Jacques I. Androuet du Cerceau

Statue of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau at the Louvre

Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau even Jacques Androuet du Cerceau the Elder called (* is between 1510 and 1520 in Paris ; †  1585 / 1586 in Annecy ) was a French architect , architectural theorist, draftsman and engraver . He founded the Androuet du Cerceau family dynasty , which produced numerous architects and artists during the 16th to 18th centuries.

Jacques I. Androuet du Cerceau is not known for his architectural work (as an architect, not a single building could be assigned to him with certainty to this day), but rather for his numerous writings and engravings, which significantly influenced the French architecture of his time and the following generation . Together with Pierre Lescot , Philibert Delorme and Jean Bullant , he was one of the pioneers of French classicism in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Life

Androuet du Cerceau was born the son of a wine merchant in Paris and went on a study trip to Italy, during which he studied the Roman buildings of antiquity , but also got to know the works of Donato Bramante . Reginald Blomfield dates this trip to the period between 1531 and 1534. Babelon, on the other hand, accepts it for the years 1539 to 1544, during which du Cerceau is said to have been a member of the entourage of the French ambassador in Rome, Cardinal Georges d'Armagnac .

On his return he settled first in Montargis and before 1550 went to Orléans , where he opened his own engraving workshop. His first publications bore a ring-shaped mark (French: cerceau ) as a signature , after which the artist named himself from then on.

Towards the end of the 1550s, Jacques I. Androuet du Cerceau moved to Paris, where he published his first Livre d'architecture , which he dedicated to the French King Henry II . The French wars of religion forced the devout Huguenots du Cerceau to leave the uncertain Paris in 1565 and to seek refuge in Montargis again. The castle there has been inhabited by Renée de France since 1560 , who gave shelter to numerous Calvinists there during the religious unrest . Du Cerceau was able to win her over as a patroness and after her death worked for her daughter Anna and her husband Jacques de Savoie , Duke of Nemours . To what extent this happened is still controversial among historians today.

Jacques Androuet du Cerceau died in Annecy in 1585 or 1586.

progeny

Jacques I. Androuet du Cerceau left at least three sons and a daughter.

• Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau (* between 1540 and 1544; † 1590)
• Jacques II. Androuet du Cerceau (* around 1550; † 1614)
• Charles Androuet du Cerceau († 1606)
• Julienne, ∞ Jean de Brosse, mother of Salomons de Brosse

Works and Influence

Du Cerceau's views of Chenonceau Castle served as a template for restorations on the building.

• around 1540: Petites habitations
• 1549: Livre d'arcs (Quinque et viginti exempla arcuum)
• 1550: Arcs et monuments antiques (XXX exempla arcuum, partim ab ipso inventa, partim ex veterum sumpta monumenta) and Moyens temples
• 1551: Fragmenta structurae veteris and Vues d'optique
• 1559: [Premier] Livre d'architecture
• 1561: Second livre d'architecture
• 1566: Livre des grotesques
• 1576: Leçons de perspective positive and Le premier volume des plus excellents Bastiments de France
• 1579: Le second volume des plus excellents Bastiments de France
• 1582: [Troisième] Livre d'architecture
• 1583: Petit traitté des cinq ordres de colonnes
• 1584: Livre des édifices antiques romains

Although Jacques I. Androuet du Cerceau bore the title architecte du roi , no building is known that can be assigned to him as an architect with certainty. Its great importance for the history of architecture is based on its numerous publications on buildings and architectural topics. His two volumes of Les plus excellents Bastiments de France were not only unique of their kind in Europe, but are still among the most cited architecture publications today. The exact appearance of many buildings that have not been preserved in France, for example that of the castles of Madrid , Bury and Verneuil , is only known from du Cerceau's engravings. His works have been used several times as models for restorations of French castles and gardens true to the original, such as the restoration of the gardens of Villandry Castle from 1906 or the restoration of Chenonceau Castle in the second half of the 19th century.

The exact appearance of the former Madrid Castle is only known from du Cerceau's engravings.

Due to the dedications in his publications, Jacques I. Androuet du Cerceau is often referred to as the architect of the Verneuil castle for the Duke of Nemours, but this is highly controversial, especially since du Cerceau himself never claimed authorship of the plans for himself. The same applies to Charleval Castle , which he built for Charles IX. Is said to have built, but to this day there is still no solid evidence for this. There is no question, however, that Androuet du Cerceau's work inspired the design of many French castles. These include Gabrielle d'Estrées ' Montceaux Castle , Maria de' Medicis Palais du Luxembourg and Wideville Castle .

In addition to the numerous building stitches, Jacques Androuet du Cerceau also made drawings of ornaments, furniture and interior design elements as well as gold and silversmiths. Many of them were reproduced in the 1880s by Edouard Baldus using heliography and published in two volumes due to the great demand for interior furnishings in the “style of Heinrich II.” .

literature

• Jean-Pierre Babelon: Châteaux de France au siècle de la Renaissance . Flammarion, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-08-012062-X , pp. 586-589 .
• Adolphe Berty: Les grands architectes français de la Renaissance . CA Aubry, Paris 1860, pp. 91-105 ( online ).
• Reginald Theodore Blomfield : A History of French Architecture from the Reign of Charles VIII till the Death of Mazarin . Volume 1. G. Bell & Sons, London 1911, pp. 140-156 ( online ).
• Heinrich von Geymüller : Les Du Cerceau. Leur vie et leur oeuvre d'après de nouvelles recherches . Jules Rouam, Paris 1887 ( online ).
• Jean Guillaume (Ed.): Jacques Androuet du Cerceau. “Un des plus grand architects qui se soient jamais trouvés en France” . Picard, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-7084-0869-2 .
• Monika Melters: The "architecture portrait " in the model book. Jacques Androuet Du Cerceau: Plus Excellentes Bastiments de France, 1576, 1579 . In: Dietrich Erben (ed.): The book as a draft. Text genres in the history of architectural theory. A handbook, Paderborn: Fink 2019, ISBN 978-3-7705-6334-0 , pp. 132-155.
• Randall J. van Vynckt (Ed.): International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture . St. James Press, Detroit [et al.] 1993, ISBN 1-558-62089-3 .

Web links

Commons : Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Publications Jacques I. Androuet du Cerceaus online (French)
• Jacques I. Androuet du Cerceau. In: arch INFORM .
• Jacques I. Androuet du Cerceau. In: Structurae (French)
• Personal entry on museeprotestant.org (German, French, English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Les bibliothéques françoises de La Croix du Maine et de Du Verdier, 1772
2. ^ Jacques I. Androuet du Cerceau. In: arch INFORM . (Author: Markus Golser), as of November 23, 2007.
3. ^ R. Blomfield: A history of French architecture from the reign of Charles VIII till the death of Mazarin . P. 142.
4. ↑ J.-P. Babelon: Châteaux de France au siècle de la Renaissance . P. 586.
5. ↑ museeprotestant.org ( Memento of the original of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. As of November 23, 2007. 
6. ↑ J.-P. Babelon: Châteaux de France au siècle de la Renaissance . P. 587.
7. ^ Jacques I. Androuet du Cerceau. In: arch INFORM ., As of November 23, 2007.
8. ^ W. McAllister Johnson: Review of "Salomon de Brosse and the Development of the Classical Style in French Architecture from 1565 to 1630" . In: Renaissance Quarterly . Vol. 27, No. 4, 1974, doi : 10.2307 / 2859960 , pp. 567-568.
9. ↑ Architectura - Architecture, textes et images , as of November 23, 2007.
10. ↑ Architectura - Architecture, textes et images , as of November 23, 2007.