Constructing the Sublime: The Discourse on Architecture and Louis XIV's Sublimity in Seventeenth-Century Paris

Knegtel, F.J.L.C.

In 1686, the French Jesuit and writer René Rapin wrote his treatise Du grand ou du sublime, in which he proclaimed French king Louis XIV as being the most sublime person. To do this, he used the concept of 'le sublime', a notion Rapin derived from the Greek classical writer Longinus. With his book, Rapin actually builds on an older tradition: writers had been using an elevated rhetoric to write about Louis XIV for many decades. In this discourse, architecture played a key factor. Writers recognized the overwhelming potential of the king's buildings and future projects, and also employed architectural metaphors and transcendent fictions to try and elevate the monarch. Ultimately, however, all of these works and projects - like Rapin's claim - proved very problematic. Firstly, the rhetoric of the sublime used to evoke the effect of sublimity has always been problematic, since it relies on an interplay between opposite extremes, which are highly unstable. Secondly, when attempting...Show moreIn 1686, the French Jesuit and writer René Rapin wrote his treatise Du grand ou du sublime, in which he proclaimed French king Louis XIV as being the most sublime person. To do this, he used the concept of 'le sublime', a notion Rapin derived from the Greek classical writer Longinus. With his book, Rapin actually builds on an older tradition: writers had been using an elevated rhetoric to write about Louis XIV for many decades. In this discourse, architecture played a key factor. Writers recognized the overwhelming potential of the king's buildings and future projects, and also employed architectural metaphors and transcendent fictions to try and elevate the monarch. Ultimately, however, all of these works and projects - like Rapin's claim - proved very problematic. Firstly, the rhetoric of the sublime used to evoke the effect of sublimity has always been problematic, since it relies on an interplay between opposite extremes, which are highly unstable. Secondly, when attempting to establish the king himself as sublime, writers were confronted with the far-reaching implications of this claim. The sublime is not only an extreme notion but also a highly subjective one. It cannot be asserted, nor can it be wielded.Show less

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Constructing the Sublime: The Discourse on Architecture and Louis XIV's Sublimity in Seventeenth-Century Paris