François Mansart
François Mansart | |
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Château de Blois | |
Design | plans to redesign the Louvre and the royal mausoleum at Saint-Denis |
François Mansart (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa mɑ̃saʁ]; 23 January 1598 – 23 September 1666) was a French architect credited with introducing classicism into Baroque architecture of France. The Encyclopædia Britannica cites him as the most accomplished of 17th-century French architects whose works "are renowned for their high degree of refinement, subtlety, and elegance".[1]
Mansart, as he is generally known, popularized the mansard roof, a four-sided, double slope gambrel roof punctuated with windows on the steeper lower slope which created additional habitable space in the garrets.[2]
Career
François Mansart was born to a master
Mansart was highly recognized from the 1620s onward for his style and skill as an architect, but he was viewed as a stubborn and difficult perfectionist, tearing down his structures in order to start building them over again. Only the richest could afford to have him work for them as Mansart's constructions cost "more money than the
The only surviving example of his early work is the
Most of Mansart's buildings were subsequently reconstructed or demolished. The best preserved example of his mature style is the Château de Maisons, which uniquely retains the original interior decoration, including a magnificent staircase. The structure is strictly symmetrical, with much attention given to relief. It is thought to have heralded and inspired the 18th-century Neoclassicism.
In the 1640s, Mansart worked on the convent and church of the Val-de-Grâce in Paris, a much coveted commission from Anne of Austria. His alleged profligacy led to his being replaced with a more tractable architect, who basically followed Mansart's design.
In the 1650s, Mansart was targeted by political enemies of the prime minister Cardinal Mazarin, for whom Mansart frequently worked. In 1651, they published "La Mansarade", a pamphlet accusing the architect of wild extravagance and machinations.
After
Gallery
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The Château de Balleroy, Mansart's earliest surviving work
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The Church of the Visitation in the Rue Saint-Antoine, now the Temple du Marais[5]
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Château de Maisons, a defining work in French architecture
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Church of Val-de-Grâce, built for Anne of Austria
References
- ^ Western Architecture - France, Encyclopædia Britannica
- AMHER, 4th edition, 2000.
- ^ Pénin, Marie-Christine. "Couvent des Filles de la Visitation Sainte-Marie de la rue Saint-Antoine". Tombes Sépultures dans les cimetières et autres lieux.
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ Braham and Smith 1973, pp. 203–205.
Further reading
- Braham, Allan; Smith, Peter (1973). François Mansart. London: A. Zwemmer. ISBN 9780302022511.
- Perrault, Charles (1696), "François Mansart", Les hommes illustres qui ont paru en France pendant ce siècle - avec leur portraits au naturel (in French), vol. 1 (2 vols. folio ed.), Paris, pp. 87–88