FRAL - Programme franco-allemand en Sciences humaines et sociales

Art and Architecture in German Travel Accounts to Paris and Versailles in the Baroque Era – ARCHITRAVE

ARCHITRAVE

Art and Architecture in Paris and Versailles in Accounts by Baroque-Era German Travellers

Digital Humanities serving Art History: Editing and Visualising Travelogues of the Baroque-Era

The project aims at scrutinizing the content of six substantial German travel accounts dating from 1685 to 1723, the only hitherto known from the baroque era in which profound and reasoned judgements and opinions on French art and architecture have been rendered. These manuscripts and printed documents out of German public collections are partly unpublished and have never been investigated as a whole. The project will make them available in a richly commented and comfortably (re-)searchable digital portal, aiming at a multi-layered linkage of textual and iconographical ressources. Hence, the ambitions of the joint German-French research group are twofold: to merge the knowledge of French specialists on Paris and Versailles under Louis XIV with the acquaintance of their German colleagues with the chosen sources, and to demonstrate the capacities of a computer-based treatment of the texts to generate, for an academic as well as a non-academic public, innovative and reliable ways of questioning and exploring them.

The core objective of the project is to contribute to a better understanding of the modes of appreciation of an alien culture in the baroque era. Even if drawn by an inquisitive admiration, German travellers have shown long before the height of the Enlightenment a critical distance towards French art and culture. It has not yet been investigated enough to what extent the contact with French culture contributed to the development of such a faculty of independent judgement, stabilizing (and even reinforcing) inner German schemes of apprehension. Moreover, the sceptical attitude commonly discernible in these documents compared here for the first time seems to have been a fertile soil for the development of a new aesthetic paradigm at the turn of the century. Indeed, artistic eclecticism, which had emerged in the Renaissance, still prevailed. It based judgements on art on the ability of the artist to imitate and, at the best, to emulate universally appraised historical samples. But around 1700, first signs of a loosening of this paradigm became discernible, giving more space to an appreciation of individual achievements and creative genius.
Also in regard to their literary qualities and linguistic specificities, the texts to be analysed here seem to belong to a transitory period. Research has hitherto held the view that only since the height of the Enlightenment the abilities of the travellers to formulate individual appraisals of art works, implicating a deliberately private and partial point of view, emerged. But even if in the late 17th century the traditional descriptive mode still prevailed, aiming at an allegedly objective and integral account of the art works seen, one already observes a growing ability of the travellers to focus on single aspects following their individual interests, and to express their emotions sensed.
Two workshops and a final conference will nourish the reflexion on these topics.

The project consists of three parts: (1) a critical online edition of the six German travelogues with their translations in French; (2) a scientific analysis of the specificities of transnational cultural exchange processes as discernible in the texts; (3) the alimentation of a public blog to promulgate our findings, researches and analyses to a larger audience.
(1) The critical bilingual edition is our main concern; it comprises mainly the following steps: transcription, translation and enrichment of the sources.
(2) In conformity with the initial programme we have organized two thematic workshops in Versailles and in Paris in November 2017 and November 2018. They were entitled: “Welcome with hindrances: the accessibility of art works in 17th and 18th century France” and “Between Reality and Fiction: Travel Accounts as an Independent Artistic and Literary Genre“; consult: www.crlv.org/colloque/entre-réalité-et-fiction.
A final conference will take place in February 19th to 21st, 2020, in Versailles and in Paris.
(3) The project has launched its own blog for the larger public on the platform “hypotheses.org” by OpenEdition, intitled “Destination Versailles : voyager en France au tournant du XVIII? Siècle”; consult: architrave.hypotheses.org. The news is spread via our Twitter account; consult: twitter.com/teamarchitrave.

Presenting six unique travel accounts of German architects and amateur builders who had come to France in the late 17th and the early 18th century in such ways that their online publication leads to hitherto little explored or even new ways of extrapolating and visualising art historical and historical data, is the ambition of the project.

Hendrik Ziegler, La Vision de Versailles à la veille de la Révolution, in: Visiteurs de Versailles : voyageurs, princes, ambassadeurs, 1682-1789, ed. by Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide and Bertrand Rondot, Exhibition cat., Versailles, Château de Versailles, 22/10/2017 – 25/02/2018, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 9/4 – 29/7/2018, Paris: Gallimard 2018, p. 306-309

Semestriel Lettres du voyageur, n°42, CRLV: Entre réalité et fiction : les récits de voyage comme genre littéraire et artistique à part entière, audio recording by Sylvie Roquemora-Gros : www.crlv.org/colloque/entre-réalité-et-fiction

A dozen contributions to the blog « Destination Versailles : voyager en France au tournant du XVIII? siècle » : architrave.hypotheses.org

The project aims at scrutinizing the content of six substantial German travel accounts dating from 1685 to 1723, the only hitherto known from the baroque era in which profound and reasoned judgements and opinions on French art and architecture have been rendered. These manuscripts and printed documents out of German public collections are partly unpublished and have never been investigated as a whole. The project will make them available in a richly commented and comfortably (re-)searchable digital portal, aiming at a multi-layered linkage of textual and iconographical ressources. Hence, the ambitions of the joint German-French research group are twofold: to merge the knowledge of French specialists on Paris and Versailles under Louis XIV with the acquaintance of their German colleagues with the chosen sources, and to demonstrate the capacities of a computer-based treatment of the texts to generate, for an academic as well as a non-academic public, innovative and reliable ways of questioning and exploring them.

The core objective of the project is to contribute to a better understanding of the modes of appreciation of an alien culture in the baroque era. Even if drawn by an inquisitive admiration, German travellers have shown long before the height of the Enlightenment a critical distance towards French art and culture. It has not yet been investigated enough to what extent the contact with French culture contributed to the development of such a faculty of independent judgement, stabilizing (and even reinforcing) inner German schemes of apprehension. Moreover, the sceptical attitude commonly discernible in these documents compared here for the first time seems to have been a fertile soil for the development of a new aesthetic paradigm at the turn of the century. Indeed, artistic eclecticism, which had emerged in the Renaissance, still prevailed. It based judgements on art on the ability of the artist to imitate and, at the best, to emulate universally appraised historical samples. But around 1700, first signs of a loosening of this paradigm became discernible, giving more space to an appreciation of individual achievements and creative genius. The part German travellers to France played in this subversive and emancipatory process will have to be investigated.

Also in regard to their literary qualities and linguistic specificities, the texts to be analysed here seem to belong to a transitory period. Research has hitherto held the view that only since the height of the Enlightenment the abilities of the travellers to formulate individual appraisals of art works, implicating a deliberately private and partial point of view, emerged. But even if in the late 17th century the traditional descriptive mode still prevailed, aiming at an allegedly objective and integral account of the art works seen, one already observes a growing ability of the travellers to focus on single aspects following their individual interests, and to express their emotions sensed.

It is obvious that the travel accounts constitute precious factual sources too. They will not only help to better understand the appearance of numerous buildings and their interior decorations modified or destroyed by time, as well as their contemporary uses and functions. They will also provide information about the accessibility of certain fortifications, palaces, gardens, etc. and the permission to study them. The cross-case analysis of the sources can give precious indications about the personal networks tourists had to mobilise to organise their visits.

In conjunction with the scientific investigation, an enriched and interactively searchable bilingual digital scholarly edition of the six sources will be produced via open access. This research portal will be accompanied by a web space for the wider public that will be created on the website of the Palace of Versailles.

Project coordination

Hendrik Ziegler (Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne)

The author of this summary is the project coordinator, who is responsible for the content of this summary. The ANR declines any responsibility as for its contents.

Partner

SUB Göttingen Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen
CRCV Centre de recherche du château de Versailles
DFK Paris Max Weber Stiftung - DFK Paris
URCA Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne

Help of the ANR 230,588 euros
Beginning and duration of the scientific project: March 2017 - 36 Months

Useful links

Explorez notre base de projets financés

 

 

ANR makes available its datasets on funded projects, click here to find more.

Sign up for the latest news:
Subscribe to our newsletter