Présentation de l'éditeur
Paris was not always considered the world's artistic capital. It was French artists over the course of the 17th century who made it so. Their extraordinary achievement is illustrated in examples of their greatest works assembled from regional museums across France and the United States through the museum consortium, FRAME. This selection of masterpieces, accompanied by commentary, artist biographies and interpretive essays, offers an introduction to the art and culture of the age that reached its zenith in the glory of Louis XIV and Versailles
Book Description
Color reproductions of paintings from the collections of museums in France and America includes works by widely recognized figures such as Georges de La Tour and Nicolas Poussin, as well as a number of other artists who made vital contributions to the emergence of France as the center of western art. Unsurpassed in quality, these paintings offer an introduction to the power and range of this art form as it developed over the same century in which the French forged the nation we know today.
French painters were affected by Italian and Flemish masters as styles evolved and theories were debated. At mid-century, a group of Paris artists banded together to establish the Royal Academy that would formally define and perpetuate French art. These paintings represent the various strands incorporated into this richly woven national style.
From the exquisite Mannerism of the monumental Adoration of the Magi by Georges Lallermant (1575-1636), to the thunder drama of the Judith by Jean Valentin (1591-1632), to the noble classicism of Cleopatra and the Asp by Michel Comeille I (1601-1664), to the sumptuous Louis XIV panoply of fruit, flowers, precious vessels, and cloth of gold by Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (1636-1699), this book shows the very best of their achievements.
About the author
Michel Hilaire is director of the Musee Fabre, Montpellier. Among the other contributors are Penelope Hunter-Stiebel, Arnaud Brejon de Lavergnee, and Carter Foster.
