11.1.34 to 11.1.35

Louis XIV's patronage centred on Versailles, the great palace that also played such an important part in the political life of 17th-century France. There André Le N�tre designed the formal gardens, which still attract a multitude of admiring visitors, as they did when they were first completed. There Jules Hardouin-Mansart added the long, familiar garden facade, and Charles Le Brun decorated the Gallery of Mirrors and the adjoining rooms of war and peace with unforgettable magnificence. There the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully devised and directed a number of musical entertainments with such success that Louis granted him noble status and the office of a royal secretary. There, too, the comic genius Molière was encouraged by the king's support; after the dramatist's death Louis was directly responsible for the establishment, in 1680, of the Comédie Française . There, finally, Louis recognized the genius of Jean Racine, whose great tragedies, from Bérénice (1670) to Iphigénie (1675), earned him membership in the Académie Française and a noble office, that of trésorier de France ,from the King. This blossoming of the arts was aided though not inspired by the patronage of kings and ministers. The artistic creations evince a strong element of order and simplicity culminating in the classical grandeur of Racine's plays and the facade of Versailles. Thus they might seem to reflect the growth of political stability and order over which Louis XIV presided. It is, however, dangerous to tie creative achievements in the arts and sciences too closely to their political environment. Moreover, there are significant counterpoints to the theme of classical order. The philosopher René Descartes's doubting, rationalistic approach to the fundamental questions of God's existence and man's relationship to God undermined the rigid adherence to revealed truths propounded by Bishop Bossuet. The Jansenist Blaise Pascal, one of the most versatile geniuses of the century, represented and defended a minority religious movement that Louis XIV believed dangerously subversive. Toward the end of his long reign, Louis encountered the fierce social criticism of Jean de La Bruyère and the skepticism of Pierre Bayle. These discordant elements draw attention to the fact that the absolute state which Versailles was intended to represent concealed tensions that would surface after the king's death. Nonetheless, the splendour of Versailles and the classical simplicity of Racine's tragedies represent a high point in creative human achievement, and it is to his credit that the king chose to be identified with them. (Encyclopaedia Britannica Article)