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Cabinet Des Médailles
The BnF Museum or Museum of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, formerly known as the Cabinet des Médailles, is a significant art and history museum in Paris. It displays collections of the ''Département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France'' as well as manuscripts and books from the Library's collections. The BnF Museum is located in the Richelieu site, the former main building of the library bordering rue de Richelieu. Overview The Cabinet des Médailles is a museum containing internationally important collections of coins, engraved gems, and antiquities, with its distant origins in the treasuries of the French kings of the Middle Ages. The disruptions of the Wars of Religion inspired Charles IX (1560-1574) to create the position of a ("Special guardian of the King's medals and antiques"). Thus the collection, which has been augmented and never again dispersed - unlike the first royal library, assembled at the Palais du Louvre by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treasury Of Saint-Denis
The Treasury of Saint-Denis, kept at the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris until the French Revolution, was the main repository of the ''regalia'' of the Kingdom of France, including the ''ancien régime'' portion of what are now known as the French Crown Jewels. Its surviving items are presently scattered between the Louvre, the ''Cabinet des Médailles'' of the French National Library, and other museums. A complementary set of coronation-related ''regalia'' was kept at Reims Cathedral, where some remain exhibited at the Palace of Tau. History The abbey of Saint Denis became a royal necropolis with the burial there of Dagobert I in the 7th century, confirmed as such by the burials of Charles Martel and Pepin the Short, and became an anchor shrine of the French monarchy under the early Capetian dynasty. Major donors also included Charles the Bald in the 9th century, Louis VI and Louis VII at the time when Suger was both the Saint-Denis abbot and a key royal adviser, Philip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre-Jean Mariette
Pierre-Jean Mariette (7 May 1694 – 10 September 1774) was a collector of and dealer in old master prints, a renowned connoisseur, especially of prints and drawings, and a chronicler of the careers of French Italian and Flemish artists. He was born and died in Paris, and was a central figure in the artistic culture of the city for decades. Early life and training Mariette was born to a long-established and highly successful family of engravers, book publishers and printsellers in Paris. His father was Jean Mariette (1660–1742). In 1657 his father's father, Pierre Mariette (ii) (1634–1716), had bought the family business from his ailing father, Pierre Mariette (i) (1596–1657), for 30,000 livres. Family connections put him in contact as a young man with antiquarians such as the comte de Caylus, for whom Mariette would write his ''Lettre sur Leonardo da Vinci'', printed as a preface to Caylus's book on Leonardo's caricatures, 1730. In 1722 he first met the imm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories, and pastoral scenes. He was perhaps the most celebrated painter and decorative artist of the 18th century. Life A native of Paris, Boucher was the son of a lesser known painter Nicolas Boucher, who gave him his first artistic training. At the age of seventeen, a painting by Boucher was admired by the painter François Lemoyne. Lemoyne later appointed Boucher as his apprentice, but after only three months, he went to work for the engraver Jean-François Cars.Alastair Laing. "Boucher, François." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 16 June 2016 In 1720, he won the elite Grand Prix de Rome for painting, but did not take up the consequential opportunity to study in Italy until five years later, due to financi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antoine Gaudreau
Antoine-Robert Gaudreau (c. 1680 – 6 May 1746) was a Parisian ''ébéniste'' who was appointed ''Ébéniste du Roi'' and was the principal supplier of furniture for the royal châteaux during the early years of Louis XV's reign. He is largely known through the copious documentation of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne; he entered the service of the Garde-Meuble in 1726. However, since his career was spent before the practice of stamping Paris-made furniture began (1751), no stamped piece by Gaudreau exists and few identifications have been made, with the exception of royal pieces that were so ambitious and distinctive that they can be recognized from their meticulous inventory descriptions. In one case, the identification of a royal commode permits the attribution to Gaudreau of several similar ones. The commode in question, formerly in the collection of Alphonse de Rothschild, was delivered by Gaudreau on 4 August 1738 intended for the King's bedroom at Château La Muette. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ébéniste
''Ébéniste'' () is a loanword (from French) for a cabinet-maker, particularly one who works in ebony. Etymology and ambiguities As opposed to ''ébéniste'', the term ''menuisier'' denotes a woodcarver or chairmaker in French. The English equivalent for ''ébéniste'', "ebonist", is not commonly used. Originally, an ''ébéniste'' was one who worked with ebony, a favoured luxury wood for mid-17th century Parisian cabinets, originating in imitation of elite furniture being made in Antwerp. The word is 17th-century in origin. Early Parisian ''ébénistes'' often came from the Low Countries themselves; an outstanding example is Pierre Golle, who worked at the '' Gobelins manufactory'' making cabinets and table tops veneered with marquetry, the traditional enrichment of ''ébénisterie'', or "cabinet-work". History ''Ébénistes'' make case furniture, either veneered or painted. Under Parisian guild regulations the application of painted varnishes, generically called '' vernis Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bâtiments Du Roi
The Bâtiments du Roi (, "King's Buildings") was a division of the Maison du Roi ("King's Household") in France under the Ancien Régime. It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris. History The Bâtiments du Roi was created by Henry IV of France to coordinate the building works at his royal palaces. Formerly, each palace had its own superintendent of works. Henry gave the task of supervising all works to Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully. In the 17th century, the responsibilities of the Bâtiments du Roi extended beyond pure building works, to include the manufacture of tapestries and porcelain. In 1664, Jean-Baptiste Colbert was entitled ''surintendant et ordonnateur général des bâtiments, arts, tapisseries et manufactures de France'' ("superintendent and director-general of building, art, tapestries and factories of France"). This title was retained by several of his successors. Other areas that came within under the control o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jules Hardouin-Mansart
Jules Hardouin-Mansart (; 16 April 1646 – 11 May 1708) was a French Baroque architect and builder whose major work included the Place des Victoires (1684–1690); Place Vendôme (1690); the domed chapel of Les Invalides (1690), and the Grand Trianon of the Palace of Versailles. His monumental work was designed to glorify the reign of Louis XIV of France. Biography Born Jules Hardouin in Paris in 1646, he studied under his renowned great-uncle François Mansart, one of the originators of the classical tradition in French architecture; Hardouin inherited Mansart's collection of plans and drawings and added Mansart's name to his own in 1668. He began his career as an entrepreneur in building construction, in partnership with his brother Michel, but then decided in 1672 to devote himself entirely to architecture. In 1674 he became one of the group of royal architects working for Louis XIV. His first important project was the Château de Clagny, built for the King's consort, Madame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jules-Robert De Cotte
Jules-Robert de Cotte (1683–1767) was a renowned French architect, the son of one of the most highly regarded architect-administrators of his era, Robert de Cotte. The younger de Cotte assisted his father in the most prestigious architectural project in France, the building works at the royal palaces, (Bâtiments du Roi). In 1718 he received, in the course of construction, one of the three posts of "intendant et ordonnateur" In 1723, top German architect Balthasar Neumann came to Paris in order to study the latest French stylistic developments of the emerging Rococo and consulted Robert de Cotte, as well as Jules-Robert, whose reputation with Neumann was as good as his fatherIn a letter, ''so guth als der vater darin ist'', (Kimball, p. 126 and surpassing that of another brilliant contemporary French architect, Germain Boffrand Germain Boffrand () (16 May 1667 – 19 March 1754) was a French architect. A pupil of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Germain Boffrand was one of the mai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis XV Of France
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defined as his 13th birthday) on 15 February 1723, the kingdom was ruled by his grand-uncle Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, as Regent of France. Cardinal Fleury was chief minister from 1726 until his death in 1743, at which time the king took sole control of the kingdom. His reign of almost 59 years (from 1715 to 1774) was the second longest in the history of France, exceeded only by his predecessor, Louis XIV, who had ruled for 72 years (from 1643 to 1715). In 1748, Louis returned the Austrian Netherlands, won at the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745. He ceded New France in North America to Great Britain and Spain at the conclusion of the disastrous Seven Years' War in 1763. He incorporated the territories of the Duchy of Lorra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palace Of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, under the direction of the Ministry of Culture (France), French Ministry of Culture, by the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. Some 15,000,000 people visit the palace, park, or gardens of Versailles every year, making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. Louis XIII built a simple hunting lodge on the site of the Palace of Versailles in 1623 and replaced it with a small château in 1631–34. Louis XIV expanded the château into a palace in several phases from 1661 to 1715. It was a favorite residence for both kings, and in 1682, Louis XIV moved the seat of his court and government to Versailles, making the palace the ''de facto'' capital of France. This ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
