268 RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



defects, is the true picture of an age which, with all its faults, is a great 

 one. The phrases, "le grand siecle," "le grand monarque," convey 

 real facts, and the artistic expression they found is no more and no 

 less than a truthful one. During the best years of Louis XIV.'s 

 reign, while Spain was in decadence, and Italy, Germany, and 

 England distracted by internal divisions, France had attained a state 

 of unity, and her government an efficiency, which made her the 

 arbiter of Europe. The French were the most populous, wealthy, and 

 powerful nation in Europe. Their armies and diplomacy were almost 

 uniformly successful, their frontiers constantly extending. Their industry 

 and commerce displayed immense activity. French society by its 

 brilliance and urbanity gave the tone of good manners to Europe, and 

 led its fashions. It was the Augustan age of French literature, illus- 

 strated by such names as Pascal and La Rochefoucauld, Boileau and 

 Bossuet, Moliere and Racine, Madame de Sevigne and La Fontaine. 



FIRST PERIOD OF THE REIGN. The age of Louis XIV. both 

 in politics and art falls into three sub-periods. The first is preparatory. 

 The work of Sully and Richelieu was at first endangered by the 

 troubles of the Fronde, but Mazarin gathered up the threads again, 

 and at his death (1661) the work of consolidation was almost com- 

 plete. The life and administration of France had been moulded into 

 a coherent organism with the whole national forces at its command. 

 The monarchy was the keystone of the structure, the driving power 

 of the machine. Louis' words, " L'Etat c'est moi," were literally true. 



SECOND PERIOD OF THE REIGN. The second or culminating 

 period then began. The young King, hitherto immersed in pleasures 

 and gallantry, became his own prime minister. The splendour-loving 

 but frivolous Fouquet had hoped to rise from the ministry of finance 

 to Mazarin's position of omnipotence. But an ostentatious entertain- 

 ment given to the whole Court at his chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte 

 imprudently advertised a fortune acquired at the public expense, 

 and sealed his doom. He was replaced by the less showy Colbert, 

 conscientiously devoted to the interests of his master and country, 

 who in a few years of careful management placed the finances on 

 a sound footing. While Louvois created the armies which made 

 France the premier military power, Colbert put the finishing touches 

 to the work of making the State supreme over all, and a participator 

 in everything that took place in the kingdom. These first twenty- 

 five years of Louis XIV.'s personal reign were a period of almost 

 unclouded success. The ideals which it represents in the world's 

 history had been established in every domain, in politics, in administra- 

 tion, in society, in literature, in art. The achievements in each were 

 great and splendid. But the climax had been reached, and in the 

 years between 1680 and 1690 there were indications that the tide 



