François-Joseph Bélanger (; 12 April 1744 – 1 May 1818) was a French architect and decorator working in the

Neoclassic style Neoclassical architecture, sometimes referred to as Classical Revival architecture, is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy, France and Germany. It became one of the most promin ...

Life

Born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Bélanger attended the

Académie Royale d'Architecture The Académie Royale d'Architecture (; ) was a French learned society founded in 1671. It had a leading role in influencing architectural theory and education, not only in France, but throughout Europe and the Americas from the late 17th centur ...

(1764–1766) where he studied under

Julien-David Le Roy Julien-David Le Roy or Leroy (; 6 May 1724 in Paris – 28 January 1803 in Paris) was an 18th-century French architect and archaeologist, who engaged in a rivalry with Britons James Stuart and Nicholas Revett over who would publish the fir ...

and

Pierre Contant d'Ivry Pierre Contant d'Ivry (11 May 1698 in Ivry-sur-Seine – 1 October 1777 in Paris), was a French architect and designer working in a chaste and sober Rococo style and in the ''goût grec'' phase of early Neoclassicism. Early career An ''Architecte ...

. He did not win the coveted

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

that would have sent him to study at Rome; however, through Le Roy's circle he was introduced to some advanced neoclassical designers, such as

Charles-Louis Clérisseau Charles-Louis Clérisseau (28 August 1721 – 9 January 1820) was a French architect, draughtsman, antiquary, and artist who became a leading authority on ancient Roman architecture and Roman ruins in Italy and France. With his influence extending ...

. Bélanger began his career in 1767, working at the Menus Plaisirs du Roi designing ephemeral decorations for court fêtes, and by 1777 he was its director. In this position, he was in charge of the funeral preparations for

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

and the coronation coach of Louis XVI. The jewel cabinet he designed for the wedding of the Dauphin to Marie-Antoinette has not survived. However, a ''maquette'' of another design that had been also entered into the competition, made of wax and painted paper on a wooden frame, (now at the

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in the Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections from the mid-19th century that were amassed substantially ...

, Baltimore), shows the style of the cabinets that were made at the time. It is Neoclassical taste, with caryatid demi-figures and framed medallions in blue and white Ten years later he purchased the position of chief architect to Monsieur, the comte d'Artois, brother of Louis XVI, thanks to the protection of the marquis de Voyer, Marc-René de Voyer d'Argenson, famous patron of that time. For him Bélanger designed and constructed the party pavilion

Château de Bagatelle The Château de Bagatelle () in Paris is a small Neoclassical-style château with several French formal gardens, a rose garden and an ''orangerie''. It is set on of grounds in French landscape style within the Bois de Boulogne, which is loca ...

in the

Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park that is the western half of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Em ...

, 1777, winning his patron's bet with the Queen by completing the house in sixty-three days (and nights) and introducing décors in the ''style Étrusque''. Bélanger constructed the Folie Saint James, a

French landscape garden The French landscape garden () is a style of garden inspired by idealized romantic landscapes and the paintings of Hubert Robert, Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin, European ideas about Chinese gardens, and the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau ...

, in

Neuilly Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the Bois de Boulogne, the area is composed of ...

from 1777 to 1780, and worked for the comte d'Artois at the

Château of Maisons-Lafitte A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking reg ...

. During the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

he spent some time in the prison of Saint-Lazare.

The Bourse

In 1813, at the death of

Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart (; 15 February 1739 – 6 June 1813) was a prominent French architect, born in Paris. Biography In 1767, Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart married Anne Louise Degrémont (1744–1829). The couple became friends ...

he presented himself successfully as candidate for completing the

Paris Bourse Euronext Paris, formerly known as the Paris Bourse (), is a regulated securities trading venue in France. It is Europe's second largest stock exchange by market capitalization, behind the London Stock Exchange, as of December 2023. As of 2022, th ...

. From 1808 to 1813 he rebuilt the cupola of the ''Halle au blé'', the former

grain market The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals such as wheat, barley, maize, rice, and other food grains. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other agri ...

that is the present '' Bourse de commerce'' of Paris. This was among the earliest uses of iron to enclose a long-span interior space. Bélanger designed and constructed numerous hôtels particuliers for Parisian aristocrats and bankers. He designed the Château de Méréville for

Jean-Joseph de Laborde Jean Joseph de Laborde, Marquis of Laborde (29 January 1724 – 18 April 1794) was a French businessman, slave trader, ''fermier général'' and banker to the king, who turned politician. A liberal, he was guillotined in the French Revolution. ...

, 1784–86. :fr:Jean-Joseph de Laborde He designed interiors for the Hôtel Baudart de Saint-James, 12

Place Vendôme The Place Vendôme (), earlier known as the Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as the Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madelein ...

, and influenced garden designs of the epoch. He supervised the workshop supported by the connoisseur Louis-Marie-Augustin, duc d'Aumont, that produced hardstone and porphyry vases, pedestals, and tabletops, which were mounted with gilt-bronze ornaments to his designs. The late duc d'Aumont's collection was dispersed at auction, 1782: among the purchasers was the Queen. He died at Paris in 1818. He was married to Anne Victoire Dervieux. Among the architects trained in his ''atelier'' was

Joseph-Jacques Ramée Joseph-Jacques Ramée (April 26, 1764 in Charlemont, France — May 18, 1842 at the Chateau de Beaurains, Noyon) was a French architect, interior designer, and landscape architect working within the neoclassicist idiom. He was a student of the a ...

Notes

References

* F.J.B. Watson, ''Louis XVI Furniture'' 1960. *Jean Stern, ''A l'ombre de Sophie Arnould. François-Joseph Belanger, architecte des Menus Plaisirs, premier architecte du comte d'Artois.'' (Paris: Plon) 1930 *Gabrielle Joudiou, ''La folie de M. de Sainte-James : une demeure, un jardin pittoresque'' (Neuilly-sur-Seine : Editions Spiralinthe) 2001 *Martine Constans and Béatrice de Andia, ''Bagatelle dans ses jardins'' (Paris) 1997
Getty Museum: Pair of gilt-bronze wall-lights attributed to Bélanger
executed by Pierre Gouthière
philippe.cachau.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belanger, Francois Joseph 1744 births 1818 deaths Architects from Paris Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 18th-century French architects 19th-century French architects French landscape architects French neoclassical architects