florida state university college of visual arts, theatre and dance ...

eign of Louis XIII. By looking at it in relation to other examples of ecclesiastical architecture
receiving financial aid from the king, especially those built after 1630, I argue that Louis XIII’s
pattern of support responded to the major concerns facing the French government during the
1630s.
In demonstrating my thesis, I will first consider the Augustins Déchaussés’ plans for
Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, which I propose the fathers based primarily on Saint-Louis-des-
Jésuites. By looking to the most recent church to have received royal support, the reformed
Augustinians demonstrated their desire to secure the monarch’s favor while confirming the
king’s renown as a patron of reformed religious orders. I will then examine the manner in which
Louis XIII contributed to the Sainte-Chapelle, the chapel of the Sorbonne, and Notre-Dame-des-
Paris. Each church had a historical connection with the French monarchy, bonds which helped
to promote the divine right of kings and the France’s privileged position in Christianity as the
New Holy Land. The chapter will close with an examination of France’s increasingly active role
in the Thirty Years’ War, demonstrating that the state’s shifting concerns from internal struggles
to an international focus on the threat of Spanish growth mirrored the king’s changing approach
to ecclesiastical architecture.
The Augustins Déchaussés and the Construction of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires
In December 1629 shortly after Louis XIII placed the ceremonial first stone, construction
started at Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. Just three years later with only the choir finished to the
entablature all work stopped. This marked the first of many interruptions in construction that
delayed completion of the work until 1740. Despite the brief duration of this first construction
phase, the Augustinian fathers were already in the process of creating a church that would honor
Louis XIII through architecture, ceremony, and painting. The inspiration for a building
functioning as an encomium to the sovereign came from Saint-Louis-des-Jésuites, the most
recent church supported by the king. My contention is that the Augustins Déchaussés, with the
goal of convincing Louis XIII that Notre-Dame-des-Victoires was just as worthy of royal
support, intentionally borrowed features celebrating the French monarchy from the Jesuit church
for use in their own building program. Ultimately the Discalced Augustinians proved
160