Figure 9.1 King Louis XIV, 1701, by Hyacinthe Rigaud, oil on canvas, 277 × 194 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris. The famous portrait of Louis XIV was made by personal request of the king. A copy hangs over the fireplace in the Apollo room of Versailles.
Inquisition made sure that vast resources were still spent on religious art and architecture.
King Philip IV ruled Spain for 44 years, and he too spent large amounts of his wealth on art and entertainment (Fig. 9.2). For artists, this was a golden age.
Note:
The Spanish Inquisition was a powerful office set up within
the Catholic Church in the 12th century to root out and punish heresy (belief or opinion against the faith). It continued for hundreds of years throughout Europe and the Americas and resulted in some 32,000 executions.
Figure 9.2 Philip IV of Spain in Brown and Silver, c. 1631–2, by Diego Velázquez, oil on canvas, 195 x 110 cm, National Gallery, London.
Media and Areas of Practice
Spain Religious architecture thrived in Spain. Elaborate church façades, stunning, gold-ornamented chapels and strikingly realistic-coloured sculpture emerged both at home and in its new colonies.
CHAPTER 9 THE CATHOLIC MONARCHS AND THEIR TERRITORIES 135
