|
HOME
- Introduction
- Monarchs
& Monasteries - Path to Royal Absolutism
|
The
Path to Royal Absolutism:
 Charles VIII, ‚cu d'or de Bretagne, Rennes, 1491-1498. Department of Coins, Medals and Antiquities, 1862 |
55.
Petrarch (b. 1304-d. 1374), Les Triomphes (The Triumphs) Left
page - Right page, anonymous French
translation with the commentary of Bernardo Illicino, Rouen, around
1503, Manuscripts Department, Western Section, Fr. 594, Parchment
This manuscript's script and style of illumination confirm that it was produced
in the northwestern city of Rouen. Its illustrations represent the first
serious attempt by a French artist to illustrate Petrarch's poem. The
artist depicted, in a series of diptychs, the triumphs of Love, of Chastity,
of Reason, of Death, of Fame (portrayed here), of Time, and of the Trinity.
56.
Octavien de Saint-Gelais (b. 1468-d. 1502), Translation of Ovid's Epistulae
heroidum Left page - Right
page, Cognac, 1496-1498, Manuscripts Department, Western Section,
Fr. 875, Parchment
Louise of Savoy (b. 1467-d. 1531), widow of Charles d'Angoulême (b.
1460-d. 1496) and mother of Francis I (1515-1547), commissioned this
translation of Ovid's Epistulae heroidum, a collection of letters
fictitiously attributed to heroines of Antiquity grieving over their
unrequited loves. The illustrations represent the heroines, whose faces
give the appearance of being authentic portraits, in the act of writing.
Dress is alternately exotic or inspired by the fashion of the day. Depicted
here is Hypsipylé, first wife of Jason.
59.
Jean Marot, Le Voyage de Gênes
(Voyage to Genoa) (Jean Bourdichon, painter), Tours, around
1508, Manuscripts Department, Western Section, Fr. 5091, Parchment
Louis XII's rapid conquest of the city of Genoa in April 1507 struck public
opinion as a remarkable feat of arms, sparking rapturous accounts by
court chroniclers and poets who extolled the king's greatness and fame.
Jean Marot, the king's official poet, composed a verse account of the
victorious expedition, copied in a fine manuscript intended for Louis's
wife, Anne of Brittany (b. 1477-d. 1514). In this illustration Louis
XII makes a triumphal entry into Genoa.
60.
Petites heures d'Anne de Bretagne (Little Book of Hours
of Anne of Brittany)(Left page)(Right
page), Rouen (?), around 1503, Manuscripts Department, Western Section,
NAL 3027
This little book of hours may have been produced for Queen Anne of Brittany.
This is not certain as so little account was taken of the saints for
whom she felt particular devotion and who were to be found in her prayerbook
and in the Great Book of Hours. The only saint to be honored with a
miniature in the section of intercessory prayers is Saint Louis. Shown
here is an illustration of the Annunciation.
62.
François Ier en déité
(Francis I as a God), mid-1540s, Department of Prints and Photographs,
Na 255 Rés., Parchment glued on oak panel
In this painting, the king, Francis I (1515-1547), wears Minerva's helmet,
Mars's armor, Mercury's winged sandals and his staff, Diana's hunting
horn, and Cupid's bow and quiver; and a Medusa's head adorns his breastplate.
This elevation of the monarch into a superman with the attributes of
the Olympic gods was typical of royal iconography in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries.
67.
Letter of Süleyman the Magnificent
to Francis I, King of France, Istanbul, 1536, Manuscripts Department,
Oriental Section, Supplément turc, 822, Scroll
As proof of the budding alliance between the French monarchy and the Ottoman
sultans in the early sixteenth century, this letter was addressed by
Suleyman (Suleiman) the Magnificent (1520-1566) to Francis I in 1536.
Infused with the appropriate solemnity and magnificence, it was calligraphed
with great care in a number of scripts, using inks of different colors.
This important document marks the beginning of a permanent French embassy
at the Ottoman court.
70.
François Rabelais (b. around 1494-d. 1553),
Pantagruel, Lyon, 1532, Reserve of Rare and Precious Books,
Rés. Y2. 2146
The title character of Pantagruel, of which this is the oldest extant
version, can be traced to a figure in fifteenth-century mystery plays:
the sprite of thirst, who incited people to drink by throwing them salt.
The book celebrates wine, love, and mortal pleasures. All the coarse
passages in this copy were inked out in the sixteenth century.
71.
Initiatoire instruction en la religion
chrestienne pour les enffans (Beginning Instruction in the Christian
Religion for Children), attributed to Wurttemburg reformer
Johann Brenz (b. 1499-d. 1570), France, around 1527, Library of the
Arsenal, MS 5096, Parchment
Although a Catholic, Queen Marguerite of Navarre (b. 1492-d. 1549), King Francis
I's sister, protected and corresponded with reformers. Written for Marguerite
at the time of her marriage (1527), this manuscript opens with two large
miniatures. On folio 1 verso is a golden crown inside a wreath bearing
the arms of the princess. On folio 2, Marguerite's husband, Henry of
Albret, king of Navarre (1517-1555) and grandfather of the future Henry
IV (1589-1610), is shown holding a marguerite daisy.
74.
Oronce Fine (b. 1494-d. 1555), Map of
the World, 1534-36, Department of Maps and Plans, Rés.
Ge DD 2987 (63), Paper
Oronce Fine was one of the rare French geographers in the Renaissance to prepare
maps of the world. This map is bordered with a handsome Renaissance
decoration: two columns support a pediment bearing a Latin inscription
signifying "A new and complete description of the world," interrupted
in the middle by a coat of arms of France. Also to be noted is a vast
southern land mass (Terra Australis), recently discovered but
not yet explored.
80.
Hours of Henry II, 1547-1550,
Manuscripts Department, Western Section, Lat. 1429, Vellum
Traditional in text and layout, this finely-crafted prayer book meant for
private devotion and enjoyment, is innovative in its Old Testament miniatures,
which illustrate the cares and duties of kingship. The last miniature,
exhibited here, shows Henry II (1547-1569) healing the diseased with
his touch. The newly-crowned king is garbed in his gold, fleur-de-lis-embroidered
regalia; on the far right stands the Archbishop of Rheims, who presided
at Henry's coronation.
81. Bible hébraique (Hebrew Bible), anonymous German copy, end of the 13th century; with Parisian binding, around 1555, Manuscripts Department, Oriental Section, Hébreu 16. binding, Parchment
This binding by Claude Picques, binder to Francis I, Henry II, and Francis
II, is one of the most beautiful sixteenth-century French bindings.
On a ground of black morocco, the boards present interlacing, ornamental
foliage of light tan morocco, with certain geometric and foliate patterns
painted in green. The binding bears the arms and monograms of Henry
II and Catherine de Medici (b. 1519-d. 1589), but also the "D"
of Diane de Poitiers (b. 1499-d. 1566), the king's paramour.
83.
François Clouet,Catherine de
Medicis en veuve (Catherine de Medicis as a Widow), around
1560, Department of Prints and Photographs, Na 22 Rés., boîte
4, Vellum
This portrait in black chalk is one of the finest achievements of François
Clouet (b. before 1522-d. 1572) from the last years of his career. Queen
Catherine (b. 1519-d. 1589), widowed at forty, was overcome with grief
and dressed in black for the rest of her life. Ambassadors were struck
by her pale complexion and stoutness as much as by her intelligence
and stubbornness, the two aspects of her personality that Clouet strove
to render.
86.
Les Pénitents blancs et bleus
du roy Henri IIIe (The White and Blue Penitents of King Henry III),
Paris, between 1583 and 1589, Reserve of Rare and Precious Books, Rés.
La25. 6
While Paris was in the hands of the extremist Catholic League, Pierre de L'Estoile
(b. 1546-d. 1611) assembled an album, Les Belles figures et drolleries
de la Ligue, which was intended to show the League's "wickedness,
vanity, folly, and deception." This woodcut recalls the great Parisian
processions by "blue and white penitents" (so-called from the color
of their garments), which Henry III instituted in 1583, and in which
the king and his nobles participated.
93.
La Guirlande de Julie (Julie's Garland)
(Nicolas Robert, painter), Paris, 1641, Manuscripts Department, Western
Section, NAF 19735, Vellum
In 1634, Charles de Sainte-Maure, future Duke of Montausier (b. 1610-d. 1690),
gave his beloved Lucine-Julie d'Angennes (b. 1607-d. 1671) a collection
of verses. Prepared in collaboration with the most fashionable poets
of his time, these verses exalted Julie's beauty and other qualities
through the theme of flowers. Faced with her apparent indifference,
the marquis produced a more lavish version, exhibited here, which he
gave Julie in 1641. Three years later, they were married.
94.
Madeleine de Scudéry (b. 1607-d. 1701), Clélie,
histoire romaine, première partie (Clélie: A Roman Story,
part I), Paris, 1654, Reserve of Rare and Precious Books, Rés.
Yý. 1496
Madeleine de Scudéry's novel, Clélie, served as pretext
for the description of acquaintances, stately residences, and palaces,
and for dialogues based on actual conversations of her salon. The most
immediate stir was created by the Carte du tendre (Map of Affection),
engraved by François Chauveau and inserted in the first part
of the novel. A salon game, the Map sparked a fad for "amorous geography"
that took the form of allegorical almanacs and imaginary maps.
96.
Rashîd Al-Dîn (b. 1247-d. 1318),
Recueil d'oeuvres théologiques (Collection of Theological
Works), Tabriz, Iran, 1307-10, Manuscripts Department, Oriental
Section, Arabe 2324, Paper
This manuscript, one of many from Mazarin's library that entered the royal
collection in 1668, is important for the period of the Il'Khans, the
Mongol dynasty that reigned in Persia in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. Rashîd al-Dîn, physician to King Abaqa (1265-1282),
played a key role when the dynasty converted to Islam. He founded a
mosque that became a center of important editorial production and cultural
exchange, and published his own theological writings.
102a-c. Costumes for the Ballet royal de la nuit (Royal Ballet of the Night), around 1650, Department of Prints and Photographs, Hennin Collection nos. 3674
The costumes contributed to the dazzling entertainment of Le Ballet royal de la nuit, as did scenery changes and the ballet's diverse characters. The ballet ends with the appearance of Aurore, who yields her place to the rising Sun, Apollo, played the first time by the young king Louis XIV. During his lifetime, Louis performed a wide range of roles--including plebeian characters. These drawings are of the Lute Player, the Warrior, and Apollo.
 |
 |
 |
HOME
- Introduction
- Monarchs
& Monasteries - Path to Royal Absolutism
Rise and Fall of the Absolute Monarchy -
From Empire to Democracy
Conclusion - Acknowledgments
Library of Congress Exhibitions - Library of Congress Home Page
Library of Congress