II.6. NOBLES, GODS AND HEROES

MENU: 2.6. Nobles gods & heroes 

TOWARD 1500, EXPLORERS' DISCOVERIES LEAD TO NEW SOURCES OF INCOME AND SO TO A BOOM THAT UNDERMINES THE SOCIAL SYSTEM 

Nascent capitalists gain the means to challenge the hereditary landowners, nobles who draw their wealth from peasant labor and define themselves as warriors.

          Discoveries in 1502 / zoom 

The earliest known map of the Age of Discovery

They wear armor: 

• For their portraits

 Portrait of a Knight in Armor, end 16th century / zoom; Portrait of a Young General by Van Dyck, 1624 / zoom

The baton indicates command and the curtain underscores grandeur.

They have themselves painted in full armor, in armor mixed with other signs of status, or in a martial way: examples here, here and here.   

• And for their tombs.

        Design of the Funeral Monument to Henri II de Montmorency in Moulins by Michel Anguier, 17th century / zoom

For the costume of antiquity, please scroll on.

• Even a painting has nothing to do with fighting, the artist introduces an idealized soldier in Roman garb:

Saint Peter Preaches, Saint-Merri church, toward 1600 / zoom

Their martial upbringing and values of personal honor and loyalty are irrelevant to commerce. As well, they lose their privileges should they engage in it, for which in any case all but the most powerful lack the capital. 

They cannot adapt to budding capitalism.*

*For a deeper discussion, please click and scroll down.

For three centuries everyone takes their innate superiority for granted, because innumerable aspects of daily life buttress that conviction. 

In brief

• The primacy of hereditary rank 

• Everything aids the overclass 

• Allegory, nobles' weapon vs. rising capitalists

• The clergy cannot use pagan decor...

• Detour: History — anecdotes or the economy?

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Next,

2.5.1.

The primacy of hereditary rank

II.5.1. THE PRIMACY OF HEREDITARY RANK

"UPSTART! YOUR ANCESTORS WERE MERE MEDICI BANKERS, WHILE MINE WERE NINTH-CENTURY FEUDAL LORDS!"

So exclaimed Madame de Montespan,* Louis XIV's most famous favorite, in a quarrel with the king. He would feel humble before her.

                                                                                            -- Summary of a widely-known incident.

*She who was accused of poisonings and black masses. 

Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan, workshop of Pierre Mignard, undated, zoom

# # #

A century later, Louis XV's daughters were officially called "Madame Première, Madame Seconde, Madame Troisième and Madame Quatrième,*" terms that referred to their rank by birth.

*Madame First, Second, Third, Fourth.

When the king began the day with coffee in the apartment of the eldest, she would "ring the bell to avert Madame Victoire of the king's visit. 

Madame Victoire would ring Madame Sophie, who, in turn, would ring Madame Louise. The princesses' apartments were vast. Madame Louise lodged in the most distant. That last daughter of the king was deformed and very small; to join the meeting the poor princess had to rush through a great number of rooms, and much as she would try, often she could do no more than embrace her father as he left for the hunt." 

--Memoirs of Madame Campan, First Chambermaid of Marie-Antoinette, 

original publication 1822, this edition 1988, pp. 22-23.

# # #

An insult among the humble: 

"Your father was a valet!" 

-- Voltaire, The Century of Louis XIV

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Next,

2.5.2. 

Everything aids the overclass

II.5.2. EVERYTHING AIDS THE OVERCLASS

NOBLES' SUPERIORITY IS TAKEN FOR GRANTED BECAUSE ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE REINFORCE IT  

Page inspired by The Old Regime and the Revolution, by Alexis de Toqueville, 1856.

# # #

Nobles...

• Lead a hierarchy thought willed by God. 

•  Valor in battle is the quintessential value, reserved to nobles alone.

• Hold the main positions in the State, the Church and especially the army. 

 

• Are exempted from most taxes.

• Control sales taxes and tolls, which often are gifts from the king. 

 

• Monopolize hunting, fight duels only between themselves, may alone purchase the most luxurious wares (which explains the location of the modern garment center).

• Have identifying liveries for servants, a coat of arms, a reserved pew at church and often a name whose prefix "de" indicates nobility (it is still considered a joli nom, "pretty name").

• Are ceremoniously decapitated and buried if condemned of crime, while bodies of ignominiously hanged commoners remain on the gallows until they decompose.

  Executions of a noble (zoom) and a commoner (zoom).

• Own gibbets. The gibbets themselves show rank by the number of beams from which to hang the condemned (two to eight, the king having nine). The corpse of the highest-born (commoner) victim hangs from the top.

• May lead popular revolts because of their prestige and because they are trained to fight. Royals legitimize rebellions by heading them.

• The French word for "bad" — villain — originally meant "peasant," and we still say "noble" and "ignoble."

Rising commoners often use their revenues to purchase a title, acquire land to which a title is attached or marry their daughters to lords seeking dowries. Such practices siphon off investible profits, slowing capitalism's rise.

# # #

The valet Figaro's famous question to his noble master, "What have you done for all that wealth? You took the trouble to be born! Whereas I..." shows that at the end of the 18th century that belief was changing.

-- Figaro's question, The Marriage of Figaro by Pierre Beaumarchais, 1778

So was the economy.   

# # #

Detour: In our society of advanced capitalism...

• Everything is monetized. Competition rather than solidarity is at the heart of our culture, "success" usually means financial success, we are consumers rather than citizens and may even see ourselves as "brands." Ads glamorize isolation. The elitist and individualistic views of Paris and the past explained in these pages are part of that ambiance.

• Like the humble not realizing that the insult "Your father was a valet!" reinforced the hierarchy that oppressed them, we accept these assumptions without understanding that their practical results.

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Next,

II.5.3.

 Allegory, nobles' weapon vs. rising capitalists

II.5.3. ALLEGORY, NOBLES' WEAPON vs. RISING CAPITALISTS

MENU: 2.5.3. Allegory: nobles vs. capitalists

ALLEGORIES LINK NOBLES TO FIGURES OF ANTIQUITY, PROCLAIMING AN ESSENCE THAT UPSTARTS CANNOT MATCH

Diane de Poitiers, a member of the top nobility and royal favorite, showed her importance through nudity, the clothing of the gods. 

(Toward 1550)

            Diane de Poitiers as Diana, Goddess of the Hunt, anonymous / zoom

Biblical figures are clothed, but have the bodies and faces of gods.

The Reconciliation of Jacob and Ésaü by Arnould De Vuez toward 1678, Baulme Fine Arts

Royals identify with those personnages: 

Philip of France in Costume of Antiquity by Jean Nocret, toward 1650 / zoom; Maurice Leloir in Le Roy-Soleil by T. Cahu, 1931

Using the gods for primacy and power

• Real-life stories and political messages

• Rubens's decor for a queen

• A plea for peace and a threat of revolt

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Next,

Real-life stories and political messages

REAL-LIFE STORIES AND POLITICAL MESSAGES

ALLEGORIES NARRATE THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PRINCES AND NOBLES, AS MYTHOLOGY AND THE HEBREW BIBLE TELL TALES OF HEROES OF ANTIQUITY 

Works express a coded message:  

Diana's Bath by Francois Clouet, court painter, toward vers 1565 / zoom with analysis.

The three goddesses were real rivals, Catherine de Medici (with the black cloth as the widow of Henri II), Diane de Poitiers, Henri's favorite (her colors, black and white) and Marie de Guise (Scottish, shown by the thistle and queen after Henri's death and member of a hostile clan). The satyres are its leaders. The horseman is a hunter with his dog, who will kill them.  

The painting was commissioned by a Protestant nobleman at the court against Catholic rivals, a few years before the massacre of Protestants by Catholics. 

                                                                    # # #

The style characterizes mansions and chateaux: 

• The mansion of the Minister of Finance (toward 1630):

  Zoom

The Hôtel de Sully, on the first trade route (rue Saint-Antoine) and next to the first royal place (place des Vosges). 

             

• Mantels, the most prestigious sites of glacial chateaux 

• At Écouen* Jacob sins, leaves, returns and is forgiven, like the owner** who offends Diane de Poitiers, leaves the court and eventually reconciles with the king.

*Now the Renaissance Museum, north of Paris.

**The Constable of Montmorency (1493-1567). 

Esau's Hunt, museum publication

• At Condé en Brie (in Champagne) a god carries off a woman. The work alludes to the owner* making a married woman his mistress as Louis XIV had done with Madame de Montespan (before he knew of her visits to the witch) and imitates a Versailles statue.

*The Marquis de la Faye, private secretary to Louis XIV

Claude Abron

Château de Condé - Aymeri de Rochefort; Pluto Carries off Prosperine by François Girardon, toward 1690, Versailles / zoom

That mistress

chose the story of Helen of Troy 

as decor for her chateau.

-- Athénaïs, the Real Queen of France by Lisa Hilton, 2002

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Next,

Rubens's decor for a queen

II.5.4. THE CHURCH CANNOT SHOW PAGAN DECOR

SO IT USES ANTIQUITY IN ANOTHER WAY

Compare these 11th-and 16th-century views of the Nativity:  

Zoom

Zoom

The medieval shepherds wear work cloths, and seem to be ordinary men. There descendant has the body of a god and wears the drapery of antiquity. 

 The sacrality of gold yields to a Roman arc.

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Detour: History, anecdotes or the economy?

RUBENS'S DECOR FOR A QUEEN

THE LOUVRE DEVOTES AN ENTIRE ROOM TO THE MOST EXUBERANT PROPAGANDA EVER IMAGINED

Marie de Medici returns to power* and as a true Medici, hires the time's leading painter to present her life as she wants it told.

The first modern biography is also the most famous use of allegory, with 24 life-size paintings made for her palace in 1624-1626, now at the Louvre. 

*In 1621-1630. For the start of her story, please click.

Most visitors head to the publicized works, so you will have the huge room almost to yourself. 

       The Regent Militant. The Victory at Julich / zoom

 A white horse, symbol of royalty

How Marie might be remembered had she not lost her temper... .

# # #

If you come with children, tell them about the conflict between Marie and her son Louis XIII, who at age 15 took power through a plot and an assassination (for that story, please click on the link above). There's the queen, the prince,  the wickedness and intrigues of a royal court...

Then have them look for:

• Louis XIII, the teen-age prince. In 24 paintings he appears only seven times, and never in a commanding way. Marie wants to keep on ruling: 

    The Consignment of the Regency to the Queen / zoom

Marie dominates. As he grows older Louis pretends to be retarded and almost everyone ignores him They regret that mistake for the rest of their lives, which might be short.

• The 14-year-old French and Spanish princesses, exchanged at the border

          The Exchange of the Princesses / zoom 

 The girl in white is Anne, Louis's bride.

If your little girl dreams of being a princess and marrying a prince, tell her she would never see her family again. Plus, as a foreign princess the court might think she was a spy (as Anne really was). 

A queen's sole path to influence: becoming regent should the king die and leave a son too young to rule. That was how both Marie and Anne came to exert 17th-century Europe's most important regencies. 

• Dogs fill empty space 

    The Coronation of Marie de Medici at Saint-Denis on May 13, 1610 / zoom

• Monsters: Marie's enemies, neutralized or defeated

         Louis XIII Comes of Age / zoom                    The Queen Reconciles with her Son / zoom

You can mention what's left out: the servant Leonora, the hustler Concini, Marie's banishment and imprisonment... (click if you haven't yet).

        The Expulsion from Paris / zoom

The rejected sketch for the work on her disgrace.

The series is important for itself, for its influence...

• David studied The Coronation of Marie de Medici, shown above, before beginning his most famous work:

The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and the Crowning of the Empress Josephine in Notre-Dame Cathedral on December 2, 1804 by Jacques-Louis David / zoom

• The series' color and action influenced Eugène Delacroix, leader of the Romantics and creator of the most famous painting produced in France (please read on):

        The Death of Sardanapolus by Eugène Delacroix, 1827 / zoom

And for showing how "alternative facts"

go back centuries.

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Next,

A plea for peace and a threat of revolt