Louis XIV Style

The Louis XIV style, also called Louis Quatorze or French classicism, was the style of architecture and decorative art used to glorify King Louis XIV of France and his reign, marked by majesty, harmony and regularity. It became the official style of the French crown during Louis XIV reign from 1643 to 1715, imposed on artists through the newly founded Academie royale de peinture et de sculpture and Academie royale d architecture, and it went on to influence the courts of other European monarchs from Frederick the Great of Prussia to Peter the Great of Russia. The style moved through three phases: an early period from 1643 to 1660 still shaped by Louis XIII and Italian Baroque work, a middle period from 1660 to 1690 that produced the classical and triumphant architecture of Versailles, and a late transitional period from 1690 to 1715 that grew lighter and more fanciful with arabesque and grotesque ornament, pointing toward the Louis XV style that followed. Its leading architects included Louis Le Vau, Francois Mansart, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Robert de Cotte and Claude Perrault, and its major monuments include the Palace of Versailles, the Grand Trianon and the Church of the Invalides in Paris.