Régence

The era of the French Régence (1715 - 1723) covers the minority of Louis XV, when France was governed by the regent, the child-king's uncle, Philippe d'Orléans.

The Régence marks the temporary eclipse of Versailles as center of policy-making, since the Regent's court was at the Palais Royal in Paris. It marks the rise of Parisian salons as cultural centers, as literary meeting places and nuclei of discreet liberal resistance to some official policy. In the Paris salons aristocrats mingled more easily with the haute-bourgeoisie in a new atmosphere of relaxed decorum, comfort and intimacy.

In the arts, the style of the Régence is marked by early Rococo, characterized by the paintings of Antoine Watteau (1684-1721).

More details in the Louis XV article.