Le rejet de la maniera italienne : l’exemple des décors de Charles de La Fosse (1636-1716)

Abstract

Charles de La Fosse, in the length of his career and the diversity of his patrons, is a very interesting example of French artists’ gradual autonomy in the Italian practice of the “grand décor”. The 1666 founding of the Académie de France in Rome placed the French in the midst of some of the greatest Roman and Lombard achievements. This was a particularly important step, with the furnishing of royal residences, the building or modernization of many Parisian mansions and aristocratic residences creating innumerable opportunities to demonstrate their talents. The evocation of the various decors by Charles de La Fosse is the opportunity to formulate a number of hypotheses. Finally, we recall his influence on certain great painters (Watteau, Lemoyne) when in the early eighteenth century, French pride and taste shunned, though not without nuance, the Italian maniera.

Keywords

• decoration
• residence
• ceiling
• quadratura
• Venice
• Versailles