At first, it was quite difficult to narrow down the sources and works, that could be of use for a good analysis. Just after a while, and various attempts of typing in Alice’s brain the right libraries – interesting topics started to appear.
For the first one, I have chosen the “Xenotheka Library” for Alices’s brain and as topic “french architecture 1665”. With these themes I stumbled upon the work of Harry Francis Mallgrave “Modern Architectural Theory” (2005), in which he discusses topics like the relation between the Ancients and the Moderns. Furthermore, he writes about the architectural changes and decisions, which were being made at that time in France, whereby Vitruvius is used as a main source. But not only Vitruvius is mentioned, also the Gothicism seems to be of interest to the architectural circles and writers; as for example Charles Perrault (1628-1703), who was rather averse towards the reappearing Ancients. He also criticised the new Louvre design by the Italian architect Bernini. The importance of architecture as a status symbol and a representation of the country is also the main topic of the work of Martin Zeiller “Topographia Balliae”, in which he describes the social, political and geographical properties of the noble and powerful “endroits” of the French Kingdom. The short texts are provided with beautiful engravings from Caspar Merian – which underlines and presents the beauty of France, and shows the architectural and topographical differences between the many French regions.
The second work I have found (by choosing the Alice Lirary and “landscapes France” as topic) is “Landscape Essays on the Identity of Landscape”, written by Doherty. In his Essays he writes about the French painter Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), who masterfully portrayed the architecture at that time in his oil paintings, which leads to the conclusion, that in the 17th century, there was a strong interest in architecture and its development. However, there is a critical aspect. The paintings from Poussin as well as the engravings of Merian are too perfect and cannot possibly portray the daily life in a city.