1.
Perpignan
–
Perpignan is a city, a commune, and the capital of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Perpignan was the capital of the province and County of Roussillon. In 2013 Perpignan had 118,238 inhabitants in the city proper, the metropolitan area had a total population of 305,837 in 2010. Perpignan is located in the center of the Roussillon plain,13 km west of the Mediterranean coast and it is the southern most of the cities of metropolitan France. Perpignan is crossed by the largest river in Roussillon, the Têt, and by one of its tributaries, floods often occur, as in 1892 when the rising of the Têt in Perpignan destroyed 39 houses, leaving more than 60 families homeless. Perpignan experiences a Mediterranean climate similar to much of the Mediterranean coastline of France, roads The motorway A9 connects Perpignan with Barcelona and Montpellier. Trains Perpignan is served by the Gare de Perpignan railway station, which offers connections to Paris, Barcelona, Toulouse, salvador Dalí proclaimed it to be the Center of the Universe after experiencing a vision of cosmogonic ecstasy there in 1963. Airport The nearest airport is Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport, attested forms The name of Perpignan appears in 927 as Perpinianum, followed in 959 by Villa Perpiniano, Pirpinianum in the 11th century, Perpiniani in 1176. Perpenyà, which appears in the 13th century, is the most common form until the 15th century, though settlement in the area goes back to Roman times, the medieval town of Perpignan seems to have been founded around the beginning of the 10th century. Soon Perpignan became the capital of the counts of Roussillon, historically, it was part of the region known as Septimania. In 1172 Count Girard II bequeathed his lands to the Counts of Barcelona, Perpignan acquired the institutions of a partly self-governing commune in 1197. French feudal rights over Roussillon were given up by Louis IX in the Treaty of Corbeil, when James I the Conqueror, king of Aragon and count of Barcelona, founded the Kingdom of Majorca in 1276, Perpignan became the capital of the mainland territories of the new state. The succeeding decades are considered the age in the history of the city. It prospered as a centre of manufacture, leather work, goldsmiths work. King Philippe III of France died there in 1285, as he was returning from his crusade against the Aragonese Crown. In 1344 Peter IV of Aragon annexed the Kingdom of Majorca, a few years later it lost approximately half of its population to the Black Death. Perpignan is one of the houses of Lancaster Girls Grammar School, the festival has a broad mainstream focus with pop-related music as well as traditional acoustic guitar music and alternative music. The festival has attracted international guests like Caetano Veloso, Rumberos Catalans, Pedro Soler, Bernardo Sandoval, Peter Finger, in 2008, Perpignan became Capital of Catalan Culture
Perpignan
–
Perpignan seen from the Palace of the Kings of Majorca
Perpignan
–
Flag
Perpignan
–
The famous "
Sanch Procession " folklore, once forbidden by the
Church, is still celebrated in Perpignan,
Arles-sur-Tech and
Collioure.
Perpignan
–
Perpignan street name sign in French and Catalan.
2.
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.
3.
Antoine Ranc
–
Antoine Ranc was a French painter. Antoine Ranc was born at Montpellier around 1634 to a modest family and he became a student of the Flemish artist Jean Zueil, nicknamed le français, who probably brought the north European painting style to that city in the Languedoc. Ranc is also known to have been apprenticed to Zueils brother in law, Ranc then travelled to Rome around 1654 with François Bertrand, another painter from Montpellier, who became godfather to Rancs third son in 1677. From 1667, Ranc was back in his birthplace, where he received the commission for a major painting for the high altar of the église Notre-Dame-des-Tables. In 1671, the young Hyacinthe Rigaud joined his studio and copied the Van Dycks which Ranc owned. Ranc then became associated with Jean de Troy, an artist from Toulouse who had just set up in Montpellier, antoines first two sons, Jean and Guillaume both became painters. In 1685 two more followed, one of whom was Jean-baptiste, later a royal engineer. On Jean de Troys death, Ranc was in greater demand for religious paintings. Ponsonailhé, « Les deux Ranc, peintres de Montpellier » dans Réunion de la Société des Beaux-arts des départements, the Ranc family Léglise Notre-Dame-des-Tables de Montpellier
Antoine Ranc
–
Presumed portrait of Antoine Ranc by
Hyacinthe Rigaud – c. 1687. Narbonne, musée des Beaux-arts
4.
Baroque painting
–
Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. Baroque art was meant to evoke emotion and passion instead of the rationality that had been prized during the Renaissance. Among the greatest painters of the Baroque period are Velázquez, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin, Caravaggio is an heir of the humanist painting of the High Renaissance. Baroque painting often dramatizes scenes using light effects, this can be seen in works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Le Nain. The Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck developed a graceful but imposing portrait style that was very influential, technical standards were very high, and Dutch Golden Age painting established a new repertoire of subjects that was very influential until the arrival of Modernism. The term Baroque was initially used with a meaning, to underline the excesses of its emphasis. Others derive it from the mnemonic term Baroco denoting, in logical Scholastica, in particular, the term was used to describe its eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details, which sharply contrasted the clear and sober rationality of the Renaissance. He did not make the distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Writers in French and English did not begin to treat Baroque as a respectable study until Wölfflins influence had made German scholarship pre-eminent. Led by Italy, Mediterranean countries, slowly followed by most of the Holy Roman Empire in Germany and Central Europe, while the Baroque nature of Rembrandts art is clear, the label is less use for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. In France a dignified and graceful classicism gave a distinctive flavour to Baroque painting, likeness and Presence, A History of the Image before the Era of Art. Mark Getlein, Living With Art, 8th edition, the Story of Art, Phaidon,1995. ISBN 0-7148-3355-X Christine Buci-Glucksmann, Baroque Reason, The Aesthetics of Modernity, the Age of Baroque Heinrich Wölfflin,1964. Renaissance and Baroque The classic study
Baroque painting
–
Rembrandt van Rijn,
The Night Watch or The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq, 1642, oil on canvas, 363 cm × 437 cm (143 in × 172 in),
Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam. The painting is a classic example of Baroque art.
Baroque painting
–
Nativity by
Josefa de Óbidos, 1669,
National Museum of Ancient Art,
Lisbon
Baroque painting
–
Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruisdael, Bentheim Castle (1653).
Baroque painting
–
Jan Brueghel the Elder, The Entry of the Animals Into Noah's Ark, 1613.
5.
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.
6.
Baroque painter
–
Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. Baroque art was meant to evoke emotion and passion instead of the rationality that had been prized during the Renaissance. Among the greatest painters of the Baroque period are Velázquez, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin, Caravaggio is an heir of the humanist painting of the High Renaissance. Baroque painting often dramatizes scenes using light effects, this can be seen in works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Le Nain. The Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck developed a graceful but imposing portrait style that was very influential, technical standards were very high, and Dutch Golden Age painting established a new repertoire of subjects that was very influential until the arrival of Modernism. The term Baroque was initially used with a meaning, to underline the excesses of its emphasis. Others derive it from the mnemonic term Baroco denoting, in logical Scholastica, in particular, the term was used to describe its eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details, which sharply contrasted the clear and sober rationality of the Renaissance. He did not make the distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Writers in French and English did not begin to treat Baroque as a respectable study until Wölfflins influence had made German scholarship pre-eminent. Led by Italy, Mediterranean countries, slowly followed by most of the Holy Roman Empire in Germany and Central Europe, while the Baroque nature of Rembrandts art is clear, the label is less use for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. In France a dignified and graceful classicism gave a distinctive flavour to Baroque painting, likeness and Presence, A History of the Image before the Era of Art. Mark Getlein, Living With Art, 8th edition, the Story of Art, Phaidon,1995. ISBN 0-7148-3355-X Christine Buci-Glucksmann, Baroque Reason, The Aesthetics of Modernity, the Age of Baroque Heinrich Wölfflin,1964. Renaissance and Baroque The classic study
Baroque painter
–
Rembrandt van Rijn,
The Night Watch or The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq, 1642, oil on canvas, 363 cm × 437 cm (143 in × 172 in),
Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam. The painting is a classic example of Baroque art.
Baroque painter
–
Nativity by
Josefa de Óbidos, 1669,
National Museum of Ancient Art,
Lisbon
Baroque painter
–
Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruisdael, Bentheim Castle (1653).
Baroque painter
–
Jan Brueghel the Elder, The Entry of the Animals Into Noah's Ark, 1613.
7.
Catalan people
–
The Catalans are a Romance ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia, who form a nationality in northern Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are included in this definition, also, Catalan is sometimes used to define people from the so-called Catalan Countries, expression used to include other areas where the Catalan is spoken. The aforementioned territories are often designated Països Catalans, Catalan Countries, the area that now is known primarily as Catalonia was, as the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, invaded in 1500 BCE by Proto-Celtic Urnfield people who brought the rite of burning the dead. These Indo-European people were absorbed by the Iberians beginning in 600 BCE in a process that would not be complete until the fourth century BCE. These groups came under the rule of various invading groups starting with the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, following the Punic Wars, the Romans replaced the Carthaginians as the dominant power in the Iberian eastern coast, including parts of Catalonia, by 206 BCE. Rome established Latin as the language and imparted a distinctly Roman culture upon the local population. An early precursor to the Catalan language began to develop from a form of popular Latin before. Various Germanic tribes arrived following nearly six centuries of Roman rule, the Visigoths established themselves in the fifth century and would rule the area until 718 when Muslim Arabs and Berbers conquered the region and held it for close to a century. The Franks held back small Muslim raiding parties, which had penetrated virtually unchallenged as far as central France, larger wars with the Muslims began with the Spanish March which led to the beginnings of the Reconquista by Catalan forces over most of Catalonia by the year 801. Barcelona became an important center for Christian forces in the Iberian Peninsula, Catalonia emerged from the conflicts in Muslim Spain as a regional power, as Christian rulers entrenched themselves in the region during the Carolingian period. Rulers such as Wilfred the Hairy became masters of a territory encompassing Catalonia. The Crown of Aragón included Catalonia, Aragón, Valencia, some sporadic regional unrest led to conflicts such as the Revolt of the Germanies in Valencia and Majorca, and the 1640 revolt in Catalonia known as the Reapers War. This latter conflict embroiled Spain in a war with France as many Catalan nobles allied themselves with Louis XIII. The Catalan government took sides with the Habsburg pretender against the Bourbon one during the War of the Spanish Succession that started in 1705 and ended in 1714. The Catalan failure to defend the perpetuation of Habsburg dynasty in Spain culminated in the surrender of Barcelona on 11 September 1714, which came to be commemorated as Catalonias national day. During the Napoleonic Wars, much of Catalonia was seized by French forces by 1808, in France, strong assimilationist policies integrated many Catalans into French society, while in Spain a Catalan identity was increasingly suppressed in favor of a national identity. The Catalans regained autonomy during the Spanish Second Republic from 1932 until Francisco Francos nationalist forces retook Catalonia by 1939. It was not until 1975 and the death of Franco that the Catalans as well as other Spaniards began to regain their right to cultural expression, which was restarted by the Spanish Constitution of 1978
Catalan people
–
Battle of the Puig by Andreu Marçal de Sax depicting the Christian victory with the aid of
Saint George.
Catalan people
–
After the Catalan defeat during the
War of Spanish Succession,
Philip V of Spain ordered to publicly burn all the Catalan flags and banners.
Catalan people
–
The
castells,
human towers, are part of the Catalan culture since 1712 and were declared by
UNESCO to be amongst the
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Catalan people
–
Catalan children wearing the traditional outfit, including the
barretina.
8.
Selfportrait
–
A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. With better and cheaper mirrors, and the advent of the panel portrait, Portrait of a Man in a Turban by Jan van Eyck of 1433 may well be the earliest known panel self-portrait. He painted a portrait of his wife, and he belonged to the social group that had begun to commission portraits. The genre is venerable, but not until the Renaissance, with increased wealth and interest in the individual as a subject, a self-portrait may be a portrait of the artist, or a portrait included in a larger work, including a group portrait. Many painters are said to have included depictions of specific individuals, including themselves, in these works, the artist usually appears as a face in the crowd or group, often towards the edges or corner of the work and behind the main participants. Rubenss The Four Philosophers is a good example and this culminated in the 17th century with the work of Jan de Bray. Many artistic media have used, apart from paintings, drawings. In the famous Arnolfini Portrait, Jan van Eyck is probably one of two figures glimpsed in a mirror – a surprisingly modern conceit. The Van Eyck painting may have inspired Diego Velázquez to depict himself in view as the painter creating Las Meninas, as the Van Eyck hung in the palace in Madrid where he worked. This was another modern flourish, given that he appears as the painter, in what may be one of the earliest childhood self-portraits now surviving, Albrecht Dürer depicts himself as in naturalistic style as a 13-year-old boy in 1484. In later years he appears variously as a merchant in the background of Biblical scenes, leonardo da Vinci may have drawn a picture of himself at the age of 60, in around 1512. The picture is often reproduced as Da Vincis appearance, although this is not certain. In the 17th century, Rembrandt painted a range of self-portraits, family and professional group paintings, including the artists depiction, became increasingly common from the 17th century on. From the later 20th century on, video plays a part in self-portraiture. Vigée-Lebrun painted a total of 37 self-portraits, many of which were copies of earlier ones, Women artists have historically embodied a number of roles within their self-portraiture. Most common is the artist at work, showing themselves in the act of painting, or at least holding a brush and palette. Often, the viewer if the clothes worn were those they normally painted in. Images of artists at work are encountered in Ancient Egyptian painting, one of the first self-portraits was made by the Pharaoh Akhenatens chief sculptor Bak in 1365 BC
Selfportrait
–
Raphael, c. 1517–1518,
Uffizi Gallery
Selfportrait
–
Pieter Claesz, Vanitas with Violin and Glass Ball, the artist is visible in the reflection, 1625.
Selfportrait
–
Sandro Botticelli 's painting of the
Adoration of the Magi has an "inserted self-portrait". The position in the (right) corner, and the gaze out to the viewer, are very typical of such self-portraits.
Selfportrait
–
Masaccio inserted self-portrait from the
Brancacci Chapel frescoes (as is the Filippino Lippi), 1424-6.
9.
Roussillon
–
Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales. It may also refer to Northern Catalonia or French Catalonia, the first used by Catalan-speakers, a 1998 survey found that 34% of respondents stated they speak Catalan, and a further 21% understand it. Roussillon was a French province before the Revolution and it derived its name from Ruscino, a small fortified place near modern-day Perpignan where Gaulish chieftains met to consider Hannibals request for a conference. The region formed part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis from 121 BC to AD462 and his successor, Amalaric, on his defeat by Clovis in 531, retired to Hispania, leaving a governor in Septimania. Roussillon was occupied by the Carolingians in 760, on the invasion of Hispania in 778, Charlemagne found the Marca Hispanica wasted by war and the inhabitants settled in the mountains. He granted some lands in the plains to Visigothic refugees from Moorish Hispania, in 792, the Saracens again invaded France, but they were repulsed by Count Guillaume of Toulouse - regent of the child Louis the Pious, King of Aquitaine - whose hegemony extended into Catalonia. The different portions of his kingdom in time grew into allodial fiefs and, in 893, but his rule only extended over the eastern part of what became the later province. The western part, the Cerdanya, was ruled in 900 by Miró as first count, the Counts of Roussillon were allied to their cousins the Counts of Empúries in a centuries-long conflict with the surrounding great nobles. Count Girard I participated in the First Crusade in the following of Raymond IV of Toulouse, and was one of the first to set foot in Jerusalem when it was stormed by the Crusaders in 1099. At the beginning of the 12th century, the prestige of the Counts of Barcelona began to rise to such a height that the Counts of Roussillon had no choice but to swear fealty to them. In 1111, Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, inherited the fief of Besalú, the possession of Roussillon by its last count, Girard II, was challenged by his illegitimate brothers. To ensure that his brothers would not inherit his territories, in his will Girard II left all his lands to Alfonso II of Aragon, who took possession in 1172. Under the Aragonese monarchs, economic and demographic growth of the continued, and Collioure. As the French and Spanish crowns grew in power, the region of Roussillon, James I of Aragon had wrested the Balearic Isles from the Moors and joined these islands with Roussillon to create the Kingdom of Majorca, with its capital at Perpignan. In 1276, James I granted this kingdom to his son, the subsequent disputes of this monarch with his brother Peter III were exploited by Philip III of France in his quarrel with Peter III for the crown of the Two Sicilies. Philip III espoused James IIs cause and led an army into Aragon but, retreating and his successor, James III of Majorca, refused to do homage to Philip VI of France for the seigneury of Montpellier, and applied to Peter IV of Aragon for aid. Peter not only refused, but declared war and seized Majorca, the province was now reunited to the Crown of Aragon, and it enjoyed peace until 1462. In that year, the disputes between John II of Aragon and his son over the Crown of Navarre spurred Louis XI of France to support John against his subjects, who had risen in revolt
Roussillon
–
Roussillon coast.
Roussillon
–
Roussillon
Roussillon
–
Grape pickers near
Maury.
Roussillon
–
A snow-capped Mount
Canigó (
Canigou) (2785m) across the Roussillon plain.
10.
Lyon
–
Lyon or Lyons is a city in east-central France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, about 470 km from Paris and 320 km from Marseille. Inhabitants of the city are called Lyonnais, Lyon had a population of 506,615 in 2014 and is Frances third-largest city after Paris and Marseille. Lyon is the capital of the Metropolis of Lyon and the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the metropolitan area of Lyon had a population of 2,237,676 in 2013, the second-largest in France after Paris. The city is known for its cuisine and gastronomy and historical and architectural landmarks and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. It played a significant role in the history of cinema, Auguste, the city is also known for its famous light festival, Fête des Lumières, which occurs every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of Capital of Lights. Economically, Lyon is a centre for banking, as well as for the chemical, pharmaceutical. The city contains a significant software industry with a focus on video games. Lyon hosts the headquarters of Interpol, Euronews, and International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lyon was ranked 19th globally and second in France for innovation in 2014 and it ranked second in France and 39th globally in Mercers 2015 liveability rankings. These refugees had been expelled from Vienne by the Allobroges and were now encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, dio Cassius says this task was to keep the two men from joining Mark Antony and bringing their armies into the developing conflict. The Roman foundation was at Fourvière hill and was officially called Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity, the city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum. The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as Desired Mountain is offered by the 9th-century Endlicher Glossary, in contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lugdunon, after the Celtic god Lugus, and dúnon. It then became the capital of Gaul, partly due to its convenient location at the convergence of two rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul. Two emperors were born in city, Claudius, whose speech is preserved in the Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic senators. Today, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as Primat des Gaules, the Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. Local saints from this period include Blandina, Pothinus, and Epipodius, in the second century AD, the great Christian bishop of Lyon was the Easterner, Irenaeus. Burgundian refugees fleeing the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 437 were re-settled by the commander of the west, Aëtius. This became the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom in 461, in 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I
Lyon
–
Top, the Basilique de Notre-Dame de Fourvière, the Place des Terreaux with the Fontaine Bartholdi and Lyon City Hall at night. Centre, the Parc de la Tête d'Or, the Confluence district and the old city. Bottom, the Pont Lafayette, the Part-Dieu district with the Place Bellecour in the foreground during the Festival of Lights.
Lyon
–
Place Carnot, Lyons
Lyon
–
The lion has been the symbol of the city for centuries and is represented throughout the city.
Lyon
–
Lyon in the 18th century
11.
Peter Paul Rubens
–
Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish/Netherlandish draughtsman and painter. He is widely considered as the most notable artist of Flemish Baroque art school, the catalogue of his works by Michael Jaffé lists 1,403 pieces, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop. His commissioned works were mostly history paintings, which included religious and mythological subjects and he painted portraits, especially of friends, and self-portraits, and in later life painted several landscapes. Rubens designed tapestries and prints, as well as his own house and he also oversaw the ephemeral decorations of the royal entry into Antwerp by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand in 1635. His drawings are mostly extremely forceful but not overly detailed and he also made great use of oil sketches as preparatory studies. For altarpieces he painted on slate to reduce reflection problems. Rubens was born in the city of Siegen to Jan Rubens and he was named in honour of Saint-Peter and Paul, because he was born on their solemnety. His father, a Calvinist, and mother fled Antwerp for Cologne in 1568, after increased religious turmoil and persecution of Protestants during the rule of the Spanish Netherlands by the Duke of Alba. Jan Rubens became the adviser of Anna of Saxony, the second wife of William I of Orange. Following Jan Rubens imprisonment for the affair, Peter Paul Rubens was born in 1577, the family returned to Cologne the next year. In 1589, two years after his fathers death, Rubens moved with his mother Maria Pypelincks to Antwerp, religion figured prominently in much of his work and Rubens later became one of the leading voices of the Catholic Counter-Reformation style of painting. In Antwerp, Rubens received a Renaissance humanist education, studying Latin, by fourteen he began his artistic apprenticeship with Tobias Verhaeght. Subsequently, he studied under two of the leading painters of the time, the late Mannerist artists Adam van Noort. Much of his earliest training involved copying earlier works, such as woodcuts by Hans Holbein the Younger. Rubens completed his education in 1598, at time he entered the Guild of St. Luke as an independent master. In 1600 Rubens travelled to Italy and he stopped first in Venice, where he saw paintings by Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, before settling in Mantua at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga. The colouring and compositions of Veronese and Tintoretto had an effect on Rubenss painting. With financial support from the Duke, Rubens travelled to Rome by way of Florence in 1601, there, he studied classical Greek and Roman art and copied works of the Italian masters
Peter Paul Rubens
–
Self-portrait, 1623,
Royal Collection
Peter Paul Rubens
–
Rubens and
Isabella Brant, the
Honeysuckle Bower, c. 1609.
Alte Pinakothek
Peter Paul Rubens
–
The garden Rubens planned at
Rubenshuis, in
Antwerpen
Peter Paul Rubens
–
Portrait of a Young Scholar, from 1597
12.
Van Dyck
–
Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England, after enjoying great success in Italy and Flanders. He also painted biblical and mythological subjects, displayed outstanding facility as a draughtsman, the Van Dyke beard is named after him. Antoon van Dyck was born to parents in Antwerp. By the age of fifteen he was already an accomplished artist, as his Self-portrait, 1613–14. He was admitted to the Antwerp painters Guild of Saint Luke as a master by February 1618. His influence on the young artist was immense, Rubens referred to the nineteen-year-old van Dyck as the best of my pupils. At the same time the dominance of Rubens in the small and declining city of Antwerp probably explains why, despite his periodic returns to the city, van Dyck spent most of his career abroad. In 1620, at the instigation of George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham, van Dyck went to England for the first time where he worked for King James I of England, receiving £100. After about four months he returned to Flanders, but moved on in late 1621 to Italy and he was already presenting himself as a figure of consequence, annoying the rather bohemian Northern artists colony in Rome, says Giovan Pietro Bellori, by appearing with the pomp of Zeuxis. He was mostly based in Genoa, although he travelled extensively to other cities. In 1627, he went back to Antwerp where he remained for five years, a life-size group portrait of twenty-four City Councillors of Brussels he painted for the council-chamber was destroyed in 1695. He was evidently very charming to his patrons, and, like Rubens, well able to mix in aristocratic and court circles, by 1630 he was described as the court painter of the Habsburg Governor of Flanders, the Archduchess Isabella. In this period he produced many religious works, including large altarpieces. King Charles I was the most passionate and generous collector of art among the British monarchs, and saw art as a way of promoting his elevated view of the monarchy. In 1628, he bought the collection that the Gonzagas of Mantua were forced to dispose of. In 1626, he was able to persuade Orazio Gentileschi to settle in England, later to be joined by his daughter Artemisia and some of his sons. Rubens was a target, who eventually came on a diplomatic mission, which included painting, in 1630. He was very well-treated during his visit, during which he was knighted
Van Dyck
–
Self-Portrait With a Sunflower (after 1633),
Trinity College, Cambridge
Van Dyck
–
Self-portrait, 1613–14
Van Dyck
–
Anthony van Dyck, by
Peter Paul Rubens (1627–28) in
the Louvre
Van Dyck
–
The more intimate, but still elegant style he developed in England, ca 1638
13.
Rembrandt
–
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch draughtsman, painter, and printmaker. A prolific and versatile master across three media, he is considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art. Having achieved youthful success as a painter, Rembrandts later years were marked by personal tragedy. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, Rembrandts portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible are regarded as his greatest creative triumphs. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and his reputation as the greatest etcher in the history of the medium was established in his lifetime, and never questioned since. Few of his paintings left the Dutch Republic whilst he lived, but his prints were circulated throughout Europe, because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called one of the great prophets of civilization. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden, in the Dutch Republic and he was the ninth child born to Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn and Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuijtbrouck. His family was quite well-to-do, his father was a miller, religion is a central theme in Rembrandts paintings and the religiously fraught period in which he lived makes his faith a matter of interest. His mother was Roman Catholic, and his father belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church, unlike many of his contemporaries who traveled to Italy as part of their artistic training, Rembrandt never left the Dutch Republic during his lifetime. He opened a studio in Leiden in 1624 or 1625, which he shared with friend, in 1627, Rembrandt began to accept students, among them Gerrit Dou in 1628. In 1629, Rembrandt was discovered by the statesman Constantijn Huygens, as a result of this connection, Prince Frederik Hendrik continued to purchase paintings from Rembrandt until 1646. He initially stayed with an art dealer, Hendrick van Uylenburgh, Saskia came from a good family, her father had been a lawyer and the burgemeester of Leeuwarden. When Saskia, as the youngest daughter, became an orphan, Rembrandt and Saskia were married in the local church of St. Annaparochie without the presence of Rembrandts relatives. In the same year, Rembrandt became a burgess of Amsterdam and he also acquired a number of students, among them Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck. In 1635 Rembrandt and Saskia moved into their own house, renting in fashionable Nieuwe Doelenstraat, in 1639 they moved to a prominent newly built house in the upscale Breestraat, today known as Jodenbreestraat in what was becoming the Jewish quarter, then a young upcoming neighborhood. The mortgage to finance the 13,000 guilder purchase would be a cause for later financial difficulties. Rembrandt should easily have been able to pay the house off with his income, but it appears his spending always kept pace with his income. It was there that Rembrandt frequently sought his Jewish neighbors to model for his Old Testament scenes, in 1640, they had a second daughter, also named Cornelia, who died after living barely over a month
Rembrandt
–
Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar (1659),
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Rembrandt
–
The Prodigal Son in the Tavern, a self-portrait with Saskia, c. 1635
Rembrandt
–
Portrait of
Saskia van Uylenburgh, ca. 1635
Rembrandt
–
Rembrandt Memorial Marker Westerkerk Amsterdam
14.
Titian
–
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, known in English as Titian /ˈtɪʃən/, was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno, during his lifetime he was often called da Cadore, taken from the place of his birth. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of color, would exercise a profound influence not only on painters of the Italian Renaissance, during the course of his long life, Titians artistic manner changed drastically, but he retained a lifelong interest in color. Although his mature works may not contain the vivid, luminous tints of his pieces, their loose brushwork. The exact date of Titians birth is uncertain, when he was an old man he claimed in a letter to Philip II, King of Spain, to have been born in 1474, but this seems most unlikely. Other writers contemporary to his old age give figures that would equate to birthdates between 1473 and after 1482 and he was the son of Gregorio Vecelli and his wife Lucia. His father was superintendent of the castle of Pieve di Cadore, Gregorio was also a distinguished councilor and soldier. Many relatives, including Titians grandfather, were notaries, and the family of four were well-established in the area, at the age of about ten to twelve he and his brother Francesco were sent to an uncle in Venice to find an apprenticeship with a painter. At that time the Bellinis, especially Giovanni, were the artists in the city. There Titian found a group of men about his own age, among them Giovanni Palma da Serinalta, Lorenzo Lotto, Sebastiano Luciani. Francesco Vecellio, his brother, later became a painter of some note in Venice. A fresco of Hercules on the Morosini Palace is said to have one of Titians earliest works. Others were the Bellini-esque so-called Gypsy Madonna in Vienna, and the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth, now in the Accademia, a Man with a Quilted Sleeve is an early portrait, painted around 1509 and described by Giorgio Vasari in 1568. Scholars long believed it depicted Ludovico Ariosto, but now think it is of Gerolamo Barbarigo, Rembrandt borrowed the composition for his self-portraits. Titian joined Giorgione as an assistant, but many contemporary critics found his work more impressive—for example in exterior frescoes that they did for the Fondaco dei Tedeschi. Their relationship evidently contained a significant element of rivalry, distinguishing between their work at this period remains a subject of scholarly controversy. A substantial number of attributions have moved from Giorgione to Titian in the 20th century, one of the earliest known Titian works, Christ Carrying the Cross in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, depicting the Ecce Homo scene, was long regarded as by Giorgione. In 1507–1508 Giorgione was commissioned by the state to create frescoes on the re-erected Fondaco dei Tedeschi, Titian and Morto da Feltre worked along with him, and some fragments of paintings remain, probably by Giorgione
Titian
–
Self-Portrait, c. 1567;
Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Titian
–
A Man with a Quilted Sleeve, an early portrait, c. 1509,
National Gallery, London.
Titian
–
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist c. 1515, (
Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome), or
Judith; this religious work also functions as an idealized portrait of a beauty, a genre developed by Titian, supposedly often using Venetian
courtesans as models.
Titian
–
Bacchus and Ariadne, c. 1520-1523.
15.
County of Roussillon
–
The County of Roussillon was one of the Catalan counties in the Marca Hispanica during the Middle Ages. The rulers of the county were the Counts of Roussillon, whose interests lay both north and south of the Pyrenees, there was a Visigothic county around the city of Ruscino in the 6th and 7th centuries with a jurisdiction corresponding to the Diocese of Elna. This primitive county comprising the historic comarques of Plana del Roselló, Conflent, the Visigothic legacy in Roussillon survived in its courts, where Visigothic law was applied exclusively as late as the 11th century. Roussillon was occupied by the Moors in 721, pepin reestablished the old Gothic county with its seat at Ruscino. The new count—a Goth—built a castle at their capital, the castrum or castellum Rossilio, beginning in 780, Charlemagne started granting aprisiones of unpopulated land in Roussillon and around Narbonne to incoming spani. The history of the Frankish county in the 8th and 9th centuries is not well known, in the Carolingian age, it may have formed the westernmost extent of non-Basque settlement in the Pyrenees. In 859–860, a fleet of Vikings under Hasting and Bjorn plundered the abbeys of Roussillon before wintering in the Camargue, the first count known by name, Gaucelm, received the County of Empúries in 817 and those counties remained united until 989. They probably had separate viscounts, however, the office of viscount appeared in Roussillon early when a Richelm is mentioned as filling it in 859, the original viscounts acted as missi dominici of the Margraves of Septimania. Throughout this period, Roussillon gradually gained de facto independence from its nominal suzerain, the King of France. As late as 878, Louis the Stammerer could enforce his will in the selection of Roussillons count, the counties of Roussillon and Empúries became relatively stable, hereditary possessions of the Bellonid family, Gausfred I even took the title dux in 975. Late in the 10th century, Alt Rosselló, Conflent, and inland Vallespir passed to the Counts of Cerdanya and Roussillon was reduced to the regions of Roussillon. Throughout the century, Empúries was the centre of comital power and it was only when Viking and Moorish pirates forced him to move from the coast to the more easily defensible inland that Gausfred I made his capital at Castelló dEmpúries. After his death, the counties were separated, with Roussillon going to his younger son, the division, however, was made under certain stipulations of the deceased count. First, both counts had a right to attend the synods and tribunals held in either county, second, rights of justice were shared between the two counts. Third, the count of Roussillon had the right to make his residence in Empúries, and finally, that either count could possess lands in either county. In 1014, Hugh I of Empúries invaded Roussillon, but in 1019 a pact was signed making the two counties permanently separate entities, Roussillon was the site of the first promulgation of the Truce of God. In 1027, a council of Elna was held in the meadow of Toulouges, because the throng of attendees was so great, clergymen, aristocrats, the Elna council, however, went a step further than previous local councils. The truce spread rapidly through Languedoc and was extended so that it was generally understood that fighting was prohibited between Wednesday evening and dawn Monday
County of Roussillon
–
Flag
16.
Cerdanya
–
Cerdanya, often la Cerdanya, is a natural comarca and historical region of the eastern Pyrenees divided between France and Spain. Historically it was one of the counties of Catalonia, Cerdanya has a land area of 1,086 km2, divided almost evenly between Spain and France. In 2001 its population was approximately 26,500, of whom 53% lived on Spanish territory and its population density is 24 residents per km². The only urban area in Cerdanya is the urban area of Puigcerdà-Bourg-Madame. The area enjoys an annual amount of sunshine – around 3,000 hours per year. The first inhabitants of Cerdanya probably spoke a related to the old Basque language. Many place names testify to this, in the first millennium BC came the Iberians from the south. In Cerdanya they probably mixed with the inhabitants, and the resulting people were known as the Kerretes, from the native word ker or kar, meaning rock, related to old Basque karri. The Kerretes were probably essentially of Basque and Aquitanian-related stock, as the Iberian clans who mixed with the inhabitants can have comprised only small numbers of people. The main oppidum of the Kerretes, commanding the whole country, was called Kere and was built on the hill above the village of Llívia. Later the Kerretes came under Roman rule, and the Romans renamed the oppidum Julia Lybica, during the Roman Empire, the area of Cerdanya was a pagus known as pagus Liviensis, part of the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. The pagus Liviensis was itself divided in two, the part around Julia Lybica was known as Cerretania Julia, while the western part was known as Cerretania Augusta. The name Cerdanya comes from Cerretania, itself coming from the old name of the inhabitants, as for Julia Lybica, the name evolved into Julia Livia and then Llívia. The Kerretes seem to have kept their old language until very late, romanization in the area was extremely slow, even though eventually the native language gave way, and the people in Cerdanya ended up speaking Catalan, a language derived from Latin. At the end of the Roman Empire, Julia Lybica entered a period of decadence, devastated by the Vandals and other Germanic tribes, Cerdanya was part of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse and later Toledo, until eventually it was conquered by the Muslims. However, Uthman ibn Naissa came next under Umayyad attack and the Berber lord was defeated, during Abd al-Rahman I´s military campaign across the Ebro region, the Cordovan commander received the submission of Ibn Belaskut, or Galindo Belascotenes, in Cerdanya. Under Carolingian pressure, Cerdanya became a Frankish vassal about 785, County of Cerdanya The county of Cerdanya has its origin in the Spanish Marches established by Charlemagne. In the 9th century Cerdanya was one of the lordships united in the person of the counts of Barcelona, wilfred the Hairy had three sons and established the youngest, Miron, as Count of Cerdanya, a sovereign state
Cerdanya
–
Spring landscape of the Cerdanya in
Llívia.
17.
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
18.
Maria Theresa of Spain
–
Maria Theresa of Spain, was by birth Infanta of Spain and Portugal and Archduchess of Austria as member of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg and by marriage Queen of France and Navarre. Her marriage in 1660 with King Louis XIV was made with the purpose to end the war between France and Spain. Without any political influence in the French court or government, she died at the age of 44 from complications from an abscess on her arm. Born an Infanta of Spain at the Royal Monastery of El Escorial, she was the daughter of King Philip IV, and his wife Elisabeth of France, as a member of the House of Habsburg, Maria Theresa was entitled to use the title Archduchess of Austria. Unlike France, the kingdom of Spain had no Salic Law, when Maria Theresas brother Balthasar Charles died in 1646, she became heiress presumptive to the vast Spanish Empire and remained such until the birth of Philip Prospero, in 1657. She was heiress presumptive once more between 1 November and 6 November 1661– the death of Prince Philip and the birth of Prince Charles, who would later inherit the thrones of Spain as Charles II. In 1658, as war with France began to wind down, anne of Austria desired an end to hostilities between her native country of Spain and her adopted one, France. However, Spanish procrastination led to a scheme in which Frances prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, pretended to seek a marriage for his master with Margaret Yolande of Savoy. When Philip IV of Spain heard of a meeting at Lyon between the Houses of France and Savoy in November 1658, he reputedly exclaimed of the Franco-Savoyard union that it cannot be, and will not be. Philip then sent an envoy to the French court to open negotiations for peace. The negotiations for the contract were intense. This was eventually done but, by the skill of Mazarin and his French diplomats, the renunciation and its validity were made conditional upon the payment of a large dowry. As it turned out, Spain, impoverished and bankrupt after decades of war, was unable to pay such a dowry, a marriage by proxy to the French king was held in Fuenterrabia. On 9 June the marriage took place in Saint-Jean-de-Luz at the rebuilt church of Saint Jean the Baptist. After the wedding, Louis wanted to consummate the marriage as quickly as possible, the new queens mother-in-law arranged a private consummation instead of the public one that was the custom. On 26 August 1660, the made the traditional Joyous Entry into Paris. Maria Theresa was very fortunate to have found a friend at court in her mother-in-law and she continued to spend much of her free time playing cards and gambling, as she had no interest in politics or literature. Consequently, she was viewed as not fully playing the part of queen designated to her by her marriage, but more importantly, she became pregnant in early 1661, and a long-awaited son was born on 1 November 1661
Maria Theresa of Spain
–
Portrait of Maria Theresa of Spain as Queen of France
Maria Theresa of Spain
–
Signature
Maria Theresa of Spain
–
Maria Theresa as Infanta of Spain and Portugal
Maria Theresa of Spain
–
Infanta Maria Theresa by Velázquez, 1653. Here, she wears her hair in a popular style at the Spanish royal court and a dress with wide panniers, also popular in Spain.
19.
Ferreolus and Ferrutio
–
Saints Ferreolus and Ferrutio are venerated as martyrs and saints by the Catholic Church. Their legendary acts state that they were converted to Christianity by Saint Polycarp. They were ordained as priest and deacon, respectively, by Saint Irenaeus of Lyons and they were sent to the area around Besançon as missionaries. They are called natives of Asia Minor, Alban Butler held it more probable that they were natives of Gaul who had studied in Asia Minor and come under Christian influence. After working as missionaries amongst the Sequani for 30 years, in AD212 during the persecution of Alexander Severus, according to their legend, their relics were discovered in a cave near Besançon in AD370 by a military tribune whose dog was chasing a fox. The relics were enshrined by Bishop Anianus of Besançon in the 4th century AD, Saint Gregory of Tours writes that miracles were attributed to their relics in his time, he says that his brother-in-law was cured of a dangerous distemper at the saints intercession. The Missale Gothicum contains a proper of the Mass in their honor. In the sixteenth century, they were invoked in Besançon against sickness, along with Saint Sebastian, Ferreolus appears in a catalogue of the 17th century as a bishop of Besançon, but the liturgy of Besançon has always remembered Ferreolus as a priest, and Ferrutio as a deacon. Ferreolus and Ferrutio, as patrons of Besançon, are considered to have appeared on the city walls in times of danger. The two saints have been represented in stained glass, paintings, and statues in many churches, the Basilique Saint-Ferjeux is situated in the neighborhood of Saint-Ferjeux, Besançon. They are depicted on a French lantern slide dating from AD1900, Saint Ferréol et Saint Fargeau Diocèse de Besançon Santi Ferreolo e Ferruccio from Santi Beati
Ferreolus and Ferrutio
–
Statue of Ferreolus of Besançon. Basilique Saint-Ferjeux, near Besançon.
Ferreolus and Ferrutio
–
Statue of Ferrutio of Besançon. Basilique Saint-Ferjeux, near Besançon.
Ferreolus and Ferrutio
–
Reliquary of Saint Ferrutio. Crypt of the Basilica Saint Ferjeux de Besançon.
Ferreolus and Ferrutio
–
Basilique Saint-Ferjeux
20.
Peyrestortes
–
Peyrestortes is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Peyrestortes is located in the canton of Rivesaltes and in the arrondissement of Perpignan, on 17 September 1793, French forces of the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees defeated two divisions of the Spanish Army of Catalonia at the Battle of Peyrestortes. General of Division Eustache Charles dAoust led his division to attack Lieutenant General Juan de Courtens Spanish troops at Le Vernet north of Perpignan. At the same time General of Brigade Antoine Goguets French division assaulted the camp of LG Jerónimo Girón-Moctezuma, the beaten Spanish troops, which were under the overall command of Captain General Antonio Ricardos withdrew south to Trouillas. A monument about one km southeast of the village and adjacent to the Perpignan-Rivesaltes International Airport commemorates the victory, a la mémoire de larmée des Pyrénées-Orientales qui combattirent à Peyrestortes sous la conduite des conventionnels Cassanyes, Fabre, des généraux Daoust et Goguet. An English translation is as follows, to the memory of the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees who fought at Peyrestortes under the command of deputies Cassanyes, Fabre, of generals Daoust and Goguet. Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department INSEE Detruire Tout, Pour Oublier by Bernard Prats
Peyrestortes
–
The town hall in Peyrestortes
21.
Gaspard de Gueidan
–
Gaspard de Gueidan was a French aristocrat and lawyer. He served as the Président à mortier of the Parliament of Aix-en-Provence, Gaspard de Gueidan was born on April 10,1688 in Aix-en-Provence. He grew up at the Hôtel de Gueydan, located at 22 on the Cours Mirabeau and he was baptised as a Roman Catholic in the Église de la Madeleine in Aix. His family were bourgeois from Reillanne and his grandfather Gaspard Gueidan, married to Catherine Brémond, purchased a position at the Court of Finances, thus becoming a member of the French aristocracy. His father was Pierre de Gueidan, a lawyer, and his mother. He entered the Parliament of Aix-en-Provence, where he served as Advocate General, by the 1730s, his speeches were printed. In 1740, he became Président à mortier of the Parliament of Aix and he was a member of the Académie de Marseille and dreamt of being elected to the Académie française. His portrait was painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1738, the painting is based on the character of Celadon in LAstrée by Honoré dUrfé. It is now displayed in the Musée Granet in Aix and he married Angélique de Simiane, daughter of Joseph marquis de Simiane and Marguerite de Valbelle, on March 24,1724. They had six children, Joseph Gaspard de Gueidan and his second wife was Henriette de Félix dOllières. They had a son, Alphonse de Gueidan, after Josephs death, Henriette married Jules Lemercier de Maisoncelle de Richemond. After his death, she donated the Château de Valabre to the city of Gardanne and she married Pierre Louis de Demandolx La Palud on January 24,1745. She was also the mistress of Giacomo Casanova by some accounts and she married Claude de Prats on August 4,1749. He became a Knight of Malta and he also became a Knight of Malta. He also became a Knight of Malta and he died on February 23,1767 in Aix-en-Provence. Gaspard de Gueidan, Discours prononcés au Parlement de Provence par un de messieurs les avocats généraux, Gaspard de Gueidan, Discours prononcés au Parlement de Provence par un de messieurs les avocats généraux. Gaspard de Gueidan, Discours prononcés au parlement de Provence, Gaspard de Gueidan, Discours prononcés au parlement de Provence
Gaspard de Gueidan
–
1738 portrait by
Hyacinthe Rigaud
22.
Musette de cour
–
The musette de cour or baroque musette is a musical instrument of the bagpipe family. Visually, the musette is characterised by the short, cylindrical shuttle-drone, both the chanters and the drones have a cylindrical bore and use a double reed, giving a quiet tone similar to the oboe. The instrument is blown by a bellows, first appearing in France, at the very end of the sixteenth century, the musette was refined over the next hundred years by a number of instrument-making families. The best-known contributions came from the Hotteterre family, Martin Hotteterre added a second chanter, the bourdon, originally designed to accompany essentially modal music, became simpler as the chalumeaux became more complicated. The final form of the musette is fully chromatic, with a range of an octave and half starting from F above middle C, the qualification de cour refers to the instruments connection with the French court and aristocracy of the early seventeenth century. The musette may well have benefited from being an instrument, too. Borjon de Scellery, however, does explicitly identify grimacing and pulling faces as a habit of ill-trained musette-players, after the French Revolution, the musette seems to have fallen rapidly out of favour while simpler forms of bagpipe remained popular as folk-instruments. The frontispiece in Borjon de Scellerys Traité shows a shepherd surrounded by a number of instruments and they include an early musette, with a single chalumeau that appears to have six finger-holes and no keys. The first full-page plate then illustrates a chalumeau with seven finger-holes, the second full-page plate illustrates a more developed form of the musette, where a grand chalumeau with five keys is complemented by a petit chalumeau with six keys. Jacques Hotteterres Méthode illustrates the most usual form of the instrument, the six-key petit chalumeau is the same as de Scellerys. The grand chalumeau is open, so it always sounds, the petit chalumeau is closed, like the later Northumbrian pipes, so it sounds only when a hole is opened or a key is pressed. The fingering system on both chalumeaux is closed, meaning only one hole at a time is opened. Following the principle of the rackett and the bassoon, the cylinder of the musette drone contains airways that double back on themselves. Openings in each airway are uncovered by moving layettes fixed in four coulisses, the two lowest notes use the same airway, so cannot be played together. The earliest musettes had up to nine coulisses and twelve layettes, so that you could play music in a range of modes, even so, the bourdon still contains four or more separate reeds that have to be kept adjusted and in tune. The musette was an instrument both for professionals, members of ensembles and orchestras in the court or noble households, the bulk of music written for the musette is not solo music, duos are the most popular form, followed by trio-sonatas. Much of the music available for the instrument was described as suitable for musette, hurdy-gurdy, recorder or transverse flute, or for all these plus oboe or violin. Modern editions, usually for recorder, give people the chance to discover a lot of musette music, composers include Bâton, Boismortier, Buterne, Chédeville, Corrette, Delavigne, Hotteterre le Romain, Naudot, and Rameau
Musette de cour
–
An 18th century musette de cour on display at the
Berlin Musical Instrument Museum, Germany
Musette de cour
–
Gaspard de Gueidan playing the musette de cour, painting by
Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1738, Musée Granet,
Aix-en-Provence, France
Musette de cour
–
Drawing of the parts of the musette de cour from the
Encyclopédie by
Diderot and
d'Alembert, ca. 1770
23.
Aix-en-Provence
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Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a city-commune in the south of France, about 30 km north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, the population of Aix numbers approximately 143,000. Its inhabitants are called Aixois or, less commonly, Aquisextains, Aix was founded in 123 BC by the Roman consul Sextius Calvinus, who gave his name to its springs, following the destruction of the nearby Gallic oppidum at Entremont. In the 4th century AD it became the metropolis of Narbonensis Secunda and it was occupied by the Visigoths in 477. In the succeeding century, the town was plundered by the Franks and Lombards. Aix passed to the crown of France with the rest of Provence in 1487, and in 1501 Louis XII established there the parliament of Provence, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the town was the seat of the Intendance of Provence. Current archeological excavations in the Ville des Tours, a suburb of Aix, have unearthed the remains of a Roman amphitheatre. The city slopes gently north to south and the Montagne Sainte-Victoire can easily be seen to the east. Aixs position in the south of France gives it a warm climate and it has an average January temperature of 5 °C and a July average of 23 °C. It has an average of 300 days of sunshine and only 91 days of rain, while it is partially protected from the Mistral, Aix still occasionally experiences the cooler and gusty conditions it brings. Unlike most of France which has a climate, Aix-en-Provence has a Mediterranean climate. The Cours Mirabeau is a thoroughfare, planted with double rows of plane-trees, bordered by fine houses. It follows the line of the old city wall and divides the town into two sections. The new town extends to the south and west, the old town, with its narrow, along this avenue, which is lined on one side with banks and on the other with cafés, is the Deux Garçons, the most famous brasserie in Aix. Built in 1792, it has been frequented by the likes of Paul Cézanne, Émile Zola, the Cathedral of the Holy Saviour is situated to the north in the medieval part of Aix. The archbishops palace and a Romanesque cloister adjoin the cathedral on its south side, the Archbishopric of Aix is now shared with Arles. Among its other public institutions, Aix also has the second most important Appeal Court outside of Paris, the Hôtel de Ville, a building in the classical style of the middle of the 17th century, looks onto a picturesque square. It contains some fine woodwork and tapestries, at its side rises a handsome clock-tower erected in 1510
Aix-en-Provence
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The Round Fountain, or Three Graces, built in 1860
Aix-en-Provence
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Rue Espariat in Aix-en-Provence.
Aix-en-Provence
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Les Deux Garçons
Aix-en-Provence
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Place de l'Hotel de Ville
24.
Lyon, France
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Lyon or Lyons is a city in east-central France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, about 470 km from Paris and 320 km from Marseille. Inhabitants of the city are called Lyonnais, Lyon had a population of 506,615 in 2014 and is Frances third-largest city after Paris and Marseille. Lyon is the capital of the Metropolis of Lyon and the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the metropolitan area of Lyon had a population of 2,237,676 in 2013, the second-largest in France after Paris. The city is known for its cuisine and gastronomy and historical and architectural landmarks and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. It played a significant role in the history of cinema, Auguste, the city is also known for its famous light festival, Fête des Lumières, which occurs every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of Capital of Lights. Economically, Lyon is a centre for banking, as well as for the chemical, pharmaceutical. The city contains a significant software industry with a focus on video games. Lyon hosts the headquarters of Interpol, Euronews, and International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lyon was ranked 19th globally and second in France for innovation in 2014 and it ranked second in France and 39th globally in Mercers 2015 liveability rankings. These refugees had been expelled from Vienne by the Allobroges and were now encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, dio Cassius says this task was to keep the two men from joining Mark Antony and bringing their armies into the developing conflict. The Roman foundation was at Fourvière hill and was officially called Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity, the city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum. The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as Desired Mountain is offered by the 9th-century Endlicher Glossary, in contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lugdunon, after the Celtic god Lugus, and dúnon. It then became the capital of Gaul, partly due to its convenient location at the convergence of two rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul. Two emperors were born in city, Claudius, whose speech is preserved in the Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic senators. Today, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as Primat des Gaules, the Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. Local saints from this period include Blandina, Pothinus, and Epipodius, in the second century AD, the great Christian bishop of Lyon was the Easterner, Irenaeus. Burgundian refugees fleeing the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 437 were re-settled by the commander of the west, Aëtius. This became the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom in 461, in 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I
Lyon, France
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Top, the Basilique de Notre-Dame de Fourvière, the Place des Terreaux with the Fontaine Bartholdi and Lyon City Hall at night. Centre, the Parc de la Tête d'Or, the Confluence district and the old city. Bottom, the Pont Lafayette, the Part-Dieu district with the Place Bellecour in the foreground during the Festival of Lights.
Lyon, France
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Place Carnot, Lyons
Lyon, France
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The lion has been the symbol of the city for centuries and is represented throughout the city.
Lyon, France
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Lyon in the 18th century
25.
Montpellier, France
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Montpellier is a city in southern France. It is the capital of the Hérault department, Montpellier is the 8th largest city of France, and is also the fastest growing city in the country over the past 25 years. Nearly one third of the population are students from three universities and from three higher education institutions that are outside the university framework in the city. Located on the south coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, it is the third-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille and Nice. Montpellier is one of the few cities in France without any Roman heritage. In the Early Middle Ages, the episcopal town of Maguelone was the major settlement in the area. Montpellier, first mentioned in a document of 985, was founded under a feudal dynasty, the Guilhem. The two surviving towers of the city walls, the Tour des Pins and the Tour de la Babotte, were built later, william VIII of Montpellier gave freedom for all to teach medicine in Montpellier in 1180. This era marked the point of Montpelliers prominence. The city became a possession of the Kings of Aragon in 1204 by the marriage of Peter II of Aragon with Marie of Montpellier, who was given the city and its dependencies as part of her dowry. Montpellier gained a charter in 1204 when Peter and Marie confirmed the traditional freedoms. Under the Kings of Aragon, Montpellier became an important city, a major economic centre. It was the second or third most important city of France at that time, with its importance steadily increasing, the city finally gained a bishop, who moved from Maguelone in 1536, and the huge monastery chapel became a cathedral. In 1432, Jacques Cœur established himself in the city and it became an important economic centre, at the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, many of the inhabitants of Montpellier became Protestants and the city became a stronghold of Protestant resistance to the Catholic French crown. In 1622, King Louis XIII besieged the city surrendered after a two months siege, afterwards building the Citadel of Montpellier to secure it. Louis XIV made Montpellier capital of Bas Languedoc, and the town started to embellish itself, by building the Promenade du Peyrou, the Esplanade, after the French Revolution, the city became the capital of the much smaller Hérault. During the 19th century the city developed into an industrial centre, in the 1960s, its population grew dramatically after French settlers in Algeria were resettled in the city following Algerias independence from France. In the 1980s and 1990s, the city drew attention with a number of redevelopment projects, such as the Corum
Montpellier, France
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Top to bottom, left to right: L'aqueduc Saint-Clément, la Place de l'Europe, la
Place de la Comédie, l'hôtel de région, la promenade du Peyrou, le
Corum, l'arc de Triomphe, la
cathédrale Saint Pierre.
Montpellier, France
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Rue Foch with its typical 19th-century architecture.
Montpellier, France
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Montpellier seen from Spot satellite
Montpellier, France
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Celleneuve
26.
Cloth merchant
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In the Middle Ages or 16th and 17th centuries, a cloth merchant was one who owned or ran a cloth manufacturing or wholesale import or export business. A cloth merchant might additionally have owned a number of drapers shops, cloth was extremely expensive and cloth merchants were often very wealthy. A number of Europes leading banking dynasties such as Medici and Berenberg built their fortunes as cloth merchants. In England, cloth merchants might be members of one of the important trade guilds, the largely obsolete term merchant tailor also describes a business person who trades in textiles, and initially a tailor who keeps and sells materials for the garments which he makes. Alderman Robert Aske Sir William Gardiner John Kendrick Henry Machyn, diarist Jack ONewbury William Paterson Thomas Spring of Lavenham Sir Thomas White Le Bourgeois gentilhomme
Cloth merchant
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Cloth Merchant's Shop,
Brooklyn Museum, depicts an establishment in
India.
27.
Paris, France
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
Paris, France
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In the 1860s Paris streets and monuments were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, making it literally "The City of Light."
Paris, France
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Clockwise from top: Pyramid of the
Louvre,
Arc de Triomphe,
Palace of Versailles, skyline of Paris on the
River Seine with the
Pont des Arts bridge, and the
Eiffel Tower - clickable image
Paris, France
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Gold coins minted by the Parisii (1st century BC)
Paris, France
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The
Palais de la Cité and
Sainte-Chapelle, viewed from the Left Bank, from the
Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (month of June) (1410)
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Media related to Hyacinthe Rigaud at Wikimedia Commons
