Auguste-Henri-Victor Grandjean de Montigny (15 July 1776 – 2 March 1850) was a French architect who had considerable influence on the development of architecture in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
Early years
Auguste-Henri-Victor Grandjean de Montigny was born on 15 July 1776 in the parish of St-Merry in Paris.
He studied architecture with
Charles Percier and
Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine
Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine (; 20 September 1762 – 10 October 1853) was a neoclassical French architect, interior decorator and designer.
Life and work
Starting in 1794 Fontaine worked in such close partnership with Charles Percier, o ...
, and became a neo-classicist.
He won the
Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...
in 1799.
In 1802 he went to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
with the new director of the French school, and was responsible for the work needed to prepare the
Villa Medici
The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...
for students.
In 1810 he was appointed architect to
Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia.
He rebuilt the state rooms of the
Bellevue Palace in
Kassel, a triumphal gate, public fountains and the theatre.
He was named first architect of the king in 1812. He returned to France in 1814 when
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
was deposed.
Brazil
Grandjean de Montigny refused an offer from Russia in favor of one to go to Brazil.
He moved to Brazil in 1816 at the invitation of King
John VI of Portugal (1816–26), who wanted to improve the cultural level of the colony.
He arrived in Rio de Janeiro on 12 March 1816. He represented architecture among the French artistic colony organized and led by
Joachim Lebreton
Joachim Lebreton (1760–1819) was a French professor, public administrator and legislator.
Biography
Lebreton began his career as professor of Rhetoric at the Collège de Tulle.
He was appointed administrator of Fine Arts of the Ministry of ...
, who created the Academy of Fine Arts in Rio.
These artists had been educated at the ''
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...
'' and had been forced into exile after the fall of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
.
Other members of the group included the two brothers
Nicolas-Antoine Taunay, painter of battle scenes, and
Auguste Taunay, sculptor;
Jean-Baptiste Debret
Jean-Baptiste Debret (; 18 April 1768 – 28 June 1848) was a French painter, who produced many valuable lithographs depicting the people of Brazil. Debret won the second prize at the 1798 Salon des Beaux Arts.
Biography
Debret studied at th ...
, painter, and
Charles-Simon Pradier, engraver.
![Grandjean de Montigny - Vista do interior da Praça do Comércio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Grandjean_de_Montigny_-_Vista_do_interior_da_Pra%C3%A7a_do_Com%C3%A9rcio.jpg)
Grandjean de Montigny was to live in Rio de Janeiro until his death in 1850.
Throughout this period he was the only teacher of Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts.
He designed the Roman Arch (1816) and many other buildings in an eclectic classical style.
He designed the building for the Academy of Fine Arts in 1817.
Montigny built the Praça do Comércio (exchange), completed in 1820 and later occupied by the customs.
This is now the Casa França-Brasil, a cultural center.
Grandjean de Montigny made innovative proposals for redeveloping Rio de Janeiro in 1824-25 and in 1827.
He designed official and private buildings, including residences in Rio de Janeiro in the Passeio, Mariz e Barros, Haddock Lobo and Catumbi streets.
Other buildings included the Royal College of Science, Arts and Crafts and the Candelaria market.
He converted the Seminário São Joaquim for use as the Colégio Pedro II.
In 1829 he was responsible for all the decorations for the festival celebrating the marriage of the Emperor
Pedro I of Brazil and the Empress
Amélie of Leuchtenberg
Amélie of Leuchtenberg ( pt, Amélia Augusta Eugénia Napoleona de Leuchtenberg; french: Amélie Auguste Eugénie Napoléonne de Leuchtenberg; 31 July 1812 – 26 January 1873) was Empress of Brazil as the wife of Pedro I of Brazil.
She was the ...
.
In 1848 he was charged with design of the Imperial Palace and the Senate.
Auguste-Henri-Victor Grandjean de Montigny died in Rio de Janeiro in the spring of 1850.
Works
*
*
File:Grandjean de Montigny - Área romana.jpg, (undated) Roman interior
File:1808 Diversi Frammenti antichi a Roma (Aquarell).jpg, 1808 Antique fragments in Rome
File:Grandjean de Montigny - Projeto de um palácio para o rei da Vestfália, Jerônimo Bonaparte.jpg, Plan for a palace for Jerome Bonaparte
File:Grandjean de Montigny - Projeto de jardim com lagos artificiais.jpg, (undated) Plan for a garden with artificial lakes
File:1826 Kunstakademie Rio (1891).jpg, 1826 Academy of Art in Rio
File:Grandjean de Montigny - Paço do Senado, Rio de Janeiro (planta baixa).jpg, 1848 Design for the ground floor of the Senate Palace, Rio
File:Grandjean de Montigny - Paço do Senado (desenho F).jpg, Facade of the Senate Palace, Rio
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grandjean de Montigny, Auguste-Henri-Victor
1775 births
1850 deaths
Architects from Paris
19th-century French architects
Prix de Rome for architecture
French emigrants to Brazil