The Louvre and Versailles

Christopher Tadgell studied art history at the Courtauld Institute in London and in 1974 was awarded his PhD for his thesis on Ange-Jacques Gabriel, principal architect to Louis XV of France. For three decades from the early 1970s he developed the comprehensive survey course in architectural history for the Canterbury School of Architecture – beginning with revision of the prevailing Eurocentric scope to embrace Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic traditions. Throughout this time French Classical architecture continued to be his main research field but his work on India was the outcome of a life-long fascination with the subcontinent and the perceived need for a one-volume account of its complex architectural history accessible to students. He has lectured on both French and Indian subjects in London and Cambridge and in the United States at Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Charlottesville, Louisville (where he was F.L. Morgan Professor of Architectural Design in 1985) and Princeton (where he is a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study). His several publications on French architecture began with the standard account in Baroque and Rococo Architecture and Decoration (ed. Blunt, London 1978). His seven-volume series Architecture in Context is an unmatched survey of the seminal architectural traditions from the earliest times to the end of the 20th century: French architecture features prominently in all four volumes covering the sequential periods from the early Middle Ages. In particular, moreover, he has contributed articles on French architecture to The Grove Dictionary of Art and other major reference books, including the most recent revision of Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture.

The Louvre: from round tower to square court over half a millennium 1. Inception 21 1.1. Apogee of the Valois 1.2. To the palace with Lescot 1.3. Valois valediction 2. Expansion 2.1. Introduction: Advent of the Bourbons 2.2. Back to the palace with Lemercier: expansion eclipsed 2.3. L ouis XIV and Mazarin 2.4. Back to the palace with Le Vau: expansion regained 3. Resolution 3.1. Self-assertive king and minister 3.2. Colbert and the palace 3.3. Amplification 3.4. Prototype achieved Versailles: transformations of a hunting lodge across two reigns 1. Inception and development for Louis XIV 1.1. The pursuit of gloire 1.2. The palace of Le Vau and Le Brun: envelopment 1.3. Pursuit of gloire renewed 1.4. The palace of Le Brun and Hardouin-Mansart: expansion 1.5. Marly 1.6. After Colbert: gloire sullied 1.7. Retreat from magniloquence 1.8. Twilight of gloire 1.9. The final phase of the old king’s palace building 2. reformation and refinement for Louis xv 2.1. From profligate regency to personal rule 2.2. Sophisticated planning and exotic decoration 2.3. Reviewed theory and reformed practice 2.4. Projects for the palace 2.5. Return to the Louvre 2.6. Towards the definitive grand projet 2.7. Diversion to Trianon again 2.8. Back to the palace 2.9. Resolution of the grand projet Epilogue les siecles de Louis XIV Index