The fabrication of Louis XIV / Peter Burke.

Main entry:

Burke, Peter, 1937- author.

Title & Author:

The fabrication of Louis XIV / Peter Burke.

Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 1992.

Description:

xi, 242 pages : illustrations facsimiles ; 25 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages [223]-235) and index.
Introducing Louis XIV -- Persuasion -- Sunrise -- The construction of the system -- Self-assertion -- The years of victory -- The reconstruction of the system -- Sunset -- The crisis of representations -- The reverse of the medal -- The reception of Louis XIV -- Louis in perspective.

Summary:

Louis XIV was a man like any other, but the money and attention lavished on his public image by the French government transformed him into a godlike figure. In this engrossing book, an internationally respected historian gives an account of contemporary representations of Louis XIV and shows how the making of the royal image illuminates the relationship between art and power. Images of Louis XIV included hundreds of oil paintings and engravings, three hundred-odd medals struck to commemorate the major events of the reign, sculptures and bronzes, as well as plays, ballets (in which the king himself sometimes appeared on stage), operas, odes, sermons, official newspapers and histories, fireworks, fountains and tapestries. Drawing on an analysis of these representations as well as on surviving documentary sources, Peter Burke shows the conscious attempt to 'invent' the image of the king and reveals how the supervision of the royal image was entrusted to a committee, the so-called 'small academy'. This book is not only a fascinating chronological study of the mechanics of the image-making of a king over the course of a seventy-year reign but is also an investigation into the genre of cultural construction. Burke discusses the element of propaganda implicit in image-making, the manipulation of seventeenth-century media of communication, the channels of communication (oral, visual and textual) and their codes (literary and artistic), and the intended audience and its response. He concludes by comparing and contrasting Louis's public image with that of other rulers ranging from Augustus to contemporary American presidents.

ISBN:

0300051530 (hbk)
9780300051537 (hbk)
0300059434 (pbk)
9780300059434 (pbk)

Subject:

Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715 Public opinion.
Louis, XIV, King of France, 1638-1715.
Louis XIV, roi de France, 1638-1715 Opinion publique.
Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715
Government publicity France History 17th century.
Public opinion France History 17th century.
Government publicity France History 18th century.
Public opinion France History 18th century.
Megalomania France History 17th century.
Megalomania France History 18th century.
Information d'État France Histoire 17e siècle.
Opinion publique France Histoire 17e siècle.
Rois et souverains France Opinion publique.
Information d'État France Histoire 18e siècle.
Opinion publique France Histoire 18e siècle.
Mégalomanie France Histoire 17e siècle.
Mégalomanie France Histoire 18e siècle.
Government publicity
Kings and rulers Public opinion
Public opinion
Publieke opinie.
Beeldvorming.
Iconografie.
France Kings and rulers Public opinion.
France Kings and rulers 17th century Biography.
France Kings and rulers 18th century Biography.
France
France History, 1589-1789

Form/genre:

History

Holdings:

Location: Library main 188775
Call No.: ID:92-B1477
Status: Available

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