Jacques-François Blondel
Jacques-François Blondel | |
---|---|
Born | 8 January 1705 |
Died | 9 January 1774 Louvre Palace, Paris, France | (aged 69)
Occupation | Architect |
Spouses |
|
Practice | Neoclassicism |
Jacques-François Blondel (8 January 1705 – 9 January 1774) was an 18th-century French
Career
Born in
His first independent publication was the hugely influential encyclopedic work, De la Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance, et de la Décoration des Edifices en General, issued at Paris, 1737–38. It contained 155 carefully engraved plates. His Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance and other engraved work attracted a commission to produce thirteen of the engravings for the
That same year he opened his own private school in Paris, the École des Arts, sanctioned by the Académie in 1743.
In his clear and rational Architecture françoise, a four-volume work published from 1752 to 1756, he covered the past century and more of French buildings in and near Paris, setting them in their historical context and providing a wealth of detailed information that would otherwise have been lost. In the preface, he remarked, "I have used simple terms and a popular style with the intention of being understood by layman and artist alike; having noticed that recent books about architecture are either badly organised or overlong."
Though his executed body of work was small, mostly confined to work he executed at
In 1762, he was appointed Professor of Architecture at the Académie, closing his own school and introducing his comprehensive curriculum to the Académie. His Cours d'architecture ou traité de la décoration, distribution et constructions des bâtiments contenant les leçons données en 1750, et les années suivantes began appearing in 1771 and ran to nine volumes by 1777, a volume of plates to each two volumes of text; the last volumes were seen through the press by his disciple Pierre Patte. His Cours d'architecture is sometimes referred to as the "Petit Blondel" to distinguish it from the "Grand Blondel", his Architecture françoise.[15] Blondel's practical, encyclopedic approach, largely ignoring the excesses of Rococo, had survived changes in taste and remained in the mainstream of French architectural training for several decades more.
Personal life
Blondel married Marie Anne Garnier in 1729. Their son, Georges-François Blondel, who was born in 1730, became an architectural engraver. They also had a daughter, Claudine Angelique. After his first wife's death in 1755, Jacques-François married Manon Balletti in 1760.[16] Their son, Jean-Baptiste Blondel, who later became an architect for the city of Paris, was born in 1764.[17] During his final illness, Jacques-François requested to be taken to his classrooms at the Louvre, where he died surrounded by his books, his architectural models, and his students.[18]
References
Notes
- ^ Arnold 1998.
- ^ Colognola states that Jacques-François Blondel was the grandson of François Blondel. This is not supported by Arnold 1998, Tadgell 1998, Herrmann 1982, Harrington 1982, or Braham 1980, pp. 37–39.
- ^ Sturges 1952, p. 16.
- ^ Arnold 1998.
- ^ Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Harrington 1982, p. 220.
- ^ Sturges 1952:16.
- ^ Millard, 1993, p. 25
- ^ Blondel, quoted in Sturges 1952:16.
- ^ The intended contents of the eight volumes, including the four which remained unpublished, are summarised in the preface to vol. 1.
- ^ One of a number; he was not Premier Architecte du Roi.
- Cathedral of Metzwere replaced by more acceptable Gothic pastiches in the later nineteenth century, but Blondel's entrance survived long enough to be photographed (illustrated in Sturges 1952:18 fig. 4).
- ^ Frank A. Kafker: Notices sur les auteurs des dix-sept volumes de « discours » de l'Encyclopédie. Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie (1989) Volume 7 Issue 7 p. 130–131
- ^ Schwab 1984, p. 491.
- ^ Benjamin Smith 1918, p. 1100; Edward Smith 1904, p. 239.
- Casanova.
- ^ Harrington 1982, p. 220.
- ^ Harrington 1982, p. 223.
Sources
- Arnold, Dana (1998). "Blondel" in Turner 1998, vol. 4, pp. 162–165.
- Braham, Allan (1980). The Architecture of the French Enlightenment. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520067394.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 76–77.
- Colognola, Rita. "Jacques-François Blondel (and Pierre Patte)". Antiquariaat Papyrus. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- Harrington, Kevin (1982). "Blondel, Jacques-François" in Placzek 1982, vol. 1, pp. 220–223.
- Hermann, Wolfgang (1982). "Blondel, François" in Placzek 1982, vol. 1, pp. 216–219.
- The Mark J. Millard Architectural Collection: French Books (National Gallery of Art) 1993. ISBN 0-8076-1281-2
- Placzek, Adolf K., editor (1982). Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects. New York: Collier Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 9780029250006.
- Schwab, Richard N. (1984). Inventory of Diderot's Encyclopédie. VII. Inventory of the plates, with a study of the contributors to the Encyclopédie by John Lough. Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation at The Tayor Institution. ISBN 9780729403108.
- Smith, Benjamin Eli (1918). The Century Cyclopedia of Names. New York: The Century Co. View at Google Books.
- Smith, Edward R. (1904). "The Topographical Evolution of the City of Paris. IV. Royal Paris" in House & Garden, vol. 6 (July to December, 1904), pp. 227–239 (at Google Books).
- Sturges, W. Knight (1952). "Jacques-François Blondel" The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 11.1 (March 1952:16-19).
- Tadgell, Christopher (1998). "Blondel, (Nicolas-)François" in Turner 1998, vol. 4, pp. 165–166.
- Turner, Jane, editor (1998). ISBN 9781884446009.
External links
- Blondel, Jacques-François (1737–1738). De la distribution des maisons de plaisance et de la décoration des edifices en général. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert. Vols. 1 and 2 at Gallica.
- Blondel, L'Architecture française: catalogue description of the reimpression of 1904
- Blondel, Jacques-François (1752–1756). Architecture françoise (in 4 volumes). Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert. Online copies at Gallica.
- Vol. 1 (1752) [298 pages, plates 1–152] Introduction à l'architecture, abrégé historique de la Ville de Paris, description des principaux édifices du Fauxbourg St. Germain
- Vol. 2 (1752) [163 pages, plates. 153–300] Description des principaux édifices du Quartier du Luxembourg, avec ceux de la Cité, du Quartier St. Antoine & du Marais
- Vol. 3 (1754) [153 pages, plates 301–441] Description des principaux édifices des Quartiers Saint Denis, Montmartre, du Palais Royal & Saint Honoré
- Vol. 4 (1756) [153 pages, plates 442–500] Description du Louvre & du Palais des Tuileries, celle du château, parc & jardins de Versailles
- Blondel's Cours d'architecture catalogued and described
- Blondel, Jacques-François (1771–1777). Cours d'architecture (in 6 volumes of text and 6 of plates; 5 & 6 by Gallica.
- Vol. 1: text (1771); plates
- Vol. 2: text (1771); plates (1771)
- Vol. 3: text (1772); plates (1773)
- Vol. 4: text (1773); plates (1773)
- Vol. 5: text (1777); plates (1777)
- Vol. 6: text (1777); plates (1777)