FFS 384 - The Arts of Absolutism

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

In 1684, the French king, Louis XIV, unveiled a new room in his palace at Versailles: the Galerie des Glaces. A 73-meter expanse of mirrors, murals, statues, and chandeliers, the vast gallery remains perhaps the most enduring symbol of Louis’s reign. The dazzling aesthetic at Versailles was an essential component of his political ideology, often described as ‘absolutist.’ In this course, we peer behind the spectacle of absolutist art by asking three core questions: how did the king represent and celebrate his authority? What was the connection between state power and artistic production? How did artists criticize or challenge state power? To explore these questions, we engage with a variety of texts, images, and artifacts, and a broad cast of characters, from a phony holy-man to a court-shy princess. Readings include texts by Louis XIV, Madeleine de Scudéry, Molière, La Fontaine, Madame d’Aulnoy, Madame de Lafayette, and Racine. We also situate artistic artifacts within their spectacular context, in parties and state-run factories, and we discuss some of the major critical theorizations of absolutist culture, by Norbert Elias, Louis Marin, and Chandra Mukerji. Rupinder Kaur.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: CLS