André Félibien (May 161911 June 1695), ''sieur des Avaux et de Javercy'', was a French chronicler of the arts and official
court historian to
Louis XIV of France
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
.
Biography
Félibien was born at
Chartres
Chartres () is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 1 ...
. At the age of fourteen he went to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
to continue his studies; and in May 1647 he was sent to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
in the capacity of secretary in the embassy of the
marquis de Fontenay-Mareuil. His residence at Rome he turned to good account by diligent study of its ancient monuments, by examination of the literary treasures of its libraries, and by cultivating the acquaintance of men eminent in literature and in art, with whom he was brought into contact through his translation of
Francesco Cardinal Barberini's ''Life of Pius V''.
Among his friends was
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...
, whose counsels were of great value to him, and under whose guidance he even attempted to paint and whose biography Félibien wrote, which remains "the most persuasive guide to the work, as to the life" of Poussin, as the biography's modern editor Claire Pace observed.
On his return to France he immediately began working up his notes for the eight volumes of ''Entretiens'' he eventually published. He married and was ultimately induced, in the hope of employment and honors, to settle in Paris. Both
Fouquet and
Colbert in their turn recognized his abilities; he was one of the first members (1663) of the
Academy of Inscriptions. Three years later Colbert procured him the appointment of court historian to the king, in which one of his commissions was the minute descriptions of court fêtes, an essential element of the king's cultural propaganda. In 1671 he was named secretary to the newly founded
Académie royale d'architecture
The Académie Royale d'Architecture (; ) was a French learned society founded in 1671. It had a leading role in influencing architectural theory and education, not only in France, but throughout Europe and the Americas from the late 17th centur ...
, where he gave lectures, and in 1673 he was appointed keeper of the cabinet of antiquities in the
Palais Brion. His ''Description sommaire'' (1674) was the official guide to Versailles. To these offices was afterwards added by
Louvois that of deputy controller-general of roads and bridges.
Félibien found time in the midst of his official duties for study and research, and produced many literary works. Among these the best and the most generally known is the ''Entretiens sur les vies et sur les ouvrages des plus excellents peintres anciens et modernes.'' That work was directly inspired by
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...
's ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' (first edition, 1550; second edition, 1568). The ''Entretiens'' set the nascent discipline of
art criticism
Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of visual art. Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty. A goal of art criticism is the pursuit of a rational basis for art appreciation but it is quest ...
on sound logical footings, which Félibien set forth most coherently in his ''Principes de l'architecture, de la sculpture, de la peinture, &c.'' (1676–1690).
The ''Entretiens'' also served the purpose of advancing the reputations of French artists, sometimes at the expense of artists of other nationalities. An example of this is Félibien's condemnation of Giovanni Bazzi, also known as Il Sodoma, in the ''Entretiens''
' fourth volume (1672). Sodoma's mural painting of ''The Women of Darius' Family before Alexander the Great'' (c. 1517) was an uncomfortably close source of inspiration for Charles Le Brun's celebrated version of 1660–1661, about which Félibien composed a panegyric entitled ''Les Reines de Perse aux pieds d'Alexandre'' (1663). In his biography of "Le Sodoma" in the ''Entretiens'', Félibien made no mention of Sodoma's earlier painting, but devoted the entire biography to a harsh critique of the artist's laziness and immorality, echoing earlier criticisms in Vasari's ''Lives'' (second edition, 1568).
Félibien wrote also ''L'Origine de la peinture'' (1660), and descriptions of
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
, of
La Trappe Abbey, and of the pictures and statues of the royal residences. He published a straightforward work of information, ''Des principes de l'architecture, de la sculpture, de la peinture... avec un dictionnaire des terms'' anonymously in Paris, 1676; in it H. W. van Helsdingen has detected that he made use of an unpublished work of critical ''Observations'' by
Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy. Among other literary works, he edited the published Conferences of the
Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture
The Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (; ) was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abolished in 1793 during the French Revolution. I ...
and translated the ''Castle of the Soul'' from the Spanish of
St. Theresa. His personal character commanded the highest esteem, agreeing with the motto which he adopted - ''Bene facere et vera dicere'', "Do well, and tell the truth".
Félibien's codification of the aesthetic values of the classic arts in the
hierarchy of genres
A hierarchy of genres is any formalization which ranks different genres in an art form in terms of their prestige and cultural value.
In literature, the Epic poetry, epic was considered the highest form, for the reason expressed by ...
is perhaps his most enduring legacy. André Félibien and
Roger de Piles
Roger de Piles (7 October 1635 – 5 April 1709) was a French painter, engraver, art critic and diplomat.
Life
Born in Clamecy, Nievre, Clamecy, Roger de Piles studied philosophy and theology, and devoted himself to painting.
In 1662 he became ...
, author of ''Dialogue sur les coloris'' (Paris, 1673) "were and are the best-known writers on fine arts in seventeenth-century France". He died in Paris in 1695.
His son,
Jean François Félibien (c. 1658–1733), was also an architect who left a number of works on his subject; and a younger son,
Michel Félibien (c. 1666–1719), was a Benedictine monk of
Saint-Germain-des-Prés whose fame rests on his history of the
Abbey of Saint-Denis
The Basilica of Saint-Denis (, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of singular importance historically and archite ...
and also his ''L'Histoire de l'école de Paris'' in 5 vols., a work indispensable to the student of Paris.
Félibien's diaries are among the bound volumes of his papers conserved in the public library of his birthplace, Chartres. The only recent work wholly devoted to Félibien is Stefan Germer, ''Kunst, Macht, Diskurs. Die intellektuelle Karriere des André Félibien im Frankreich von Louis XIV'' (Munich), 1997; it supplants the brief report in A. Fontaine, ''Les doctrines d'art en France'' (Paris) 1909:41ff.
Art
In 1667 Félibien stated the following views on the
hierarchy of genres
A hierarchy of genres is any formalization which ranks different genres in an art form in terms of their prestige and cultural value.
In literature, the Epic poetry, epic was considered the highest form, for the reason expressed by ...
:
"He who makes perfect landscapes is above another who only paints fruit, flowers, or seashells. He who paints living animals is worthier of estimation than those who paint only things that are dead and without movement. And as the figure of man is the most perfect work of God on earth, it is also certain that he who becomes an imitator of God by painting human figures is much more excellent than all the others. However, even though it is no small thing to make the figure of a man appear as if alive, and to give the appearance of movement to that which has none, nevertheless a painter who only makes portraits...may not pretend to the honor accorded to the most learned. For that, it is necessary to progress from the single figure to the representation of several together, to depict history and myth...the virtue of great men and the most elevated mysteries".
Notes
External links
Principles of architecture, sculpture, painting, and other arts dependent: with a dictionary of terms specific to each of these arts (1699)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felibien, Andre
1619 births
1695 deaths
Writers from Chartres
17th-century French architects
French architecture writers
French historiographers
Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Members of the Académie royale d'architecture
Members of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture