Jean Delespine or Jean de l'Espine (1505–1576), was a French angevin architect of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

Biography

Jean Delespine was a renowned architect. The Renaissance in

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France *County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France **Duke ...

owes much to the artistic and architectural production of this master builder. Today he is attributed about forty works, almost all located in the former province of Anjou. Jean Delespine was, at his beginnings, the student of Jean Mariau, an architect in Angers, to whom he succeeded, in 1535, as ''Commissaire des œuvres et réparations de la ville'' of Angers. Delespine was in charge of important urban developments. He worked under the direction of a succession of mayors, including , and . His official functions were at the origin of contacts with the Controller General of the Bâtiments de France, Philibert Delorme, a great Renaissance architect, ( Palais des Tuileries, Château d'Anet) attached to Anjou as

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of the . In 1571, Delespine ceased his duties as curator of the city's works. In 1576, he died in his home of the rue Beaurepaire in Angers. His body lies in the church next to the Carmelite convent. His tomb bore an epitaph to the glory of his architectural talents: ''... mais qui n’admireroit ta hardie entreprise'' / ''de ta brave lanterne au pignon de l’église'' / ''posée en l’air si hault entre deux piramides'' / ''dont les poincts eslevez touchent aux nues liquides'' / .... also reports some extracts of this epitaph: ''On cognoist l'arbre au fruit, l'ouvrier à l'ouvrage'' / ''les tiens portent assez, L'Espine, tesmoignage'' / ''De l'excellent esprit dont Dieu t'avoit pourveu'' / ''quand parmi les plus grands en crédit on téa veu''.

Works

* Saint-Maurice d’Angers Cathedral. In 1533, the

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

of the middle tower caught fire. Master Jehan of L'Espine was in charge of the reconstruction of the bell tower. He built the gallery housing the statues of Saint Maurice and his knights companions between the bases of the towers on the western façade. The statues were sculpted by Jean Giffard and Antoine Desmarais. *

Tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...

s and x of bishops and in Angers Cathedral *

Château d'Ancenis The Château d'Ancenis is a castle in the town and ''Communes of France, commune'' of Ancenis in the Loire-Atlantique ''Departments of France, département'' of France. The castle is on the bank of the Loire. History The original castle was built ...

* Château of

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most po ...

Château de Serrant The Château de Serrant is a Renaissance château situated in the Loire Valley, the private residence of the Prince of Merode. The château is to the west of Angers. It is open to visitors. History The Renaissance château is built on the ...

* Château de Valençay. * The original castle became a Jesuit college, and currently the military school of the

Prytanée national militaire The Prytanée national militaire is a French military school managed by the French military, offering regular secondary education as well as special preparatory classes, equivalent in level to the first years of university, for students who wish ...

; * The at Angers.L'hôtel Pincé et la rue Lenepveu à Angers
/ref> * The palace of Angers, seat of the

présidial The presidial courts (french: présidiaux; singular ) were judicial courts of the Kingdom of France set up in January 1551 by Henry II of France Henry II (french: Henri II; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was King of France from 31 March 1547 u ...

of Angers * The development of a new river port in Angers under the municipality of mayor René Ayrault who will leave his name to this realization: the port Ayrault * Modernisation of the Angevin fortifications and creation of two monumental city gates * Reconstruction of a wing of the cloister of the of Angers, currently * Construction of the Renaissance bell tower of

Les Rosiers-sur-Loire Les Rosiers-sur-Loire () is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in the Pays de la Loire Region in western France. On 1 January 2018, it was merged into the commune of Gennes-Val-de-Loire.Durtal Durtal is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. It is around 32 km north-east of Angers the department capital. See also *Communes of the Maine-et-Loire department The following is a list of the 177 communes of th ...

* Realization of tombs, churches, manors, mansions, fountains, etc.

Gallery

Some of the works by Jean Delespine File:Logis Pincé.jpg, Le logis Pincé in Angers File:Chateau Valencay 20050726.jpg, Château de Valençay File:Serrant 3.JPG, Château de Serrant File:FrancePaysDeLoireAngersCathedraleStMaurice.jpg,

References

External links

1557 - Jean Delespine, architecte
Archives ville d'Angers
Jean de l'Espine
on Structurae
Jean Delespine
on Wiki Anjou {{DEFAULTSORT:Delespine, Jean Renaissance architects 16th-century French architects 1505 births 1576 deaths