In the second volume of his magisterial history of French art, Andre Chastel presents the pivotal age in which the Gothic style of the Middle Ages was gradually transformed into a particularly French variety of classicism. From 1420 to 1500 - in what he terms the Pre-Renaissance period - heraldry, tapestry, stained glass and panel painting reflected the tenor of social and political developments in Northern Europe, while the Italian campaigns of Charles VIII, Louis XII, and Francis I provided first-hand experience of the revolutions in art occurring on the Italian peninsula. Deftly weaving political and cultural history, Chastel tells of French art and its context from 1430 to 1620 with all the authority and insight of a scholar imparting his life's work. With its unmatched trove of over 400 color illustrations, its erudition, wit, and appealing clarity, French The Renaissance will become an essential reference for scholars and a fascinating and accessible introduction for the general reader.

The third volume of Andre Chastel's sweeping history of French art explores the extraordinary painting, sculpture, and architecture that emerged during the reigns of Louis XIII, Louis XIV, and Louis XV. During this 150-year period, three major styles dominated French art. Under Louis XIII, the official court painter was Peter Paul Rubens, and the order of the day was the baroque, a continuation of the Italian influence which had spread to France during the Renaissance. However, over the course of Louis XIV's 60-year reign, a uniquely French style of triumphal classicism emerged, whose monumental proportions reflected the Sun King's drive for French hegemony in Europe. This striving for glory was expressed artistically in the grandiose architecture of Versailles and its complex painted and sculpted allegorical program. Louis XV's tastes were very different from those of his celebrated predecessor. He had the monumental apartments at Versailles subdivided to create more refined, intimate settings, and had them hung with charming rococo pastoral scenes and fetes galantes. This period also saw a flowering of the decorative arts, in which stylistic developments paralleled those in painting, sculpture, and architecture.