Représentation politique et ambition artistique

Abstract

The interior decoration of the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, realized for Nicolas Fouquet between 1657 and 1661, incorporates both the socio-political aspirations of the ascending statesman and the ambitious strategies of the responsible artist, Charles Le Brun. The attempt at satisfying Fouquet’s expectations went hand in hand with the painter’s manifest to occupy a leading role in the contemporary art scene. The ceiling decoration of the Chamber of the Muses, the state bedroom of Fouquet’s apartment, provides a significant example. Le Brun chose an artistic form that reveals a profound reflection on ceiling decorations and their potential for political expression. The full impact of the ceiling unfolds only through interaction with several contemporary texts. Beyond the glorification of Fouquet and detached of panegyric purposes, the artists involved emphasized several messages related to their genres. With its different levels of interpretation, the Chamber of the Muses thus demonstrates a major artistic evolution at the end of the era of powerful ministers, already announcing the art strategies elaborated for Louis XIV.

Keywords

• représentation politique
• décoration intérieure
• nouvelles élites
• système décoratif
• ascension
• ekphrasis