Baroque Art Archives - Art History With Alder

The Palace of Versaille history is full of wealth, luxuriousness, and power. The palace itself is one of the most magnificent buildings in all of art history.

Who Built the Palace of Versailles?

King Louis XIV image — King Louis XIV’s showed his power and wealth through the Palace of Versailles

To understand the opulence of the Palace of Versailles, you need to understand the main guy who built it – King Louis XIV. King Louis and the Palace of Versailles history go hand-in-hand.

Now this guy was obsessed with himself. He made people call him the Sun King because he thought the Earth revolved around him. The day began and ended with Louis. He’s even been known to say “l’etat, c’est moi”, which means “the state, it is myself”, which basically means “I am France” – everything French is a reflection of me.

Now having this big of a head, needed to be matched with his surroundings. The palace at the Louvre was not big enough for him.

How big is the Palace of Versailles

This “little” chateau began as a hunting lodge, a vacation home of sorts, before it was transformed into what we know today.

It’s estimated to have cost somewhere between two billion and three hundred billion dollars (in today’s money). This is a huge range, but records don’t actually tell us. Nonetheless, billions of dollars!

This place was large enough to house 5,000 Aristocrats and over 14,000 servants. There are 700 rooms, 2,153 windows, and 67 staircases. The building covers 721,182 square feet of floor space – that’s over 12 football fields!

Palace of Versailles Façade

Palace of Versailles exterior image — Palace of Versailles exterior

The façade, or exterior, is quite simple compared to the inside. But like St. Peter’s, this palace draws you in, arms open wide. It is done in a pretty classical, yet more austere manner.

The palace is horizontally composed and balanced, symmetrical, and repetitive.

Palace of Versailles Interior

Louis’ entire life was a spectacle, and the interior of this Palace was decorated to match it. Built on an east to west axis, there’s a chapel, apartments, and even its own Opera House. All of the finest materials were used; expensive
marbles for the walls; glass imported from Venice for the mirrors; and lavish paintings on every surface, including the ceilings.

Most of the art reflected a motif of power – Louis riding triumphantly after victorious battles and busts of him staring at you wherever you go. And of course, there was a lot of gold and silver.

The King’s Bedchamber

Versailles King's Bedchamber image — Versailles King’s Bedchamber

At the center of this palace is the King’s bedchamber, surprise surprise. The rays of sun hit his bedroom first, awakening the Sun King for a new day. The rest of the world could wake up after the king.

This was such an event that the king required an audience each morning he woke up. There were literally hundreds of honorable people in his room each morning, and depending on your social status, you had certain duties. It was considered a high honor to empty the king’s chamber pot, or to remove his nightshirt, or to buckle his shoes.

The Versailles Apollo Room

This is the Apollo room, or the royal throne room that was built for Louis XIV. The style is very Baroque – drama, intensity, over-the-top lavishness.

Hall of Mirrors

The most infamous room in this Palace is the Hall of Mirrors. Hundreds of years after Louis XIV built this, a very important document was signed here – The Treaty of Versailles, which ended the first world war.

This Basilica, light-barrel vaulted hallway overlooks The Gardens from the second floor from 250 feet up.

The Hall of Mirrors is the perfect representation of Baroque architecture. Used as a reception hall, this room is full of dramatic movement and dramatic scale. Every surface is decorated in a way to impress, inspire, and intimidate. There is this harmonious balance of organic, yet geometric shapes, everything is covered in either gold or silver, the ceiling is painted, and there are motifs everywhere of civil and military achievements of King Louis.

The barrel-vaulted hallways tend to feel like tunnels. In order to alleviate that feeling, mirrors were placed on the opposing side of the windows to reflect the gardens, making the room feel wider, larger, and more impressive.

Glass at this time was one of the most expensive materials that were being made, and Venice had a monopoly. King Louis XIV entices a bunch of Venetian mirror makers to create the 357 mirrors that encompass this room.

The Gardens

King Louis envisioned a park for himself. He wanted a place to play and relax and have fun, so a park and more is what he got. His gardens cover over a mile in width, and almost twice that in depth. There are 2,000 acres of cultivated land.

This is an incredible feat in and of itself, but what makes this more crazy, is the park was originally a swamp and many workers died of malaria.

The design of the gardens are done in a traditional French style. There is symmetry and harmony in the scrolls, the perfectly shaped topiaries, and the many fountains filtered throughout.

Manicured laws were a way to display how much land you owned. It’s a way to brag about how much land you can play with without having to cultivate it to make living. This practice actually continues today. just drive around your neighborhood and see how many folks are outside mowing their lawns.

The Water Features

The grounds house 55 fountains, and over 20 miles of water pipe. There are two huge reflection pools that reflect the façade of the palace, having the same effects as the Hall of Mirrors. There were few issues with these water features
though.

Versailles was higher in elevation and not close to a water supply, so there was not enough water to supply these fountains. To combat this issue, fountains were turned on when the king walked by and turned off when he left.

Versailles Apollo Fountain

This is an example of one of the fountains in Versailles. The fountain shows Apollo riding his chariot, bringing up the sun for the day.

When this fountain is turned on, the effect is breathtaking as the sun god literally rises from the pool.

Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet

Versailles hamlet image — Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet

One of the main attractions of the gardens is the famous Hamlet Village built for Marie Antoinette in 1783. The village is an eclectic cabin-like place
where she would play at raising animals and living a more simple life.

There were 12 structures originally, but only 10 remain today, and they stand in a Normandy Village style. The structures include a farmhouse, a dairy, a mill, a boudoir, a pigeon loft, a lighthouse tower, and a cottage with a billiard
room for the queen to entertain her guests.

Literally in this palace’s backyard is an actual village – that is out of control.

What Happened to Versailles?

So basically Versaille was a huge power play. It was a way for the king of France to flaunt his money, hold tight to his power, and intimidate anyone who came into his presence.

This makes it a little bit easier to understand when in October 1789, a group of seven thousand women marched up to Versailles and took the king with them back to Paris, beginning the French Revolution.

The royal family never returned to Versailles after the French revolution. The French Court still sometimes uses it for large events, like when Queen Victoria came to visit France, but for the most part it remains as a tourist attraction. In fact, in the year 2017 there were over 7.7 million visitors.

If you’d like to see how the Palace of Versailles fits within the larger picture of art history, you can download my condensed timeline of Western art history.

Please reach out with any questions.

CREDITS

Marie Antoinette amusement at Versailles.JPG / Daderot / Wikimedia Commons / GFDL

Versailles Bassin d’Apollon 001.jpg / Moonik / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Orangerie.jpg / Urban / Wikimedia Commons / GFDL

Chateau Versailles Galerie des Glaces.jpg / Myrabella / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Appartement du Roi (Versailles).jpg / Jean-Marie Hullot / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Cour de Marbre du Château de Versailles October 5, 2011.jpg / Kimberly Vardeman / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0

Château de Versailles, salon de Diane, buste de Louis XIV, Bernin (1665) 00.jpg / Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Versailles Château de Versailles Innen Apollon-Salon 1.jpg / Zairon / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

License Links

CC BY 2.0 license – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

GNU Free Documentation License – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License

CC BY-SA 3.0 license – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

CC BY-SA 4.0 license – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Caravaggio's The Entombment of Christ — Caravaggio’s *The Entombment of Christ*

Caravaggio’s art style captivates the viewer and makes you feel like you are a part his art. Arguably one of the greatest artists of all time, he’s truly a master of his craft. The six characteristics below will help you further understand and easily identify his beautiful work.

6 Characteristics of Caravaggio’s Art Style

Average, every day people as models
Religious art that is attainable
Strong diagonals
Light vs dark shadowing
Natural, earthy tones
Emotion!

If, you’d like to see the characteristics of Caravaggio’s art style applied to one of his pieces, watch my analysis of The Entombment of Christ, which starts at about 7:16 of this video:

Average, every day people as models

Caravaggio uses average everyday people as models for his works. This was new and different at the time. During the Renaissance period (the period preceding Baroque art and Caravaggio) Raphael, a famous Renaissance artist, would use multiple models to depict the perfect woman. It was also common to use very beautiful models at that time.

(To see how Baraoque and Caravaggio fit within the Western Art Timeline, you can download my timeline here.)

So, Caravaggio completely turns that idea on its head. He uses models that are pulled from the streets who are dirty, sunburned, not wearing shoes, and have receding hairlines. This gives his art a more natural and realistic feel. The viewer can more easily connect with the people in his artwork.

Religious art that is attainable

The second thing Caravaggio does with his art style is he reduces the lofty religious content of the time to a more basic human drama. He takes grand events in The Bible that happened in Christ’s life, and he brings it down to our level. The worshipped characters of The Bible are depicted more as someone you might recognize. In this way, Caravaggio us relate and be a part of his art.

Strong diagonals

The third thing Caravaggio does is create incredibly strong diagonals. Diagonals were an important aspect of Baroque art as they they add energy and dynamism to the art. They also help guide your eye to focal points of the piece. Caravaggio often plays with light to bring out these diagonals that can be unnoticed but certainly felt by the average viewer. Which brings me to the next Caravaggio characteristic.

Light vs dark lighting

The fourth characteristic of Caravaggio’s art style is his use of light versus dark. He is a master manipulator of light. His lighting helps add drama, intensity, and energy to the piece. Similar to his use of diagonals, and they often go hand-in-hand, his lighting draws your attention to focal points of the piece. A lot of his light sources actually come from a single place, meaning it looks more like stage lighting which directs your eyes the center or focus.

Natural, earthy tones

The fifth thing that Caravaggio does in his artwork is use a lot of natural, earthy colors. These include greens, golds, reds, and browns – really similar to Venetian Renaissance. These colors are more attainable and recognizable. Remember Caravaggio is coming off the Renaissance and Mannerism art in which you have a lot of pastel colors that make the art seem otherworldly. Caravaggio uses earth tones that bring the artwork back to our sphere.

Emotion!

The final characteristic of Caravaggio’s art style is that he adds all the feels! He does so through facial expressions and other aspects of his art. Some of the characteristics already mentioned, such as the light vs dark and diagonals, help to add the emotion he wants us to feel.

These six characteristics should help you recognize a Caravaggio piece out of a pile. To help you understand these further, you can watch my video on The Entombment of Christ where I apply these characteristics. His work is absolutely beautiful and should be appreciated on multiple levels.

Category: Baroque Art

The Palace of Versailles History and Overview