HIST 229: Spectacles of Power in Europe, 1550-1700 - Louis XIV (HC)

This Haverford senior thesis was written by Aaron Wile in 2008.

This major online exhibition documents the contemporary representation of Versailles through a multifaceted array of prints, books, maps, medals, and manuscripts. It highlights in particular those elements that today survive only on paper: ephemeral festivals; short-lived creatures (courtiers, animals, flowers); fragile groves and fountains too costly to maintain; and once celebrated masterpieces of art and architecture that were irrevocably destroyed or altered.

See the scholarly articles published in connection with the Versailles exhibit in this issue of the Princeton University Library Chronicle. Includes studies of medals, monumental stairways, sculpture, and fetes.

This is a 2017 production of the ballet from the Théâtre de Caen. It was originally performed in 1653. The celebratory ballet royal tells the story of Day triumphing over Night (Light over Darkness, Good over Evil), and appropriately places the Sun King—at the time aged 15—in a starring role, personifying a series of character-metaphors.

This website for the palace of Versailles and its museum includes many resources concerning Louis XIV. See this list of links for topics of interest.

This book presents fashion plates drawn from 1683-1696. Plates present not-from-life depictions of French nobility, the King, Queen, Dauphin, and men/women "of quality."

The Metropolitan Museum brings together essays, images, information on artists in this part of the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.

Portions of this web page deal with Louis XIV's construction of the Grand Trianon and prominent women in his court at Versailles.

Online exhibit with images and brief explanations about Louis XIV's death and funeral.

Online version of the exhibition at the Getty Museum done in cooperation with the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Online exhibit from the Chateau de Versailles.

See this series of blogs with commentary and high-quality images drawn from Getty collections and travelling exhibits.

This page from Princeton's Versailles on Paper brings together examples of satirical prints.

Includes many plates drawn in the 1670s and 1680s.

Extensive image collections relating to Versailles and Louis XIV drawn from museums across France.

Presents six art objects connected with Louis XIV. Part of an online exhibit, Creating French Culture, sponsored by the Library of Congress.

View 253 digitised Renaissance festival books (selected from over 2,000 in the British Library's collection) that describe the magnificent festivals and ceremonies that took place in Europe between 1475 and 1700 - marriages and funerals of royalty and nobility, coronations, stately entries into cities and other grand events. Includes accounts with images:
Festivities at Versailles staged by Louis XIV. (Versailles: 1664). Portfolio of prints by Israel Silvestre and Jean Le Pautre. Bibliographic description.

Many images from the Bibliothèque national's collection are searchable here.

Gives access by topic, time period, artist and more to a wealth of digitized prints, artifacts and many other objects at the British Museum.