), with his Protestant Minister Sully, the Edict of Nantes granted civil rights to reformists, then under Louis XIII (1610 to 1643) and his great minister Cardinal Richelieu the Roman current prevailed, and under Louis XIV (1643-1715), "Sun King", the Edict of Nantes was canceled and restored autocracy. Only absolute church was combined with absolute monarchy (“l'etat c'est moi”), and with both of them only a kind of absolute art taught and regulated by academies based on Roman antiques and high renaissance. It is in France that the academies have now become state institutions. The French Academy, which served the scientific and literary life, was founded in 1635. The Academy of Painting and Sculpture, founded in Paris in 1648, was supplemented in 1666 by the branch office of the French Academy in Rome. The Academy of Architecture in Paris was established only in 1671. Thus, the French art of the 17th century became at the same time Roman academic and court art.

In the history of French art in connection with the culture of the XVII century there is a somewhat superficial general work of Lacroix; A more successful review of the history of French art during this period was given by Lemonnier. Already Lemonier pointed to those underwater currents that were not lacking in the era of the domination of the main false classical movement of the “Great Century” of France. The main sources of these undercurrents were the native “Gallic genius”, the realistic direction of the epoch and the baroque movement in the neighboring countries. These undercurrents, however, separately appear on the surface of French art of this period.