Jules Hardouin-Mansart (; 16 April 1646 – 11 May 1708) was a
French Baroque architect and builder whose major work included the
Place des Victoires
The Place des Victoires is a circular ''place'' in Paris, located a short distance northeast from the Palais Royal and straddling the border between the 1st and the 2nd arrondissements. The Place des Victoires is at the confluence of six street ...
(1684–1690);
Place Vendôme (1690); the domed chapel of
Les Invalides (1690), and the
Grand Trianon of the
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
. His monumental work was designed to glorify the reign of
Louis XIV of France
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of ...
.
Biography
Born Jules Hardouin in Paris in 1646, he studied under his renowned great-uncle
François Mansart, one of the originators of the classical tradition in French architecture; Hardouin inherited Mansart's collection of plans and drawings and added Mansart's name to his own in 1668. He began his career as an entrepreneur in building construction, in partnership with his brother Michel, but then decided in 1672 to devote himself entirely to architecture. In 1674 he became one of the group of royal architects working for Louis XIV. His first important project was the
Château de Clagny
The Château de Clagny was a French country house that stood northeast of the Château de Versailles; it was designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for Madame de Montespan between 1674 and 1680. Although among the most important of the private r ...
, built for the King's consort,
Madame de Montespan. He quickly showed he was a master of bureaucratic diplomacy as well as design and construction; he gained the protection and support of Madame de Montespan, then
François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, the Minister of War. He studied under and then collaborated with landscape designer
André Le Nôtre, before finally working directly with the King himself.
In 1677 he began working on the expansion of the royal
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
, a project which occupied him for the rest of his life. Soon afterward became a member of the Royal Academy of Architecture. In 1678 he became director of the work at Versailles. and the most prominent architect in the royal entourage. He was named First Architect of the King in 1681 and was raised to the nobility in 1682. He became intendant of the King in 1685, and royal inspector-general of buildings 1691, under the elderly superintendent of buildings,
Villacerf, whom he finally replaced in 1699.
He owed his rise not just for his ability to please his patron with his designs, but especially because of his ability to manage enormous and complex projects with many elements and designers. He would sketch out an idea; stand back and intervene and adjust when needed, from time to time to visit the site, and to see that the budget was kept under control.
In the latter part of his career he left more of the details to the architects who worked under him, notably
Robert de Cotte
Robert de Cotte (1656 – 15 July 1735) was a French architect-administrator, under whose design control of the royal buildings of France from 1699, the earliest notes presaging the Rococo style were introduced. First a pupil of Jules Har ...
, who was his chosen successor. He was given the title of Count of Sagonne in 1702, but died six months later at the royal residence of Marly.
Style
Hardouin-Mansart was the leading master of the architectural style that became known as the
Louis XIV style
The Louis XIV style or ''Louis Quatorze'' ( , ), also called French classicism, was the style of architecture and decorative arts intended to glorify King Louis XIV and his reign. It featured majesty, harmony and regularity. It became the official ...
or
French classicism. A particular skill of Hardouin was his ability to create a wide variety of structures; chateaux, churches, pavilions, private residences, parks, and urban squares. He demonstrated an ability to adapt, modify, enlarge and rehabilitate, without losing the character of the original building, but adding his own original variations on the theme, as he demonstrated in particular at the
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
.
Much of his success was due to his ability to select and guide very talented collaborators. his collaborators included the interior designer
Charles Le Brun, who designed many of the interiors of Versailles, in perfect harmony with his architecture, and
Robert de Cotte
Robert de Cotte (1656 – 15 July 1735) was a French architect-administrator, under whose design control of the royal buildings of France from 1699, the earliest notes presaging the Rococo style were introduced. First a pupil of Jules Har ...
, a designer who also became his brother-in-law and in 1708 became his successor, completing the major projects he had begun in the Palace of Versailles.
His architecture is especially characterized by simplification; by large smooth spaces, the repetition of forms (especially arcades with semicircular arches and detached columns; long horizontals, and detached open spaces. He often used long rows of columns in front of a facade to give an air of grandeur and to hide the irregularities of the structure. He used the architectural orders to give a special majesty to interior surfaces, particularly in the chapel of Versailles, and the interiors of the
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
and the
Grand Trianon.
He was adept at creating a sense of awe, as he demonstrated especially in the dome of
Les Invalides and in the garden facade of the
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
, and in the
Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
Major works
Les Invalides
Image:Les Invalides in Paris.jpg, Church of the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris (1676–1691)
File:L'architecture. Le passé.-Le présent (1916) - Flickr 14778212605.jpg, The outer dome conceals an inner dome, visible from below
File:De La Fosse's allegories on the dome over the Napoleone's tomb.jpg, Inner dome of Les Invalides, seen from below
File:Colonnade des Invalides.jpg, Hardouin-Mansard's plan for a curving colonnade of Les Invalides, not completed (1700)
On March 1, 1676,
François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, the Minister of War, summoned Hardouin-Mansart to take over construction of
Les Invalides, the enormous hospital and chapel the King was building in the center of Paris for his pensioned and wounded soldiers. The project had been begun in 1671 by
Libéral Bruant
Libéral Bruant (''ca'' 1635 – Paris, 22 November 1697), was a French architect best known as the designer of the Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, which is now dominated by the dome erected by Jules Hardouin Mansart, his collaborator in earlier ...
, and some of the residential buildings were completed and already occupied, but the centerpiece, the chapel for the soldiers, had not been begun. The King was not satisfied with the plans that were offered to him by Bruant, and complained about the slowness of the work. On March 1, 1676, Louvois dismissed Bruant and summoned Hardouin-Mansart, who was little known outside the royal household, and asked him to take over the church.
The chapel originally planned by Bruant for the veterans was relatively modest in size and decoration. Hardouin-Mansart proposed a much more grandiose project with two adjoining parts; a choir for the pensioners, and a majestic domed royal church for the King. This was beyond what the Minister had proposed, but it apparently pleased the King, and, after long discussion, Hardouin-Mansart was given the project not only for the church, but for the Hôtel as well. Hardouin-Mansart briskly organized and completed the construction of residences and infirmaries for the pensioners. In 1676 he began work on the choir, the portion of the church intended for the pensioners. By the summer of 1677 the roof was in place, and in April 1678 he was able to order the woodwork of the stalls, and in 1679, the cabinetry for the organ.
The work on the royal chapel proceeded more slowly. Its distinctive feature was the dome, one of the earliest constructed in Paris, following the church of the
Val-de-Grâce, designed by his great-uncle, and (1645–1667), and the
Collège des Quatre-Nations (1662–1670). His original plan called for a single great space under the dome, and painted decoration on the interior of the dome. However, while the work was in progress, the French army suffered reverses in the Netherlands, and the superintendent of finances,
Colbert, was slow in providing funding. Hardouin-Mansart had to modify the original plan, eliminating the painted ceiling, and redesigning the dome with an interior dome, not visible from the outside. He mounted the dome on two successive drums, giving it greater height than the earlier Paris domes. He commissioned the sculptor
François Girardon to make statues illustrating the themes of the building, the virtues of the Saints and the French Kings. By 1690 a large group of sculptors was at work at statues for the niches of the facade. The war was followed by a financial crisis; work was halted entirely in 1695, and did not resume until the war ended in 1699. Once the war ended, constructed resumed, and the royal chapel was finally consecrated, in the presence of the King, on 22 August 1706, not long before the death of Hardouin-Mansart. It remains his most famous work.
The Palace of Versailles
File:Chateau Versailles Galerie des Glaces.jpg, Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
(1680)
File:Le Palace du Roi.jpg, The Orangerie at the Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
(1684–86)
File:Versailles Grand Trianon.jpg, Grand Trianon in Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
(1687)
From 1677 until his death, Hardouin-Mansart was responsible for the design and construction of much of the
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
of
Louis XIV
Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
. He succeeded the royal architect
Louis Le Vau and became the ''surintendant des
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 Bâtimen ...
'' (Superintendent of royal buildings). Beginning in 1678, he completed the "envelope" of new buildings surrounding the original Chateau by
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crow ...
, which had been begun by his predecessor,
Louis Le Vau. He transformed the first-floor terrace of the Palace overlooking the garden, into the celebrated
Hall of Mirrors, richly decorated by his collaborator, the artist
Charles Le Brun. He also reconstructed the facade of the first floor facing the marble courtyard, giving it large arched windows and bringing in more light, and added new central residential wing, also with larger windows, for the royal family. To house the growing number of staff and servants in the Chateau, he built the Grand Commun (1682–85), and for the horses and carriages of the royal household constructed two palatial stables on the city-side of the Palace (finished in 1682).
His later additions to the Palace included the
Orangerie (1684–86), halfway underground at the end of south wing, accessed by two monumental stairways and opening onto its own sunken garden. Toward the end of his life he built a separate smaller one-story palace, the
Grand Trianon (1687) as a refuge for the King from the noise and ceremony of the court. His final project at Versilles was the chapel (1699–1710), which was carefully integrated into the architecture of the south wing.
Royal Squares
File:Place de la Victoire, Paris 13 August 2016 001.jpg, Place des Victoires
The Place des Victoires is a circular ''place'' in Paris, located a short distance northeast from the Palais Royal and straddling the border between the 1st and the 2nd arrondissements. The Place des Victoires is at the confluence of six street ...
, Paris
File:P1040419 Paris Ier place Vendôme immeubles n°18 20 22 24 et 26 rwk.JPG, Angled buildings with frontons at corners give variety to Place Vendôme in Paris
File:20151104 dijon017.jpg, The Place Royale in Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920.
The earlie ...
Hardouin-Mansard was also an important urban designer, the creator of two notable Paris residential squares. Both squares, the
Place des Victoires
The Place des Victoires is a circular ''place'' in Paris, located a short distance northeast from the Palais Royal and straddling the border between the 1st and the 2nd arrondissements. The Place des Victoires is at the confluence of six street ...
(1685) and
Place Vendôme (1699), were designed, like his other architecture, to express the majesty and glory of Louis XIV. The Place des Victoires was built as a setting for a
monument to Louis XIV, surrounded by a circle of harmonious matching residential buildings. The original statue was melted down after the Revolution, and replaced later by a copy; while the square was much altered in later years, with the addition of traverse streets and buildings in a different style.
The later Place Vendôme was a larger square, but Hardouin-Mansard broke the rigid box shape with corner buildings facing inward, decorated with ornamental pediments.
Chateaux
File:Jules Hardouin-Mansart, élévation du corps central du château de Clagny - Archives nationales.jpg, Elevation of the central pavilion of the Château de Clagny
The Château de Clagny was a French country house that stood northeast of the Château de Versailles; it was designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for Madame de Montespan between 1674 and 1680. Although among the most important of the private r ...
, built for Madame de Montespan (1674–1680)]
File:Château de Dampierre en 2013 16.jpg, Château de Dampierre
File:Chateau de Marly Entree a.jpg, Château de Marly
File:Lycee Michelet Vanves pavillon Mansart vu parc.jpg, Pavillon Mansart in Vanves
File:Saint Germain en Laye, Chateau du Val, facade.jpg, Chateau du Val in Saint Germain en Laye, a former hunting lodge sadly remodeled (1674)
File:Grande Coupole de Meudon.jpg, Chateau of Meudon (1705), burned in 1871 and transformed into an observatory after 1877
His most prominent position in France put him in place to create many of the significant monuments of the period, and to set the tone for the restrained French Late
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
architectural style, somewhat chastened by
academic detailing Academic detailing is "university or non-commercial-based educational outreach." The process involves face-to-face education of prescribers by trained health care professionals, typically pharmacists, physicians, or nurses. The goal of academic deta ...
, that was influential as far as
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
and even echoed in
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
. At the same time, the size of support staff in his official bureaucratic position has often raised criticisms that he was less than directly responsible for the work that was constructed under his name, criticisms that underestimate the discipline control within a large, classically trained studio.
Hardouin-Mansart used the
mansard roof (''mansarde''), named for his great-uncle François Mansart, at the château of Dampierre-en-Yvelines, built for the
duc de Chevreuse,
Colbert's son-in-law, a patron at the center of Louis XIV's court. This French
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
château of manageable size lies ''entre cour et jardin'' as even Versailles did, the paved and gravel forecourt (''cour d'honneur'') protected behind fine wrought iron double gates, and enclosed by the main block and its outbuildings (''corps de logis''), linked by balustrades, symmetrically disposed. A traditional French touch is the modest pedimented entrance flanked by boldly projecting pavilions. Behind, the central axis is extended between the former
parterre
A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...
s, now grass. The park with formally shaped water was laid out by
André Le Nôtre. There are sumptuous interiors. The small scale makes it easier to compare to the approximately contemporary
Het Loo (Netherlands), for
William III of Orange
William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from ...
.
He died at
Marly-le-Roi in 1708.
Gallery
Image:Jules Hardouin Mansart by Lemoyne.jpg, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, marble bust by Jean-Louis Lemoyne
Jean-Louis Lemoyne (1665–1755) was a French sculptor whose works were commissioned by Louis XIV and Louis XV.
His sculptures are featured in major art museums, including the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collection, the ...
Image:Jules Hardouin-Mansart.jpg, Portrait of Hardouin-Mansart by François de Troy.
File:Maison Boucheron 1.JPG, Place Vendôme in Paris by Hardouin-Mansart.
File:Visit of Louis XIV at Saint Cyr.jpg, Maison royale de Saint-Louis
The Maison Royale de Saint-Louis was a boarding school for girls set up on 15 June 1686 at Saint-Cyr (what is now the commune of Saint-Cyr-l'École, Yvelines) in France by king Louis XIV at the request of his second wife, Françoise d'Aubigné, Mar ...
at Saint Cyr (1684)
List and dates of notable works
* Hôtel de Conti, a town house within
La Monnaie in Paris (1669)
*
Château de Clagny
The Château de Clagny was a French country house that stood northeast of the Château de Versailles; it was designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for Madame de Montespan between 1674 and 1680. Although among the most important of the private r ...
(1675–1683)
*
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
** 1677 : The Bosquet des Dômes (1677)
** 1678 à 1684 : The Gallery of Mirrors (1678–1689)
** The facade facing the park, and north and center wings (1679–89)
** The small and the Grand Stables, and the new Orangerie (1684–1686)
** The
Grand Trianon (1687)
** The Royal Chapel (1698–1710)
** The Church of
Notre-Dame de Versailles (1698–1710)
*
Place Vendôme (1677–99)
*
Château de Marly (1679–1684) – demolished after Revolution).
* City Hall of
Nemours ((1669) (formerly the Convent of the Congregation of Notre-Dame)
* City Hall of
Arles
Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province ...
(1676)
* Château de Vall (1674–1677)
* City hall of
Arles
Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province ...
(1676)
*
Château de la Chaize in
Odenas
Odenas is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France.
See also
*Communes of the Rhône department
The following is a list of the 208 communes of the Rhône department of France. This list does not includes the Lyon Metropolis wh ...
(1676)
* Pavillon de Manse, at
Chantilly 1676–1680
* Church of Saint-Louis-des-Invalides and a portion of the Hôtel des Invalides (1676–1706)
* Episcopal Palace of
Castres (1677–1679)
* Rebuilding of the
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1680)
* Hôtel de Beauvillier at Versailles (1681)
* Hôtel Colbert de Croissy at Versailles (1682)
*
Château de Dampierre, in
Dampierre-en-Yvelines (1682–1684)
* Hôtel de Chevreuse in
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
(1683)
* Completion of the Chapel of the
Château de Chambord (1684)
* Château de Boury in
Boury-en-Vexin
Boury-en-Vexin (, literally ''Boury in Vexin'') is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.
Population
See also
* Communes of the Oise department
* Vexin
Vexin () is an historical county of northwestern France. It covers a ve ...
(1685)
* Rebuilding of the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy,
Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920.
The earlie ...
(1685)
*
Place des Victoires
The Place des Victoires is a circular ''place'' in Paris, located a short distance northeast from the Palais Royal and straddling the border between the 1st and the 2nd arrondissements. The Place des Victoires is at the confluence of six street ...
, Paris (1686)
* The orangerie of the château de Sceaux (1686)
* The
Maison royale de Saint-Louis
The Maison Royale de Saint-Louis was a boarding school for girls set up on 15 June 1686 at Saint-Cyr (what is now the commune of Saint-Cyr-l'École, Yvelines) in France by king Louis XIV at the request of his second wife, Françoise d'Aubigné, Mar ...
, at
Saint-Cyr-l'École
Saint-Cyr-l'École () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.
It used to host the training school for officers of the French army, the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM), which w ...
(1686)
* Plans for the , in
Chantilly (1687–1692)
* Church of Saint-Vigor in
Marly-le-Roi (1688–1689)
* Plans for the Château de L'Isle in the Swiss Canton of
Vaud
* Reconstruction of the Church of Saint-Louis,
Poissy
Poissy () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Pisciacais'' in French.
Poissy is one ...
(1695–1708)
* Rebuilding of the
Château de Meudon for the Grand Dauphin (1698–1704)
* Château de Vanves, now the administrative building of
Lycée Michelet (Vanves)
Lycée Michelet (Michelet High school), is an establishment located in Vanves (Hauts-de-Seine), bringing together middle school, general education high school and classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles in buildings classified as Monument histo ...
(1698)
* Reconstruction of City Hall of
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...
(1701–1703)
*
Eglise Saint-Roch, Paris (1701–1722)
Notes and citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
See also
*
17th-century French art
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansart, Jules Hardouin
1646 births
1708 deaths
Architects from Paris
17th-century French architects
Heads of the Bâtiments du Roi
Members of the Académie royale d'architecture
French Baroque architects
Architects from Versailles