1.
Brussels
–
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
Brussels
–
A
collage with several views of Brussels, Top: View of the
Northern Quarter business district, 2nd left: Floral carpet event in the
Grand Place, 2nd right:
Brussels City Hall and
Mont des Arts area, 3rd:
Cinquantenaire Park, 4th left:
Manneken Pis, 4th middle:
St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, 4th right:
Congress Column, Bottom:
Royal Palace of Brussels
Brussels
–
Charles of Lorraine founded what would become Brussels c. 979
Brussels
–
Grand Place after
the 1695 bombardment by the French army
Brussels
–
Episode of the
Belgian Revolution of 1830,
Wappers (1834)
2.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
Paris
–
In the 1860s Paris streets and monuments were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, making it literally "The City of Light."
Paris
Paris
–
Gold coins minted by the Parisii (1st century BC)
Paris
–
The
Palais de la Cité and
Sainte-Chapelle, viewed from the Left Bank, from the
Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (month of June) (1410)
3.
Painting
–
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, Painting is a mode of creative expression, and the forms are numerous. Drawing, gesture, composition, narration, or abstraction, among other aesthetic modes, may serve to manifest the expressive, Paintings can be naturalistic and representational, photographic, abstract, narrative, symbolistic, emotive, or political in nature. A portion of the history of painting in both Eastern and Western art is dominated by motifs and ideas. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action, the term painting is also used outside of art as a common trade among craftsmen and builders. What enables painting is the perception and representation of intensity, every point in space has different intensity, which can be represented in painting by black and white and all the gray shades between. In practice, painters can articulate shapes by juxtaposing surfaces of different intensity, thus, the basic means of painting are distinct from ideological means, such as geometrical figures, various points of view and organization, and symbols. In technical drawing, thickness of line is ideal, demarcating ideal outlines of an object within a perceptual frame different from the one used by painters. Color and tone are the essence of painting as pitch and rhythm are the essence of music, color is highly subjective, but has observable psychological effects, although these can differ from one culture to the next. Black is associated with mourning in the West, but in the East, some painters, theoreticians, writers and scientists, including Goethe, Kandinsky, and Newton, have written their own color theory. Moreover, the use of language is only an abstraction for a color equivalent, the word red, for example, can cover a wide range of variations from the pure red of the visible spectrum of light. There is not a register of different colors in the way that there is agreement on different notes in music. For a painter, color is not simply divided into basic, painters deal practically with pigments, so blue for a painter can be any of the blues, phthalocyanine blue, Prussian blue, indigo, cobalt, ultramarine, and so on. Psychological and symbolical meanings of color are not, strictly speaking, colors only add to the potential, derived context of meanings, and because of this, the perception of a painting is highly subjective. The analogy with music is quite clear—sound in music is analogous to light in painting, shades to dynamics and these elements do not necessarily form a melody of themselves, rather, they can add different contexts to it. Modern artists have extended the practice of painting considerably to include, as one example, collage, some modern painters incorporate different materials such as sand, cement, straw or wood for their texture. Examples of this are the works of Jean Dubuffet and Anselm Kiefer, there is a growing community of artists who use computers to paint color onto a digital canvas using programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, and many others. These images can be printed onto traditional canvas if required, rhythm is important in painting as it is in music
Painting
–
The
Mona Lisa, by
Leonardo da Vinci, is one of the most recognizable paintings in the world.
Painting
–
Chen Hongshou (1598–1652), Leaf album painting (
Ming Dynasty)
Painting
–
Circus Sideshow (
French: Parade de cirque),
Georges Seurat, 1887–88
Painting
–
Cave painting of aurochs, (
French: Bos primigenius primigenius),
Lascaux,
France,
prehistoric art
4.
Baroque
–
The style began around 1600 in Rome and Italy, and spread to most of Europe. The aristocracy viewed the dramatic style of Baroque art and architecture as a means of impressing visitors by projecting triumph, power, Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases, and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence. However, baroque has a resonance and application that extend beyond a reduction to either a style or period. It is also yields the Italian barocco and modern Spanish barroco, German Barock, Dutch Barok, others derive it from the mnemonic term Baroco, a supposedly laboured form of syllogism in logical Scholastica. The Latin root can be found in bis-roca, in informal usage, the word baroque can simply mean that something is elaborate, with many details, without reference to the Baroque styles of the 17th and 18th centuries. The word Baroque, like most periodic or stylistic designations, was invented by later critics rather than practitioners of the arts in the 17th, the term Baroque was initially used in a derogatory sense, to underline the excesses of its emphasis. In particular, the term was used to describe its eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details, although it was long thought that the word as a critical term was first applied to architecture, in fact it appears earlier in reference to music. Another hypothesis says that the word comes from precursors of the style, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and he did not make the distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Long despised, Baroque art and architecture became fashionable between the two World Wars, and has remained in critical favour. In painting the gradual rise in popular esteem of Caravaggio has been the best barometer of modern taste, William Watson describes a late phase of Shang-dynasty Chinese ritual bronzes of the 11th century BC as baroque. The term Baroque may still be used, usually pejoratively, describing works of art, craft, the appeal of Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16th-century Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, germinal ideas of the Baroque can also be found in the work of Michelangelo. Even more generalised parallels perceived by some experts in philosophy, prose style, see the Neapolitan palace of Caserta, a Baroque palace whose construction began in 1752. In paintings Baroque gestures are broader than Mannerist gestures, less ambiguous, less arcane and mysterious, more like the stage gestures of opera, Baroque poses depend on contrapposto, the tension within the figures that move the planes of shoulders and hips in counterdirections. Baroque is a style of unity imposed upon rich, heavy detail, Baroque style featured exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a kind of artistic sensationalism. There were highly diverse strands of Italian baroque painting, from Caravaggio to Cortona, the most prominent Spanish painter of the Baroque was Diego Velázquez. The later Baroque style gradually gave way to a more decorative Rococo, while the Baroque nature of Rembrandts art is clear, the label is less often used for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend, while continuing to produce the traditional categories
Baroque
–
The Triumph of the Immaculate by
Paolo de Matteis
Baroque
–
The Church of
Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, designed by
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Baroque
–
Brooch of an African,
Walters Art Museum
Baroque
–
Aeneas Flees Burning Troy,
Federico Barocci, 1598
5.
Cartoon
–
A cartoon is a type of two-dimensional illustration. An artist who creates cartoons is called a cartoonist, the concept originated in the Middle Ages and first described a preparatory drawing for a piece of art, such as a painting, fresco, tapestry, or stained glass window. In the 19th century, it came to refer to humorous illustrations in magazines and newspapers, in the 21st century, cartoons could be published on the Internet. A cartoon is a drawing made on sturdy paper as a study or modello for a painting. Cartoons were typically used in the production of frescoes, to link the component parts of the composition when painted on damp plaster over a series of days. Such cartoons often have pinpricks along the outlines of the design so that a bag of soot patted or pounced over the cartoon, held against the wall, would leave black dots on the plaster. Cartoons by painters, such as the Raphael Cartoons in London, tapestry cartoons, usually coloured, were followed with the eye by the weavers on the loom. In modern print media, a cartoon is an illustration or series of illustrations and this usage dates from 1843, when Punch magazine applied the term to satirical drawings in its pages, particularly sketches by John Leech. The first of these parodied the preparatory cartoons for grand historical frescoes in the then-new Palace of Westminster, Cartoons can be divided into gag cartoons, which include editorial cartoons, and comic strips. Modern single-panel gag cartoons, found in magazines, generally consist of a drawing with a typeset caption positioned beneath. Newspaper syndicates have also distributed single-panel gag cartoons by Mel Calman, Bill Holman, Gary Larson, George Lichty, Fred Neher, many consider New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno the father of the modern gag cartoon. The roster of magazine gag cartoonists includes names like Charles Addams, Charles Barsotti, Bill Hoest, Jerry Marcus and Virgil Partch began as magazine gag cartoonists and moved to syndicated comic strips. Richard Thompson is noteworthy in the area of newspaper cartoon illustration, the sports section of newspapers usually featured cartoons, sometimes including syndicated features such as Chester Chet Browns All in Sport. Editorial cartoons are found almost exclusively in news publications and news websites, although they also employ humor, they are more serious in tone, commonly using irony or satire. The art usually acts as a metaphor to illustrate a point of view on current social and/or political topics. Editorial cartoons often include speech balloons and sometimes use multiple panels, editorial cartoonists of note include Herblock, David Low, Jeff MacNelly, Mike Peters and Gerald Scarfe. Comic strips, also known as cartoon strips in the United Kingdom, are daily in newspapers worldwide. In the United States, they are not commonly called cartoons themselves, nonetheless, the creators of comic strips—as well as comic books and graphic novels—are usually referred to as cartoonists
Cartoon
–
John Leech, Cartoon no.1: Substance and Shadow, 1843, satirized preparatory cartoons for frescoes in the Palace of Westminster, creating the modern meaning of "cartoon".
Cartoon
–
Example of a modern cartoon. The text was excerpted by cartoonist Greg Williams from the Wikipedia article on
Dr. Seuss.
Cartoon
–
Nast depicts the
Tweed Ring: "Who stole the people's money?" / "'Twas him."
6.
Louis XIV of France
–
Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
Louis XIV of France
–
Louis XIV by
Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701)
Louis XIV of France
–
Louis-Dieudonné,
Dauphin of France, in 1643 by
Claude Deruet
Louis XIV of France
–
Louis XIV as a child, unknown painter
Louis XIV of France
–
1655 portrait of Louis, the Victor of the Fronde, portrayed as the god
Jupiter
7.
Guild of Saint Luke
–
The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the saint of artists. One of the most famous such organizations was founded in Antwerp and it continued to function until 1795, although by then it had lost its monopoly and therefore most of its power. In most cities, including Antwerp, the government had given the Guild the power to regulate defined types of trade within the city. Guild membership, as a master, was required for an artist to take on apprentices or to sell paintings to the public. Similar rules existed in Delft, where members could sell paintings in the city or have a shop. The guild of Saint Luke not only represented painters, sculptors, and other artists, but also—especially in the seventeenth century—dealers, amateurs. In traditional guild structures, house-painters and decorators were often in the same guild, however, as artists formed under their own specific guild of St. Luke, particularly in the Netherlands, distinctions were increasingly made. In general, guilds also made judgments on disputes between artists and other artists or their clients, in such ways, it controlled the economic career of an artist working in a specific city, while in different cities they were wholly independent and often competitive against each other. Although it did not become an artistic center until the sixteenth century, Antwerp was one of, if not the first. It is first mentioned in 1382, and was given privileges by the city in 1442. The registers, or Liggeren, from the guild exist, cataloging when artists became masters, who the dean for each year was, what their specialities were, and the names of any students. Perhaps because of this link, for a period they had a rule that all miniatures needed a tiny mark to identify the artist, only under special privileges, such as court artist, could an artist effectively practice their craft without holding membership in the guild. Membership also allowed members to sell works at the guild-owned showroom, Antwerp, for example, opened a market stall for selling paintings in front of the cathedral in 1460, and Bruges followed in 1482. Guilds of St. Luke in the Dutch Republic began to reinvent themselves as cities there changed over to Protestant rule, many St. Luke guilds reissued charters to protect the interests of local painters from the influx of southern talent from places like Antwerp and Bruges. Many cities in the republic became more important artistic centres in the late sixteenth. Amsterdam was the first city to reissue a St. Lukes charter after the reformation in 1579, and it included painters, sculptors, engravers, for example, Gouda, Rotterdam, and Delft, all founded guilds between 1609 and 1611. On the other hand, these distinctions did not take effect at that time in Amsterdam or Haarlem, in the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke, however, a strict hierarchy was attempted in 1631 with panel painters at the top, though this hierarchy was eventually rejected
Guild of Saint Luke
–
Jan Gossaert, St. Luke Painting the Madonna, c. 1520-25).
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Guild of Saint Luke
–
Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin, c. 1435–1440. 137.5 x 110.8cm.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This was the classic subject for paintings given to the guilds
Guild of Saint Luke
–
The Governors of the
Haarlem Guild of St. Luke in 1675.
Jan de Bray painted himself second from the left. Surprisingly, fewer such group portraits exist for painters than other Guild occupations.
Guild of Saint Luke
–
1730s engraving of the Delft Guild of St. Luke, by an unknown artist. Today the location of the
Vermeer Centre
8.
Pieter Snayers
–
Pieter Snayers was a Flemish Baroque painter known for representations of historical battle scenes. Born in Antwerp, he studied under Sebastiaen Vrancx before joining Antwerps Guild of St. Luke in 1612, by 1628, Snayers was a citizen in Brussels. There, he worked first for Archduchess Isabella, and was later the court painter for Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, for them he painted scenes of victorious battles in the tradition of sixteenth-century tapestries. Snayers also collaborated with Peter Paul Rubens on several occasions, including the never-finished Life of Henry IV and he also painted portraits of aristocracy in Brussels and large landscapes. Snayerss best-known pupil was Adam Frans van der Meulen, Snayers died at Brussels in 1666 or 1667. Snayers historical battle scenes demonstrate a close attention to topographic accuracy, frequently, his paintings show a shallow foreground that recedes sharply to show a besieged town from a birds-eye perspective. Stylistically, his colouring was more subdued than his teacher Vrancx and reflects contemporary trends in Flemish, Filippo Baldinuccis Artists in biographies by Filippo Baldinucci, 1610–1670, p.198 Google books Liedtke, Walter A. Flemish paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Pieter Snayers
–
Anthony van Dyck, Portrait of Pieter Snayers, c. 1627–1632.
Alte Pinakothek,
Munich.
Pieter Snayers
–
Battle of White Mountain.
Bavarian State Picture Collection.
Pieter Snayers
–
Sulieman's Siege of Vienna in 1529. Private collection.
Pieter Snayers
–
Battle of Gravelines.
Museo del Prado,
Madrid.
9.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
–
Jean-Baptiste Colbert was a French politician who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister and he achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing and bringing the economy back from the brink of bankruptcy. Historians note that, despite Colberts efforts, France actually became increasingly impoverished because of the Kings excessive spending on wars, Colbert worked to create a favourable balance of trade and increase Frances colonial holdings. He also founded royal tapestry works at Gobelins and supported those at Beauvais, Colbert worked to develop the domestic economy by raising tariffs and by encouraging major public works projects. Colbert also worked to ensure that the French East India Company had access to markets, so that they could always obtain coffee, cotton, dyewoods, fur, pepper. In addition, Colbert founded the French merchant marine, Colbert issued more than 150 edicts to regulate the guilds. One such law had the intention of improving the quality of cloth, the edict declared that if the authorities found a merchants cloth unsatisfactory on three separate occasions, they were to tie him to a post with the cloth attached to him. Colberts father and grandfather operated as merchants in his birthplace of Reims and he claimed to have Scottish ancestry. A general belief exists that he spent his youth at a Jesuit college, working for a Parisian banker. Before the age of 20, Colbert had a post in the war office, Colbert spent some time as an inspector of troops, eventually becoming the personal secretary of Le Tellier. In 1647, through means, Colbert acquired the confiscated goods of an uncle. In 1648, he and his wife Marie Charron, received 40,000 crowns from an unknown source, in 1657, he purchased the Barony of Seignelay. Colbert was recommended to King Louis XIV by Mazarin, while Cardinal Mazarin was in exile, Louis trust in Colbert grew. In 1652 Colbert was asked to manage the affairs of the Cardinal while he was away and this new responsibility would detach Colbert from his other responsibility as commissaire des guerres. Although Colbert was not a supporter of Mazarin in principle, he would defend the cardinals interests with unflagging devotion. Colberts earliest recorded attempt at tax reform came in the form of a mémoire to Mazarin, showing that of the taxes paid by the people, the paper also contained an attack upon the Superintendent Fouquet. The postmaster of Paris, a spy of Fouquets, read the letter, in 1661, Mazarin died and Colbert made sure of the Kings favour by revealing the location of some of Mazarins hidden wealth. In short, Colbert acquired power in every department except that of war, a great financial and fiscal reform at once claimed all his energies
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
–
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
–
Colbert in 1666, by
Philippe de Champaigne.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
–
Engraving of Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
–
A bust of Colbert by
Antoine Coysevox.
10.
Charles Le Brun
–
Charles Le Brun was a French painter and art theorist. Declared by Louis XIV the greatest French artist of all time, he was a dominant figure in 17th-century French art, born in Paris, he attracted the notice of Chancellor Séguier, who placed him at the age of eleven in the studio of Simon Vouet. He was also a pupil of François Perrier, in Rome he remained four years in the receipt of a pension due to the liberality of the chancellor. There he worked under Poussin, adapting the latters theories of art, on his return to Paris in 1646, Le Brun found numerous patrons, of whom Superintendent Fouquet was the most important, for whom he painted a large portrait of Anne of Austria. Employed at Vaux-le-Vicomte, Le Brun ingratiated himself with Mazarin, then secretly pitting Colbert against Fouquet, Colbert also promptly recognized Le Bruns powers of organization, and attached him to his interests. Together they took control of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and the Academy of France at Rome, another project Le Brun worked on was Hôtel Lambert. The ceiling in the gallery of Hercules was painted by him, Le Brun started work on the project in 1650, shortly after his return from Italy. The decoration continued intermittently over twelve years or so, as it was interrupted by the renovation of Vaux le Vicomte. In 1660 they established the Gobelins, which at first was a school for the manufacture, not of tapestries only. He was the originator of Louis XIV Style and gave a direction to the national tendencies which endured centuries after his death, the King had declared him the greatest French artist of all time. From this date all that was done in the palaces was directed by Le Brun. In 1663, he director of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. While he was working on The Battles, Le Bruns style became more personal as he moved away from the ancient masters that influenced him. Le Bruns decoration is not only a work of art, it is the monument of a reign. This contributed to the illness which on 22 February 1690 ended in his death in his private mansion, Le Brun primarily worked for King Louis XIV, for whom he executed large altarpieces and battle pieces. His most important paintings are at Versailles, besides his gigantic labours at Versailles and the Louvre, the number of his works for religious corporations and private patrons is enormous. Le Brun was also a fine portraitist and an excellent draughtsman, but he was not fond of portrait or landscape painting, what mattered was scholarly composition, whose ultimate goal was to nourish the spirit. For Le Brun, a painting represented a story one could read, nearly all his compositions have been reproduced by celebrated engravers
Charles Le Brun
–
Charles Le Brun, portrait by
Nicolas de Largilliere
Charles Le Brun
–
Portrait of Nicolas Le Brun by Charles Le Brun, ca. 1635,
Residenzgalerie, Salzburg
Charles Le Brun
–
Venus Clipping Cupid’s Wings, ca. 1655,
Museo de Arte de Ponce,
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Charles Le Brun
–
Part of the ceilling of the
Hall of Mirrors in the
Palace of Versailles.
11.
Gobelins Manufactory
–
The Manufacture des Gobelins is a tapestry factory located in Paris, France, at 42 avenue des Gobelins, near the Les Gobelins métro station in the 13th arrondissement. The factory is open for guided tours several afternoons per week by appointment as well as for casual visits every day except Mondays and some specific holidays. The Galerie des Gobelins is dedicated to exhibitions of tapestries from the French manufactures and furnitures from the Mobilier national. The Gobelins were a family of dyers who, in the middle of the 15th century, established themselves in the Faubourg Saint-Marcel, Paris, on the banks of the Bièvre. In 1629, their sons Charles de Comans and Raphaël de la Planche took over their fathers tapestry workshops and their partnership ended around 1650 and the workshops were split into two. Tapestries from this early, Flemish, period are sometimes called pre-gobelins, on account of Louis XIVs financial problems, the establishment was closed in 1694, but reopened in 1697 for the manufacture of tapestry, chiefly for royal use. It rivalled the Beauvais tapestry works until the French Revolution, when work at the factory was suspended, the factory was revived during the Bourbon Restoration and, in 1826, the manufacture of carpets was added to that of tapestry. In 1871 the building was burned down during the Paris Commune. The factory is still in operation today as a state-run institution, the Gobelins still produces some limited amount of tapestries for the decoration of French governmental institutions, with contemporary subjects. A branch of the manufactory was established in London probably in the early 18th-century in the area that is now Fulham High Street, around 1753 it appears to have been taken over by the priest and adventurer, Pierre Parisot, but closed only a few years later. Museums of Paris entry Paris. org entry This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
Gobelins Manufactory
–
Manufacture des Gobelins, Paris.
Gobelins Manufactory
–
Rear view of the Gobelin Manufactory, adjoining the
Bièvre river, in 1830.
Gobelins Manufactory
–
Death of Constantine tapestry (one in a series) after a design by
Rubens woven by Filippe Maëcht and Hans Taye in the Comans-La Planche workshop, 1623-1625
Gobelins Manufactory
–
Battle of Zama, Gobelin tapestry after
Jules Romain, manufactured for
Louis XIV in 1688-1690.
Louvre Museum.
12.
Gobelin
–
The first head of the firm was named Jehan. He discovered a kind of scarlet dyestuff, and he expended so much money on his establishment that it was named by the common people la folie Gobelin. To the dye-works there was added in the 16th century a manufactory of tapestry, the familys wealth increased so rapidly that in the third or fourth generation some of them forsook their trade and purchased titles of nobility. The name of the Gobelins as dyers cannot be later than the end of the 17th century. Gobelins Manufactory Gobelins Database Marketplace The Gobelin and Handicraft Art Association
Gobelin
–
Gobelins tapestry, circa 1680, in the
Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris.
13.
Abraham Genoels
–
Abraham Genoels II or Abraham Genouil was a Flemish Baroque painter, draughtsman and engraver now mainly known for his landscape drawings and etchings. He had a career that saw him work in Paris, Rome. In his compilation of artist biographies called the Schouwburg, the early Dutch biographer Arnold Houbraken devoted a lengthy entry of 10 pages to Genoels. Houbraken described Genoels as a portrait and landscape painter who was taught drawing by Jacob Backereel in Antwerp. In 1659 he travelled with Georg Remees to Amsterdam in order to go to Paris, while waiting for a boat to Paris, he made a tour of all the kunst kabinetten, or art cabinets. Upon arrival in Paris, he lived at the home of his cousin Laurentius Francken, Millet,17 and an art student at the time, lived there also and Genoels taught him perspective. Genoels soon received a commission for tapestry designs from Gi. de la Noire Tapissier, a series of other commissions soon followed and he was admitted to the Académie Royale in Paris in 1665 by Charles le Brun. The engraver Gérard Audran helped him learn engraving while they were working for Le Brun. He worked for the Gobelins Manufactory and various leading gentlemen of Paris including François Michel Le Tellier and Louis, Grand Condé and he was accompanied on this journey as far as Amiens by the Flemish painters Jan van Huchtenburg and Adriaen Frans Boudewyns. His desire to visit Rome was fulfilled in 1674 when he had earned money to finance this undertaking in a comfortable way. He set off with a led by Marselis Liberechts, who had already been there. The other members of the group included Pieter Verbrugghen II, Frans Moens of Middelburg, further Albert Clouwet, Abraham van den Heuvel, and Soldanio. They left Antwerp in September 1674 for Cologne, and after 4–5 days took a boat down the Rhine to Mainz, and from there a market ship along the Rhine to Frankfurt. After a stay of 3 days they took a coach to Augsburg, and from there by horse towards Tirol, passing through Innsbruck, from there they descended out of the Alps along the Brenta to Treviso, and from there went by boat to Venice. They then traveled by boat along the Po to Ferrara, after 4 days they took a horse and wagon to various small cities along the way and finally arrived in Rome. He became a member of the Bentvueghels with the nickname Archimedes and this name was given him because Abraham Genoels was also a mathematician and a physicist. His companion Pieter Verbrugghen was named Ballon, and Frans Moens was named De Vlucht, Genoels sent Houbraken a copy of his Bentbrief which was signed by the witnesses to his membership ceremony. Van Haringhe nicknamed Mitridaat, pharmacist from Flanders Monnaville nicknamed de Jeught, painter from Brussels Marcello Liberechts nicknamed Papegay, in 1682 he undertook his return homewards to Antwerp
Abraham Genoels
–
Landscape with Diana hunting
Abraham Genoels
–
Abraham Genoels II
14.
War of Devolution
–
Upon the death of Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, Louis XIV, who had nominally been king since 1643, began to rule France in his own right. Having been raised in a culture that expected young princes to seek glory on the battlefield, in 1665, Louis believed that he had a pretext to go to war with Spain and allow him to claim the Spanish Netherlands. However, Louiss claims to the Spanish Netherlands were tenuous, in 1659, France and Spain had concluded the Treaty of the Pyrenees, which ended 24 years of war between the two states. With the Treaty, King Philip IV of Spain had to certain territories. Furthermore, it was agreed that with this marriage, Maria Theresa explicitly renounced all rights to her fathers inheritance, as compensation, a dowry of 500,000 gold écus was promised to the Bourbon Louis XIV, this was not paid, however. Louis XIV justified this with the fact that the dowry had not been paid. Accordingly, Louis argued, his wifes claims to her fathers estate. Maria Theresa on the hand was a result of his first marriage and was therefore entitled to the inheritance in Brabant. The Queen could not renounce this natural right for her children as well, at this, the French king began preparations for a new campaign against Spain. France was in a period of economic expansion and growth in the seventeenth century. Spain, on the hand, was a fragmented nation struggling to cope with major economic problems. The international situation in 1667 was very advantageous for France, Spain would soon be forced to recognise the independence of Portugal and give up all future attempts to conquer and re-annex Portugal. The United Provinces had been an ally of France in the recent Restoration War between Portugal and Spain, indeed, France had, since the 1560s, supported the Dutch in their war with Spain and both countries had entered into a defence alliance in 1662. Louis XIV was anxious to gain the support of the United Provinces for a conquest of the Spanish Netherlands and therefore entered into negotiations. The United Provinces were at time at war with England. The influential Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt suggested that the Spanish Netherlands be mutually divided, such plans were already being debated from 1663 onwards. But the share of the Spanish Netherlands that Louis XIV demanded for himself alienated de Witt, Johan de Witt and his brother, Cornelis de Witt were leaders of the republican States Party of the United Netherlands. Although republican the States Party represented the interests of the merchant class of the United Provinces of the Netherlands
War of Devolution
–
Louis XIV visiting a trench during the war. Painting by
Charles Le Brun.
15.
Turnhout
–
Turnhout is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper, on January 1,2015, Turnhout had a total population of 42,637. The total area is 56.06 km² which gives a density of 835.5 inhabitants per km². The agglomeration, however, is larger, accounting up to 81,473 inhabitants. Turnhout is known for its playing card industry, as it houses the office of the worlds largest manufacturer of playing cards. Turnhout is also the capital of the district with the same name. The Turnhout city council promotes the city as the capital of the Kempen area. This however is incorrect, since the Kempen area is far larger than the Turnhout district, Turnhout serves as the economic and cultural center for other communities in the immediate vicinity with more than 40 schools. There is also an important services sector with two hospitals, a theatre, an eight-screen cinema and one of the largest cultural centres of Belgium. Turnhout is located at about 51.3 North and 4.9 East,42 km from the centre of Antwerp,30 km from Breda, the football club of the city is K. V. Turnhout originated on the crossroads of two trade routes and in the protection of the hunting castle of the Dukes of Brabant that seems to have existed since 1110 or earlier. This hunting past is reflected in the citys coat of arms. The small community that developed obtained its Libertas as a city from Henry I. In 1338, the privilege of organizing a market on Saturday was granted, in 1466, a traveler described the well-built houses and paved roads, and counted five churches. By the 16th century, Turnhout had become a commercial center. Unfortunately, the end of the century brought war, fire, confiscations, suppression and inquisition made many progressive citizens to take refuge in the Dutch Republic, leaving the land of Turnhout impoverished. The further history of Turnhout consists of a series of ups, many times, the city and surroundings were the playground of armies, resulting in two major battles named after Turnhout, one in 1597 and one in 1789 are referred to as Battle of Turnhout. In 1830, Belgium became independent, and Turnhout fell just south of the new border with the Netherlands, the period of peace between 1831 and 1914 saw the digging of the canal and the construction of the railroad
Turnhout
–
Turnhout
Turnhout
–
Castle of the Dukes of Brabant in Turnhout
Turnhout
–
Turnhout, church: Sint Pieterskerk
Turnhout
–
Turnhout, town hall
16.
Kortrijk
–
Kortrijk is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province West Flanders. It is the capital and largest city of the arrondissement of Kortrijk, the wider municipality comprises the city of Kortrijk proper and the villages of Aalbeke, Bellegem, Bissegem, Heule, Kooigem, Marke, and Rollegem. Kortrijk is part of the cross-border Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai, which had 2,155,161 residents in 2008, the city is situated on the Leie,42 km southwest of Ghent and 25 km northeast of Lille in France. In addition, Mouscron in Wallonia is located just south of Kortrijk, both Kortrijk and Lille are part of the same transnational Eurodistrict urban agglomeration with around 1,900,000 inhabitants. As the biggest city of southern West Flanders, Kortrijk has many schools, hospitals, Kortrijk originated from a Gallo-Roman town, called Cortoriacum at a crossroads near the Leie river and two Roman roads. During the Middle Ages, Kortrijk grew significantly thanks to the flax and wool industry with France and England, in 1820, the Treaty of Kortrijk was signed, which laid out the current borders between France and Belgium. Throughout the 19th and 20th century, Kortrijk became a center of the flax industry, today, Kortrijk is the largest city in southern West-Flanders with several hospitals, colleges and a university. Kortrijk was the first city in Belgium with a shopping street. Nowadays, a big part of the city center is a complete pedestrian area with lots of shops. Another shopping mall is located near the edge of the city. Cortoriacum was a typical Gallo-Roman vicus at an important crossroads near the Leie river and it was situated on the crossroads of the Roman roads linking Tongeren and Cassel and Tournai and Oudenburg. In the 9th century, Baldwin II, Count of Flanders established fortifications against the Vikings, the town gained its city charter in 1190 from Philip, Count of Flanders. The population growth required new defensive walls, part of which can still be seen today, in the 13th century, the battles between Fernando of Portugal, Count of Flanders and his first cousin, King Louis VIII of France, led to the destruction of the city. The Counts of Flanders had it rebuilt soon after, to promote industry and weaving in the town, Joan, Countess of Flanders exempted settlers in Kortrijk from property tax. From that time, Kortrijk gained great importance as a centre of linen production, in 1302, the population of Bruges started a successful uprising against the French, who had annexed Flanders a couple of years earlier. On 18 May the French population in that city was massacred and this date is now remembered as a national holiday by the whole Flemish community. Following a new uprising by the Flemish in 1323, but this time against their own Count Louis I and these Flemish acquisitions were consolidated by the French at the Battle of Cassel. Most of the 15th century was prosperous under the Dukes of Burgundy, until the death of the Burgundian heiress, Mary of Burgundy, in 1482, the 16th century was marked by the confrontations engendered by the Reformation and the uprising of the Netherlands against Spain
Kortrijk
–
Broel Towers along the
river Lys in Kortrijk
Kortrijk
–
Beguinage of Kortrijk
Kortrijk
–
The second castle of Kortrijk
Kortrijk
–
The medieval city hall.
17.
Oudenaarde
–
Oudenaarde is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenaarde proper and the towns of Bevere, Edelare, Eine, Ename, Heurne, Leupegem, Mater, Melden, Mullem, Nederename, Welden, Volkegem and a part of Ooike. From the 15th to the 18th century, but especially in the 16th century, the towns name, meaning “old field”, still lingers on in “outnal”, an obsolete English term for a kind of brown linen thread. By 1005, the town already had a couple of churches and had become the largest town in the Duchy of Lotharingia, in 1033, Count Baldwin IV of Flanders took the city as a frontier post against emperor Henry III. In 1047, Baldwin V consolidated his father’s victory by having his wife found the Benedictine abbey of Saint Salvator there, by that time, the former merchants and guild artisans of Ename had fled across the Scheldt to the recently founded city of Oudenaarde. In the 11th century, Oudenaarde’s economy flourished, thanks to the proximity of the Scheldt and to the burgeoning, churches, cloisters and hospitals were built. Throughout the Middle Ages, the city was one of the staunchest supporters of the counts of Flanders, defending them against insurrections from the South, the city became known as the residence of the nobles. It built itself a town hall, which we can still admire today. Charles V stayed here for a couple of months in 1522 and fathered a daughter, Margaret of Parma. During the Reformation, the people of Oudenaarde chose Protestantism and allied themselves with Ghent against Charles V, in 1582, after a prolonged siege by Margarets son, Alexander Farnese, the city finally gave in, causing most merchants, workers, and even nobles to flee. Oudenaarde fell under the Counter-Reformation, which for a short while revived the commerce of tapestry, the glory days, however, never came back. The French attacked and took the city three times in less than a century, in 1708, one of the key battles in the War of the Spanish Succession, known as the Battle of Oudenaarde, was fought in the vicinity of the city. Oudenaarde slumbered as a town under the Habsburg regime. Like its neighbours, in the 1790s it suffered religious curtailment imposed by the French Revolution, the city later suffered damage during World War I, which is commemorated by several monuments scattered around town. The Flamboyant Gothic-style Town Hall and its Belfry were designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1999, the city hall houses a unique collection of Oudenaarde tapestries. The Church of Our Lady of Pamele, begun in 1234 on the banks of the Scheldt, Oudenaarde is also home to the Centrum Tour of Flanders, a museum dedicated to the Tour of Flanders cycle race. Since 2008 the village of Mater in Oudenaarde has been the home of Belgiums smallest craft brewery, recurring events include a beer fest in June, an open-air musical festival in the summer, and an agricultural fair in February. Every ten years, one of the largest floral displays in Flanders takes place on the market square, the last one took place in 2005
Oudenaarde
–
Oudenaarde
Oudenaarde
–
Oudenaarde on the Deventer map (around 1558)
Oudenaarde
–
Capture of Oudenaarde by
Alexander Farnese, 1582
Oudenaarde
–
Oudenaarde Town Hall
18.
Aalst, Belgium
–
Aalst is a city and municipality on the Dender River,31 kilometres northwest from Brussels. It is located in the Flemish province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek, the municipality comprises the city of Aalst itself and the villages of Baardegem, Erembodegem, Gijzegem, Herdersem, Hofstade, Meldert, Moorsel and Nieuwerkerken. Aalst is crossed by the Molenbeek-Ter Erpenbeek in Aalst and Hofstade, the current mayor of Aalst is Christoph DHaese, from the New-Flemish Alliance party. The town has a feud with Dendermonde, which dates back from the Middle Ages. The first historical records on Aalst date from the 9th century, when it was described as the villa Alost, during the Middle Ages, a town and port grew at this strategic point, where the road from Bruges to Cologne crossed the Dender. While it was within the Holy Roman Empire it was considered the capital of the province of Flanders. In 1046, Aalst was transferred to the Countship of Imperial Flanders, and absorbed a portion of Brabant and its frontier position on the border of the Holy Roman Empire allowed the town to keep a certain degree of independence. Its relation with Brabant has been preserved in the white and red coat of arms. Construction of the hall began in the middle of the 12th century. Several manuscripts from this period survive in the town archives. During the Hundred Years War the town of Aalst allied themselves with Louis de Male against Philip van Artevelde, the town hall, and the city itself, were almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1360. The town was rebuilt and a new belfry in gothic style was built in the 15th century. This was a time of prosperity for the city, dominated by the powerful weavers guild. Aalst suffered considerably under the Eighty Years War, the textile-based economy flourished under the French. In the 18th century, the Austrians controlled the region,1830 saw Belgium gain independence and Aalst became part of the country, this ended a long period, starting in 1056, of foreign control, by such as the Spanish, German, French, and the Dutch. The 19th century was marked by social crises engendered by the Industrial Revolution, with Father Adolf Daens and this was in response to Rerum novarum, which established worker rights. However Daens felt this did not do enough, eventually, he was made to pay for his splinter movement. In the Pre-World War II years, the fascist movement in the Low Countries gained momentum, Aalst, along with Brussels and Antwerp were the strongest subscribers to this line of thought
Aalst, Belgium
–
Aalst City Hall
Aalst, Belgium
–
Church of the
beguinage, Aalst.
Aalst, Belgium
–
Aalst on the
Ferraris map (around 1775).
Aalst, Belgium
–
Belfry of Aalst
19.
Lille
–
Lille is a city in northern France, in French Flanders. On the Deûle River, near Frances border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, archeological digs seem to show the area as inhabited by as early as 2000 BC, most notably in the modern-day quartiers of Fives, Wazemmes, and Vieux Lille. The legend of Lydéric and Phinaert puts the foundation of the city of Lille at 640, in the 8th century, the language of Old Low Franconian was spoken here, as attested by toponymic research. Lilles Dutch name is Rijsel, which comes from ter ijsel, the French equivalent has the same meaning, Lille comes from lîle. From 830 until around 910, the Vikings invaded Flanders, after the destruction caused by Norman and Magyar invasion, the eastern part of the region was ruled by various local princes. The first mention of the dates from 1066, apud Insulam. At the time, it was controlled by the County of Flanders, the County of Flanders thus extended to the left bank of the Scheldt, one of the richest and most prosperous regions of Europe. A notable local in this period was Évrard, who lived in the 9th century and participated in many of the days political, there was an important Battle of Lille in 1054. From the 12th century, the fame of the Lille cloth fair began to grow, in 1144 Saint-Sauveur parish was formed, which would give its name to the modern-day quartier Saint-Sauveur. Infante Ferdinand, Count of Flanders was imprisoned and the county fell into dispute, it would be his wife, Jeanne, Countess of Flanders and Constantinople and she was said to be well loved by the residents of Lille, who by that time numbered 10,000. He pushed the kingdoms of Flanders and Hainaut towards sedition against Jeanne in order to recover his land and she called her cousin, Louis VIII. He unmasked the imposter, whom Countess Jeanne quickly had hanged, in 1226 the King agreed to free Infante Ferdinand, Count of Flanders. Count Ferrand died in 1233, and his daughter Marie soon after, in 1235, Jeanne granted a city charter by which city governors would be chosen each All Saints Day by four commissioners chosen by the ruler. On 6 February 1236, she founded the Countesss Hospital, which one of the most beautiful buildings in Old Lille. It was in her honour that the hospital of the Regional Medical University of Lille was named Jeanne of Flanders Hospital in the 20th century, the Countess died in 1244 in the Abbey of Marquette, leaving no heirs. The rule of Flanders and Hainaut thus fell to her sister, Margaret II, Countess of Flanders, then to Margarets son, Lille fell under the rule of France from 1304 to 1369, after the Franco-Flemish War. The county of Flanders fell to the Duchy of Burgundy next, after the 1369 marriage of Margaret III, Countess of Flanders, Lille thus became one of the three capitals of said Duchy, along with Brussels and Dijon. By 1445, Lille counted some 25,000 residents, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, was even more powerful than the King of France, and made Lille an administrative and financial capital
Lille
–
Grand' place, Lille city centre.
Lille
–
The 'Vieille Bourse' on the 'Grand Place'
Lille
–
1641 map of Lille (Rijssel) in
Flandria Illustrata by
Anton Sander (Sanderus)
Lille
–
Entrance to the 'Vauban Citadel' (17th century)
20.
Flanders
–
Flanders is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium, although there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language, politics and history. It is one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, the demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although Brussels itself has an independent regional government, in historical contexts, Flanders originally refers to the County of Flanders, which around AD1000 stretched from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the area was made two political entities, the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region. These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a cultural mandate, covers Brussels. Flanders has figured prominently in European history, as a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th century industrial revolution, geographically, Flanders is generally flat, and has a small section of coast on the North Sea. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated, with a density of almost 500 people per square kilometer. It touches France to the west near the coast, and borders the Netherlands to the north and east, the Brussels Capital Region is an enclave within the Flemish Region. Flanders has exclaves of its own, Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in the consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands. It comprises 6.5 million Belgians who consider Dutch to be their mother tongue, the political subdivisions of Belgium, the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community. The first does not comprise Brussels, whereas the latter does comprise the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels, the political institutions that govern both subdivisions, the operative body Flemish Government and the legislative organ Flemish Parliament. The two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region, West Flanders and East Flanders, forming the central portion of the historic County of Flanders, a feudal territory that existed from the 8th century until its absorption by the French First Republic. Until the 1600s, this county also extended over parts of France, one of the regions conquered by the French in Flanders, namely French Flanders in the Nord department. French Flanders can be divided into two regions, Walloon Flanders and Maritime Flanders. The first region was predominantly French-speaking already in the 1600s, the latter became so in the 20th century, the city of Lille identifies itself as Flemish, and this is reflected, for instance, in the name of its local railway station TGV Lille Flandres. The region conquered by the Dutch Republic in Flanders, now part of the Dutch province of Zeeland, the significance of the County of Flanders and its counts eroded through time, but the designation remained in a very broad sense. In the Early modern period, the term Flanders was associated with the part of the Low Countries
Flanders
–
The
Sack of Antwerp in 1576, in which about 7,000 people died.
Flanders
–
Flag
Flanders
–
Winter scene by
Sebastian Vrancx, 1622
Flanders
–
1609 map of the county of Flanders
21.
Reception piece
–
In art, a reception piece is a work submitted by an artist to an Academy for approval as part of the requirements for admission to membership. The piece is representative of the artists work, and the organizations judgement of its skill may or may not form part of the criteria for accepting a new entrant. The work itself is usually retained by the academy, and many academies have large, alternative terms include diploma work at the Royal Academy in London, diploma piece, and in France at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, tableau de réception or morceau de réception. The term masterpiece originated in the way under the earlier system of guilds. Membership of an academy may be by genre or technique and limited by numbers or age. Charles-Antoine Coypel, the son of its director, later said. In 1728, when Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin was admitted to the academy for The Ray, it was as a painter of animals. Masterpiece Reception pieces visitor trail at the Louvre
Reception piece
–
The Embarkation for Cythera, 1717, was
Jean-Antoine Watteau 's reception piece for the
Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture.
Reception piece
–
Mars and Rhea Silvia by
Nicolas Colombel, 1694, for the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture.
Reception piece
–
Chardin's The Ray for the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, 1728.
Reception piece
–
Rinaldo and Armida by
François Boucher for the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, 1734.
22.
Franco-Dutch War
–
The war ended with the Treaty of Nijmegen, by which Spain ceded the Franche-Comté and some cities in Flanders and Hainaut to France, while France returned some of its conquests to the Dutch. The year 1672, when an invasion of English, French. In the 1560s, the future Dutch Republicans formed an alliance with France, the alliance lasted for a century. Louis XIV of France considered the Dutch to be trading rivals, seditious republicans and Protestant heretics – and this was until the Dutch signed the Triple Alliance with England and Sweden in support of Spain, and countered French expansion in the Spanish Netherlands in the War of Devolution. To Louis, it seemed clear that France had to deal with the Republic before making another move on the Spanish Netherlands, Louis prepared for war against the Republic. His first and primary objective was to gain the support of England, England felt threatened by the Dutch naval power, it had therefore fought the first and second of the Anglo-Dutch Wars. Thus, the English did not need encouragement to leave the Triple Alliance. Sweden agreed to support the invasion of the Republic, by threatening Brandenburg-Prussia if that state should intervene. Measures taken by Louvois, Louis Secretary of War, allowed France to mobilise about 180,000 men, of these about 120,000 would be used directly against the Republic. The bulk of the French army was divided into two bodies, the body led by field marshal Turenne was stationed in Charleroi, then France. The body led by Condé waited in Sedan, both would march through the pro-France Prince-Bishopric of Liège, join near Maastricht and gain the Rhine. On the Rhine, a body would be waiting. It had been created from the armies of Münster and Cologne and was placed under the command of Luxembourg. The combined armies would attack the duchy of Cleves and the region of Nijmegen. A fourth body was to be an English expeditionary force, the alliances clashed when England declared war on the Republic, on 7 April 1672. Louis arrived in Charleroi on 5 May 1672, Turennes 50,000 men set off on 11 May. Arrived at Visé, Louis decided not to lay siege to Maastricht but only to occupy the forts of Tongeren, Maaseik. Moving along the Rhine, Rheinberg, Wesel, Burick and Orsoy were taken, Turenne then took Nijmegen, with 4,000 infantry and 400 cavalry, and from there Fort Crèvecœur near s-Hertogenbosch, which fell after only two days
Franco-Dutch War
–
Painting of the capture of
Coevorden by Dutch troops commanded by
Carl von Rabenhaupt in December 1672
Franco-Dutch War
–
Louis XIV crosses the Rhine at Lobith on 12 June 1672;
Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin
Franco-Dutch War
–
Map of the French offensive in the
Low Countries of 1672
Franco-Dutch War
–
Forces of Louis XIV before
Schenkenschanz, 1672
23.
Blois
–
Blois is a city and the capital of Loir-et-Cher department in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours. In 1171, Blois was the site of a libel against its Jewish community that led to 31 Jews being burned to death. Their martyrdom also contributed to a prominent and durable school of poetry inspired by Christian persecution, in 1196, Count Louis granted privileges to the townsmen, a commune, which survived throughout the Middle Ages, probably dated from this time. The counts of the Châtillon line resided at Blois more often than their predecessors, in 1429, Joan of Arc made Blois her base of operations for the relief of Orléans. Joan of Arc rode the thirty-five miles on Wednesday 29 April to Blois to relieve Orléans, after his captivity in England, Charles of Orléans in 1440 took up his residence in the château, where in 1462 his son, afterwards Louis XII, was born. In the 16th century Blois was often the resort of the French court, the Treaty of Blois, which temporarily halted the Italian Wars, was signed there in 1504–1505. The citys inhabitants included many Calvinists, and in 1562 and 1567 it was the scene of struggles between them and the supporters of the Catholic Church, the bishopric, seated at Blois Cathedral, dates from the end of the 17th century. In 1814 Blois was for a time the seat of the regency of Marie Louise. Blois was occupied during World War II by the German army, the city was liberated by American soldiers during the last two weeks of August 1944. On both occasions, the city withstood several days of bombing, the Château de Blois, a Renaissance château once occupied by King Louis XII, is located in the centre of the city, and an 18th-century stone bridge spans the Loire. As Blois is built on a pair of hills, winding and steep pathways run through the city. To the south of the city, the Forêt de Russy is a reminder of the woods that once covered the area. La Maison de la Magie Robert-Houdin is a museum fronting on the Château, the Gare de Blois railway station offers direct connections to Paris, Orléans, Tours, Nantes and several regional destinations. The A10 motorway connects Blois with Paris, Orléans and Tours, Blois was the birthplace of, Thubois Stephen, King of England from 1135 to 1154. Official website Documentary photography of Blois by Sayf Jewish Encyclopedia entry INSEE commune file
Blois
–
Panoramic view of Blois on the Loire River
Blois
–
Bridge over the Loire in Blois
Blois
–
Château de Blois
24.
Amboise
–
Amboise is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. It lies on the banks of the Loire River,27 kilometres east of Tours, today a small market town, it was once home of the French royal court. The town of Amboise is also only about 18 kilometres away from the historic Château de Chenonceau and its former name was Ambacia, from the old name of the river and marsh Amasse. The narrow streets contain some good examples of timbered housing, just outside the city is the Pagode de Chanteloup, a 44 m tall Chinese Pagoda built in 1775 by the Duke of Choiseul. The Pagoda is seven levels high, with each level slightly smaller than the last one, an interior staircase to reach all levels is open to the public. The Musée de la Poste is a museum tracing the history of the delivery service. A 20th-century fountain by Max Ernst stands in front of the market place, clovis I and the Visigoths signed a peace treaty of alliance with the Arvernians in 503, which assisted him in his defeat of the Visigothic kingdom in the Battle of Vouillé in 507. Joan of Arc passed through in 1429 on her way to Orleans to the Battle of Patay, the Amboise conspiracy was the conspiracy of Condé and the Huguenots in 1560 against Francis II, Catherine de Medici, and the Guises. The Edict of Amboise conceded the free exercise of worship to the Protestants, the Château at Amboise was home to Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots, for much of her early life, being raised there at the French court of Henry II. Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life in Amboise, some of his inventions are still there and have not been removed. Leonardo died in the arms of King Francis I, and he was buried in a crypt near the Chateau dAmboise, the house has lost some of its original parts, but it still stands today and has a beautiful overlook of the Loire River. Here was born in 1743 – Louis Claude de Saint-Martin French philosopher, abd el Kader Ibn Mouhi Ad-Din was imprisoned at the Château dAmboise
Amboise
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Amboise, street near the castle
Amboise
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Amboise viewed from the
Château d'Amboise
Amboise
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Château d'Amboise
Amboise
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'Tour de l'Horloge' (the Clock Tower).
25.
Peace of Nijmegen
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The Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen were a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Nijmegen between August 1678 and December 1679. The treaties ended various interconnected wars among France, the Dutch Republic, Spain, Brandenburg, Sweden, Denmark, the Prince-Bishopric of Münster, and the Holy Roman Empire. The most significant of the treaties was the first, which established peace between France and the Dutch Republic, and placed the border of France in very nearly its modern position. The Franco-Dutch War of 1672–78 was the source of all the wars that were ended formally at Nijmegen. Separate peace treaties were arranged for conflicts like the Third Anglo-Dutch War and the Scanian War, but all of them had directly caused by, and form part of. England initially participated in the war on the French side, Peace negotiations had begun as early as 1676, but nothing was agreed to and signed before 1678. These treaties did not result in a lasting peace, some of the countries involved signed peace deals elsewhere, such as the Treaty of Celle, Treaty of Saint-Germain and Treaty of Fontainebleau. 10 August 1678 – France and the Dutch Republic made peace, Sweden was not part of the treaty, but a paragraph in the treaty forced the Dutch Republic to take a neutral approach toward Sweden, with whom they had been at war since 1675. 19 September 1678 – France and Spain made peace,26 January 1679 – France made peace with the Holy Roman Empire. 26 January 1679 – Sweden made peace with the Holy Roman Empire,19 March 1679 – Sweden made peace with the Prince-Bishopric of Münster. The treaty also called for all of Münsters soldiers in Danish war-service to be withdrawn,2 October 1679 – Sweden made peace with the Dutch Republic. The Franco–Dutch War ended with a treaty which gave France control over the region of the Franche-Comté, France also gained further territories of the Spanish Netherlands, adding to those it had annexed under the 1659 Peace of the Pyrenees and 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. In turn, the French king ceded the town of Maastricht. The French forces withdrew from occupied territories in northern Flanders. Emperor Leopold I had to accept the French occupation of the towns of Freiburg, marc-Antoine Charpentier wrote a Te Deum for this occasion. The prelude of the Te Deum is also known as the Eurovision Song Contest theme
Peace of Nijmegen
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The
Place des Victoires in Paris, with an equestrian statue of
Louis XIV, was designed as a memorial to the Peace of Nijmegen.
26.
Cornelis Huysmans
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Cornelis Huisman, also Corneille Huysmans, Cornelius Huysmans or Corneille de Malines was a Flemish painter. He was the brother of Jan-Baptist Huysmans and he was born to Hendrick Huysmans and Catharina van der Meyden, in a family of artists. Huysmans was the name of four Flemish painters who matriculated in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in the 17th century, Cornelis the elder, an uncle, apprenticed in 1633, passed for a mastership in 1636, and remained obscure. Jacob Huysmans, an uncle, apprenticed to Frans Wouters in 1650, wandered to England towards the close of the reign of Charles II and he executed a portrait of the queen, Catherine of Braganza, now in the National Portrait Gallery. His younger brother Jan Baptist Huysmans matriculated in 1676-1677 and became a painter like his brother. He registered numerous apprentices at Antwerp, and painted a landscape dated 1697 now in the Brussels museum, Cornelis studied in Antwerp under the landscape painter Gaspar de Witte. Later, he worked with Jacques dArthois in Brussels, and in 1674 with Adam Frans van der Meulen in Maastricht and he painted woodside views with fancy backgrounds, half Italian, half Flemish, and he painted with great facility, and left numerous examples behind. At the outset of his career he practised at Malines, where he married in 1682, in 1706 he withdrew to Antwerp, where he resided till 1717, returning then to Malines, where he died. Galleries in Paris, Brussels, Dresden, Berlin, Schwerin, RKD entry for Jacob RKD entry for Jan-Baptist RKD entry for Cornelis Some paintings at the Ermitage Some paintings at the Web Gallery of Art
Cornelis Huysmans
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Woodland scene by Cornelis Huysmans.
27.
Dinant
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Dinant is a Walloon city and municipality located on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur. It is around 90 kilometres south-east of Brussels,30 kilometres south-east of Charleroi,30 kilometres south of Namur and 20 kilometres north of Givet. The municipality includes the old communes of Anseremme, Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, Dréhance, Falmagne, Falmignoul, Foy-Notre-Dame, Furfooz, Lisogne, Sorinnes, Dinant is positioned in the Upper Meuse valley at a point where the river cuts deeply into the western Condroz plateau. During the 19th century the former Île des Batteurs to the south was attached directly to the town when a branch of the river was filled in, Dinant has been enriched by the agricultural opportunities presented by the fertility of the land on the plateau that overlooks it. The name Dinant comes from the Celtic Divo-Nanto, meaning Sacred Valley or Divine Valley, the Dinant area was already populated in Neolithic, Celtic, and Roman times. In 870, Charles the Bald gave part of Dinant to be administered by the Count of Namur, the part by the bishop of Tongeren. In the 11th century, the emperor Henry IV granted several rights over Dinant to the Prince-Bishop of Liège, including market, from that time on, the city became one of the 23 ‘‘bonnes villes’’ of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. The first stone bridge on the Meuse and major repair to the castle, the citys economic rival was Bouvignes, downriver on the opposite shore of the Meuse. Henri Pirenne gained his doctorate in 1883 with a thesis on medieval Dinant, in the 16th- and 17th-century wars between France and Spain, Dinant suffered destruction, famine and epidemics, despite its neutrality. In 1675, the French army under Marshal François de Créquy occupied the city, Dinant was briefly taken by the Austrians at the end of the 18th century. The whole Bishopric of Liège was ceded to France in 1795, the dinanderies fell out of fashion and the economy of the city now rested on leather tanning and the manufacture of playing cards. The famous couques de Dinant also appeared at that time, the city suffered devastation again at the beginning of the First World War. On the 15 August 1914, French and German troops fought for the town in the Battle of Dinant, on 23 August,674 inhabitants were summarily executed by Saxon troops of the German Army — the biggest massacre committed by the Germans in 1914. Within a month, some five thousand Belgian and French civilians were killed by the Germans at numerous similar occasions, the citys landmark is the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame de Dinant. It was rebuilt in Gothic style on its old foundations after falling rocks from the adjacent cliff partially destroyed the former Romanesque style church in 1227. Several stages for a pair of towers on the west end were completed before the project was abandoned in favour of the present central tower with an onion dome. Above the church rises the vertical flank of the rocher surmounted by the fortified Citadel of Dinant that was first built in the 11th century to control the Meuse valley, the Prince-Bishops of Liège rebuilt and enlarged it in 1530, the French destroyed it in 1703. Its present aspect, with the stairs, is due to rebuilding in 1821
Dinant
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The citadel, the collegiate church and the Meuse
Dinant
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Dinant's destruction in World War I
Dinant
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From the North
Dinant
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Dinant towards the south, seen from the citadel
28.
Strasbourg
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Strasbourg is the capital and largest city of the Grand Est region of France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany in the region of Alsace. In 2014, the city proper had 276,170 inhabitants, Strasbourgs metropolitan area had a population of 773,347 in 2013, making it the ninth largest metro area in France and home to 13% of the Grand Est regions inhabitants. The transnational Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau had a population of 915,000 inhabitants in 2014, Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions, such as the Council of Europe and the Eurocorps, as well as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union. The city is also the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine, Strasbourgs historic city centre, the Grande Île, was classified a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988, the first time such an honour was placed on an entire city centre. The largest Islamic place of worship in France, the Strasbourg Grand Mosque, was inaugurated by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls on 27 September 2012. Economically, Strasbourg is an important centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as a hub of road, rail, the port of Strasbourg is the second largest on the Rhine after Duisburg, Germany. Before the 5th century, the city was known as Argantorati, a Celtic Gaulish name Latinized first as Argentorate, after the 5h century, the city became known by a completely different name Gallicized as Strasbourg. That name is of Germanic origin and means Town of roads, Strasbourg is situated on the eastern border of France with Germany. This border is formed by the River Rhine, which forms the eastern border of the modern city. The historic core of Strasbourg however lies on the Grande Île in the River Ill, which flows parallel to, and roughly 4 kilometres from. The natural courses of the two eventually join some distance downstream of Strasbourg, although several artificial waterways now connect them within the city. This section of the Rhine valley is an axis of north-south travel, with river traffic on the Rhine itself. The city is some 400 kilometres east of Paris, in spite of its position far inland, Strasbourgs climate is classified as Oceanic, with warm, relatively sunny summers and cold, overcast winters. Precipitation is elevated from mid-spring to the end of summer, but remains largely constant throughout the year, on average, snow falls 30 days per year. The highest temperature recorded was 38.5 °C in August 2003. The lowest temperature recorded was −23.4 °C in December 1938. Nonetheless, the disappearance of heavy industry on both banks of the Rhine, as well as effective measures of traffic regulation in and around the city have reduced air pollution
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
29.
Jan van Huchtenburg
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Jan and Jacob van Huchtenburg were two Dutch Golden Age painters in the second half of the seventeenth century. Both brothers were natives of Haarlem, moved to Paris, the main source about their lives is from Arnold Houbraken. Some of the information from the 19th century is contradictive, Jacob van Huchtenburg studied under Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem. In 1662 he went to Italy and stayed in Rome until 1667, on his way back to Holland he stayed in Paris for more than a year, where he probably met up with his brother Jan. In 1669 he joined the Haarlem artists guild and his pictures are probably confounded with those of his brother. He became well-to-do and lived on Prinsengracht, one is in the Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu. Jan van Huchtenburg, was a famous Dutch horse and battle painter, like Esaias van de Velde and he was first taught by Thomas Wijck. In 1670 he settled at Haarlem, where he married Elisabeth Mommes and it seems he practised and kept a dealers shop in Haarlem or in the Hague. Huchtenburg assisted Gerrit Berckheyde and painted his people and horses, when he died at Bloemgracht in the Jordaan in 1733, Huchtenburg had done much by his pictures and prints to make Prince Eugene, King William and Marlborough popular. Though clever in depicting a mile or a skirmish of dragoons, he remained second to Philip Wouvermans in accuracy of drawing, but, nevertheless, he was a clever and spirited master, with great facility of hand and considerable natural powers of observation. The earliest date on his pictures is 1674, when he executed the Stag-Hunt in the Museum of Berlin, three years before, Huchtenburg had had sittings from Prince Eugene and William III. Had the Duke of Marlborough been fond of art he would doubtless have possessed many works of our artist, all that remained in 1911 at Blenheim Palace, however, was a couple of sketches of battles, which were probably sent to Churchill by his great contemporary. In 1911, the pictures of Huchtenburg were not very numerous in public galleries, there was one in the National Gallery, London, another at the Louvre. But Copenhagen had four, Dresden six, Gotha two, and Munich had the composition of Tallart taken Prisoner at Blenheim in 1704. Information at the Netherlands Institute for Art History This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Boekje-pienter. eu Britannica. com Battle of Chiari Dorotheum. com
Jan van Huchtenburg
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Battle of the Boyne between James II and William III, 11 June 1690, Jan van Huchtenburg.
Jan van Huchtenburg
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Southern landscape with companionship in a park and a large country house (c. 1662) by Jan van Huchtenburg,
National Museum in
Warsaw
30.
Jean-Baptiste Martin
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Jean-Baptiste Martin, known as Martin des Batailles was a French painter, decorator and designer who specialized in drawings for tapestries. He was best known for scenes, hence his nickname. His father was a contractor employed by the Bâtiments du Roi. That same year, partly in recognition of work, he was appointed Director of the Gobelins Manufactory. After Lecomtes premature death in 1695, Martin began to collaborate with Pierre-Denis Martin who may have been his cousin, in 1699, they completed a new series of works lauding the achievements of the King, which was installed at the Château de Marly. At this point, he became the painter for the Kings campaigns against the Protestants in Dauphiné, the Siege of Mons. As a result of his position at Gobelins, many of his drawings and paintings were used for tapestries and he also executed frescoes for four rooms at the Hôtel des Invalides. In 1710, he was commissioned by Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, to create a series of works depicting the life of Leopolds father, Charles V, for the Château de Lunéville. Although famous for painting battles, he produced landscapes, portraits, still-lifes and historical scenes. Arcadja Auctions, More works by Martin List of works by Martin @ the Base Joconde
Jean-Baptiste Martin
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The
Siege of Namur
Jean-Baptiste Martin
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Cavalry Attack
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Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Meulen, Antony Francis van der". Encyclopædia Britannica. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 314.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "
Media related to Adam Frans van der Meulen at Wikimedia Commons
