François Debret (27 June 1777 – 19 February 1850) was a 19th-century French architect and

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. He was one of a group of influential academic architects in the 1820s and 1830s that furthered the precepts of Percier and Fontaine, although little of his own work survives.Mead 1996.

Early life and training

Born in Paris, François Debret was the son of Jacques Debret, criminal court clerk of the Parliament of Paris. He was the younger brother of

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 ...

. In 1808, he married a sister of the architect Félix Duban. Their son, Francis, born in 1809, graduated from the French Académie des Beaux-Arts (Academy of Fine Arts). Around 1793 Debret studied with

Charles Percier Charles Percier (; 22 August 1764 – 5 September 1838) was a neoclassical French architect, interior decorator and designer, who worked in a close partnership with Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, originally his friend from student days. For ...

Career

In 1813, Debret succeeded

Jacques Cellerier Jacques Cellerier (1742–1814) was a French architect in the neoclassical style whose buildings can be seen mainly in Paris and Dijon. Life Born in Dijon, son of innkeepers, a student of , to whom he was related, he continued his training at ...

as the architect in charge of restoring the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris. His work there demonstrated a lack of understanding of

gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...

. He supervised the trimming of stone from the church's

flying buttresses The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey lateral forces to the ground that are necessary to pu ...

, causing dangerous structural weakness; carried out the removal of authentic ornamentation; and added the anachronistic Gallery of Kings to the west facade. Already condemned by medievalists, he rebuilt the spire of the facade's north tower, after it was struck by lightning in 1837. The new spire was too heavy, jeopardizing the structural integrity of the facade. Relieved of his post in 1846 due to incompetence, he was succeeded by

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (; 27 January 181417 September 1879) was a French architect and author who restored many prominent medieval landmarks in France, including those which had been damaged or abandoned during the French Revolution. H ...

, who took down the spire in 1847. The disputes over Debret's designs for the church furthered the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

in France. In 1818–1819, he was assigned the task of transforming the former Augustinian convent in Paris into 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 century ...

, which had been revived in 1816 under the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

. Debret supervised the construction of the serviceable Bâtiment des Loges (1822–1828) and built the foundation and south wing of the Palais des Études (started in 1820), but in 1832 was replaced by his former student and brother-in-law, Félix Duban, who redesigned it. Debret was more successful with his theatre designs. After restoring Nicolas Lenoir's Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in 1818, he remodeled the acoustically well-regarded auditorium of

Victor Louis Victor Louis (10 May 1731, Paris – 2 July 1800, Paris) was a French architect, disqualified on a technicality from winning the Prix de Rome in architecture in 1755. Life He was born Louis-Nicolas Louis in Paris. He did not adopt the name Vic ...

's Théâtre des Arts in 1819. His changes included raising the ceiling by replacing the original Ionic

capitals Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

with Corinthian. In 1820 he was commissioned to design the temporary opera house, the

Salle Le Peletier The Salle Le Peletier or Lepeletier (sometimes referred to as the Salle de la rue Le Peletier or the Opéra Le Peletier) was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and con ...

, in which he essentially rebuilt the auditorium of the Théâtre des Arts (demolished by an ordinance of 9 August 1820). The design of the auditorium was so well received, it was prescribed as the official model for the auditorium of a new opera house in the competition of 1861. The Salle Le Peletier was destroyed by fire in 1873, and the Nouvel Opéra (New Opera) opened in 1875. Debret also designed the

Salle de la Bourse The Salle de la Bourse was a Parisian theatre located on the rue Vivienne in the 2nd arrondissement, across from the Paris Bourse, hence the name. It was successively the home of the Théâtre des Nouveautés (1827–1832), the Opéra-Comique (1 ...

, which opened in 1827.Wild 1989, p. 68.Lance 1872, p. 184
Debret was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1825 and became inspector general to the Conseil Général des Bâtiments Civils (General Council of Civil Buildings) in 1841. He was replaced by Rohault de Fleury as the architect of the Opéra in 1846 and shortly after the February Revolution of 1848 was dismissed as inspector general. Among his students and apprentices was Antoine-Nicolas Bailly.

Achievements

* Restoration of several theaters and buildings of the École des Beaux-Arts (1822–1832), set in the old musée des monuments français, founded in 1795 in the former Couvent des Petits Augustins, and closed by

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

in 1816. This work was continued by his brother-in-law Félix Duban.

Gallery of works

File:Pavillon de Hanovre, boulevard des Italiens, par François Debret.jpg, Pavillon de Hanovre on the Boulevard des Italiens. File:Salle_Le_Peletier_-_elevation_and_long_section_-_CC_Meade_1991_p51.jpg, Salle Le Peletier, the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

from 1821 to 1873. File:Debret_Projet_Théâtre_Cercle_du_Commerce_à_Brest.jpg, Transformable room for show, concert and dance, 1779. File:Debret_Projet_Théâtre_Cercle_du_Commerce_à_Brest2.jpg, Transformable room for show, concert and dance, 1799.

Notes

Bibliography

* Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture'', 2nd edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. . * Lance, Adolphe (1872). ''Dictionnaire des Architectes français'', 2 volumes. Paris: A. Morel. Vol
1
an
2
at Google Books. * Mead, Christopher (1996)
"Debret, François"
vol. 8, pp. 592–593, 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, ...

'' (34 vols.), edited by Jane Turner. New York: Grove. . Also at Oxford Art Online, subscription required. * Wild, Nicole (

989 Year 989 (Roman numerals, CMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperor Basil II uses his contingent of 6,000 Varangians to he ...

. ''Dictionnaire des théâtres parisiens au XIXe siècle: les théâtres et la musique''. Paris: Aux Amateurs de livres. . (paperback)
View formats and editions
at

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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Debret, Francois 1777 births 1850 deaths French Freemasons 19th-century French architects Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Architects from Paris Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery