A History of European Art

Chateau de Versailles, 16611710, Versailles, France.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini:

Louis XIV, 1665, marble, 31 ½” H (80 cm H), Musée National de

Versailles, Versailles, France.

Louis Le Vau:

Chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, 1657 61, Maincy, France.

Jean-Antoine Watteau:

The Embarkation to the Island of Cythera, 1717, oil on canvas,

4’ 2 ¾” x 6’ 4 ½” (129 x 194 cm), Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

Pierrot (Gilles), c. 171819, oil on canvas, 6’ ½” x 4’ 10 ½”

(184 x 149 cm), Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

The Shopsign (Gersaint’s Shopsign), 1721, oil on canvas, 5’ 5” x 10’

(163 x 306 cm), Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany.

Borsch-Supan, Antoine Watteau, 1684–1721.

Vivier, Versailles.

1. How does the architecture of Versailles reinforce the political idea of the
   king as absolute monarch?


2. Compare and contrast the Baroque style of Rubens with the Rococo
   of Watteau.

Works Discussed

Suggested Reading

Questions to Consider