Disgrace of Nicolas Fouquet as act of Louis XIV's representative policy

Arrest of Nikolas Fouquet, the Superintendent of Finances of Louis XIV, which took place on September 5, 1661, is one of the key events not only of the reign period of this monarch (1643-1715) but also in the history of whole France because since that moment the independent government of Louis XIV begins. However, this event should be considered not only as a political action but as a representative deed, as one of the image-making element of Louis. Until now when we speak of representation of the king it is accustomed to present court ballet, festivals, construction of Versailles and other king's residences and buildings, construction of mounted and foot statues of the king on the main squares of the largest cities in the kingdom as example. The representation also may include theatrical productions of Moliere and Racine, music of Lully and other composers of the Great Ages, literature and art of the time. All this suggests that the public image of Louis XIV, so carefully and painstakingly created by the king himself and his team throughout his reign, was varied and all encompassing. Also, some events of his rule (not just the war events) may also be considered as part of the royal representation, as evidenced by the display of the fall of Fouquet in Le Brun's program, designed for the ceiling of the Mirror Gallery of Versailles. Using the convenient political situation (the death of Mazarin and, as he thought, the immaturity of the monarch) Fouquet tried to break the "monopoly" of the king, in the role of the chief patron of arts, and the main representational images. The construction of the Vaux-le-Vicomte castle, which outbid all the king's residences with its beauty, the conception of its interior decor (for example, the image of the sun near Fouquet's emblem) in our opinion should be regarded as a real challenge to Louis XIV. The historians found the manifestation of the jealous temper of Louis in his reaction to the observed things. However, we are sure that the king could not behave otherwise but remove Fouquet if considering this from the representative point of view. Arrest and the trial of Fouquet permitted Louis XIV not only to get rid of a major obstacle on his way to monocracy (if we can say so) and to form his own management team but also to approve himself as a sovereign, who pointedly follows the rule of law, which fundamentally disagrees with the customary view on the way of governing named ''absolutism''. This becomes the sign of coming of the age of stability and prosperity in the kingdom,_which had long been in the state of internal instability. Later Louis XIV will act the same way about the wars. All of his wars will not have imperialist character, as it sometimes seems to historians. In the eyes of the public in France and other European countries those wars look as attempts to defend the legitimate rights of the king or his relatives.

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