5.4. SUPER-SPENDING RETURNS

MENU: 5.4. Super-spending returns

THE NEED TO ERASE INVESTABLE INCOME REACHES NEW HIGHTS AS THE ECONOMY EXPANDS

Highlighting the king's grandeur was the reason believed, since underlying goals are usually invisible. 

Louis XIV at the siege of  Douai, 1672 par Charles le Brun

 

In brief

• Celebrations

• Favorites

• Creation, destruction, replacement

• The Hall of Mirrors

• Detour: comparable change

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Next,

5.4.1.

Celebrations

5.4.1. CELEBRATIONS

GIANT FÊTES HAVE THE USUAL GOAL: DESTROY INVESTABLE INCOME WHILE BUTTRESSING AUTHORITY.

A parade recalls the show given for the mariage of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria in 1614 and is even more grandiose:

Festivité en honneur des mariages royaux, anonymous 17th  century / zoom

     Le cortège triumphant à Paris pour le double marriage entre l'Espagne et la  France / zoom

Louis IV's show marks the start of his reign without a Prime Minister and the birth of an heir (in 1662). The bleachers in front of the Tuileries palace seat 15,000 spectators and one of the prizes is a jewel-filled box with his portrait on the cover.

The site is still called "la place du Carrousel."

Le Grand Carrousel donné par Louis XIV aux Tuileries, 5 et 6 juin 1662 by Henri Gissey, 1662 / zoom 

He is the star.

Maurice Leloir in Le Roy Soleil, 1931

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Fetes move to Versailles:

• 1662: six days of festivity for 600 guests, with jewels as lottery prizes, openly dedicated to Louis' the queen and queen mother, but secretly to Louise de la Vallière. The next page says more about her.

Les plaisirs de l'île enchantée, third day / zoom

Video of First Day, with the majestic music of Jean-Baptiste Lully, court composer.

 

• 1668: Officially to celebrate a peace treaty giving France sites on its northern border and unofficially for the Marquise de Montespan, the cost of welcoming 3000 guests was a third of Versailles's annual budget (of 1668).

Versailles publication / zoom

Description: here.

• 1674: to mark the reconquest of Franche-Comté, giant fireworks inaugurate the Grand Canal.

 

                  Zoom

• A 19th-century evocation

Fête de nuit à Versailles by Gaston la Touche, FB Château de Versailles / zoom

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Fireworks literally send revenues up in smoke. Subjects participate by watching from afar.

Zoom

Then transforming Versailles 
replaces the titanic celebrations. 

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Next,

5.4.2. 

Favorites

5.4.2. "FAVORITES"

ROYAL MISTRESSES, ANOTHER SOURCE OF IMMENSE EXPENSE, ADDED TO THE ECLAT OF THE COURT

The political importance of this institution parallel to that of the queen is described here. 

Standing out:

• Diane de Poitiers (1536-1559) was fundamental to the court of Henri II from his accession to his death.

Diane de Poitiers, lady of Brézé and Duchess of Valentinois / anonymous after a sketch by Jean Clouet / zoom

Chenonceau, rebuilt toward 1620 / zoom

Among the king's gifts, use of the château of Chenonceau. Diane inspired and financed the bridge.

• The marquise de Montespan, 1667-1678

Mme de Montespan in her chateau of Clagny by Henri Gascar, end 1670's / zoom

 

Superb, cultivated and caustique, of a lineage superior to that of the king, she dominated the court at its most brilliant time. Associating with a witch led to her disgrace: that story here.     

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Perspective of Clagny chateau, print by Antoine Aveline, no date / zoom

"It's barely worthy of an opera girl," said the Marquise of a first chateau the king offered. He had it torn down and built this one.

• Marquise de Pompadour

Portrait of Madame de Pompidou, anonymous, no date  / zoom

Aspects of culture surround her.

.Zoom

The royal Manufactory of Sèvres, due to her.

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The favorites' luxury encouraged the arts. 

That too destroyed surplus,

while promoting kingship.    

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Next,

5.4.3.

Creation, destruction, replacement 

5.4.3. CREATION, DESTRUCTION, REPLACEMENT

VERSAILLES'S PARK AND FURNISHINGS CONSTANTLY CHANGE    

The grotto of Thetys, built 1676, demolished in 1684 when the palace is enlarged:

                       Louis XIV at the Grotto of Thétis, anonymous, 1670's / zoom

Zoom

Interior

• Fireworks in a garden, which he later demolishes.

• Watching destruction amuses the court:  

Relation du Grand Divertissement de 1688 by Andre Félibien, archives / zoom

After their Majesties had been for a time in that charming spot and that the Ladies had had their refreshment, the King left the tables to those that followed, and the destruction of such a beautiful arrangement was an entertainment agreeable to the entire Court, by the eagerness and turmoil of those who demolished the chateau of marzipan and mountains of jam. (My trans., bold added)

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Thousands of trees are uprooted and replanted. Thousands of hothouse flowers are planted every day. Two million flowerpots circulate. Ten thousand tulips are imported from Holland and planted at night, to surprise the courtisans when they wake.

Zoom

Gone from the web

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Decor includes tapestries, monumental silver and priceless silks: Before the king settles in Versailles they are carried with him from chateau to chateau, but when he is established there they are renewed twice a year.

Louis XIV visits the Gobelins establishement by Charles Le Brun, 1673 / zoom 

Louis XIV receives the Doge of Genoa, 1685 (detail) / zoom

Zoom 

When the marquise de Montespan's pet bear destroys those in a salon, Louis says nothing. 

Waste is a resource.

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Next,

5.4.4.

 The Hall of Mirrors