Louis XIV as Apollo in the Ballet
Royal de la Nuit (1653)
Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles
Ballet dancing was used by Louis as a political tool to hold power over his state. He
integrated ballet deeply into court social functions and fixated his nobles' attention on
upholding standards in ballet dancing, effectively distracting them from political
activities.[120] In 1661, the Royal Academy of Dance was founded by Louis to further his
ambition. Pierre Beauchamp, his private dance instructor, was ordered by Louis to come
up with a notation system to record ballet performances, which he did with great success.
His work was adopted and published by Feuillet in 1700 as Choregraphie. This major
development in ballet played an important role in promoting French culture and ballet
throughout Europe during Louis's time.[121]
Louis greatly emphasized etiquettes in ballet dancing, evidently seen in "La belle danse"
(the French noble style). More challenging skills were required to perform this dance with
movements very much resembling court behaviours, as a way to remind the nobles of the
king's absolute power and their own status. All the details and rules were compressed in
five positions of the bodies codified by Beauchamp.[122]
Besides the official depiction and image of Louis, his subjects also followed a non-official
discourse consisting mainly of clandestine publications, popular songs, and rumours that
provided an alternative interpretation of Louis and his government. They often focused on
the miseries arising from poor government, but also carried the hope for a better future
when Louis escaped the malignant influence of his ministers and mistresses, and took the
government into his own hands. On the other hand, petitions addressed either directly to
Louis or to his ministers exploited the traditional imagery and language of monarchy.
These varying interpretations of Louis abounded in self-contradictions that reflected the
people's amalgamation of their everyday experiences with the idea of monarchy.[123]
Alexandre Dumas portrayed Louis in his two sequels to his 1844 novel The Three Musketeers: first as a child inTwenty Years After (1845), then as a young man in The Vicomte de Bragelonne (1847–1850), in which he is acentral character. The final part of the latter novel recounts the legend that a mysterious prisoner in an iron maskwas actually Louis's twin brother and has spawned numerous film adaptations generally titled The Man in the IronMask.
In 1910, the American historical novelist Charles Major wrote "The Little King: A Story of the Childhood of KingLouis XIV".
Louis is a major character in the 1959 historical novel Angélique et le Roy ("Angélique and the King"), part of theAngélique series. The protagonist, a strong-willed lady at Versailles, rejects the King's advances and refuses tobecome his mistress. A later book, the 1961 Angélique se révolte ("Angélique in Revolt"), details the direconsequences of her defying this powerful monarch.
A character based on Louis plays an important role in The Age of Unreason, a series of four alternate historynovels written by American science fiction and fantasy author Gregory Keyes.
Louis features significantly in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, specifically in the 2003 novel The Confusion, thegreater part of which takes place at Versailles.
In the 39 Clues series universe, it has been noted that Louis was part of the Cahill branch, Tomas.
He is called the son of Apollo in Rick Riordan's Trials of Apollo series.
Louis XIV is portrayed in Vonda N. McIntyre's 1997 novel The Moon and the Sun.
The film, The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (1966), directed by Roberto Rossellini, shows Louis's rise to powerafter the death of Cardinal Mazarin.