Galanterie
Related: courtly love - Europe - middle ages - party - French culture
The French term galanterie slipped from its original meaning of courtly love in the Middle Ages to the amorous and jet-set-like pursuits of the idle, rich aristocrats in the 18th century. [Apr 2006]
Entertainment and politics: La France Galante (1696).
Galanterie or courtly love
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtly_loveFêtes galantes
Flora (1716) - Antoine Watteau
; Gray-black and white chalks with red chalk on brown paper, 32.6 x 28.3 cm; Musée du Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins, Paris
This is not "une fête galante"
Fête Galante is a French term referring to some of the celebrated pursuits of the idle, rich aristocrats in the 18th century -- from 1715 until the 1770's. After the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the aristocrats of the French court abandoned the grandeur of Versailles for the more intimate townhouses of Paris where, elegantly attired, they could play and flirt and put on scenes from the Italian commedia dell'arte.
The term "fête galante" comes from the title of a painting by Antoine Watteau. Other French painters who depicted fêtes galantes included Jean-Honoré Fragonard and François Boucher. The composer Gabriel Fauré later paid a graceful musical hommage to the fêtes galantes in his composition Masques et Bergamasques.
"Fête galante" in French literally means gallant feast or festival but a better translation might be "a celebration of love." --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%AAtes_galantes [Jan 2006]
See also: France - 1700s - François Boucher - commedia dell'arte
La vie des dames galantes () Brantôme
Brantôme. La vie des dames galantes. Volumes 1-2. Paris: Collections Athêna Bibliophile, 1948. , illustration by Paul-Emile Bécat
Image sourced here.
Brantôme Dames Galantes Google gallery
Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur (and abbé) de Brantôme (c. 1540 - July 15, 1614) was a French historian and biographer. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Bourdeille,_seigneur_de_Brant%C3%B4me [Dec 2005]
Pierre de Bourdeilles, Abbé de Brantôme, a witty and brilliant writer of the mid-16th century listed anecdotes in his Les Vies des Dames Galantes of the eccentric sexual customs and habits of his time. Brantôme tells a story of the introduction of girdles of chastity into France. During the time of King Henry (probably Henri II, 1547- 1559), there was a merchant who brought some of these belts to the fair of Saint Germain. Some jealous husbands bought them, but the saner people of the land drove the merchant out, and threatened him with dire consequences if he came back with them. But Brantôme's writings are taken somewhat lightly, as he had acquired a reputation for savouring sexual scandal. --http://www.ksontheweb.com/ift/articles/article.ift?artid=1689&cat_id=24 [Dec 2005]
See also: Paul-Emile Bécat [1885 -], 23 Illustrazioni più copertine per La vie des dames galantes () Brantôme http://www.sademarchese.org/libri/damesgalantes/brantome.htm [Dec 2005]
The works of Brantôme include: "Vies des capitaines étrangers et francais"; "Vies des dames illustres"; "Vies des dames galantes". His manner of writing is between the style of a biography and that of a personal memoir. At times he himself appears in his recital and most often he relates what he has personally seen. He has the most important qualification for a writer of memoirs: curiosity. Wherever he went, and he traveled in countries of all kinds, he observed, he listened, he asked questions, he informed himself. But he has no power of criticism; he is a doubtful witness. He has moreover, no sense of morality, in the modern meaning of the word. He admires but one thing in men and that is bravery; that this courage may be of a criminal character is of little consequence to him. He is not the man to bear malice towards others under pretext that they have "some little trifle of murder" on their conscience. In like manner he has few scruples either as to a choice of means or as to the sources of profit and ways of making gain. --http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02742a.htm [Dec 2005]
See also: French erotica - Paul-Emile Bécat