Jacques Lemercier (
PontoisePontoise is a commune in the north-western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 28.4 km from the center of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise.-Administration:...
c. 1585 –
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
January 13, 1654) was a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
architectAn architect is trained and licensed in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e. chief builder...
and
engineerEngineers are concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints. The term is derived from the Latin root "ingenium," meaning "cleverness"...
, one of the influential trio that included
Louis Le VauLouis Le Vau was a French Classical architect who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was born and died in Paris.He was responsible, with André Le Nôtre and Charles Le Brun, for the redesign of the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte. His later works included the Palace of Versailles and his collaboration...
and
François MansartFrançois Mansart was a French architect credited with introducing classicism into Baroque architecture of France...
who formed the classicizing French Baroque manner, drawing from French traditions of the previous century and current Roman practice the fresh, essentially French synthesis associated with Cardinal Richelieu and
Louis XIIILouis XIII reigned as King of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643.-Early life, 1601—1610:Born at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the eldest child of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici . As son of the king, he was a Fils de France, and as the eldest son, the Dauphin...
.
Lemercier was the son of a
master masonThe craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
, one of a large interrelated tribe of professionals.
Jacques Lemercier (
PontoisePontoise is a commune in the north-western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 28.4 km from the center of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise.-Administration:...
c. 1585 –
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
January 13, 1654) was a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
architectAn architect is trained and licensed in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e. chief builder...
and
engineerEngineers are concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints. The term is derived from the Latin root "ingenium," meaning "cleverness"...
, one of the influential trio that included
Louis Le VauLouis Le Vau was a French Classical architect who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was born and died in Paris.He was responsible, with André Le Nôtre and Charles Le Brun, for the redesign of the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte. His later works included the Palace of Versailles and his collaboration...
and
François MansartFrançois Mansart was a French architect credited with introducing classicism into Baroque architecture of France...
who formed the classicizing French Baroque manner, drawing from French traditions of the previous century and current Roman practice the fresh, essentially French synthesis associated with Cardinal Richelieu and
Louis XIIILouis XIII reigned as King of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643.-Early life, 1601—1610:Born at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the eldest child of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici . As son of the king, he was a Fils de France, and as the eldest son, the Dauphin...
.
Lemercier was the son of a
master masonThe craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
, one of a large interrelated tribe of professionals. Profiting by a voyage to Italy with a long stay in Rome, presumably from about 1607 to 1610, Lemercier developed the simplified classicizing manner established by
Salomon de BrosseSalomon de Brosse was the most influential early 17th-century French architect, a major influence on François Mansart. Salomon was from a prominent Huguenot family, the grandson through his mother of the designer Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau and the son of the architect Jean de Brosse...
, who died in 1636, and whose
Palais du Luxembourg for Marie de Medici Lemercier would see to completion.
On his return to France, after several years working as an engineer building bridges, his first major commission, however, was to complete the Parisian Church of the Oratorians, (1616), which had been begun by Charles Métezeau; its success made his reputation. As early as 1618 he appears as
architecte du roy, with a salary of 1200 livres, out of which he had to reimburse his atelier. In 1625 Richelieu put him in charge of the main royal project, the galleries being added to the
LouvreThe Musée du Louvre or officially the Grand Louvre — in English, the Louvre Museum or Great Louvre, or simply the Louvre — is the largest national museum of France, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, located on the Right Bank of the...
, where Lemercier was working to the design established by
Pierre LescotPierre Lescot was a French architect active during the French Renaissance, "the man who was first responsible for the implantation of pure and correct classical architecture in France." He was born in Paris....
a generation before; for the sake of regularity, Lescot's ranges in the
Cour Carré were multiplied round further courtyards, quadrupling the building area, each of the four sides having a pavilion at its center. In this manner Lemercier built the northern half of the west side and the famous
Pavillon de l'Horloge at the center of the west wing. Its high squared dome breaks the wing's roofline and three arched openings provide access to the enclosed court. Two superposed orders of columns and rich sculptural decor in pediments and niches, on piers and panels are kept under control by strong horizontal cornice lines.
During 1638 and 1639 Lemercier was appointed
premier architecte charged with supervision of all the royal building enterprises, in which capacity he fell into a disagreeable dispute with the cultivated
Nicolas PoussinNicolas Poussin was a French painter in the classical style. His work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color...
about the decorations in the Louvre.
The Hôtel de Liancourt (1623) stands out among Lemercier's Paris
hôtels particuliersIn French contexts an hôtel particulier is an urban "private house" of a grand sort. Whereas an ordinary maison was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a street, an hôtel particulier was often free-standing, and by the eighteenth...
for aristocratic patrons.
For Richelieu Lemercier built the Paris residence (from 1627 on), the
"Palais-Cardinal" which still forms the nucleus of the
Palais RoyalThe Palais-Royal, originally called the Palais-Cardinal, is a palace and an associated garden located in the first arrondissement of Paris...
, where Lemercier's work can be seen in the
cour d'honneurCour d'Honneur, sometimes literally translated as "Court of Honour", is the architectural term for defining a three-sided courtyard, created when the main central block, or corps de logis, is flanked by symmetrical advancing secondary wings, containing minor rooms...
facing the Place. A more expansive town-planning project, one of the most ambitious non-military French projects of the century, was the palatial residence, the grand parish church and the entire new town of
RichelieuRichelieu is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.It lies south of Chinon and west of Sainte-Maure de Touraine and is surrounded by mostly agricultural land...
, in
PoitouPoitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
(
Indre-et-LoireIndre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.-History:Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
). The lost château itself was an improvisation on the theme set by Brosse's Luxembourg. Also for the Cardinal Lemercier rebuilt the Château de Rueil, not so far from Paris, also demolished. The Château of
ThouarsThouars is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France.It is on the River Thouet. Its inhabitants are known as Thouarsais.-History:...
, with its majestic long façade, is his also, and survives.
Less known, because gardens are less permanent, are
parterreA parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
gardens laid out to Lemercier's designs, at Montjeu, at Richelieu and at Rueil (Mignot; Gady).
At the
SorbonneThe Collège de Sorbonne was a theological college of the University of Paris, founded in 1257 by Robert de Sorbon, after whom it is named. With the rest of the Paris colleges, it was suppressed during the French Revolution. It was restored in 1808 but finally closed in 1882. The name Sorbonne...
, the college has been rebuilt, but its domed church (1635) is the acknowledged surviving masterpiece of Lemercier. The hemispherical dome on a tall octagonal drum, first of its type in France, has four small cupolas in the angles of the Greek cross above the two
Corinthian orderThe Corinthian order is one of the three biggest classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. It is the most ornate, characterized by a slender fluted column and an elaborate capital decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls. The other two orders were the Doric and the Ionic...
s on the façade, of full columns below, flat pilasters above. The interior was intended to be frescoed. The square intersection is surrounded by cylindrical vaults and a semicircular choir apse. The north side consists of a portico. In the church Richelieu was interred in 1642.
At the royal abbey church of
Val-de-GrâceThe Val-de-Grâce is a military hospital located in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France ....
Lemercier succeeded the
elder MansartFrançois Mansart was a French architect credited with introducing classicism into Baroque architecture of France...
who completed the structure to the cornice line, and refused to agree to a change in the building's design. Lemercier completed it with a dome.
Lemercier was engaged by
Louis XIIILouis XIII reigned as King of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643.-Early life, 1601—1610:Born at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the eldest child of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici . As son of the king, he was a Fils de France, and as the eldest son, the Dauphin...
in initial planning for an expansion of the hunting lodge at Versailles, a project which was only realized by other architects, notably
Louis Le VauLouis Le Vau was a French Classical architect who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was born and died in Paris.He was responsible, with André Le Nôtre and Charles Le Brun, for the redesign of the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte. His later works included the Palace of Versailles and his collaboration...
and Jules Hardouin-Mansart, under the guidance of
Louis XIVLouis XIV , popularly known as the Sun King , was King of France and of Navarre His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch.Louis began personally governing France after the death...
.
One of his last commissions was the design of the Church of Saint-Roch, where the cornerstone was laid by
Louis XIVLouis XIV , popularly known as the Sun King , was King of France and of Navarre His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch.Louis began personally governing France after the death...
in 1653. With a length of m. it is one of the largest churches of Paris. the deep choir emphasizes the extent of the interior, scarcely interrupted by the discreet low dome over the
crossingA crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform church.In a typically oriented church , the crossing gives access to the nave on the west, the transept arms on the north and south, and the choir on the east.The crossing is sometimes surmounted by a tower...
, which is hidden on the exterior beneath the transept roof. Lemercier completed the choir and crossing and the rest of the interior was carried out to his plan. Work was interrupted 1701–1740 save for a chapel inserted 1705–1710 designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart. The present façade is an 18th-century composition by
Robert de CotteRobert de Cotte was a French architect-administrator, under whose design control of the royal buildings of France from 1699, the earliest notes presaging the Rococo style were introduced. First a pupil of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, he later became his brother-in-law and his collaborator...
.
In a long career, the scrupulous Lemercier amassed no fortune. Though in 1645 Lemercier was receiving, as first among the royal architects (
premier architecte du Roi), a salary of 3000 livres, after his death— in the house he had built for himself, still standing at n° 46 rue de l’Arbre Sec (Gady)— it was necessary to sell the large library he had collected, in order to settle his debts.
See also the following French architects of the first half of the 17th century:
- Salomon de Brosse
Salomon de Brosse was the most influential early 17th-century French architect, a major influence on François Mansart. Salomon was from a prominent Huguenot family, the grandson through his mother of the designer Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau and the son of the architect Jean de Brosse...
- Liberal Bruant
Libéral Bruant , was a French architect best known as the designer of the Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, now dominated by the dome erected by Jules Hardouin Mansart, his collaborator in earlier stages of the construction...
- Pierre Le Muet
Pierre Le Muet was a French architect famous for his book Manière de bâtir pour toutes sortes de personnes , and for the châteaux he constructed, most notably Tanlay in Burgundy, as well as some modest houses in Paris, the grandest of which, the Hôtel d’Avaux survives and has recently been...
- Louis Le Vau
Louis Le Vau was a French Classical architect who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was born and died in Paris.He was responsible, with André Le Nôtre and Charles Le Brun, for the redesign of the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte. His later works included the Palace of Versailles and his collaboration...
- François Mansart
François Mansart was a French architect credited with introducing classicism into Baroque architecture of France...
- Charles Métezeau
Further reading
- Gady, Alexandre, 2005. Jacques Lemercier, architecte et ingénieur du roi ISBN 2-7351-1042-7 Review by Thierry Sarment. The first monograph devoted to Jacques Lemercier.