This event is coordinated by Jean-Marc Giaume, Municipal Councillor, Delegate for Historical Heritage, Archaeology, and Niçoise Language and Culture.
Saturday, October 1, 2011, at 3 p.m. at the Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image 23, boulevard Dubouchage – Nice
In this context, Marie-Hélène Froeschlé-Chopard will present the intimate links between the Counter-Reformation and the Baroque.
This year, you can discover the County of Nice during the Baroque era, thanks to conferences organized under the honorary presidency of Christian Estrosi, Deputy, Mayor of Nice, President of Nice Côte d’Azur, and Albert Marouani, President of the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, with scientific adviser: Olivier Vernier, Professor at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis.
In this series, eminent speakers will highlight the richness and originality of Baroque Nice, the County of Nice with Savoy being the only French regions to offer such heritage.
“Counter-Reformation and Baroque in the Village” is the theme of the opening conference of this series.
While France remained resistant to the Baroque style, the States of Savoy, largely turned towards the Italian peninsula, were a fertile ground for the expression of this aesthetic. It manifests in the architecture and decoration of churches, in urban planning programs, and in civil palaces that glorify civil and religious powers.
The Baroque spirit is also found in painting, poetry, music, and the art of the book. It is highly likely that the ballets, shows, and royal entries that punctuated the lavish court life of the Ancien Régime carried this Baroque imprint, which was also a way of life.
An art that, under a poetic abundance, hides a perfectly structured language, a remarkable heritage that will be revealed by the series of conferences that will run until the end of December.
Established by the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation initially affected the world of theologians, then spread to all social levels, thanks to the religious orders but also, at the parish level, thanks to numerous confraternities tasked with propagating it.
These disseminated new devotions and new iconography, even in the most remote villages oblivious to Protestantism, where the art of “display” gave way to an art of representation that multiplied torn and pathetic figures.
A native of Tourrettes-sur-Loup, Marie-Hélène Froeschlé-Chopard is a former student of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses, holds the history agrégation, is an honorary research director at the C.N.R.S., and a member of the Historical Research Center (E.H.E.S.S.)
Conference program on the theme “The County of Nice during the Baroque Age”:
October 1, 2011 – 3 p.m.
“Counter-Reformation and Baroque in the Village” Speaker: Marie-Hélène Froeschlé-Chopard, research director at C.N.R.S.
October 15, 2011 – 3 p.m.
“The Beginnings of Niçoise Baroque: Genoese Artistic Influence”
Speaker: Charles Astro, chief curator – Palais Lascaris
October 29, 2011 – 3 p.m.
“Theatrum Sabaudiae, Images of Power, Power of Images”
Speaker: Jean-Loup Fontana, departmental heritage curator at the General Council of Alpes Maritimes
November 19, 2011 – 3 p.m.
“Baroque Trappings and the Staging of Religious and Political Sacredness in Public Ceremonies in Nice in the 16th and 17th Centuries”
Speaker: Alain Bottaro, curator at the departmental archives of Alpes-Maritimes
December 3, 2011 – 3 p.m.
“Great Italian Models of Baroque Painting in the County of Nice”
Speaker: Luc-François Thévenon, chief heritage curator
December 10, 2011 – 3 p.m.
“Being a Musician and Composer in the Baroque Age: Musical Institutions and Training Centers. What Specificity for the Niçois Studied Through Archives, Libraries, and Music Libraries?”
Speaker: Annick Dubois, professor of musicology at UNSA
This series will conclude on Sunday, December 11, 2011, at 3 p.m., at the Saint François de Paule Church in Nice, with a Baroque music concert given in collaboration with the department of ancient music of the National Conservatory of Regional Outreach (C.N.R.R.).
All these events will take place in the presence of Jean-Marc Giaume, Municipal Councillor, Delegate for Historical Heritage, Archaeology, and Niçoise Language and Culture.
