Louis Le Vau (1612 – 11 October 1670) was a
French Baroque
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
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 ...
, who worked for
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 Versa ...
. He was an architect that helped develop the French Classical style in the 17th Century.
[''Encyclopedia of World Biography'']
"Louis Le Vau", vol. 9, pp. 360-361
Early life and career
Born Louis Le Veau, he was the son of Louis Le Veau (died February 1661), a stone mason, who was active in Paris.
[Feldmann 1996, p. 262.] His younger brother
François Le Vau
François Le Vau (1624
– 4 July 1676)
was a French architect and a founding member of the Académie Royale d'Architecture (established in 1671). He is also known for being the youngest brother of the more famous French architect, Louis Le Vau ...
(born in 1624) also became an architect. The father and his two sons worked together in the 1630s and 1640s. The two brothers later changed the spelling of their surname from "Le Veau" to "Le Vau" to avoid its association with the French word ''veau'' (calf).
[
Le Vau started his career by designing the Hotel de Bautru in 1634. By 1639, he was developing town houses ('' hôtels particuliers'') for rich citizens such as Sainctot, Hesselin, Gillier, Gruyn des Bordes, and Jean Baptiste Lambert in the ]île Saint-Louis
Île Saint-Louis (), eleven hectares in size, is one of two natural islands in the Seine river, in Paris, France (the other natural island is the Île de la Cité, where Notre-Dame de Paris is located). Île Saint-Louis is connected to the res ...
, which was being developed as a residential area.[ His most notable work during this period is the ]Hôtel Lambert
The Hôtel Lambert () is a ''hôtel particulier,'' a grand mansion townhouse, on the Quai Anjou on the eastern tip of the Île Saint-Louis, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. In the 19th century, the name ''Hôtel Lambert'' also came to designate ...
().
File:Hôtel Lambert01.jpg, Plan of the '' premier étage'' with the Seine
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
to the right
File:Paris 4e Hôtel Lambert 321.jpg, Garden façades viewed from the riverbank
Le Vau also designed country houses, including the Château de Livry (), later known as the Château du Raincy
The Château du Raincy was constructed between 1643 and 1650 by Jacques Bordier, ''intendant des finances'', on the site of a Benedictine priory on the road from Paris to Meaux, in the present-day commune of Le Raincy in the Seine-Saint-Denis depa ...
.[
]
Royal architect
In 1654, his career was advanced through his appointment as the first architect to the king,[ succeeding ]Jacques Lemercier
Jacques Lemercier (c. 1585 in Pontoise – 13 January 1654 in Paris) was a French architect and engineer, one of the influential trio that included Louis Le Vau and François Mansart who formed the classicizing French Baroque manner, drawing ...
. He was commissioned by Jules Cardinal Mazarin to help rebuild part of the medieval Château de Vincennes
The Château de Vincennes () is a former fortress and royal residence next to the town of Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris, alongside the Bois de Vincennes. It was largely built between 1361 and 1369, and was a preferred residence, after ...
.
File:Pavillon du roi du chateau de vincennes 01.JPG, Pavilion of the King (east façade)
File:Vincennes Château de Vincennes Pavillon de la Reine.jpg, Pavilion of the Queen (west façade)
Shortly after, in 1656 he was given the important commission to build the chateau of Nicolas Fouquet, Vaux-le-Vicomte
The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte (English: Palace of Vaux-le-Vicomte) is a Baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne department of Île-de-France.
Built between 1658 and 1661 for Nicolas Fo ...
with the help of André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre (; 12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700), originally rendered as André Le Nostre, was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He was the landscape architect who designed the gar ...
and Charles Le Brun
Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of ...
.["Vau, Louis Le" in ''A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture'' (3 ed.). .] Le Vau’s most notable work in the Vaux-le-Vicomte is the oval salon facing the garden. This design, an example of a ''salon à l'italienne'' (vaulted, two-storied room),[Berger 1982, p. 695.] develops the idea that a simple form governs the shape of the main section of the building.[
File:Vaux-le-Vicomte Front2.jpg, Rhythmic massing of the entrance front
File:Vaux le vicomte 1.jpg, View of the garden front with the oval salon
In the 1660s Le Vau helped on royal projects, such as the hospital of ]La Salpêtrière
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
and the facade of the Tuileries Palace
The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...
. From 1661-1664 Le Vau worked on rebuilding the Galerie d'Apollon
The Galerie d'Apollon is a large and iconic room of the Louvre Palace, on the first (upper) floor of a wing known as the Petite Galerie. Its current setup was first designed in the 1660s. It has been part of the Louvre Museum since the 1790s, was ...
in the Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
after it burned in a fire.[ Claude Perrault and Charles Le Brun were also involved in creating the famous façade for the ]east front of the Louvre
The Louvre Colonnade is the easternmost façade of the Palais du Louvre in Paris.
It has been celebrated as the foremost masterpiece of French Architectural Classicism since its construction, mostly between 1667 and 1674. The design, dominated b ...
from 1665-1674, which acted as a prelude for Classical Architecture
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect V ...
in the 18th century.[
The most notable work of Le Vau’s career was 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, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...
with which he was involved for the remainder of his life.[ He added service wings to the forecourts and, after 1668, had rebuilt the garden façade to be totally classical.][ Le Vau was assisted by François d'Orbay, who completed the work after Le Vau's death. Le Vau and d'Orbay's work at Versailles was later modified and extended by ]Jules Hardouin-Mansart
Jules Hardouin-Mansart (; 16 April 1646 – 11 May 1708) was a French Baroque architect and builder whose major work included the Place des Victoires (1684–1690); Place Vendôme (1690); the domed chapel of Les Invalides (1690), and the Grand T ...
.[
Le Vau’s designs for the ]Collège des Quatre-Nations
The Collège des Quatre-Nations ("College of the Four Nations"), also known as the Collège Mazarin after its founder, was one of the colleges of the historic University of Paris. It was founded through a bequest by the Cardinal Mazarin. At his d ...
(now housing the Institut de France
The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute m ...
) were completed after his death by his assistant François d' Orbay and showed unlikely rapport with Italian baroque techniques.[
File:Chateau de Versailles 1675FXD.jpg, Le Vau's garden front at the Château de Versailles, c. 1675
File:Instituto de Francia Noche 2.jpg, Collège des Quatre-Nations in 2014
Louis Le Vau died 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 ...
.
Notes
Bibliography
* Bajou, Thierry (1998). ''La peinture à Versailles : XVIIe siècle''. nglish edition: ''Paintings at Versailles: XVIIth Century'', translated by Elizabeth Wiles-Portier, p. 76.Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux. . (English edition).
* Ballon, Hilary (1999). ''Louis Le Vau: Mazarin's Collège, Colbert's Revenge''. Princeton University Press. .
* Berger, Robert W. (1982). "Le Vau, Louis", , , in ''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects'', edited by Adolf K. Placzek. London: Collier Macmillan. .
* Cojannot, Alexandre (2012). ''Louis Le Vau et les nouvelles ambitions de l'architecture française 1612–1654''. Paris: Picard. .
* Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture'', second edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
* ''Encyclopædia Britannica''
"France"
* ''Encyclopedia of World Biography'' (2004, 2nd ed.). Gale Ebooks. .
* Feldmann, Dietrich (1996)
"Le Vau (1) Louis Le Vau", ,
in ''The Dictionary of Art
''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...
'' (34 vols.), edited by Jane Turner. New York: Grove. . Also at Oxford Art Online
Oxford Art Online is an Oxford University Press online gateway into art research, which was launched in 2008. It provides access to several online art reference works, including Grove Art Online (originally published in 1996 in a print version, ''T ...
, subscription required.
* Hardouin, Christophe (1994). "La Collection de portraits de l'Académie royale de Peinture et de Sculpture: Peintures entrées sous le règne de Louis XIV (1648–1715", Mémoire de D.E.A., Université de Paris IV, 1994, pp. 164–166.
* Laprade, Albert
Albert Laprade (29 November 1883 – 9 May 1978) was a French architect, perhaps best known for the Palais de la Porte Dorée.
During a long career he undertook many urban renewal projects as well as major industrial and commercial works.
A ski ...
(1955). "Portraits des premiers architectes de Versailles", ''Revue des Arts'', March 1955, pp. 21–24.
* Laprade, Albert (1960). ''François d'Orbay: Architecte de Louis XIV''. Paris: Éditions Vincent, Fréal. .
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Vau, Louis
French Baroque architects
1612 births
1670 deaths
Architects from Paris
Members of the Académie royale d'architecture
Louis XIV
17th-century French architects
Architects from Versailles