1. ART HISTORY 2 de Beaufort
STUDY GUIDE TEST 3
Artists and Works
GIANLORENZO BERNINI, David,
GIANLORENZO BERNINI, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa,
CARAVAGGIO, Calling of Saint Matthew,
ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI, Judith Slaying Holofernes
JOSÉ DE RIBERA, Martyrdom of Saint Philip,
DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, Water Carrier of Seville,
PETER PAUL RUBENS, Elevation of the Cross,
HENDRICK TER BRUGGHEN, Calling of Saint Matthew,
GERRIT VAN HONTHORST, Supper Party,
FRANS HALS, Archers of Saint Hadrian,
REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp,
REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq (Night Watch),
JACOB VAN RUISDAEL, View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Overveen,
JAN VERMEER, Woman Holding a Balance
JAN STEEN, The Feast of Saint Nicholas
PIETER CLAESZ, Vanitas Still Life,
WILLEM KALF, Still Life with a Late Ming Ginger Jar,
NICOLAS POUSSIN, Et in Arcadia Ego,.
CLAUDE LORRAIN, Landscape with Cattle and Peasants,
LOUIS LE NAIN, Family of Country People,
Bernini
 A child prodigy who the pope demanded an audience of
 Deemed the “Michelangelo” of his generation
 Master of stone-ability to transform into flesh, and dramatic action-decisive
moments
 First sculpture to “freeze” moments in time.
St. Peters
 Bernini designed the courtyard extending in front of the basilica from Bramante’s
original central plan.
 Two curved porticoes extended like the “motherly arms of the Church”
 Incorporates Egyptian obelisk as symbol of Christian triumph.
 Colonnades are a dramatic gesture of embrace to all that enter the piazza.
(welcoming arms of St. Peters).
Baldacchino
 Baldacco-italian for “silk from baghdad”-for a cloth canopy
 100 ft high (8 story building)
 High altar and tomb of St. Peter
 Bridges human scale to the lofty vaults and dome.
 Dramatic presence at the crossing of the nave.
 Decorative elements symbolize the power of the church. Spiral columns invoke
Old St. Peters.
 4 angels stand guard on canopy.
 Orb of the earth and cross rise from the top (symbol of Christian triumph).
 Tremendous amount of bronze (much of it taken from the portico of the
Pantheon)-ideologically appropriate.
 Bernini contracted much of the project out.

2. David
 Modeled features after own face. Expression of intense concentration.
 Different from earlier versions- incorporates action and time.
 Most dramatic of an implied sequence of poses.
 Time and space are united in an artistic theater.
 Dynamic energy, cannot be confined in a niche-must be freestanding.
 After the Renaissance, an understanding of Progress and a new embrace
of change began. Thus art began to demonstrate transience, rather than
permanence and timeless ideals.
 (Similar to the transition from High Classical to Hellenistic in Ancient Greece)
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
• Makes use of theatrical techniques-architecture, sculpture, lighting.
• St. Teresa-nun of Carmelite order, “mystic”.
• Fell into a series of trances, visions, voices. Felt a persistent pain, attributed it to fire-
tipped arrow of divine love an angel thrust repeatedly into her heart.
• Mingling of physical and spiritual passion.
• Differentiation in texture among the clouds, cloth, skin, and wings.
• Light from a hidden window with yellow glass shines down. Golden light of Heaven.
• Overt eroticism
In the cloister, she suffered greatly from illness. Early in her sickness,
she experienced periods of religious ecstasy.
"... Beside me, on the left hand, appeared an angel in bodily form... He
was not tall but short, and very beautiful; and his face was so aflame that
he appeared to be one of the highest rank of angels, who seem to be all
on fire... In his hands I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there
appeared to be a point of fire. This he plunged into my heart several
times ... and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain
was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The sweetness
caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one cannot possibly wish it
to cease, nor is one's soul then content with anything but God. This is not
a physical, but a spiritual pain, though the body has some share in it-even
a considerable share ...”
Caravaggio
 Michelangelo Merisi di Caravaggio
 Outspoken disdain for Classical masters- the “anti-christ” of painting.
 Recast biblical scenes or themes in new light
 Used naturalism -did not idealize the narratives. Characters were common folk not
idealized and angelic.
 Accentuates the “sinner” or the lower classes in his works-harsh dingy settings.
Figures that were relatable.
 Strong use of light with deep pockets of shadow - tenebrism
 Action very close to surface of painting-like a “shop window”.
 Strong personality violent criminal-, thrived in Roman underground scene.
 Enormous influence on subsequent generation of painters (Caravaggista)

3.  Early work for Cardinal del Monte (Caravaggio was given residence and sponsorship
by the wealthy patron for an unspecified number of paintings) often had homo-erotic
undertones.

Calling of St. Mathew
 One of 2 paintings honoring St, Mathew for the Contarelli Chapel.
 Commonplace setting (dingy tavern). Group of tax collectors.
 Christ barely identifiable. Gestures Levi (later Mathew) with hand reminiscent of
Michelangelo “Creation of Adam” (Christ is 2nd Adam).
 Light is used to dramatic effect- shines from behind christ towards Levi who gazes
upwards.
Conversion of St. Paul
 Mysterious light pierces dark of a stable during moment of conversion.
 Stable hand oblivious to mystical event.
 Looks like stable accident. Large portion of the painting is horses ass.
 Places figures in shallow space close to the viewer. Low Horizon line positioned at
the line of sight of average viewer.
 Dramatic tenebrism. Theatrical.
 Light stands for Divinity and revelation. (Like Bernini)
Artemisia Gentileschi
 Most celebrated female artist of the era.
 Taught by her father Orazio.
 Both strongly influenced by Caravaggio.
 Used tenebrism and combined with “dark” subject matter-often scenes of female
empowerment.
 Herself a victim of rape.
 Struggled with unequal treatment as a painter due to her gender.
Judith Slaying Holofernes
 Story from book of Judith (apocryphal text).
 Judith seduces Assyrian general Holofernes, and then cuts his head of when he is
sleeping, thus saving the Israelites.
 Lots of blood, realistic spurts.
 Tenebrism and shallow space of Caravaggio
 Holofernes body foreshortened
Jose de Ribera, Martyrdom of Saint Philip
Ribera often embraced brutal themes reflecting harsh times of the Counter-Reformation.
 Saint. Philip martyrdom visually echoes Christ.
 Swarthy plebian features- common man.
Francisco de Zurburan, Saint Serapion
 Primary patrons were rich Spanish monastic orders
 Devotional image fpr the funerary chapel of the Order of Mercy in Seville
 St. Serapion suffered martyrdom while preaching Gospel to Muslims
 Tied to a tree, tortured and decapitated
 Bright light brings attention to tragic death.
 Two tree branches barely visible
 Note identifies him as St. Serapion

4.  Like Ribera, subject is depicted as common man
Diego Velazquez
 Leading artist in the court of King Phillip IV
 Because of Velasquez' great skill in merging color, light, space, rhythm of line, and mass
in such a way that all have equal value, he was known as "the painter's painter.”
 Master realist, and few painters have surpassed him in the ability to seize essential
features and fix them on canvas with a few broad, sure strokes.
Water Carrier of Seville
 Velazquez painted at age 20
 Genre scene- a painting of mundane activities of everyday life (no religious purpose)
 Influence of Caravaggio visible in plebian figures and deep shadow
Las Meninas (Maids of Honor)
 Set in artists studio in palace
 Hung in the kings private quarters
 The Mystery of the visual world, several layers of visual reality
 Canvas image ?
 Mirror image ?
 Open door in background
 Dual theme
 Family portrait
 Genre scene
 Self portrait-The Artists studio
 Wearing illustrious order of Santiago
 Artist elevates status (paints himself as intimate with royal family)
 Paintings by Rubens in background
 A painting about painting
Peter Paul Rubens
• Educated, looks, well-traveled, happy
• ENERGY – his life and art
• Rose at 4am and worked until midnight
• Great work ethic, over 2,000 paintings
• Influenced by Michelangelo and Caravaggio
• Unified the styles of northern and southern Europe
• Became synonymous with Flemish Baroque
• Confident of Kings and Queens, dispatched on several diplomatic missions
• Created thousands of sketches in his travels of famous artwork to study and
use
• Built a house with a large studio that allowed his workshop and assistants to crank out
hundreds of works
• Price of work was equivalent to how much he actually painted
• “Rubenesque”
– Applied to a woman who has similar proportions to those in paintings by the
Flemish painter Peter Paul Ruben; attractively plump; a woman who is alluring or
pretty but without the waif-like body or athletic build presently common in media.
– "Our waitress is really hot, even if she has a few extra pounds on her, but it
doesn't matter because I like my women rubenesque anyway."
Elevation of the Cross
• Commissioned for the church of Saint Walburga in Antwerp
• Influence of Michelangelo and Caravagio evident
• Foreshortened anatomy and contortions of violent action
• Christ body cuts dynamically across picture plane

5. • Figures resonate with power of strenuous exertion
• Emotional and physical tension
• Movement-pushes out of the picture plane (Baroque)
• Theatricality and emotionalism characteristic of Italian Baroque
• Attention to detail represents the Northern Influence
• Rubens combines the two to form an international synthesis
Arrival of Marie de’ Medici at Marseilles
• Marriage of French king Henry IV and italian Marei de’Medici
• Painted a series of 21 paintings (1622-26) to memorialize and glorify her life
• Her life was not very interesting, so Rubens added Mythical figures to give it a sense
of grandeur and importance
• Over the top-huge ego
• Personification of France greets Marie
• Sea and sky rejoice at arrival
• Neptune and the Nereids salute her
• Decorative splendor holds composition together
• Also includes events that were both quite recent and quite humiliating. After Henry
was assassinated in 1610, Marie—acting as regent for their young son, Louis XIII—
ruled the kingdom of France for seven years.
• The position suited her; but many French nobles begrudged her power.
Divisions in the court, including tensions with her own son, led to Marie’s
exile from the Paris in 1617.
• The commission of the biographical cycle marked her reconciliation with
Louis and her return to the capital city in 1620. It vindicated her reign as the
queen of France.
•
Consequences of War
• Rubens worked for many nations so could not comment on conflict in direct way(use of
allegorical figures)
• Door to temple of Janus is open (symbol to War)
• Venus attempts to prevent Mars from going to battle.
• Figure of Europe in black throws her arms up.
• Fury Alekto drags Mars forward, sword drawn, to trample the arts and music, symbols of
family and fecundity. Monsters of Pestilence and Famine lurk in the back.
Hendrick Ter Brugghen, Calling of Saint Matthew
 Selected them from Caravaggio
 Softer tints, compressed space, much more intimate effect
Frans Hals
• Brilliant portrait painter, lively and relaxed images
• Different from Leonardo, Holbein, or Durer’s portraits of exactness
• Quick brushstrokes capture the momentary smile and twinkle of an eye, but actually took
a lot of time to capture spontaneity
• Broke conventional ways of depicting pose, setting, attire, accessories
• Typical conventions did not apply to middle class portraiture
Archers of Saint Hadrian
• Popular group portraits reflect participation in Dutch civic organizations
• Each member paid a fee
• Dutch Civic Militia groups claim credit for liberation from Spain
• Hals enlivens the troop, movements and moods vary markedly

6. • Spontaneity of gesture despite uniformity of attire
• Preservation of gesture and fleeting facial expressions evidence of careful planning but
does not immediately appear so because of Hals vivacious brushwork
Gerrit Van Honthorst, Supper Party
• Genre Scene
• Informal gathering of un-idealized figures
• Inspired by Caravaggio’s use of light but adding his own ideas
• Lighthearted but Can be read in a moralistic way- could be warning against the sins of
gluttony and lust
Rembrandt
• Born in Lieden, moved to Amsterdam, the financial center of Europe
• Became the cities most-renowned portrait artist
• Delved deeply into the psyche and personality of his sitters
• Long career (40 years)
• Without the Catholic Church in Holland to commission art, Rembrandt and his fellow
Dutch artists were lavishly supported by a wealthy, Protestant, and expanding middle
class. This group of patrons enthusiastically commissioned works of art with their
increasing discretionary income-mostly portraits.
• He deviated even more from the traditional group portrait than Hals
• Sitters not placed evenly across the picture plane
• Use of light is a key element
• Gradual transitions, no sharp edges
• Fine nuances of lights and darks
• Uses for psychological effect
•
Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp
• Rembrandt age 26
• Deviates from traditional group portraiture.
• Poses and expressions suggest varying degrees of intensity.
• “spotlight” on each person- inner light of the individual as opposed to outer light of the
divine.
• Doctor is only person wearing a hat (signifies importance)
• The cadaver—a recently executed thief named Adriaen Adriaenszoon
• The Catholic tenant of resurrection necessitated that dead bodies be interned in a
state of wholeness, and this fact explains why Leonardo was forced to dissect human
bodies in secret.
• In actuality Dr. Tulp would be lecturing to larger audience while assistant dissected.
• In Protestant Holland but 113 years after Leonardo’s death, however, human
dissections were not only common practice, they were often public spectacles,
complete with food and wine, music and conversation.
The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq (Night Watch)
• Actually a day scene (has darkened considerably)
• Light used in a masterful way
• One of many civic-guard portraits-one if 6 paintings commissioned for the banquet
hall of Amsterdam’s Musketeers Hall
• Painting trimmed on all sides in 1715
• Captures excitement and frenetic energy rather than dull staid poses
• 3 important stages of loading and firing a musket
Return of the Prodigal Son

7. • Rembrandt interested in probing the states of the soul
• Psychological insight, sympathy for human affliction
• Light directs attention
• Religious Protestant art vs. Religious Catholic art
• Piety vs. emotional drama
• Human contemplation vs. theology
• Humanity of Jesus vs. triumph of the church
Self-Portraits
Jacob Van Ruisdael, View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Overveen
• Saint Bavo church in background (Ghent Altarpiece)
• Windmills refer to land reclamation efforts
• Foreground linen is being stretched Dutch painters took pride in homeland and activities
of life
• Low horizon line, sky fills majority of composition
• Quiet serenity that is almost spiritual
Jan Vermeer
• Not much is known about his life, but he is considered one of the Dutch masters
• Typical paintings have light coming from source on left side, uses yellows and blues,
subjects tended to be women
• Believed to have used the camera obscura, an instrument that created an image through
a hole set inside a dark box
• Small, luminous, and captivating paintings
• Intimate Dutch interiors of insignificant events (in other words, not religious)
• Classical serenity to his images
• Shadows are not colorless
Woman Holding a Balance
• Light draws attention to balance
• Scales are empty
• Mirror refers to self-knowledge (or sin of vanity)
• Jewels represent vanity
• Last Judgment painting on wall emphasizes religious undertone
• Matchless serenity and optical realism
• Shadows full of color
• “circles of confusion”-slight areas out of focus
Jan Steen, The Feast of St. Nicholas
• Whimsical scene of chaos and disruption
• Saint Nicholas (Santa)
• Some children delighted-others disappointed
• Allegorical dimension-children’s activities can be satirical commentary on foolish adult
behavior
Peter Claesz, Vanitas Still Life
 vanitas: literally ‘worthlessness’ refers to death and the emptiness of life. Vanity of
personal possessions
 Skull, glass tipped over, watch, half eaten food, musical instruments- all symbolic of
ephermal nature of life
Willem Kalf, Still Life with a Late Ming Ginger Jar

8. • Reflects the wealth Dutch citizens had accrued through trade as well as painters
exquisite skill
• Exotic items from far off lands
• Inclusion of watch and peeled lemon suggestive of Vanitas tradition
Nicolas Poussin, Et in Arcadia Ego
 Even in Arcadia, I am present
 Precursors-Titian, Raphael
 Female spirit of death
 Classicizing through Moderation orderly Grouping.
 Bodies: classical statuary
 Reserved, thoughtful mood
 Idealized landscape
 Even lighting
Claude Lorrain, Landscape with Cattle and Peasants
• Well defined foreground-middle-background
• Serene orderliness
• Landscape dissolves into luminous mist
• Ideal classical world bathed in sunlight in infinite space
• “golden hour”
• Infusion of nature with human feelings
Louis Le Nain, Family of Country People
• Somber stillness of rural family reflects the thinking of French social theorists who
celebrated the natural virtue of peasants
• Grave dignity of peasant family, stoic-resigned to hardship with little reason for merriment
• Peasant life very miserable during Thirty Years War
• Docile calm family does not reflect the many uprisings and revolts, which possibly
appealed to Le Nain’s Aristocratic patrons
Movements and “Schools”
Baroque
The seventeenth-century period in Europe characterized in the visual arts by
dramatic light and shade, turbulent composition, and exaggerated expression.
 Art produced from the end of the 16th to early 18th centuries
 Stresses emotional, rather than intellectual responses; likes drama-characterized in the
visual arts by dramatic light and shade, turbulent composition, and exaggerated
expression.
 Grew out of the tug-of-war between Protestant Reformation (Northern Europe) and
Counter Reformation (Italy)
 Catholic Artists tried to persuade to the faithful through dramatic works
 Used by “absolute” rulers (popes and kings) to overwhelm and awe

9.  The word “baroque” derives from the Portuguese and Spanish words for a large,
irregularly-shaped pearl (“barroco” and “barrueco,” respectively).
 Eighteenth century critics were the first to apply the term to the art of the 17th century. It
was not a term of praise.
 To the eyes of these critics, who favored the restraint and order of Neoclassicism, the
works of Bernini, Borromini, and Pietro da Cortona appeared bizarre, absurd, even
diseased—in other words, misshapen, like an imperfect pearl.

Culture of Baroque Era
 Science begins to challenge religion, Earth is not center of the universe (Copernicus)
 Workshops begin to churn out copies of popular themes
 Value on the original work is a modern notion
 Still lifes and genre paintings (everyday life) emerge
The Golden Age of Dutch Art
• The Dutch Republic was based on commerce and trade; merchant class held power,
wealth
• No royal court and officials and lacking Catholic church commissions, artists turned to
merchant class for work
• Portraiture rose in popularity as did works showing their possessions and land
– Still lifes, landscapes, genre scenes and portraits
Art of the Dutch Republic
• The Dutch Republic was based on commerce and trade; merchant class held power,
wealth
• No royal court and officials and lacking Catholic church commissions, artists turned to
merchant class for work
• Portraiture rose in popularity as did works showing their possessions and land
• Merchant patrons
• Realism, Genre Scenes, still life, Little religious art
• Moralizing
• Landscapes that showed work ethic
• Bourgeoisie portraits showed status without being ostentatious
Religious Protestant art vs. Religious Catholic art
– Piety vs. emotional drama
– Human contemplation vs. theology
– Humanity of Jesus vs. triumph of the church
Southern (Catholic) Europe:
• Artists tried to persuade to the faithful through dramatic works
• Used by “absolute” rulers (popes and kings) to overwhelm and awe.
Dutch relationship to the Land
• Generally not idealized or classical
– Specific identifiable scenes
– An individual relationship with the land
– No feudalism
– Reclaimed land
– Show work at hand, historical
French Baroque

10. • No motion or emotive gesture
• Calm, classical repose
• Even Lighting
• Lacking surface detail
• Simplified body volumes
• Organized picture plane
• Grand Theme-no genre scenes
Methods and Techniques:
Tenebrism
• From the Italian tenebroso ("murky"), (also called dramatic illumination) is a style of
painting using very pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and
dark, and darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image. Spanish painters in the
early seventeenth century who were influenced by the work of Caravaggio have been
called Tenebrists, although they did not form a distinct group.
Differentiate between chiaroscuro
• Chiaroscuro: light and shadow used to show modeling
• Tenebrism: violent contrasts of light used to heighten drama and emotion
and theatrical effects.
Camera Obscura
• A technical aid, widelv used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which consisted
of a darkened box or tent containing lenses and a mirror. The artist could project the
image of an object or landscape onto the oil painting surface and then trace it out in
charcoal or graphite.
Vanitas
literally ‘worthlessness’ refers to death and the emptiness of life. Vanity of personal
possessions
• Calvinist Moral standards
work ethic
scientists
collected art and curious objects
• Northern artists loved the detail
Influential Figures:
Martin Luther and his 95 Theses
• A German monk by the name of Martin Luther was particularly bothered by the selling of
indulgences. An indulgence, a religious pardon that released a sinner from performing
specific penalties, could be bought from a church official for various fees. Martin Luther
was especially troubled because some church officials gave people the impression that
they could buy their way into heaven. To express his growing concern of church
corruption, Martin Luther wrote his famous 95 Theses, which called for a full reform of the
Christian Church. In it, he stressed the following points:
• The Pope is a false authority. The bible was the one true authority.
• All people with faith in Christ were equal. People did not need priest and bishops
to interpret the bible for them. They could read it themselves and make up their
own minds.
• People could only win salvation by faith in God's forgiveness. The Church taught
that faith, along with good works was needed for salvation.
The “Sun King”
• Louis XIV (1661-1715) defined his era
• All life “revolved” around him, he envisioned himself as Apollo

11. • Oversaw the construction of Versailles – palace and gardens were unfortified
• Style emphasized glory; lavish and luxurious
• At 63, most famous portrait not just for the opulence of his position, but also the vanity of
his legs!
History:
Protestant Reformation
• By the early 1500s, many people in Western Europe were growing increasingly
dissatisfied with the Christian Church. Many found the Pope too involved with secular
(worldly) matters, rather than with his flocks spiritual well-being. Lower church officials
were poorly educated and broke vows by living richly and keeping mistresses. Some
officials practiced simony, or passing down their title as priest or bishop to their
illegitimate sons. In keeping with the many social changes of the Renaissance people
began to boldly challenge the authority of the Christian Church.
The Counter Reformation
• Attempts by the Catholic church and secular Catholic authorities to stem the flow of
Protestantism and reform some of the worst excesses of medieval Catholicism.
• Art was used as a tool of persuasion.
The Thirty Years’ War
 The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at
various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the longest and most
destructive conflicts in European history. The conflict lasted, unceasing, for 30 years,
making it the longest continuous war in modern history.
The Habsburgs
• Charles V abdicates Holy Roman Empire throne in 1556
– The Western portion (Spain, American colonies, Netherlands, Burgundy, Milan,
Naples and Sicily) go to his son Phillip II
– The Eastern portion (Germany and Austria) go to his brother Ferdinand
• Even as Spain’s gold imports lessen from New World, and eventual bankruptcy in 1692,
this is known as Golden Age of Spain
• The artwork tends to support heavily the Catholic Church and the Habsburgs liked the
use of strong dramatic effect and lighting.
•
Spain: Hapsburg Empire
• 16th century: dominant power in Europe-(Portugal, pt. Italy, Netherlands, New World)
• 17th Century: 1660 Hapsburg Empire has fallen
• failure to capitalize on trade
• Catholic and repressive
• King Philip
• Religious fanaticism
• Counter Reformation
• Religious scenes of death and Martyrdom
• Realistic details and tenebrism
The Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands
North Region (Modern Holland)
• Late 16th Century: Independence from Spain
• Protestant
• Political power: urban merchants
– Prosperous: wealthiest region of Europe

12. – Moralistic
– No King
Spanish Netherlands:
Flemish painting under Spanish control
(Modern Belgium-Flemish Baroque)
• Phillip II of Spain repressive towards Protestants
• Netherlands splits between north (Protestant) and South-(Catholic)
• North is independent
• South is ruled by Spanish Empire
Spanish Netherlands Art
• Similar to the Baroque art of Spain
• Major Artists
– Peter Paul Rubens 1577-1640
• Learned and aristocratic
• Ambassador
• At home with princes and scholars
• Influenced by living in Italy
– Anthony Van Dyck
• Student of Rubens
• Became court painter to King Charles of England
How did the world wide mercantile system change the face of Europe?
• Trade affected social and political relationships
• New rules of etiquette and diplomacy
• Increase of disposable income
• More middle class patrons and commissions
• Painting becomes a commodity sought by middle class
• Landscape paintings become a subject worthy of artistic interpretation
•
The Rise of France
• France really shifted the center of European art and culture away from Italy
– Italy began to dominate art in the 1300’s with the return to the classics
• When Louis XIV took over in France in 1661, everything changed
• He reigned for 54 years, established France as the leading superpower
• From 1661-1789 French art took prominence
French Society 1600-1700
• King Louis XIV
– Obsessive control determined the direction of society and culture
– Created the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture Largest and most
powerful European country of 17th century
– Not as wealthy as Dutch society
• After Reformation, Protestants challenged royal authority
– 1598 King Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes
• Granted religious freedom, but Protestants were still driven from the
country