Architecture in France in the Eighteenth Century

French architecture of the 18th century – which exhibited great technical ability and refined taste – influenced architectural style throughout Europe. This book is a survey of the French architecture of the period. It begins with the origins of the "style moderne" under the last years of Louis XIV, discusses the end of Rococo and the return to antiquity, and concludes with the Revolutionary architecture and the house of Madame Recamier. Kalnein describes the development of palace and hotel architecture by the two great architects de Cotte and Boffrand, discussing such large urban projects as the reconstruction of Rennes and the Places Royales. He traces the return to antiquity (which began when the scholars of the Academic d'Architecture were sent to Rome), the revolutionary architecture with its grand, but never executed, projects, and the shift from neoclassicism to early romanticism. Kalnein also examines the decorative arts of the period, which became even more important than architecture in the Rococo period. Focusing on such architects as Boffrand, Gabriel, and Redoux, he shows how a study of their building decoration illuminates the evolution of "style moderne," the battle between Rococo and Neoclassicism, and the dissemination of French styles throughout Europe.