CHAPTER THREE: Louis XIV Knows Weeds
continued from 8/13/2005
Nature strides in confidently in the eighteenth century. Not a return to the life of the hunter-gatherer, but as an ideal, brought about certainly in part by the decline of organized religion. As one who enjoys hiking up a mountain, I was brought up short the first time I realized that throughout most of history mountains were merely a pain in the neck or a good place to hide from something or someone.
It was not until the eighteenth century that one began hearing frequent, rhapsodic references to mountains. "Pregnant with religion and poetry," the English poet Thomas Gray said about a mountain he'd visited in 1739. Many Europeans with the time and the money were now hiking and visiting natural settings throughout Europe. A few were traveling abroad.
Of course some, like the Marquis de Sade, thought the only thing nature did was to make life miserable for humankind. If asked, the peasants who worked in the fields all day for wealthy landowners would probably have agreed with de Sade. But in spite of the few detractors two certifiable giants of the eighteenth century pushed nature to new heights and insured its importance. One was Rousseau and the other was Goethe.
The ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau were often misunderstood, then and now. In basic terms he wanted to create a better society. His two most famous works are Emile and The Social Contract. The former is concerned with utopian education and the latter on a utopian society. Justice replaced instinct and man acquired a sense of morality, according to Rousseau, when he left a state-of-nature. He couldn't go back. While there had been certain advantages in nature, there were far more advantages outside of it. What was important was to strive toward that ideal. Rousseau believed the model society needed a credo that all its members could agree upon. All well and good; however, Rousseau went on to say that those that did not agree should be banished. His ideas were regularly interpreted by various individuals and groups to support their own purposes and ambitions.
The idea of the "noble savage" also became popular during this time. The supposed virtues of people like the Tahitians, the Chinese, and the American Indian--as well as the American colonist--were espoused throughout Europe. Many of the intellectuals believed these cultures lived in harmony with nature, unlike the Europeans. Others said Christian morality only resulted in crime and unhappiness.
While most of the supporters of these "natural" societies had not visited places like Tahiti, they could readily see what was happening in Europe. By the mid-1700s the Industrial Revolution was underway, at least in England. Those that had lost their land through the enclosure movement were crowding into the cities seeking any kind of work and living in incredible filth, squalor, and exploitation. That an idealized state of nature was attractive to so many people is not surprising.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, among his many achievements, was also an accomplished botanist, who had compiled numerous drawings of different plants. He believed all living things ( including plants ) were evolving to a more complex state; the important thing was not to interfere with this adaptation. While Goethe's ideas did not have a mass appeal, his beliefs became an important part of the intellectual ferment of the eighteenth century.
Rousseau, Goethe, and others placed nature, and its varied definitions, in the center of European thought. As Christianity lost much of its influence in a number of countries, it also saw its monopoly on Truth slipping away. Nature, encouraged by a number of sincere and highly articulate individuals, moved in quickly in an attempt to align truth with nature, making them inseparable.
In order to locate some of the ideas that blossomed in the eighteenth century, which in due course had an impact on our weed, we need to slip back into the previous century. As already mentioned, the seventeenth century was about a lot of things, but it was without a doubt the story of one person in particular: Louis XIV of France, the "Sun King."
Louis XIV became king in 1643. L'etat c'est moi, I am the state became the mantra of Louis' reign. He increased the power and the glory of the absolute monarchy to new heights, and French culture became the standard by which the rest of Europe measured itself. For perhaps forty or fifty years France was the most powerful military force in Europe. Louis also turned his father's hunting lodge, Versailles, into the spirit of the organized, authoritarian society, making it today one of the most popular--and crowded--tourist attractions in the world.
The Baroque style is a term used by art historians to denote a particular form that first developed in Italy near the end of the sixteenth century, but soon expanded to the rest of Europe and took on different shapes. Overall it tended to be a style that emphasized the ornate and elaborate, be it in architecture, in sculpture or in painting. In France it became known as "Baroque classicism," an expression of the king's absolutism. "Classical" is attached to Baroque during the reign of Louis XIV because of the comparison sometimes drawn between Louis' reign and classical antiquity in general. No one would ever accuse the "Sun King" of having a small ego.
The Louvre in Paris, one of the most famous museums in the world, exemplifies Louis' mindset. Work was begun on the unfinished building at the beginning of the king's reign. Before long it became obvious the building was to have an overall look of imperial Rome. The Louvre would be massive, austere, and radiating power, but it would also contain the Baroque style of curved walls, high domes and detailed carvings.
The place that puts its stamp on the age, however, was Versailles, that amazing monument to supreme human narcissism. It would eventually lead to a general weariness among Europeans, the near bankruptcy of France, and finally revolution a century later, carrying all of Europe along with it. But what a run while it lasted. Versailles was also where landscape design, gardens, and the search for weeds took a new path.
to be continued....
Nature strides in confidently in the eighteenth century. Not a return to the life of the hunter-gatherer, but as an ideal, brought about certainly in part by the decline of organized religion. As one who enjoys hiking up a mountain, I was brought up short the first time I realized that throughout most of history mountains were merely a pain in the neck or a good place to hide from something or someone.
It was not until the eighteenth century that one began hearing frequent, rhapsodic references to mountains. "Pregnant with religion and poetry," the English poet Thomas Gray said about a mountain he'd visited in 1739. Many Europeans with the time and the money were now hiking and visiting natural settings throughout Europe. A few were traveling abroad.
Of course some, like the Marquis de Sade, thought the only thing nature did was to make life miserable for humankind. If asked, the peasants who worked in the fields all day for wealthy landowners would probably have agreed with de Sade. But in spite of the few detractors two certifiable giants of the eighteenth century pushed nature to new heights and insured its importance. One was Rousseau and the other was Goethe.
The ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau were often misunderstood, then and now. In basic terms he wanted to create a better society. His two most famous works are Emile and The Social Contract. The former is concerned with utopian education and the latter on a utopian society. Justice replaced instinct and man acquired a sense of morality, according to Rousseau, when he left a state-of-nature. He couldn't go back. While there had been certain advantages in nature, there were far more advantages outside of it. What was important was to strive toward that ideal. Rousseau believed the model society needed a credo that all its members could agree upon. All well and good; however, Rousseau went on to say that those that did not agree should be banished. His ideas were regularly interpreted by various individuals and groups to support their own purposes and ambitions.
The idea of the "noble savage" also became popular during this time. The supposed virtues of people like the Tahitians, the Chinese, and the American Indian--as well as the American colonist--were espoused throughout Europe. Many of the intellectuals believed these cultures lived in harmony with nature, unlike the Europeans. Others said Christian morality only resulted in crime and unhappiness.
While most of the supporters of these "natural" societies had not visited places like Tahiti, they could readily see what was happening in Europe. By the mid-1700s the Industrial Revolution was underway, at least in England. Those that had lost their land through the enclosure movement were crowding into the cities seeking any kind of work and living in incredible filth, squalor, and exploitation. That an idealized state of nature was attractive to so many people is not surprising.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, among his many achievements, was also an accomplished botanist, who had compiled numerous drawings of different plants. He believed all living things ( including plants ) were evolving to a more complex state; the important thing was not to interfere with this adaptation. While Goethe's ideas did not have a mass appeal, his beliefs became an important part of the intellectual ferment of the eighteenth century.
Rousseau, Goethe, and others placed nature, and its varied definitions, in the center of European thought. As Christianity lost much of its influence in a number of countries, it also saw its monopoly on Truth slipping away. Nature, encouraged by a number of sincere and highly articulate individuals, moved in quickly in an attempt to align truth with nature, making them inseparable.
In order to locate some of the ideas that blossomed in the eighteenth century, which in due course had an impact on our weed, we need to slip back into the previous century. As already mentioned, the seventeenth century was about a lot of things, but it was without a doubt the story of one person in particular: Louis XIV of France, the "Sun King."
Louis XIV became king in 1643. L'etat c'est moi, I am the state became the mantra of Louis' reign. He increased the power and the glory of the absolute monarchy to new heights, and French culture became the standard by which the rest of Europe measured itself. For perhaps forty or fifty years France was the most powerful military force in Europe. Louis also turned his father's hunting lodge, Versailles, into the spirit of the organized, authoritarian society, making it today one of the most popular--and crowded--tourist attractions in the world.
The Baroque style is a term used by art historians to denote a particular form that first developed in Italy near the end of the sixteenth century, but soon expanded to the rest of Europe and took on different shapes. Overall it tended to be a style that emphasized the ornate and elaborate, be it in architecture, in sculpture or in painting. In France it became known as "Baroque classicism," an expression of the king's absolutism. "Classical" is attached to Baroque during the reign of Louis XIV because of the comparison sometimes drawn between Louis' reign and classical antiquity in general. No one would ever accuse the "Sun King" of having a small ego.
The Louvre in Paris, one of the most famous museums in the world, exemplifies Louis' mindset. Work was begun on the unfinished building at the beginning of the king's reign. Before long it became obvious the building was to have an overall look of imperial Rome. The Louvre would be massive, austere, and radiating power, but it would also contain the Baroque style of curved walls, high domes and detailed carvings.
The place that puts its stamp on the age, however, was Versailles, that amazing monument to supreme human narcissism. It would eventually lead to a general weariness among Europeans, the near bankruptcy of France, and finally revolution a century later, carrying all of Europe along with it. But what a run while it lasted. Versailles was also where landscape design, gardens, and the search for weeds took a new path.
to be continued....
posted by mumpsimus | 7:07 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home