Published in The rise and fall of Western tradition

Language:

Portuguese, Brazil

This article examines the decorative program of the Grande Galerie at Versailles, grounded in the notion of the body politic as the foundation of Louis XIV’s sovereignty (1648-1715). Drawing on the doctrine of the king’s two bodies, it argues that in the seventeenth-century French context, power was not primarily consolidated through juridical or doctrinal means, but through visual and ceremonial mechanisms that established the monarch’s body as the core of political unity. Within this framework, the artistic production of Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) played a decisive role in transforming the royal image into an instrument for the presentification of power. Through an analysis of the Grande Galerie, the article demonstrates how this space represents the culmination of a progressive iconographic system, in which earlier allegorical representations gave way to the explicit centrality of Louis XIV’s figure. The gallery thus functions as an expanded portrait of the monarch, integrating painting, architecture, and decoration into a holistic depiction that identifies the king’s body with the very functioning of the State. In this context, Louis XIV is no longer merely represented but effectively presentified – that is, rendered perceptible as an active and enduring body politic. The decorative ensemble is interpreted considering the concepts of image act (Bildakt) and figural evidence (Bildevidenz), supporting the argument that Le Brun’s images do not simply illustrate power, but actively produce and stabilize it, establishing a visual regime in which sovereignty appears as a sensible and incontestable reality.