Passion for Reason and Reason of Passion: Seventeenth Century Art and Theory in France, 1648-1683 (Hermeneutics of Art)

After the devastations of the early 17th century, a new wish for order and authority arose in France, culminating with the reign of the young King Louis XIV. A new ideal type of human, utopian in character, emerged and was aspired to by artists and critics. This period, often seen in art history as a late form of baroque classicism or the result of absolutism, is presented in this book in a new light: that of contemporary motivations, aspirations and ideals. The changes, major in character, during this short but intense period were to have far-reaching effects on the course of the art world in France and in Europe as a whole.