Symbolique florale dans le tableau de Jean-Baptiste Belin de Fontenay Vase d’or, fleurs et buste de Louis XIV (1687)
The painting by Jean-Baptiste Belin de Fontenay, Vase d’or, fleurs et buste de Louis XIV, is a reception piece of the french academician painter to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1687.        Unfortunately having been little studied, this painting reveals three very interesting issues. First of all, it contain three kind of painting in one composition: still life, portrait and history painting, illustrated respectively by the flowers, the bust of Louis XIV and the piece of armor. The combination of these three types in a still life is uncommon in the 17th century French painting. It is therefore necessary to check if there is a link between the flowers, the picture of Louis XIV and the armor. Then, the contrast between the polychrome of the flowers and the monochrome of the sculpture and furniture is striking, it is possible to associate this contrast to the phenomenon of the debates between drawing and color of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture during the second half of the 17th century. Moreover, the flowers, which were not the central subject in the original program of Le Brun, become the main subject of the table and occupy a more important place than the bust of Louis XIV. This change has not shocked the judges of the Academy since the painting was accepted without question. It therefore leads to think about the hierarchy of genres of painting, which was the official doctrine of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture at the time.       The core of this research is to see if the flowers occupy a mere decorative function, or whether they may be associated with symbols. Our research will verify the employ of floral symbols in French culture of the 17th century and then developed this employ not only in the political field, which means the flowers are in praise of Louis XIV, but also in the aesthetics domain, that is to say how the painting reflects by employing floral symbols the evolution of the theories of art in France during the second half of the 17th century, the hierarchy of genres of painting and the debates between drawing and color.
Belin de Fontenay Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture French painting Still life Flowers symbolic Belin de Fontenay Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture