The vigor of the Baroque and its departure from the purer Classicism of the Renaissance quickly led to controversy among humanists and architectural theorists. In France this culminated at the close of the 17th century in the “Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes” or “Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns.” At question was whether “modern” society had reached a state of enlightenment surpassing that of the Greeks and Romans (and by implication the Church as well). If this was indeed the case, perhaps there was justification for liberation from the authority of the ancient philosophies and institutions as well.
During the same period France and England were engaged in an economic, military and cultural struggle to decide which nation would become the singular, dominant influential force of a reinvigorated and empowered Western civilization. Among the most significant battlegrounds for establishing each one’s cultural authority was development of a national architecture. France would side with the “moderns” and proceed to develop a powerful secular artistic style that was decidedly their own.