Jules Hardouin Mansart
Jules Hardouin Mansart
Jules Hardouin Mansart
Biography
Born Jules Hardouin in Paris, he studied under his renowned great-uncle Franois Mansart, one of the originators of the classical tradition in French architecture; Hardouin inherited Mansart's collection of plans and drawings and adopted his well-regarded name. He also learned from Libral Bruant, architect of the royal veteran's hospital in Paris known as Les Invalides. Hardouin-Mansart served as Jules Hardouin-Mansart, marble bust by Louis XIV's chief architect, first enlarging the royal chteau of Jean-Louis Lemoyne: a full-dress Baroque Saint-Germain-en-Laye, then at Versailles from 1675. He became the portrait bust demonstrates that the King's architect is no mere craftsman surintendant des Btiments du Roi (Superintendent of royal buildings). He designed all the extensions and rebuildings at Versailles for the King, including the north and south wings, the Royal Chapel (with Robert de Cotte, 1710), and the celebrated Hall of Mirrors decorated by Charles Le Brun, his collaborator. Outside the chteau proper, he built the Grand Trianon and the Orangerie, as well as subsidiary royal dwellings not far away, such as the Chteau de Marly (begun in 1679). Among his other best-known works, in Paris, are the Pont-Royal, the glise Saint-Roch, the Invalides great domed royal chapel glise du Dme des Invalides dedicated to Saint Louis (designed in 1680), the Place des Victoires (168486) followed by the Place Vendme (1690). Most of these works still set their stamp on the character of Paris and can be seen by a modern-day tourist. His most prominent position in France put him in place to create many of the significant monuments of the period, and to set the tone for the restrained French Late Baroque architectural style, somewhat chastened by academic detailing, that was influential as far as Saint Petersburg and even echoed in Constantinople. At the same time, the size of support staff in his official bureaucratic position has often raised criticisms that he was less than directly responsible for the work that was constructed under his name, criticisms that underestimate the discipline control within a large, classically-trained studio. Hardouin-Mansart used the mansard roof (mansarde), named for his great-uncle Franois Mansart, at the chteau of Dampiere-en-Yvelines, built for the duc de Chevreuse, Colbert's son-in-law, a patron at the center of Louis XIV's court. This French Baroque chteau of manageable size lies entre cour et jardin as even Versailles did, the paved and gravel forecourt (cour d'honneur) protected behind fine wrought iron double gates, and enclosed by the main block and its outbuildings (corps de logis), linked by balustrades, symmetrically disposed. A traditional French touch is the modest pedimented entrance flanked by boldly projecting pavilions. Behind, the central axis is extended between
Chteau de Dampierre: a domesticated version of Baroque for a patron in Louis XIV's inner circle
Jules Hardouin Mansart the former parterres, now grass. The park with formally shaped water was laid out by Andr Le Ntre. There are sumptuous interiors. The small scale makes it easier to compare to the approximately contemporary Het Loo (Netherlands), for William III of Orange. He died at Marly-le-Roi in 1708.
References
"Jules Mansard". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/