Jules-Robert de Cotte (1683–1767) was a renowned French architect, the son of one of the most highly regarded architect-administrators of his era, Robert de Cotte. The younger de Cotte assisted his father in the most prestigious architectural project in France, the building works at the royal palaces, (

Bâtiments du Roi The Bâtiments du Roi (, "King's Buildings") was a division of the Maison du Roi ("King's Household") in France under the Ancien Régime. It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris. History The Bâtiments ...

). In 1718 he received, in the course of construction, one of the three posts of "intendant et

ordonnateur An ''ordonnateur'' or ''commissaire-ordonnateur'' in the French colonial era was responsible for fiscal matters in a colony, as opposed to the governor, who was responsible for the military. The relationship between the two heads was often tense. ...

" In 1723, top German architect Balthasar Neumann came to Paris in order to study the latest French stylistic developments of the emerging

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

and consulted Robert de Cotte, as well as Jules-Robert, whose reputation with Neumann was as good as his fatherIn a letter, ''so guth als der vater darin ist'', (Kimball, p. 126 and surpassing that of another brilliant contemporary French architect,

Germain Boffrand Germain Boffrand () (16 May 1667 – 19 March 1754) was a French architect. A pupil of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Germain Boffrand was one of the main creators of the precursor to Rococo called the '' style Régence'', and in his interiors, of the ...

, an assessment that modern art historians would not support. Following in his father's footsteps, Jules-Robert de Cotte relied on workshop assistants to provide the details for his commissions.

References

*Fiske Kimball, 1943. ''The Creation of the Rococo'' (Philadelphia Museum of Art). 18th-century French architects 1683 births 1767 deaths Architects from Paris Members of the Académie royale d'architecture {{France-architect-stub