Jean-François De Neufforge
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Jean-François de Neufforge (1 April 1714 – 19 December 1791) was a
Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
architect and engraver, known for his ''Recueil elementaire d'architecture'', a book of architectural engravings.


Biography

Jean-François de Neufforge was born on 1 April 1714 in
Comblain-au-Pont Comblain-au-Pont (; wa, Comblin-å-Pont) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. As of 1 January 2014 Comblain-au-Pont had a total population of 6,754. The total area is 22.68 km² which gives a populati ...
, close to Liege, to a family of gentry whose fortunes had declined by the time of his birth due to the revolutions and religious wars that had ravaged the low countries. He had one brother and one sister. He moved to Paris around 1738. He studied engraving under Pierre Edmé Babel and architecture under
Jacques-François Blondel Jacques-François Blondel (8 January 1705 – 9 January 1774) was an 18th-century French architect and teacher. After running his own highly successful school of architecture for many years, he was appointed Professor of Architecture at the Acad ...
. He contributed nineteen engravings to David Le Roy's book ''The Ruins of the Most Beautiful Monuments of Greece''. It was not until 1755 that he began to become known. At that time he launched on the project that would occupy the rest of his life, the eight folio volumes of the ''Recueil élémentaire d'architecture...'' His planned work was presented to the Academy of Architecture, which approved it on 5 September 1757, and on 27 November 1757 an advertisement appeared in the ''Année littéraire'' announcing the work, which had 96 plates, for use by artists, amateurs and students. Almost all the illustrations were his own work, an immense undertaking. The Academy encouraged Neufforge with another endorsement in 1758. In February 1762 four volumes divided into 48 six-page sections appeared, soon followed by the fifth volume. The work was well-received, and was followed by additional volumes in subsequent years. Eventually the full set, published in Paris between 1757 and 1780, contained 900 engravings of aspects of eighteenth-century architecture, most of which he designed and engraved himself. The engravings cover the full range of buildings of his day and included facades, floor plans, doors, columns, vases, stairways, fireplaces and fences. The book was widely used by architects in the 1700s. Jean-François de Neufforge died in Paris on 19 December 1791. He had married twice, and left one son, Joseph de Neufforge, born in 1768.


Style

Neufforge's designs were intended for a wide range of people, from the middle class to the extremely wealthy. Most of his work was in the Rococo style. His work on the engravings for Le Roy's ''Les Ruines des plus beaux monuments de la Grèce'' brought him into contact with Jean-François Le Lorrain, whose influence shows in the earlier volumes of the ''Recueil elementaire'' which included all the elements of the Greek revival style. His later work, however, banished these influences and showed that Neufforge had adopted the views of
Marie-Joseph Peyre Marie-Joseph Peyre (1730 – 11 August 1785) was a French architect who designed in the Neoclassical style. Biography He began his training in Paris with Jacques-François Blondel at l'École des Arts, where he met Giovanni Niccolo Servan ...
and
Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of ...
. The later designs, with cubic houses, flat undecorated exterior walls, prostyle porticos and other elements gave clear evidence of borrowings from English
Palladianism Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
. His work was highly geometrical. Thus a design that he made of a temple exactly matched tiling designed by Kepler. Even his designs for small bourgeois gardens were elegant and geometrical. Neufforge was not interested in the practicality of his designs, but mainly concerned with style and appearance. The ''
Journal de Trévoux The ''Journal de Trévoux'', formally the ''Mémoires pour l'Histoire des Sciences & des beaux-Arts'', but often called the ''Mémoires de Trévoux'', was an influential academic journal that appeared monthly in France between January 1701 and Dec ...
'' announced the fifth volume in February 1762, describing the work as being in good taste with mature composition, invention subordinated to the rules, avoiding frivolous, bizarre or singular elements.


Gallery

File:Neufforge Recueil elementaire d'architecture front page.jpg, Front page of the ''Recueil elementaire d'architecture'' File:Jean-François de Neufforge Facade and floor plan.jpg, Facade and floor plan File:Jean-François de Neufforge - Various vases on pedestals.jpg, Various vases on pedestals File:J.F. de Neufforge, Petites portes d'appartements.jpg, Small apartment doors File:Développement de l'Entablement Corinthien by Neufforge.jpg, Head of a Corinthian column File:Basilica Elevation & Plan by Neufforge.jpg, Basilica Elevation & Plan File:Head of a young man à l'antique - Neufforge.jpg, Head of a young man à l'antique File:Jean François De Neufforge portrait of a pope.jpg, Portrait of a Pope File:Jean-François de Neufforge - Classically-attired man weeping.jpg, Classically attired man weeping File:Neufforge - Moor with turban.jpg, Moor with turban


Bibliography

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References

Citations Sources * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neufforge, Jean-Francois de 1714 births 1791 deaths Architects of the Austrian Netherlands Flemish engravers People from Comblain-au-Pont