I Am Louis XIV

Apart from two or three embellished rings and brooches, the only jewelry the princess wore today was a string of pearls around her neck, but even this string of expensive pearls made people consciously stay away from the princess - in Before cultured pearls appeared, all pearls were naturally produced. Since they were said to be naturally produced, they would inevitably have flaws, distortions or deformities. For example, the Baroque style, which is emerging recently in architecture and decoration, originally meant deformed pearls because it does not meet the aesthetic requirements of absolute symmetry and unity advocated by classicists.

The pearl chain that the princess is currently wearing is each as big as her little finger and similar in diameter. They are smooth and flawless. However, compared to the pearls, the girl's skin is thinner and more delicate, and you can even see the blue veins under the skin. Frederick stood for a while and then stepped forward, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Your Highness."

"I was a little early," the princess said nonchalantly: "I felt very comfortable walking all the way here from the Louvre in the morning." She put away the books on her knees, and Frederick quickly took them for her. In his hand, he glanced at the cover inadvertently and found that it was the Latin version of "Ten Books on Architecture" written by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius. When he held it in his hand, he could feel that there were hard bookmarks in the book, and there were more than one. His heart moved. If it were another noble lady, he would casually ask her when she would like such a boring thing. became interested.

But in front of the princess, he had to be much more cautious.

"By the way." The princess said, "Your Highness, wait, can you call me Lady Mary?"

"Of course," Frederick immediately understood what the princess meant: "Then you can also call me Mr. William."

The princess smiled: "Of course."

Although the king gave the work of establishing four art academies to him and his brother's four children, not many people outside the world knew about it, and those who knew about it knew how to keep silent, let alone Take this opportunity to crowd around and flatter me - the king intends to use this matter to let the princes and princesses put into practice what they have learned in books, and he is not asking you to do it for them.

Therefore, not only the eldest princess, the eldest princess and the crown prince, but also the Duke of Colonna are all addressed as sir and madam at the construction site and in the office. Uninformed people only know that they are of distinguished origin, but they do not know to what extent they are so prominent. They suffered a small loss because of this, but they quickly recovered it with interest. After all, there were still the king and the Duke of Orleans standing behind them.

From then on, at least no one dared to perfunctory or deceive them openly. As for secretly - "Even my uncle can't avoid this situation." The princess said.

Frederick swore he was genuinely surprised: "But your uncle..." was the Sun King.

"Except God, no one can control people's hearts." The princess said: "Everyone has his or her own ideas, even the lowest level worker. A big prince can make some people feel frightened, some people burst into tears, and some people can also be moved to tears. People are resentful." This is something she realized only after going outside the palace: "So in many cases, we can only ensure that most of the time, most people benefit."

“What about those who are never satisfied?”

"Then it all depends on God's will." The princess said.

Frederick smiled. He saw people in black coats always appearing around them. "God must have many servants who are willing to work for Him."

"There is no doubt about it." The princess said with a smile. The Drama School was not far from the square they agreed on. They had only walked for ten minutes when Frederick saw a huge building standing next to a small square - —But that’s not the School of Drama, that’s the Paris Opera House. It used to be a smelly fish market and tanning workshop. Later, due to the rectification of Paris, these were moved downstream, leaving a lot of space here. When Louis XIV ordered this land to be set aside, people thought that the king intended to build a new palace. Unexpectedly, a brilliant building did rise on the site, but it not only belonged to the king, it belonged to the entire Paris and even the people of France.

The drama of this era can actually be said to be a synthesis of all artistic expressions such as sculpture, music, painting and ballet. When Louis XIV handed over the drama academy to the princess, it can be said to be quite partial, but it was also the What the Grand Princess needs - the Drama Academy requires the most coordination and negotiation work, involving the most people and things. The Grand Princess can take such decisive measures when dealing with the rumors about Carlos II and her, and with Her training during this period was not unconnected.

On one side of the Opera House is the Drama Academy, which once belonged to the Duke of Boulon, but because the Duke of Boulon stood on the opposite side of the king during the Fronde riots, to this day, the Duchess of Boulon has not been allowed to return to Paris, or to Versailles, so Colbert bought it at an extremely favorable price.

This building is an out-and-out classicist building. There is an exquisite lighting pavilion in the middle of the completely symmetrical building. The lighting pavilion runs from top to bottom. Sunlight can be projected from the top glass to the center of the bottom hall, illuminating the sun. Marble statue of God with nine muses.

The halls on the left and right sides have glass windows on one side and niches on the other. The strange thing is that there is only one statue in it. Although it looks like a Roman in terms of attire, "This seems to be Molière." Sir?" Frederick asked in surprise.

The princess smiled: "Yes, it's my uncle's permission. There are a total of twenty-four niches here. Anyone who has made outstanding contributions to French drama can have a statue."

Frederick noticed the word France: "That's not surprising," he sighed, "they will go completely crazy." He was still surprised when he saw the Dutch painter Rembrandt in the French court How could a Dutchman willingly serve Louis XIV? What a wise choice it seems now!

Until now, painters, sculptors and musicians are still just humble craftsmen in the eyes of dignitaries. The most glorious thing among them is to enter the palace and work for the king. If they know that as long as you are talented and capable, you can not only get a lot of gold and Louis in Paris, but also be appreciated by nobles, and show off your talents to the fullest - you can even have your name and statue passed down for a hundred years. ...Looking at the row of gold characters under the statue of Molière, Frederick could see pairs of eyes that were so jealous that they were red.

"Mr. Molière still insisted on hiding his ashes in the statue after his death." The princess said helplessly, but this was absolutely impossible. This was not a cemetery or a church, so Mr. Molière changed his mind. I decided to make a prop out of my own skull, the one the prince holds in Hamlet...

"It reminds me of Florence," said Frederick.

"Uncle does intend to recreate the splendor of the Renaissance in Paris." The princess said matter-of-factly. If someone else, even the current Grand Duke of Tuscany, said it, it would make people think that he was talking in an idiot's dream, and to Louis X Fourthly, it is also a goal that can be achieved by walking step by step.

Frederick felt that Leopold I would be willing to hear this. Although he would be very uncomfortable, it was better for the Sun King to devote himself to art than to military. Even Frederick had to admit that he My heart relaxed slightly.

At this time, Molière, Racine and Corneille all came out to welcome the princess. Corneille was already over seventy years old. He had turned from a lawyer into a dramatist. People thought he was crazy. , only he knew that he was living a dream life every day, with no worries about food and clothing, writing plays, watching plays, communicating with his colleagues, and even secretly fighting each other became an interesting thing - maybe because of the king's strict prohibition They use too despicable means. The most important thing for him now is to complete a long work that no longer uses the Trinity system, which is the famous story of the Five Wise Emperors of Rome. He hopes to use this to make himself in the "temple"-the niches they have The title occupies a place.

Needless to say, Molière, although there is already a statue of him in the niche, he is still working tirelessly to create a new play about the prodigal children. In fact, what he wanted to write was an opera in praise of virtue, but since After Louis XIV saw a short play of the same form and content, he was strictly prohibited from continuing to create similar works - excessive flattery would only embarrass him, extremely embarrassing.

As for Racine, he was born in 1939, so he is not so eager yet. He has recently been writing a tragedy based on ancient Greek mythology, hoping to perform it for the king in the theater of the Palace of Versailles.

But today the three of them are here together, not for the works of any one of them, but for Jean de la Fontaine.

La Fontaine is also an interesting person. Like Corneille, he was once a lawyer at the High Court, but he loved writing and was not enthusiastic about the legal profession. He returned to the countryside during the first Fronde riot. He hoped to live a peaceful life, but he lacked talent in investment and trading. He went bankrupt not long after and had to return to Paris to look for opportunities.

Well, he found Fouquet.

Fouquet was kind to La Fontaine, but the problem was that before he could repay his benefactor, Fouquet became a prisoner of the king. So Mr. La Fontaine got into the spirit of chivalry and resolutely wrote a deeply affectionate letter. His petition was sent to the Louvre. He did not know that his petition was not even sent to the king, but was classified as a useless document by Bontang and thrown into the burning furnace together with the scattered letters of petition.

La Fontaine didn't know this, but he became frightened after sending the letter. He kept thinking about being beheaded by the king in his dreams, so he fled all the way back to the countryside. When the king took charge, he had no food and clothing, so he He returned to Paris again. This time he was smarter and only hung out in art salons and theaters. He was talented, and it didn't take long for him to be noticed by Moliere, and then Racine also became his friend.

The final turning point came when the eldest princess was five or six years old. The king wanted some stories that could be read to children. They should be simple, touching, and simple. La Fontaine had written several short fables in the countryside before, because in the countryside , even priests and squires can master a limited number of words. If they are too arrogant, they will lose their only market. When hearing about this opportunity, La Fontaine certainly did not hesitate to present the three books he wrote with both hands. He wrote allegorical poems, and after getting the king's approval, he vowed to continue writing until his death.

La Fontaine came to the School of Drama today because the School of Drama needs his allegorical poems to practice what students have learned in the course and to use them for exams. After all, the students have to perform four or five hours of performances time and time again. It is really unreasonable to complete homework or exam content. This kind of scene usually only occurs during the year-end exams.

The eldest princess had a very good impression of La Fontaine. His fables were her bedtime stories every night. When she saw him, the eldest princess thought of her powerful father, who would write for her every night. Singing lullabies, telling stories, watching her fall asleep before quietly exiting the dormitory, she couldn't help but feel warm in her heart - she kindly asked them to get up, and watched a few short performances with everyone. The Drama School was established not long ago, but these students But it looked so similar that even the princess and Frederick beside her looked at it with great interest.

"But I don't need the narration at the end," the princess said after reading it: "It is better to let people think for themselves than to stuff heavy truths into their heads."

La Fontaine leaned over and said yes. He originally added what he wanted to express at the end of each story. After the performance, a narrator would read it out.

"Replay the last story, as I said, without the last narration." The princess said, and the people in animal masks walked onto the stage again.

Although Frederick's eyes were focused on the stage, his mind was on the princess. At first, he thought that the king's appointment of the princess and others as directors of the art academy was just a false title and a game. There are people, but I didn't expect that the princess could really put forward opinions and others were willing to comply.

And this opinion is not without purpose. After canceling the narration, the whole play becomes complete and just right. The original feeling is indeed superfluous. The audience is all seasoned playwrights. Of course, they will not miss this subtle but obvious change. , there was a burst of compliments, and La Fontaine also said that he would delete all these truths when he went back.

The princess quickly stopped him, because publications are different from plays, and some people with insufficient imagination may not fully understand the author's intention.

She was so busy discussing with the playwrights that she even forgot she had a guest with her.

Frederick didn't mind at all, he just felt that he had opened a jewelry box. He thought that this jeweled box was enough for him to cherish. Who knew that there were many treasures hidden inside that needed to be explored to be seen.