Ambitious attempt: CASERTA continue… June 15, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Aquarium, Art Gallery, Coliseum, Destination, Dolphinarium, Flight Schedule, France, Gymnasium, Hotels, Italy, Library, Museum, Oceanarium, Planetarium, Restaurant, Round The World, USA , add a commentImmediately opposite the Great Staircase to the west stands the chapel, which, at the king’s request, repeats the scheme of its counterpart at Versailles. Although Caserta evokes Versailles in concept and ambition, this is the only part of the palace that directly imitates its French predecessor. As at Versailles, the main theme is stated on the gallery level, where coupled Corinthian columns march in stately procession towards the apse. But despite this common feature, the characteristically French ambulatory has been omitted and the proportions of the whole have been to some extent lowered.
The central peristyle also leads to the royal apartments that occupy the south front and the short wing leading to it. (more…)
The palace of Nymphenburg June 7, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, France, Hotels, Italy, Netherlands, Paris, USA , add a commentThe palace of Nymphenburg on the outskirts of Munich owes its present form to the desire of the Elector Max Emanuel (who reigned from 1679 to 1726) to create a Bavarian counterpart of Versailles. We may be grateful that things did not turn out quite as planned, for Nymphenburg has interesting features not found in the French model. In fact, the principal delight of Nymphenburg lies not so much in the main course, so to speak, as in the dessert—the four delightful garden pavilions that rank among the finest examples of the Rococo style in Europe.
Max Emanuel did not start his palace from scratch : an earlier building had been erected by his mother Henrietta Adelaide of Savoy, who received the manor of Kemnat in 1663 as a gift from her husband. (more…)
Splendour Versailles continue… June 6, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Austria, France, Museum, Paris, USA , add a commentLouis’s vanity, however, was not inexhaustible. Once a year he felt the need to retire to Marly where a much easier regime was in force, and spirited young duchesses were even allowed to bombard him with bread pellets during supper. At Versailles too, he felt the need for greater intimacy. For this purpose he selected a small pavilion on the site of the former village of Trianon, which was enlarged to make the Grand Trianon in 1687. During the summer the king organised little dances and suppers there, to which he invited a few select guests. (more…)
Splendour Versailles June 6, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Italy, Lodges, Paris, USA , add a commentIn size and splendour Versailles has few peers in the history of Western palace building. In fact, the Roman Palatine itself is perhaps the only building complex that can rival the grandeur and historical influence of this palace. And like the Palatine, Versailles has undergone many changes, though fortunately far less actual destruction, even during the French Revolution.
Versailles was the creation of the Sun King, Louis XIV, who reigned for nearly three-quarters of a century from 1643 to 17154 And because practical requirements, new currents of taste and political upsets have led to many changes, a fair degree of imagination is needed to visualise the palace at the height of its glory. And Versailles repays the effort handsomely. (more…)
Fontainebleau: The Golden Portal of Gilles Le Breton May 31, 2008
Posted by dodo in : England, Europe, France, Paris, Spain, USA , add a commentThe Golden Portal of Gilles Le Breton, which bears the date of 1528 on one of the capitals. Although the rules accepted for the classical orders have been carefully observed, the piecemeal arrangement of the parts is typical of the early French Renaissance.
The vast, rambling palace of Fontainebleau was a favourite resort of the rulers of France from the 12th century until the end of the monarchy in 1870. It reached the height of its glory in the middle of this long period—in the early 16th century—when Francis I assembled a brilliant team of artists and decorators to enlarge and embellish the palace. Later additions, though they sometimes entailed the demolition of earlier parts, were nonetheless marked by a conservative spirit opposed to any fundamental reorganisation. (more…)
Versailles: Europe’s greatest palace, a scene of splendour and despair 1 May 23, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Destination, France, Paris, USA , add a commentHistory seems to select certain places, hitherto unknown, as appropriate settings for memorable events and scenes of splendour and shame. Looking back, the historian can see some connection between the name of such a place, its geographical position and the part it played in history. The fact that Versailles is built on a hill, and that the slopes that fall away on one side are covered in gardens while those that drop down on the other form one of the most impressive semi-circular approaches known to any royal residence, has frequently led men to think that the name ‘ Versailles‘ is derived from the word versant, a slope. (more…)
The Royal Palace STOCKHOLM: One of the finest examples of French taste outside France Part 3 April 27, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, France, Library, Memorial, Museum, Paris, Sweden , add a commentBetween them, these two francophiles, Carl Gustav Tessin and Carl Hárleman, saw the palace all but completed, and completed virtually as old Tessin had planned it, but brought up to date in the details - most notably in the charming decoration of the less formal rooms, much of which was designed by Hàrleman himself or at least under his personal supervision. With his perceptive appreciation of the contemporary French idiom, he was able to create, more than a thousand miles from Paris, interiors which are among the finest surviving monuments to the various phases of French taste during the reign of Louis XV - the firm but graceful symmetry of the Regency style, the swirling yet controlled rhythms of the early rococo, and the brilliantly balanced intricacies of the high rococo just before it stiffened and turned into Louis Seize. All this can be seen in room after room of the Stockholm Palace. Much has been changed since Hárleman completed his task but much still survives. (more…)
The Royal Palace STOCKHOLM: One of the finest examples of French taste outside France Part 2 April 26, 2008
Posted by dodo in : France, Paris, Poland, Russia, Sweden , 4commentsTessin had been much impressed by Italian late-renaissance and baroque buildings during his European tour, and the exterior of his new palace bears witness to this admiration, for it is in rather a severe style, obviously much influenced by such buildings as Caprarola and the Pitti Palace. This severity is relieved by pompous entrances in the south and west facades and should have been further softened by a series of statues which were to have been placed along the top of the otherwise quite uncompromising skyline. By the time the building was ready to receive these statues, however, Charles XI was dead and the dashing young Charles XII was on the throne. (more…)
The Amalienborg: A group of four lovely palaces around an octagonal piazza continue… April 24, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Beach Resorts, Denmark, Paris , add a commentIt was not until after the final front elevation for the palaces was ready that the sites were presented by the King in 1750 to four noblemen, but on the condition that the facades of the palaces should correspond exactly to Eigtved’s design, while the gentlemen were left free with regard to the interior. The four chosen persons were: Geheimeraad Joachim von Brockdorff, General Greve C. F. von Levetzau, Baron Severin Leopold Løvenskiold and Overhofmarskal Greve Adam Gottlob Moltke.
A. G. Moltke was the one among these four best qualified in every way as the owner of a house in building. Besides being very rich, he was one of the King’s closest friends and, in addition, unquestionably one of the most influential men in the country. He was, moreover, a man of wide culture and is rightly regarded as having been one of Denmark’s greatest personalities in the eighteenth century. His interest in art of every kind was intense, and he was actively engaged in the encouragement of art, for instance in his office of President of the Academy of Art. (more…)
The Monuments in the Shadows continue… April 5, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Cairo, Egypt, Embassy, Europe, The Nile , add a commentWe begin to encounter many Western sources in the fifteenth and, particularly, the sixteenth centuries, when the pilgrims were joined by merchants. The frontiers of the Orient were opened to European merchants at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and the first European ambassadors began to install themselves in Egypt on a permanent basis. This was accompanied by an increase in the number of publications with accounts of journeys to eastern lands, and the taste for the foreign spread among cultivated Europeans. A visit to the pyramids was an adventure that might be dangerous, as there was the risk of being attacked by Bedouins. Despite this, many Europeans went there and then published accounts of their experiences. Among other things, we owe to these hardy adventurers the report of one of the first cases of “tourist exploitation,” on the part of the inhabitants of Giza. Although the Great Pyramid had been open for some time, the natives regularly blocked the entrance after every visit, in order to be able to “open” it up again for the next visitors and thus get a tip. At the end of the sixteenth century, Sakkara was added to the itinerary; the visitors liked to enter the mastabas and unearth the mummies in order to open them up and look for jewels. (more…)
The Dawn of Moden Archaeology in Egypt April 5, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Egypt, Europe, London, Museum, The Nile , add a commentThe arrival of Bonaparte’s troops in 1798 (accompanied by 175 artists, scholars, and scientists intent on studying the varied aspects of the country) signaled a real turning point in our knowledge of the pharaonic monuments. The amount of material discovered by the Commission des Sciences et Arts between 1798 and 1801, and published in the monumental Description de l’Egypte, constitutes to this day a precious source of information for the scholar, in particular because of the many monuments the French saw and described that no longer exist. A worthy product of French encyclopaedism, this Description inaugurated the scientific attitude toward pharaonic antiquities. We can thus consider this inventory of Egyptological material the starting point for the archaeological explorations of the last century and of this one.
It is impossible to give even a summary of the contents and results of this publication. What is important is to observe that it recorded the remains for the first time directly and objectively, reproducing exactly what the scholars saw. (more…)
ROCOCO April 4, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Australia, Austria, Brazil, England, Europe, France, Germany, Greece, Hotels, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, The Nile, USA, Wellington , add a commentAfter the great days of Baroque, the High Renaissance, led by Bernini and Borromini, and followed variously by Mansart and le Vau in France, Fischer von Erlach and von Hildebrandt in Austria, Zimmerman in Germany, Churriguera in Spain, and Wren,Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh in England, and before a period of Revivalism, France emerged from the reign of Henri IV (reigned 1589-1610) to establish a wealthy bourgeoisie under the political patronage of high taste in the salons of country chateau and hotels. In the next century, during the transitional period from Louis XIV (1638-1715) to the regency of his great grandson, Louis XV (1710-74), a demand for comfort, intimacy and ornament led to the late Baroque variant of Rococo.
The word Rococo derives from the French word rocaille, meaning sea rocks and shells, and it is applied to the highly ornamental and decorative strain of late Baroque architecture. (more…)
