Louis XIV ruled France as an absolute monarch for 27 years, centralizing power around himself and weakening the nobility. He established several government-sponsored art academies that promoted neoclassical styles based on Greek and Roman precedents. Louis XIV was a strong patron of the arts and saw them as reinforcing his image as the "Sun King."

2.  27 years as absolute monarch
 No meeting of the representative assembly
 Disliked feudal nobility
 Placed the Church beneath the state
 Policies created allies out of enemies, such as the
wealthy and upper middle class
 Insignia of Apollo, the sun god, referring to
himself as le roi soleil (“The Sun King”)

3.  Louis XIV unintentionally added the arts as a
strong adjunct to royal life
 His father founded the French Royal Academy
of Language and Literature in 1635
 Formed government-sponsored art institutions
 Academy of Painting and Sculpture (1648, age 10)
 Academy of Dance (1661)
 Academy of Sciences (1666)
 Academy of Music (1669)
 Academy of Architecture (1671)

4.  Neoclassicism became the accepted form for
academic art
 Most influences drew from Greek and Roman
pieces
Apollo Attended by
the Nymphs
Girardon (1666-
1672)

5.  Studied in Rome to absorb the Classical style
 Formalized rules governing art criticism of the
Neoclassical period
 Only serious subjects (battles, miracles, death, etc.)
 Classical or Christian history
 Rejection of crude or simple subjects
 Avoidance of exaggeration or ordinary physicality
 Balance and harmony in compositions

6. Et in Arcadia
Ego” — “I
[death] dwell in
Arcadia”
Arcadian Shepherds
Poussin (1638-1639)

7.  Focused on landscapes with attention to
relaxing light
 Use of mythological or biblical settings and
subjects
Seaport at Sunset
(1639)

8.  Focused on landscapes with attention to
relaxing light
 Use of mythological or biblical settings and
subjects
Farewell to Dido

9. Daniel in the Lions’ Den

10. Deposition (panel)