nymphs display a compelling charm as they minister to the god
Apollo at the end of the day. (The three nymphs in the background
are the work ofThomas Regnaudin,1622–1706.) Girardon’s close
study of Greco-Roman sculpture heavily influenced his design of the
figures, and Poussin’s figure compositions (FIG. 25-24) inspired their
arrangement. Since Apollo was often equated with the sun god, the
group refers obliquely to Louis XIV as the “god of the sun.” This was
bound to assure the work’s success at court. Girardon’s classical style
and mythological symbolism were well suited to France’s glorifica-
tion of royal majesty.
VERSAILLES CHAPELIn 1698, Jules Hardouin-Mansart re-
ceived the commission to add a Royal Chapel to the Versailles palace
complex. The chapel’s interior (FIG. 25-35) is essentially rectangular,
but because its apse is as high as the nave, the fluid central space takes
on a curved Baroque quality. However, the light entering through the
large clerestory windows lacks the directed dramatic effect of the Ital-
ian Baroque, instead illuminating the interior’s precisely chiseled de-
tails brightly and evenly. Pier-supported arcades carry a majestic row
of Corinthian columns that define the royal gallery. The royal pew oc-
cupies its rear, accessible directly from the king’s apartments. Amid the
restrained decoration, only the illusionistic ceiling paintings, added in
1708–1709 by Antoine Coypel(1661–1722), suggest the drama and
complexity of Italian Baroque art.
As a symbol of the power of absolutism, Versailles has no equal.
It also expresses, in the most monumental terms of its age, the ratio-
nalistic creed—based on scientific advances, such as the physics of
Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) and the mathematical philosophy of
René Descartes (1596–1650)—that all knowledge must be system-
atic and all science must be the consequence of the intellect imposed
on matter. The whole spectacular design of Versailles proudly pro-
claims the mastery of human intelligence (and the mastery of Louis
XIV) over the disorderliness of nature.
ÉGLISE DU DÔME, PARISAnother of Hardouin-Mansart’s
masterworks, the Église du Dôme (FIG. 25-36), or Church of the
Invalides, in Paris, also marries the Italian Baroque and French clas-
sical architectural styles. An intricately composed domed square of
great scale, the church adjoins the veterans hospital Louis XIV estab-
lished for the disabled soldiers of his many wars. Two firmly sepa-
rated levels, the upper one pedimented, compose the frontispiece.
The grouping of the orders and of the bays they frame is not unlike
that in Italian Baroque architecture but without the dramatic play of
curved surfaces characteristic of many 17th-century Italian churches
(FIG. 24-9). The compact facade is low and narrow in relation to the25-36Jules Hardouin-Mansart,Église du Dôme, Church of the
Invalides, Paris, France, 1676–1706.
Hardouin-Mansart’s church marries the Italian and French architectural
styles. The grouping of the orders is similar to the Italian Baroque
manner but without the dramatic play of curved surfaces.700 Chapter 25 NORTHERN EUROPE, 1600 TO 170025-35Jules Hardouin-Mansart,Royal Chapel, with ceiling
decorations by Antoine Coypel,palace of Louis XIV, Versailles, France,
1698–1710.
Because the apse is as high as the nave, the central space of the Royal
Chapel at Versailles has a curved Baroque quality. Louis XIV could reach
the royal pew directly from his apartments.