Richard Mique
Encyclopedia
Richard Mique was a neoclassical
French architect born in Lorraine. He is most remembered for his picturesque hamlet, the Hameau de la reine — not particularly characteristic of his working style — for Marie Antoinette
in the Petit Trianon
gardens within the estate of Palace of Versailles
.
and grandson of Pierre Mique also an architect. Following their example, he became an architect in the service of duke Stanislas Leszczyński, ex-king of Poland and father of Maria Leszczyńska
, the consort of King Louis XV of France
. Following the death of Héré de Corny
, Mique participated as premier architecte in Stanislas' grand plans for reordering and embellishing Nancy, his capital as Duke of Lorraine. Stanislas made him a chevalier
of the Order of Saint-Michel and maneuvered unsuccessfully to have Mique placed on the payroll of the Bâtiments du Roi
. Following his patron's death in February 1766, Mique was called to France the following October, at the suggestion of Maria Leszczyńska
's Polish confessor. His official career in France was initially stymied by the influence of Ange-Jacques Gabriel
, premier architecte. His main clients were a series of royal ladies. For Maria Leszczyńska
, he built a convent, prominently sited in the town of Versailles
, on lands at the edge of the park belonging formerly to Madame de Montespan's Château de Clagny
, of which eleven hectares were consigned to the queen by her husband, Louis XV
. At the queen's death, her daughter Madame Adélaïde completed the project.
Mique must have gained the confidence of the dauphin and the dauphine for, upon the accession of the dauphin as Louis XVI
in 1774, he was appointed intendant et contrôleur général des bâtiments du Roi
; he succeeded Gabriel as premier architecte to Louis XVI
the following year, thus overseeing the last works carried out at Versailles before the French Revolution
. He purchased a seigneurie
in Lorraine, which completed his transformation to courtier-architect.
He laid out the queen's garden at the Petit Trianon from 1774 to 1785 in collaboration, it is believed (though without documentary evidence) with the painter Hubert Robert
. The design — "one of the first instances... of pre-Victorian kitsch
" (Higonnet 2002) — was based on sketches by the comte de Caraman, an inspired amateur of gardening. Mique was also responsible for the Hameau de la reine, a mock farming village built around an artificial lake at the northeastern corner of the estate.
During the Revolution, he was arrested along with his son as participants in a conspiracy to save the life of Marie Antoinette, whose favorite architect he had been. He was brought before a revolutionary tribunal and, after a summary trial on 7 July 1794, both father and son were condemned to death and executed the following day. This was just three weeks before the fall of Robespierre and the end of the Reign of Terror
.
Pierre de Nolhac, the historian of the Château de Versailles
, in Le Trianon de Marie-Antoinette (1914), found Mique to have been "un artiste savant, habile, et digne de plus de gloire" A street in the city of Versailles commemorates his name.
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
French architect born in Lorraine. He is most remembered for his picturesque hamlet, the Hameau de la reine — not particularly characteristic of his working style — for Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
in the Petit Trianon
Petit Trianon
The Petit Trianon is a small château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France.-Design and construction:...
gardens within the estate of Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
.
Biography
Richard Mique was born at Nancy, the son of Simon Mique, an architect and entrepreneur of LunévilleLunéville
Lunéville is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department and lies on the Meurthe River.-History:...
and grandson of Pierre Mique also an architect. Following their example, he became an architect in the service of duke Stanislas Leszczyński, ex-king of Poland and father of Maria Leszczyńska
Maria Leszczynska
Marie Leszczyńska was a queen consort of France. She was a daughter of King Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland and Catherine Opalińska. She married King Louis XV of France and was the grandmother of Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. In France, she was referred to as Marie Leczinska...
, the consort of King Louis XV of France
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
. Following the death of Héré de Corny
Emmanuel Héré de Corny
Emmanuel Héré de Corny , court architect to Stanisław Leszczyński, Duke of Lorraine and former King of Poland at his capital of Nancy, is famous for the harmonious suite of axial spaces he developed, extending from the Place Stanislas to the Palais du Gouvernement; the sequence is a prime example...
, Mique participated as premier architecte in Stanislas' grand plans for reordering and embellishing Nancy, his capital as Duke of Lorraine. Stanislas made him a chevalier
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
of the Order of Saint-Michel and maneuvered unsuccessfully to have Mique placed on the payroll of the Bâtiments du Roi
Bâtiments du Roi
The Bâtiments du Roi was a division of Department of the household of the Kings of France in France under the Ancien Régime. It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris.-History:...
. Following his patron's death in February 1766, Mique was called to France the following October, at the suggestion of Maria Leszczyńska
Maria Leszczynska
Marie Leszczyńska was a queen consort of France. She was a daughter of King Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland and Catherine Opalińska. She married King Louis XV of France and was the grandmother of Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. In France, she was referred to as Marie Leczinska...
's Polish confessor. His official career in France was initially stymied by the influence of Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Ange-Jacques Gabriel was the most prominent French architect of his generation.Born to a Parisian family of architects and initially trained by the royal architect Robert de Cotte and his father , whom he assisted in the creation of the Place Royale at Bordeaux , the younger Gabriel...
, premier architecte. His main clients were a series of royal ladies. For Maria Leszczyńska
Maria Leszczynska
Marie Leszczyńska was a queen consort of France. She was a daughter of King Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland and Catherine Opalińska. She married King Louis XV of France and was the grandmother of Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. In France, she was referred to as Marie Leczinska...
, he built a convent, prominently sited in the town of Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
, on lands at the edge of the park belonging formerly to Madame de Montespan's Château de Clagny
Château de Clagny
The Château de Clagny was a French country house that stood northeast of the Château de Versailles; it was designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for Madame de Montespan between 1674 and 1680...
, of which eleven hectares were consigned to the queen by her husband, Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
. At the queen's death, her daughter Madame Adélaïde completed the project.
Mique must have gained the confidence of the dauphin and the dauphine for, upon the accession of the dauphin as Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
in 1774, he was appointed intendant et contrôleur général des bâtiments du Roi
Bâtiments du Roi
The Bâtiments du Roi was a division of Department of the household of the Kings of France in France under the Ancien Régime. It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris.-History:...
; he succeeded Gabriel as premier architecte to Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
the following year, thus overseeing the last works carried out at Versailles before the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. He purchased a seigneurie
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
in Lorraine, which completed his transformation to courtier-architect.
He laid out the queen's garden at the Petit Trianon from 1774 to 1785 in collaboration, it is believed (though without documentary evidence) with the painter Hubert Robert
Hubert Robert
Hubert Robert , French artist, was born in Paris.His father, Nicolas Robert, was in the service of François-Joseph de Choiseul, marquis de Stainville a leading diplomat from Lorraine...
. The design — "one of the first instances... of pre-Victorian kitsch
Kitsch
Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
" (Higonnet 2002) — was based on sketches by the comte de Caraman, an inspired amateur of gardening. Mique was also responsible for the Hameau de la reine, a mock farming village built around an artificial lake at the northeastern corner of the estate.
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
.
Pierre de Nolhac, the historian of the Château de Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
, in Le Trianon de Marie-Antoinette (1914), found Mique to have been "un artiste savant, habile, et digne de plus de gloire" A street in the city of Versailles commemorates his name.
Works
- 1762 : His first known design, for a kioskKioskKiosk is a small, separated garden pavilion open on some or all sides. Kiosks were common in Persia, India, Pakistan, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward...
in the gardens of LunévilleLunévilleLunéville is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department and lies on the Meurthe River.-History:...
. - 1763-64 Two gates for the city of Nancy: the Porte Sainte-Catherine and the Porte Stanislas already show the neoclassical taste..
- 1765 : Plans for the Sainte-Catherine barracks at Nancy.
- 1767-72 : Buildings for an UrsulineUrsulineThe word Ursuline is used to describe the following:* The Ursulines, a Catholic religious order.Several schools named after the Ursuline religious order, including several named Ursuline Academy.Ursuline Academy or similar may refer to:...
convent in the town of VersaillesVersaillesVersailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
for Maria LeszczyńskaMaria LeszczynskaMarie Leszczyńska was a queen consort of France. She was a daughter of King Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland and Catherine Opalińska. She married King Louis XV of France and was the grandmother of Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. In France, she was referred to as Marie Leczinska...
. The convent now houses the Lycée Hoche. Mique's first two plans were rejected. The third executed design is similar to Jacques-Germain SoufflotJacques-Germain SoufflotJacques Germain Soufflot was a French architect in the international circle that introduced Neoclassicism. His most famous work is the Panthéon, Paris, built from 1755 onwards, originally as a church dedicated to Sainte Genevieve.- Biography :Soufflot was born in Irancy, near Auxerre.In the 1730s...
's Church of Sainte-Geneviève in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. - 1775-84 : All the structures, including the bridge, that form the picturesque hamlet, the Hameau de la Reine in the garden of the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Mique carried it out in its naturalistic jardin anglo-chinois probably laid out in collaboration with the painter Hubert Robert; for inspiration, he was directed to visit the Anglo-Chinese park at ErmenonvilleErmenonvilleErmenonville is a small village in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.Ermenonville is notable for its park named for Jean-Jacques Rousseau by René Louis de Girardin...
(Higonnet 2002: 29). - 1775-85 : Church of the Carmelites Basilica of Saint-DenisSaint Denis BasilicaThe Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis is a large medieval abbey church in the commune of Saint-Denis, now a northern suburb of Paris. The abbey church was created a cathedral in 1966 and is the seat of the Bishop of Saint-Denis, Pascal Michel Ghislain Delannoy...
, for the aunt of Louis XVI, Madame LouisePrincess Louise-Marie of FranceLouise Marie de France was the youngest of the ten children of King Louis XV of France and his wife, Queen Maria Leszczyńska. As a daughter of the king, she held the rank of a fille de France, and was known as Madame Louise...
, who had become a nun in the convent at Saint-Denis. Madame Louise dictated in detail the subjects she wanted for the sculptural decorations. The neoclassical building, with a Corinthian portico adapted from the Roman Maison CarréeMaison CarréeThe Maison Carrée is an ancient building in Nîmes, southern France; it is one of the best preserved temples to be found anywhere in the territory of the former Roman Empire.- History :...
at NîmesNîmesNîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
, was consecrated 28 May 1784. - 1778-79 : The private theatre of Marie Antoinette at the Petit Trianon.
- 1778-81 : The octagonal Belvedere (1778-81), consecrated to the Seasons, the Pavillon du Rocher and the Temple de l'Amour in the newly-informal gardens of the Petit Trianon at Versailles. The Temple of Love, visible from the Queen's bedroom, was the setting for many fêtes (Higonnet 2002: 28)
- 1780 : Hôtel de l'Intendance, Versailles
- 1780s : Château de BellevueChâteau de BellevueThe Château de Bellevue was a small château built for Madame de Pompadour in 1750. It was constructed on a broad plateau in Meudon, above a slope overlooking the Seine to the east, but was demolished in 1823 and little remains....
, alterations in the interior (demolished) and alterations to the park, which required 42,000 new trees and a hermitage, for Mesdames, the daughters of Louis XV. - 1782 : Consolidation of the tower at the Cathedral of Orléans (1782-1787)
- 1785 : Modifications at the Château de Saint-CloudChâteau de Saint-CloudThe Château de Saint-Cloud was a Palace in France, built on a magnificent site overlooking the Seine at Saint-Cloud in Hauts-de-Seine, about 10 kilometres west of Paris. Today it is a large park on the outskirts of the capital and is owned by the state, but the area as a whole has had a large...
for Marie Antoinette (bombed by French artillery on 13 October 1870 and razed in 1891) - 1785 : Boudoir for Marie Antoinette at the Petit Trianon.