Le baroque des lumières: chefs-d'œuvre des églises parisiennes au XVIIIe siècle

Abstract

French painting of the eighteenth century generally refers more to the refinements of the galant feast and the portrait than the splendours of the great religious painting. Yet it is in the churches of Paris that the painting of the Enlightenment was the most spectacular, to the point of being celebrated by Diderot for its dramatic expressiveness, its narrative efficiency and its theatrical composition. From François Lemoine and Jean-François de Troy to Jacques-Louis David, the greatest artists showed themselves under their best brushes. They imagined large canvases, ceilinged decorations and perspectives giving the trompe-l'œil a fair share, all as striking as the creations of 17th-century Baroque Rome--Resume from the publisher.