Ange-Jacques Gabriel

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Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Ange Jacques Gabriel by Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Born23 October 1698
Paris, France
Died4 January 1782 (1782-01-05) (aged 83)
Paris, France
OccupationArchitect
ParentJacques Gabriel

Ange-Jacques Gabriel (French pronunciation:

École Militaire, and the Petit Trianon and opera theater at the Palace of Versailles. His style was a careful balance between French Baroque architecture and French neoclassicism.[1]

Biography

Early life and career

Ange-Jacques Gabriel was born on 23 October 1698, to a famous Parisian family of architects, and was connected by marriage with another celebrated architect of the time,

Place de la Bourse) in Bordeaux. The young Ange-Jacques became a member of the Académie royale d'architecture in 1728, and assisted his father on the Place de la Bourse. He became the principal assistant to his father as Premier Architecte at the Versailles from 1735 and, after his father's death, succeeded him as chief architect of the King.[1]

In his new position, he served under the supervision of two successive Directors of the Buildings of the King, Tournehem and Abel-François Poisson, the Marquis de Marigny, the brother of the King's mistress and cultural advisor, Madame de Pompadour.[1]

Place Louis XV (now Place de la Concorde)

The Place Louis XV, today's

Champs-Elysees, land donated by the King. Gabriel's design, combining elements of the earlier schemes, left the view toward the Seine open, and preserved unobstructed the long axis between the Tuileries and the Champs-Elysees. On the north side of the Place, he built two symmetrical palaces, leaving a gap between them, creating a new north–south axis, the Rue Rye Royale, connecting the Place to the Madeleine church, then under construction. The facades of the palaces, with rows of Corinthian columns, were modeled after the colonnades of the Louvre
. The centerpiece of the square was an equestrian statue of Louis XV. The project was finalized in 1754 and was completed in 1763. The statue of Louis XV was removed during the French Revolution, and the obelisk, statues and fountains were added in the 19th century.[2]

Ecole Militaire

  • Gabriel's plan for the Ecole Militaire
    Gabriel's plan for the Ecole Militaire
  • The Ecole Militaire
    The
    Ecole Militaire
  • Chapel of Saint Louis
    Chapel of Saint Louis

Louis XV decided in 1751 to create the

Louis IX, or Saint Louis, the patron saint of the Army. Two additional wings along Avenue de la Motte-Piquet were added in the 19th century.[3]

The Petit Trianon

  • West facade of the Petit Trianon
    West facade of the Petit Trianon
  • Aerial view of the Petit Trianon and its small park
    Aerial view of the Petit Trianon and its small park

At the request of

Madame Pompadour, Gabriel had made plans for a smaller pavilion at Versailles away from the main palace and the Trianon. With the end of the expensive Seven Years' War Louis XV approved the plans, and between 1763 and 1768 the small chateau was constructed. The building was cubic, and each facade was different; each was decorated with pilasters, columns and pediments in perfect proportion and harmony. The facades of the Petit Trianon represented in its most pure form the emerging style of Neoclassicism in France.[4]

Royal Opera of Versailles

  • Foyer of the Royal Opera
    Foyer of the Royal Opera
  • The Royal Opera during the celebration of the marriage of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette (1770)
    The Royal Opera during the celebration of the marriage of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette (1770)
  • Royal box
    Royal box
  • Stage of the Royal Opera
    Stage of the Royal Opera

Much of his attention was devoted to modifications of the Palace of Versailles desired by Louis XV. The palace lacked a proper opera theater; a theater had been commanded under Louis XIV in 1682 for the end of the North Wing but the project had been put on hold due to its cost of the King's wars and the complexity of meeting the needs of the Court. Gabriel made a new proposal for the same site in 1748, but it was also put on hold due to the cost. occupied himself with numerous modifications to the exterior of the Palace, notably the completion and extension of the North Wing, following closely the original designs of Mansard, completed in 1764.[5]

The Opera project was revived in 1765 and was accelerated in 1770 for the celebrations of the marriage of the Dauphin, the future

Madame Du Barry, and the royal box, the size of three ordinary boxes, had a grill to protect their privacy. Sculptures by Augustin Pajou and a painted ceiling by Louis Jean-Jacques Durameau completed the interior. Gabriel and his chief architectural engineer, Blaise Arnaud, studied installing a mechanism to hoist the floor of the theater up to the level of the stage, to create an enormous ballroom, but this was never completed.[5]

Death

His final projects were the completion of the facades of the buildings he designed for the Place de la Concorde; the former Hôtel de Coislin, and the

Hotel de la Marine
, the headquarters of the French Navy until 2016, which was finished in 1774. He died in Paris in 1782.

Style

His sober rationality in planning and detail promoted the transition from Rococo to Neoclasscism. He was not especially known for boldness or originality; borrowing extensively from the French classicism and early classical models, particularly from the Louvre. He was known for his craftsmanship, his ability to balance the animation of the Baroque style with the more restrained neoclassicism, the proportions and balance and careful detail of his buildings, and his ability to create dramatic and harmonious ensembles of monumental buildings, as he did in the Place de la Concorde. [4]

Major works

Pavillon Butard
Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Gallet 1999, pp. 256–57.
  2. ^ Gallet 1999, pp. 257–258.
  3. ^ Gallet 1999, pp. 259–260.
  4. ^ a b Gallet 1999, p. 264.
  5. ^ a b Saule 2013, p. 60.

Bibliography

External links

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