Old World Aristocratic Opulence

Nothing says wealth like gold plated furniture, door, walls, candelabra etc.

The highpoint of such aristocratic opulence was the era between the Renaissance and the American and French Revolutions.

All these items are currently at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
 

Science, 18th Century Style

A microscope fit for the Royal Academy in the early 17th Century was as much a work of art as a functional piece of scientific equipment during the "Age of Enlightenment."

Even the case and its delicate tools, was a magnificent piece of craftmanship.
 

This set is at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Cardinal Richelieu Master of 17th Century European Politics

Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac (1584-1642), Chief Minister of France -1624-1642. An expert at Machiavellian Politics and intrigue... " I have made the King (Louis XIII) the most powerful monarch in Europe...while I am the most powerful man in France" Chooses Nationalism over religion during the Thirty Years War when he supported the Protestant factions over the Catholic Hapsburg Alliance. Thus were the major ideological wars of religion replaced by wars for the national interest. The Age of Enlightenment was at hand.

Louis XIII (1601-1643), King of France 1610-1643. A weak king under the constant influence of others, first his mother, Marie de Medici and later the powerful Cardinal- Richelieu.