FRENCH BAROQUE'S SOBRIETY

"BAROQUE:"* THE CHURCH REPLIES TO PROTESTANT

 AUSTERITY AND RATIONALITY WITH ART THAT IS  EXUBERANT, EMOTIONAL AND WHOSE EXPENSE DISPERSES INVESTIBLE WEALTH

* The Portuguese term for a pearl of irregular form 

But the importance of the French middle class* brings a style that is more subdued than in other Catholic lands.**

* As said in Baroque et classicisme by Victor Tapié, 1957, a classic whose economic explanation would be unlikely today. 

I attended Monsieur Tapié's classes at the Sorbonne, and recall a flamboyant conservative who would illustrate the baroque by running his fingers through his flowing white hair, while wearing a giant ruby ring, 

** Certain German principalities, central Europe, Spain and Portugal with their colonies.

Compare Saint James of Compostella in Spain with Saint-Paul Saint-Louis in Paris for drama and opulence vs. restraint:

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• Columns, carved vs. plain: 

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• Altar, gold vs. candles:

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• Messages from the saints who look down from the summit:

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Saint-James: the pilgrim is traditionally Catholic.

Saint-Paul: the saint is a canonized king (Louis IX-Saint Louis), who wears a crown rather than a halo and stands under a second crown that is easily seen from the street. He announces the power of monarchy, while the architecture and decor suggest that obedience to the rulers is necessary for salvation.

Saint-Paul's relative simplicity characterizes other Parisian building of the time, place des Vosges and pont Neuf. Because the powerful, commerce-oriented French middle class resists what it considers exaggeration... 

 

And because since a new monarchy

dominates the economy,

riches don't have to be dispersed.

For now.

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Next,

In Spain, no civil war, no Protestants, no capitalists