1.
Palace of Versailles
–
The Palace of Versailles, Château de Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. Versailles is therefore not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. First built by Louis XIII in 1623, as a lodge of brick and stone. The first phase of the expansion was designed and supervised by the architect Louis Le Vau and it culminated in the addition of three new wings of stone, which surrounded Louis XIIIs original building on the north, south, and west. After Le Vaus death in 1670, the work was taken over and completed by his assistant, charles Le Brun designed and supervised the elaborate interior decoration, and André Le Nôtre landscaped the extensive Gardens of Versailles. Le Brun and Le Nôtre collaborated on the fountains, and Le Brun supervised the design. During the second phase of expansion, two enormous wings north and south of the wings flanking the Cour Royale were added by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. He also replaced Le Vaus large terrace, facing the garden on the west, with became the most famous room of the palace. The Royal Chapel of Versailles, located at the end of the north wing, was begun by Mansart in 1688. One of the most baffling aspects to the study of Versailles is the cost – how much Louis XIV, owing to the nature of the construction of Versailles and the evolution of the role of the palace, construction costs were essentially a private matter. Initially, Versailles was planned to be a residence for Louis XIV and was referred to as the kings house. Once Louis XIV embarked on his campaigns, expenses for Versailles became more of a matter for public record. To counter the costs of Versailles during the years of Louis XIVs personal reign. Accordingly, all materials that went into the construction and decoration of Versailles were manufactured in France, even the mirrors used in the decoration of the Hall of Mirrors were made in France. While Venice in the 17th century had the monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors, to meet the demands for decorating and furnishing Versailles, Colbert nationalised the tapestry factory owned by the Gobelin family, to become the Manufacture royale des Gobelins. In 1667, the name of the enterprise was changed to the Manufacture royale des Meubles de la Couronne, the Comptes meticulously list the expenditures on the silver furniture – disbursements to artists, final payments, delivery – as well as descriptions and weight of items purchased. Entries for 1681 and 1682 concerning the silver used in the salon de Mercure serve as an example. 5 In anticipation, For the silver balustrade for the bedroom,90,000 livres II
Palace of Versailles
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Aerial view of the Palace from above the
Gardens of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
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Bust of Louis XIV by
Bernini in the
Diana Salon of the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
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View of the Palace from the garden
Palace of Versailles
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Marble Court
2.
Louis LeVau
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Louis Le Vau was a French Classical architect who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was born and died in Paris and he was responsible, with André Le Nôtre and Charles Le Brun, for the redesign of the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte. His later works included the Palace of Versailles and his collaboration with Claude Perrault on the Palais du Louvre, sulpice, and Hôtel Lambert, on the Île Saint-Louis, Paris. La peinture à Versailles, XVIIe siècle, Louis Le Vau, Mazarins Collège, Colberts Revenge. La Collection de portraits de lAcadémie royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Peintures entrées sous le règne de Louis XIV (1648–1715, université de Paris IV,1994, pp. 164–166. Portraits des premiers architectes de Versailles, Revue des Arts, March 1955, françois dOrbay, Architecte de Louis XIV. Media related to Louis Le Vau at Wikimedia Commons
Louis LeVau
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Louis Le Vau, c. 1662
Louis LeVau
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Louis Le Vau, c. 1650
3.
Grand appartement de la reine
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This article is about the grand appartement de la reine of the Palace of Versailles. Additionally, Louis XIV’s granddaughter-in-law, Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, as duchesse de Bourgogne, occupied these rooms from 1697, with the construction of the Hall of Mirrors, which began in 1678, the configuration of the grand appartement de la reine changed. The chapel was transformed into the salle des gardes de la reine, the salle des gardes de la reine communicates with a loggia that issues from the escalier de la reine, which corresponded to the escalier des ambassadeurs in the grand appartement du roi. The loggia also provides access to the appartement du roi, the suite of rooms in which Louis XIV lived. Toward the end of Louis XIV’s reign, the de la reine became the principal entrance to the château. After the destruction of the escalier des ambassadeurs in 1752, the de la reine became the main entrance to the château. In 1722, Louis XV reinstalled the court at Versailles and began modifications to the château’s interior, among the most noteworthy of the building projects during Louis XV’s reign, the redecoration of the chambre de la reine must be cited. To commemorate the birth of his son and heir, Louis, in 1729. Elements of the de la reine as it had been used by Marie-Thérèse and Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie were removed. During her life at Versailles, Marie Leszczynska lived in the appartement de la reine. In 1770, when the Austrian archduchess Marie-Antoinette married the dauphin, later Louis XVI, upon Louis XVI’s ascension to the throne in 1774, Marie-Antoinette ordered major redecoration of the grand appartement de la reine. At this time, the queen’s apartment achieved the arrangement that we see today, salle des gardes de la reine — this room remained virtually unchanged by Marie-Antoinette. Antichambre — this room was transformed into the antichambre du grand couvert and it was in this room that the king, queen, and members of the royal family dined in public. Occasionally, this served as a theater for the château. Grand cabinet — this room was transformed into the salon des nobles, following the tradition established by her predecessor, Marie-Antoinette would hold formal audiences in this room. When not used for audiences, the salon des nobles served as an antechamber to the queen’s bedroom. Chambre de la reine — this room was used as the queen’s bedroom, on the night of 6/7 October 1789, Marie-Antoinette fled from the Paris mob by escaping through a private corridor that connected her apartment with that of the king
Grand appartement de la reine
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Plan of the Palace of Versailles c. 1676 (before the
third building campaign), with the Queen's grand apartment marked in yellow
Grand appartement de la reine
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The Queen's bedchamber. There is a barely discernible hidden door in the corner near the jewel cabinet by Schwerdfeger (1787) through which Marie Antoinette escaped the night of 5/6 October 1789 when the Paris mob stormed Versailles.
4.
Piano nobile
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The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of Classical Renaissance architecture. This floor contains the reception and bedrooms of the house. The piano nobile is often the first or sometimes the second storey, located above a ground floor containing minor rooms, the reasons for this were so the rooms would have finer views, and more practically to avoid the dampness and odors of the street level. This is especially true in Venice where the piano nobile of the many palazzi is especially obvious from the exterior by virtue of its windows and balconies. Examples of this are Ca Foscari, Ca dOro, Ca Vendramin Calergi, larger windows than those on other floors are usually the most obvious feature of the piano nobile. Often in England and Italy the piano nobile is reached by an outer staircase. Kedleston Hall is an example of this in England, as is Villa Capra in Italy, most houses contained a secondary floor above the piano nobile which contained more intimate withdrawing and bedrooms for private use by the family of the house when no honoured guests were present. Above this floor would often be an attic floor containing staff bedrooms, in these instances, occasionally in museums etc. the principal piano nobile is described as the primo piano nobile to differentiate it. Though often found, this usage is potentially misleading, rooms in the piano nobile are always the grandest, the term is not used in Britain. This arrangement of floors continued throughout Europe for as long as large houses continued to be built in the classical styles and this arrangement was designed at Buckingham Palace as recently as the mid-19th century. Holkham Hall, Osterley Park and Chiswick House are among the innumerable 18th-century English houses which employed this design, Life in the English Country House. Harris, John, de Bellaigue, Geoffrey, & Miller, Oliver, English Country Houses, Early Georgian 1715–1760 London, Country Life. Pavilion Books Ltd. Kaminski Marion, Art and Architecture of Venice,1999, Könemann, ISBN 3-8290-2657-9 Masson, Georgina
Piano nobile
–
An early-15th-century piano nobile at the
Palazzo dei Diamanti,
Ferrara. Its larger windows indicate its superior status compared to the rooms on the floor below
Piano nobile
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At the
Palazzo Barbarigo,
Venice, the floor above the piano nobile is of almost equal status so is referred to as the secondo piano nobile.
Piano nobile
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Palais Gise in Munich: A rich decor of the facade underlines the meaning of the piano nobile on the 2nd floor.
Piano nobile
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At 18th-century
Kedleston Hall the piano nobile is placed above a
rusticated ground floor, and reached by an external staircase. The uppermost windows indicate that the upper floor is of far lower status.
5.
Enfilade (architecture)
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In architecture, an enfilade is a suite of rooms formally aligned with each other. This was a feature in grand European architecture from the Baroque period onward, although there are earlier examples. The doors entering each room are aligned with the doors of the rooms along a single axis. The enfilade may be used as a route and is a common arrangement in museums and art galleries. In a Baroque palace, access down an enfilade suite of state rooms typically was restricted by the rank or degree of intimacy of the visitor, the first rooms were more public, and usually at the end was the bedroom, sometimes with an intimate cabinet or boudoir beyond. Baroque protocol dictated that visitors of lower rank than their host would be escorted by servants down the enfilade to the farthest room their status allowed. If the visitor was of equal or higher rank, the host would advance down the enfilade to meet his guest, at parting, the same ritual would be observed, although the host might pay his guest a compliment by taking him back farther than his rank strictly dictated. If a person of higher rank visited, these rituals extended beyond the enfilade to the entrance hall. Memoirs and letters of the period often note the details of where meetings and partings occurred, even to whether they were in the centre of the room. Such suites also were used for entertaining, noblemens houses, especially if a visit from the monarch was hoped for, also often feature enfiladed suites, as at Chatsworth House, Blenheim Palace, the Château de Louveciennes, or Boughton House. The bedrooms in such suites were often only slept in on royal visits, although as many grand bedrooms before the nineteenth century. Other enfilades culminated in a used as a throne room. The Palace of Westminster, shown below, comes into this category, the enfilade of State Rooms presents a view from the Robing Room and Royal Gallery - B and C on the plan at right - through to the Princes Chamber. Barry also used a number of enfilades in his extension to the National Gallery, London and these have been extended and added to in the recent Sainsbury Wing, so that now the view down the longest enfilade traverses fifteen rooms. Shotgun house – similar design in vernacular nineteenth- and twentieth-century American architecture
Enfilade (architecture)
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Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire: an enfilade of nine
state rooms runs the length of the palace (marked "N" to "G" at the top of the figure) - note alignment of doors between rooms
Enfilade (architecture)
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View down an enfilade in a palace in
Saint Petersburg
Enfilade (architecture)
–
In the Palace of Westminster there is an uninterrupted view from the Peers' Chamber (D), right through Central Lobby (E), to the Commons Chamber(F)
6.
Throne room
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Any of these could just as well be transferred, even on a permanent basis, to one or more other rooms, even outside the palace or ambulant. A common misconception is that kings and other ruling princes governed their lands seated on a throne for most of the working day. In earlier times this may have been true for some rulers who actually presided over their council, yet another room was used. Many others were almost constantly on the move with an ambulant court and it could even have been that the crown did not have an effective capital, as in England during most of the time before the Norman conquest. Or it could have been that the crown had, rather, other monarchies frequently changed their capital, but then they would have used a mobile throne, possibly in addition to the permanent one used for enthronement and/or coronation. There are cases in Africa and Asia where the name of the capital is not a fixed place. In some climates court migrated annually between a summer and a winter capital and it has also common to spend quite some time, without need for practical reason, in secondary residences, not in the least hunting lodges. Even when their capitals were well fixed English and French Renaissance kings used to travel extensively, henry VIIIs most frequently used residence was, in fact, at Hampton Court, outside London. Nowadays throne rooms are used for occasional grand ceremonies. Paper work is done in an office, and most guests are received in a salon, the following are notable throne rooms. Others are listed in the article on thrones and it was inspired by King Solomons throne which according to the Bible was made of ivory and had six steps with lion figures on each. The throne room actually used for receiving ambasadors is at Christiansborg, the throne was commissioned by Louis XIV and was in use up until 1789. In 1837 the Château de Versailles became a national museum, as part of the greater Versailles museum, the room is open to the public. Preferring Fontainebleau over Versailles, Napoleon had Louis XVs bedroom converted into a throne room, the palace was last used by Napoleon III when it was later declared a national monument in 1871, after the collapse of the empire. For over 700 years, the Grimaldi family have ruled Monaco and it also where most civil marriages of the royal family occur, before then having a religious ceremony elsewhere. The residence of the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria has many throne-rooms and they were all built in the 19th century, after the monarchs of Bavaria became kings. Therefore, the throne-rooms are all in the classicism style and these thrones were used by King David Kalakaua, his wife Queen Kapiolani, and his successor Queen Liliʻuokalani. Kalakaua and his wife actually disliked sitting on the thrones, instead preferring to stand in front of them while receiving guests, the trial of Queen Liliuokalani also occurred in this room where she was found guilty and imprisoned within the palace by the Republic of Hawaii
Throne room
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The throne room at the
Palace of Fontainebleau, France
Throne room
–
The Throne Room at Christiansborg is where foreign ambassadors present their
credentials to the Queen.
Throne room
–
Thrones of the king and queen,
Residenz of
Munich,
Bavaria
Throne room
–
Iolani Palace throne room
7.
Diana (mythology)
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In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt, the moon, and nature being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was eventually equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy, Diana was worshipped in ancient Roman religion and is revered in Roman Neopaganism and Stregheria. Diana was known to be the goddess of childbirth and women. She was one of the three goddesses, along with Minerva and Vesta, who swore never to marry. Oak groves were especially sacred to her as were deer, according to mythology, Diana was born with her twin brother, Apollo, on the island of Delos, daughter of Jupiter and Latona. She made up a triad with two other Roman deities, Egeria the water nymph, her servant and assistant midwife, and Virbius, the woodland god. Diana is a form developed from an ancient *divios, corresponding to later divus, dius, as in Dius Fidius, Dea Dia. It is rooted in Indoeuropean *dyw, meaning sky or daylight, from which also derived the name of Vedic god Dyaus and the Latin deus, dies. On the Tablets of Pylos a theonym διϝια is supposed as referring to a deity precursor of Artemis, Modern scholars mostly accept the identification. The ancient Latin writers Varro and Cicero considered the etymology of Dīāna as allied to that of dies, the persona of Diana is complex and contains a number of archaic features. According to Georges Dumézil it falls into a subset of celestial gods. Such gods, while keeping the original features of celestial divinities, the celestial character of Diana is reflected in her connection with light, inaccessibility, virginity, and her preference for dwelling on high mountains and in sacred woods. Diana therefore reflects the world in its sovereignty, supremacy, impassibility. At the same time, however, she is seen as active in ensuring the succession of kings and these functions are apparent in the traditional institutions and cults related to the goddess. This ever open succession reveals the character and mission of the goddess as a guarantor of kingly status through successive generations. Her function as bestower of authority to rule is also attested in the story related by Livy in which a Sabine man who sacrifices a heifer to Diana wins for his country the seat of the Roman empire. Diana was also worshipped by women who wanted to be pregnant or who, once pregnant and this form of worship is attested in archeological finds of votive statuettes in her sanctuary in the nemus Aricinum as well as in ancient sources, e. g. Ovid. According to Dumezil the forerunner of all gods is an Indian epic hero who was the image of the Vedic god Dyaus
Diana (mythology)
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The
Diana of Versailles, a 2nd-century Roman version in the Greek tradition of iconography
Diana (mythology)
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Marcus Aurelius (
head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Diana (mythology)
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Gallo-Roman bronze statuette of Diana (latter 1st century)
Diana (mythology)
–
Diana (1892 - 93),
Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Bronze,
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York City.
8.
Mercury (planet)
–
Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in the Solar System. Its orbital period around the Sun of 88 days is the shortest of all the planets in the Solar System and it is named after the Roman deity Mercury, the messenger to the gods. Like Venus, Mercury orbits the Sun within Earths orbit as a planet, so it can only be seen visually in the morning or the evening sky. Also, like Venus and the Moon, the displays the complete range of phases as it moves around its orbit relative to Earth. Seen from Earth, this cycle of phases reoccurs approximately every 116 days, although Mercury can appear as a bright star-like object when viewed from Earth, its proximity to the Sun often makes it more difficult to see than Venus. Mercury is tidally or gravitationally locked with the Sun in a 3,2 resonance, as seen relative to the fixed stars, it rotates on its axis exactly three times for every two revolutions it makes around the Sun. As seen from the Sun, in a frame of reference that rotates with the orbital motion, an observer on Mercury would therefore see only one day every two years. Mercurys axis has the smallest tilt of any of the Solar Systems planets, at aphelion, Mercury is about 1.5 times as far from the Sun as it is at perihelion. Mercurys surface appears heavily cratered and is similar in appearance to the Moons, the polar regions are constantly below 180 K. The planet has no natural satellites. Mercury is one of four planets in the Solar System. It is the smallest planet in the Solar System, with a radius of 2,439.7 kilometres. Mercury is also smaller—albeit more massive—than the largest natural satellites in the Solar System, Ganymede, Mercury consists of approximately 70% metallic and 30% silicate material. Mercurys density is the second highest in the Solar System at 5.427 g/cm3, Mercurys density can be used to infer details of its inner structure. Although Earths high density results appreciably from gravitational compression, particularly at the core, Mercury is much smaller, therefore, for it to have such a high density, its core must be large and rich in iron. Geologists estimate that Mercurys core occupies about 55% of its volume, Research published in 2007 suggests that Mercury has a molten core. Surrounding the core is a 500–700 km mantle consisting of silicates, based on data from the Mariner 10 mission and Earth-based observation, Mercurys crust is estimated to be 35 km thick. One distinctive feature of Mercurys surface is the presence of narrow ridges
Mercury (planet)
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Mercury in greyscale, by
MESSENGER (2008)
Mercury (planet)
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Internal structure of Mercury: 1. Crust: 100–300 km thick 2. Mantle: 600 km thick 3. Core: 1,800 km radius
Mercury (planet)
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Gravity anomalies on Mercury—mass concentrations (red) suggest subsurface structure and evolution
Mercury (planet)
–
Map of Mercury's northern hemisphere by the
MLA instrument on
MESSENGER lowest (purple) to 10 km (6.2 mi) highest (red).
9.
Jupiter
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Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a giant planet with a mass one-thousandth that of the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants, the other two giant planets, Uranus and Neptune are ice giants. Jupiter has been known to astronomers since antiquity, the Romans named it after their god Jupiter. Jupiter is primarily composed of hydrogen with a quarter of its mass being helium and it may also have a rocky core of heavier elements, but like the other giant planets, Jupiter lacks a well-defined solid surface. Because of its rotation, the planets shape is that of an oblate spheroid. The outer atmosphere is visibly segregated into several bands at different latitudes, resulting in turbulence, a prominent result is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm that is known to have existed since at least the 17th century when it was first seen by telescope. Surrounding Jupiter is a faint planetary ring system and a powerful magnetosphere, Jupiter has at least 67 moons, including the four large Galilean moons discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Ganymede, the largest of these, has a greater than that of the planet Mercury. Jupiter has been explored on several occasions by robotic spacecraft, most notably during the early Pioneer and Voyager flyby missions and later by the Galileo orbiter. In late February 2007, Jupiter was visited by the New Horizons probe, the latest probe to visit the planet is Juno, which entered into orbit around Jupiter on July 4,2016. Future targets for exploration in the Jupiter system include the probable ice-covered liquid ocean of its moon Europa, Earth and its neighbor planets may have formed from fragments of planets after collisions with Jupiter destroyed those super-Earths near the Sun. Astronomers have discovered nearly 500 planetary systems with multiple planets, Jupiter moving out of the inner Solar System would have allowed the formation of inner planets, including Earth. Jupiter is composed primarily of gaseous and liquid matter and it is the largest of the four giant planets in the Solar System and hence its largest planet. It has a diameter of 142,984 km at its equator, the average density of Jupiter,1.326 g/cm3, is the second highest of the giant planets, but lower than those of the four terrestrial planets. Jupiters upper atmosphere is about 88–92% hydrogen and 8–12% helium by percent volume of gas molecules, a helium atom has about four times as much mass as a hydrogen atom, so the composition changes when described as the proportion of mass contributed by different atoms. Thus, Jupiters atmosphere is approximately 75% hydrogen and 24% helium by mass, the atmosphere contains trace amounts of methane, water vapor, ammonia, and silicon-based compounds. There are also traces of carbon, ethane, hydrogen sulfide, neon, oxygen, phosphine, the outermost layer of the atmosphere contains crystals of frozen ammonia. The interior contains denser materials - by mass it is roughly 71% hydrogen, 24% helium, through infrared and ultraviolet measurements, trace amounts of benzene and other hydrocarbons have also been found
Jupiter
–
Jupiter in natural color, photographed by the
Cassini spacecraft in 2001
Jupiter
Jupiter
–
Jupiter's diameter is one
order of magnitude smaller (×0.10045) than the Sun, and one order of magnitude larger (×10.9733) than the Earth. The Great Red Spot is roughly the same size as the Earth.
Jupiter
–
This view of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and its surroundings was obtained by
Voyager 1 on February 25, 1979, when the spacecraft was 9.2 million km (5.7 million mi) from Jupiter. The white oval storm directly below the Great Red Spot is approximately the same diameter as Earth.
10.
Venus (mythology)
–
Venus is the Roman goddess whose functions encompassed love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the mother of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, Julius Caesar claimed her as his ancestor. Venus was central to religious festivals, and was revered in Roman religion under numerous cult titles. The Romans adapted the myths and iconography of her Greek counterpart Aphrodite for Roman art, in the later classical tradition of the West, Venus becomes one of the most widely referenced deities of Greco-Roman mythology as the embodiment of love and sexuality. It has connections to venerari and venia through a common root in an Indo-European *wenes- or *u̯enis. Their common Proto-Indo-European root is assumed as *wen- or *u̯en- to strive for, wish for, desire, Venus has been described as perhaps the most original creation of the Roman pantheon, and an ill-defined and assimilative native goddess, combined with a strange and exotic Aphrodite. The ambivalence of her persuasive functions has been perceived in the relationship of the root *venes- with Latin venenum, in the sense of a charm, in myth, Venus-Aphrodite was born of sea-foam. Roman theology presents Venus as the yielding, watery female principle, essential to the generation and her male counterparts in the Roman pantheon, Vulcan and Mars, are active and fiery. Venus absorbs and tempers the male essence, uniting the opposites of male and female in mutual affection and she is essentially assimilative and benign, and embraces several otherwise quite disparate functions. She can give military victory, sexual success, good fortune, in one context, she is a goddess of prostitutes, in another, she turns the hearts of men and women from sexual vice to virtue. Images of Venus have been found in murals, mosaics. Petronius, in his Satyricon, places an image of Venus among the Lares of the freedman Trimalchios lararium, prospective brides offered Venus a gift before the wedding, the nature of the gift, and its timing, are unknown. Some Roman sources say that girls who come of age offer their toys to Venus, it is unclear where the offering is made, in dice-games, a popular pastime among Romans of all classes, the luckiest, best possible roll was known as Venus. Venus signs were for the most part the same as Aphrodites, Venus statues, and her worshipers, wore myrtle crowns at her festivals. Likewise, Roman folk-etymology transformed the ancient, obscure goddess Murcia into Venus of the Myrtles, myrtle was thought a particularly potent aphrodisiac. The female pudendum, particularly the clitoris, was known as murtos, as goddess of love and sex, Venus played an essential role at Roman prenuptial rites and wedding nights, so myrtle and roses were used in bridal bouquets. Marriage itself was not a seduction but a condition, under Junos authority. Venus was also a patron of the ordinary, everyday wine drunk by most Roman men and women, in the rites to Bona Dea, a goddess of female chastity, Venus, myrtle and anything male were not only excluded, but unmentionable
Venus (mythology)
–
Venus on seashell, from the Casa di Venus,
Pompeii. Before 79 AD.
Venus (mythology)
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Marcus Aurelius (
head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Venus (mythology)
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Bronze figurine of Venus,
Lyon (Roman
Lugdunum)
Venus (mythology)
–
Remains of the
Temple of Venus Genetrix in the
Forum of Caesar, Rome.
11.
Charles LeBrun
–
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 LeBrun
–
Charles Le Brun, portrait by
Nicolas de Largilliere
Charles LeBrun
–
Portrait of Nicolas Le Brun by Charles Le Brun, ca. 1635,
Residenzgalerie, Salzburg
Charles LeBrun
–
Venus Clipping Cupid’s Wings, ca. 1655,
Museo de Arte de Ponce,
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Charles LeBrun
–
Part of the ceilling of the
Hall of Mirrors in the
Palace of Versailles.
12.
Pietro da Cortona
–
Pietro da Cortona was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini and he was also an important designer of interior decorations. He was born Pietro Berrettini, but is known by the name of his native town of Cortona in Tuscany. He worked mainly in Rome and Florence, only a limited number of his architectural projects were built but nonetheless they are as distinctive and as inventive as those of his rivals. Berrettini was born into a family of artisans and masons, in Cortona and he trained in painting in Florence under Andrea Commodi, but soon he departed for Rome at around 1612/3, where he joined the studio of Baccio Ciarpi. In Rome, he had encouragement from many prominent patrons, according to Cortonas biographers his gifted copy of Raphaels Galatea fresco brought him to the attention of Marcello Sacchetti, papal treasurer during the Barberini papacy. Such contacts helped him gain a major commission in Rome. In 1633, Pope Urban VIII commissioned from Cortona a large painting for the main salon ceiling of the Barberini family palace. It was completed six years later, following Cortonas influential visit to northern Italy where he would have seen at first hand perspectival works by Paolo Veronese, Cortonas huge Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power marks a watershed in Baroque painting. The ornamented architectural framework essentially forms five compartments, the central and most significant part celebrates the glorification of the reign of Urban VIII in a light filled scene populated with allegorical figures and Barberini family emblems. The illusion of spatial extension through paint, the grandiose theme, the first two represented the ages of silver and gold. In 1641, he was recalled to paint the Bronze Age and he began work on the decoration of the grand-ducal reception rooms on the first floor of the Palazzo Pitti, now part of the Palatine Gallery. These highly ornate ceilings with frescoes and elaborate stucco work essentially celebrate the Medici lineage, Pietro left Florence in 1647, and his pupil and collaborator, Ciro Ferri, completed the cycle by the 1660s. For a number of years, Cortona was involved for decades in the decoration of the frescoes in the Oratorian Chiesa Nuova in Rome. Other frescoes are in Palazzo Pamphilj in Piazza Navona, in 1660, he executed The Stoning of Saint Stephen for the church of San Ambrogio della Massima in Rome. The work currently hangs in the Hermitage, towards the end of his life he devoted much of his time to architecture, but he published a treatise on painting in 1652 under a pseudonym and in collaboration. He refused invitations to both France and Spain and he was elected as director of the Academy of St Luke the painters guild in Rome, in 1634. It was at the Academy in 1636 that Cortona and Andrea Sacchi were involved in controversies regarding the number of figures that were appropriate in a painted work
Pietro da Cortona
–
Self-Portrait
Pietro da Cortona
–
Marcello Sacchetti (sv) by Cortona (1627)
Pietro da Cortona
–
Triumph of
Divine Providence
Pietro da Cortona
–
The
Golden Age by Pietro da Cortona.
13.
Palazzo Pitti
–
The Palazzo Pitti, in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the side of the River Arno. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the residence of Luca Pitti. The palace was bought by the Medici family in 1549 and became the residence of the ruling families of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It grew as a treasure house as later generations amassed paintings, plates, jewelry. In the late 18th century, the palazzo was used as a base by Napoleon. The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1919, the palazzo is now the largest museum complex in Florence. The principal palazzo block, often in a building of design known as the corps de logis, is 32,000 square metres. It is divided into several principal galleries or museums detailed below, the construction of this severe and forbidding building was commissioned in 1458 by the Florentine banker Luca Pitti, a principal supporter and friend of Cosimo de Medici. The early history of the Palazzo Pitti is a mixture of fact, Pitti is alleged to have instructed that the windows be larger than the entrance of the Palazzo Medici. Besides obvious differences from the architects style, Brunelleschi died 12 years before construction of the palazzo began. The design and fenestration suggest that the architect was more experienced in utilitarian domestic architecture than in the humanist rules defined by Alberti in his book De Re Aedificatoria. Though impressive, the original palazzo would have no rival to the Florentine Medici residences in terms of either size or content. Whoever the architect of the Palazzo Pitti was, he was moving against the flow of fashion. The rusticated stonework gives the palazzo a severe and powerful atmosphere, reinforced by the series of seven arch-headed apertures. The Roman-style architecture appealed to the Florentine love of the new style allantica, work stopped after Pitti suffered financial losses following the death of Cosimo de Medici in 1464. Luca Pitti died in 1472 with the building unfinished, the building was sold in 1549 by Buonaccorso Pitti, a descendant of Luca Pitti, to Eleonora di Toledo. Raised at the court of Naples, Eleonora was the wife of Cosimo I de Medici of Tuscany
Palazzo Pitti
–
Early,
tinted 20th-century photograph of the Palazzo Pitti, then still known as La Residenza Reale following the residency of
King Victor Emmanuel II between 1865 and 1871, when Florence was the capital of Italy.
Palazzo Pitti
–
Luca Pitti (1398–1472) began work on the palazzo in 1458.
Palazzo Pitti
–
Eleonora di Toledo,
Duchess of Florence, bought the palazzo from the Pitti in 1549 for the Medici. Portrait after
Bronzino.
Palazzo Pitti
–
A
lunette painted in 1599 by
Giusto Utens, depicts the palazzo before its extensions, with the
amphitheatre and the Boboli Gardens behind. The red stone excavated from the site was used in extensions to the palazzo.
14.
Augustus
–
Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Roman emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in AD14. He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia and his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesars will as his adopted son and heir, then known as Octavianus. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar, following their victory at the Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvate was eventually torn apart by the ambitions of its members. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, in reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and it took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis, the resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of peace known as the Pax Romana. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, expanding into Germania, beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of client states and made peace with the Parthian Empire through diplomacy. Augustus died in AD14 at the age of 75 and he probably died from natural causes, although there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son Tiberius, Augustus was known by many names throughout his life, At birth, he was named Gaius Octavius after his biological father. Historians typically refer to him simply as Octavius between his birth in 63 until his adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, upon his adoption, he took Caesars name and became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus in accordance with Roman adoption naming standards. He quickly dropped Octavianus from his name, and his contemporaries referred to him as Caesar during this period, historians. In 27 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra and it is the events of 27 BC from which he obtained his traditional name of Augustus, which historians use in reference to him from 27 BC until his death in AD14. While his paternal family was from the town of Velletri, approximately 40 kilometres from Rome and he was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his fathers victory at Thurii over a band of slaves. Due to the nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his fathers home village at Velletri to be raised. Octavius only mentions his fathers equestrian family briefly in his memoirs and his paternal great-grandfather Gaius Octavius was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War
Augustus
–
The statue known as the
Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century
Augustus
–
The Death of Caesar, by
Jean-Léon Gérôme (1867). On 15 March 44 BC, Octavius's adoptive father Julius Caesar was assassinated by a conspiracy led by
Marcus Junius Brutus and
Gaius Cassius Longinus.
Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore.
Augustus
–
A statue of Augustus as a younger Octavian, dated ca. 30 BC
Augustus
–
Bust of Augustus in
Musei Capitolini, Rome
15.
Alexander the Great
–
Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty. He was born in Pella in 356 BC and succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of twenty and he was undefeated in battle and is widely considered one of historys most successful military commanders. During his youth, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16, after Philips assassination in 336 BC, he succeeded his father to the throne and inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. Alexander was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his fathers Panhellenic project to lead the Greeks in the conquest of Persia, in 334 BC, he invaded the Achaemenid Empire and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Following the conquest of Anatolia, Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of battles, most notably the battles of Issus. He subsequently overthrew Persian King Darius III and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in its entirety, at that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. He sought to reach the ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea and invaded India in 326 BC and he eventually turned back at the demand of his homesick troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, the city that he planned to establish as his capital, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in the establishment of several states ruled by the Diadochi, Alexanders surviving generals, Alexanders legacy includes the cultural diffusion which his conquests engendered, such as Greco-Buddhism. He founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt, Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of Achilles, and he features prominently in the history and mythic traditions of both Greek and non-Greek cultures. He became the measure against which military leaders compared themselves, and he is often ranked among the most influential people in human history. He was the son of the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his wife, Olympias. Although Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his wife for some time. Several legends surround Alexanders birth and childhood, sometime after the wedding, Philip is said to have seen himself, in a dream, securing his wifes womb with a seal engraved with a lions image. Plutarch offered a variety of interpretations of dreams, that Olympias was pregnant before her marriage, indicated by the sealing of her womb. On the day Alexander was born, Philip was preparing a siege on the city of Potidea on the peninsula of Chalcidice. That same day, Philip received news that his general Parmenion had defeated the combined Illyrian and Paeonian armies, and it was also said that on this day, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, burnt down. This led Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it had burnt down because Artemis was away, such legends may have emerged when Alexander was king, and possibly at his own instigation, to show that he was superhuman and destined for greatness from conception
Alexander the Great
–
"Alexander fighting king
Darius III of Persia ",
Alexander Mosaic,
Naples National Archaeological Museum.
Alexander the Great
–
Bust of a young Alexander the Great from the Hellenistic era,
British Museum
Alexander the Great
–
Aristotle tutoring Alexander, by
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
Alexander the Great
–
Philip II of Macedon, Alexander's father.
16.
Cyrus the Great
–
Cyrus II of Persia, commonly known as Cyrus the Great and also called Cyrus the Elder by the Greeks, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. From the Mediterranean Sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, under his successors, the empire eventually stretched at its maximum extent from parts of the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east. His regal titles in full were The Great King, King of Persia, King of Anshan, King of Media, King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, the reign of Cyrus the Great lasted between 29 and 31 years. Cyrus built his empire by conquering first the Median Empire, then the Lydian Empire, either before or after Babylon, he led an expedition into central Asia, which resulted in major campaigns that were described as having brought into subjection every nation without exception. Cyrus did not venture into Egypt, as he died in battle. He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II, who managed to add to the empire by conquering Egypt, Nubia, Cyrus the Great respected the customs and religions of the lands he conquered. This became a successful model for centralized administration and establishing a government working to the advantage. In fact, the administration of the empire through satraps and the principle of forming a government at Pasargadae were the works of Cyrus. Cyrus the Great is also recognized for his achievements in human rights, politics. Having originated from Persis, roughly corresponding to the modern Iranian province of Fars and this view has been criticized by some historians as a misunderstanding of the Cylinders generic nature as a traditional statement that new monarchs make at the beginning of their reign. The name Cyrus is a Latinized form derived from the Greek Κῦρος, Kỹros, the name and its meaning has been recorded in ancient inscriptions in different languages. This may also point to a relationship to the mythological first king of Persia, Jamshid. Karl Hoffmann has suggested a translation based on the meaning of an Indo-European-root to humiliate, in the Persian language and especially in Iran, Cyruss name is spelled as کوروش. In the Bible, he is known as Koresh, the Persian domination and kingdom in the Iranian plateau started by an extension of the Achaemenid dynasty, who expanded their earlier domination possibly from the 9th century BC onward. The eponymous founder of dynasty was Achaemenes. Achaemenids are descendants of Achaemenes as Darius the Great, the king of the dynasty, traces his genealogy to him. Ancient documents mention that Teispes had a son called Cyrus I, Cyrus I had a full brother whose name is recorded as Ariaramnes. In 600 BC, Cyrus I was succeeded by his son, Cambyses I, Cyrus the Great was a son of Cambyses I, who named his son after his father, Cyrus I
Cyrus the Great
–
Cyrus the Great with a
Hemhem crown
Cyrus the Great
–
"I am Cyrus the king, an
Achaemenid." in
Old Persian,
Elamite and
Akkadian languages. It is carved in a column in Pasargadae.
Cyrus the Great
–
The four-winged guardian figure representing Cyrus the Great, a
bas-relief found at
Pasargadae on top of which was once inscribed in three languages the sentence "I am Cyrus the king, an
Achaemenian."
Cyrus the Great
–
Painting of king
Astyages sending
Harpagus to kill young Cyrus
17.
La Rochelle
–
La Rochelle is a city in southwestern France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department, the city is connected to the Île de Ré by a 2. 9-kilometre bridge completed on 19 May 1988. Its harbour opens into a protected strait, the Pertuis dAntioche, the area of La Rochelle was occupied in antiquity by the Gallic tribe of the Santones, who gave their name to the nearby region of Saintonge and the city of Saintes. The Romans subsequently occupied the area, where they developed salt production along the coast as well as wine production, roman villas have been found at Saint-Éloi and at Les Minimes, as well as salt evaporation ponds dating from the same period. La Rochelle was founded during the 10th century and became an important harbour in the 12th century, in 1137, Guillaume X to all intents and purposes made La Rochelle a free port and gave it the right to establish itself as a commune. Fifty years later Eleanor of Aquitaine upheld the communal charter promulgated by her father, and for the first time in France, Guillaume was assisted in his responsibilities by 24 municipal magistrates, and 75 notables who had jurisdiction over the inhabitants. During the Plantagenet control of the city in 1185, Henry II had the Vauclair castle built, the main activities of the city were in the areas of maritime commerce and trade, especially with England, the Netherlands and Spain. In 1196, a wealthy bourgeois named Alexandre Auffredi sent a fleet of seven ships to Africa to tap the riches of the continent. He went bankrupt and went into poverty as he waited for the return of his ships, the Knights Templar had a strong presence in La Rochelle since before the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who exempted them from duties and gave them mills in her 1139 Charter. La Rochelle was for the Templars their largest base on the Atlantic Ocean, from La Rochelle, they were able to act as intermediaries in trade between England and the Mediterranean. The fleet allegedly left laden with knights and treasures just before the issue of the warrant for the arrest of the Order in October 1307, during the Hundred Years War in 1360, following the Treaty of Bretigny La Rochelle again came under the rule of the English monarch. La Rochelle however expelled the English in June 1372, following the naval Battle of La Rochelle, the French and Spanish decisively defeated the English, securing French control of the Channel for the first time since the Battle of Sluys in 1340. The naval battle of La Rochelle was one of the first cases of the use of handguns on warships, having recovered freedom, La Rochelle refused entry to Du Guesclin, until Charles V recognized the privileges of the city in November 1372. In 1402, the French adventurer Jean de Béthencourt left La Rochelle, until the 15th century, La Rochelle was to be the largest French harbour on the Atlantic coast, dealing mainly in wine, salt and cheese. During the Renaissance, La Rochelle adopted Protestant ideas, calvinism started to be propagated in the region of La Rochelle, resulting in its suppression through the establishment of Cours présidiaux tribunals by Henry II. An early result of this was the burning at the stake of two heretics in La Rochelle in 1552. On the initiative of Gaspard de Coligny, the Calvinists attempted to colonize the New World to find a new home for their religion, with the likes of Pierre Richier and Jean de Léry. After the short-lived attempt of France Antarctique, they failed to establish a colony in Brazil and he has been described, by Lancelot Voisin de La Popelinière, as le père de léglise de La Rochelle
La Rochelle
–
La Rochelle
La Rochelle
–
Coastline around La Rochelle in
Roman times.
La Rochelle
–
Left image:
Vauclair castle was built by the English in 1185. Right image: Remnants of Vauclair castle, Place de Verdun, La Rochelle.
La Rochelle
18.
Library of Alexandria
–
The Royal Library of Alexandria or Ancient Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. It was dedicated to the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts, the library was part of a larger research institution called the Musaeum of Alexandria, where many of the most famous thinkers of the ancient world studied. The library was created by Ptolemy I Soter, who was a Macedonian general, most of the books were kept as papyrus scrolls. It is unknown precisely how many such scrolls were housed at any given time, arguably, this library is most famous for having been burned down resulting in the loss of many scrolls and books, its destruction has become a symbol for the loss of cultural knowledge. Sources differ on who was responsible for its destruction and when it occurred, the library may in truth have suffered several fires over many years. Possible occasions for the partial or complete destruction of the Library of Alexandria include a set by the army of Julius Caesar in 48 BC. After the main library was destroyed, scholars used a library in a temple known as the Serapeum. The library may have finally been destroyed during the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD642, the library itself is known to have had an acquisitions department and a cataloguing department. A hall contained shelves for the collections of papyrus scrolls known as bibliothekai, according to popular description, an inscription above the shelves read, The place of the cure of the soul. The library was but one part of the Musaeum of Alexandria, in addition to the library, the Musaeum included rooms for the study of astronomy, anatomy, and even a zoo containing exotic animals. The classical thinkers who studied, wrote, and experimented at the Musaeum include the names of mathematics, astronomy, physics, geometry, engineering, geography, physiology. These included notable thinkers such as Euclid, Archimedes, Eratosthenes, Herophilus, Erasistratus, Hipparchus, Aedesia, Pappus, Theon, Hypatia and it is not possible to determine the collections size in any era with any certainty. A single piece of writing might occupy several scrolls, and this division into self-contained books was an aspect of editorial work. King Ptolemy II Philadelphus is said to have set 500,000 scrolls as an objective for the library. The librarys index, Callimachus Pinakes, was lost with the rest of the library and this library, with the largest holdings of the age, acquired its collection by laborious copying of originals. Galen spoke of how all ships visiting the city were obliged to surrender their books for immediate copying, the owners received a copy while the pharaohs kept the originals in the library within their museum. As a research institution, the library filled its stacks with new works in mathematics, astronomy, physics, natural sciences and its empirical standards applied in one of the first and certainly strongest homes for serious textual criticism. As the same text often existed in different versions, comparative textual criticism was crucial for ensuring their veracity
Library of Alexandria
–
The Great Library of Alexandria, O. Von Corven, 19th century
Library of Alexandria
–
This Latin inscription regarding
Tiberius Claudius Balbilus of Rome (d. c. AD 79) mentions the "ALEXANDRINA BYBLIOTHECE" (line eight).
Library of Alexandria
–
The Burning of the Library at Alexandria in 391 AD, an illustration from 'Hutchinsons History of the Nations', c. 1910
Library of Alexandria
–
5th century scroll which illustrates the destruction of the Serapeum by Theophilus
19.
History of the Palace of Versailles
–
The Palace of Versailles is a royal château in Versailles, in the Île-de-France region of France. When the château was built, Versailles was a village, today, however, it is a suburb of Paris. Versailles is therefore not only as a building, but as well as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. During this period, the village of Versailles centred on a castle and church. In 1575, Albert de Gondi, a naturalized Florentine who gained prominence at the court of Henry II, in the early seventeenth century, Gondi invited Louis XIII on several hunting trips in the forests surrounding Versailles. Pleased with the location, Louis ordered the construction of a lodge in 1624. Designed by Philibert Le Roy, the structure, a small château, was constructed of stone and red brick, eight years later, Louis obtained the seigneury of Versailles from the Gondi family and began to make enlargements to the château. Adjacent exterior towers were located at the four corners, with the entire structure surrounded by a moat and this was preceded by two service wings, creating a forecourt with a grilled entrance marked by two round towers. The vignette also shows a garden on the side of the château with a fountain on the central axis. Louis XIV had played and hunted at the site as a boy, with a few modifications, this structure would become the core of the new palace. Louis XIIIs successor, Louis XIV, had a great interest in Versailles and he settled on the royal hunting lodge at Versailles, and over the following decades had it expanded into one of the largest palaces in the world. Beginning in 1661, the architect Louis Le Vau, landscape architect André Le Nôtre and this was done to fulfill Louis XIVs desire to establish a new centre for the royal court. Following the Treaties of Nijmegen in 1678, he began to move the court to Versailles. The court was established there on 6 May 1682. By moving his court and government to Versailles, Louis XIV hoped to more control of the government from the nobility. All the power of France emanated from this centre, there were government offices here, as well as the homes of thousands of courtiers, their retinues, like other French court manners, étiquette was quickly imitated in other European courts. The expansion of the château became synonymous with the absolutism of Louis XIV, in 1661, following the death of Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of the government, Louis had declared that he would be his own chief minister. The idea of establishing the court at Versailles was conceived to ensure all of his advisors
History of the Palace of Versailles
–
The main construction of Versailles took place in four campaigns between 1664 and 1710
History of the Palace of Versailles
–
The château, c. 1630–1640, as shown on the map of Jacques Gomboust (fr)
History of the Palace of Versailles
–
Statue of
Louis XIV in Versailles
History of the Palace of Versailles
–
The château circa 1668, as painted by
Pierre Patel (
Versailles Museum)
20.
Billiard room
–
A billiard room is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table. The term billiard room is also used as synonymous with billiard hall i. e. a business providing public access to hourly-rental or coin-operated billiard tables. The billiard room room may be in the center of the house or the private areas of the house. Billiard rooms require proper lighting and clearances for game playing, although there are adjustable cue sticks on the market,5 feet of clearance around the pool table is ideal. Interior designer Charlotte Moss believed that a room is synonymous with group dynamics. Its where you mix drinks and embark on a friendly competition. Billiards probably developed from one of the century or early-15th century lawn games in which players hit balls with sticks. The earliest mention of pool as a table game is in a 1470 inventory list of the accounts of King Louis XI of France. Following the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, billiard rooms were added to some famous 18th century cafes in Paris, although billiards had long been enjoyed by both men and women, a trend towards male suites developed in 19th century Great Britain. These male suites paired billiard rooms with smoking rooms and sometimes libraries, one example of these male suites is Castle Carr near Halifax. By the turn of the century, billiard rooms were considered a feature in great British houses with House Beautiful claiming Up-to-date owners of English estates have installed billiard rooms. Many mid- and late-19th century billiard rooms were designed in an Oriental or Moorish style, mark Twains billiard room in Hartford, CT was decorated with quasi-Moorish stencils. The late 19th and early 20th century represent the billiard rooms heyday
Billiard room
–
The billiard room at the historic
Spadina House in Toronto
21.
Petit appartement du roi
–
The petit appartement du roi of the Palace of Versailles is a suite of rooms used by Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI. Located on the first floor of the palace, the rooms are found in the oldest part of the palace dating from the reign of Louis XIII, under Louis XIV, these rooms housed the king’s collections of artworks and books, forming a museum of sorts. Under Louis XV and Louis XVI, the rooms were modified to accommodate private living quarters, at this time, the rooms were transformed and their decoration represent some of the finest extant examples of the style Louis XV and style Louis XVI at Versailles. Beginning in 1678, Louis XIV began to modify these rooms for his particular private needs, the configuration of the rooms dating from the time of Louis XIII was modified. The most significant alteration for this era was the relocation of the degré du roi from the exterior cour de marbre to the interior cour du roi and this relocation of the staircase precipitated the rearrangement of rooms in this part of the château to become the petit appartement du roi. In Louis XIVs day, these rooms – cabinets de curiosités – formed a museum for the king’s private collections. Additionally, the king kept several of his dogs in this room so that he could care for them personally. The salon du degré du roi occupies the site of a staircase dating from the time of Louis XIII, by 1684, a new staircase – the degré du roi – had been constructed just north of the old staircase in the cour du roi. The salon du degré du roi served as entrance to the staircase that was reserved for the Louis XIVs personal use, among the masters displayed in the room were the works from the Italian schools by Correggio, Raphael, Giorgione, Giulio Romano and Titian. Additionally, there were arranged in the room in which Louis XIV kept his collection of carved rock crystal. In 1692, the cabinet des coquilles and the salon ovale were created and these rooms, along with cabinet des médailles formed the main rooms of the Louis XIVs cabinets de curiosités. The richness of the decoration – fully gilt paneling and mirrors – complemented the arrangement of some of the most valuable paintings in Louis XIVs collection, the cabinet des coquilles originally housed some a portion of the king’s gem collection. In 1708, the room was converted into a library – cabinet aux livres – in which Louis XIV kept his collection of rare books and manuscripts. As with the rooms, the petite galerie and its two salons housed precious gems and paintings that the king had either inherited or collected. Pierre Mignard, Charles Le Brun’s archrival was charged with the painting of the ceilings of the petite galerie, in the petite galerie and its two salons, Louis XIV displayed many of the most valued paintings in his collection. The petite galerie was given almost entirely to works by Italian masters with the works by Francesco Albani, Annibale Carracci, Guido Reni, Louis XIV lavished much attention to these rooms intending to have the walls clad with panels inlaid with tortoise shell and lapis-lazuli. However, owing to the demands of the War of the League of Augsburg. Nevertheless, the petite gallerie and its two salons were used by Louis XIV for entertaining foreign dignitaries, such as the Crown Prince of Denmark in 1693 and the Elector of Cologne in 1706
Petit appartement du roi
–
Cabinet de jeux of
Louis XVI
Petit appartement du roi
–
The petit appartement du roi ca. 1693
22.
Persian rug
–
Carpet weaving is an essential part of Persian culture and art. Within the group of Oriental rugs or Islamic carpets produced by the countries of the rug belt. Persian carpets and rugs of various types were woven in parallel by nomadic tribes, in village and town workshops, as such, they represent different, simultaneous lines of tradition, and reflect the history of Iran and its various peoples. Their patterns and designs have set a tradition for court manufactories which was kept alive during the entire duration of the Persian Empire up to the last royal dynasty of Iran. Town manufactories like those of Tabriz have played an important historical role in reviving the tradition of carpet weaving after periods of decline, Rugs woven by the villages and various tribes of Iran are distinguished by their fine wool, bright and elaborate colours, and specific, traditional patterns. Gabbeh rugs are the type of carpet from this line of tradition. The art and craft of weaving has gone through periods of decline during times of political unrest. It particularly suffered from the introduction of synthetic dyes during the half of the nineteenth century. Carpet weaving still plays a part in the economy of modern Iran. Hand-woven Persian carpets and rugs were regarded as objects of artistic and utilitarian value and prestige from the first time they were mentioned by ancient Greek writers. In 2010, the skills of carpet weaving in Fārs. The beginning of carpet weaving remains unknown, as carpets are subject to use, deterioration, woven rugs probably developed from earlier floor coverings, made of felt, or a technique known as flat weaving. Flat-woven rugs are made by tightly interweaving the warp and weft strands of the weave to produce a surface with no pile. The technique of weaving carpets further developed into a known as loop weaving. Loop weaving is done by pulling the strings over a gauge rod. The rod is then removed, leaving the loops closed, or the loops are cut over the protecting rod. Hand-woven pile rugs are produced by knotting strings of thread individually into the warps, the Pazyryk carpet was excavated in 1949 from the grave of a Scythian nobleman in the Pazyryk Valley of the Altai Mountains in Siberia. Radiocarbon testing indicated that the Pazyryk carpet was woven in the 5th century BC and this carpet is 183 by 200 centimetres and has 36 symmetrical knots per cm²
Persian rug
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Persian arts
Persian rug
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The
Pazyryk Carpet. Circa 400 BC.
Hermitage Museum
Persian rug
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A Mongol prince studying the Koran. Illustration of Rashid-ad-Din's Gami' at-tawarih. Tabriz (?), 1st quarter of 14th century
Persian rug
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So-called "Salting" carpet. Wool, silk and metal thread. Safavid period, about 1600.
23.
Charles de La Fosse
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Charles de La Fosse, French painter, was born in Paris. He was one of the most noted and least servile pupils of Le Brun, leaving France in 1662, he spent two years in Rome and three in Venice. The influence of his studies of Veronese is evident in his Finding of Moses, and in his Rape of Proserpine. The decorations of Montagu House are destroyed, those of Versailles are restored, during his latter years La Fosse executed many other important decorations in public buildings and private houses, notably in that of Crozat, under whose roof he died on 13 December 1716. La Fosses style prior to his emergence from the shadow of Le Brun remains a mystery and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed
Charles de La Fosse
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Charles de La Fosse
Charles de La Fosse
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Charles de La Fosse, Clytia changed into a sunflower,
Grand Trianon,
Palace of Versailles, 1688
Charles de La Fosse
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Charles de La Fosse - Bacchus and Ariadne
24.
Poison affair
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The Affair of the Poisons was a major murder scandal in France which took place in 1677–1682, during the reign of King Louis XIV of France. During it, a number of prominent members of the aristocracy were implicated and sentenced on charges of poisoning, the scandal reached into the inner circle of the king. It led to the execution of 36 people, there were also rumours that she had poisoned poor people during her visits in hospitals. After being accused she fled, but was arrested in Liège, brinvilliers was tortured and confessed, was sentenced to death, and on 17 July was tortured with the water cure, beheaded, and her body burned at the stake. Her alleged accomplice Sainte-Croix did not face charges because he had died of causes in 1672. The sensational trial drew attention to a number of mysterious deaths. Prominent people, including Louis XIV, became alarmed that they might be poisoned, the affair proper opened in February 1677 after the arrest of Magdelaine de La Grange on charges of forgery and murder. La Grange appealed to François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis of Louvois, Louvois reported to the king, who told Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie, who, among other things, was the chief of the Paris police, to root out the poisoners. La Reynie sought to calm the king, the subsequent investigation of potential poisoners led to accusations of witchcraft, murder and more. Authorities rounded up a number of fortune tellers and alchemists who were suspected of selling not only divinations, séances and aphrodisiacs, but also inheritance powders. Some of them confessed under torture and gave lists of their clients. The most famous case was that of midwife Catherine Deshayes Monvoisin or La Voisin, La Voisin implicated a number of important individuals in the French court. Questioned while intoxicated, La Voisin claimed that Montespan had bought aphrodisiacs and performed black masses with her in order to gain and she had worked with a priest named Étienne Guibourg. There was no evidence beyond her confessions, but bad reputations followed these people afterwards, eleanor Herman, in her book Sex with Kings, claims that the police, given reports of babies bones, uncovered the remains of 2,500 infants in La Voisins garden. However, Anne Somerset disputes this in her book The Affair of the Poisons, also involved in the scandal was Eustache Dauger de Cavoye, the eldest living scion of a prominent noble family. Cavoye was disinherited by his family when, in an act of debauchery, upon his disinheritance, he opened a lucrative trade in inheritance powders and aphrodisiacs. He mysteriously disappeared after the ending of Louiss official investigation in 1678. Because of this and his name, he was suspected of being the Man in the Iron Mask
Poison affair
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Catherine Deshayes, " La Voisin ", 17th-century print of her portrait held by a winged devil.
Poison affair
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Gabriel-Nicolas de la Reynie (1625–1709), 17th century print by
Pierre Mignard.
Poison affair
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Marie Madeleine Marguerite d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, 1676, after her imprisonment, portrait by
Charles LeBrun.
Poison affair
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Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise de Montespan.
25.
OCLC
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The Online Computer Library Center is a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worlds information and reducing information costs. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services, the group first met on July 5,1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization. The group hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The goal of network and database was to bring libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the worlds information in order to best serve researchers and scholars. The first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26,1971 and this was the first occurrence of online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data, between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States. As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside of Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with networks, organizations that provided training, support, by 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on OCLC Members Council, in early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic, abstract and full-text information to anyone, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. org, in October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988, a browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013, it was replaced by the Classify Service. S. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users and this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. OCLC has produced cards for members since 1971 with its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, e. g. CONTENTdm for managing digital collections, OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications and these publications, including journal articles, reports, newsletters, and presentations, are available through the organizations website. The most recent publications are displayed first, and all archived resources, membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding
OCLC
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Fred Kilgour (1st director of OCLC)
OCLC
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Online Computer Library Center (OCLC)
OCLC
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OCLC headquarters (Ohio)
OCLC
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OCLC offices in Leiden (the Netherlands)
26.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
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A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
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