Pierre-Adrien Pâris (1745 - 1 August 1819) was a French architect, painter and designer.

Biography

Pâris was born at

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

, the son of an architect and official surveyor at the court of the Prince-Bishop of Basel. He went to Paris to study architecture in 1760; there he was particularly a student of

Étienne-Louis Boullée Étienne-Louis Boullée (; 12 February 17284 February 1799) was a visionary French neoclassical architect whose work greatly influenced contemporary architects. Life Born in Paris, he studied under Jacques-François Blondel, Germain ...

and Louis-François Trouard at the ''École royale d'architecture''. After failing three times to win the

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 ...

, he visited Rome in 1769 to accompany his teacher's son as his tutor, and, at the recommendation of the grand connoisseur, Louis Marie Augustin, duc d'Aumont, was permitted to follow courses at the

French Academy in Rome The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by Louis XIV under the dire ...

. He traveled in Italy, including visits to the Roman ruins of

Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...

Herculaneum Herculaneum is an ancient Rome, ancient Roman town located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under a massive pyroclastic flow in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Like the nearby city of ...

and

Paestum Paestum ( , , ) was a major Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, in Magna Graecia. The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric order dating from about 550 to 450 BCE that ...

, of which he made many drawings and casts. He returned to France in 1774. In 1775, Trouard entrusted him with the interior decoration of the Hôtel d'Aumont he was building in

Place de la Concorde The Place de la Concorde (; ) is a public square in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées. It was the s ...

. In 1778, at the death of Michel-Ange Challe,

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

appointed him King's Designer and Architect ("''Dessinateur du Cabinet du Roi''"). He worked on numerous decorative schemes for official events, theatrical performances and funerals, and also directed the decoration of the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...

. Appointed to 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 ...

'' in 1780, from 1784 to 1790 he directed the construction of the magnificent town hall in

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

(Switzerland). In 1785, he built the Hôtel Depont des Granges in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

. Starting in 1787, for the

Duchess of Bourbon Lady of Bourbon House of Bourbon, 950–1218 House of Dampierre, 1228–1288 House of Burgundy, 1288–1310 :Beatrix of Burgundy, Dame de Bourbon, None Capetian House of Clermont, 1310–1327 Duchess of Bourbon First Creati ...

, he worked on the interior layout of the Palais de l'Elysée, which virtually eliminated the scheme by his master Boullée, and also redesigned the English garden and built the group of cottages there called "hameau de Chantilly", which imitated garden folly built at

Chantilly Chantilly may refer to: Places France *Chantilly, Oise, a city ** US Chantilly, a football club *Château de Chantilly United States * Chantilly, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Chantilly (Charlotte neighborhood), North Carolina ...

by the Prince de Condé. He rearranged the buildings and created the English garden of the Abbey of Valasse at Gruchet-le-Valasse (Seine). He also carried out a major neoclassical reconstruction project at the Château de Porrentruy. Named in 1784 to a post created for him, architect of the Menus Plaisirs du Roi, he realised plans for the

Estates-General of 1789 The Estates General of 1789 () was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom ...

in the courtyard of the Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs (the workshop for the opera's sets), in the town of Versailles. He was charged by the National Assembly with redeveloping the courtyard into an amphitheatre with graded seating, and installing the same set of gradients in the

Tuileries The Tuileries Palace (, ) was a palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the Seine, directly in the west-front of the Louvre Palace. It was the Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henri IV to Napoleon III, until it was b ...

, divided into two, facing a podium. He was appointed architect to the Cathedral of Orléans in 1787 and completed its towers, just as the Revolution began, in 1790. His close friendship with the king, and his attachments with the most radical

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

thinkers, caused him a serious moral crisis during the French Revolution, during which he declined any work offered him, and retired near

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

, at Colmoulins. In 1806 he returned to Italy and the following year, he was acting director of the

; he directed excavations at the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...

. He arranged the purchase for France and transport to Paris of the Borghese collection of antiquities. Following the Bourbon restoration he returned to France in 1817 and realised his plans for a monument to Louis XVI on the

, which is the elliptical device with a declaration of the "Droits du Homme", which he had invented for the National Assembly at the Menus Plaisirs, and that Chateaubriand had incorporated without citing the author. Pâris spent the last two years of his life preparing a catalogue of his collection of paintings and antiquities, which he bequeathed to the city of Besançon, together with his library, catalogued by his friend Charles Weiss.Wild 1996:186.

References

External links

Biography on the Getty site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris, Pierre-Adrien 1745 births 1819 deaths Artists from Besançon French art collectors Members of the Académie royale d'architecture French classical scholars 18th-century French architects 19th-century French architects 18th-century French painters French male painters 19th-century French painters 19th-century French male artists 18th-century French male artists