Louis-Pierre Baltard (9 July 1764 – 22 January 1846) was a French

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, and engraver and father of

Victor Baltard Victor Baltard (9 June 180513 January 1874) was a French architect famed for work in Paris including designing Les Halles market and the Saint-Augustin church. Life Victor was born in Paris, son of architect Louis-Pierre Baltard and attended Lyc ...

Life

He was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He was originally a landscape painter, but in his travels through

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

was struck with the beauty of the Italian buildings, and changed his profession, devoting himself to architecture.Puylaroque, Thérèse de
"Pierre Baltard, peintre, architecte & graveur, 1764-1846: biographie raisonnée et catalogue sommaire"
/ref> In his new occupation he achieved great success, and was selected to prepare the plans for some of the largest public edifices in

. His reputation is chiefly based on his skill in engraving. Among the best known of his plates are the drawings of Paris (''Paris et ses monuments'', 1803), the engravings for Denon's ''Égypte'', the illustrations of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's wars (''La Colonne de la grande armée''), and those contained in the series entitled the ''Grand prix de l'architecture'', which for some time he carried on alone. He also gained distinction as an engraver of portraits. Baltard died, aged 81, in Lyon.

Family

Two of his children were also architects. Of these the more important was Victor Baltard, who designed

Les Halles Les Halles (; 'The Halls') was Paris' central fresh food market. It last operated on January 12, 1973, after which it was "left to the demolition men who will knock down the last three of the eight iron-and-glass pavilions""Les Halles Dead at 200 ...

Saint-Augustin, Paris The Église Saint-Augustin de Paris (Church of St. Augustine) is a Roman Catholic church located at 46 boulevard Malesherbes in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. The church was built between 1860 and 1871 by the Paris city chief architect Victor Bal ...

, and the facade of

Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux Notre-Dame des Blancs-Manteaux is a Roman Catholic parish church at 12 Rue des Blancs-Manteaux in Le Marais, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. It takes its name from the "Les Blancs-Manteaux" ("white mantles"), for the cloaks worn by the mendica ...

Architectural works

Louis-Pierre Baltard and

Jean-Baptiste Rondelet Jean-Baptiste Rondelet (4 June 1743 – 25 September 1829) was an architectural theorist of the late Enlightenment era and chief architect of the church of Sainte-Geneviève after the death of Jacques Germain Soufflot of cancer in 1780. Rond ...

were candidates in the competition to transform the

Panthéon de Paris The Panthéon (, from the Classical Greek word , , ' empleto all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was bu ...

into the « temple de la Gloire ». In 1813, on the death of

Alexandre Théodore Brongniart Alexandre may refer to: * Alexandre (given name) * Alexandre (surname) * Alexandre (film) See also * Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom o ...

, Baltard proposed to undertake the building of the

Palais Brongniart The Palais Brongniart ( en, Brongniart Palace) housed the historical Paris stock exchange (french: Bourse de Paris). It is located at the Place de la Bourse, in the II arrondissement, Paris. Early history Historically, stock trading took place ...

, but was unsuccessful. * The Palais de Justice in Lyon * Chapel of the prison Sainte-Pélagie, Paris. * Hospital and chapel of the

prison Saint-Lazare Saint-Lazare Prison was a prison in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, France. History Originally a leprosarium was founded on the road from Paris to Saint-Denis at the boundary of the marshy area of the former River Seine bank in the 12th c ...

, Paris (1834) * Prison Saint-Joseph, Perrache Lyon (1836) * Palais de Justice (nicknamed « Les 24 colonnes »), Lyon, on the quays of the river Saône (1842)

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baltard, Louis 1764 births 1846 deaths Painters from Paris Academic staff of École Polytechnique 18th-century French engravers 19th-century French engravers 19th-century French male artists 18th-century French painters 19th-century French painters 19th-century French architects Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Academic staff of the École des Beaux-Arts 18th-century French male artists