Claude Chastillon or Chatillon (1559 or 1560 – 27 April 1616) was a French
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
,
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
and
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...
, and
topographical
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
draughtsman A draughtsman (British spelling) or draftsman (American spelling) may refer to:
* An architectural drafter, who produced architectural drawings until the late 20th century
* An artist who produces drawings that rival or surpass their other types ...
, who served under
Henry IV of France
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...
. His most notable work, ''Topographie françoise'', published posthumously in 1641, is a collection of 500 views of French towns and buildings and constitutes a unique, if partial, historical account of French topography and architecture at the beginning of the 17th century.
[Boudon 1996.]
Life and career
Chastillon was born in
Châlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne () is a city in the Grand Est region of France. It is the capital of the department of Marne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Reims.
Formerly called Châlons-sur-Marne, the city was officially renam ...
.
In the 1580s Chastillon became a part of the military retinue of
Henry of Navarre
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...
(as Henry IV was known before he became king of France in 1589).
[Ballon 1991, p. 244.] In 1591 Henry made Chastillon the Royal Topographer (Topographe du Roi), a post that at the time was otherwise unknown, and in 1595, a Royal Engineer (Ingénieur du Roi), a post established in the early 16th century which identified a member of a corps responsible for military
fortifications
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
, the mechanics of
besiegement, and
hydraulics
Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...
.
In the course of his professional duties, Chastillon toured France and neighboring countries and made drawings of many of the places he visited, including views of towns and buildings, ancient and contemporary. Many of these he began to have engraved.
Among the engravers were
Mathieu Merian,
Léonard Gaultier
Léonard Gaultier, or, as he sometimes signs himself, Galter, a French engraver, was born at Mainz about 1561, and died in Paris in 1641. Franz Brulliot, ''Dictionnaire des monogrammes, marques figurées, lettres initiales, noms abrégés etc: a ...
, Joachim Duviert, and Jacques Poinssart.
[Lemerle 2014a.] In 1616 Chastillon died in Paris without having published the bulk of his collection of drawings.
''Topographie françoise''
Fifteen years after Chastillon's death, the publisher Jean Boisseau purchased the existing plates and drawings.
He had
Isaac Briot and
Nicolas Briot, among others, engrave the drawings which had not yet been engraved and published the collection in 1641 as ''Topographie francoise ou representations de plusieurs villes, bourgs, chasteaux, maisons de plaisance, ruines & vestiges d’antiquité du royaume de France'', crediting Chastillon as the creator of the drawings.
Usually referred to simply as ''Topographie françoise'', it provides a unique account of France at the beginning of the 17th century. It includes views of the
houses
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
and
châteaux of officials and friends of the king, many now destroyed, and is therefore an invaluable source for the study of French noble residences of the period.
![Topographie françoise 1655 INHA p222, Cordouan lighthouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Topographie_fran%C3%A7oise_1655_INHA_p222%2C_Cordouan_lighthouse.jpg)
Errors were introduced in the second edition of 1648, when work of other artists was added.
The second edition adds thirteen new plates, including several city plans, e.g., of
Lunel,
Montauban
Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, an ...
, and
Montpellier
Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
, among others. Some of the plates had already appeared in copies published with a date on the title page of 1641, even though the plates themselves bear dates of 1642, 1643 and 1644. One of them is a unique view of the
Cordouan lighthouse
Cordouan lighthouse () is an active lighthouse located at sea, near the mouth of the Gironde estuary in France. At a height of , it is the tenth-tallest "traditional lighthouse" in the world.
The Tour de Cordouan, the 'Patriarch of Lighthouses ...
engraved by Jacques Poinssart.
[Lemerle 2014b.] Chastillon had produced an expert evaluation for the completion of the lighthouse for Henry IV's minister, the
Duke of Sully in 1606.
Louis Boissevin (c. 1610–1685), a book publisher and print merchant, purchased ''Topographie françoise'' from Boisseau and published a third edition in 1655.
[Lemerle 2014.] The plates were reordered alphabetically by name, but some of the views lacking titles were misidentified.
The errors of the 1648 and 1655 editions and the tendency of the drawings to exaggerate the sizes of buildings, as well as the coarse quality of many of the engravings, have led some historians to discount the accuracy and utility of ''Topographie françoise''.
Unfortunately Chastillon's original drawings have been lost. Nevertheless, Françoise Boudon has argued that an examination of the work reveals that "Chastillon's topographical approach (his search for the best viewpoint, the measurement of distances, the pinpointing of characteristic features of the terrain and distinctive features of building etc)" ... has made it "apparent that these engravings, far from being whimsical and useless images, constitute the pages of a precise 'report' on France in the early 17th century."
The ''Topographie'' is a
rare book with only about 15 extant copies, including all editions.
Gallery
File:ParisCharlesV.jpg, Paris ca. 1600
File:Topographie françoise 1655 INHA p036, Hôpital de Saint-Louis (adjusted).jpg, Hôpital Saint-Louis
Hôpital Saint-Louis is a hospital in Paris, France. It was built in 1611 by architect Claude Vellefaux at the request of Henry IV of France. It is part of the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris hospital system, and it is located at 1 avenue ...
, 1608
File:Hôtel d'Angoulême, garden side, by Claude Chastillon – Gallica 2016 (adjusted).jpg, Hôtel d'Angoulême
Notes
Bibliography
* ''
Benezit Dictionary of Artists
The ''Benezit Dictionary of Artists'' (in French, ''Bénézit: Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs'') is an extensive publication of bibliographical information on painters, sculptors, designers and engravers created ...
'', vol. 3, p. 840 ("Chatillon, Claude"). Paris: Gründ. .
* Ballon, Hilary (1991). ''The Paris of Henri IV: Architecture and Urbanism''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. .
* Boudon, Françoise (1996). "Chastillon, Claude", vol. 6, p. 503, in ''
The Dictionary of Art
''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...
'', edited by Jane Turner, reprinted in 1998 with minor corrections. New York: Grove Dictionaries. .
* Lemerle, Frédérique (2014a)
"Architectura – Books on Architecture: ''Topographie françoise...'', Paris, J. Boisseau, 1641"
* Lemerle, Frédérique (2014b)
"Architectura – Books on Architecture: ''Topographie françoise...'', Paris, J. Boisseau, 1648"
* Lemerle, Frédérique (2014c)
"Architectura – Books on Architecture: ''Topographie françoise...'', Paris, L. Boissevin, 1655"
External links
''Topographie françoise'' (1641)at
Gallica
''Topographie françoise'' (1655)at INHA (Bibliothèque de l'
Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art)
Articles on publications by Claude Chastillonat th
Architectura website(Centre d'Études Supérieures de la Renaissance,
Université François-Rabelais
The University of Tours (french: Université de Tours), formerly François Rabelais University of Tours (french: Université François Rabelais), is a public university in Tours, France. Founded in 1969, the university was formerly named after th ...
, Tours):
"Claude (de) Chastillon"at the
Structurae
Structurae is an online database containing pictures and information about structural engineering, structural and civil engineering works, and their associated engineers, architects, and builders. Its entries are user-generated content, contribu ...
website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chastillon, Claude
French civil engineers
French draughtsmen
17th-century French architects
18th-century French architects
16th-century births
1616 deaths