Littérature précieuse et beaux-arts, influences croisées ?

Signing at the Lardanchet bookshop, Wednesday 29 January 2025, 6.30-8.30pm

In the Paris of the first half of the 17th century, the existence of a literary hotbed with a wide range of events is well established. Around the Hôtel de Rambouillet, the d'Angennes family and those close to them invented a new sociability that was reflected in novels and plays of unrivalled success, as shown by the numerous editions of which they were the subject.

Literary historians have long studied this creative movement and highlighted its originality, which had no equivalent in the great cities of the West. Far from mocking its preciousness, as Molière did in his time, they have emphasised its refinement and variety, and shown how this literary model based on love stories had become a model for life.

Curiously, the scale of the phenomenon has not led to any questioning of possible influences, particularly in the field of artistic creation, apart from Anthony Blunt's prescient article. This is all the more surprising given that ‘precious’ publications needed illustrations and that, in the absence of text, French society did not disdain images. It is just as surprising when the picturesque, the pastoral or even the exotic gave these romances a new, unparalleled setting.

It is therefore easy to understand the interest in bringing together specialists in French art from the first half of the 17th century to discuss this ‘precious current’ and to ask them about any possible links that may have existed between precious literature and the fine arts. The aim of the colloquium, to held on 27 and 28 October 2023 at the Château de Bournazel, is to find out whether there was such a thing as the ‘courant précieux’, and what its interpreters and forms of expression were.