Vincent Cronin Livres

The Wise Man From the West : Matteo Ricci and his Mission to China [paperback] Cronin, Vincent [Jan 01, 1984]

'I wanted to find a Napoleon I could picture as a living, breathing man.' Vincent Cronin superbly realises his objective in this, probably the finest of all modern biographies of Napoleon. It is generally accepted as the author's masterpiece.

First published 25 years ago, this biography of the Sun King uses contemporary sources to examine what sort of monarch Louis XIV really was.

Paris between the wars: our impression is one of gaiety, frivolity, fashion, of exuberant living - a city whose lights were put out by the terrifyingly rapid advance of the German panzers in 1940. And so, in some ways, it was. But as Vincent Cronin shows in this compelling and original book - which encompasses social, intellectual, political and cultural history - the full picture was much more complex. Cronin examines developments in the arts, fashion and politics, and has something surprising to say about each of them; but also investigates the achievements of Parisian philosophers and industrialists. It is notoriously difficult to perceive valid patterns across such a broad range of human activities as these, but that is exactly what Cronin has done. The result is a thoroughly convincing and engrossing portrait of a city outwardly confident and intent on enjoying life, but behind that uncertain, divided and ultimately incapable of standing up to aggression.

Julius II - Caesar Augustus - Germany - The arts - Venetian republic - Venetian architecture - Venetian painting - Venetian art - Pallidio - Carpaccio ; Contain in Appendix C a list of the whereabouts of the works of art mentioned in the text. Appendix A details Italian currencies and their values; Contains list of Popes from 1450 to 1616.

This portrait of Paris between 1900 and 1914, when it was the artistic centre of Europe, is evoked by a series of character sketches of important figures, such as Proust, Gide, Claudel, Debussy, Sarah Bernhardt, Picasso, Diaghilev and the Curies. By drawing together the threads of their lives the author distinguishes a subtlety and delicacy in artistic and intellectual life not present in the more pleasure-seeking 1890s. But dark political clouds were looming with the German occupation of Alsace-Lorraine, the Agadir crisis, and the effect on Germany of the growing Entente Cordiale - events of which intellectuals and artists failed to see the full significance. The author has written "Louis XIV", "Louis and Antoinette" and "Napoleon".

"As an explanation of the past in personal terms, this is probably the best life of Napoleon we have."--The Economist Vincent Cronin sets out to find a Napoleon he could picture as a living, breathing man. In this, probably the finest of all modern biographies of Napoleon, he superbly realizes his objective.

Podtitul: Král Slunce: velký panovník z rodu Bourbonů Životní osudy francouzského panovníka Ludvíka XIV. Podrobný životopis jednoho z největších francouzských králů, za jehož vlády dosáhla Francie velkého rozkvětu a lesku. Autor velmi pečlivě sleduje osudy Ludvíka XIV. již od jeho narození. Rozsáhlá část je věnována jeho vztahu k umění. Nechybí ani nástin situace po jeho smrti. Publikace obsahuje podrobný rejstřík i soupis použité literatury.