Full Text Without Illustrations
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Cover Page The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/82074 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation. Author: Knegtel, F.J.L.C. Title: Constructing the Sublime: The Discourse on Architecture and Louis XIV's Sublimity in Seventeenth-Century Paris Issue Date: 2019-12-17 constructing the SUBLIME The Discourse on Architecture and Louis XIV’s Sublimity in Seventeenth-Century Paris Frederik Knegtel Constructing the Sublime: The Discourse on Architecture and Louis XIV’s Sublimity in Seventeenth-Century Paris proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden, op gezag van Rector Magnificus prof. mr. C.J.J.M. Stolker, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op dinsdag 17 december 2019 klokke 16.15 uur door Frederik Jacob Lucas Christiaan Knegtel geboren te Tilburg in 1990 promotores Prof. dr. Stijn Bussels Prof. dr. Caroline van Eck co-promotor Dr. Bram van Oostveldt promotiecommissie Prof. dr. Agnès Guiderdoni (Université catholique de Louvain) Prof. dr. Hendrik Ziegler (Philipps-Universität Marburg) Prof. dr. Jeroen Duindam Prof. dr. Paul Smith design Titus Knegtel typefaces: dtl Elzevir & Futura printed by Ipskamp Printing This research is part of the erc Starting Grant Project 'Elevated Minds. The Sublime in the Public Arts in Seventeenth-Century Paris and Amsterdam' Copyright © 2019 Frederik Knegtel Alle rechten voorbehouden Contents acknowledgements 7 introduction 9 part i First issue. An interplay of extremes: the unstable poetics of sublimity (1630-1670) chapter 1 29 Elevating and subversive wonder: Le merveilleux and the artistic patronage of Richelieu and Mazarin Historical wonder: architecture in the French epic 32 Contemporary wonder: architecture and human virtue 36 The subversive wonder of vice: the Palace of Mazarin 45 From hell to heaven: temples of virtue and Mazarin’s re-elevation 50 chapter 2 the elevation of humility: val-de-grâce 59 and the miracle of louis xiv Marguerite’s elevation of humility: anéantissement 60 The queen’s elevation of humility: magnificence 65 In defence of the late queen: funerary reflections on Val-de-Grâce 81 chapter 3 Manifesting sublimity: the Louvre of Louis XIV and the construction of epic transcendence 87 Blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality 87 The Louvre between poetry and reality (1600-1660) 91 Poetry and the Louvre of Louis XIV: the appropriation of Ovid 99 Theoretical writings on the Louvre of Louis XIV: the effect of the sublime 104 The ambivalent attitude towards the incomplete Louvre 114 part ii Second issue. Louis XIV’s own sublimity and the problem of representation (1670-1715) chapter 4 The claim of human sublimity: Félibien’s Tapisseries du Roy and the problem of the representation of Louis XIV 127 Between earthly and lofty: art and nature in the Tapisseries du Roy 128 i A sublimity through motto and pictura: the device 132 ii Towards a sublimity of human beings: the problem of representing a sublime monarch 137 chapter 5 The sublime as a critical notion: reflections on architecture, rhetoric and the king’s virtue (1670-1687) 149 Early critical reflections on architecture and rhetoric: Chéron on Mignard and Molière 150 The triumphal arch inscription: in search of a language to evoke sublime royal virtue 158 Bouhours on Louis XIV: the sublime, the inscription and the danger of hyperbole 171 chapter 6 Excess and exaggeration: Louis XIV and the issues of art and sublimity near the end of his reign (1685-1715) 179 The legitimate monarch: architecture and the marvellous in prose and poetry 179 Real fictions, fictional reality: public spaces and the issue of excessive grandeur and idolatry 186 On the location of sublime: the disenchantment of art and the sublimity in people 194 conclusion 201 illustrations 211 bibliography 233 samenvatting 255 curriculum vitae 259 Acknowledgements 7 In spite of the transcendent nature of this research, and the ever-present risk of getting carried away, there have been a great number of people that pulled me from the clouds and helped me to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground when necessary. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors, Caroline van Eck, Stijn Bussels and Bram van Oostveldt. During many meetings and conversations in Leiden and abroad, they helped me formulate a sharp and encompassing prob- lem, and to return to the drawing board when my thesis needed it. I have many wonderful memories of our lunches and evening discussions in Paris, which were filled with brainstorming sessions and lots of laughter. And when I needed help of any kind, they were very generous and compassionate. Caroline, Stijn and Bram also provided the opportunity to give classes at the École du Louvre, as part of the annual summer school held in Leiden and Paris. The conversations I had and the ideas I gained during these lectures boosted my research as well as my confidence. Many thanks also go to my dear colleagues Laura Plezier and Wieneke Jansen, whose critical advice and wonderful company have made this research project such a fun experience. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the European Research Council (erc) and the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (lucas). I am also very thankful for the support of the Institut Français des Pays-Bas and the Embassy of France in The Netherlands, who provided me with the Bourse d’excellence Descartes in 2016. This scholarship enabled me to live in Paris for five months and made it possible to uncover a wealth of material. Several people also helped me in my research by proofreading texts of my thesis and associated lectures. I owe a lot to Adriaan Rademaker, who read sev- eral parts of the dissertation and provided me with excellent criticism and great support. I am also very grateful for the critical comments by Paul Smith and Karl Enenkel, who gave me the opportunity to speak at a conference on early modern emblems in Münster in 2015 and who proofread the proceedings. This article would later develop into one of the main case studies of my PhD dissertation. During my stays in Paris, I was so generously welcomed and supported by Colette Nativel and Alexander Dencher. Colette made it possible for me to par- ticipate in one of the journées doctorales of Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. From the first year of ourerc -project, my Leiden colleagues and I have main- tained a fruitful collaboration with Colette and her PhD students. I also want to thank the staff of the Bibliothèque Mazarine, who welcomed me year after year with such warmth. Moreover, some of my fondest memories of my stays in 8 Paris were the chats with Sigrid de Jong. The wonderful conversations we had at different spots in the city made me feel truly at home there. There are also others whose support has helped me a lot along the way. Nelke Bartelings, in particular, has become such a great friend. Our evenings filled with lengthy conversations are moments I truly cherish. The support of my friends Robbert Keij, Carolyn Hester, Egge Luining, Emma Merkx, Tobias Hensen, Laura Schalkx, Sannerien van Aerts, Bert Pijnacker, and Raoul de Lange has been heart-warming. I also want to thank Jacqueline Hylkema, who has great- ly supported me in many of my endeavours in academia. Moreover, during my research I also received very helpful and kind advice from my peers in Leiden, such as Maarten Delbeke, Linda Bleijenberg, Eelco Nagelsmit, Elizabeth den Hartog, Juliette Roding, Reinier Baarsen, Marion Boers, Helen Westgeest, Nana Leigh, Edward Grasman, Antje Wessels, and Marlein van Raalte. I am greatly indebted to my ‘paranymphs’ Floris Visser and my brother Jacob, for their efforts, guidance, and their infectious sense of humour. Finally, I owe the largest debt of gratitude to my mother Yvonne Brentjens, and to my siblings Titus, Jacob and George. Already during the first stage of my research they all were a tremendous source of support, by discussing the subject from a fresh perspective. They have greatly contributed to the completion of this printed dissertation and helped me in so many ways during the weeks leading up to the defence. Their love and efforts deserve lots of love in return. Introduction 9 “Rien n’est plus nouveau que le dessein de cét ouvrage.”1 With these words, French Jesuit and writer René Rapin (1621-1687) opened the “avertissement” of his treatise Du grand ou du sublime dans les mœurs et dans les dif- ferentes conditions des hommes, which he published in Paris in 1686 (fig. 1).2 He was right. To place an entire treatise on the sublime outside of the realm of discourse or literature was highly novel – an idea he described in the following manner: On n’en a peut-estre jamais traité de pareil: Car l’idée qu’on se forme du Sublime est tellement attachée au discours, qu’on a de peine a le mettre ailleurs. Mais comme il peut y avoir du Grand & du Merveilleux en toutes choses, j’ay cru qu’on pouvoit aussi y concevoir du Sublime.3 The novelty of his work lies in the fact that Rapin considers “le sublime” as a quality of human morality, even though the specific concept of the sublime that he adopts was firmly rooted in the more traditional domain of discourse – of rhetoric and poetic aesthetics. For his book, Rapin relied on the highly influential Traité du Sublime ou du merveilleux dans le discours by Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636-1711) from 1674, a recent French translation and discussion of the ancient treatise Peri hypsous. This treatise on sublimity in great writing was written by a Greek writer in the first or third century AD who we identify as Pseudo-Lon- ginus, and Boileau’s edition sparked a renewed interest in the idea of sublimity and its theoretical repercussions.4 Boileau’s publication was not so much a trans- lation as a shift in understanding of the Longinian sublime, for Boileau shifted its dominant association with the style of discourse towards the extraordinary 1 René Rapin, Du grand ou du sublime dans les moeurs et dans les différentes conditions des hommes: avec quelques observations sur l’éloquence des bienséances (Paris: Sebastien Mabre-Cramoisy, 1686), iii: “Nothing is newer than the objective of this book.” All English translations in this thesis are mine, unless stated otherwise.