17th-century French art

Art from this period shows influences from both the north of Europe (Dutch and Flemish schools) and from Roman painters of the Counter-Reformation.

Artists in France frequently debated the merits between Peter Paul Rubens (the Flemish Baroque, voluptuous lines and colors) and Nicolas Poussin (rational control, proportion, Roman classicism).

Through propaganda, wars and great architectural works, Louis XIV launched a vast program designed for the glorification of France and his name.

The initial impetus for this transformation of Versailles is generally linked to the private château Vaux-le-Vicomte built for Louis XIV's minister of Finance Nicolas Fouquet.

Yet the difficult wars at the end of his long reign and the religious problems created by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes made his last years dark ones.