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
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 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
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 ...
, 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