The Sovereign Artist: Charles Le Brun and the Image of Louis XIV by Wolf Burc...

The Sovereign Artist: Charles Le Brun and the Image of Louis XIV by Wolf Burchard, Christopher Le Brun This book is USED (not new) Condition: - Format: Publisher: Paul Holberton Publishing : , 2016, ISBN: 9781911300052 / 1911300059 Dimensions: 24.61cm x 2.69cm x 28.6cm, 248 pages SKU: 5415p - We use NZ Post overnight for delivery so please allow 1-5 days for delivery - If you would like to see more photos of the book, ask a question and we'll add them Book Description: This monograph examines the wide artistic production of Louis XIV's most prolific and powerful artist, Charles Le Brun (1619-1690), illustrating the magnificence of his paintings and focusing particularly on the interiors and decorative art works produced according to his designs. In his joint capacities of Premier peintre du roi, director of the Gobelins manufactory and rector of the Academie royale de peinture et de sculpture, Le Brun exercised a previously unprecedented influence on the production of the visual arts - so much so that some scholars have repeatedly described him as 'dictator' of the arts in France. The Sovereign Artist explores how Le Brun operated in his diverse fields of activities, linking and juxtaposing his portraiture, history painting and pictorial theory with his designs for architecture, tapestries, carpets and furniture. It argues that Le Brun sought to create a repeatable and easily recognizable visual language associated with Louis XIV, in order to translate the king's political claims for absolute power into a visual form. How he did this is discussed through a series of individual case studies ranging from Le Brun's lost equestrian portrait of Louis XIV, and his involvement in the Querelle du coloris at the Academie, to his scheme for 93 Savonnerie carpets for the Grande Galerie at the Louvre, his Histoire du roy tapestry series, his decoration of the now destroyed Escalier des Ambassadeurs at Versailles and the dramatic destruction of the Sun King's silver ...