390. DECORATIVE COMPOSITION BY J. C. DELAFOSSE. 



CHAPTER VII. 



STYLE OF LOUIS XVI. (1730-1790). 



KINGS. 



Louis XV. (1774). 

 Louis XVI. (1774-1792). 



QUEENS. 



MARIE LECZINSKI OF POLAND. 

 MARIE ANTOINETTE OF AUSTRIA. 



CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS. 

 GEORGE II. (1727-1760), GEORGE III. (1760-1820). 



INTRODUCTORY: STYLISTIC DEVELOPMENT AND 

 CHARACTERISTICS. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. The later years of Louis XV. were a time of 

 political stagnation, but of great intellectual activity. The infiltration 

 of English political ideas, the works of Montesquieu and Voltaire, the 

 Encyclopaedists and Rousseau, were producing a great ferment of ideas 

 among the educated middle classes, whose importance was steadily 

 growing, and even among the aristocracy, with the result that the 

 existing social and political system was coming to be regarded as an 

 anachronism. The selfish and vicious life of the King rendered him 

 increasingly unpopular, and when, regretted by none, he fell a victim 

 to the small-pox in 1774 all eyes were turned hopefully to the new 



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