Enchanted islands : picturing the allure of conquest in eighteenth-century France

In Enchanted Islands, renowned art historian Mary D. Sheriff explores the legendary, fictional, and real islands that filled the French imagination during the ancien regime as they appeared in royal ballets and festivals, epic literature, paintings, engravings, book illustrations, and other objects. Some of the islands were mythical and found in the most popular literary texts of the day—islands featured prominently, for instance, in Ariosto’s Orlando furioso,Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata, and Fénelon’s, Telemachus. Other islands—real ones, such as Tahiti and St. Domingue—the French learned about from the writings of travelers and colonists. All of them were imagined to be the home of enchantresses who used magic to conquer heroes by promising sensual and sexual pleasure. As Sheriff shows, the theme of the enchanted island was put to many uses. Kings deployed enchanted-island mythology to strengthen monarchical authority, as Louis XIV did in his famous Versailles festival Les Plaisirs de l’île enchantée. Writers such as Fénelon used it to tell morality tales that taught virtue, duty, and the need for male strength to triumph over female weakness and seduction. Yet at the same time, artists like Boucher painted enchanted islands to portray art’s purpose as the giving of pleasure. In all these ways and more, Sheriff demonstrates for the first time the centrality of enchanted islands to ancient regime culture in a book that will enchant all readers interested in the art, literature, and history of the time. In 'Enchanted Islands', art historian Mary D. Sheriff explores the legendary, fictional, and real islands that filled the French imagination during the ancien régime as they appeared in royal ballets and festivals, epic literature, paintings, engravings, book illustrations, and other objects. Some of the islands were mythical and found in the most popular literary texts of the day. Islands featured prominently, for instance, in Ariostos Orlando furioso, Tassos Gerusalemme liberata, and Fenelons, Telemachus. Other islands--real ones, such as Tahiti and St. Domingue--the French learned about from the writings of travelers and colonists. All of them were imagined to be the home of enchantresses who used magic to conquer heroes by promising sensual and sexual pleasure In 'Enchanted Islands', art historian Mary D. Sheriff explores the legendary, fictional, and real islands that filled the French imagination during the ancien regime as they appeared in royal ballets and festivals, epic literature, paintings, engravings, book illustrations, and other objects. Some of the islands were mythical and found in the most popular literary texts of the day?islands featured prominently, for instance, in Ariosto?s Orlando furioso, Tasso?s Gerusalemme liberata, and Fénelon?s, Telemachus. Other islands?real ones, such as Tahiti and St. Domingue?the French learned about from the writings of travelers and colonists. All of them were imagined to be the home of enchantresses who used magic to conquer heroes by promising sensual and sexual pleasure Contents 6 List of Illustrations 8 Preface, by Keith P. Luria 12 Introduction. Called to Islands 16 1. Thinking with Islands 32 2. Domains of Enchantment 52 3. Royal Power, National Sentiment, and the Sorceress Undone 86 4. Calypso in the Regency 120 5. The Transformations of Armida 152 6. On the Persistence and Limits of the Enchanted Island 196 Notes 238 Bibliography 264 Index 284