1.
Villa Medici
–
The Villa Medici is a mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, a musical evocation of its garden fountains features in Ottorino Respighis Fontane di Roma. In ancient times, the site of the Villa Medici was part of the gardens of Lucullus, which passed into the hands of the Imperial family with Messalina, who was murdered in the villa. In 1564, when the nephews of Cardinal Giovanni Ricci of Montepulciano acquired the property, the new proprietors commissioned Annibale Lippi, the late architects son, to continue work. Interventions by Michelangelo are a tradition, in 1576, the property was acquired by Cardinal Ferdinando de Medici, who finished the structure to designs by Bartolomeo Ammanati. A series of grand gardens recalled the botanical gardens created at Pisa and at Florence by the Cardinals father Cosimo I de Medici, sheltered in plantations of pines, cypresses and oaks. Ferdinando de Medici had a studiolo, a retreat for study and contemplation, now these rooms look onto Borghese gardens but would then have had views over the Roman countryside. An engraving detailing the arrangement of statues prior to 1562 was documented by Galassi Alghisi, then the antiquities from the Villa Medici formed the nucleus of the collection of antiquities in the Uffizi, and Florence began to figure on the European Grand Tour. The fountain in the front of the Villa Medici is formed from a red granite vase from ancient Rome and it was designed by Annibale Lippi in 1589. The view from the Villa looking over the fountain towards St Peters in the distance has been much painted, like the Villa Borghese that adjoins them, the villas gardens were far more accessible than the formal palaces such as Palazzo Farnese in the heart of the city. For a century and a half the Villa Medici was one of the most elegant and worldly settings in Rome, the seat of the Grand Dukes embassy to the Holy See. When the male line of the Medici died out in 1737, in this manner Napoleon Bonaparte came into possession of the Villa Medici, which he transferred to the French Academy at Rome. Subsequently it housed the winners of the prestigious Prix de Rome, under distinguished directors including Ingres and Balthus, in 1656, Christina, Queen of Sweden was said to have fired one of the cannon on top of the Castel SantAngelo without aiming it first. The wayward ball hit the villa, destroying one of the Florentine lilies that decorated the facade, in 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte moved the French Academy in Rome to the Villa Medici with the intention of preserving an institution once threatened by the French Revolution. At first, the villa and its gardens were in a sad state, in this way, he hoped to retain for young French artists the opportunity to see and copy the masterpieces of antiquity and the Renaissance. The young architect Auguste-Henri-Victor Grandjean de Montigny undertook the renovation, the competition was interrupted during the first World War, and Benito Mussolini confiscated the villa in 1941, forcing the Academy of France in Rome to withdraw until 1945. The competition and the Prix de Rome were eliminated in 1968 by André Malraux, the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Institut de France then lost their guardianship of the Villa Medici to the Ministry of Culture and the French State. Between 1961 and 1967, the artist Balthus, then at the head of the Academy, carried out a vast restoration campaign of the palace and its gardens, Balthus participated “hands on” in all the phases of the construction
Villa Medici
–
Villa Medici in Rome
Villa Medici
–
The villa's Loggia dei leoni, including copies of the original
Medici lions
Villa Medici
–
The fountain in the 19th century
Villa Medici
–
The fountain in 2002
2.
French language
–
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
French language
–
The
"arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in
Canada while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.
French language
–
Regions where French is the main language
French language
–
Town sign in
Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of
Rechmaya in
Lebanon.
French language
–
An obsolete 100
Lebanese pound note with the French language inscriptions "Banque du Liban" and "Cent livres".
3.
Villa Borghese gardens
–
Villa Borghese is a landscape garden in the naturalistic English manner in Rome, containing a number of buildings, museums and attractions. It is the third largest public park in Rome after the ones of the Villa Doria Pamphili, the gardens as they are now were remade in the early nineteenth century. In 1605, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V and patron of Bernini, the vineyards site is identified with the gardens of Lucullus, the most famous in the late Roman republic. In the 19th century much of the gardens former formality was remade as a garden in the English taste. The Villa Borghese gardens were long informally open, but were bought by the commune of Rome, the large landscape park in the English taste contains several villas. The Spanish Steps lead up to this park, and there is another entrance at the Porte del Popolo by Piazza del Popolo, the Pincio, in the south part of the park, offers one of the greatest views over Rome. A balustrade from the gardens, was taken to England in the late 19th century, and installed in the grounds of Cliveden House, a mansion in Buckinghamshire, in 1896. The Piazza di Siena, located in the villa, hosted the dressage, individual jumping. In 2004, a species of Italian snail was discovered, still living on the balustrade after more than 100 years in England, today the Galleria Borghese is housed in the Villa Borghese itself. The Villa Giulia adjoining the Villa Borghese gardens was built in 1551 -1555 as a residence for Pope Julius III. The Villa Medici houses the French Academy in Rome, and the Fortezzuola a Gothic garden structure that houses a collection memorializing the academic modern sculptor Pietro Canonica, in the 1650s, Diego Velázquez painted several depictions of this Villas garden casino festively illuminated at night. Before electricity, such torchlit illuminations carried an excitement hard to conceive today, other villas scattered through the Villa Borghese gardens are remains of a world exposition in Rome in 1911. The Galleria Nazionale dArte Moderna located in its grounds has a collection of 19th-, architecturally the most notable of the 1911 exposition pavilions is the English pavilion designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, now housing the British School at Rome. The villas gardens feature in one of Respighis Pini di Roma, the garden contains a replica of the Shakespeares Globe Theatre built in 2003. Beside the 1911 Expositions villas, there is the Expositions Zoo, recently redesigned, with minimal caging, as the Bioparco, another version stands in the gardens of the Pincian Hill. Embriaco had presented two prototypes of his invention at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1867 where it won prizes, list of parks and gardens in Rome 1960 Summer Olympics official report
Villa Borghese gardens
–
Siena Square, inside the Villa Borghese gardens.
Villa Borghese gardens
–
The 18th century "Temple of Aesculapius" built purely as a landscape feature, influenced by the lake at
Stourhead,
Wiltshire,
England.
Villa Borghese gardens
–
Painting by
Diego Velázquez
Villa Borghese gardens
–
Water clock in Villa Borghese
4.
Pincio
–
The Pincian Hill is a hill in the northeast quadrant of the historical center of Rome. The hill lies to the north of the Quirinal, overlooking the Campus Martius. It was outside the boundaries of the ancient city of Rome, and was not one of the Seven hills of Rome. The hill came to be known in Roman times as Collis Hortulorum and its current name comes from the Pincii, one of the families that occupied it in the 4th century AD. The Pincio as seen today was laid out in 1809-14 by Giuseppe Valadier, Valadier linked the two spaces with formal staircases broken by generous landings, and a switchback carriageway. Another version stands in the Villa Borghese gardens, embriaco had presented two prototypes of his invention at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1867 where it won prizes and great acclaim. In the gardens of the Pincian, it was Giuseppe Mazzinis urging that lined the viali with busts of notable Italians, La collina del Pincio scopre i suoi segreti La Repubblica 11 December 2014
Pincio
–
Steps lead from the
Piazza del Popolo to the Pincian Hill to the east.
Pincio
–
The view from the Pincian Hill overlooking
Piazza del Popolo toward
St. Peter's Basilica
Pincio
–
Embriaco's hydrochronometer in the Villa Borghese gardens
Pincio
–
A hydrochronometer at Palazzo Berardi, Rome
5.
Rome
–
Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
Rome
Rome
Rome
Rome
6.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
Italy
–
The
Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of
architecture and
engineering of ancient history.
Italy
–
Flag
Italy
–
The
Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the
Kings of Italy.
Italy
–
Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor
Frederick II,
UNESCO World Heritage site
7.
Palazzo Capranica
–
The Teatro Capranica is a theatre situated at 101 Piazza Capranica in the Colonna district of Rome. Originally constructed in 1679 by the Capranica family and housed in the early Renaissance Palazzo Capranica and it was the site of many premieres of Baroque operas including Caldaras Tito e Berenice, Scarlattis Griselda, and Vivaldis Ercole sul Termodonte. The Capranica ceased operating as a theatre and opera house in 1881. Following the closure of the cinema in 2000, it has functioned on a basis as a conference and performance venue. In the late 1670s, another member of the family, Pompeo Capranica, had a private theatre carved out from existing family apartments without changing the exterior of the building. The theatre was inaugurated on 6 January 1679 with Arcangelo Corelli leading the orchestra for the premiere of Bernardo Pasquinis opera Dovè amore è pietà. With the accession of Pope Alexander VIII, Pompeo Capranica and his brother Federico received permission to enlarge the theatre and they entrusted the task to Carlo Buratti who completely rebuilt the theatre in 1694 transforming it into the standard U-shape with rich ornamentation and 6 tiers of 26 boxes each. However, the new theatre still lacked an entrance opening onto the street. Audiences could only enter through the workshop of a carpenter on the floor of the palazzo. His lease required him to close his workshop during the opera season and it was a situation that was not be rectified until the 19th century. Under Pope Innocent XII, public performances were once again forbidden. The composer Alessandro Scarlatti was closely associated with the Capranica which premiered several of his early operas beginning in 1679, when he returned to Rome in 1718 after his years in Naples, he produced his three finest operas for the theatre, Telemaco, Marco Attilio Regolo and Griselda. Between 1718 and 1721, the Capranica also saw the premieres of Scarlattis oratorio, La gloriosa gara tra la Santità e la Sapienza, in 1760, he wrote his comedy Pamela maritata expressly for the theatre. The theatre went through more renovations, closures, and proprietors starting in the second half of the 18th century. By the 19th century, it had ceased being an opera house in the city and tended to concentrate on comic operas and plays, acrobatic displays. The theatre returned to the Capranica family in 1853 when Marchese Bartolomeo Capranica bought it back from Prince Alessandro Torlonia, however, it never regained its former prestige. The American writer Henry P. Leland described it in 1863 as, here came the shoemaker, the tailor, and the small artisan, all with their wives or women, and with them the wealthy peasant who had ten cents to pay for entrance. Here the audience wept and laughed, applauded the actors, eventually, the costs of upkeep and dwindling audiences led to the Capranicas demise
Palazzo Capranica
–
Facade of the Palazzo Capranica in 2009. The entrance to the theatre is the first large door on the right
Palazzo Capranica
–
Libretto for
Scarlatti 's Il nemico di se stesso, one of his many works to premiere at the Teatro Capranica
Palazzo Capranica
–
One of
Filippo Juvarra 's preliminary set designs for
Tito e Berenice which premiered at the Capranica in 1714
Palazzo Capranica
–
Portrait of
Bernardo Pasquini by
Andrea Pozzo. Pasquini's opera Dov'è amore è pietà inaugurated the newly built Teatro Capranica on 6 January 1679.
8.
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
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.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
–
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was the sculptor of his age. Bernini was also a figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture along with his contemporaries, the architect Francesco Borromini. Early in their careers they had all worked at the time at the Palazzo Barberini, initially under Carlo Maderno and, following his death. Later on, however, they were in competition for commissions, Peters Basilica, completed under Pope Paul V with the addition of Madernos nave and facade and finally re-consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on 18 November 1626, after 150 years of planning and building. Berninis design of the Piazza San Pietro in front of the Basilica is one of his most innovative, during his long career, Bernini received numerous important commissions, many of which were associated with the papacy. At an early age, he came to the attention of the nephew, Cardinal Scipione Borghese. Although he did not fare so well during the reign of Innocent X, under Alexander VII, he again regained pre-eminent artistic domination. Bernini and other artists fell from favor in later neoclassical criticism of the Baroque, the art historian Howard Hibbard concludes that, during the seventeenth century, there were no sculptors or architects comparable to Bernini. Bernini was born in Naples in 1598 to Angelica Galante and Mannerist sculptor Pietro Bernini and he was the sixth of their thirteen children. Gianlorenzo Bernini was the definition of childhood genius and he was “recognized as a prodigy when he was only eight years old, he was consistently encouraged by his father, Pietro. His precocity earned him the admiration and favor of powerful patrons who hailed him as ‘the Michelangelo of his century’” and his father was so impressed by his son’s obvious talent that he took him to Rome to showcase him to the cardinals and Pope. Bernini was presented before Pope Paul V, for whom he did a sketch of Saint Paul, once he was brought to Rome, he never left. “For Bernini there could be only one Rome, ‘You are made for Rome, ’ said Pope Urban VIII to him, ‘and Rome for you’”. It was in world of 17th century Rome and religious power. Under the patronage of the wealthy and most powerful Cardinal Scipione Borghese. By the time he was twenty-two, he was considered talented enough to have given a commission for a papal portrait. Berninis reputation, however, was established by four masterpieces
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
–
Self-portrait of Bernini, c. 1623
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
–
Apollo and Daphne (1622–25)
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
–
Baldacchino in
St. Peter's Basilica
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
–
Bust of Cardinal Armand de Richelieu (1640–41)
12.
Prix de Rome
–
The Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them to stay in Rome for three to five years at the expense of the state, the prize was extended to architecture in 1720, music in 1803, and engraving in 1804. The prestigious award was abolished in 1968 by André Malraux, the Minister of Culture, the Prix de Rome was initially created for painters and sculptors in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by completing a very difficult elimination contest, the prize, organised by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, was open to their students. From 1666, the winner could win a stay of three to five years at the Palazzo Mancini in Rome at the expense of the King of France. In 1720, the Académie Royale d’Architecture began a prize in architecture, six painters, four sculptors, and two architects would be sent to the French Academy in Rome founded by Jean-Baptiste Colbert from 1666. Expanded after 140 years into five categories, the contest started in 1663 as two categories, painting and sculpture, in 1803, music was added, and after 1804 there was a prix for engraving as well. The primary winner took the First Grand Prize and the Second Prizes were awarded to the runners-up, in 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte moved the French Academy in Rome to the Villa Medici with the intention of preserving an institution once threatened by the French Revolution. At first, the villa and its gardens were in a sad state, in this way, he hoped to retain for young French artists the opportunity to see and copy the masterpieces of antiquity and the Renaissance. Jacques-Louis David, having failed to win the three years in a row, considered suicide. Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Ernest Chausson and Maurice Ravel attempted the Prix de Rome, but did not gain recognition. Ravel tried a total of five times to win the prize, during World War II the prize winners were accommodated in the Villa Paradiso in Nice. The Prix de Rome was abolished in 1968 by André Malraux, since then, a number of contests have been created, and the academies, together with the Institut de France, were merged by the State and the Minister of Culture. Selected residents now have an opportunity for study during an 18-month stay at The Academy of France in Rome, the heyday of the Prix de Rome was during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The Prix de Rome for Architecture was created in 1720, the engraving prize was created in 1804. A Prix de Rome was also established in the Kingdom of Holland by Lodewijk Napoleon to award young artists and architects, during the years 1807–1810 prize winners were sent to Paris and onwards to Rome for study. Suspended in 1851 it was reinstated in 1870 by William III of the Netherlands, since then the winners have been selected by the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam under the main headings of architecture and the visual arts. The Belgian Prix de Rome is an award for artists, created in 1832
Prix de Rome
–
Palazzo Mancini, Rome, the seat of the Académie since 1725. Etching by
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, 1752.
Prix de Rome
–
The
Villa Medici as it looks today.
13.
Pierre Le Gros the Younger
–
Pierre Le Gros was a French sculptor, active almost exclusively in Baroque Rome. The ardent drama of his work and its Italian location make him more an Italian, than a French, Le Gros was born in Paris into a family with a strong artistic pedigree. His artistic training, though, lay in the hands of his father, from whom he learned to sculpt, and his stepmothers father, Jean Le Pautre, who taught him to draw. His lodging there from 1690-1695 was a time but not untroubled. The premises then were also a rather ramshackle affair and far from the grandeur the academy would later enjoy after a move to the Villa Medici in the 19th century. Keen to prove himself by carving a marble copy after the antique, Le Gros was eventually granted permission to do so by the director of the academy and his model was the so-called Vetturia, an ancient sculpture then in the garden of the Villa Medici in Rome. Finished in 1695, it was shipped to Paris some twenty years later. In the group, a young robed female figure of Religion wielding a cross scatters the aged personifications of the vices Hatred. To one side, a putto tears apart a volume by the heretic Swiss reformer Zwingli, in 1697, with his sculptures nearly complete, he won a competition for the altars main image, the silver statue of St. Ignatius. It epitomises his dynamic style, the saints ardour and authority are well conveyed, emphasized by the ample. A few months earlier, he was commissioned to carve relief of Tobiah and this project employed some of the most prominent sculptors of Rome who were, however, made to follow the guidelines and in most cases drawings, of the all influential painter Carlo Maratta. Le Gros contributed Saint Bartholomew who displays his own flayed skin, the attempt failed and the classicising vein of late baroque prevailed. It must have been little consolation that Le Gros, at least, was the only sculptor involved who was not held to work from drawings by Maratta. 1711-1714 followed the Cappella di S. Francesco di Paola in S. Giacomo degl’Incurabili, for which he was the architect, but by then, his star had started to decline rapidly. Then, all the efforts of French officials to convince their king to pay for another Apostle statue in the Lateran and employ Le Gros to make it, led to nothing. He would finally have to recognise that he was fighting a battle against Rusconi. In 1714 his father died in Paris and Le Gros himself was close to deaths door, but he was disappointed to be rebuffed by the Académie and returned to Rome in 1716. This meant that he was unable to carry out any more public commissions in Rome in his own right
Pierre Le Gros the Younger
–
Stanislas Kostka on his deathbed, 1702-03.
Pierre Le Gros the Younger
–
Religion Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred,
Church of the Gesù, Rome
Pierre Le Gros the Younger
–
Apostle Thomas,
Terracotta model, 1703-04,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Pierre Le Gros the Younger
–
Cappella Antamori, San Girolamo della Carità, Rome
14.
Palazzo Mancini
–
The Palazzo Mancini is a palazzo in Rome, Italy. From 1737 to 1793 it was the home of the French Academy in Rome. It is located on Via del Corso, about a block north of Piazza Venezia, in 1634 Lorenzo Mancini, brother of cardinal Francesco Maria Mancini, married Geronima Mazzarino, sister of cardinal Mazarin. For their wedding celebrations, the old residence of the Mancini family was enlarged by the acquisition of four adjoining houses, the work was begun by Lorenzo and completed by Filippo Mancini, duke of Nevers, between 1687 and 1689. The building features a facade with bugne lisce, or fishbone-style ashlar, inside are preserved a painted frieze in the salone di rappresentanza or state room and fragments of seventeenth-century friezes in other rooms with Stories of David and Jacob. Another room houses a collection of vedute of Rome by Bartolomeo Pinelli. By order of Louis XV, the Palazzo was acquired for France in 1725 and 22 years later it became the new residence of the French Academy in Rome, previously housed at the Palazzo Capranica. One second floor room is frescoed with scenes copied from the Raphael Rooms at the Vatican Palace. After the anti-French riots of 1793 and the assassination of Bassville, after the French Revolution the building became the French Embassy to the Holy See. In 1798 the Academy returned to the Palazzo, but after the French defeat by Suvorov in 1799 the building was occupied and pillaged. It passed to her daughter Maria Christina of Savoy and, when Maria Christina became queen of Naples, it passed in 1831 to the Bourbons of Naples, in 1919 the Banco di Sicilia acquired it. This page is a translation of its French and Italian equivalents
Palazzo Mancini
–
Palazzo Mancini, Rome. Etching by
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, 1752.
15.
Napoleon
–
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
Napoleon
–
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, by
Jacques-Louis David, 1812
Napoleon
–
Imperial coat of arms
Napoleon
–
Napoleon's father
Carlo Buonaparte was
Corsica 's representative to the court of
Louis XVI of France.
Napoleon
–
Napoleon Bonaparte, aged 23, Lieutenant-Colonel of a battalion of Corsican
Republican volunteers
16.
French Revolution
–
Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
French Revolution
–
The
August Insurrection in 1792 precipitated the last days of the monarchy.
French Revolution
–
The French government faced a fiscal crisis in the 1780s, and King Louis XVI was blamed for mishandling these affairs.
French Revolution
–
Caricature of the Third Estate carrying the First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) on its back.
French Revolution
–
The meeting of the Estates General on 5 May 1789 at Versailles.
17.
Merry-Joseph Blondel
–
Merry-Joseph Blondel was a French history painter of the Neoclassical school. He was a winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1803, for much of Blondels painting career, he was occupied with public commissions for paintings and frescoes in important buildings, including palaces, museums and churches. Merry-Joseph was born on 25 July 1781 to Joseph-Armand Blondel, a painter and expert in stucco decoration, Merry-Joseph had two brothers and a sister, including Charles-Francois Armand Blondel, an architect. Several generations of the Blondel family had associated with architecture. Blondels great uncle, Jacques-Francois Blondel wrote a treatise on the subject, at the age of fourteen, on the advice of his maternal uncle, Merry-Joseph went to work in the office of a Notary, an experience which he would later describe as excruciating. In 1801, once again, Blondel convinced his father to break his contract as his drawing talent secured him a place in the studio of Baron Jean-Baptiste Regnault. Within a year, Blondel had acquired the nickname Monsieur de Cinq-Prix among his peers at the studio, on account of the number of medals and prizes he had won for his drawing. Another year on and Blondels entry to the 1803 salon, a painting depicting Aeneas rescuing his father from the city of Troy. In 1835, Ingres returned as the director of the French Academy in Rome, when Blondel was unexpectedly overlooked for the position of director of the Academy in 1840, Ingres sent him a lengthy and heartfelt letter of condolence. After three years in Rome, Blondel returned to Paris and became an exhibitor at the Louvre salon exhibitions. At the salon of 1817, Blondel won a medal for his painting depicting the Death of Louis XII. After the salon of 1824, the rank of Chevalier in the order of the Legion dHonneur, was bestowed upon both Blondel and Ingres by the French King, Charles X. In 1824, the year of his knighthood, Blondel was awarded a professorship at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, in that same year, Blondel also competed for a vacant seat at the Académie des beaux-arts but lost out to Ingres. He was eventually elected to a seat at the Académie in 1832, most notable among these commissions were, at the palace of Fontainebleau - Salon and Gallery of Diana, a fresco series of 21 paintings of scenes related to the goddess Diana. The Palace of Versailles - a series of full sized portraits depicting all the known kings, the Louvre Museum - frescoes in the Grand staircase, the Salle Henri II, Rooms of the state counsel. The Brongniart Palace - Ceiling painting and several cameos, the Luxembourg Palace - ceiling fresco in the Salle de Seances. The church of St. Thomas Aquinas - fresco cycle, Blondel was working on his fresco cycle at the church of St. Thomas Aquinas, in the 7e arronsissement when he fell ill and died in 1853. In typically simplistic fashion, the exhibition catalogue described the painting as painting no.108, critical references to the painting would later confirm Blondels given title for the picture as La Circassienne au Bain
Merry-Joseph Blondel
–
Blondel by his friend
Ingres, Rome, 1809.
Merry-Joseph Blondel
–
Aeneas rescuing his father from Troy, oil on canvas, 1803.
Merry-Joseph Blondel
–
Hecuba and Polyxena, oil on canvas, after 1814
Merry-Joseph Blondel
–
Napoleon visiting the Palais Royal for the opening of the Tribunat in 1807, oil on canvas
18.
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
–
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French Neoclassical painter. A man profoundly respectful of the past, he assumed the role of a guardian of orthodoxy against the ascendant Romantic style represented by his nemesis. His exemplars, he explained, were the great masters which flourished in that century of glorious memory when Raphael set the eternal. I am thus a conservator of good doctrine, and not an innovator, Ingres was born in Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne, France, the first of seven children of Jean-Marie-Joseph Ingres and his wife Anne Moulet. From his father the young Ingres received early encouragement and instruction in drawing and music, and his first known drawing, the deficiency in his schooling would always remain for him a source of insecurity. In 1791, Joseph Ingres took his son to Toulouse, where the young Jean-Auguste-Dominique was enrolled in the Académie Royale de Peinture, Sculpture et Architecture, there he studied under the sculptor Jean-Pierre Vigan, the landscape painter Jean Briant, and the neoclassical painter Guillaume-Joseph Roques. Roques veneration of Raphael was an influence on the young artist. Ingres won prizes in several disciplines, such as composition, figure and antique and his musical talent was developed under the tutelage of the violinist Lejeune, and from the ages of thirteen to sixteen he played second violin in the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse. Ingres followed his masters neoclassical example but revealed, according to David and his trip to Rome, however, was postponed until 1806, when the financially strained government finally appropriated the travel funds. Working in Paris alongside several other students of David in a provided by the state. He found inspiration in the works of Raphael, in Etruscan vase paintings, in 1802 he made his debut at the Salon with Portrait of a Woman. The following year brought a commission, when Ingres was one of five artists selected to paint full-length portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul. These were to be distributed to the towns of Liège, Antwerp, Dunkerque, Brussels. In the summer of 1806 Ingres became engaged to Marie-Anne-Julie Forestier, although he had hoped to stay in Paris long enough to witness the opening of that years Salon, in which he was to display several works, he reluctantly left for Italy just days before the opening. Chaussard condemned Ingress style as gothic and asked, How, with so much talent, a line so flawless, the answer is that he wanted to do something singular, something extraordinary. M. Ingress intention is nothing less than to make art regress by four centuries, to carry us back to its infancy, Ingres stylistic eclecticism represented a new tendency in art. As art historian Marjorie Cohn has written, At the time, Artists and critics outdid each other in their attempts to identify, interpret, and exploit what they were just beginning to perceive as historical stylistic developments. From the beginning of his career, Ingres freely borrowed from earlier art, adopting the style appropriate to his subject
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
–
Self-portrait at age 24, 1804 (revised c. 1850), oil on canvas, 78 x 61 cm,
Musée Condé
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
–
The Envoys of Agamemnon, 1801, oil on canvas, École des Beaux Arts, Paris
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
–
Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne, 1806, oil on canvas, 260 x 163 cm,
Musée de l'Armée, Paris
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
–
Madame Rivière, 1806, oil on canvas, 116.5 x 81.7 cm,
Louvre
19.
Nice
–
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France and the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes département. The urban area of Nice extends beyond the city limits. Nice is about 13 kilometres from the principality of Monaco, the city is nicknamed Nice la Belle, which means Nice the Beautiful, which is also the title of the unofficial anthem of Nice, written by Menica Rondelly in 1912. The area of todays Nice contains Terra Amata, a site which displays evidence of a very early use of fire. Around 350 BC, Greeks of Marseille founded a permanent settlement and called it Nikaia, after Nike, through the ages, the town has changed hands many times. Its strategic location and port significantly contributed to its maritime strength, for centuries it was a dominion of Savoy, and was then part of France between 1792 and 1815, when it was returned to Piedmont-Sardinia until its re-annexation by France in 1860. The citys main seaside promenade, the Promenade des Anglais owes its name to visitors to the resort, for decades now, the picturesque Nicean surroundings have attracted not only those in search of relaxation, but also those seeking inspiration. The clear air and soft light have particularly appealed to some of Western cultures most outstanding painters, such as Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Niki de Saint Phalle and Arman. Their work is commemorated in many of the museums, including Musée Marc Chagall, Musée Matisse. Nice has the second largest hotel capacity in the country and it is one of its most visited cities and it also has the third busiest airport in France, after the two main Parisian ones. It is the capital city of the County of Nice. Nice was probably founded around 350 BC by the Greeks of Massalia, the ruins of Cemenelum are in Cimiez, now a district of Nice. In the 7th century, Nice joined the Genoese League formed by the towns of Liguria. In 729 the city repulsed the Saracens, but in 859 and again in 880 the Saracens pillaged and burned it, during the Middle Ages, Nice participated in the wars and history of Italy. As an ally of Pisa it was the enemy of Genoa, during the 13th and 14th centuries the city fell more than once into the hands of the Counts of Provence, but it regained its independence even though related to Genoa. The medieval city walls surrounded the Old Town, the landward side was protected by the River Paillon, which was later covered over and is now the tram route towards the Acropolis. The east side of the town was protected by fortifications on Castle Hill, another river flowed into the port on the east side of Castle Hill. Engravings suggest that the area was also defended by walls
Nice
–
Nice Port
Nice
–
Nice in the time of the
Roman Empire.
Nice
–
The Tower of Saint François
Nice
–
Nice in 1624
20.
Fontainebleau
–
Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located 55.5 kilometres south-southeast of the centre of Paris, Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau. The commune has the largest land area in the Île-de-France region, Fontainebleau, together with the neighbouring commune of Avon and three other smaller communes, form an urban area of 39,713 inhabitants. This urban area is a satellite of Paris, inhabitants of Fontainebleau are called Bellifontains. Fontainebleau has been recorded in different Latinised forms, such as, Fons Bleaudi, Fons Bliaudi, Fons Blaadi in the 12th and 13th centuries and it became Fons Bellaqueus in the 17th century, which gave rise to the name of the inhabitants as Bellifontains. The name originates as a composite of two words, Fontaine– meaning spring, or fountainhead, followed by a person’s Germanic name Blizwald. This hamlet was endowed with a hunting lodge and a chapel by Louis VII in the middle of the twelfth century. A century later, Louis IX, also called Saint Louis, who held Fontainebleau in high esteem and referred to it as his wilderness, had a country house, philip the Fair was born there in 1268 and died there in 1314. In all, thirty-four sovereigns, from Louis VI, the Fat, to Napoleon III, the connection between the town of Fontainebleau and the French monarchy was reinforced with the transformation of the royal country house into a true royal palace, the Palace of Fontainebleau. On 18 October 1685, Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau there, the result was that a large number of Protestants were forced to convert to the Catholic faith, killed, or forced into exile, mainly in the Low Countries, Prussia and in England. The 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau, an agreement between France and Spain concerning the Louisiana territory in North America, was concluded here. Also, preliminary negotiations, held before the 1763 Treaty of Paris was signed, during the French Revolution, Fontainebleau was temporarily renamed Fontaine-la-Montagne, meaning Fountain by the Mountain. On 20 June 1812, Pope Pius VII arrived at the château of Fontainebleau, after a transfer from Savona, accompanied by his personal physician. In poor health, the Pope was the prisoner of Napoleon, from June 1812 until 23 January 1814, the Pope never left his apartments. According to contemporary sources, the occasion was very moving, the 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau stripped Napoleon of his powers and sent him into exile on Elba. Until the 19th century, Fontainebleau was a village and a suburb of Avon, later, it developed as an independent residential city. For the 1924 Summer Olympics, the town played host to the portion of the modern pentathlon event. This event took place near a golf course, Fontainebleau also hosted the general staff of the Allied Forces in Central Europe and the land forces command, the air forces command was located nearby at Camp Guynemer
Fontainebleau
–
Palace of Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau
–
Fontainebleau palace garden fountain and Grand canal
Fontainebleau
–
Historical reenactment in Fontainebleau of the bicentenary of Napoleon's Farewell to the Old Guard, April 20th of 2014. Napoleon is going down the famous stairs of Fontainebleau castle to meet with the Old Guard.
21.
Institut de France
–
The Institut de France is a French learned society, grouping five académies, the most famous of which is the Académie française. The Institute, located in Paris, manages approximately 1,000 foundations, as well as museums and it also awards prizes and subsidies, which amounted to a total of €5,028,190.55 for 2002. Most of these prizes are awarded by the Institute on the recommendation of the académies, the Institut de France was established on 25 October 1795, by the French government. Académie française – initiated 1635, suppressed 1793, restored 1803 as a division of the institute, Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres – initiated 1663. Académie des sciences – initiated 1666, the Royal Society of Canada, initiated 1882, was modeled after the Institut de France and the Royal Society of London
Institut de France
–
Institut de France, from the
pont des Arts
Institut de France
–
Cupola of the Institut de France
Institut de France
–
Henri Grégoire was a founding member of the Institut de France.
Institut de France
–
Esplanade in front of the Institut, 1898.
22.
Art conservation and restoration
–
The conservation-restoration of cultural heritage focuses on protection and care of tangible cultural heritage, including artworks, architecture, archaeology, and museum collections. Conservation activities include preventive conservation, examination, documentation, research, treatment and this field is closely allied with conservation science, curators and registrars. Conservation of cultural heritage can be described as a type of ethical stewardship, Conservation of cultural heritage applies simple ethical guidelines, Minimal intervention, Appropriate materials and reversible methods, Full documentation of all work undertaken. Often there are compromises between preserving appearance, maintaining original design and material properties, and ability to reverse changes, reversibility is now emphasized so as to reduce problems with future treatment, investigation, and use. The care of cultural heritage has a history, one that was primarily aimed at fixing and mending objects for their continued use. Until the early 20th century, artists were normally the ones called upon to repair damaged artworks, louis Pasteur carried out scientific analysis on paint as well. The society was founded by William Morris and Philip Webb, both of whom were influenced by the writings of John Ruskin. He not only developed an approach to the care of objects in the collections. The early development of conservation of heritage in any area of the world is usually linked to the creation of positions for chemists within museums. Lauries interests were fostered by William Holman Hunt, the creation of this department moved the focus for the development of conservation theory and practice from Germany to Britain, and made the latter a prime force in this fledgling field. In the United States, the development of conservation of heritage can be traced to the Fogg Art Museum. Importantly he also brought onto the staff chemists. Rutherford John Gettens was the first of usch in the US to be employed by an art museum. He worked with George L. Stout, the founder and first editor of Technical Studies, Gettens and Stout co-authored Painting Materials, A Short Encyclopaedia in 1942, reprinted in 1966. This compendium is still cited regularly, only a few dates and descriptions in Gettens and Stouts book are now outdated. George T. Oliver, of Oliver Brothers Art Restoration and Art Conservation-Boston invented the vacuum hot table for relining paintings in 1920s, taylors prototype table, which he designed and constructed, is still in operation. Oliver Brothers is believed to be the first and the oldest continuously operating art restoration company in the United States, the focus of conservation development then accelerated in Britain and America, and it was in Britain that the first International Conservation Organisations developed. Art historians and theorists such as Cesare Brandi have also played a significant role in developing conservation science theory, in recent years ethical concerns have been at the forefront of developments in conservation
Art conservation and restoration
–
Removal of adherent surface deposits by physical chemical means (by cotton swab). Church of
Suceviţa Monastery, burial chamber.
Romania,
Suceava.
Art conservation and restoration
–
Conservation of
Horses of Saint Mark, (
Venice).
Art conservation and restoration
–
A restorer at work.
Art conservation and restoration
–
A temporary windowed partition along restoration work area in the cloister of the
Church of St. Trophime, Arles
23.
Writing
–
Writing is a medium of human communication that represents language and emotion through the inscription or recording of signs and symbols. In most languages, writing is a complement to speech or spoken language, Writing is not a language but a form of technology that developed as tools developed with human society. Within a language system, writing relies on many of the structures as speech, such as vocabulary, grammar and semantics. The result of writing is called text, and the recipient of text is called a reader. Motivations for writing include publication, storytelling, correspondence and diary, Writing has been instrumental in keeping history, maintaining culture, dissemination of knowledge through the media and the formation of legal systems. As human societies emerged, the development of writing was driven by pragmatic exigencies such as exchanging information, maintaining financial accounts, codifying laws, in both ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica writing may have evolved through calendrics and a political necessity for recording historical and environmental events. H. G. Wells argued that writing has the ability to put agreements, laws and it made the growth of states larger than the old city states possible. It made a continuous historical consciousness possible, the command of the priest or king and his seal could go far beyond his sight and voice and could survive his death. The major writing systems—methods of inscription—broadly fall into four categories, logographic, syllabic, alphabetic, another category, ideographic, has never been developed sufficiently to represent language. A sixth category, pictographic, is insufficient to represent language on its own, a logogram is a written character which represents a word or morpheme. A vast number of logograms are needed to write Chinese characters, cuneiform, and Mayan, where a glyph may stand for a morpheme, many logograms have an ideographic component. For example, in Mayan, the glyph for fin, pronounced ka, was used to represent the syllable ka whenever the pronunciation of a logogram needed to be indicated. In Chinese, about 90% of characters are compounds of an element called a radical with an existing character to indicate the pronunciation. However, such phonetic elements complement the elements, rather than vice versa. A syllabary is a set of symbols that represent syllables. A glyph in a syllabary typically represents a consonant followed by a vowel, or just a vowel alone, phonetically related syllables are not so indicated in the script. For instance, the syllable ka may look nothing like the syllable ki, syllabaries are best suited to languages with a relatively simple syllable structure, such as Japanese. Other languages that use syllabic writing include the Linear B script for Mycenaean Greek, Cherokee, Ndjuka, an English-based creole language of Surinam, most logographic systems have a strong syllabic component
Writing
–
Writing with a pen
Writing
–
Olin Levi Warner,
tympanum representing Writing, above exterior of main entrance doors,
Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington DC, 1896.
Writing
–
Globular envelope with a cluster of accountancy tokens, Uruk period, from
Susa.
Louvre Museum
Writing
–
Narmer Palette, with the two serpopards representing unification of
Upper and
Lower Egypt,
3000 B. C.
24.
Balthus
–
Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. Throughout his career, Balthus rejected the conventions of the art world. He insisted that his paintings should be seen and not read about, a telegram sent to the Tate Gallery as it prepared for its 1968 retrospective of his works read, NO BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. BEGIN, BALTHUS IS A PAINTER OF WHOM NOTHING IS KNOWN, NOW LET US LOOK AT THE PICTURES. Born in Paris, in his formative years his art was sponsored by Rainer Maria Rilke, Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard and Pierre Matisse. His father, Erich Klossowski, an art historian who wrote a monograph on Daumier. Balthuss older brother, Pierre Klossowski, was a philosopher and writer influenced by theology, among the visitors and friends of the Klossowskis were famous writers such as André Gide and Jean Cocteau, who found some inspiration for his novel Les Enfants Terribles in his visits to the family. In 1921 Mitsou, a book which included forty drawings by Balthus, was published and it depicted the story of a young boy and his cat, with a preface by Balthuss mentor, the Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke who at the time was his mothers lover. The theme of the story foreshadowed his lifelong fascination with cats, from 1930 to 1932 he lived in Morocco, was drafted into the Moroccan infantry in Kenitra and Fes, worked as a secretary, and sketched his painting La Caserne. Moving in 1933 into his first Paris studio at the Rue de Furstemberg and later another at the Cour de Rohan and his paintings often depicted pubescent young girls in erotic and voyeuristic poses. Other important works from the exhibition included La Rue, La Toilette de Cathy. In 1937 he married Antoinette de Watteville, who was from an old and he had met her as early as 1924, and she was the model for the aforementioned La Toilette and for a series of portraits. Balthus had two children from marriage, Thaddeus and Stanislas Klossowski, who recently published books on their father. Early on his work was admired by writers and fellow painters, especially by André Breton, in 1948, another friend, Albert Camus, asked him to design the sets and costumes for his play LÉtat de Siège. Balthus also designed the sets and costumes for Artauds adaptation for Percy Bysshe Shelleys The Cenci, Ugo Bettis Delitto allisola delle capre and Barraults adaptation of Julius Caesar. Balthus returned to France in 1946 and a year later traveled with André Masson to Southern France, meeting such as Picasso and Jacques Lacan. With Adolphe Mouron Cassandre in 1950, Balthus designed stage decor for a production of Mozarts opera Così fan tutte in Aix-en-Provence. As international fame grew with exhibitions in the gallery of Pierre Matisse, in 1964, he moved to Rome where he presided over the Villa de Medici as director of the French Academy in Rome, and became a friend of the filmmaker Federico Fellini and the painter Renato Guttuso
Balthus
–
Balthus by
Damian Pettigrew (1996)
Balthus
–
Balthus, Guitar Lesson, 1934, oil on canvas
Balthus
–
Nude with arms raised, oil on canvas, 1951 by Balthus
25.
Pedro II of Brazil
–
Dom Pedro II, nicknamed the Magnanimous, was the second and last ruler of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he was the child of Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil and Empress Dona Maria Leopoldina. His fathers abrupt abdication and departure to Europe in 1831 left a five-year-old Pedro II as Emperor and led to a grim and lonely childhood, obliged to spend his time studying in preparation for rule, he knew only brief moments of happiness and encountered few friends of his age. Inheriting an Empire on the verge of disintegration, Pedro II turned Portuguese-speaking Brazil into a power in the international arena. Brazil was also victorious in three international conflicts under his rule, as well as prevailing in other international disputes. Pedro II steadfastly pushed through the abolition of slavery despite opposition from powerful political, a savant in his own right, the Emperor established a reputation as a vigorous sponsor of learning, culture and the sciences. Pedro II had become weary of emperorship and despaired over the future prospects. He did not allow his ouster to be opposed and did not support any attempt to restore the monarchy and he spent the last two years of his life in exile in Europe, living alone on very little money. The men who had exiled him soon began to see in him a model for the Brazilian republic, a few decades after his death, his reputation was restored and his remains were returned to Brazil with celebrations nationwide. Historians have regarded the Emperor in a positive light and several have ranked him as the greatest Brazilian. Pedro was born at 02,30 on 2 December 1825 in the Palace of São Cristóvão, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Named after St. Peter of Alcantara, his name in full was Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga. Through his father, Emperor Dom Pedro I, he was a member of the Brazilian branch of the House of Braganza and was referred to using the honorific Dom from birth and he was the grandson of Portuguese King Dom João VI and nephew of Dom Miguel I. His mother was the Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria, daughter of Franz II, through his mother, Pedro was a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and first cousin of Emperors Napoleon II of France, Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary and Don Maximiliano I of Mexico. The only legitimate child of Pedro I to survive infancy. Empress Maria Leopoldina died on 11 December 1826, a few days after a stillbirth, Two and a half years later, his father married Amélie of Leuchtenberg. Prince Pedro developed a relationship with her, whom he came to regard as his mother. He and Amélie immediately departed for Europe, leaving behind the Prince Imperial, upon leaving the country, Emperor Pedro I selected three people to take charge of his son and remaining daughters
Pedro II of Brazil
–
Emperor Pedro II at age 12 wearing court dress and the
Order of the Golden Fleece, 1838
Pedro II of Brazil
–
Emperor
Dom Pedro II around age 61, c. 1887
Pedro II of Brazil
–
Pedro II at age 20 wearing court dress, 1846
Pedro II of Brazil
–
Pedro II around age 22, c. 1848. This is the earliest surviving photograph of the Emperor
26.
Emperor of Brazil
–
All four of the countrys monarchs were members of the House of Braganza. Before 1815, Brazil was a colony of the Kingdom of Portugal, during the colonial era, from 1645 onwards, the heir apparent of the Portuguese Crown was styled Prince of Brazil. In 1817, in the wake of the creation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, Brazil had two monarchs during the United Kingdom epoch, Queen Maria I and King John VI. As an independent nation-state, Brazil had two monarchs, Emperors Pedro I and Pedro II, in 1889, the monarchy was abolished in a military coup détat that proclaimed Brazil a republic. The style of Titular Emperor was a title, and became extinct upon the holders demise. John VI held the title for a few months only. During those months, however, as Johns imperial title was purely honorific, Emperor Pedro I remained the sole monarch of the empire
Emperor of Brazil
–
Pedro II
Emperor of Brazil
–
Imperial Coat of arms
Emperor of Brazil
–
Maria I
Emperor of Brazil
–
João VI
27.
Charles Errard
–
Charles Errard the Younger was a French painter, architect and engraver, co-founder and director of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. Louis XIVs minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert delegated to him the foundation of the French Academy in Rome in 1666, Charles Errard was trained as a painter by his father, Charles Errard the Elder, a court painter to Louis XIII. The sons long career as an artist in France was interrupted by stays in Rome, going there to study with his father in 1625, equipped with a royal scholarship. He drew ancient works of art as well as figures, busts, reliefs, ornament and Trajans Column, soon he became a brilliant draughtsman. After his return to Paris, he worked for different French art lovers and collectors including, among others, during a further stay in Rome, he became acquainted with Poussin and his patron Cassiano dal Pozzo, for whom he painted two pictures. In 1651, according to Stiche, he produced illustrations after Poussins sketches to Leonardo da Vincis Trattato della Pittura, after his appointment as decorator of the royal palace, he received orders for the decoration of the Louvre Palace, the Palace of Fontainebleau, Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Versailles. He was also active as a painter for the royal opera. Errard was the co-founder of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, in 1664–65 he carried out an art-collecting trip to Flanders on the kings behalf. He was selected from 1673 and 1675 to be the Principal of the Accademia di San Luca, after the death of Colbert in 1683, Errard resigned his offices. On his death in Rome aged 82, he was buried in Santa Trinità dei Monti and he left Louis XIV bronze copies of Florentine sculptures, particularly from Michelangelos sculptures in the Medici Chapel – these are now in the Louvre
Charles Errard
–
Aeneas carrying Anchises, by Charles Errard
28.
Nicolas Vleughels
–
Nicolas Vleughels was a French painter. Nicolas Vleughels was born in Paris as the son of the Flemish painter Philippe Vleughels, a native of Antwerp and his father was part of a large community of Flemish artists residing in Paris. Nicolas Vleughels is said to have studied painting with Pierre Mignard and he also regularly copied works of Rubens. He only obtained the prize of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1694. His finances were not very good at this time and he was likely in Rome from 1703. Here he met the famous Dutch vedute painter Caspar van Wittel, in 1707 he travelled to Venice where he became an admirer of the work of Veronese and some of his works inspired by Veronese were subsequently wrongly attributed to Veronese. It is not known how long he resided there, in 1709 Vleughels returned to Rome. The artist returned to Venice in late 1711 or early 1712 and he was involved in the sale of the duke of Mantua’s art collection. Around 1712-13, Vleughels spent much time in Modena, around 1715 he returned to Paris where in July 1715 he was received at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. Back in Paris Vleughels became a friend of Jean-Antoine Watteau. He lived with Watteau from about 1716 and shared a home in 1719, in 1724 he was appointed co-director of the Académie de France in Rome. He thus became a figure in the interchange between French and Italian art and artists in the first third of the eighteenth century. Media related to Nicolas Vleughels at Wikimedia Commons
Nicolas Vleughels
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Nicolas Vleughels, Self-Portrait, ~1714
Nicolas Vleughels
–
The Idolatry of Solomon.
29.
Charles-Joseph Natoire
–
Charles-Joseph Natoire was a French painter in the Rococo manner, a pupil of François Lemoyne and director of the French Academy in Rome, 1751-1775. Considered during his lifetime the equal of François Boucher, he played a prominent role in the life of France. In 1721 he obtained the Prix de Rome with a Sacrifice of Manoah to obtain a son, on 30 June 1723 he was appointed a pensionnaire at the French Academy in Rome, at the time lodged in the Palazzo Mancini, where he arrived in October. During his stay he executed a copy of Pietro da Cortonas Rape of the Sabine Women, in December 1725 he won a first prize from the Accademia di San Luca with a Moses Returning from Sinai. In 1728 he painted for the French ambassador, the prince de Polignac, Natoire returned to Paris via Venice in the early part of 1729. He was received into the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on 30 September 1730 and his reputation was quickly established, and he received major commissions. From 1731 to 1740 he provided several suites of canvasses for Philibert Orry, contrôleur général des finances, during the same period, in 1732 he provided three overdoors on Old Testament subjects for the duc dAntin in Paris. In June 1734, Natoire submitted to an Exposition de la Jeunesse in place Dauphine a Galatea, in 1737 he received the commission at the Hôtel de Soubise. From 1741, he produced a series of cartoons for the History of Mark Anthony woven at the Gobelins, in 1747, he painted the portrait of Louis, Dauphin of France. In a more familiar vein, he provided a Saint Stephen, a major loss was his illusionistic decor for the chapel in the Hôpital des Enfants-Trouvés, built by Germain Boffrand but demolished in the 19th century. Also in 1747 he participated in the organized by the new general director of the Bâtiments du Roi, Le Normant de Tournehem, with the Triumph of Bacchus. In 1751, Natoire was appointed director of the French Academy in Rome, a prestigious position, far from court, Natoire witnessed his rivals Carle Van Loo, then François Boucher named premier peintre du Roi in turn. His own fresco of the Apotheosis of Saint Louis for the French national Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, 1754–1756, Natoires late work, in the two decades that remained to him was largely confined to numerous drawings of the Campagna for his own pleasure, and few canvasses. The new general director of the Bâtiments, the comte dAngiviller retired Natoire from office in June 1775 and he withdrew to Castel Gandolfo, where he died. This article depends in part on a translation from French Wikipedia
Charles-Joseph Natoire
–
Gustaf Lundberg 's portrait of Charles-Joseph Natoire (
Musée du Louvre).
Charles-Joseph Natoire
–
Sibylle
Charles-Joseph Natoire
–
Portrait of French bishop and theologian Jean-Joseph Languet de Gergy.
Charles-Joseph Natoire
–
Venus Demanding Arms from Vulcan for Aeneas.
30.
Joseph-Marie Vien
–
Joseph-Marie Vien, French painter, was born at Montpellier. He was the last holder of the post of Premier peintre du Roi, protected by Comte de Caylus, he entered at an early age the studio of Natoire, and obtained the grand prix in 1745. Napoleon Bonaparte acknowledged his merit by making him a senator, joseph-Marie Vien died in Paris, and was buried in the crypt of the Panthéon. Their son, Marie Joseph, born in 1761, also distinguished himself as a painter, example of work, Cupid & Psyche,1767
Joseph-Marie Vien
–
Joseph Marie Vien, portrait by
Joseph Siffred Duplessis (1784).
Joseph-Marie Vien
–
Two women in the bath, Joseph-Marie Vien, Musée de Cahors Henri-Martin
31.
Horace Vernet
–
Émile Jean-Horace Vernet was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist Arab subjects. Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another painter, who was himself a son of Claude Joseph Vernet. He was born in the Paris Louvre, while his parents were staying there during the French Revolution, Vernet quickly developed a disdain for the high-minded seriousness of academic French art influenced by Classicism, and decided to paint subjects taken mostly from contemporary culture. Therefore, he began depicting the French soldier in a familiar, vernacular manner rather than in an idealized. Some of his paintings that represent French soldiers in a direct, less idealizing style, include Dog of the Regiment, Trumpeters Horse. He gained recognition during the Bourbon Restoration for a series of paintings commissioned by the duc dOrleans. Critics marvelled at the speed with which he painted. Many of his paintings made during early phase of his career were noted for their historical accuracy as well as their charged landscapes. Examples of paintings in style include his Four Battles series, The Battle of Jemappes, The Battle of Montmirail, The Battle of Hanau. Over the course of his career, Horace Vernet was honoured with dozens of important commissions. King Louis-Philippe was one of his most prolific patrons and his depictions of Algerian battles, such as the Capture of the Smahla and the Capture of Constantine, were well-received, as they were vivid depictions of the French army in the heat of battle. After the fall of the July Monarchy during the Revolution of 1848 and he continued to paint representations of the heroic French army during the Second Empire and maintained his commitment to representing war in an accessible and realistic way. He accompanied the French Army during the Crimean War, producing paintings, including one of the Battle of the Alma. Vernet died in his hometown of Paris in 1863, in Arthur Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter Holmes claims to be related to Vernet, stating, My ancestors were country squires. Was the sister of Vernet, the French artist, without further clarifying whether this is Claude Joseph Vernet, Carle Vernet, or Horace Vernet. Harkett, Daniel and Katie Hornstein, eds, Horace Vernet and the Thresholds of Nineteenth-Century Visual Culture. Dartmouth College Press/University Press of New England Ruutz-Rees, Janet E. Horace Vernet, works by Horace Vernet at Open Library
Horace Vernet
–
Self-Portrait with Pipe (1835)
Horace Vernet
–
Street Fighting on Rue Soufflot, Paris, June 25, 1848
Horace Vernet
–
Horace Vernet
Horace Vernet
–
Italian Brigands Surprised by Papal Troops
32.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
–
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French Neoclassical painter. A man profoundly respectful of the past, he assumed the role of a guardian of orthodoxy against the ascendant Romantic style represented by his nemesis. His exemplars, he explained, were the great masters which flourished in that century of glorious memory when Raphael set the eternal. I am thus a conservator of good doctrine, and not an innovator, Ingres was born in Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne, France, the first of seven children of Jean-Marie-Joseph Ingres and his wife Anne Moulet. From his father the young Ingres received early encouragement and instruction in drawing and music, and his first known drawing, the deficiency in his schooling would always remain for him a source of insecurity. In 1791, Joseph Ingres took his son to Toulouse, where the young Jean-Auguste-Dominique was enrolled in the Académie Royale de Peinture, Sculpture et Architecture, there he studied under the sculptor Jean-Pierre Vigan, the landscape painter Jean Briant, and the neoclassical painter Guillaume-Joseph Roques. Roques veneration of Raphael was an influence on the young artist. Ingres won prizes in several disciplines, such as composition, figure and antique and his musical talent was developed under the tutelage of the violinist Lejeune, and from the ages of thirteen to sixteen he played second violin in the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse. Ingres followed his masters neoclassical example but revealed, according to David and his trip to Rome, however, was postponed until 1806, when the financially strained government finally appropriated the travel funds. Working in Paris alongside several other students of David in a provided by the state. He found inspiration in the works of Raphael, in Etruscan vase paintings, in 1802 he made his debut at the Salon with Portrait of a Woman. The following year brought a commission, when Ingres was one of five artists selected to paint full-length portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul. These were to be distributed to the towns of Liège, Antwerp, Dunkerque, Brussels. In the summer of 1806 Ingres became engaged to Marie-Anne-Julie Forestier, although he had hoped to stay in Paris long enough to witness the opening of that years Salon, in which he was to display several works, he reluctantly left for Italy just days before the opening. Chaussard condemned Ingress style as gothic and asked, How, with so much talent, a line so flawless, the answer is that he wanted to do something singular, something extraordinary. M. Ingress intention is nothing less than to make art regress by four centuries, to carry us back to its infancy, Ingres stylistic eclecticism represented a new tendency in art. As art historian Marjorie Cohn has written, At the time, Artists and critics outdid each other in their attempts to identify, interpret, and exploit what they were just beginning to perceive as historical stylistic developments. From the beginning of his career, Ingres freely borrowed from earlier art, adopting the style appropriate to his subject
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
–
Self-portrait at age 24, 1804 (revised c. 1850), oil on canvas, 78 x 61 cm,
Musée Condé
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
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The Envoys of Agamemnon, 1801, oil on canvas, École des Beaux Arts, Paris
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
–
Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne, 1806, oil on canvas, 260 x 163 cm,
Musée de l'Armée, Paris
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
–
Madame Rivière, 1806, oil on canvas, 116.5 x 81.7 cm,
Louvre
33.
Jean Alaux
–
Jean Alaux, called le Romain, was a French history painter and Director of the French Academy in Rome from 1846-52. Alaux was born in Bordeaux, the son of a painter and he received his first lessons in art from his father, but went on to a formal training with Pierre Lacour and later with Pierre-Narcisse Guérin. In 1807 he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, from 1808 he entered works for the Prix de Rome, but his energies were diverted when his elder brother, Jean-Francois Alaux, asked him to help with a large neorama he was working on. Alaux eventually won the major Prix de Rome in 1815 with a work entitled Briseis weeping over the body of Patroclus and he subsequently became a pensionnaire at the French Academy in Rome from 1816 to 1820 and went on to become its director. Among his fellow artists at the Academy were such luminaries as Drolling, Picot, and Gogniet, and sculptors such as Angers, Pradier, Alaux also painted at the Academy Diamedes carrying off the palladium and Episodes in the combats between the centaurs and the Lapithes. Under the July Monarchy, he worked at the Galerie des batailles of the Château de Versailles, for which he painted The Battle of Villaviciosa, The Capture of Valenciennes and his directorship ended quietly with his retirement in 1852. Alaux died in Paris on 2 March 1864, paintings by Alaux Portrait of Jean Alaux by Ingres The atelier of Ingres in Rome
Jean Alaux
–
Jean Alaux, The
Battle of Denain (1839)
Jean Alaux
–
The Baptism of Clovis (1825)
34.
Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury
–
Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury was a French painter. In 1855, he was appointed professor and in 1863 director of the École des Beaux-Arts and his pupils were Marie-Adélaïde Baubry-Vaillant, David Bles, Marguerite Jacquelin, Charles Désiré Hué, Leon Kapliński, Henri Le Riche, Eugène Mulertt, and Gaston Renault. His son, Tony Robert-Fleury, was also a painter,1887, Knight in the Order of Leopold. A Reading at Mme. article name needed, media related to Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury at Wikimedia Commons
Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury
–
Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury by Gaston Thys
Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury
–
Galileo before the Holy Office.
35.
Louis-Nicolas Cabat
–
Louis-Nicolas Cabat was a French landscape painter. He was one of the most illustrious students of Camille Flers, in 1883 Cabat travelled in France with his friends Constant Troyon and Jules Dupré in search of landscapes
Louis-Nicolas Cabat
–
Landscape (untitled?)
36.
Carolus-Duran
–
Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran, was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his depictions of members of high society in Third Republic France. He was the son of a hotel owner and his first drawing lessons were with a local sculptor named Augustin-Phidias Cadet de Beaupré at the Académie de Lille, then took up painting with François Souchon, a student of Jacques Louis David. He went to Paris in 1853, where he adopted the name Carolus-Duran, in 1859, he had his first exhibition at the Salon. That same year, he began attending the Académie Suisse, where he studied until 1861, one of his early influences was the Realism of Gustave Courbet. From 1862 to 1866, he travelled to Rome and Spain, during that time, he moved away from Courbets style and became more interested in Diego Vélazquez. Upon returning to France, he was awarded his first gold medal at the Salon, in 1867, he became one of the nine members of the Société Japonaise du Jinglar, a group that included Henri Fantin-Latour, Félix Bracquemond and Marc-Louis Solon. They would meet once a month in Sèvres for a dinner à la Japonaise and he married Pauline Croizette, a pastellist and miniaturist who had posed for his painting The Lady in Gloves in 1869. Their eldest daughter, Marie-Anne, married the playwright Georges Feydeau, after 1870, he devoted himself almost entirely to portraits. His success allowed him to open a studio on the Boulevard du Montparnasse and he was named a Knight in the Légion dhonneur in 1872, being promoted to Officer in 1878, Commander in 1889 and Grand Officer in 1900. In 1889 and 1900 he served on the juries at the Expositions Universelles, in 1890, he was one of the co-founders of the second Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and he was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1904. The following year, he was appointed Director of the French Academy in Rome and he was a frequent visitor to the resort at Fréjus, where he owned a small villa. Following his death, the resort named a plaza and a beach after him and they include John Singer Sargent, Ralph Wormeley Curtis, Kenyon Cox Theodore Robinson, Mariquita Jenny Moberly. Mariette Leslie Cotton, Maximilien Luce, James Carroll Beckwith, Will Hicok Low, Paul Helleu, Robert Alan Mowbray Stevenson, of his twenty-five most notable students, the majority were English or American. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Paintings of Carolus-Duran on Insecula Works by Carolus-Duran at Project Gutenberg Carolus-Duran in American public collections, on the French Sculpture Census website
Carolus-Duran
–
Portrait of Carolus-Duran (1879) by
John Singer Sargent.
Carolus-Duran
–
Carolus-Duran
Carolus-Duran
–
Mademoiselle de Lancey, by Carolus-Duran
Carolus-Duran
–
Le Baiser (The Kiss) (1868)
37.
Albert Besnard
–
Paul-Albert Besnard was a French painter and printmaker. He was born in Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and he won the Prix de Rome in 1874 with the painting Death of Timophanes. Until about 1880 he followed the tradition, but then broke away completely. A great virtuoso, he achieved brilliant successes alike in watercolour, pastel, oil and etching, a large panel, Peace by Arbitration, was completed seven days before the outbreak of war in 1914. Notable among these are the Portrait de Théâtre, and Mme, the former is a good example of his daring unconventionality. A later work is The King and Queen of Belgium and his landscape work is represented by Lile heureuse, and Un Ruisseau dans la Montagne. A symbolist in his work, Besnards frank delight in the external world. A foundation member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1890, in 1913 he became a member of the Institute and he succeeded Carolus Duran as director of the Académie française in Rome. In 1912, he became a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts, in 1923 he co-founded the Salon des Tuileries, in 1924 he became a member of the Académie française. He was represented in the exhibition of French art held in the United States in 1919-20 by a symbolic 1917 portrait of Cardinal Mercier. An important exhibition of his works was shown in different cities of the United States in 1924, in 1932, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Corresponding member. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Besnard. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Colby, F. Williams. Short biography in French Links to some of his paintings on line Paul-Albert Besnard in American public collections, on the French Sculpture Census website
Albert Besnard
–
Albert Besnard (1913), photograph by Agence de presse Meurisse.
Paris,
Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Albert Besnard
–
Portrait of the Kharitonenko Sisters (1903),
Moscow,
Pushkin Museum.
38.
Denys Puech
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Denys Puech was a French sculptor. From a family of farmers, he began as an apprentice in the workshop of François Mahoux in Rodez. He at last won first prize in 1884, with Wounded Mezentius, from then on he received several official commissions from the French Third Republic, sculpting busts of Jules Ferry, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Émile Loubet and Benito Mussolini. In all,573 works are inventoried and he founded a museum of fine art in Rodez in 1903. The building, inaugurated in 1910, was designed by him in conjunction with the architect Boyer to best show off his sculptures and he was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1905, and made a knight of the Légion dhonneur on 17 January 1908. On 13 May 1908, he married princess Anina Gagarine Stourdza and he was Director of the French Academy in Rome from 1921 to 1933. Among those who studies with him were the American sculptors Ernest Keyser, La Pensée,1902, polychrome marble, Paris, Petit-Palais. « Denys Puech » on Joconde database La Sirène Bronze version
Denys Puech
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Denys Puech
39.
Paul Landowski
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Paul Maximilien Landowski was a French monument sculptor. His best-known work is the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Landowski was born in Paris of a Polish refugee father of the January Uprising, and a French mother. He studied at the Académie Julian, before graduating from the French National Academy, he won the Prix de Rome in 1900 with his statue of David and he produced over thirty five monuments in the city of Paris and twelve more in the surrounding area. Among those is the Art Deco figure of St. Genevieve on the 1928 Pont de la Tournelle and he also created Les Fantomes, the French Memorial to the Second Battle of the Marne which stands upon the Butte de Chalmont in Northern France. Landowski is widely known for the 1931 Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, some sources indicate Landowski designed Christs head and hands, but it was Leonida who created the head when asked by Landowski. He won a medal at the art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics for Sculpture. From 1933 through 1937 he was Director of the French Academy in Rome, Landowski was the father of artists, painter Nadine Landowski, composer Marcel Landowski, and pianist and painter Françoise Landowski-Caillet. He died in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb of Paris, where a dedicated to his work has over 100 works on display
Paul Landowski
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Figures of
William Farel,
John Calvin,
Theodore Beza, and
John Knox at the
Reformation Wall,
Geneva (executed with fellow sculptor
Henri Bouchard)
Paul Landowski
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Christ the Redeemer,
Rio de Janeiro.
Paul Landowski
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Reformation Wall,
Geneva.
Paul Landowski
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Gravestone at Northern Cemetery,
Düsseldorf
40.
Jacques Ibert
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Jacques François Antoine Ibert was a French composer. Having studied music from an age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize. Ibert pursued a successful composing career, writing seven operas, five ballets, incidental music for plays and films, songs, choral works and he is probably best remembered for his orchestral works including Divertissement and Escales. As a composer, Ibert did not attach himself to any of the prevalent genres of music of his time and this is seen even in his best-known pieces, Divertissement, for small orchestra is lighthearted, even frivolous, and Escales is a ripely romantic work for large orchestra. In tandem with his work, Ibert was the director of the Académie de France at the Villa Medici in Rome. During World War II he was proscribed by the government in Paris. Restored to his eminence in French musical life after the war, his final musical appointment was in charge of the Paris Opera. His father was a businessman, and his mother a talented pianist who had studied with Antoine François Marmontel. From the age of four, he began studying music, first learning the violin, after leaving school, he earned a living as a private teacher, as an accompanist, and as a cinema pianist. He also started composing songs, sometimes under the pen name William Berty, in 1910 he became a student at the Paris Conservatoire, studying with Émile Pessard, André Gedalge and Paul Vidal. Gédalge also gave him lessons in orchestration, Iberts fellow-students at these private classes included Arthur Honegger. Iberts musical studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, after the war he married Rosette Veber, daughter of the painter Jean Veber. Resuming his studies, he won the Conservatoires top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, the prize gave him the opportunity to pursue further musical studies in Rome. In the course of these, Ibert composed his first opera, Persée et Andromède, to a libretto by his brother-in-law, the author Michel Veber, writing under the pen name Nino. The first of these works was played at the Concerts Colonne in October 1922, conducted by Gabriel Pierné, the two works made Ibert an early reputation both at home and abroad. His publisher Alphonse Leduc commissioned two collections of music from him, Histoires and Les Rencontres, which enhanced his popularity. In 1927 his opéra-bouffe Angélique was produced, it was the most successful of his operas, in addition to composing, Ibert was active as a conductor and in musical administration. He was a member of committees, and in 1937 he was appointed director of the Académie de France at the Villa Medici in Rome
Jacques Ibert
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Jacques Ibert
41.
Jean Leymarie (art historian)
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Jean Leymarie was a French art historian. Born into a peasant family, he pursued his studies in Toulouse then Paris, after the Second World War, he began his museum career. He was curator at Museum of Grenoble from 1950 to 1955, director of the Musée national dArt moderne from 1968 to 1973 and he taught for a long time at the Swiss universities of Lausanne and Geneva and published several works on the history of art. He remains one of those who imposed 20th-century painting on French national museums, jerome Bosch, Paris,1949 Dutch Painting,1956 French Painting, the 19th century, Cleveland,1962 Hommage à Pablo Picasso, peintures
Jean Leymarie (art historian)
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Jean Leymarie (1967)
42.
Bruno Racine
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Bruno Racine is a French civil servant and writer. Son of Pierre Racine and Edwina Morgulis, Bruno Racine was born in Paris and he studied at the École La Rochefoucauld then at the lycée Louis-le-Grand before entering the École Normale Supérieure in 1971 and obtaining an agrégation in lettres classiques. He also followed courses at the Institut détudes politiques de Paris, Racine left the ENA for the Cour des Comptes where he was named auditor in 1979 then conseiller référendaire in 1983. On 5 September 1981, he married Béatrice de Bégon de Larouzière-Montlosier, Racine entered the service for strategic affairs and disarmament in the Ministry of Foreign Relations before joining the cabinet of Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister as a chargé de mission. He then followed him to Matignon as chargé de mission auprès du Premier ministre, with concern for the cultural. Promoted to conseiller maître à la Cour des comptes, he director of the French Academy in Rome before being named president of the Centre Georges-Pompidou. Racine presides over the board of directors of the Fondation pour la recherche stratégique and the Haut conseil de léducation
Bruno Racine
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Bruno Racine in 2010
43.
American Academy in Rome
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The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, in 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The group discussed the idea of forming an American school for artists in Europe as a place for American artists to study, the program began with institutions such as Columbia University and University of Pennsylvania, who would provide scholarships to artists to fund their travel to Rome. In October 1894 the American School of Architecture opened temporarily at the Palazzo Torlonia, directed by Austin W. Lord, in July 1895, the program moved into the larger Villa Aurora. Renting space out to the American School of Classical Studies and the British & American Archeological Society Library, in 1895, the American School of Architecture in Rome was incorporated in New York state and 10 shares of capital stock were issued. Despite fund-raising efforts and the American School of Classical Studies pulling out of Villa Aurora, McKim made up for the financial loss with his personal funds. These struggles would cause the American School of Architecture to restructure, in June 1897, the institution dissolved itself and formed the American Academy in Rome. Among its incorporators was Charles Moore, the Academy introduced bills to the U. S. Congress to make it a national institution, which was successful. In 1904, the Academy moved into Villa Mirafiore, which was purchased and renovated. They formed an endowment, which raised over a million dollars and these founders included, McKim, Harvard College, The Carnegie Foundation, J. P. Morgan, J. P. Morgan, Jr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The Rockefeller Foundation, William K. Vanderbilt, Henry Walters, ever since, the American Academy has always been primarily privately financed. Today, financing comes from donations as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1912, the American School of Classical Studies in Rome merged with the Academy, women were a part of the School of Classical Studies, but were not permitted participation in the School of Fine Arts until after World War II. From 1970 to 1973, art historian Bartlett H. Hayes Jr. was director of the Academy, classicist John H. DArms was both the resident director of the American Academy and a professor in its School of Classical Studies from 1977 to 1980. Between 1980 and 1984, director Sophie Consagra strengthened the Academys ties with the Roman community, mark Robbins became president and CEO of the Academy in January 2014. The Academy serves as a home to visiting U. S. scholars, the Rome Prize includes terms that range from six months to two years fellowships at the academy, a stipend, and work and living space at the 11-acre campus. In addition to Rome Prize Fellows, visiting scholars and artists live and/or work at the Academy for varying periods, the Academy is housed in several buildings. The main building was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead, located under the floor of the basement of the main building lies a segment of the Aqua Traiana that was discovered in 1912-1913
American Academy in Rome
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American Academy in Rome
44.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
