The Performance and Display of Absolute Power at the Court of Louis XIV
Istorians studying the history of absolutism and the court of Louis XIV in particular have emphasized the Sun King's brilliant use of symbols and display to demonstrate his personal embodiment of sovereignty. Royal portraits, such as that painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1701, vividly illustrate the degree to which Louis's power was based on a studied performance. His pose, with his exposed and shapely calf, was an important indication of power and virility, necessary elements of legitimacy for a hereditary monarch. In the elaborate rituals of court life at Versailles, Louis often placed his own body at the center of attention, performing in one instance as the god Apollo in a ballet before his assembled courtiers. His movements through the countryside, accompanied by a retinue of soldiers, servants, and aristocrats, were another occasion for highly stylized ritual demonstrations of his quasi-divine status. Finally, of course, the construction of his palace at Versailles, with its symmetrical architecture and its sculpted gardens, was a demonstration that his power extended over the natural world as easily as it did over the lives of his subjects.
Questions for Analysis
1. Who was the intended audience for the king's performance of absolute sovereignty?
2. Who were Louis's primary competitors in this contest for eminence through the performance of power?
3. What possible political dangers might lie in wait for a regime that invested so heavily in the sumptuous display of semidivine authority?
A. Hyacinthe Rigaud's 1701 portrait of Louis XIV.
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C. The Royal Procession of Louis XIV, 1664, by Adam Franz van der Meulen.
D. Louis XIV arrives at the Palace of Versailles.
World History
