La Régence à Paris (1715-1723). L'aube des Lumières

Description

The Regency officially began on 2 September 1715, on the death of Louis XIV, with a veritable coup d'état. Under the government of the Regent, Philippe d'Orléans, Paris changed: the young Louis XV left Versailles and moved to the Tuileries Palace in Paris, where he remained until June 1722. The Regent moved to the Palais-Royal, where he transformed the city into a capital through enlightened patronage and political intrigue. This book exposes, with great historical acuity, the socio-economic, cultural and aesthetic changes at work. The development of new social circles, particularly for women, the resounding clashes of violent crime, unprecedented financial speculation, the triumph of theatre and opera, and the innovations of the commercial and luxury trades - whose merchant elite is represented by the famous Enseigne painted by Watteau and the beginnings of an extraordinary rocaille aesthetic - all bear witness to a multifaceted modernity. It was in Paris, under the Regency, that the first manifestations of the Enlightenment saw the light of day. According to the historian Jules Michelet, 'The Regency is a whole century in eight years'. This book tells the story.