Germain Boffrand

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Portrait drawing of Germain Boffrands by Lambert-Sigisbert Adam

Germain Boffrand ([ ʒɛʁmɛ̃ bɔf'ʁɑ̃ ]; * 1667 in Nantes , Pays de la Loire , † 1754 in Paris ) was a French builder and interior designer who can be assigned to the Rococo .

Life

Germain Boffrand was born in Nantes as the son of an architect and sculptor. His maternal uncle, the poet Philippe Quinault , brought him to Paris in 1681 and introduced him to the royal court at Versailles and the Parisian salons . In the capital, Boffrand began an apprenticeship with the sculptor François Girardon , but after four years switched to the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart . In 1709 Boffrand was accepted into the Académie Royale d'Architecture . In 1711 he was appointed First Architect of the Duke of Lorraine .

He created townhouses for the Parisian nobility and the upper bourgeoisie , including the Hôtel Lebrun , the Hôtel Amelot , the Hôtel de Villars , the Hôtel de Seignelay and the Palais Beauharnais . From 1709 to 1740 he devoted himself to furnishing Parisian city palaces such as those of the Petit Luxembourg , the Grand Arsenal and the Hôtel de Soubise . In Lorraine, he was given the task of rebuilding the Haroué castle before the Duke entrusted him with the construction of the new castles of Lunéville and La Malgrange . He probably also designed the Commercy Castle .

In 1743 he wrote the volume La figure équestre de Louis XIV. Descriptio omnium operarum quibus ad fundendam ex aere una emissione metalli, Ludovici Decimi-Quarti statuam equestrem ... / Description de ce qui a été pratiqué pour fondre en bronze dun seul jet la figure équestre de Louis XIV . In 1745 he published his theoretical work Livre d'Architecture , in which he deals with the aesthetics of architecture in French and Latin and shows drafts of some of his most important buildings.

plant

Lunéville Castle, view from the garden, during the restoration work started after the fire in 2003

literature

  • Wend von Kalnein: Architecture in France in the Eighteenth Century . Yale University Press, New Haven and London 1995.
  • Michel Gallet, Jörg Garms (Ed.): Germain Boffrand 1667–1754. L'aventure d'un architecte indépendant . Exhibition catalog. Herscher, Paris 1986.

Web links

Commons : Germain Boffrand  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Kummer : Architecture and fine arts from the beginnings of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume 2: From the Peasants' War in 1525 to the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1814. Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1477-8 , pp. 576–678 and 942–952, here: p. 658.
personal data
SURNAME Boffrand, Germain
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French architect
DATE OF BIRTH 1667
PLACE OF BIRTH Nantes
DATE OF DEATH 1754
Place of death Paris