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TIŒ ROLE OF CHAlU.BS PERRAULT
IN THE BATlMENwrS" OU ROI' ----- f'
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CD veronica vail1ancour't • 0>,
A thesis submi tted to the Facul ty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial. fu1fillment of the requirements for the degree of Mad ter' of Arts
Oepar~nt of Art HistorY.
McGill un~ versi ty , Mon treal, Canàda December, 1981
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ABSTRACT
Çharles Perrault, personal assistant to Jean~Baptiste Colbert and a Co:ptrôleur 'des Bâtiments, assu'lned a faJ;' more important.. role in the developmént of the King's,building projects tban was no~lly expected of' a high a~inistrator
at that time. Hè was not only ins~rumentai in having Bernini's project 'for the Louvre façade ,abandonec1, ,but he also proposed the creation of an advisory body for the purpose of des'igning a new plan, a committeè to..-W!J..i:'ch his brother, Claude, was appointed.
1 In his M€mO~4e~, written late in life, Charles Perrault stated that he had co11aborated with Claude in the early
stages of the design of the Louvre colonnad~ and other monu- '& rnents created by the 'doctor-architect. Charles a1so re l affirmed his c1aims rega~ding his brother's àuthorship of o these projects - claims which had been cha1lenged earlier by the critic-poet, Nicolas Boileau - Desprêaux, during their
~itter literary quarrel. Although the Mémo~4e~ h}ve frequent1y been criticized because of Perrault's overly praiseful attitude towards him-
self and his famil~, tney nevertheless provide valuable infor mation on the operation"'of the Bâtiments and Charles' s, contri
bution to that 066L~e during the reign of Louis XIV.
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( , RESUME "
Charles Perrault, l'adjoint personnel- de' Jean-Baptiste Colbert et contrôleur des bâtiments, a eu' une, influence beau
coup plus ~portante que celle habituellement Attribuée a un
haut fonctionnaire sur la r~alisatioh des projets de construc tion du roi. Ainsi, en' plus de s'opposer' au projet conçu par
Bernini pour la façade du Louvre, il proposa la cr~ation d'un comité consultatif, dont son frêre Claude faisait partie, char-
g~ de pr~parer de nouveaux plans A cet effet.
Dans ses Mlmo.(.ILe..6, rédigés vers la fin de sa vie, Charles " Perrault d~clare avoir collaboré avec Claude a lt'l~oration initiale des plans de la colonnade du Louvre et ! d'autres monuments attribués â l' archi tecte - œdecin. De plus, Charles
r~affirme que son frêre est bel et bien l'auteur de ces projets, __ • ce qui avait ét~ contesté par le critique et poête Nicolas
Boileau-Despr~aux lors d'une vive querelle littéraire.
Bien que )es Mémo.Ute..6 aient- éU souvent critiqu~s en rai 1 1 son de l'attitude par trop ~lo9'ieuse de Perrault ep.vers lui '1 ,même etr â)l' égard de sa famille, ils constituent néanmoins une
"J source d'information valable sur les bâtiments et mesurent 1
l'influence de Charles au niveau de cet Offic~fsous le rêgne de Loui s XIV.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT~
Durinq the course of both tlle research and the writinq of my thesis, l benefited from the kind assistance of a nwnber of people. To Pro:fessor Thomas Glen, above aIl, l owe my deep f gratitude. His sound advice and meticulous attention to datail at aIl stages of the work were invaluable: l extend my sincere appreciation to Professor George
Galavaris, Director of Graduate Studies, and to aIl my other professors for their encouragement and support. l am also grateful to Professor Guy Wal ton of New York-
Universi ty for intro(iucing me to Perrault' s M~mo.Vr..e.6.
Among my colleagues, l thank .iJoan Friedman who helped in ~ f editing, Detlef Stiebeling who took the photographs, Anne,
\, Kosowski and Luci Felicissimo who were responsible for typing
the manuscript and, in particular, Shirley Thomp~on who patient ly and generously assisted me in revising the text. l am greatly indebted to the staffs of the Inter-Library' Lean Service of McGill University, the Biblio'thêque Nationale, Paris, and the New York Public Library for their courtesy and coopera tion. Finally, l owe special thanks to my husband, de Guise, for much more than can be expressed here and to' our childre'n who offered good-humored encouragement. \ ( .: - . iv , 1 .. [ ( ~ , TABLE OF CONTENTS ~
ACKNbWLEDGMEN'l'S , ·- . ·.. ~ • • iii \ ·• LIST [OF ILLUSTRATIONS • · . . vi 1t ,INTRODUCTION . .\...... 1 • • ••••• CHAPTER 1. CHARLES PERRAULT, ASSISTANT '1'0 COLBERT · . . . . II. THE COMPLETION OF THE LOUVRE: 'CHARLES . PERRAULT • S ROLE . • • • • • • • · . . 15 Early Plans · . . 15
Perrault and Bernin! ~ ...... 20- The Petit Conseil du Louvre · ...... 26
III. If>ItEAU 1 S CHALLENGE TO CHARLES PERRAULT'S CLAIMS ON BEHALF OF CLAUDE . . 31 · · · · · · · · · · · ·, · The confl!ct between Nicolas Boileau-Despr~aux and Charles Perrault · , · · · · · · · · · · · 31 & (Il -\ The effects of Boileau' s accusations 38 · · -. j. " · · In defense o~ Claude · . · · · ·/- . 40 The Claude Perrault albums · .. · 40 A comparison between the accounts in the Mêmoires and in the Registre · · · · · · · 42 A comparison between the accoun ts in the M~moires. and in the Leibniz report · · · 44 ------Claude Perrault's Vitruvius · · · · · · · · · · 47 Claude Perr~u1t's designs for the Observatoire' and the Arc de Triomphe 47
IV. "CHARLES PERRAULT, HOMME DES IDEES AND COLLABORATOR TO HIS BROTHER, CLAUDE • .... • • • • • • • 51
The Louvre peristyle and the Arc de Triomphe 51
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TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont'd)
". \ Sain te-Geneviave • • S9 - , , The Grotto o~ 'l'hetis at Versailles o.· 63 CONCLUSlPN • " . • . • 72
APPENDIX , •• • • 75 , NOTES . • ~ ~r .$> • • • 80 BIBLIOGRAPHY : Q. , .118' 'ILLUSTRATIONS . , )
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ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1. Gianlorenzo Bernini: Final scheme for the'eas~ façade of the Louvre, 1665 (from J.F. Blondel, Architécture' françoise, 4: pl. 8).
2. Claude Perrault: Project for the east façade of the
Louvre. Eng~aving by Fr. Blondel (from J.F. Blondel, ArChiteC~franX":iSe, 4: pl. 7). n' 3. Boulogne, l'aisn~:~ L'ArChitectur~: EnJraving by B. Audran (from Charles Perrault, Cabinet, plate opposite
p. 23):
4. 's. le Clerc, Frontispiece. Engraving by G. Scotin (from Claude Perrault, vitruvius).
5. Claude Perrault: Arc de Triomphe. Engraving by Babel (from J.F. Blondel, Architecture françoise 2: pl. Il).
6. Charles Perrault: Frontispiece to Hymnes de l'abbé
Santeuil (from M. Soriano, Dossier Perrault, p~ate opposite
• p. 225).
7. ' Claude Perrault: Project for the façade ot Ste. Geneviêve, Paris (from A. Laprade, D'Orbay, App. C3).
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( 1 8. Claude p~ault: Project for an Obelisk, Paris (fram A. Laprade, D'Orbay, App. C4). 9" Claude pe'rrault:. Observatoire)' Paris '(from A. Laprade, D'Orbay,, App. C3).' i)
-', 10. Façade ef the Grotte of Thetis at Versailles. Engraving . P (f b y J • Le autre rom A. Mar1e,,,1) Nalssance~ I:XXIX '.
Il. The interior of the Grotte of Thetis at VersatIles. Engraving by J. Le Pautre (from A. Marie, Naissance, I:XXX).
12. Claude Perrault: project for an Obelisk, Paris (fram A. Laprade, D'Orbay, App. C4).
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~ INTROgpCTION
One of the c':xqost influential personaltiiés in the 1 Bâtiments du Roi during tlÏe
Charles Perrault. The success of Leh Con~eh earned Perrault a reputation as a writer,l but little attention has been'
given to his career a~ assistant to 'Jean Baptiste Colbert,
Surintendant des Bâtiments ~rom 1664 to 1683. Yet, as early as 1663, Colbert appointed Perrault secretary to the Petite Acad€mie and only a year iater made him his c.omm.w or' personal 2 __ assistant. Perraùlt had the additional honor of being named Contrôleur Général in 1672, a post which he retained 3 until his resignation in 1681. These official ti tles, however, do not fUlly convey the extent oi l1is influence. Ambi tious and industrieus, Perrault was very much appre ciated by his overworkea.Auperior and indeed came to ~
regarded as Colbert's hommi de c.on6~ance. Perrault served in the Bâtiments during one of the most- sustained,periods of building activity undertaken by tqe royal house. 4 The administration of the Bâti~ents was
complicated by the fact that Louis XIV, who took great persQna,l interest in his architectural prej ects, made constant interventions. In addition, Colbert, often
indecisive himself, frequen~ly demanded costly revisions
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1 1.....:-.. ___-_~=_;::'.f.'1~ .....~.J. .. ~.:;.. .. u~~ __.-:..~ ...... __... _> ____... ___> _>- __,_. _---.--_...... _~_ .. _t~...::.::::;..:_...::.._....::....-.....,.. ___ ... _~_ .. ~_> _-c______o' , 2 . ( . , and even, on occasion, ordered entirely new •plans once .1 construction was underway. It appeared as if both Louis XIV and his minister deemed nothing worthy enough to express the magnificence and glory of the Sun King, and . through the crown, the prestige of France. In his pursuit " of perfection, Colbert depended on the advice and support
of a number of officers and advisors in the Bâtiments',# "--... not ..;
the least of whom was his chief assistant, Charles, Perrault.
Both official documents and. perraul t 1 S own perscmal corre r , spondence reveal him to have been a diligent functionaty wOO faith fully exe~cuted his superi~r 1 s orders. 5 He himself, however, , took credi t for more than this; for example, in''''ilis M~moires he stated that he had played a key role in the decision to 6 abandon Bernini' s plan for the LOJ,lvre façade. He also ,
portrayed himself as un homme de.6 .idéu who had conceived J • J . the idea of a"peristyle for the Louvre as well as the initial ~ design of the Arc de Triomphe il l.a Porte Saint-Antoine and
7 Q 1 the program for the grotto of Thetis at versaill.es. .r
Perrault, however, att:ributed the, actual realization1 of these projects" to his l::Lrother, Claude, a doctor 'turned
1l, • 1 archi tect. 8 \ Sorne years after Cl.aude Perrault' s death, an. acrimonious 1 \ literary debate between ,Çharles and the cri~ic-poet,' Nicholas 1 , , Boilealil-Despréaux, on the sfperi,ori ty of the,.~~ eJtne..6 over the Anc..ten.6 brought about an attack on Claude' ~ àu;thorship. 9
This bitter quarrel apparently deepened Boileau 1 s long '/ ( :1
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.tandi~g.an~pathy .towar~ the pe~rault family and. le~. him to assert th~t Claude was not the arch:i.tect of the Louvre' l , colonnade nor of certain other buildings cO!Œ'issioned by the B8t~ents.lO ~lthough strong protests vere made, Boil~au ,never retr.acted his charges. 11 ~t is thus probable that Boileau,' s accùsations had some influence on Perrault' s l . , f. decision to write his memoi):"s, since he intentie4l them as an
apology or defen~e < of the family name.
Perrâu~t began writing his memoirs in 1702 when he vas [1 ~ 12 ) seventy-four., At the time of his death, a year later, he
had completed tbem up to 1687, the year of t~ onset of the 1 'r, famous Q.ue,1e.Ue~ "'çf\a=r.les Perrault' S. °memoirs Jere retained
\ ' 'by the fam±ly for a n~r of years, but in 1759, the 13 1 architect, Pierre Patte, published.extracts from the texte Q Although the Mémo.c.Jtu were reprinted s~verai times in this t o • ~ l ' ! • form,14 it vas only in 1909 that a complete transcriptiop. of
D 15 1 the manuscript was edited and pub1ished by Paul Bonnefon.
One of the earliest wri ters ta conunent on the J,(é.,"o.iJte.~
vas Jean-'d'A~embert, autho~ of a ~story of the membërs of the Acad~e Française which was '~liShed in the late '., 16 e1ghteenth c~ntury. d'Alembert, who found the Mtmq.c.Jte.A ". •• ut.i.l'Jla.blu pa.Jt un 9Jta.nd a..tJt de. 6Jta.nc..h.i4e. ••• ," called
~articular attention to Perrault's report of Bernini's 17 ~... . . visit to Paris. rI He fu~er noted t.ha.,t Perrault expressed J 1 ~ J~ himself with " une. ~.ê.4c..é.Jt.i.tl na..ive." and reC'ommended that 18 ", ~uture memoria1istfJ folltN Perrault 1 s e)èample. Pau.,l
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Bonnefon, in a series of articl-es in the Ga.ze:Ue. de..6 8~a.u.x- . AJr.ù, examined the Mlmo.l.lLU in conjunction with unpublished letters by Perrault, and concluded that 'Perrault llad col e. laboratèd closely wi th Colbert --and' had contributed to the . . f ' ._"- f . f h ..... 19 .success 0 a nWllUer 0 pro)ects or t e Batunents. Soon after, Andr~ Hallays, who referred' to Bonnefon's research, , '
a~ well as to the 'Mlmo..i.lLe.4 in h,is biogrq,phyo of the Perrault
family, asserted that the accounts 'in the Mémo..i.ItU vere ~ 20 " correct in aIl but a few details. Other scholars, however, have been less favorable in their assessments. Louis ~ Hautecoeur and Fiske Kimball, for example in separate
articles in the Ga.z ette deil Be~(.tX-AII.U have questioned the
reliab,ility of 'the MémoLILe!J in general,, and Chat'les's ~tatements on the sUJ:lject of the Louvre in ;articular. 21
More recently, Alberta'Laprade, :i,n a monograph on François d'Orbay, the assistant to LeVau, the King' s chief archi tect, proposed that it'was actually d'o+bay who had designed the
façade of the Louvre anp. not Claude Perrault. as Charles had
c l aune· d • 22 Laprade described the JUmo-i1l.e.4 as "Mémo..i.J1 e.t.
me.M 0 ng e.lI.il" and ridiculed the Perraul t brot;hers as "6 au. x.
gln..i.e.l." and "~ate.u.Jt..6 3~nt~ilu;tu" who grossly abused their
privileqes at court. 23 A more dispassionate cri tic waS Marc
Soriano, one of the few scholars to research the Mlmo.tlLeh
thoroughly. 6I~ his bioqraphy of Charles, Le. 'OOil.h-ie.1t Pe.1L1L4u.lt, 1
however, Soriano 1 s chief, concern ~ àn analysis. of Charles " .\ ( perraul t' s literary compositions. 7 consequently, his discussion 5 ( "- of Perrault's involvement in the architectural projec~s of the Bâtiments was somewhat limïted~24 In addition, on the
question of the Louvre authorship, Sori~no disputed Charles's " . claims on behalf of his brother, Claude, and wholeheartedly 25 endorsed Laprade's hypothesis. Against this background, then, the purpose of this paper is to determine how important a' role Charles Perrault played while in the service of Colbert, particularly in relation to the building programs in Paris and at Versailles.
As the Mémo~4e~ cover that period of Perrault's life that
can he best described as administrative, they form an integral part of this study;. In order to evaluate Perrault's state-
ments, the Mémo.ille~ are examined in conjunction with other documentation such as the minutes of the Petit Conseil du
Louvre, the P/lOc.ù-Ve./lbaux de l'Ac.adém-ie d'AJlc.h.ite.c.tUlle,
-- pertinent correspondence of Perrault's contemporaries, and --- ~ , , 1 finally other memorandums and selected writi!lgs by Perrault i 1. hiJnself. 1 - j Since almost a third of the Mémo~~u is devoted to 1 discussions regarding the design of the Louvre faç:ade, 1 partl:cular attention i5 given to this subject. Perrault' s relf!;tionship wi th Bernini, the formation of the Petit Conseil du Louvre, ,and Boileau's denunciation of Claude Pe;rault:' as author of the Louvre colonnade are examined in some detail. Although Charles's defense of his brotber took place only after his retirement from the Bâtiments, it deserves ( " ,
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,. ., 1 consideration because· o~ i ts importance in the continuing controversy over the auth
and, the grotto at Ver~ailles are analyzed. Although sev,eral scholars.have suggested that the brothers May have ,collabor ated on certain projects for the Bâtiments, the subject 26 has not been investigated in any detail. ...
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CHAPTER l
CHARLES PJ;:RRAULT, ASSISTANT TO COLBERT
t< Charles Perrault èame fram a solid bourgeois family of
camfortable means. His father, Pierre, avoe~t at the Parlement de Parid, married Paquette LeClerc whose ancestors were of Norman nobil~ty.27 The Perraults had six sons. 2B The youngest, Charles and his twin 'rançois, were born on January 13, 1628; François, however, died in infancy.29 Although a bright student, Charles withdrew from school l
before receivinq his 'c.elLt.i..6-Lc.~:t d' étucte.6. 30 A non-conf6rmist, j
he preferred to continue his stud~es at home and eventually , 31 'l' 'd th- passed h~s l~w exams at Orléans., . t l.~ eV1- en, owever, that Perrault '"was never really dedicated to the legal pro- 1 -, fession, for.between'1~5l, when[he ~as received as a lawyer, ." and 1654, when he becam~,an ass~stant to his brother, Pierre, a lLec.eveUIL génélLal de.6 6.i..n~n'" e~,\he h~d pleaded only two cases. "Charles wrote in his M J,ilLe~ that his bro.thers had dissuaded him from pursuing his career because it was a
32 0 poorly p~id prQfession. In any.event, he retained a more financially rewarding, yet less demandinq position in his brother's office for ten years. Pierre Perrault, as a lLec.eveulL génélLdl de.6 6.i..nanc.e.6, profited from the lucrative, r.eceipts of his post. His new
wealth allowed him to meet influential government offici~ls, (.
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( 33 màjor financiers, and members of note~ literary circles. cha~'les' a~so benefited fram his oider brothe~ s af,fIuence and ;'> prestigioua position aince Pierre introduced,him into sorne of the ce1ebrated salons of Paris. It is like1y that at this point Charles realized that his education was nat
entirely wasted. In fact, his prepa~ation for law had inc1udeQ the study of the classics which, in turn, served ' ,,34 b d l' as a b as i s f or h1.S new pursu1. ts. He egan to atten l.ter- y
ary gatherings and ta devote mo~e time to writing poems and prose pieces. 35 Indeed, it was the favorable reception of
two of his early compos~tions, Ode !u4 la Paix and Ode ~U4
le' Ma~4ge du Roi, that first brought him to the attention of Jean Baptiste Colbert, then the assis~ant to Mazarin. 36 In 1663, even before Colbert was actually appointed Surintendant, he sought to engage several learned men to
aid him in the work of the Bâtiments. Jean Chapelain,~a, well-known literary figure-and founding member of the Petite Ac~~mie, as this small a~visory group was first called, 1 37 ,1 suggested the name of pe~~~t, along wi~ two others. 1 Colbert, who was already acquainted with Perrault, chose 1 him to act as secretary.38 • Colbert intended that the
members of this erudite group, later known as the Acadêmie 1 , Royale des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, assist him in creating numerous projects for the purpose of glorifying
and immortalizin9 the King. 39 The committee's tasks were () .: .rI. • ( wide-ranging and somewhat imprecise. The members, for ... -.,...... ,."...... _.. - "" ~- !
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( example, designed medals, suggested subjects for the King's
t apes t r1es, and compose d d'ev~he~ and l audi" atory nscr1pt10ns. 40 They also made recommendations for the decoration of the royal apartments and gave advice on the choice of' suitable . mythological subjects for the court operas and wrote elaborate
~escriptions of the ceremonies and 6ê.tu at Versai.lles. The
~etite Académie took the King's words to he~rt when he first
addressed them: "Vou~ ,pouvez, Me.&~ieult.&, juge!/. de t'~.time
que je. 6aü de vou~, .pui~que j e. vou~ c.on6ie ta c.ho~ e du. mo.nde,,-qui m' e.~t la pt~ pJr.~c.ieu~e, qu..i. ut ma' gloiJte..,,41 - . The first assignment of the Petite Acadêmie was to
.choose suitable emb1ems and lege~s for a suite of tapestries portraying the elements and the seasons that had been com missioned for the royal apartments. 42 Perrault, who excelled
~ in the composition of dev.i.~e.&, composed aIL of the texts for i 1 the series treating the Qua.t!/.e El~men.t.& and more than half - ! 1 the' texts for The Q,uat!/.e Sa.i..&on~. 43 In fact, for the next
fifteen' years, Perrault alone was responsib1e for as , many ·devüe..6 as, a11 the other members of the Acadêmie combined. 44 The Acadêmie a1so revised and corrected all literary works composed in honor of the King before they were sent to the royal p~inters. 45 Perrault applied h~self assiduously
to this task and indirect~y benefited from a-certain prestige amongst his fellow writers, since he had the final sayon their texts. To Perrault was given the single honor of writing a description of the Carrousel of l66~, later (
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published with splendid illustrative engravings to inaugura te the presses of the riewly created ~abinet du Roi. 46 The official historian of the Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, in a report published early
in the eighteenth ce~tury, recognized Charles Perrault ~s , ..' the key member of this small cQmmittee. He noted, for
ex~ple, a certain~l_~nguor in the conduct of the commî ttee '09 activities once Perrault had retired from his post and was no longer attending the meetinqs.47 Colbert was very impressed by the painstaking attention Perrault gave to each assignment during his first months,
at the Acad~mie and it was thus not surprising that he chose the hard workingt Perrault to serve as his assistant when he wa""s officially named Surintendant et Ordonnateur 'h~n~:ral des Bâtiments, Arts, Tapisseries et Manufactures de France 1 on January 1, ~664.48 One of Colbert's initial tasks was to organize the Bâtiments as efficiently as possible. Under the Surinten- " dant's command were three categories of officiaIs: the
intend4n~, the eont~ôleu~4 and the t~l4o~ie~. The three men who were appointed to each post rotated in their func-
r tions every three years. They, in turn, presided over a
for.midable a~y of supervisors, artists, artisans and 49 laborers. Colbert, who was reluctant to rely entirely on <- his chief administrators named Perrault as his personal assistant in order to maintain a more direct control over ( "
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the operat~on.s. Perrault attrlbute ~POintment as c.omm.L6 to the' fact that Colbert had been impressed by reports . " of his success in directinq majo~ renovations on his family's country property at v;i.ry,50 but it is more likely that his • outstanding performance at the Petite Acad~ie ,had the greater influence on'Colbert's decision.
Neither the title, p4em~e4 c.omm~6 (chief clerk), nor the
jçescription of the post in the ~s des Bât~ents, qives ./ 5l any indication of the type of work Perrault did. Like th~
c.ont4ôleu4~,he s?pervised and reported on worka in proqress: . he conferred with the entrepreneurs; 1suqgested modifications in the plans when necessary; discussed priees> signedrminor contracts himself and submitted the more important ones to . Colbert. 52 In ad~ition, he gave orders to the treasurer of the Bâtiments and checked- and delivered payments to the artists, workers and suppliers. 53 In many ca$es, Perrault appeared to act with the sam1 authority as Colbert. Perrault had been assig~ed a room in Colbert's r;sidence and met with his superior almost daily.54 When one or the other was out of Paris, Colbert required'~_ that Perrault·0 send 55 him weekly progress reports. Colbert came to depend increasingly 'on his chief assistant and gradually extended
the scope of Perrault' ~ assiqrunents. For example, Co'lbert made Perrault his personal representative ta the'various 56 royal academies. Ever aware of the power ·and influènce of the intellectuals, Colbert sought .to exert some control ( ..
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( . over them. Thds, when he could not attend the meetings of --... the academies in person, he designated Perrault as his " • repIac.ement. Perrault, t n, act~d as the ,intermediary'
between Colbert and the Petite Académie, the Acad~mie Royale · 57 d e Pe1nture et Sc~ 1 pture, as we 1 as the Acad~mie d'Arch~ itecture.58 Perrault was also charg d with assisting LeBrun
in the selection of prospective candida es for the Acad~mie de France A Rome. 59 As tor the Açademie Française, Colbert sisted that Perrault not just attend meetings in his stead, but ordered him, in 1669, to seek admission as a member. 60 T~ t ~ trious body, however, only accepted Perrault on Nover 23, 1671, two years after he had requested official status.6l
It is likely that the delay resulted from a certain anti~athy
between the Académie Française and the Petite Acad~ie. , Since both groups were engaged 'in composing panegyrics in honor of the King, a certain rivalry existed between them.
, ' Colbert's obvious preferé~e for the advice apd counsel of ! the Petite Acad~mie undoubtedly compound~d the problem. 62 ,t
As a consequence, the Acad~mie Française may well have feit
justified in deferring the election of Colbert's prot~g~. Once elected~ how~ver, Perrault endeavored to introduce some needed reforms. He propos~d a system of'secret Dallots for the election of new members to replace the less equitable procedure then in use. 63 . He also suggested ways to increase
the efficiency of the Acad~mie so that Colbert's spe~ial (
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projects, such as the 'compilation of a dictionary, might receive the attention they deserved. 64 Perrault admitted - . that since he often functioned as a transmitter. , of Colbert's orders, the Academicians frequently took his suggestion$ as
Co lbert r s own, and a d opte d t h em rea dOl~ y. 65 Eventua 11 y, ~n0 1673, Perrault was elected chancellor of the Acadêmie Fran
o 66 ça~se. Colbert also engaged Perrault to organize the Cabinet du ,Roi, a collection of prints and texts that were to serve
as a permanent record of the suc~esses and spendours of the' 67 reign of Louis XIV. In 1670, Colbert founded a royal press to publish the prints in luxury volumes. These prized books were to form the nucleus of the King's personal collection
, and were also to be sent as distinguished gifts to foreign- governments, Colbert relied on Perrault to organize the
documents, as weIl as ~o select and verify texts for pub li cati~n.68 Amongst th~ first works chosen by Charles were 1 69 two of his own and two by his brother, Claude. Perrault's 1 conduct in this instance is revealing, for it shows how he r " ,often promoted his own and his family's fortunes. His self~ 1 serving ambitions, however, were not uncommon: indeed, life at court encouraged self-interest. In 1672, Perrault was named the third Contrôleur des Bâtiments, joining the previously appointed Sr. Lef~vre and 1 Andr' LeNostre. 70 Perrault did not purchase the office in the traditional manner, rather Colbert g'ave it to him, ( _w ____ ... ~ _ .... ,.... ____. ... ~ ___. .... _~._ ,w __ '"
,14 ( presumably in recogn~tion of his services.7l Perrau1t l s rise in rank brought him increased-rewards. His influence was so great at this time, that he even had the authority
to command le~ jeux de~ 9~and~ ea~x in the,ga~dens at Versailles, a privilege that was enjoyed by on1y a very
. 1 • 72 f ew 0 f t h e K1ng s court1ers.
• •
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(
, \ le 1
15 - ,,- i
CHAl'TER II , THE COMPLETION OF THE LOUVRE: CHARLES PERRAULT 1 S ROLE Early Plans
;, Although Perrault perforrned numerous and varied tasks for the Bâtiments during his tenure as Contr8leur and personal \
assist~nt to ~olbert, it is obvious that he considered his participation in the se arch for a suitable design for the east façade of ttf Louvre ~s his m~jor achievement. Perrault,
i t is to be noted >-.devoted almost a third of his Mémo-i.Jt..e~ , 73 to the subject of the Louvre. He dwelt at length on 8ernini's pla~, for the palace anq dis~ussed his role in persuading Colbert to reject it. Since the completion of the Louvre was the first major building project to be undertaken by Colbert, Perrault was
implicated in the procee~ings from the start. In his memoirs, 'he stated that by the time of Colbert's appointrnent
as Surintendant in January of ~664, the foundations and . eight or ten feet of the east façade' of the Louvre had already been constructed acco~din~to the plans of Louis LeVau. 74 LeVau, appointed First Architect in ~654, had completed the north and south wings in a style tha't' harrnon ized with the façades built earlier by Lescot an9 then by
LeMercier.. In 166~ LeVau began 'work on the design~ of the .. east winge His plans for the principal façade at this stage ( t ./ 16 ( show a doubled east wing with a central pavilion containing
an oval vestibule. 75 The oval plan recalls the one that LeVau had used in the earlier and highly acclaimed deskgn for the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte. At the sarne time, the convex curving façade of the tbuvre would have comple mented the concave curves,of LeVau's Collège des Quatre Nations then under construction on the opposite side of the 76 Sei.p.e. LeVau planned to 1ink the two comp1~xes by a bridge. 1 Notwithstanding the compr~hensiveness of LeVau's scheme, Colbert halted work on the Louvre. Colbert's animosity toward the First Architect is frequently ci ted as the cause for thrs interruption. 77 It was believed that the minister 1 '1 not only resented the great esteem in which LeVau was ~~ld by the King, but also took exception to the increasingly
extravagant renovations at Ver~ailles presumab1y encouraged oy Levau. 7B The question arises as to whether, in fact,
this was the case, - since the gr~diose projects at Versailles had not yet been launched by the end of 1663. 79 Furthermore, the First Painter, LeBrun, and the royal gardener, LeNostre, weJ::e also active at Versail.le$ and enjoyed the King' s favor as much as did LaVau, without antagonizing Colbert. In the
Mémo;(.ILe..6, Charles Perraul t suggeste~ rather that Colber~ simply SO found LeVau's design inadeqUate. Since Colbert's chief concern at this 'time was to make the Louvre the principal . ( and rnost magnificent residence of the King, he relol'Ved to
, " ' .. " ~~- ....:...- o .
, ,
17 Il
spare'no effort te achieve his goal. Perrault's remarks
o in his Mémo..ë.lLt..S reinforce this view:
., ...... M. Co.tb e.JL.t n' ét'o-it paA c.o rLtent de. ce. de./) li e'{ii~ ,
et, .se. aai..san..t une. a6 naiJLe d' h'onne.UIL e:t '''' , c.ap..ë.ta.le de. donnelL à c.e pata.u une. 6açade digne du plL-inc.e. qu-i La ~~.so-it bat-ilL, °c,ommença palt 6a.Llte utUfI..ë.ne.1L le. dU1:I e.in de M. LeVau •••• 81
'- After worko had 'been s'topped at the Louvre, Colbert, , D • asked ~h.e principal architects of Paris to comment on LeVau' s plans and, at the same time, invited them to submit their own ideas. ,Among the archi tects who participa ted in the ~ f , ~~2 1 contest were François Mansart, J~an Marot and Pierre Cottard. i 1 Drawings subnitted by Claude Perradlt, who was ,not a recog- !
n1ze. d arch' 1tect, were d'1Sp l' aye d anonymous'1 y. 83 r? ..~ The drawings °of .the project of 1664 by Claude Perrault,
once in the pos~ession of Charle$.# 84 have apparently disap- ,- peared.' Today ,aIl that is itnown of Claude' s sch~e is .\ o 1 contained in a brief note in the Mémo-ilLe.6 wher~'~Charles l stated that this eatly scheme was similar to the one Claude 1 submi tted t,o the Kinq three years later, that is, t.he one , ~ -- J finally Charles also noted that he himself had ! e.xecuted~ ! originally proposed the idtfa of a peristyle, a sugges~ion ~Ij/èh,,' Claude subsequently approved and ~corp~ra~ed in' his ·plans. .~ ,At the time of the competition Claude Perrault's prdjectorecetved hiqh praise, according to Charles: yet, " ~ it seems' that Co1bert hesitat@d ta confide so içorblnt a (. \
~~. __~ ______~1 " . ,
18 ,
( cOlIBIlission to '-a _practicing physicf~~,------heretO.f~~----Imt~on------ce+ned with any arc~~ectural projects other than the renavation of a family property. In his continuing quest for the perfect design, ""\, \ Colbert turned to Italy. In April, _166~ Colbert instructed the abbé, Elpedio-Benedetti, ta present LeVau's plans to seme of the Most celebrated architects in Italy: Bernini,' Pietro da Cortona, Rainaldi and the lesser know Candiani
· < • 85 f or t h e1r cr~~1sms,:i~:' while further suggestiJ}.g that they, sUbmit designs of their own. 86 In looking towards Italy, Colbert may have been seeking additional support for his decision ta haIt work on LeVau'3 project. He mu,t have
foresee.that professional riyalry would preclude a positive 1 reaction to LeVau's scheme frQm the Italians. By June, barely (ltwa months later, the plans submitted \ by the Italian architects began' ta arrive in Paris. Perrault
remarked that the proj,ects sent by the Italians were aIl 87 Il tOU-6 60lLt b..ë.zaJz.e..5 Il and lackeq. taste. The Sieur' de Chantelou, i 1 a civil,servant and connoisseur of the arts, supported'this 1 view, finding aIl the plans, with the exception of that by . , 88 his friend, Bernini, "e.x-tJtavag am" • l The first plans by Bernini, the favored architect, show ,. an aval central pavilion witq projectïng elliptical wings~ ~ 1 the whole decorated with colossal engaged columns and pil asters. 89 Colbert, dissatisfied with the Cavalier's concep~s fram the very beginning, nevertheless delayed requesting ( [ 19 ( "1 new designs until October. Bernini, although offended by the reJectl.on,. . ~ wa persuad e d'to try agal.n.• 90\ T h" e second set 91 • of plans, sen in January, was not more tavorably received.
ColPert, nevertheless, éontinued to encourage Bernini and
urged him. to c:ome to France to discuss revisions of the 92 plans. Bernini resisted the invitation believing that
the architects of France resented him and would find fault , with whatever he produced. In April of 1665, however,
letters bearing tpe signature of the King were dispatched
to the Pope, Alexander VII, to Cardinal Chigi and to Bernin~, invi ting the "Cavalier to come to F~ance. 9 3
Bernini bowed to the ensuing barrage of entreaties and
reluctantly left Rome for Paris on April 25, 16'65. 94 Once ~ in France, he was welcomed with great pomp a;~emony. Indeed, P\rrault, somewhat irritably remarked that the
honors bestowed on the "Cavalier surpassed belief. 9 5 ,
The King's insistence on this voyage may have beeri
due as much to his weIl known rivalry Wl.th~. the papacy as
to purely artistic considerations. 96 Only some years
_ earlier,' Louis XIV had made humiliating demands on the Pope
in reparation for the Cf~qui affair, and it is likely that
the invitation to Berni.ni, the papal architect, resulted;
at least in part, from the King' s desire to exac,t further
concessions from the Pope. 97 Under the circumstances,
Alexander VII could hardly deny Bernini permission to leave
( Rome. Moreover, to the King i t may have seeDled entil:'ely. 20
fi tting that Bernini, who had created grandiose plans to , enhance St. Peter's, the seat' of the papacy and the greatest church ,in Christendom, be chosen to complete the principal,
palace of the moat powerful monarch in Eurqpe.
Perrault and Bernini
The King appointed Paul Fréart, Sieur de Cha,nteIou, to act as interpreter and companion to Bernini during his 98 stay in France. ,ChanteIou, w,ho kept a 7ecord of the
Cava1ier's daily round,o~ activ"~e~, later compi1ed "the se notes in to a j qurnal upon the suggestion of his brother,
Jearr. 99 Chantelou completed the work sometime between 1 1671 and 1674,\ 'the year of his.brother's death. ,OO Charles
perrau1 t' s reco11ections of the Bernini visi t, on th~ other
1 hand, were set down in his memoirs only in 1702 , thil::ty- " , seven years ~fter the event. ' To perrault's credit, however, it must he noted that he had consu1ted Chantelou' a manuscript'
while writing his own version of the Ita1ian architect's . p . 101 s t ay l.n ar1S-. Chantelou' s notes thus may have served
to jog Perrault's memory on certain incidents. It is tempting
to put more fai'bb in Chantelou's journal than in Perr;ault's
lrfémo.ULU because it ia the more nearly contemporaneous , and also because of Perrault's known opposition ta but i t must be remembered that Chante10u was ll()t an entirely disinterested observer. Ouring his five-month association- with Bernini, Chantelou developed a great affection for the ( , te
(. ~\ \ 21 \ "- ( l' ' artist and became very protective of him. Furthermore, his brother, Roland Fr~art, Sieur de èhambray, had been appointed to assist in the s4perJision\of the construction of the façade as designed by Bernini.101
In Per.raul t' s account, he wri tes that he made kno~ his objections -to Bernini's plans shortly after the artist's 103 ar1ival in Paris. Although Perrault had had secret access \: to Bernini's drawings, he claimed to Colbert that he had )
not seen them. By this ruse he hoped ~is criticisms wou1d
1 carry more weight, and that they wou1d seem to he the result
of a spontaneous reac~on rather than of s~udiea reflection.
Perr~ult artfully drew Colbert' 5 attention to certa.in ,: details such as the narrowness of the main entrance and the use of engaged, rather than free-standing co1umns, the very features that had displeased Colbert in the plans by LeVau and others.
Chante1ou, however, stated that the King had expresse~ a
~arked, enthusiasm for ·Bernini -·s design when it was first ' 104 present e d t 0 h ~m. Perrault, nevertheless, continued to , \.di~arage the Italian artiste He stated, for example, that
~s an architect, Bernini excel1ed on1y in decorations and ,. .~ ~n, th'e lnventlon ,'" 0 f ....'tI*~eatre 'h mac h'lnes. 105 Be l'l.eVlng , that h e had not raised enough criticisms against aernini's plans initially, Perrault thereupon prepared a more lengthy Memorandum for Colbert outlining additional deficiepcies
( in which he cOmMented that Bernini' s project " ••• n' l~o.it
'\ \
..~~ __ .~,---~. ___~ ___._~._."r--_~~.M~' _.c;;•.. ...-::-_ •• __ ~ ______' _. __ -_---> ______.....~-"""..,""'rp= ... '""=-=:;;;-:..,..:...'..,.,_."...... _.--~-. 22
o ( pM t:Jr.lIJ bien c.onçu ,et: qu'-Ll. ne pouvo-Lt êZJr.e exec.ut€ qu'a· , . ,,106. la honte de la FJr.anc.~ .... Perrault' further noted that the Cavalier was more preoccupied in creating grandiose
public rooms rather than in providing's~itable accommodations
Il 107 for the King' s personal use.
Bath Cha~elou and Perrault reported that Colbert frequently found fault with Bernini's design, which was
~eminiscent af a flat-roofed balustraded Italian palazzo
~ (Figure 1). Giant h~lf-columns and pilasters served to articulate the façade of the monumental block while the o inner courtyard,was surrounded , byarcades., To Bernini's \ chagrin, Colbert repeatedly ériticized the unequal heights of
the principal. façade and the wings; the size, arrang~nt
and locat,ion of the King's private apa~tinents; .the plan of
~ the Chapel.1 as weIl as sorne deficiencies of a more mundane
p , 108 nature. Perrault took this canflict further afield "" 1 ~ , ,-.\ ." ~ j by ~igorously attac~ing Bernini's façade before Chambray, \ Chantelou's brother. l09 By his tactless remarks regarding the disproportions.in height between the south wing and the
1 main façade, Perrault even provoked a violent outburst fram 110 the Cavalier himself. Bernini~ who barely tolerated _r-f" 'suggestions on minor interior arrangements, brooked n?
criticism whatsoever on hi~ overall plan, one that he claimeq,was inspired by God. Enraged by Perrault's comments, 1 ~ Bernini thre.atened to complain ta Co~bert, to the papal " ( nuncio, to the King, and even to return to RemEt:' AccorcHng'" 23
( to Chante1ou, he and Bernini's son, Paul, succeeded in convincing the Cavalier, on1y after considerable effort, that Perrault had intended no offense. They'both offered excuses on beha1f of an alarmed Perrault, who made his own
formaI apology the next day. Al though Ch~ntelou described the events in some detail, Perrault glossed over the episode i~ 1;àe Mémo.i.Ite.6. III tlowhere did he make even the slightest " reference to his apolo9Yi rnoreover, he attribufed Bernini's . , , outburst'tp the artist's excessive sensitivity to criticisrn. It is to be noted that Perrault's standing with his superior, Colbert, was not compromised in any way by this incident.1l2 Chantelou cammented frequently on a general antipathy of the French towards Bernini. 113 The Cavalier and his asso- ciates feared that the Louvre project would ne ver be realized, notwi thstanding the King' s ,part'icipa tion in the ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone on October 17, 1665 just three days before Bernini's departure for Rome. Their
apprehensions were not unwarranted, fo~ even during Bernini's sojourn in Paris, the King' s architects continued to work on al,ternate plans for the Louvre. 114 For instance; in August of the same year, LeVau had submirtted a design to the King in which 'he proposed a radical change to the Louvre complex wherein the square court was transfo~ed into an avant-cour. Ils One month later he joined forces with LeBrun and Mansart to prepare yet another plan. 116 Given the activity on the part
( of the King's architects, it ia little wonder that Chantelou
'_____ ._N ______... '_ ...... ~ .. ~ ...,-_ ...... ' ....' ' ____.".,.... ___-.r ___ "-- ..- ___.. _'~.~T ___ _
24'
underlined Bernini' s fears repeatedly in his journal. It must be admi tted that Colbert was never complete1y reconciled wi th the Cavalier' s design. Al though Bernini subIni tted a revised drawing some months 'after his departure '1 for Rome, he had made only one major concessic;:m to Colbert, namely, a reduction of the much criticized height of the piano nobile. 117
" Colbert resolved to seek the King' s approval to abandon Bernini' s project even after the Cavalier' s assistant,
Màttia di Ross i, returned to Paris in May o~ 1666 to super vise the constructi~n t~ the Louvre accoFdin?, to his sup~r IIS ior 1 s plans. It must be remembered, that the King had been extremely plèased wi th Bernini' s design and when ca1led upon to take a decision against it, sorne months later, he
refused to comme~ in one way or another despi te çolbert' s . i' t . t" 119 pe7'sllften cn. 1C1smS. Perrault, in a gesture of support that had by then
' become' habitual, prepared- yet another memçir for Colbert l20 listi'ng th:~ drawbacks of this scheme. Since Bernini's
'plan ~ecessitated disma?tling foUr large domes and erecting
arcades across the façades o~ the inner court, Perrault cla!med that 1j:hese revisions, in effect, destroyed the general aspect of the Louvre. According te perrau1 t, Colbert
had always maintained that no par~s of the existing structure be demolished in the execution of any new design. Colbert, persuaded by perr;tll t' s memoir tha t Bernin! had violated the
'0 ,-" ---~_ .... ~ ... ~
25
( , , iginal conditio~s of the commission, finally called a haIt the' Bernini proj ect, probably in May, 1667. 121
l• ~> Chantelou' s account of Colbert's rejection of the Bernini design differed somewhat from perra~l't 1 s. ~22 For one, Chantelou recorded that' during the King' s first meeting wi th Bernini, Louis had said that although he had a fondness for the legacy of .his predecessors, he would not hesitate to destroy their buildings if they interfered with his own plans, presumably for his persOllal aggrandizement and that of the -na tion. The King thus did not' appear to share Colbert' s view that demol.ition should be ~voided' at all costs. Chantelou further reported that Colbert abandoned the , " 1 Cavalier' s pro'ject rather because he found the proposed , accommodations for the King' s' private use grossly inadequa1!e
despite the vast anticipated expenditur~es for the overall 123 plan. v In one respect, however, Chantelou and Perrault are in agreement, that is, on Perrault' s role in dis.crediting
Bernini' s design. 12 4 Perrault' s actions are easily explainable. He found ..r, Bernini vain and arroqant; the Cayalier' s high este,ern and obvious preference, fo,:: the, art and artists of Italy exasper... ated Perrault and indeed a number of other Frenchmen who
came into contact wi th him. Years ~ater, Charles recounted
hQw the rep~iation of Beridni' 5 plan was not the first
instance of the rejection of an Italian scheme, in favor of 125 ( a French one. He recalled that durinq the reign of "".
, \ ., -~--_.----- ",
, '1
26 --. ( ; .- François I, Sebas tien Berlio submi tted a design for the Louvre and al though i t met wi th sorne success, the one conceived by Pierre Lescot was preferred and ultimately . executed to unanimous acclaim. Beyond Perrault' s chauvinism
and ms dislike of Bernini, his, perkonal, ambitions, both fo.r himself and his brot,her must also be considerea to understand fully his- opposi tion to the Cavalier.
The Petit Conseil dû Louvre
Even before the departure of' Bernini' s- assistant, Mattia
di~ossi, from Paris, Perrau~t began to set up an alt.ernate project for a totally French solution. He proposed to
Colbert the creation of a c.on.6 al de.h blU:-i.menth that was to be composed of the First Architect, LeVau, the First Painter, -, LeBrun; and his own brother Claude perrault.126 As already
noted, a precedeM for.l'.the Pe.t-it Co nh ell du LouvJte., as the committee was called, had been established two years earlier .
" during BerninPs stay in Paris when LeVau, LeBrun and Mansart a had been engaged to work together on alternate plans ~or the Louvre~ 127 But, the question arises as to why Claude Perrault, a doctor and scientist, shou1d have been invi ted .
to participate in this seco~d comi ttee? , A1though Claude Perrault was weIl known to Colbert and had been one of the 'first members elected by him to the Acad~ie des Sciences in 1666,128 his architectural experience was not very extensive. It is true that he had contr ibuted (
t1 ...... -_._---
27 (
some ideas for the renovation of the f~ily property at 'V· 129 . ' . l.ry, . but as far as the B!timents were concerned, he had·
\"1 submitted designs for only two projects: the contest for. the Louvre façade in 1664,130 and a subsequent proposaI for a mQnum~ntal,obelisk in 1666.131 However, in about 1667, • Colbert· invited C"laude Perrault to undertake a translation
of Vitruvius. It ~s b~en suggested.recently that Claude became an expert on architectural theory through his
Vi truviu~, and tha as a resul t, he was named to the corn"" t, 1 mittee to act as an architectural consultant.132 It is - . difficult to accept this hypothe~is, for in 1'667, when- the
pe;t~:t con4'e-il was created, Claude was just beginniu,g his work on the translatiqn which hé would not complete until - 133 1673, sorne si~ years 1ater. Nor can i t be assumed that the poli tical maneuvering of bis brother, Charles, was the primary cause of Claude's success. ,Charles Perrault, although influential at court, could not always sway the opinions of his superior. Charles, . for exarnp1e, had Deen unable to dissuade Colbert from dis- , charging his brother, Pierre, from the post of JteceveuJt de.6
6-ina.nce.6 when Pierre' s questionable financial practices were discovered.134 Colbert's insistence on the competence of his appointees took precedence Over personal petitions. lt weuld appear, then, that although Claude was not a recognized architect, his early designs for the obe1isk,
( and more importantly, for the Louvre façade, had made such
( , r'
28
, ,
an impression on Colbert so as to warrant his appointment to
the co n.& e-i.t.
Charles Perrault, as secretary of the con~e-i.t, was responsible for recording the minutes. Although he later.
wrote that he hap returned the Reg-i~t4e, or book of minutes, 135 to thê Bâtiments, it has never been found. In the mid- - eighteenth century the historian, Piganiol de la Force, , claimed to have discovered certain excerpts from the Regü't4e j which he published in his Ve4cA-ipt-ion de P~A-i~.136 He
declared that the'exerpts were authentic because they had 137 been countersigned by Colber~.
Though few in number, these passagés, from the Reg-i4tAe , / provide some useful information on. ,the workings of, the . " ~'- con4e-i.t. In the opening parag~aph, Perrault noted that 1 // ColbGrt, dissatisfied with trhe plans heretofore submitted (' by the architects of France and Italy, resolved that so
important a commission as the Louvre required the attentio~ of several persons of different talents.138 The minutes recorded that Colbert met with Messieurs LeVau, LeBrun' and Perrault:
... .u .tu mand'a et n.<.t ven-iA chez .tuA. le ••• ~vA-i.t, 1667, et apA€4 .teuA avo-iA exp.t-iqu€ 40n ~ntèntlon, et 6a-it entend~e .qu'~l de~~o~t qU'-i.t4 tAavai.t.ta44ent unan-imement et conjo-intement a tou.s le~ de44un.s qu'-i.t.s If au~olt d 6a.<.Ae pouA l',achèvément du Pa.ta..i.s du LOlLvlLe, en ~ oAte que ce4 de.s~ e-in4 ~ eAolent Aeg~~d€4S c.omme .t' ouvAage d'eux tAo-i.s €galement, et que pOUA con~e~ve~ l'un-ion et bonne inte.t.t.igence, aucun ne pou~~o-it .s'en d.(.~e l'auteUA paAt-icul-i~~ement au p~ljud-ic.e ( de.6 c1u:t~ e.6 ••• •
29 ( Perrault further stated that although the three rnembers or the committee conferred on many occasions in an effort to aqree on a sui table design for the east wing, they ultirnately subrnitted two sketches rather than one as requested. When - the drawings, one with a plain façade and the other ornarnented
with a peristyle above the rez-de-chauss~e, were presented to the King at Saint-Germain on May, 14, he chose' the latter.
According t~ the terms of' t,he commissign, the ,final scheme was to appear as a col1aboratlve effort and thus no specifie
narne was assigned to either of ~e subrnitted sketches.
Neverthe1ess, over the next twenty years or 50, Claude Perrault was recognized as the architect of the Louvre
façade (Figure 2).. In 1675, for exarnple,' Andr~ F~libien,'
the .secretary of the newly èreated l' Acad~rnie Royale
d'Architect~re, wrote:
Cette Ac.a.dém-<.e 6u.t -d' a.baltd c.ompofl ée de. .6.Lx. AILc.h.L:tec.:te.6, •••• La..6 e tltou.ve a.U.6.6-<. "', M. Peltlta.ult qu.L a. .tlta.du..Lt V.Ltvuve et donné le.6 .de.6.6e.Ln.6 du. LouvlLe, 'de i..'Altc. de r.tl-i.omphe, et de l'Ob.6eltvato-i.lte, palt le6quel.6 on pe~ a..6 .6 ez j ug elL q uell e e.6 t .6 a. c. 0 nna.-i..6.6 an c. e dan.6 l'alLc.h.L.tec.tulte et da.n.6 le.6 au.tlte.6 AIL.t.6 •••• 139 1 Sorne years later, the "periodical, Meltc.ulte. Galant,~hen
rèporting on the 1686 visit of the ~bassadors of Siam to the Observatoire, stated:
M-. PelLlLa.uU qu..L a donné le dU.6e.i..n de la 6a.c ade ,J du. 'Louvlte, e.6:t au..6.6-i. l'a.ltc.h.Ltec..te. de c.e ba.t-i.ment, et c.e qu'.Li.. .6 a..Lt de médec.-i.ne. e.t de ma-théma.tl.qu.e l.u..L a do nné .t-i. eu. d' 0 b.6 elL veIL du c.fio.6 e.6 dan.6 la c.o n.4 tltuc.t-i.a n de c.e:t éd-i. 6.lc.e que ta u..6 .tu a(.l:tlte..6
l, , alr.c.h-i.tec.ti.6 ne .6on.t pM obUgé.6 de .6a.va.Lft. l~O ~
___--'_,~ .. "' ...... 4 • ...... ______
" 30
'. ( ) Charles Perrault. 'was perhaps his brother' s greatest champion. In 1690, he publislied the Cabinet de.o AlLt.o '; a
series of engravings after a cycle of paintings for a, planned
ceiling decoration, wh~rein he stated that the intention
of the project as a whole was to celebrate the superiority ~ of the arts in France;l4l' Not only did he imply that modern
French monuments were t~ equivaleI?-t of ~hose created in
antiqui ty, but qe also singled out his brother 1 s designs , as a viable alternative to previous excellence.. For e~ple, in -t' AILe.hLtee.tu.lLe, ~n!= of four engravingS"in which Claude' s
projects were i11ustrated, Charles portrayed hi:s brother' si
conceptions for, the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre façade
(Figure 3) .142 If there were any doubts about Claude 1 s
accomplishments, Charles dispelled them in the following , passage from the C·ab-Lnet de..o AlLt.6:
Où vo-Lt- on IL-Le.n de c..ompaILab-te ci -ta beauté du devant 4u Louv"-e et a. la ha.Jtd-Le.o~ de .0 e.o l! pOJtt.f.que.o, don-i lell pla6ond.o tout plat.o et , i .ou.opeJ;Ldu.o en douze p,[ed.6 de plLOnondeu.1L n'ont lL.ien qui leulL "-e·6.6emble dan..o que.êque éd,[6,[e.e que e.e .0 oit, .6-i.. èe n' e.6t en peül.tulLe ou l'on ne 4e met pail en "pe-i..ne de la lJol-i..d-i..té.? ••• On a m-i...6 ,[c.1j .le.o lI.om.o de c.eu.x ci qu,[ l'on do-Lt le.o plu.o beaux .bâ.:t-Lmen.o mOdelLne.IJ. qu-L .6 ont en rJtane.e: ManIJ a,,--i qu,[ a 6a,[t bât-é.Jt le Val de GJtâ:c.e, Ma.i.oon.6, rlLe.o ne, ete. i Le.Vau., qu-i.. a c omm enc.é VeJt.6 a-i..llelJ et ae.he v é R.e.6 T u-Lle."--te.6 i LeMelLcie.lL, qu,[ a 6a,[t bâ.t,[/f.. R-Le.he.-t,[e.u., la SOJr..boll.ne, ete.. ."., 'PelLlLar.Llt, qu,[ a donné lu deIJ.o e.,[n.6 de la 6açade du LouvJte.,' de l'Ob,6eILvato,[lLe, de.P..' AILe. de. TIt-Lomphe, de. la Chapelle. de Scea.ux, etc. 143
C.l .. .. --_._---
c _
l ' 31
CHAPTER rII '.
• BOILEAU • 5 . CHALLENGE TO CHARLES PERRAULT' S CLAIMS ON BEHALF OF CLAUDE C
The conf1ict betweèn Nicolas Boileau-Despr~aux-and-Char1es Perrault )
Despite the pub1ic and priv~te, recognition of Claude· Perrau1 t r 5 authorship or the Lo,?-~~ colonnade, Nico.las Boileau-Despréaux, a we1l-known literary figure, challenged
o this attribution in 1694. It must be~remembered that Boileau had 'long held the Perraults in çontempt, Claude, in particu- Cb l~ Although i~s difficult to determine the origin of
~ ~~~J \ - Boileau's antipathy,' there is a sU9gestion that it re1ated a to certain.. ser~ous physical discomforts whié:h he experienced following a childhood ~llness; his sufferings were presumably - . ~ resu1t of poor advice and treatment/idmimstered by the " 144 mlcleun, Claude Perrault. _ Much ~ater, Boileau had cause
to resent ~harles who, dur~ng the height of his lnfluence j t 2 a~ court, had persuaded Colbert to revoke the poet's 1 p~vllège.145 OVer a peri~ of many years the dispute between 1 ., 1 the two parties was punctua ted by venomous ~changes in "poems, epigrams and p.IL€ft4c.e~, 146 aIl of wbich culminated in 0; . the famous controversy known popu1ar1y as the QueJtel.le. de~
A~re.n4 e..t Mddel[.n~. The Que.ILe.Ue "was essentia11y a literary debate between \ " ( two groups of wri ters. The: Anc.ie.n.6, as the name suggests,
... : ·,1 ----\
32
, " recommended, the study of the great works of. antique authors"
"whereas the J,(ode.ltneA, in keeping with their ~lief in progress
in the arts, advocate? the supremacy of contemporary man 1 s 1 experience. !7 Boileau had long been a proponent of the
principles held by the Anc.ü,n.6, while Perrault only formally
took ul? the cause of the Mode.Jtnu at the instigation of the ... Academician, Jean Desmarets de Saint Sorlin, who had pre- 148 cipitated the controversy.
The reading of Perrault' 5 poem, Le. Siè.cle. de. Loui4
le. Gltand, at .th~ AcadBie Française on January 20, 1687 touched off the feud bntween Boileau and pe~ràul t .149 In 1 the poem, Perrault praised contemporary art, music and literature to the detriment of these arts as practiced in , the ancient world. He found fault with Homer and Herodotus,
Plato and Aristotle, and suggested that in the ce~turies to
come, certain of France' 5 own contemporary writers would achieve the glory and immortali ty tha t had been tradi tionally
ascribed to the ancientS'. P~rrault proposed that the centu+y i of ,Louis XIV could be favorably compared to the Augustan 1 i age. He seemed to suggest as weIl that opposition to the l modeJt..ne thesis was comparable to questioning the lJlerits of 1 1 the King. 150 Boileau was incensed, not only by Perrault' s basic premise, but- also by the manner in which Perrault
disparaged the ancients. The fact that Perrault pointedly excluded Boileau and Racine, his frie\d' a~d ally, from the (. list of outstandinq tontemporary writers in France, must
. , '. 33
o 151 have also rank1ed the great 'cri tic-poet.
Boileau, however, ~id not lau~ch a serious attack unti1 after the publicatiOn 'of the third volume of Perrault' s !
PalLall€,te de.6 Anc..i.en.s et de~ Uodeltne.6 in 1693, a work which, l.n.. essence, expand e d on t h e theme announced' l.n Le S·'-<.e.c.-Le.' ~ 152
The PaJtalt~le is composed of a suite of dialogues wherein
three protagonists exchange views on de/) oeu.vlt~ anc.ü.nnu ( et modeltne.&. 153 The under1ying idea in the conversations
is, as might be expected, the superiority: of the ModeILnU. Perrault's, use of Versailles as a setting reinforces the
theme, ~ince the splendors of Louis XIV' s retreat provide
.!. a perfect examp1e of the aCh~vements of the modern aÇJe •
Boileau,' thereupon, hastened to de fend the Anci~n.6 in 154 bis Ode.. /)u~ 1.a. pJt.i.:6 e.. de. NamuJt. At the same time he seized the opportuni ty to insu1 t Perrault. Boileau not on1y casti
gated him for the arguments advanced in the PaltaLt..ète,
but also de~lored his ignorance of Greek, bis lack of tas te , . . ., ... 155 coup1ed w1th a genera1 art1st1c 1nsens1t1v1ty. Boileau
even ~tended his criticism to include other members of t,he
fami1y by sU9gesting: " ••• une e..&p~c.e de b.i..zalLlLeJUé d'e.6plt-it ,,156, ,qu.i. tuA.. ut c.ommune a.vec. toute. .6a oam.ilte ... Perraul t who was a high1y sens! tive man took exception to this slur on his fami1y. In his reply to, Boileau, L e:ttlLe a M.V., Perrault attempted ta uphold the modeltne thesis and, 157 at the same time chastised his opponent. He protested
( " 34
that al though Boilèau had crit4cized the entire family, he ~~ 1 j.' ,,")1' . , wasaa:painted only wÎ; th c~audé; Perrault further asked if
Boileau found a b.i.z a/tlLt/Li e d' u plLit in Claude because:
• •• c.' a été ~ UJt ~ e.6 du.6 e.ttu Il ue la 6ac.e. p4.i.n~pdle du Louv/te a ~~é ba~e p~i6i~abiement a. c.eux du c.avaUell; Be.ltnin et de. toUA .te..6 a~c.h.(..~ec.te..s de FlLanc.e. e:t d'ItaUe, d que c.' e.6t enc.olLe .6u/[. ..se.6 de~..se.i.n4 qu'on a éléve. .te modèle de. t 1 Mc. de ~IL-iomphe. at le batA.ment de .t'Ob.6elLvatoilLe? 158
Perraul t stressed that Claude' s accomplishmen"t;s in the field - of medicine, science and architecture eminently justified his reputation; he further implied that ,sinee Boileau knew little about these subjects, he, Boileau, was not qualified to judge Claude. 159 .1 For a time Boileau seemed to have ignored Perrault' s retort, but in.1694, in his major contribution to the
ltiterary quarr~l, a tract entitled Ré6L.ex.i.on..s c.1L.i.t.i..quell
'!lUit queL.quu paA.sa.ge.6 du Ithét.eult 'Long.l..n he renewed his per- 160 sonal attack on the Perraul ts. Indeed, the whole of the
. first Rl~.te.x.i.on is a diatribe against them. In the follow
ing"passage, Boileau disputed the claims made bl' Charles on
/ ,- It behàlf of Claude:
) e ne tLie/[.al p46 c. e.penda.n.t qu' i..t ne. 6û:t homme de. :tlLè.A gJt.and m€Jt.i..:te, et. 6o/t:t ..sava.nt, .s.uJr.:tout. dan4 .t~ ma.:t-iè/[.e.s de pI:tY.6ique. M.M. de. !'ac.adém.ie de.s .6 uence.4 né:a.nmo.in6 ne c.onv.i.e.nnent pa.~ :tOU4 de ' '.t'e.xc.e.Uenc.e. de. 4a. tlr.a.duc.:t.i.oYl de VLt/[.uve, n..t de. :toutu .f.e.
35 ( .6'o66ILe de lui.. 6aLJr..e VOLIL, quand Li voudlLa, pap-ie.Jr. .6 UIr. table, que e' ud lé' dU.6:tn du 6ameux M. LeVau 1u'on a·~ui..v-i ~an.s la 6a~ade du LouvJtej' et qu -il n' e.s'-t po-in:t v1LaL ~ue. 'ni. ce gJr..and ouvILage d'aJr..c.h-i-teetuILe." nL l obhelL va:toi..lLe, n,C l'aILe de tILLomphe h o-ie.nt de..s ouvJta.ge.s d'un médecüt ,d~ la. 6acuLté. 161
In a somewhat more conciliatory tone Boileau continued:
C'ut une que.Jr..elle que. je. le.uILla).,ue. démU.elr.. en:tILe eux ~ ou je décldlLe que je ne p~end~ a.ueu.n i..n-téILê.t, me.s voe.ux mlme; .6i.. j'en 6a.ü q uelque.6 UM, é-tan;(; pOUIL le medécA.n. 162 f
Boileau's voeux in favor of Claude Perrault are spurious because some monthe later he repeated his charges in'a letter to the Jansenist theo1ogian, Antoine Arnabld, who was attempt in,g, to bring about a reconci1iation between the disputantsl Boileau stated,:
M. PeILILault; le médec-in' ••• .sûILeme.nt n'a. po-int 6ai..t la. 6açade du LouvILe, ni.. l'Ob~eILvato-i.Jr..e, ~ L'AILe de TIL~omphe comme on le pltOLLvelLa. dan.s peu dlmonJd~a:ti.vemen:t •••• 163'
jr' What is puzzli'ng in this affair is why Boileau, who had
- never shown any~ prior interest in architecture, suddenly
should have ~ha.l1enged the cla,ims made on behalf of Claude' Perrault more than twenty-five years after the çontest for the Louvre faç~de and . six years af1ter the doctor-arohi tect' s death. Moreover', the charges had no bearing on the issues , ' of the QueJr.elle then being debated'with Perrault. It would
thus appear that Boileau, who was ,weIl a~Jl.re of Charles
( Perrault's extreme vulnerabili~ on the question of his
, \ 36
f~ily's honor, soug~t to antagonize bis opponent by disr , crediting his brother's name and to dissuade him possibly
from continui~g the literary debate • .The so-called proof that Boileau purported te possess , was never brought forth, although he had identified the source of his information as a certain M. d'orbay.164 !t should' be pointed out ,that François d'Orbay was LeVau's chief 1 assistant and had been in charge of supervising the work at the Louvre site during the construction of the east
façade and the doublin~ of tne s~uth wing. In his recent monograph, Albert Laprade proposed that . d'Orbay'himself designed the Louvre façade as weIl as two other monuments traditionally ·attributed ta Claude • Perrault. 165 Yet, Boileau's account, discussed above, contradicts this hypothesis. Acco+ding to Boileau, d'orbay , was prepared to pr~uce th~ documents that would prove LeVau,
'his superior, the creator of the monuments in ~uestion. 1 . . 166 d'Orbay, in wou Id seem, made no c1aims on his own behalf.
Some months after the pUblication of the R~6lex~on4, a reconc1lation was arranged between Boileau and Perrault which ostensibly put an end to their literary quarr~1.167 Al though Boileau' s friends" encouraged him to make amends for the harm dJto Cla~de' s reputat'ion, he seems to have
disregarded their suggestion. C~1es Per~au1t, for his part, continued to extol his brôther. Two years 1âter, in 16i6, for example, Perrault again publicly attributed the ( 37 ( designs of the Louvre façade, the Arc de Triomphe and the 168 Observatoire to Claude in Le4 ,Homme4 l,llu.6:tlLe.6. This , 1
two-vo1ume collection contai~ed engraved portra~ts of ce1e brated men of the çentury accompanied by brief biographicaÎ accounts. A1though Perrault c1assed his brother amongst
the scientists, he. wrote at te~gth on his architectural ; achievements 'and declared that Claude: "
••• a eu l.'avantage d'avo,ur. donné La oOJune aux tILO-u' plu.6 b eau.x molLc.eaux d' alLc.hitec't:ulLe qu'~l y ~:t au monde. 169 , It was only in 1702, however, that Perrault specifically
denied d'Orbay' s clain;l in a brief passage in the M€'mo,(.lt..elli ., r ,- -he wrote as follows, 1 1 ,.1, Ce c.on.6 eit. de.6 bâ.:t-Lmen:t.6 et la ILetenue q,ue nou avio n4 1 mo n 61L~ILe et mo-i., de pub,U.eIL qu'~l étoU l'a.uteul!. du dUlleln QUe. l'on exec.utoit, donna la halLdiull e au .6-i.eul!. f)olLbay, €llve de lof. LeVau, de rU..ILe que lion, mattILe en €to-i.t l'au..teuIL; calomn.-i.e telLlt-Lble, cal!. c.'é:to-Lt lu-i. qui avoit mi.6 au net celui de M. ~eVau qui 6u:t pr.l1len:té au Roi et au'quel . c.elui de mon 6ILlILe 6ut pILé6€JL€. , 170
In the sarne passage, Charles also c~ented on his own role 171 in the design of the colonnade. Given the seriousness of the charge, it ts unusual that Perrault did not dea1 with this issue at greater 1ength .... The hypothesis might be - advanced tpat he planned to enlarge on 1;he subject in the ~ r sami section of the- M€moilte.6 that was to be ,devoted to an 1 1 ': ( account of his controversy with Boi1éau, the dispute which , l' ___~'1_~ ___ .... _~ •
38 ( .- had ini tially prompted th~ ,:~ Jr' S vindictive attack. It' is.unfortunate that perraplt's untimely death interrupted \ his ,work" at this point.
The effects of Boileau' s accusations
Boileau's Ré6lex~on4, it,must be remernbered, were
published in 1694, some years before the Mémo~4e~ were even written. The damaginq accusations made against Claude
Perrault in the first Ré6lex~on were bound to be given serious attention, since at the time,' Boileau enjoyed a considerable reputation and counted a number of powerful . , men at court amongst,his friends. Perrault, on the other ~ hand, had been ouh of favor for years. From the late l670's
on, Colbert had become increasingly disenchante~ with
''-.., --- - Perrault whom he sought to supplant by'his own son, Jules Ar,mand Colbert, marquis d'Ormay et de àlainville. l72 By the time 9f Co1bert's death in 1683, Perrault had virtually -;.~ ". d f .... "" 'lit. 113 , , ret~re rom \.oné Ba.t~ment,s. That same year, Louvois, " . Colbert's successor, disrnissed Perrault from his last re 174 maining position as member of the Petite Apadémie. At a court that thrived on the manipulation of power and privi1eqes, it was predictable that Boileau would receive
support over Per~ault whose influence was dec1ining. Despibe the fact that the accusations had been made at the height of BQileau '. s personal feud with Charles and thus may have been
' \' prompted more by emotion than by reason, the repercussions C 1 " ...... - ... -.--~ ...... _....,~ -
39 .:/
( f of the atta~k were felt saon afterwards. Germain Brice, , for example, who had assigned the authorship of the Louvre
colonnade/ta Claude Perrault in his Vellc.lt.i.pt.i.on de Palti..6, - published in 1687,175 re-attributed it ta LeVau and d'Orbay
in the editian of 1698,.176"
A comparable cliâ"'nge of opinion is revealed in the correspondence of Nicod!me Tessin, the royal archi1;ect-.and later, Surintendant des Bâtiments et Marêchal" at the court l77 . of Sweden. Tessin, who sought ta model the architectural
programs of Sweden Gn thase of France corresponded frequentl~1 wi th David Cronstr8m( a secretary of the Swedish embassy in l ' , ~ Paris. Cromstrdm, who was ~ell-acquainted wi th Charle~ / Perrault, and who had acquired, at Tessin's behest, several of "Claude's architectural drawings,178 wrate to his supe;ior
in the winter of 1694 that "un c.e.!tta.i.n VOJt.ba.i..6" ~ad ""just , attributed the design of thë Louvre façade to himself and to
LeVau, but that Charles Perrault had convincing~proof ta the contrary.179 Ten years later, ho'ever, Tessln's architect, . G.J. Adelcrantz, d~ring a visit to Paris, sent back word that although Claude Perrault had been recagnized previously as the architect ,of the Louvre peristyle, it appeared that the design was actually' the wQrk of d'Orbay and LeVau. ISO '0 By 1704 when ~delcrantz- made t,Qis observation, Charles Perrê1:u1t had been dead a year. Boileau,· al?- the ather hand, lived until' 1711, Ilia reputatian at court undiminished ta the
end. There ia little doubt that B?ileau' s ac~~sation i-n- ( i . fluenced public opinion considerably, mot only at the time 1 / /
/ / . / 40
/ /
but in the years t~t fo1lowed.
In defense of Claude
The Claude Perrault albums . In 1756 the architect, Jacques-François Blondel, attempt- ing to verify the claims made on behalf 9f Claude by examining a large collection of his architectural drawings. These drawings as wéll as pertinent memorandums had been arranged into two'alb~s by Charles in aÇout·l693. 181 Little was heard of the col1èction at the time of the Boileau-Perrault dispute, 'but it was presumably the "con- vincing proofn to which Charles referred in his conversation with David Constrdm. 182 _Following his study of the albums
Blondel unhesitatingly assigned the Louvre faça~e, the Arc
and the Observatoite t6 Claude. 1~3 Blondel, l' however, fel t obliged to calI attention ta a puzzling difference between .the actual measurements of the Louvre and those recorded 184 in a memoir ~ttaphed to a plan designed by Claude. Some thirteen years later the architect, Pierre 'Patte, (
made further studies. qnd he, too, enthusiastically- supported
Claude Perr~ult as the designer of the three disputed monu- 185 . ,ments. But, like Blondel, Patte also disçovered a dis-. crepancy, this time between the colonnade measurements of"
the L~uvre and the proportions recommended by Claude in
his treatise, the OlLdo nna.nee ('1682). 186 Despi te the incon
sistencies, noted by the two eighteenth century archit~cts
1\ 41
number of architectural historians accepted their basic . . hypothesis and continued to attribute the Louvre colonnade {' , ...... ' to Claude Perrault" at l~ast unti,l the mid-nineteenth 187 century. / } In 1872, however, the controversy over the attribution of the Lpuvre façade was reopened. Adolphe Lance, in his
V~ctionnaf4e de~ A~c~zecze4 F~ancai~, disputed Claude 18S Perrault'~ authorshi~ and credited LeVau with the design. Regarding Boileau's denunciation of Claude, Lance, strangely' enough, described the cri tic-poet as "un c.oY/.zempoJt.ain é danh la que.4zion. ,,18.9 Given the animosity '. dŒ.4.(.nz~Jr.e.44 1. between Boileau and the Perraults, this was clearly not the 1 c., , - case. Moreover, further investiga~ion of Claude Perrault's ~1 dr_awings by ;Lance or indeed Any other scholar was no longer possible because in 1871, the Perrault albums had been totally destroyed in a fire set by the Commune at the Bibliothèque du Louvre. 190 It is a cruel twist of fate , 0 that Charles,' by his careful compilation of his brother's
drawings~into two volumes, inadvertently contributed to the 1088 of the very papers that may have justified C1aude i s
" claim. To1ay, the only extant designs of the 1667 project 191 for the Louvre are two plans, two unsigned and undated elevation drawings,192 and a foundation m~dal.193 OVer the years, scholars have continued to debate the attribution of the Louvre façade, but have failed to Agree (. on the identity of the architecte The colonnade has been .'
42 ( variously ascribed ta LeVau, ta d'Orbay, ta LeBrun, ta 194' Claude Perrault or ta twa or more of these men tagether. Although it is not within the scope of this paper to ahalyze
f these various etudies on the. . authorship of the Louvre, it is important to emphasize Charles Perrault's defense of his brother as it appeared in the Mémo~~~~ and to comp~r~this account with two other cantemporary reports, the aforemen
tioned R~gL6~ne of the Louvre committee, and a report by l95 Claude's friend, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. As far as is known, these are the only surviving literary documents
whiçh refer te Claude Perrault's activities on the Pet~t Co~~~l du Louv~~ in a~ detail. . A c~ïarison between the accaunts in the Mémo~~~.6 and in the RegA....6 ne ,
In the Mémo-L~u Charles wrote:.
QuoLque M. Colbe4~ goutat 6o~~ le de~.6~-Ln de mon 6nè~~,' ~l n~ la.~.ua. pa..6 d' en 6a.~lle 6a..ille un a M~ L~Va.u. Apllè.6 quo-L -L! le.6 p4é.6~nta. tOU4 deux. a.u Ro-L pou~ c;ho-L.6i..~ c.e.eu~ qu-L lu-L a.g~éello~t le p!U.6. J'é~o-L.6 pllé.6ent i.o~.6que c.e.6 deux de~.6~-Ln.6 6u~e.n.:t p~é.6e.nté.6. C'éto-L~ da.n.6 .té pe.tL~ c.a.b.ine.t du Roi., a Sa.-i.n~ Ge.Jr.ma..inj i.l n'y a.voi.~ que: Sa. Ma.juté, .6on c.a.p-L~a.-Ln~ du ga.nd~, M. Colb~ll~ et moi. te Roi. l~.6 ~~ga.Jt.da. ~OU4 deux 60llt a.~~ent-Lv~me.n~, en.6ui.~e. de. qu.oi i.l dema.nda. a M. Co.eb~llt l~que.l d~.6 deux il t4ouvOi.t.e~ p.eLL6 bea.u. ~t l~ plu..s d~gne. d'~~ne. ~xéc.uté. M. Co.ebe.llt d-Lt qu~, .6'i..e en étoi.t le. ma.~t~e., -Li. c.ho.i~.i.Jr.o.i.t c.e.lu.i q~ nra.vo-L~ po.in~ d~ ga.le.~i.e. (on .n~ donno.it pM enc.o~e. l~ nom de. p~ll-i..6ti.le a c.e..6 ~a.ng..s d~ c.olonne.h qu.i, pO.6é.6 le .ec1ng d' un bati.me.nt, 6onme.nt un~ e.~e de. ga.!~Il-i.e.'C.OUVe.llt~ qu.i c.ommuni.qu~ a ( tout~c.u du a.ppa.4.t~men.6I. C~ de...s..se.-Ln -----_.~_._---
43
étoit c.e,lu-i. 'de M. LeVau, c.e. qui n' étonna 6olLt. Maü..Ll ne .6. e out pa..6 plutôt d€c.laJt.é pOUIt c.e de,6~e-Ln que. le Ro-i. dit: "Et moi je' c.ho.i:..si& l' autlLe., qu..i, me .s em6le. plu..6 beau e.t p.l.u..6 maje.~tue.ux." Je v.i4 que M. ColbelLt avait agi en habile c.ouJt.t~..san, qu-i. voulo.it donne.Jt. zout l'honneulL du c.ho.<.x a .son maltJt.e.. Pe.ut-~ZILe. lto~t-ee un jeu joué entJt.e le Roi f.- et lui. Quoi. qu'.il en . .6o..i:.t, la C.hOlle. ..se. ~ pa..Ha. dl!. eette mani.èlLe: 196
In à fo11owing paragraph he described how the conseiL ,càme into being:
Je. donna.-<.. un mémoilLe à M. Colbe.lLt où je lu..{. plLopolla-i. de 6a-i.Jt.e u.n c.on.s eil de..s batiment.6; . r c.ompà.6é de 'M. Le.Vau, pILem-LeIL aILc.h-i.te.c.te, qu-i. avoit PIL~1l ae tJt.ente année.6 d'expp.IL.ienc.e, de M. LeBlLun, qu.~ pOil.6 édo.it tOu..6 le.6 beaux aILt..s et qu..i n'.ignolLo.it pa..b le.6 pJr..inc.-i.peil de l'aILc.h-i.:tec.tulLe, e.t de mon nILèILe, qui avo.it 6ait le dUlle-Ln. 197
Whi1e there is a reasonable accord between the above passages and the minutes in the official Re.g.i.stILe (see Appendixl ,198 'crltics have pointed out a discrepancy between the sequences of events. ~ recorded in e~ch report. 199 They
noted that açcording to t~e Regi.6tILe., the King' s endorsement of tJ?e Louvre design was given several weeks after the -
creation of the Petit Con.6e-i.l,200 but that in the MémoiJt.'l.6,
it appeared that C1aude's ·appointment was the outcome of
the royal apprqva1 of his project. The sequence in the .1
• 0 latter account, however, may be exp1ained by the fact that Charles did not adhere to a strict chrono109ical order in'
wri ting the Mémo-i.ILe..s •. Furthermore" since the rernainder of
( ~ second passage, quoted above, deals with general .'
" 44 (. observations on the functions of the committee, Charles probably thought it loqica1 to include a reference to his
brother's appointment in that para~raph.
j- A comearison between the accounts in the Mlmo,uLeA and in the Llebnl.z report ~
Even greater differences searn to exist between the
Mémo-t.It.U and a report by the German philosopher; and mathe ,matician, Gottfied "Wilhelm von 4bniz (1646-1716) on the
subject of tne Pe~~t Con~e~l. Leibniz, a close friend of
1 Claude Perraultoaad his family, recorded details of a private conve.sation he had had with the doctor~architect in the
owinter of 1675 'or 1676. Although Lèibniz's statements,ac~ord sUbstantially with Charle:s Perr'ault's comments in the Mémo~lt.e6 concerning the perraults' role in the Louvre contest J in 1664 and their involvementoin the deliberations to abandon
Bernini's plan, Leibniz~ in contradiction to Charles, reported Il, that C~aude claimed to .have proposed the _idea of a c.on.6 e.il 201 d'alt.ch~teetult.e to Colbert. Two exp1anations·are possible for Cl~ude' s assertion. Since Claude' s boastf~l claim i'n his conversation with Leibniz contradicts hia otherwise modest attitüde, bis over-assertiveness, according to one critic, " may have been a typical reaction of a man, who, although . - G competent in his oWn profession, emba:ked on a sphere where his knowledge w~s less thorough and weli grounded. 2Q2 It , .4 is 'also possible that be'cause of the brothers' close personal (\ G 45
, (
and professional associa~ion, it may not have been always clear which one of them had made the initial suggestion for
cer:~,in projects. In this sense,. Claude could have erred 1 unintenti~nally~ Further discussion of the collaboration betwéen the brothers follows in the next chapter. Leibniz also gave a different version of the proceed-
ings of the Louvre conseil. For example, he descri.bed the
sel~ction of the design for the Louvre façade in the follow ing passage: ... Q ••• 1l0n.6. Pe1Vr..a/,LU JlOn4. te.Bltun et M. Veau e.t quelque.6 auiltl en tAtOLe.rd,. lUne - pouvo.ie.nt .6 • ac.coJr.delt .6 uJr. le de..611 U'fl.
En6-in 'JlOnll. de. Vea.u abandonna te ll.ien et con4en~t a ce.luy d~ MQn.6. PelLlL4utt de. 40Jr.te. qu'-il n'y a.va..it que deux' qu-i ItlÂta-ie.n.:t a cOllpa)r.eJt, c.e.l.uy de. MOn4. Pe.ltltauU et ce.tuy de. JlOftA. le.8ltun. On l.~ 6i..t dU4 e..ign.e.Jt, tou.6 deux pa.Jt un mlme. puntlte d'une mlme. gJtande.ulL. Chac.uft donna .6e.6 lLa..i.6on4 pa.lL U cJti..t. Le ItOI}, (4'u.(.V4nt te .6 e.nt.imerd de Mpnll. ColbeJt:t) plté6éJta ce.luy de 1l0n.6. PelLJt4ult. Ayant 6ai..t e.xami..ne.Jt tOfL4 de.ux Ut plan (!.Onh e.it, e.n plLU e.nee. de. . JloruLeUJr., 6JtlJte. du Jtoy, mon4. Le pJt-inc.e et le4 .. - c.olt4e.ilte.u d'E4ttLt. Et C.'e.4t ce dU.6e..in .6UlL -~le que.l on 'Ôl4va.(.Ue a pJi.e.h en.t. 203
Wbile in the Ulm6i..Jte.6 Charles had declared that,the two
projects presented 170. Louis XIV were by LeVau and Claude Perrault, Leibniz stated that they were by LeBrun and
Perrault, LeVau ha~ing withdrawn fram the contest. In addi
" tio,n, Lei.bniz reported that the King, having consulted .. \ members of Ms famÙ.y and Ms counsellors, chose the same f) J
iiesign that was pref~rred by Colbert, ~eas Perrault noted ( " , ,
) , -.---._------.. --.. -
, 46,
( o that the only persons attending the King at this meeting
- f were Colbex:t, the Captain of the "Guards and himself and that ) 204 the King approved the drawing that Colbert, had rejected. Because of the pronounced dis~pancies, the thought -' must be entertained that Leibniz and Pe'rrault very likely were describing different events. In fact, the minutes in
G the Re.g-i..s:tJr.e. reveal that at the meeting on May 14, no't aIl the busirless was, completed. Since Louis XIV Ieft Saint Germain to join his troops in Fianders two days later, 205
further discussion wou~d hav~~ to. have been delayed for sev- ~ , eral months. It{is probable that LeVau, discouraged at 1 having had bis original" proposaI refused, withdrew fram \ 1 active participation ~t this point leaving Perrault and LeBrun to complete the work. The Leibniz account, then, may weIl have referred to à meeting that took place after the King's return during a later stage of the design process.
It would appear that there i8 ~ore agreement between the Mémo-ilr.e..s 'and the two other accounts, the Re.g-Utlr.e and the report by Leibniz, than was, once thought. In further
support of Claude, it should also be r~embered t~at LeVau had s1:1bnitted a number of projects for the Louvre façade
'in previous years, 'both individually and in cooperation with LeBrun, yèt, a final design was selected on1y after
~ Claude Perrault joined the newly formt;!d con~e.(.l.. (J
(
'. . 47
Claude Perrault's vitruvius
Other than in bis private conversation with Leibniz, Claude Perrault never discussed bis role in ±he Louvre pro
ject. One way to int~rpret his silence is to presume that
he was obeyinq Colbe'rt' s wishes for strict anonymi ty regard ing the originator of the approved sketch. There is, 'how- ever, one detail in bis translation of Vitruvius tbat merits comment. In the frontispiece, designed and engraved by 1 Sebastien LeClerc, is found, oddly enough, Claude Perrault'&
rendition of the Louvre façade~ which in this instance is
juxtaposed to th~ .ether two ,monuments tradi tionally attri buted to him, the Arc de Triomphe and the Observatoire (Figure 4). There i5 little doubt about the intention behind the inclusion of his Louvre façade in the frontis- . 206 p~ece. Legitimately, Colbert could not protest a~d seemingly Î did not when a deluxe Jedition of Claude Perrault' s transla-
tion' "'''''of Vitruvius was presented to the King in 1673. More- over, the AcadéDde d'Architecture discussed the book at length without ever mentioning the frontispiece, or ,for that
ma tter, ~'t' s Lmp l'1ca t' 10n5. 2.07
Claude Perràult's ,designs for the Observatoire and the Arc ête <.rriomphe
From the time of ~oileau's attack, scholarly investiga ~ Ci tion bas been focused primarily on the attribution of tbe (
-~_._----4I.r-----_.-:------' 48 )
( Louvre façade. But, it tIlust not he forgotten that Boi,leau
had also dispu ted . Char les Perrau 1 t' s c laims on belullf of h1s brother for the design of two additional monuments: the Observatoire and the Arc de Triomphe de la Porte Saint Antoine. Regarding these latter projects, however, the
supportîng ~dence in favor of Claude is considerable.
In a memoir dated August, 16'67 and entitled PouJtquo-i. et: c.omment l' Ob.6 (!.J(.va.:to-i..Jr..e. a. uté ba..6:ty, Charles Perrault y stated that the King had commissioned the observa tory for
the us~ of the newly founded Académie des Sciences. 208 The minutes of this Académie confirm that Claude Perrault, one of the or.iginal members, had been given sorne directives on the requirements for the actual building as early as 209 April 22 of that year. By April 4, 1669 construction 1 had been completed up to the first floor when Jean Dominique , ! } i Cassini, the noted astronomer, was invit~d by Claude's 1 detractors to~cri ticize the plan. In the Id €.mo-i..Jte.6 Char'les - 1 gave the follo~ing explanation to bis children for Cassini's
interventions:, '
VotJr..e onc.le. eui: oJtdJte de. M. Co.tbeJr..t de 61Û.1te. un du4S un de c.e:t Ob/) tJr..vtLto.tlLe, qu' k.t applL,Ouva extJr..lmement: et qu..<. a. €.té exlc.ut:€. .6 an.6 fJ tien c.hang elL, . 4.(.. c.e n'ut: que. touque Id. de Ca..6.6.i.n.(. dJtJr...iVd en FlLdnc.e, M. Ca.4CdV~, qu-i.. voutoLt te. 6a..iJr..e v4lo.LIL, tu-i.. m.<.t d«n~ l'e4pJt-i..:t de 6aiJte c.hangu qu.e.lque C.h:04 e. 210 .
Cassini, for his part, protested in bis own memoirs that bis objections to Claude Perra'ult' s plans were not given 49 /~
~mmediate at~ention.211 Although Cassini sueeeeded in (, ,introducing some modifications before the building's,comple- \ ' . / \. tion in 1672, Blondel, after having examined C1aude's draw- ings for the Observatoire, ascribed the design to the
. , doctor~~e.~eet.212 v
1 The n ture of the comm~ssion for the Arc de Triomphe,
'\ ' on the othe, hand, more nearly par~}leleél that of the Louvre. Charles Perrault de~cribed i t in a memoir dated 1670: 1, j Le.6 conquute.6 que -te ROfi nit en FlandlLe pendant -lu ann€e.6 1(,66 et 1667 et ce-l-le qu"-i.l oit de la. fILanclr.e.-Comt€ dan.6 -le me.6me temp.6 6-LlLent penh eIL 1 M. Co-lbelLt li co n.6tJc.u-LlLe un aILe. de tJvi.omphe, comme le monument le plu~ convenable de tou~ IL c€léblLelL de.6 ac.t.ion.6 .6emb-labl~.6. Il en n-Lt 0a-LlLe du de.6.6 U n.6 Il M. Le Vau, prllemielL , aAchitecte du ILOy, a M. LeB~un, .6on plLemielL l peintILe, et a M. Pe4Jr.a.ul~, de l'académie ~oyale A, du .6c-Lencu, dont -le de.,l.6ein out plLé,6lLélLé a c.eux de.6 'fI,.eux autlLe.6 •••• ,.,213 .. Thus, the saroe three men who had worked together on
plans fo~ ~he Louvre were again invited to submit designs r for another royal monument. This time, however, striking J similarities between the projects ,proposed by LeBrun and Perrault s,uggest that there must have been mutuil agreement on a basic concept, or that they had referred to an antique model Il.ke the Porte de Mars in Reims which closely resembled their own proposaIs for (the Arc.214 The extént of LeVau's
" contribution cannot be determined readily sinee he died soon after, in 1670. - Charles's ~ssertions that~his brother was responsible ( !- . ••
\_'~------....------~ --______~ ______~ __ .T ___ ~ ____ ------50 f' ( for the final project (figure 5) wou Id seem ta be substan tiated in the minutes of the Académie d' Archi teçture where
cri~~cisms against the design were fir~t recorded. Indeed,
~ 0 , 'work on the Arc was ha1ted before eonstructl0n had proqeeded 215 beyond the height of the pedesta1s of the co1uI!lns. The
Academicians demanded ~evisions and ultimately accepted·the modifications submitted by Claude in 1678, even though seven years later they rejected the entire project. 216 The in- comp1eted structure was demo1ished in 1716. At no time during the proceedings was LeBrun called in to discuss the /
Arc, and it may be concluded that he had not participated
in· the final scheme. M~reovet, an entry in the Compte~
da~ed January 23, 1677 records ~ SUIn awarded to Claude 1 " ••• en c.on~'('deJr.a.:Uon- de.!;, de.6.6e.A.n6" d'll.tte.h.{tee.tulLe qu'li
a 6a.A.t.6 pOUIL le LouvJr.e, l'AILe. de TJr..{omphe et a.utlLe.6 endlLol:t6 ••• ,,217, , Since there is 1ittle doubt that Claude Perrault was ~ responsible for the final designs of the Observatoire and the Arc Ide Triomphe, Boileau's accusations ~ardf~g thesè two monuments are untenable. Thus, the question may also ,- be raised as ta whetner Boileau had any justification to deny Claude the attribution for the Louvre façade.
(
.. " 51
CHAPTER IV "l ... CHARLES PERRAULT, I!OMMf VfS rOfES AND COLLABORATOR TO. HIS BROTHER, CLAUDE .. The Louvre peristyle and the Arc de Triomphe
Although,Charles Perrault emphasized Claude' s, architec
t~ra1 accomplishments in severa1 publications, he referr~d to his own(contributions in the creation of the Louvre . " façade and the Arc de Triomphe on1y in the Mlmo~~e~ where 218 his c~nts are both brief and casua1. It is thus n0t surprising to find that litt1e scholarly attention has been given to the nature and extent of Charles's collaboration wi th his brother. . Despite the fact that Charles Perrault lacked formaI training in archi téc,ture, he was not indifferent to the
problems of architectur.al d~sign and construction. Charles, as already mentioned,.assisted in a major reconstruction of the family liouse and garden At' Viry in the Seine valley
when the property was bequeathed to hi,~ brother, Pierr~ in 219 1657. AlI' the Perrault brothers apparent1y collàborated on ..the plan;', as npted in the Ml.moilLe.~:
, . rt e.4t v~4L que me~ 6~è~e4 avoient B~dnde paJr.:t a.u de.44e.i.n de ev.. bâ.time.n.t ••• ;
Dut Charles'alone supervised the building ~f the extensions
( to the bouse as weIl as the construction of a grotto in, the
,,'
____----;---- ....'_ltl' . l , , 52
garden. He wrote:
-1 t Y 6.it ba:t.i.Jr, un COlLp de. log,u, e.:t eomme j'avo.u un ple.in' i.o,wiJr. ••• je. m' ap'pUqua.i.. cl 6aLite b4.tA.IL c.ette ma.i.4 0 n ••• au~.&.i .ta ILoc.a.iUe d'une. gILotte., qu.i. Uo.it te pt~ bel OlLnemen:t de ce.tte ma.-i..6on, de. c.ampagne.
Charles also calfed attention to the success he had had in directing a team of relatively unskil1ed laborers; pe even believed that his appointment as Colbert' s c.ommü resulted- , from the favorable reports on the Viry project. While i t
ia like 1y tha t this undertaking provided Perrault wi th ------considerable practical ,xperience, it is difficult to
det~rmine ~e extent of his creative role in the Viry ren oyations.
Neverthe1e5s, in' thé "MémoÜLe.6 Charles stated that only" " some years 1ater he contributed to the project that Claude
had submi tted to the contest for the Louvre façade in 1664:
, /' La pe.nAle da p(IL~t.i.te. e:4t de mo.i, et t'aya.nt c.ommu.niqule cl mon 6ItèlLe., .il l'a.pplLouva. e.t la m.it dan4 .6on d.e,ue.in ma..i.4 en t' e.mbelU.cS ant .inO.in.i.e.ment, c.omme .il en é:ta.it capa.ble • . 220 \
1"' ;, {. Charles also remarked that the design of 1664 was very similar' to the one ultimately chosen in 1667, and may have
souqht to imply that he had had a hand in the final design 221 as we Il •
It is difficult to Jay whether the "penAle du p€,It.i.cS:t.ë.le."
came to Perrault 1,n a sudden burst of cr~ative genius or 53
whether he arrive#tl at it by means of an outside stimulus • •Louis Hautecoeur, in bis ,study on the authorship of the 1
Louvre façade, insisted that the idea of a colonnade Il l:ta.-i..t
da.nll t' a.-i.4" long before a decision had been taken on final c 1 222 plans for the Louvre. b.--The colonnade motif, Hautecoeur recalled," was used in theater decorations of the period,
while variations could be found in l?uildings erected earlier in the century or in proposals for the Louvre by other 223 architects in 1664. François Mansart, for one, prepared , a number of sketches that portrayed short sections of a colonnade, as well as other elements eventually incorpor- ( ated in the Louvre façade such as coupled cOl~~s, balus- · 224 \ trad es and pe d ~ments. No single project by Mansart,
however, carl be considered as a model for the final design. ~ Admittedly, to suggest that Charles Perrault's "p~n,6é~ du. , pl4J../d,Lie" may have been influenc~d by elements he saw in ( the plans by other architects is highly conjectural, never ~ thelesa, the idea is in keeping wi th what ia known" of , Perrault' s character. Marc Soriano observed that Perraul r'
in his litera~ pursuits, frequently depended on'outside sources for his creative impulse. 225 Furthermore, during , , his first years. as Colbert' s assistant, P,rraul t not only had access to the plans al,ready submi tted to Colbert as , ij ~ 226 alternatives to the scheme for the Louvre proposed by LeVau, but also became acquainted with his superior' s tas tes and "7' - ,preferences. ( 1
54
AS for the 1667 project, Charles Perrault was aven more
explicit regarding his contribution; he wrote in the MlmoiJte.~:
J e pJLOpO~ tU plu~ be dix ft f)-i..6 au &..i.eUJL Voltbay de na.i.lte un ptJr..i.st.il.e a la na.çade. plt.i.nc..ipale du. Louvlte, je. lu.i en de..sJJ.ina.l le. plan ez l.'él.lvat:...i.on; ma..iA ja.maù il n'y,voul.ut. moltdlte n-i. en pa.JLle./t. a .6 on ma.tt/t.e •••• 227
Although t,e phras.e, "plu.6 de d-i.x 60,<..6", 5eems sOJ'llething of \ an overstatement, it is possible i-hat Charles may llave tried (... to exert pressure on d' Orbay in order to persuade LeVau to adopt Claude' 5 design as the "unique" presentation draw- ing. The second part of the statement, " ••• je lu-i. e.n Gl , i de.6.6-i.na-i. le pl.an et l.' éllvaz.ion ••• , If i8 perplexing, for
i t implies that Charles Perrault had prepared architectural draw-ings. ,But, although his brother', Claude, had sorne
reputation as a proficient draughtsman, 228 there i8 li tt1e to indicate that Charles had siIÙilar abilities; Any refer
ences, relating to the latter 1 s âccomplislunents In this !ield are few and ten'tative and concern sketches made after 1671, \ that ls, after construction had been undertaken on the monuments for the Bâtiments. 'For example, in a note jotted down in the margin of a
paqe in the Mlmo..i.ltu, Charles Perrault' al1uded to a project ,. . d . 229 , for a new royal palace in the environs of V'J.:ry an Savlgny.
'Although his ,proj?osition was made as early a~ ;l.67Q, Perrault's ideas were translated into drawinqs on],.y much (
/ ) , ..
55
la ter. He wrote:
~ri l'année. 1101, j'ai deA~..i.né c.e.tte. ma...i..4on '] Itoyate. ave.c. toUA le..s j aJtcUn.~, lt.i.vû.Jte.6, 6ontiÙne.& e.;t 60Jr.et:.,6 vo.i.,6..i.~l1. en bt.o.i.lJ pe.:t.i.;t.s tableaux que. j 1 tU. dan.s mon. c.ab.i.ne.t, 230
Since almost thirty years had elapsed between the ini tial suggestion for the palace and Perrault.. ' s sketches, i t would appear tha t his plans were probabl:y execu ted for his personal pleasure alone. None of these'drawings seem St to have survived.
Another lost sketch by Pe~rault was for a jeton that .was to have been used as an attendance award at the
Acad~mie Française in order to encourage m~rs to parti
cipate at the academy 1 s meetings. Paul Bo~nefon, the
-edi tor of the MémoLJte..6, ci ted a letter from Perrault to an unknown.corresP9ndent dated November 8, ·1671 that ori 23l gillally included the drawing. Today, however, the jeton. -< is known only fr&n a wri tten description in the same
letter: one side portrayed a bust of Louis XIV, while ' the other showed the King, seated and receiving holmage ~ .' 232 from the Aoademici~ns being presented to hbn ~y Colbert. , . The design was rejected. """ Bonnefon further suggested that Charles Perrault
, painted the' frontispiece ta his translation of the, tlymne..6 de. l'Abbé Sa.nte.u.i.l Cl6851',233 Medallions representing ten 1 • • different saints are disposed in a circular_arrangment o.n---,." ( the page; the figures are sununarily sketched in waterc.olor - ....- ... ,----_._... _-
56
and appear ta be the work af an amat~ur (Figure 6).
THese seant re~erences to relatively minor sketches
suggest that-Per~ault, when he drew at all, drew purely for his awn enjoyment. There is little evidence to indicate that he had the necessary qualifications ta prepare arch-
itectural plans and elevations as he asserted in the Mémo..f.~e.6. Since the phrase noted abave occurs in a passage where he was vigorausly attempting ta refute d'Orbay's claim an
behalf of LeVau regarding t~e project of 1667 far the Louvre façade, Perrault may'have resarted ta bold exaggeration in an effort ta defend himself and his brQtner. In any event, Charles more modestly described his
original concept for the Arc de Triomphe as ~ "scribble":
.;. M. LeBJtun e.t M•. Le.Vau et\: 6..f.ltent de.6 de.6.6e~n.6, et mo..f. en ayant au.6.6..f. 6a..f.t un que. j'envoyai a M. CoLbeJtt, et que j'appello..f.6 " un 91t..f.6nonnement, iL écJt..f.v..f.t a La maJtge de ma lettJte que ~e g~6oonnement lui plal~o..f.t plu~ que Le.6 de.6.6e.in.6 qu'on lui avo..f.t donné.6. C'e.~t .6UJt ee gJtl660nnement que mon 6ltèJte ooltma te de.6.6elft qui a été exécuté un gJtand modè~e ~omme on le vo..f.t a La pOitte. Sainte Antoine (Figure 5). :234
\ Na trace of this sketch has been-found, but evidence to , canfirm that Claude and Charles part~cipated in a working ~ relationship for the design of the Arc de Triomphe as well
as for the Louvre is given in a létter ~itten by Philippe
Doublet ta his cousin, Christia~ Huygensr dated March 9,
1~79.• 235 Huygens, an eminent DUtch scientist, was, living ( in Paria' at the time and was bath an associate of Claude 57
( , ,Perrault at the Académie des Sciences and an intimate friend. ( of the Perrault family. In the'lette~ Doublet thanked nis' cousin for having sent him Claude Perrault's plans on the » proposed enlargement of the cour carrêe of the Louvre; he added:
..• le PJtoj e.:t du LouvJte du SJt. PeJtJtaull e.6:t eH ectivemen:t tJti.& vMte ••• e:t POUll,lc.o-it e.o UJt.L1L quelq ue.6 1L.i.6 q ue.6 d' e.6 tJt e M.ltetS:t l aA.n.6.&y 1 Il 'mo-in.6 que ce.6 Me.6.6Jt. ayent encolle. a.utart:t d'Mc.e.ndan:t .&UIL l'l.6pJt.it de. Mon.6!L. CotbeJtt, e'e..6t a d.ilte du Roy, comme tOM qu'on a aILJte.6:té. la 6aça.de du LouvJte et le glLand aILe. de TlL.Lomphe qu.i .6 ont de leuJt ~acon. 236
v Doublet's use of the phrase, " ... de leuJt 6a.c.on1' implies that the designs 'of these monuments resulted from a collaboration 237 between Charles and Claude.
It is to be further noted that the two m~numents, the , Louvre (Figure 2) and the Arc (Figure 5) whil,e qui,te differ- ent in size and purpose, share similar design features, such l' as coupled columns, the Corinthian order and decorative L " . 1 oval medallions. Moreover, in the portrayals of the Louvre .' colonnade and tne Arc in the frontiépiece to Claude's trans- lation of Vitruvius (Figure 4) and .in the engraving, . ' l.' AJtc.h.i:tectuJte fram Charles' s Cablnet du AJt:t.6 tFigure 3l,
each monument ls crowned with similar equest~ian statues of }
" the King. • t •
• ,1 In the remainder of the passage in Doublet's'letter, he .
referred 'to another joint ~roject, but one that might not ( ) ..
1 j "P- .. <-..... ~ ... _._- _ ..~ ___ _ -~- --~ .<
. 58
o' Je accepted: r •
Ma-i4 il n y a paA :tOLLjOWl..6 Il 6a.-ilLe .6«.11. le aul,.a.e (!ulm-i.ne lu61!..l.c.o, et je n . .6 c.ay 4'-il.6 ne. .81) n..t PM .s uppla.n:tez depuA,..6 pM quel.que autJte. en c.ette ma.t-i èl.te. ..a.Jr.c.h-itec.:to n-ique.. 238
The tone of the letter suggests that Doublet knew. thé Perraults well, while the fact that he w,as collecting plans ' indicates that he had sorne knowledge"of architecture, or
1 at least, interest in the art and was thus in a posi ti9n to ~\ "\. comment on the matter. Doublet, who remarked on the diffi- , ., ). " :- cul ty of "scaling the slippery summits" at court, seeme'tl· to ... • _ .. il be1ieve that although the Perraults hàd benefi ted from , Colbert ',s favor regarding their to the Mémo.i.lr.e.s, Charl~ revea:ed tbat Colbert, by this date, had indeed become disenc/hanted with his first assistant.?39 As far as Claude is concérned, he contributed only sporad- . , ,. . ically ,to the architectural programs of the Bâtiments after 1670 and devoted the 1ast decade of his life solely to his 240 scientific and theoretica1:studies. 1 Nevertheless, during the early rears of their associa- I tion Colbert had he1d the brothers in great esteem, judgi1\9' • • from a letter "he wrot~ to the Chevalier de C1erville. 241 Having received wor~ from the local éngineer at the Chateau ~ l , Trompette, a fortress on the left bank df the Garonne, that one of the main bastions had collapsed, Colbert instructed his commissaire, ClelYil1e; to seek the advice of Claude ( l" d 59 , " Perrault ~ho was tr~v'èllinq i,n the area with bis brother, J Jean. The minister wrote~ VOUA a.vez Il PILÛ e.n:t Il 8oJr..deaux JI. Pe.JtJt4UU qfÙ -ne.' ..s' e.n.tend pa..&. moin..s en aJr..c.h.i.:te.c.~UJr.e. et; 'e.n bOllnu c.cH4:tJr..u.c.lion.6 que ..s 011 6Jr..èJr.e.,' DIO n c.omm.u. 242 ,/ Significantly,, Cô'lbert made a distinction between oonstruc- " tion techniques, "bonnes constructions", and design, ~arch- '\,.. itecture-, and indicated imat he considered the two brothers a equally knowledqeable in both fields. 243 Sainte-Genevi~ve ,'f) 'Notwithsta~di~g ·the'referehces to the Perraults' \. ' ; l, • ' participation in several building '''projects for the Bâ~iments, thefY relatively complete set ~f ex tant arch~ itectural d{!si s that seems to have been a collaborative ef~ort refers t a privaté plan', the proposed renovation 1 of Sainte-Genevi~ve~ which was.àdja,cent to the Perraults' ~ family church, Saint":E~i~:mne du Mont. 244 In the Biblio thèque S~inte-Geneviêve there is a· colleëtion of six draw 1 iIlqs entitled, Ou~e..i.1l d'un f'gJr.ta.i.l.. poUJr. l.'EgLUe. de. Sa.i.n:te- t 1- , Gelle\l.i.ive il. 1'a.Jl.-U MDCXCVII 6a..i.:t u donné 'paJt AI. Pe.1tItau.l-t , de. L' A!!adlai.e. 61LtlIlCo.u e.. 245 The hiq1:).ly pr~fesSjbruü ciuality t of the drawinqs suqgests. that they were eithèr _J?repared by Claude-Perrault or bf a professionaloçrauqh~mnan de~te . , ; 246 . the ,fact that only the name, cf Charles appears in the title. 'It 18 likely that tlie over8ight occurred at the time the ... t ".- \ ) 60 designs were presented to the church sinee, by 1'697, Claude had been dead some nine years. In a memoir of tWo pages i1l\barles' s handwriting " whieh aeeampanies the drawings, certain passages refer to " their earlie~ col~aboration on the Louvre. 247 Charl~s 'wrote, ~------~~~' that cr1;ti.c~ had reproached b.oth him and his brother ~ecause they feared that the Perraults' "design for a colonnade at the Louvre would prove to be structural-ly un- ... ' 248 sound. In fact, Charles's memorandum eontinu~d, the , (proven solidity of the .latter served, to justify their inten- 0 b . l.d 1 d 0 h f 0 .... 249 t 10n to u~ a co onna e 1n t e nave 0 ' Sa1nte-Genev1eve. Charles left litt.le doubt that the church project was not the first tilDe that he and his brother had worked together. In ad~ition, Perrault 4lso gave instructions on the building me~ods t~ be used in the construc~ion of the proposed peristyle.250 ,He undoubted.ly fèlt that the exper- ",' tise ~e had aequired at the Louvre site qualified him to J 1 discuss the technique. Pernaült wished to insure tha t the \ laborers mig~t refer to his notes sbou'ld the project be \ delayed, as seemed !ikely, given ~ prevailing financial O'ff' l' ed b . f'· ,251 ,1.d l.CU t1~s caus y LoU1S xr:v~, s ore1gn campal.gns. OHis fears were vel:'l founded because the renovation of Sainte Geneviève, according to the plans ereited by the Perrau1 ts, vas never rea1ized. An in~resting caitpari~n can be made between the \ ( design for Sainte-Geneviève and an earlier monument, an ------ ,\ .. " , 61 ( obelisk, conceived for the Bâtiments by Claude, in ,cooper~ tion with Charles. In the drawlng of the two story façade of Saint-Geneviêve, six corinthian columns on làw bases support a straight entablature Wh1Ch form a ground floor portico (Figure 7). The two end columns on either side of the porch are disposed to correspond with the lateral walls of the church and the nave columns of the interior respec tively. The intercolumniation of the center bay is somewhat Q larger than that of the- side bays in order to accommGdate the large entry portal. The wall itself is ornamented with pilasters arranged in a way so as to accord wi th the porch " columns, while a series of round medallions ~nd rectangular relief panels framed by çarlands completes the wall decor- , ation. The entablature, is crowned by a low railing embel- lished with oval plaques similar to the tribune railing 252 within the church. The.narrower s~cond story? set back 1 from the terracé, is d~vided,into three bays by four pil- f ' , asters. taches are set into the walls of the side bays while a large round arched window occupies the " central bay; decorative wall panels prc;wide further embellishment. The ,volutes' wbich extend from the side walls form a link with the laterai waiis of the g~ound floor; urns supported on ,'high bases serve as finiais. Finally, a tr~angular pediment crowns the W'boie. '.. , The façade of Sainte-Geneviève bears a striking resem- ( blance to the base of an obelisk seen in one of two designs \'lI ... ~ ~ --~-.~~~.. _"._ .. ~'--~--~~'------~~ ,.- 62 proposed by the perraul ts for a monument to the (Figure 8). This p.ect was probably conceived in 1666 253 or earlier. Like the façade of .te.church, ;tJl~ obelisk , . base" is divided i~te~o stories wi th a 'ground fl~r~porti- \ p co composed of six corin thian columns supporting a straight r entablature, "and a pedimented second story, t;:.hat is divided into three. bays. by pilasters. It differs from the church somewhat in that both stories of the obelïsk base have an equa1 number of bays whi le the porch extends beyond, each f. side of the solid portion of !:pe base by one c01umn. B0!rh the base of the monument" and the" church are embellished wi th medallions and panels framed by garlands aRd ribbons. The repeated use of simi1ar architectural elements and . decorative motifs not only in these two projects, but also j in other designs by the Perraril ts, 1ike those" for the \ Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe., suggests that the brother~~ proceeded fram one genial idea, presumab1y the 1664 design of the Louvre façade, and exp10ited it over and again 'in each successive scheme. It is difficult to de termine to what degree Charles participated in these projects, but he himself implied !:hat his contribution was restricted to the intiial phase or the original" èoncept. Thereafter, accord- ing to Charles, his brother developed and embellished the designs considerably. Interestingly. enougn, the façade of the Observatoire (Figure 91, a building attributed to Claude . , alone, differs mai:kediy from th~ façades of their , . , 1 ~-, -->-- 63 ( collaborative projects. The Grotto of Thetis at Versailles In addition to their joint architectural efforts in , Paris, the brothers also worked together on one of the most successful garden decorations at Versailles, the grotto~ Charles discussed it at some·length in the Mlmo~keh: Je donna..l le de.s~ un de li GlLotte de VeJt.6 a..ille~ qu~ eht de mon ~n,vent-ion; -- LOlthqUe. le Ro-i eut QlLdonné qu'on bâ:t-it la glLotte de VeJt.6a-ille~, je .6 ông ea-i. que, Sa Maj ehté ayant p"-.t.6 le '4ole-il "poUIL .6a devi~e, avec. un globe telr.ke.6t"-e au, de~~ OU.6 et e.e4· pa"-ole.6: N ee. ptulr.~bu.6 ,i;mpalL, " et la p!.ûpaJ/.t du oJtneme~ de VeJt~a1lle.6 ltant pJt.i4 de la 6able du Sol"ûl et d'Apollon [e.alt on avo-i:t m-i.6 .6 a na-ih.6 ane.e et e.elle de V-i.ane., avec Latone, leult milte, dan.6 u.ne de..6 6ontaine.6 de VeMa.illeh, où. eUe e.6t enc.olt~), on avo-it au..6.6-i m-i.6 un .6 ole.i..l levant dan.6 le bd.6.6-i.n qu-i ut al' extltlmi.té du peüt paltc; je .6ongea..i don,e. qu'a l'aut,,-e extlLlm~;t~ du même. palte. où. éto-it c.ette gJc.otte {c.atc. ell~ a ltl dlmoUe depw 1, -il .6 e"-oit bon de mettlte Apollon quA. va ~ e couchelt c.kez Thé~.i.6 apltù a.v oilt 6a..it le to ult de la. te"-"-e, po ult "-eplLt.s ente" que le Ro~ vien:t he kepO.6 eJt Il VeM tLille.6 apltl~ a.voilt tJtava..illé a 6~"-e du bien a tout le monde. Je d.i.6 ma. pen.6le a mon 6lr.èlte~ " médecin, qu-i en 6,-it le de~~ un, lequel a. l:tl exec.utl ent-ieltement ••• : 25 4 .~, .j Critics_question the veracity of Charles Perrault's claim as the'inventoI of the iconographie prog~am of, the / grotto mainly due to the fact that his description of the garden did no t, correspond to' its actual app~arance at that \ time. 255 I; his IU;oLI[.e.6. P~rrault implied that his concept ,; ( of ApOllo,' s retlU'n to the abode of 'the sea goddess at the ..... ---,.-....--- -~. o • • 64 ( , end of the day, not only tie~ wi th the general Apo110nian program adopted by the King, but also related specifica11y to the fountain of Latona and, at the same time, comp1eted the theme of Apollo rising fram the waters to begin his .~ . daily journey as portrayed in the Ck~~ d'Apoiton, a fountain at the far end of the Petit Pa~e. . According, ta several « critics, Perrault could not have thaught of the grotta figures as the ideal compl~ents ta the Latona or ta the Ch~ because these latter sculptures were not even commissioned • 1 r unti1 1668,256 whereas the, first payment for the central 1 257 niche figures of the grotto was made iij 1666. l Since-Perrault's account in the Mlmo~~ •• was ptnned 1 years after the grotta had been destroyed to make way for \ J. H. Mansart' s construction of the north winÇf of the palace i .1 0 in l684',his recording of the events may have suffered fro~ a certain laxity. But, in camparing Perrault's state- ments with another cantemporary accaunt of the gardens of Versailles, similar contradiction~ between the description and the actu~l state of the pa~e are apparent. In his poem, } Lu Amou.!L& de P,4 yc.hŒ et de Cupidon, Jean de la Fontaine 258 included depictions of the Chaft d'Apotlon and the sculptural groups in the grotto~59 The poem was pUblished in 1668, yet Tuby's Ck~ d'Apollon, although commissioned thàt year, 'was begun only in February, 1669 and set in,place in 1671;260 as for the grotto sculptures,_ they were nat canp1eted before 1612. 261 In the preface to the p'oem, ( .' -~ ... ~~ ... ------, ... 1 however, Lafontaine had stat~d explicitly that his descrip· tion ~id not confo~ to the actual site, but ,as it would appear in about two years. 262 Similarly, Perrault undoubtédly referred to his concept for the grotto in terms of themes previously proposed, rather than to an idea created in order to harmonize with sculptural groups already ,Ln .oLtu... In the early stages of the development of the garden, "'- no single iconographiçal theme predominatedi sculptures that " , q represented a number of different mythological figures were arrange d ln. a genera1 d ecoratlve . sc h eme. 263 Wi th the exten- sive remodelling of the gardens insti tuted by after 1664, however, a program rnay have been created to add a sense of unitY to the p..ark or at least, to give coherence. to the principal axes. It i8 interesting te not\ that at about the time that 1 the Petite Acadêmie was founded, the Apollo-Sun theme made 264 its first appearance in the garden decoration at versaiIles. ' Although Perrault did not siagle out the Petite Acadêmie in his Mémo,Llte.6 as having been responsible for the program., he had o used the collective "on" in his account thereby ascribing the origin of the themes of "Latona" and "APOJlo- rising .. .. to some select group of programmers. 265 That this group was <,' indeed ,the Petite Acadêmie may be ~urther considered, for the official history of this illustrious committee recorded that t its functions inclu:ded making proposaIs for the decoration of the gardens. 266 Perrault, however, attributed the idea ( < . in the grotto that to himse"lf,267 and there is tio .- , 66 reason to doubt his word. Perrault, after aIl, was not only the secretary of tne Petite Acadêmie, but also the Most 1 active member. Ka had both the authority and the natural ability to plan an iconographie program of this scale. For example, Charles Perrault w~s credi ted wi th the creation of a sculptural program for two frontispieces on the dame of the Tuileries palace in about 1666.268 Moreover, in a late priva te project, the cycle of ceiling paintings, \ mentioned above, he again demonstrated his talent for de- vising thematic decorative schemes. Perrault had developed this latter idea aoon after his retirement"" from the Batiments, probably with the intention of decorating a gallery in his own residence. Whether the p~intings were actually installed, is open to some doubt, since according to the M~mol4e6, Perrault had been obl~ged ta rnove in September 1683 shortly (after his retir~ent.269 Although only one of ~: paintings' is extant,270 the engravings published in~Le Cablnet de~ Beaux A~t~ give a vèry good idea of both the general plan and the individual worka. The cycle consisted of eleven paintings: the three in the center of the ceiling r~presented Apollo, ~ercury and Minerva-while panels on the side and end walls portrayed eight allegories of the arts.271 Each personification was \ accompanied by appropriate attributes, but in a departure \ fram the more traditional settinqs," Perrault included modern examples of each of the ~rts in the backgrounds. It is not ( \ r 67 surprising to find tpa t four of the paintings, t 1 AJr.c.h~te.c.:tulLe, t~ Scutp~u~e., t'Opt~que and l~ M€ch~n~que, featured Claude's projects. 272 Signif~cantly, the engraving~of l~ S~utptuAe portray~e figures fram the grotto of Thetis in a direct interpretation of the theme as conceived by Charles Perrault. But, while Charles discussed his invention of the pro- gram for the grotto, he, oddly enough, made no mention of the actual building in the Mémo~~e~. A po~sible explanation for this omission is that a suitable structure already existed. It is believed that a reservoir, built during the summer of 1664 in the corner of the main. parterre to the nGrth of the palace, was tra.nsformed into a grotto the fo'llo~ing year. 273 Unlike traditional cave-like grottoes, the façade was pierced by three large arched openings 50 that i t res~mbled an arc de triomphe; in additioQ, the exterior walls were relatively 274 smoo th rath er t h an rus t ~cate. d , as was eus t omary CF ~gure. 10/ ~ The location of the building, next to the palace rather than in the park, was a further reminder of its original purpose. Nevertheless, the iconographical program as devised by Charles Perrault would have served to relate the grotto to the adjacent palace. According to Perrault, the abode of . Thetis, as a place of refreshment for Apollo after the com- pletion of his daily labors would allude to Versailles as a retreat for Louis XIV after each day's preoccupations on 1 } 275 ! behalf of his people. .. In the Mlmo~Ir.U Perrault wrote that once the King had ( }. !1 68 approved Claude's designs for the s9ulptures, the drawings were then translated'by LeBrun into a large format and given to the sculptors' for execution: ••• Apo~lon d«n~ !a g~ande nLeke du m~~~eu, où !e.s nympke6 de Th€.ti..s !e lavent et ~e ba..ignen:t, et dan.s !u deux 'n~c.h.e.~ de~ c6;t;é-s, / ~t 4ep4é~enta le.s quat4e chevaux du So~e~l, deux dan~ ch.acune nlche, qu~ ~on:t pan.s€6 .. p«4 du T4.it0n.6.· -M. LeB4un, la4~que le .... 7 Rol eut ag4ée ce de6.6 e.in, ,le 6~t en g4«nd e~ l~ donna. Il exéeuteJt, .san~ p4e.sque y ~en ehange4, aux .sleU4.s G~Jta4don et Regnaud~n pou~ !e gJtoupe du milieu, et aux ,sleuJt Ga.6pa4d Ma4.6.i et Gué4~n pOU4 !e6 deux gll.oupe.6 de.6 côté.6, où .6ont !e6 cheva.ux. pan6é6 paA de.6 T4~:ton.6. 276 Charles Perrault's statement that the sculptures were executed " • .• .6 an.s pJt e.6 q ue ; 4len chang el, ••• ;" however, is contradicted by an earlier memorandum that he ,had ~cluded.. in thè Claude Perrault albums. At that time, Charles wrote tl that although his brothe r, s design was n sans exemple , it was never executed: he added: .. C' éto~t de~ 6lgu4e~ coi..oH alu qu,[ aU4a,[ent é:té de maJtb4e blanc 4evltue6 en pa4tie de 40 ca~lle6, qui i..e.6 au4a~t 6ait paJta.Zt4e d'une: .4 eu.le piece. 277 ~ In the final scheme, the Perraults' concep~ion ot the theme was unchanged~ Apollo .attended by the nymphs of , Thetis in the central niche and 9roups of Tritons grooming 1 the gOd's horses in the niches to either side. The actual î execution of the project as shown in a ,contemporary engraving •• 1 ( ) of the caœplrted inter10r reveals that the sculptures did not ~/ -- __ ... ,_ _Ie .... _., 69 conform~tire~y to Charles Perrault's description of Claude's drawings (Figure Il). In the print, the marble figures' are'not co1ossal nor is there any apparent ~oca~tle decoration to unify them. Nevertheless, since the size of the niéhes suggests that much larger figures were contem plated in the original design, it is possible that Claude's proposaI _for colossal statues had been seriously considered. 278 It i5 apparent that in the ten years between the commission and the, realization of the sculptures, sorne revisions had '1 been made. -, Although in the Mémo~~e6 Charles appears to have glossed over the changes made to f the designs of the grotto statues, . ' h1s account of C1aude's role in planning the interior decor- 1 ations was substantiated in the eighteenth-century by J.F. Blondel., who reported that he had seen a number of drawings Ëor the gro~to ornamentation by Claude Perrault. 279 In the Mémo~~e6, Charles described the types of decorations as .' ~ follows: Mo n 6Jtt~e 6~t a.u.6.6.<. de.6 du.6 e.~n6 pou.Jt tou..6 lu autJte.6 oJtne.me.n.6 de. cette g~btte, 6.i..gu~e..6, Jtoca..i.l.l.eA, pa.vé, etc; ~l Q..it a.U.66.i.. te de.6.6 ei.n de ~a po~te, qu~ éta...it tJtl.6 bea.u: e'éto..iz un Sole.l...l. d'air- qu...i lJ.épa.ndo.<.t .6e.6 ~a.lJon.6 a.u.6.6.t d'olt 4uJt tou.te l'étendue du :t.~oü poJtte.6, le..s q ue.l.le4 étoi.ent de. b~lLu de. 6e.4 pei.nte..6 de. veJtd. Il .6emblo.i..t qu.e. le Soleil 6at dan.6 c.e..:tze. gJtotze et qu'on le v..it au t~aveJt.6 de.s bM/te.au.x de. la. poJtte.' .f8Q 1 Of aIl the ornaments created for the grotto, the gril1ed ( entrance doors were unquestionably the most outstanding. ,--- .__ .__ .--- 70 Although Charles Perrault never suggested that he had contri~ buted to their conception in any way, it appears that an earlier joint project by the Perrj!ults,--t1te previously cited obelisk for the King, influenced the design of the gates. Since nei ther the sketch of the monument (Figure 8 ), nor indeed that of an alternative version (Figure 12), is large enough to permit a clos4 analysis of the details, it May. prove useful to refer to the accompanyin~ memorandum by Charles Perrault. 281 In his thorough description o~ the monument' Charles stated that tHe summit of the obelisk was crowned by a golden orb repr~senting the sun. In turn, this 1 orb was supported by a sphere formed c;>f op~n grillwork, J ',. where the metal bars symbolized sun ~ays emanating fram the orb above. Perrault explain~d tha~ the sphere was to be large enough to accommodaçe several sightseers; the .. grillwork presumably insured their safety. From the sphere, the ",gilded metal bars extended down th~ shaft of the obelisk to a point just above the base which was decorated with bas~ reliefs representing the four corners of the world. This d~sign, in keeping with the King's dev~4e, symbolized the sU,n an d 1. t s rays 1'11' um1na t'1ng t h e un1verse. ' -282 In similar fashion, the gilded metal bars of the grotto , gates 'fan out like radiating sun heams from a metal plaque - , portraying the face of the sun go~ CFigure 10 l. The disk itself i5 affixed to the lunette of the central portal while six more roundels, referring to four parts of the world as ( ! .1 ,\ 71 weIl as ta the two polar régions, ,are mounted in the oenter , j- ) of eaoh. of the door panels. Since the design' concept of the grillwork of the gtotto gates ~losely parallels that of the obelisk, Charles' Perrault, who had cooperated with Clâude on the planning of tr,he latter monument, may be seen as having indirectly conkibuted ta the realization of the grotto gates as weIl. l , , . " 1 1 1 ) , ;.i"1 l' < ' \ \ \ " 1 '.. \ ., ----~---,--- \ \ 72 ( , ~, f \ CONCLUSION Charles Perrault, appointed first' as c.omm.i4 t~ Colbert, and then a c.on.tJtôleult in the Bâtiments du Roi, act~d -mor~ as an advisor to his superior than as a subord!nate. Con- 0> , sequently, he a$swned a greater role in the planning of \ several IJlqi}!-1IIlents commissioned by the King than was ,generalJs'}y the rule for a high ranking administrator. He owed his con- . siderable influence, nct only to. hard work and personal ambition, but aiso to bis ability ta capi talize on his extensive knowledge in the arts. Colbert, somewhat uncert"ain about his own artistic judgements, valued Perrault' s infor- mal recommendations and_appreciated his perfo~ance in his official posts. , Charles Perrault recorded details of his. activities in the Bâtiments du Roi in his Mémo.LIte..6. Although the Mémo.LJtu • have been frequently criticized because of Perrault' s overly praiseful attitude towards himself and his farnily, the accounts, for the m?st part, can be substantiated. The Mémo.i..lte~ provide valuable information on the com- .' ~ pletion of the Louvre, one of the major archi~ectural projects ... of the seventeenth-century. Perrault co~sidered bis own , . )-. ~ l.nterven t~ ons in the project as his Most signif icant con,!:ri- .\ bution to the Bâtiments. It is not surprising to find that ( Perrau}:t, whO~believed illlplicitly in the preeminence of the '\ ,.' .. : 73 art and ~tists of France, adversely criticiz'ed the plans ",. , submitted by the Italiap dchitect, Bernini, for the Louvre, o~ that he prop'osed the crea1;i.on of an advisory -c~ittee " é~sed. solely of French architects followinq the abandon- ment of the Cavalier's proje~t. T~ Perrault, it very likely seemed only natural that the p~al palace of the Xinq of • Fr~c~ ~ desiqned entirely by Fren~hmen • " Perrault's advantageous,position in the B3t~ents T ( '- ~ undoubteiUy allowed him' t6draw Colbert' s attention to his brother' s architectural schemes for the LouVre. But, to W suqgest that Claude PerrauI\t' s appointment to the Petit Con- seil du s pr~ted by Cbarles's influence a10ne rather 'thëm by lents 1 disregards the Surintendant 1 s on efficiency and excellence in what concern.ed ts . • " When the critic-poet, Nicolas Boileau-Despr~aUx, some > yea±s later challenqed Claude 1 s authorship of the Louvre: rr" '\ . design , h; opened' a controversy wbic~ continues ';""n today { Because the terms of tj.he Loùvre commission reqùired anonymi ty ~ 1" regarding the designer of the plans, and because of the l' q , paucity of extant documentationl it may never be possible to " cletermine . conclusively t~e identi ty of the a,rcbi tect of the Louvre colonnade. Never the les, , eDough evidence exists to SD9qest that Claude contributed, af l~st, to the initi~l phase of the design process. It would also appear t!lat . Charles' s defense of hi. bn>ther in the M6IJo.iJt~~ and other 1 ,i \", '.. " , 74 writings deserves to he given more serious attention than previously, for Boileau never proved his charges. Moreover 1 , . . the critic-poet was an arch-enemy of the Perrault family and at the time of his' attack on Claude 1 s reputation he was en- . • r gaged in a bitter literary quarrel with Charles. Even, less thoughthas been given to Perrault's comments ~ in the M(mo-iJtu regarding bis own contributions te Claude's designs for the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe de la Porte Sainte- 1 • Antoine and the grotta at Versailles. Although, by their JI -, very nature, the ",tdée4" of Charles are difficult ta docu- .. ~ ment, a collaboration between the brothers on th.ese and other projects has been established. Charles Perrault thus was not .•rely an able adminis trator, but aiso an hotme. du -i-dé~. His role in the Bâti-- ments exceeded that of a gifted amateur; indeed/~he partici pated in the achievements of ~e Of,f,-ic.e ~n nlanY levels - po li tical, literary 1 artis tic - and con tributed te the realization of Louis XIV's ambitions te create a reign 'of l , <> o , unparalleled splendo.;. 1 1 i l' ! ' f' 1 &, , ! , 1 f' .; " . ". ~ r - 1 " ;il! , " 7 \ 1 -75 APPENV1X Regi~t~e ou JOU4nal deJ dlLibé~a.tion4 •. ~é.fI olut).OM touè-hant l.u 8U.ime.M du Ro-i • .J Mon.seigne.~ le' SuJU.ntendant a.fJant cOn!lA:.deJr,é qu'a.uc.un 1 du A~ch'("tectu ta.nt de. F~anee. que d'I-ta..t-ie., n' avo-i.t e.nt).e. ~e.me.nt ILltL6.!l-i dan.6 lu dUli e-i.~ du Louv~e qu' -iÙ ont donné..!l, , I~ / 6 ayant ut-iml que. c.et ouvlLage ~-e.mandoLt le. glue.,,' [.q.. .!lue.nee. 6 t f appUeat-io 11. de, ptu.6-ieu1t.6 peM 0 nnU q u,i j ~-ig nan,t en.!l emble te.UJt4 dA.. Gft elLeM taten!l, .!l e. fi ec.o ~eJl.oient .t'un l' autlLe. Ii , ' .6' 4Â.delLo-ie.nt mutuellement, ~ po~ cet cet e.t ayant j . , eH etté ..tu yeux. .!lUIt 1Je.6.!lie~ Le Va.u, le BILun, 6 Pe~~a.uU, LI ..te.ll manda 6 G..Lt ven-iIL chez Lu,[ le AvlL-iL 1667. & apILè..!l leuIL - , . avoiJe. e.x.pliqué 11011. -intenüo"n, & 64-i.J:. entendlte qu' -il déll-ilLoit tU' -i...t1l tlLava,iUa..6.6 ent unan).meme.nt li c.onj ointemen.,t a toull tu deJllUn.6 qu' il.6 tJ auJc.OU a 64-ilLe pOUIL t' achevemen.t: du Pala...i...4 du L~uvJte, Ut .6olde que. cu dU!lun.!l .6elto-ient ILega~dé.!l comme. i' ouvlLa.ge d'eux tILOÜ,' également, 6 ,que poulL con!l elL.ve.1L !'u~on S bonne intelLigence, aucun ne pOUlt~oit .!l'en d-i.Jte !'au..t:e.u.Jr. pa.JL.t-i..cuUllLement au plLljut1;-ice du a.~u. IL leU1L olLdonna. de tlLavaille.Jt -inee!l!lament en commun a 60IL.meIL an plan li une Ull1a...tion de La. 6acade. de.l'e.n~le veM sa.1.n:t qeJtma.-i.n. , Su.).va.nt cet oJr.de~,· ludJ..û li).euM le Va.u., le. 8!L--un 6 PelLlL.a.u.U .6 e .sont Cl,4,6 e..bléu plu.s.i.eo/U 60u poUIÎ. c.orr.6e.IL.ek e.n!ieJIble., 1 .6 'ltant tlLouvl!l de di66lM.n.6 ClVU, a.u. lieu d' un. ( , l, , c , " fIJ .. 76 ..6eul dU.6e,in poalt la 6açade, -il.6 en 6ilten.:t de.ux, dont l'un étoi:t ,olLné d'un OltdlLe. de c.olonne..6 ooltmant an pe.ItY.6:ti.le .ou g"o.l..eue. au-de.6.6 U.6 du pltem,{elL é:tag e., & l' autJr.e. é:toit plU.6 ..6.impl.e 6 plu.6 un,{ 4an.6 OltdlLe de c.olonne.6. Mon.6 eig~e.ulL ayant , , va cu du.6 e-i.n.6, & ~yan:t .6ouha.Lté d' en vo..i..1t au.6.6-i. lu mode.lu , en bo..u, c.ela 6ut e.xécuté e.n appliquant ce.6 deux 6açade..6 .6ult / lemodele. quA.. ut chez M. le. Vaui en.6uite de'quo-i illeult d-i.:t de tlL4va.illelt encolte. ta u.6 tILO,u .6 Ult chacun de ce.6 de.6.6 Un.6 j U.6 qu'Il ce. Cl U' il.6 e.n 6tU '" ent .6 atü 6a..i..t.6, 6 de tu ten-i..1t pltU6 pOUIL lu 6a..i..lte vo-ilt au Ro,{ quand il lu mandelLoi:t, , ce qa f..i..Û 6üent. -i.ncu.6a.mment .• Le I3. May l' alLdlte vint de. pOIt:te.1t c.e.6 dU4 e-in.6 cl Sain:t .Ge.lLma.-in, où n' ttyan.é pli l:tlte mont4é.6 cl Sa Ma) uté le " mlme. ) 5JuJr., -i-Û lu,{ 6ulten.:t plLé.6 entéll le lende.ma.i.n paIL Mon.6 ugneult' le Sult-intendant q u..i expUqua ,cl Sa Ma) e.6té :tOlL.6 le.6 '4vantagu dè .l'un & de l'autlLe de",ce.6 de.uein.6. En.&uite ,.' /Cl.e quo-i Sa Maj u.:té .6 e. dé:telLm,Lna, 6 c.hoi.6i:t celui q u-i. e..6:t G oltné d'un OItdJr.e de colonnu 6o"-IIIan.:t 'un peJr..y.6tile. ~a Uaje.6té vit aa...6.6i quelquu au:tItU du.6 Un.6 de Planl, 6r d' llévat-ion.6 du lLe.6:te du Uvlte qu' elle. lLe.m.-i..:t Il lLé.6 oudlte pOUIt une au:tJte 60,(,.6. 1 1 ! . , Le. 18. dU. mlme mo..i....6, Moue,LgneUlt ayant ma.ndl le.6 i ., o66iûe.Jt.6 du b.ft,.:t.illten.6 dan'" J. 0 n ant-i.c.ab..i..ne.:t où .6 e .tJtouv ue.nt MU.6i~uM Va.Jt-i..n, te ,IJO.6.tlLe, le Menu.tJtet 6 Pe.U.:t, Meu-i.e.u!t.6 ..j le Vau, le. SltU.A &. PelLltau.Lt, .Ll tUt que f.6u..i..vant l' .intention 1 .. 1 de Sa. Ua.ju.tl, le du'un .... de. la. 6açade du LouVlte où .i.t IJ a ! ( 1 , (' 1 . 1 ,,1 77 un pelLy~t-Lle. leque.l Ll 6U vôllL ci toute. la compagn..i..e., ~elLolt e.xéc.u.1:€., 8 que poult cet e.6oet le.& Plan~ & '"lu éltvat.(.on~ en ~t.Jto,(.e.nt 6tùt.6 ' e.n EILand pOUIL lu.i.. ltlLe e.nvoyé-.6 8 pltl.6e.ntl.6 a.u Ro-i 8 eMu..ite. 4.i..gné.6 8 aMlté.& pu monfÜt SugneuJt. Que. le. lundt e.n.&u-Lvan:t on oUVIL..é..lLo~t le~ attell.i..eIL& du LouvILe. pou~ :tltav~lle.Jt. ci tout le c.aILlté qu-é.. .&eILa élevé j lL6 qtL' au de ..u M de la plLem-LeJt.e coltuc.he, comme. a~~-i. ct 60u-i.ilelt ie.~ 6ondCLt-ion.6 de la 6a.ç.ade velL& SCL-int Ge.lLmaÙt, qu-i. .6Vta con.ti,nule & poutiuiv.i.e :tn~u.6amment. Qu'il ..s elLa nCL-i.t un mode.ie ~n Bo-i..s de c.e.tte 6aç.ade p'oUJt ltlLe. montte .&ulL celu-i. qu-<. e.6t c.hez M. le Vau, pOUIL m-i.eux vo-ilt enc.olte ..s on un-ion avec. le lLe..ste.. Qu'ou.tlte ce modele. en bo..é..&, -Li en .&e.lLa 6a.tt un piU.6 gILand de c.e.tie. 6açade, en plâtltt-'-ou: ..stuc., lLédu-it de. la to-i..se a.u p-i.ed. Qu' -il .selLa 6a-i.t du de..s..sun4 me...sulLé..s' de chaque. paILt..i.e. d' ~ltc.h..i.tec.tUJte, qu..i ne pOUILlLont ltlte e.xéc.u:t€~ pCLlt lu E~Ite.plLe.ne.U1L.6 qù'-il4 n'aifent ltl ..s-igné..s de. -Mon..se-igne.uJt. •. Que le..s 6ondat.i..on..s ..selLant eondu-<.te..s de niveau, 8 .s; élevelLon~ égale.men.t S paIL a.uue..s. Q.u' -il ..s e.lta 6a-it u.n de...s.&un au net du d6me lIe.1t.6 la lLue ~ S. HonolLé, S ..s elLd envoyé a J,fOn.6 e.i.gneUIL pOUIL ltILe plLé..s e.n.té \ au Rol, 8 eu tùte altltltl. de mondU Se.i..g neu.Jt. Que l~ .s c.ulptulLe qu.<. Itute a 6aDte au. Lou.vJte .6 UJt c.e qu..l. ut bâti, 8 ct la.quelle lu EntlteplLen-e.u.Jt.6 ..sont obUgl...s, ~ '1 . ; ( ,. , .' ,1 \, . \' ., • .1_- ..--I.- ____ ~-- .".II~' l '" , ' " 78 r ~ ~ .. .6UlL ce. qu-i peut le.UlL étlL,e da de ce.6 ouv~aB e.L1 • ,:, Qu.e. M. le B~un aulta l' 0 e...i.l .6 u.Jt la 6 ulptu'f.e. du Louv~e, fi en' 6elL.a. lu de.64. e..i.n6 qui .6 e~ont pa.lL.e~llement envoyé.6 d Mon.se.igneu~ p-ou~ €tlLe. !:t.i.gné!:t de lu..é... , ,. Qu.e .t' AlL.cn..é..tec.tulLe, 6~~6 e ~ c.o~n..l.che de la 6({çade veu .-Sa.-Ln.t Ge~ma.in.~ ..to~ne.~ont au-toult de.6 pav.illon.6 .6an.6 conUnuelL plU.6 avein.t. Que .t'on ouvlL.i.~a ta te~~a.6.6e de M. Regn4ltd, 8 .6e.~4 6ai..:t un ouvltaBe -de. ma.çonne.ue. dan.6 le 6oué, 6u.i.vant te de.66e.l.n q.u.i. en .oeILa. 6a..i.~ & ah..h..êté paJt Mon.6 e.igneuJt. Le. 24. May, Mt.6.6.ie.u~.6 le Vau, le."BJtun 8 PelLlLa.ul.:t ç 6' é~a.nt 4.6.6emblé6 au 109.i6 de MOn4 e.i.gneuJt, ~é!:t otulten.:t, 1 6u~va.nt l'.intent..é..on de Mon.6e..é..Bneu~, de .6'a.6.6embte.lL tOU.6 te.6 me.ltc.~edü 8 6amed..i..6, depu..é...6 .6..é..x he.u~e.6 du 60..(,,'1. jU.6qu'a. hrUt, po~Jt c.on6e~elt fi tlLava.i.llèlt en.6e.mble a'ce qu.i Jtegaltde le6 ba..t.imen6. Qu.i Sa.medi. pltocha.i.n, M. le Va.u appo~telta. un Ptan. qu jU6~e de. c.e qui e..6t béU.l. 6U~ le. devant du Lauv~e., pou.h.. ' 4egle~ l'end4o~~ où ~e do~t 6~~e la 60uitte pau4 te mU4 qu~ do~t p04te~ ~e pe4y.6t~te. . Qu'~.t 6e4a. 6a.i.4e. deux eop.ie.6 du de..6.6 e.i.n de. ta 6açade , appJtouv€e pM le Ro.i, un pouJt M. l,e 8~un, t' aut4e po~ M. -' Pe.44a.ult, a.6~n que chacun d'~u~ 6a.4.6e un de6.6~n eon6o~me en BJtO.6 a eetu-la, 6~vant le.6 m.e..6u4U $ p40po4t.i0n4 qu~ trU .6 embte~ont le6 plU.6 bettu, pou.~ de. ee.6 tJtO..(.6 de.6~ e.l.n4 en l~~e 6~t un 6eut, en ehO~.6~44a.nt ce qrU 6e~4 just ~e IIIulleult de "t.ou.a tu t~O,(,6. '. \ , , ------.. - ... -..--- - ."..,. - --.. -- --- ... -...... , - 79 (, Le 2g.: MaL, 'M. le Vau donna une copLe du de~~eLn cl M. le 84un qui pILomit d'en 6aLILe 6aLILe une copLe ~OUIL M. 1 " PeILILault, aoin de t~availleIL cl 6aiILe chacun leuIL d~~eLn, comme L1.. e.6t di:t c;_-de~.6~. S , agL.6~ ant de ~eg lell. l' Lnte~va-t1..e. de.6 c~o~ ée.6 du. COll.p.6 de logL.6 veIL.s lu P~'e~ de. l' OILatoLlLe, entILe le d6me 6 le . pavLl-ton quL .&ont à bâ.tLII., 6 la que.6tion étant ~ ~çavo',(.l[. .si on le.s e.6paceILa également entll.e elle.6, oU 6L on le~ Upac.eILa de la même 6açon, qu'eLlu -te .60nt dan:6 la paIL:tLe .semélaQ1..e qui e.6t bULe, où elLi6 .6ont cl dL.6tance.6 Lnégale..&. 1ft Il a été tILouvé a pll.OpO.6 de le.6 e6paCell. de la m~me 6aeon , qu.'elle.6 le 60nt dan.6 ia pa~tLe .&embla.ble qu.i·ut bâtLe, . , où elle~ .6 0 nt.> a dL.6tance:6 Lnégale.&. Cette' ILai.6 on de ~Lme.tM..e " 1 , d' un c.1Ué d l autILe, étant plu.6 60ILte qu~ celle de l' éga.U.té de.s ~emeaux, 6 d'autant p?u.6 que cette d..l.H elLence qu-i. .6 e. l e~t.i.t d'un côte cl l' autlle., /J. eILoit no n-.6 eule)netnt blŒ.'mée e.n voya.n.:t. te bâ.-timen:t, m~ au..6~.i. en voyant -te plan' quL ~ eJta va dan.6 toU.6 lu pal//, €.t~ang e.1L.6 wO • ~e plan de -cette 6ace de bâ.timent 6a.~ant voil!. que le ,dame du. mi-t.i.eu. e.6t plu.6 laJtge en la pa~tLe du dehOlf. .6 veM , . la /Lue S. HonoJté, qu.'Ll ne. l'e..6t e.n la.pa~:tLe. du c6té de 1..a COUIL, 6 .tu 6ondati.oM en éta.nt oa.itu de la .6oll.te, on a \ .. exa:mLn.€ ~i c.ette d.i.6 6éILence n' ét(J.i.t po.{.nt u.ne c,.ho.6 e. 'cl .,... !' ~ lI.é~olLme/L~ 6 on a lLe.mi.6 ~ meJr.clLed.{. pltoc.ha:Ln 4 pltendJte une. i .. 1I.€.6 olution ld.- ck~.6.u..6 .• (, , r , \ 80 NOTES . Introduction " lSee M. Soriano 1 Les" contes de Per,au1 t, cu4ure savante • et traditions populaires, Paris, 1968, 494-97, for references to the various edi tians of the Contes. 2Charles Perrault, M~moires de ma vie, introduction and notes by P. Bonnefon, Paris, 1905, 34, 37. 3Les comptes des bâtiments du roi stous la reC]ne de Louis .r ~; ed. J. Guiffrey, 5 vols. Paris, 1881-1901, l:656~7 records the first payment to Perrau1'h a~·cont'r61eur. The 1ast entry appears in 2: 389. 4For a discussion of the building programs ul)dertaken during the reign of Louis XIV, see L. Hautecoeur, Histoire de l'architecture classique en France, 7 vols. Paris,' 1943-8/' voiume 2. ssee,for example, Acad~mie royale d'architecture, Proc~s verbaux de l'Acadêmie roY!J.e d'architecture, 1671-1793, ed. H. i # • Lemonnier, 10 1I01s. Paris, 1911-29,1:99,105,158,168,; J.B. CO~bert, Lettres instructions et m~moires, ed. P. Clément, '1 h 7 vols. Paris 1861-73, 5: 266 note l, 2.84 note 1; P. Bonnefon, "Charles Perrault commis de Colbert et l' adnlinistration des arts soua Louis XIV ~'apr~s des documents in6di ts," Gazette ( " , " ,l, ..,..-.....,...... - '1-" ~ ,....,~-~--i; • •• r ., J , ...-- ... ~~- --'-, - , , , '~ -'-,--_. -- .\ , 81 ( • / des Beaux-Arts, 1908, II: 201-2, 204, 210-13, 347-49. ': ) j 6C • perra ul t, Mêmoires, 82. 7C•1 Perrault, Mémoires, 88, 101, 108. 8' c. Perrault, '~moires, 86, lOlt 109-10. 9For a, general discussion of the controversy see H...... Rigault, Histoire de la Querelle des anciens et des modernes, ( "1 Paris, 1856. See a1so, J .E. White, Jr., Nicolas Boileau, New York, 1969, 168-182 and R. Bray, Boileau, l'homme et l'oeuvre, paz:;is, 1962,105-120. lON. Boileau,' "Réflexioris cri tiques sur quelques passages du .Rh~teur Longin, ft Oeuvres de Boileau, commt:!ntary by M. Amar, 4 vols. Paris, 1824, 3: 189-90. ~lN. 'Boileau, Oeuvres, 4:212-13. In a footnote the, editor cites a letter from the Jansenist theologian, Antoine Arnauld, ta Boileau in Oeuvres de Louis Racine, par~s', 5: 150. Arnauld, who was attempting to bring about a reconciliation between Boileau and Charles Perrault, believed that Boileau had allowed himself to be persuaded by gossip, in making his accusation.. ~g.inst Claude Perrault. The theologian fel t that Boileau had unjustly dishonoured the doctor-archi tect' s repu t4ti,on. 12C• Perr(lu1 t, M6m0ires, 132. " , 13AS ci ted by P. Bonnefon', Introduction to Mémoires by. C. Perrault, 1. .---.- .. _---' ...,...-_" , ,". ,'If. ----,_._-- 82 14In the Introduction to M~moires by C. Perrault, l, P.-BQPnefon cites the Mémoires in Oeuvres 'choisies de Ch. ~ Perrault, ed. Collin de Plancy, Paris 1826 and two publications of Perrault's Mêmoires by Paul Lacroix, one, in a collection of diverse ~Iks, 1842, and the other in Petits chefs-d'oeuvre, 1878. lSBonnefon' sedition of the complete text i~ from the manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, nO 23.997 du Fonds français. Al! references to Perrault' s Mémoires in this pa:per , ' are based on the Bonnefon edi tion. 16 J . d'A1embert;, "Eloge de Charles Perrault," Histoire des membres de i' Acadêmie française morts depuis 1700 jusq~' en f 1771, 6 vols. Paris 1787; reprint ed., 'Geneva, 1970, 2:165-220 ,in original edition; "200-214 in reprint. l7J . d-'Alembert, H-istoire de l'Académie française, rpt., / 208. .0 18 J'. d'Alembert, Histoire de' l'Académie française, rpt. • 208 . 1 " 19 . , P. Bonnefon, "perraul t commis de Co1be.rt ", 433. y 20A• Ha11ays, Les'Perrault, Paris, 1926, 6. 2IL. Hautecoeur\ "L'auteur de la colonnade du Louvre," J., Gazette. des Beaux-Arts, 1924, 155, states that the errors in the Mêmoires " .•• nous autorisent! ne pas leur donner une ,valeur absolue." See also 162 for Hautecoeur' s discussion of the contradiction between the ~ire. and Perrault' s account ,. . . " '------,' ',~" ., .; " .... '--" ... ~-~ " 83 " in the Journal du conseil on the subject of the Louvre. F. 1 Kimbal1, "The Genesis of the Château Neuf at Versailles, 1668~ 1671," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 35, 1949, I:362 note 2~ calle ~ Charles Perrault a "gifted tel1er of tales n who "garbled historie truth. especially whJre his brother was concerned." . 22See A. Laprade, François D'OrbpY, architecte de Louis ~, Paris, 1960. 23A • Laprade, D'Orbay, 24. 24 See M. Soriano, Le Dossier Perrault, Paris, 1972, 141-150. 25M. Sori~o, Dossier Perrault, 146-47. 26Two authors who suggest a collaboration between the Perraults are: A. Si9}'lalt, Une mystification de Charles Perrau,lt, Paris, 1948, 9 and A. Ha11ays, Perrault, 125, cite . . by A. Laprade, D'Orba~, 329. . . • 1 . ,'1. { l ' ! o \ : 1 \ 1 , - - - ,_.----- 84 , "'- Chapter l 27A• Jal, Dictionnaire critique de biographie et d'histoire, 2 vols. Paris, 1872; repr~nt ed., Geneva, 1970, 2:1321. See a1so, M. Soriano, Dossier Perrault, 32-3. 28A• Jal, Dictionnaire, 2:1321, cites the fo11owing with 1 their respective birth year~:t Pierre, 1611; Claude, 1613; Nicolas, 1624; François and Charles, 1628. M. Soriano, Dossier Pe~rault,. 96, inc1udes the name of Jean, 1609 • 29M• Soriano, Dossier Perrault, 96. 30C. Perrault, Mémoires, 20-22. See also M. Soriano, Dossier Perrault, 23-25. 31C. Perrault, M~moires, 29-30. 32C. perr~u1t, M~moires, 31. Charles notes that his eldest brother, despite excellent qualifications, earned ~ery 'little .as a lawyer. 33C. Perrault, ~moires, 77. See also, P. Bonnefon, , Il 1 ."Charles Perrault, Essai sur sa vie et ses ouvrages, Revue 1 1 , ! d'Histoire littêraire de la France 11, 1904, 374. 34H• Soriano, Dossier perrault, 26. '. 35M. Soriano, Dossier Perrault, 77, notes that many of the texts composed by Perrault during these years, 1654-64, . ' were compiled and published i~ 1674 in Recueil de piêces °diverses en prose 'et en vers. ( .. . • :1' ~ , ----_._---,~,' ,'~'-~--.-- - --, ff U " • 1 ~ , . < .t ., .. ", •• ~ ~-- , .. _----- 85 ( 36 C• ,Perrault, Mémoires, 36. 37C • perraul~, Mémoires, 35-36. In addition to Pe~rault, 1 the first members appointed to the Petite Acadêmie were three Academicians: Jean Chapelain, l'abb~ de Bourzeis, and l'abb~ Jacques Cassagne. 38c . perrault', Mêmoires, 37. The first meeting of the , ... Peti te Acad~mie took place on February 3, 1663. 39 In a letter to Colbert, November 18, 1662, Chapelain discusses the 're.lative merits of medals, poetry, history, architectural monuments and painting as suitable projects. See J.-B. Colbert, Lettres, 5:587-89. 40References to the functions of th~ P~tite Académie in this and the following sentences are based on Académie des inscriptions et belles - lettres, Histoire de l'Academie des inspriptions et beltes-lettres, depuis son establissement jusqu'à pr~sent, 51 vols. Paris, 1729-1809, 1:2-4. 4lC • Perrault, Mêmoire's, 41. 42o~angerie des Tuileries, Collections de Louis XIV, des$ins, albums, manu$crits, Paris, 1977, 238. 43C• Per~ault, Mêmoires, 39-40. f 44c . Perrault, Mêmoires, 40. Perrault, Mémoires, 38-39. 460rangerie,' , ,1 Coll~ctio de Louis XIV, 288. Israel ( " \ « 1 " l' ..., ~- .. ~. ... ___....,1~ __ l" ---_... -""'~---- 86 Silve~tre, Fr. Chauveau and co11aboratQrs were responsible for the thirty-seven engravings; E. F1êchier composed the Latin texte 4 7Acad~mie des inscriptions 1 l' Hiatoire 1 1: 4. 48 see J.-B. Colbert,' Lettres, 5:4'49-50, for the terms of . l the appointment. 'i 49 For an extensive discussion, of the- administration of , 1 the Bâtiments see R. Guillemet, Essai sur la Surintendance des Bâ timents du Roi sous le règne pe rsonne l . de' Louis XIV. Thèse pour le doctorat, Universit~ de Paris, Paris, 1912. See also L. Hautecoeur, l'Architecture classique, 2:413-25. S~C. Perrault, M~moits, 34. , si " . : Comp.tes, 1: 433, • t Au. .ô.t.e.UIL Pe.ltlLauLt l' u.n. de. no.6 c.o.mm.t..6, ayà,n..t le .601.n 'de. la v.u1.te. de. tou.6 le.6 oU\lltage..6 olLdonn.e.z palt S. H. en .6 e.ô b a..6t1.men..t.6, ê..t de te.nD/. la. ma..i.n a. c.e que tou.~ lell olLdlr.eh pair. noCL4 donnez pouJt. l'e.x.ec.u..t.i.on du voi..ontlh de S. M. 4oie.nt pon..tc.u,el lemen..t exec.u..tez a.vec. dll.<.genc.e lLequ.t..6e, pOUIL .6e.6 appo.t.n.temen,u . - 52R. Guillemet, Essai " 79. r;. 53R. Guillemet, Essai" 79. ~ - 54 . M Jurgens and ,M.A. Fleury, Documents, du' Minutier Central concernant 1 'histoire litt~raire (1650-1700" Paris, 1960, 305. A 1ease, dated August 4, 1668, for a house rented 1 j py harles Perrault çites his residence as lien l'h8tel de .1· f j () .. (!) -> ~ \ \ lb )' , lWJlr = "",W-~' , ,. } '. ~,/~ Il ,' ,J. ., .. .' • 4 . ' 55' /J .B. Colbert; Lettres, 5: 310-1,1, note_ 4. 56perrau1t aiso proposed ta estab1ish-a genera1 academy {.l' jto' promote 'exchait~s . .;,.,:.t.en sChola~s r~presenting' vârious .. branches... of 1earning. ~lthOU9h the .sr0ject fai1ed, it eventua11y ~ ~ ~ resu1ted in the formation of the Acadêmie.des Sciences in 1666. , l ' (1 tJ See .J.B. Colbert, Lettres, 5:512-13. " ' , l', ~ '''" 01 , ' 57For frequent references to Charles Perrault as Colbert 1 s , " representati"ve, see the Chapelain 1etters in J .B. Colbert, " " Lettres, 5:587-650. 58Acadêmie d'Architecture, Procês-verbaux, 1:9, 99, 102; ) 105, 158, 168-9. 59p . Bonnefon, "Commis de Colbert" , 430, states that Perrau~t's influence in the Acad~mie de France. ! Rome was not very great. 60C • Perrault, ~moires, 90. 61p • Bonne fon in M~moir~s by C. Perra]J1t, 92, note 2" , stàtes that Pe~rau1 t' s inaugural speech i5 reprinted in his Recueil de divers ouvrages en prose et en vers, 1675, 211: 1676, 222 and in ~cuei1 des Harangues de l'Académie, 1698, 164. ) 62p • C1êment";---Histoire ·de Colbert et de son administration, 2nded., 2 vols. Paris, 1874,2:256-57, cites the fo11owing quote from a report, pub1ished in the Mercure Galant which described a pârty gi ven by Colbert for the members of the ( AcadAmie française at Sceaux in September, 1677: , . ------..,------~..,...,...... ,,,...... -~.,;."~" ...... \ . ------_ .. ~-_ ... ------ 88 o •. • ll ne. ,u. c.onte.nte. PJl.~ if' e.tlte. de. l,Ac.ad€m..ie. 6ltanc.a. ..üe., ..il l} a un, notrb Ite. de. c.u' me.~~.(;e.u..u ... qui c.ompo~e.n~ une. autlte. pe.tite. ac.ad€m..i.e qu...i 1 ~ ~~Ae.mbte. ..toutu le.~ Ae.ma.tne.A ~19~ AOn, nom. C'e.~t a.ve~ e.ux qu'il ~Ie.ntltetie.n.t 6o~t ~ou.v~nt ~Ult lu ptUA haute.A ma:t.i.ilte4 l , ------...... <.r'>- '-----~ - ,. 63C• Perrault, M~moires, 95-6. ~~~,--~ ~ 64c. Perrault, M~moires, 96. 65C• Perrault, M~moires, 96 . . 66M• Soriano, Dossier perrau1t~, 160-. 67 See A. Jammes, "Louis XIV, sa bibliothêque et :!l, Cabinet du 'Roi' ,n The Library XX, Ma~ch, 1965, 1-12. 68 A. ,Jammes, "Cabinet, n 6. 69A•· JammeS , "Cabinet," 4, 7. Charles Perrault had 'contributed texts for Le grand carrousel de 1'annêe 1662 and Devises pour les Tapisseries du Roy, où sont rep~esentez les 1 Quatres Eléments et les Quatre Saisons de l'Année. The two tl books by Claude Perrault were Dissection des Anlmaux (1672) 'and Architecture depVitrUvius (1673). 1 70· .. Comptes, 1 :656-7.' 71J • d'Alembert, Histoire dé l'Acadêmde française, 177. See also a letter from Christia~ Huygens to his brother, Lodewijk, March .9, 1672 'on which he states that the post of . , ( Con~rôleur was given to·Pe~rault "gratis" in C. Huygens, , -- '~---~~-.-_. '--",_ ... --- ._-_.- , ,- ~..,------_ .... - ,'''' , ), t- ( .. 89 ~ - , " , '( "r '. , . . , Oèuvres corpplètes de Christiaan HUYgens, 22 vols. '!'he-Hague, il 1888-1950, 7:153, cited by J. Ba~chi11bn:. '''Le'S frAres Perrault. à travers la correspondance et les oeuvres de Christian Huygens," XVIIe Siêcle '56, 1962, 20. " ---*see another 1e,tter fram Hu~gens to Lode~ijk dated May 13, 1672: 1 : •• VOu..6 , a.ullez t&an.6 dou.-te, quel.que Ite.l.aû.on., du ': . vo..iage de. Velr..6a..il.l.e.6 que nou.6 6{..6me.~ ï.u-ndy delln..iell avec }.bn~..ieuJt de. Cont:ltol.l.e.ult et 40n UP0U.6e., et ) quatJt.e calto.ue~ pl.e..i.n..s de. monde. VOU:4' pouvez pen.6e.It, ..s.i tou:te..6 te.6 poJtte.6 .6' olLvJt..illen:t e.t .6..io toutu l.e~ oon.ta..ine4 joueltent. Il. y v:tn.t: e.nCOlle -a.utant et: ptu4 de monde de Pa.Jt...i4, qu.e cel.uy que nou4 a.mena..6me4, pOUII. pJr.o6..itell de. c.e..tte bonne. Oc.c.a..6..ion • ••• in Oeuvres Huygens 7:172, cited by J. Barchi1lon, 'Les frêres Perraul t, n 22. , \ J -"---fi 90 Chaplle'r II \ .73e . Perrault, M~moires, 52-89 • ...74 C• Perrault, ~moires, 52 •. .. , 75For a discussion of the five plans which relate to this stage of the Louvre project see A. Braham and ~. Whiteley, "Louis LeVau's projects for .the Louvre and the Colonnade," .., Gazette des Beaux-Arts 64, 1964, part I:2~5-296. 76L. Hautecouer, l'Architecture~assique, 2:260. In accordance\ with the tarInS of Mazarin' s will, a commission was .. appointed to choose an architect ,for t.he proposed Collêge des Quatres Nations. Le Vau's design, s~mitted on January 18, 1662 was selected; construction began in June. The plan çonsisted 1 of a central domed church flanked by forward curving wings. / 77 L. Hautecoeur, l'Architecture classique, 4·:263: M. Whiteley and A. Braham, "Les soubassements de l'aile orientale du Louvre," Revue de l'Art 38/40, 1969, 30-31. 7gL• H~utecoeur, l'Architecture classique, 2:263: but M. 1 . J Whi te ley and A. B~aham, "Les soubassements," 31, suggest the ~ 1 ~ following reason for Colbert 1 s hostili ty towardS Le Vau: when 1 , , 1 the Hôtel Bautru developed structural faults after Colbert had , , , ! purehased it, Colbert blamed Le Vau, the architecte A. Blunt, Art and Ar~hi tecture in -France, 1500~1700 1 2nd ed. rev. 1973, " Harmondsworth: penguin paperbaek, reprint ed. 1971, 432, note 9, disproves this suggestion sinee Colbert did no~ aequirè the ( . ..• '- , 91 \ • 1 house uhti1 1665, a year after he had turned down LeVau's" , A'lesiqn~ for the Louvre. Finàlly, A. Laprade, D'Orbay, 73 ... 4, {iproposes that Colbert's anta~onism. towar!is the First Archîtect J . resulted fram Colbert's belief that LeVau engaged in speculative. land dealings for the site of the,Collêge des Quatre Nations. "79F •H. Hazelhurst, Gardens of Illusion, '!"he Genius of " • Andr~ Le-Nostre, Në;J.shville, 1980, 62, states that although work was in progress Ion LeVau',s first orang~ry in 1663, construction at Versailles was otherwise somewhat limited. Furthermore, LeNostre's plans for the gardens at this time were calculated to'harmonize.with the relatively small scaled buildings they wer~ de~~igned to serve. See Plate 36. BO C• Perr~u1t, M~m~ires, 52. i • Ble. Perrault, M~moires, 52. .\ B2 L• Hautecoeur, l'Architecture classique 2:273-75. Among 1 the contestants, Hautecoeur, also includes François LeVau, the î o. brother of the Fi~st Architect. C. Tadgell, "Claude Perrault, 1 ! François LeVau and the Louvre Colonnade," Burlington Magazine 1 l2~, May, 1980, 333-34, howeVer, makes a convincing argument l for ,dating F. LeVau' s project to sometime after the sÙbmission " 1 of the Italian schernes in 1665. He further sugges~s that F. .. , LeVau' s design relates to a mid-166B plan for doubl~ng the south winge See also M. petzet, "EntwÜrfe zur LouvEe-Ko1onnade-, Sti1 und Oberlieferung in der Runst des A .benlandes, Akten des 6 • ( 21 Internationalen Konqresses fdr Kun.tqe~icte in Bonn 1964, 1" .. ~~ ...... -...--":l',.---- 92 r) il . , 'Berlin, 1963, III: 162-6"3.. Petzet associated F. LeVau's design with a document, "Advis de M. LeVau le jeune sur le nouveau c dessin du Louvre,~in wpich LeVau rep1ied to official criticism of a revision of a plan of 1667 to house the royal fàmdly in t the south winge The "Advis" can be dated late 1667 or ear1y 1668 and may have inf1uence~ LeVau's plan . • a3c . Perrault, Mémoires, 54. 84Al1 re_fere~ces to Claude Perrault' s drawin~s for the Louvre, , in 1664 in this and the fo11owing paragraph are based on C. Perrault, M~moires, 53. RS ' >,Ù P.F. Chantelou, Journal de voyage du Cavalier Bernin en France~ annotated by ~. Lalanne, Paris, 1885, 2. Lalanne " , refers, to Candiani as Landiani: he also suggests that ! -\ l Borromini May have been asked to participa te, but did noi!-- f,ina1ly send a plan. 86 ' 'L. Hautecoeur', l' Archi tecture classique, 2 :276. 1 87 ' C. Perrault, M~moires, 57. 1 ! 88 ' P.F. ,Chantelou, Journal, 257. A. Braham and M. Whiteley, \ j "Le Vau's proj~cts,". 296 note 16, state that the pIans and '1 e1,evati?Ds sent by the Italian architects are included in the <. Recueil du· Louvre I. 89 For plan and elevation see A. Laprade, D'Orbay, plate VI, 4 .. .' 90CoIbert's letter to Bernini, dated October 3, 1664 is o . 1 .. reprinted in F. Baldinucci, The/Life of Bernini,trans. by" 1 c. En99a'Ss, Pennsylvania, 1966, 48-9. .. 9lSee Plate 89 in H. Hibbard, Bernini, H6ondswortlJ.: penquin Books, 1965, reprint ed., 1976. 925 ee A. JI"a,' Dlct~onnalre, . 1 : 206 -:: 210 • Exerpts from the lengthy correspondence rela ting to the negotia tions 1 vith Bernini are reprinted., Significant comments o~ the other Italian 'architects W-hq submitted plans are also l included. 93The letters are reprinted in F. Baldinucci, Bernini, . 4'6-48. 94C. Perrault, M~moire&, 57-8, writes that l'abb~ E1pedio Benedetti, Cardinal Antonio Barberini and the pM,m.i,.e.JL ma..tt:JLe 4' hote.! du. 1r.G-i., M. de Be1lefonds~, played important roles in the transactions to have Bernini come to Paris. 95C. Perrault, Mêmoires, 59. 96See P. Sonnino, Louis XIY's View pf the Papacy 1661- .!§!Z, Berkeley, 1966, for a comprehensive study on the rela tionship between Louis XIV and the Papacy. 9..7Disagreeménts between the Papacy and the French court over the extensive extra-territorial rights held by , France around their embassy in Rome érupted into a bloody clash ~tween French soldiers and the Corsican Guard in ,{ . (".,: Il __ "._4 .. .,.:IU , J 94 { \ \ . .August, 16~2. Even earl~er, the Duke de \rEqUi, the Kinq'. ambassador" had antagonized the Pope by hts undip1011latic behavior. For, a full dis~s;rion of the cJ~qui affair, see 1 1 p. Sonnino, Louis xtv's View, 2~-53. .f 98p.lu; Fr~art, Sieur de Chantelo, a connoisseur and , collector, had befriended Bernini during sever~f visits to Italy prior to 1665. 99p •F • ehantelou, Journal, 5. ! 1 1 10~See P.F. , Chantelou, Journal, 4, note 3 and 5, note l .for the edi tor 1 s cODDllen ts on da ting the. diary. 101C. Perrault, M&1oires, 67:----~ '102 P.F. Chantelou, Journal, 126 I03C• Perrault, M~moires, 61. 104p • F • Chantelou, Journal, 36; According to Chantelou, the Ring, who first saw Bernini's 'new plan on June 20, 1665, was most enthusiastic, and said that it was the first design 1 1. to p1ease him. f 1 \ 1 lOSe. Perrault, M~oires, 66. 1 I06c . Perrault, M~moires, 65 ! f 107C• Perrault, Mêmoires, 66. 1 l08p . F • Chante1ou, in the Journal, reported Colber~'s critici·sms of Bernini's projects- in the following entries:, June 19.; July l, 3, 4; August 19.1 October 18, 19. . , , , ' ---_.~------ 95 • l09p • F• Chantelou, Journal, 171. See entry ,for Septem~ ber 19. ~ llOsee P.P. 'Chantelou, Journal, 2Q5-07,' 211.... 12, for / reports on the incident which took place on'October 6. ,lllC. Perrault, M~lnoires, 73-4. '112 c. Perrault, M~moires, 74. P.F. Chantelou,. JOurnal, 264,' states that three years after the incident, Colbert , remarked to" him merely that, at the. time, he, Colbert, had . been "f.tonnf" by Perrault's action. 113See principally the 'entries from August 6 and on in P.P. c~antelou, Journal. ll4p • F • Chantelou, Journal, 74, refers to a new project by LeVau on July 30. On August 28, Chantelou reports a conversation with M. deMenars in which Menars notes that - several new,designs for the Louvre ahd been presented to the King; Menars further wonders if Bernini' s plans will ever be , execu ted • See 124. llSp.F. Chantelou, Journal, 82. 116p • F. Chanteloul.....----Journal, 129.. " 1l7see R. Wittkower, Art and ,Architecture in Italy 1600- ~, 3rd. rev. ed., Harmondsworth: Penguin Paperback, reprint " II) ed. 1975, 187-89, tor a brief discussion of Bernini's three plan~ as- well aé his last revised design for the L6uvre. ll8C • Perrault, 1!êmoires, 83 • \, • \ , , . -- ...... _"~~- ~ ...... ,.. ,..~~-. - 96 .. 119 C. perraul t, M~oires, 83. l2QC._ perr~lt, .M~moires, '83-84. l21Mattia... d ROse.i'...... d epar t e d f or Rorne on May 21 '~_..l6667 - • l22p • F • Chantelou, Journal, 15-16. l23p • F .' Chante10u, Journal, 264. " l24p • F • Chante1ou, Journal, 264. ' l25Reported.by J.F. Blondel in L'architectüre françoise, 4 vols. Paris, 1752-56, 4:5. l26C• Perrault, Mêmoires, 87., 127See p. 23 of texte ... ~ l28~' C. Perrault, M~moires, 42-45. 1 l29c• Perrault, Mêmoires, 34. l30C• Perrault, M~moires, 130. C'j, l3le. P~rrault, M~oires, 234-41. , \ l32w. Herrmann, The Theory·of Claude Perrault, London, 1973~23. \ 133Les dix livres d'architecture, de Vitruve, corrigez et \ truduits par M. Perrault, Par1s, 1673. W. Herrmann, Theory, '1 18, states that no pertinent notes on the Yitruvius by perrauit can be dated before 1667 and that no payments were madeofor the engravings before January, 1668. 1 ., 97 4 ' 134C• Perràult"M~moires, 1l8~124. It should be pointed out that Pierre-Perrault had not man~pulat~d funds out of t., personal greedi but';ather w~s a victi~ of the King's sudden change in taxation policy. When-subsequently pierr~'s financial standing suffered,he sought ways, how- ever questionab1e, to avoid bankruptcy. - . . 135C• Perrault, M~moires, 87 . '136 ' J.A. Piganiol de la ~orce, Description historique de la ville de Paris et de ses environs" 10 vols. Paris, ' 1742, new ed., 1765, 2:253-258.-- 137J . A• Piganiol, Description Paris,- 2:252-53, cftes the marginal note as follows: " .•• vu, e:t a.ppllO/.LV é a.u c.a.mp de Cha.lT..1.eJr.ol} le 1 j uÂ.n, 1661." 138S ee Ad'ppen 1X f or re f erences ta t h e R'eglstre ln'hl) t 1S • and the fol1owing paragraphe l l3gA• F~libien, Des principes de l'Architecture, de la 1 Sculpture, de la Peinture et des autres Arts qui en d~pen 1 1 _ dent, avec un Dictionnaire des termes Propres ~ chacun de 1. l ces Arts, Paris,' 16.75;- 1690'; cited by A. Laprade, D'Orbay, 1 2913. 140Mercure , Ga 1 an t CA()at-Septembre), 1686; ci ted by 1 A. Laprade;, D'Orbay, 29_8. 1 \ ( • , 1 .... , , " o. 98 l ( ,. l4lC. Perrault, Le Cabinet des beaux-Arts oil recueil dt es tampes gravêes d' apr!s les tableaux dt un plafond oil les , , beaux-arts sont reprêsentês( avec les explications de ces mêmes tableaux, Paris, 1690, 2-3. 142 ' C. Perrault, Cabinet, plate opposite 23. The three other engravings which portrayed.Claude's designs were: , ta Sculpture, opposite 31: l'Optique, opposite 35; ànd'~ M~chanique, opposite 39. 143c . Perrault, Cabinet, 25-26. ( 1 .! , --- ~.""'~"~-""-"~ 99 \ '. Chapter III l44N• Boi.leau, Oeuvrës" 3: 188. .,.., l45M-tite, Boileau, 171, n~tes that Charles Perrault acted o~alf of h~s close friend and associate, J~an ~. "- .. Chapelain, who had. been ridiculed by Boileau' in hi~' Satires. Al though Boileau' .s pltA.v-i.,tèg, e was revoked. in 1671, it wa$ reinstated three years later. .." 146Wbite, Boileau, 170-172, éites the following examples: in "Canto IV" of l'Art~Poetique (1674), Boileau ridi<;uled ~ l " P Claude Perrault.' as .the médec.-i..n" ,who became , "m€c.ha.n-tf< "bon , , a.ltc.h-i.-tec..tej" Boileau attacked Charles in Epi tre IX (1675) and both brothers in Le Lutrin (l6}4) i Claude Pe~ult re sponded to Boileau' s epigrams in the poern" Le Corbeau gueri , par la Cigo,SIne ou l'Ingrat parfai ti Charles Perrault, in the preface to his epic, Saint Paulin (lbS 6), took Boilèau to ,0 , f task for the poet' s cri.ticisms of t1\e Christian marvelous, " while his older brother,. , Pierre Perrault, attacked Boileau and the a.nc.-i.e.n~ in the foreword to his 'translation of Tassoni's Secchia rapita (1687). 147 On the Q,uelLe.,tle. ",see note 9. Amongst the An.c-i..e.n.6 were Boileau, La Fontaine and la Bruyêre, while the Modelt.nè.6'" - \ inc1uded Charles Perrault, Charpentier and Fontene~le. \ \ ( " 1- '--..--...\-----, ...... -.- - (, 100 (J , , Cl ~48White, Boileau, 170, credit~ Jean Desmarets de 'Saint Sor{in <1595,-1676) with havinq instituted the seventeenth cenfury "phase of the Q,uelLe,U.e. Before his death, Desmarets had invited his fri'end, C9-arles Perrault, to take up the cause in an epiatle enti eled, la D6fense de la poêsie et de la langue française (1675). But, Perrault' s early , t , , burlesques of the ancients indicate that he was already diaposed to favor the modeJtne thesis. 149For â1.1 references in this ,paragraph to the poem, "Le Siêcle de Louis le Grand, n see C. Perrault, Oeuvres . Choisies, Pari~, 1826, 290-308. , / -- 150' , , - . , See co~dts by M. Sor~ano, Dossie~ Perrault, 213., 151 ' o H. Rigault, Querelle, 149-150, aiso suqqests that o Boileau was undoubtedly exasperated ,by tlhe Academy' s favor able reception' of Perrault' s poem. , , o l , 152C. Perrault, 'Parallê1e des Anciens et des Modemes en \ ce qui reqarde ~les arts et les sciences.' Dialogues avec le \ , \, 1! ême du siêcle de Loui· le Grand et une ~ ître en vers sur l' le q~nie, 2nd ed. , 4 vo 1692-97, reprint ed. , \j Genevâ., 1971. D" " l530f the' three protaqonists, the Abb6 i5 Perrault's 1 . - \ pO!r.te p4Jtotei the Pr~sident, a defender of the anc..ien.6 and , \ " the 'Cllevalier 1 a supporter of the Ab~. For a brief discussion - > .. \;" '. , i 1 ,'.:.1 L D ____- "'" "·l~ ,. ,. ( - Qof the Parall~le; see M. Soriano, Dossier Perrault, 237-244. ~ l54N • Boileau, "Ode sur la prise de Namurf· in oeuvres, 2 :315-29. lSSBo'l' __ 1 J"'" 1. eau s persoUCML attack on the Perra~lts appears in the "Discours sur l'Ode" which precedes the ·Ode sur la prise de Namur." See N. Boileau, Oeuvres, 2:287-90. 156N • Boileau, Oeuvres,' 2:288. The phrase,' Il ••• qu..i.. lu.i, , [ u.t c.om",une. ave.c. tou.te. 4a 6am.ille. ••• ," appeared only in the first edition of the "Discours· 'and was' deleted from sub- <. sequent edi tions . G. Rouger, in the Introduction to the , Contes by C. P~rrault, Paris, 1967, iv, notes that the Perraults were not 50 much bizarre; but rather " ... o !r..ig..i..nau x. : homme.t. ci .Ldéu n-e.uve..6, paIL6o.il> ci .<.dée.6 6a.U6ie..6 , j-ov.<.a.l.e.me.n.t " VLlt,e.f; pec..tu..e.~x. de..6 0 p..i..n.<.on.6 Jte.çue..6 e..t de.~ ILOu..f..<.nU, e.nne.m..i...6 déc.l..alLét. dél> 1 e.JLlLeulL.6 po pula.tlLe4 ~, ,au ILe.Jde ho nnê.te.6 9 en.6 , .64n4 1L..i..e.n de. lLogue 1'1.<. de. pédantuqu..e., et; bon.6 cklLét.<.e..n6 011..0 z.tét. de..:1 anll e.nüm e. ° " l57charles perrault's ~ply was published under th~ fo11owinq title: "Lettre à M.D.*** touchant la pr~face' de son dçie sur la, prise ode Namur, avec une autre lettre oil l'on compare l'ode de M.D.*** avec celle que M. Chapelain ! o fit autrefois pour le cardinal Richelieu. ft See N. Boileau, / Oeuvres, 2:291-314. ( 102 p 15SC. Perrault, "Lettre à M.D. It in N. Boileau, Oeuvres, 2: 304-05. ,; 1 1~9C. Perrault, "Lettre à M.D. Il in N. Boileau, Oeuvres, 2:304-. 'I60N• Boileau, "Ri! flexions critiques sur quelques pas- sages du rh~teur Longin" in oeuvres, 3:185-276. 161N• Bbileau, "Ri!flexions" in Oeuvres, 3: 189-90. 162N• B0ileau,- "Ri!flexions" in Oeuvres, 3:199. 163N• Boileau, Oeuvres, 4: 212. The letter to Arnauld was dated June, 1694. 16~N. Boileau, "Ri!flexions" in Oeuvres, 3:190. 165see A. Laprade, D'Orbav, 133-55 regarding the Louvre colonnade, and 124-29 for Laprade' s hypothesis on the Arc de ',Triomphe and the Observatoire. , , . 166Th~ relatively modest payments, approximately 1,500 1. annya11y, awarded to d'Orbay suggest that he, in fact, was never recognized as more than an assistant to the First Architect. See, for example, Comptes, 1:365, 455, 997. 167See -M• Soriano's discussion of thecre~oncJliati~ Dossier Perrault, 267-70. 168 C. ,Perraul.t, Les Hommes Illustres qui on paru en France pendant ce siilcle, 2 vols. 'P~is, 1696-1100, 1:67-8. ) 103 l69C• Perrault, Hommes Illustr~s, 1: 6.7. 170c. Perrault, Mémoires, 87-B. l71C• Perrault" Mémoires, 87-B. '172 C. Perrault, MêMoires, 132. Althoughr the young Colbert assumed his duties in 1679, it seems that a cooling in the ,; relationship. between Colbert and his commis was evident as early as 1672 when CO,lbert expressed li ttle enthusiasm for Perrault's marraige ta.., Marie Guichon. Colbert did not sign the marriage register and presumably did not attend the wedding; see Mémoires, 124, as we~l as footnote'l: ~ "-, 173C• Perrault, Mémoires, 132. /'. l14c. Perrault, Memoires, 134-36. See-also, Acad~ie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, Histoire, 1:5. ,175G• Brice, Description de Paris, 2nd ~d. l6B7, t6, 1 cited by A. Laprade, D'Orbay, 306-7. Brice a1so remarks " that D'Orbay had contributed to the design of the colonnade. "176. G. ~r~ce, Descrl.pt~on.. d e Parl.s, . . 5th e d • 1698 , n.p., dited by A. Laprade, D'Orbay, 307. See also 313-119 for ~"ttdditiona1 citations by historians 'in the eigpteen1th century. A1though some scholars cite SauvaI, Histoire et recherche des ! - antiquitAs de P9ris, Paris, 1724-, 27,62 to I?rove that the , , challenge'to Claude's authorship arose as ear1y as 1670, A. Blunt in the prefaèe to the facsimile edition (1696) of Sauval's Histoire disputes this hypothésis. Blunt states _____/ ______~ ______~------~r / ' 104 " that Sauval's origi~a1 text, contemporary with much of the w~rk on the new Louvre, was augmented prior ta publication in 1724 and that there are indications that the text was altered at this time. .Cited.by C. Tadqe11, "Perrault, LéVau and the Louvre," 328. 177 '. N. Tess~n, Les relations artistiques entre la France et 1a'Suêde, 1~93-1718. Nicodème Tessin le jeune et Dani,e1 .. c~_ J Cronstr&m, Correspondance: extraits, Stockholm, 1964. ,! 178Tessin~Cronstrôm,, Correspondance, 15-l6f 1etter dated April 1693. 19" . 179Tessin-cronstrÔm, CorresEondance, 44-45 : letter dated January 28, 1694. 180Exerpts, from the letter dated Decembér 19, 1'704, are cited by R. Josephson, "Quelques dessins de Claude Perrault pour le Louvre," Gazette des Beaux-Ar~s 16, 1927, 188-89. .. ' laIT'ess~n~Cronstrum .D Cor~espond ance, 15 • Crans tr&m' s fi 1etter regarding these volumes Mas da ted Apz::il 19, 1693. ) See a1so J.F. Blopdel, Architecture, Françoise, 4:4, note d. 1 l82See crons~rOm's 1etter dated January 28, -1694 in Tessin-Cronstr&m Correspondance, 44-5. '183' J.F. Blondel, ft...lI'rch':tecture Françoise 4:6 on the Louvre: 2:137 on the Arc: 2:57 on the Observatoire. ( ' . . l, - .-""..-.-.... /' _- ! 105 184J • F• Blondel, Architecture Françoise, 4:11, note t. w. Berrmann in Theory, 119, suqqe~s that the measurements in the memoir may have referred to an, earlier version of Claude's plan for the Louvre and not to the final design. , l85see P. Patte, M~oires sur les objets. les plus impor tans de l'architecture, Paris, 1769, 329-31: 186p • Patte, H~moires, 33~, cited by W. Herrmann in Theory, 118. Herrmann suggests that Perrault may have chanqed his ideas on 'correct' proportions of the Orders in the fifteen year span between l?-is desiqn of ,the Louvre colonnade and the publication of his treatis~, Ordonn!!,nce des cinq .. es~ces de colonnes selon la m~thode des Anciens (1682) • 187W• Herrmann, Theory, 178-79. See also A. Laprade, D' Orbay, 319-22. 188 ' A. Lance, Dictionnaire des Architectes Français, 2 vols. Paris, 1872, 2:197-98. See also A. Laprade, O'o:-bay , 322. 189 A. Lance, Dictionnaire, 2:199. '190The loss of the'Claude Perrault collection of draw- . . . '\ , ~ngs was confirmed by M. Baudr11lart ~n Rapport sur les pertes ~prouvêes par les biblioth~ques publiques de Paris en-l870-7l, Paris, 1871, 14 as cited by R. Josephson in "Dessins de Claude Perrault," 173. J 1 ~~ 106 l ' 191A• Braham . and M. arlteley, "LeVau's projects," 354. See R. Josephson, "Dessins Ide Claude Pèrrault,· 181, for a plan of the rêz-de-chauss~e, and 183,' for a plan of the first floor. 192see A. Braham and M~ Whiteley, "LeVau'è projects," 3,48, fig. l, elevation of right side of Louvre7 349, fig_ 2, o elevation of a corner pavilion. 1935ee A. Laprade, DJOrbay, fig. VI.S, (0). 1945ee the following publications for discussions on • the Louvre authorship: L. Hautecoeur, "L'auteur de la colonnade du Louvre," 151-168; R. Josephson, "Dessins de Claude Perrault," 171-192; A. Laprade, O'OrbaYi'A. Braham q.nd M., Whiteley, "LeVau's pJ;ojects," I:285-296 and II:347- 362 and by the sarne authors, "Les soubassements," 30-43; ". T.' Sauvel, "Les auteurs de la colonnade du Louvre," Bulletin 1 Monumegtal 122, 1964, 323-347i R.W. Berger, "Charles Le Brun " and the Louvre Colonnade," Art Bulletin, 52, 1970, 394-403; c. Tadgell, "Perrault, F. LeVau and the Louvre," 326-337. ·195G•w. von Leibniz, "Manuscrit in~dit" in Journal . , "g~nl!ral de l'Instruction Publique 26, 1857, 235-2,36. Exerpts of Leibniz's report are reprinted in A. Laprade~ D'Orbay, 299-302. 196C• Perrault, Mêmoires, 85-6. 197C• Perrault, M~moires, 86~7. ( M, 107 198In contrastoto the Mêmoires, however, the architects whq submitted plans to the King are never identified in the R!qistre, as stipulated in the terms of the commission. 19~L. Hautecoeur, "L'auteur de la colonnade," 162; and ) R.W. Berger, "Le Brun and the Louvre", 399. 200See Appendix; although the first meeting of the Petit Conseil was called'in April 1667, the King did not chodse a design for the Louvre façade until May i4.' _ 201G•W• von Leibniz, "Manuscrit in~dit", 235. ~ , 202W• Herrmann, Theory, 30, ~ote 82. 203G•W• von Leibniz, "Manuscrit inêdit", 235. 204Por the account in the Registre, see Appendix. At the meeting of May 14, Perrault noted the presence of the i • King and Colbert and, indirect1y, himse1f. À1though he made no mention of the Captain of the Guards, the entry 'otherwise agrees wi th the Mêmoires. '~ 205see "Mêmoire sur "la campagne de 1,667" in J.B. Colbert, Lettres, 6:254-58. o 206H• Lemonnier, L'Art Français au temps de Louis XIV c (1661-1690), Paris, 1911, 263, finds it unusual that no clatms.for the Louvre authorship were made at the time the frontispiece was pub1ished. ( ~------~------~------' ..._--~_ ...... ) 108 a copy of Claude . , 0 Perrault's ttanslation of on November 20, 1673; see Procès-Verbaux, 1:50. From June 18, !Êi74 unti1 May 20,,, ' 1675, the Académie d~voted more than forty meetings to the readîng and discussion of the book. ~ 208c. Per:t;'ault, "Construction de l'Obs'eryatoire" in J.B. Colbert, Lettres, 5:515-16. 209C• Wolf,'Histoire de l'Observatoire l Paris de sa fondation l 1793, Paris, 1902, 2:205 as cited by À. Laprade, D'Orbay, 127. 210C• Perrault, M~moires, 50. , , 211J • Cassini, "Hemoir" in. J.B. Colbert, ,r.. ettres, 5:516 • 2I2J• F• ~londe1, Architecture Françoise, 2:57. B10nde,l, however, found it curious that Claude did not specifically claim the Observatoire (see p. 60). Mic~ael Petzet dis~usses ) the controversy on the authorship of the observa tory in "Claude Perrault aIs archit,kt des Pariser Observatoriums," , , Zeitshrift f~r Kunstgeshich,te 30, 1967, 1-54. 213C. Perrault, "Construction de l'Arc de Triomphe de la Porte Saint-Antoine," in J.B. Colbert, Lettres, 5:52~. 214s'ée L. Hautecoeur, Architecture Classique, 2:456-58. See also plates App. Al and A2 in A. Laprade, D'Orbay fc:>r a comparison between Perrault's and LeBrun's desîgns and other variations. c , " , , ~-__._, _.-_._, ---: '-' .;..:-.,i".",.------....·~-· ..=------~--.."..---.--- ...... --- ·"~" ._-_. ---_.--_. _._~- 109 \ / \ 215 J • F• Blondel, Architecture Françoisè, 2:137. ; 216 Th e Aca'd" emLCLans, f or examp 1 e, Cr.LtLcLze.... d t h e ~entral , arch as'being too narrow for its hei~ht and, over a11, found. Perrault's design too ,rich and magnificent. Bee Académie - d'Architecture, Proc~s-Verbaux, 1~255-56~ 2:98-100. / Il ,( ( . .. liO " ehapter IV \ 21S e • Perrault, Mêmoires; 53; 88i 101. o 219A11 references 'and citations on the Viry project )n this paragraph are based on c. Perrault, "Mêmoires , 34. 22Oe. Perrault, M~moires, 53. 221e . Perrault, M~moires, 53. 222 • L Hautecoeur, "L'auteur de la co 10nnade, n 158. . ' 223 • L -Hautecoeur, "L'auteur de la co lonnade, n 158. 224por a detai1ed discussion of Mansart's Louvre projec~s , , ' see A. Braham and P. smith, François Mansart, 2 vols. ,London, 1973, 1:120-149; plates in 2:~70~5J9. " 225 ' . M. Sor1ano, Dossier Perra~lt, 195. 226 0ne early design frequently cite~as a prototvpe for the Louvre colonnade is that by Antoine Houdin; see, e, , L~onor L. Haut~coeur, Architectu~ classique, 2:273. R.W. Berger, , ç however, in "LeBrun and the Louvre", 397-98, poin'ts out that i ' while Houdin uses the ground f100r as a pOdium, the" columns, above are single, not coupled, and sinee they are applied . against the façade wall, Houdin' s des ign is not a true colonl'lade_. See fig. 5. ,1 " 227e • Perrault, M'moires, 88." t r 22SVieomte de Montbas in "Un manuscrit in'dit de Claûde [ Perrau~t," La Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne 51, 192'7, 331--:3,3,' -, ---~--'---- , III l , disCUSSéS Claude's proficiency as a draughtsman. 229 C• Perroault, Mémories, 102. 230C~ Perrault, Mémoires, 102. A proposed acqueduct'to deviate the d'Etampes river would have furnished abundant waters for a royal palace and gardens in the Viry district. ,/ Perrault was obviously interested in the plan, not only Because of the proximity of the proposed palace to his own family's country residence, but also because of the constant problem of an insufficient water supply at Versailles. 231 c. Perraul' t s 1-etter ~n. Cata1/ oque d es autograph s d e Benjamin Fillon, M0 2244, cited by P. Bonnefon in Perrault's Mémoires, 97, note 4. 232C• Perrault, Mémoires, 97, note 4, by P. Bonnefon. 233p • Bonnefon, "Charles Perrault, litterateur et acadé- -, 0 'mieien; l' oppçsi tion à Boileau", Revue d' Histoire littéraire de la France '12, 1905, 551. 234C. Perrault, Mémoires, 100. 235C• _Huygen~, Oeuvres, '8':154: cited by J. Barehi11on, "Les frË!res Perrault", 27. 236C• Huygens, Oeuvres, 8:154: cited by J. Barchil1on~ "Les fiêres Perrault", 27. " . ~37~ot'7d by J. Barchi110n in "Les frères Perrau~tn 1 (.27. 238c. 'H uygens, 0 euvres 1 8 : •154 • ( I __~ ___----- 112 239S~e ~bove, note 172. 240W• H~rr.mann, Theory, 25. Amongst Claude's last projects were a design for a French Order, see C. Perrault's notes in M@moires, 229-31; and a plan ta integrate the Louvre and the Tui1fries, see vol. 4 plates I, II in J.F. Blondel,c Architecture Françoise. 24lCited by P. Bonnefon in a ,footnote in'Voyage ~ Bordeaux, Paris, 1909, 188, by Claude Perrault. 242Claude Perrault, Voyage, 188, note, by P.Bonnefcon. The letter was dated November, 1669. 243W• Her~ann, Theory, 28, interprets Colbert's remarks f to Mean that he considered Claude Perrault as an amateur architect, ,but an uncommonly good one. 244The Most détailed account of the Sainte-Geneviève project is M. Petzet's "Un projet des Perr.ault pour l'Eglise Sainte-Geneviève ~ Paris," Bulletin Monumental 115, 1957, 81-96. 245M. Petzet, .. Sainte-Geneviève," 81-2. The drawings 1 ~ \ consist of: " ••• la façade, la coupe longitudinale, la vue intêrieure, la vue de l'€glise ~u cost€'du jardin de l'Abbaye, le plan de la nouvelle ~glise et :te plan de l' ~glise telle qu'el1.e est aujourd' hu~ .0" AlI but the last mentioned are rep~oduced in Petzet's article • . 1 1 __0 1 ( \ ---~--/ '1 , . 113 246M• Petzet, .. Sainte-Genevi~ve," 82, attributes the .0 drawings 1:.0 Claude Perrault, whi le A. Braham in The Archi tec- turR of the French En1ighterunene, London, 198.,2, fig. 33, attributes the, drawing of the church interior to Sebastien, LeClerc, and presumably the other d~awings as weIl. 247Noted by M. Petzet, "Sainte-Genèvieve", 82. 248T he complete memorandum by Charles Perrault is •I.'} reprinted in M.• Petzet, " Sainte-Geneviève, Il 94-6. 249See CI. Perrault's memorandum in M. Peteet, .. Sainte- j " Geneviê.ve" , 95. 250 See C. Perrault's memorandum in. M. Petzet, "Sainte- Genevike," 95. In his M~moires, 89, Charles describes how he had constructed a small model of the Louvre peristyle, in order , to reassure, Colbert of the structural solidity of the colonnade. 251M• Petzet, '!Sainte-Geneviève, Il ~~4. The war of the Grand Alliance J16B8-l697) ended witl1 the Treaty of Ryswick. 252M. Petzet, "sainte-Genevi~ve," 87. 253charles's memoran 254C . Perrault, Mémoires, 109-10. • 0 255p • Francastel, La Sculpture de Versailles. essai sur les origines et l'évolution du gont Français classigue, Paris, ( , _~ ~ _ __0 ______~ .... ____ 'A. , .. -'~---7------t--- " \ / 114 1930,. reprint ed. 1970, 67-9~ N,,' Whitman, "My th and Politics: W 1 • Versailles and the Fountàin of Latona in Louis XIV and the Craft of Kinqship, ed. J. C. Rule, ,Ohio, 19,69, 291. ,"" 256p. Franèastel, Sculpture de Versailles, 39; N. Whitm~, "My th and Politics", 291. 257A• Marie, Naissaric~ d~ Versailles: le chateau, les Paris, 1968, 1: 73;, payments, made to the sculpt~rs, Giradon and Regnaudin. 258J . de la Fontaine, "Les Amours de" Psych~ et de Cupidon", Oeuvres comelétes de la Fontaine, ,6 vols. Paris, 1818, 5:120-21. P. Francastel in Sculpture de Versailles, 39, suqgests that the poet's description of the was based on Cha4 d'ApollonD Guido Reni's painting, Aurora, and thus di~ not reter to Tuby's sculptural g~oup. 259 • J de la Fontaine,, Oeuvres, 5: 2 4-5. , 260' / P. Francastel, ScU12tur~ de V~rsailles, 39. '0 26lp. Frapcastel, SculEture de Versailles, 49~. The grotto :J; sculp:t:ures,i how~ver, were probably not set in place until J 1 after 1674 when the pedestals were comp1eted; see A. Marie, r" Versailles, 1: 74 r!tarding payments for ,~e pedestals. , '~62For comme~s on the accounts ~y Perrault and Lafon- \1/ \ \ tain~ see L. La~ge, "La grotte~e Th~tis et le prem~~ Ver- , sailles de Louis XIV," Art de'France l, Paris, 1961, 139-40. 263p • de No1hac, La crEation de versailles,' 44 • ... " , ( \ ., ,'~ J "~----' " .\.- 115 264 A. Blunt, Art and Architecture in France, 335, notes that LeBrun nad first introduced the cycle of the Roi-Sol~i1 in the galerie d'Apollon ab the Louvre severai years earlier. 265 c . Perrault' in the Mêmoires, 109, wrote as follows: " c.alc. on aVQ.Lt m.i~ ~a na-Û6anc.e et c.e"".tle de V.(.ane avec. \ Latone • •• ;" " on ava1.t ati~.\.(. m-i.6 un .\ olui tevan.t dau ie ba.6~-in • ••• Il 266Acadêmre des inscriptions, Histoire, 3. ~67q. Perrault, M~moires, 109.- '2?(nMemoir" by C. Perrault in Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris, NA 181 FO 170i cited by A. Laprade, D'Orbay, 40, note 3. 269C• Perrault, Mêmoires, 134. 2700n the painting, see A. Schnapper, "Houasse et le \ 'Cabinet des Beaux-Arts' de Perrault," ~vue du Louvre et des Mus~es de France 18, 1968, 241-44. The painting L'Ei~encë is in the collection of the Musêe de Brest. <; 0 27lC• Perrault, Cabinet, 2. 272 Charles Perrault chose the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe,. to i11ustrate~1'Architecture: the sculptural groups from the grotto of Thetis for la Sculpture, the Observatoire for l'Optique and Itfting machines in the foregrou~d of the' Louvre façade for la ~chanique. See plates,opposite page 1 23, 31, 35 and 39 in the Cabinet. ( _ .... --, ... ~.- 116 [ -273L• Lange in "La grotte, ft 138-39 suggests that when LeVau ommissioned to construet a tour d'eau, in 1664 to ew pump, a reservoir was built at the same time. to a holding tank: ~ccording to Lange, i t was this reseivoir that was later made into the grotto. 2740n grottoes in French gardens see: N. Miller, French Renaissance Fountains, OUtstanding Dissertations in the Fine Arts Series, New York, 1977, 24~-79; W.H. Admns, The French Garden, 1500-1800, New York, 1979, 21-36: L. Hautecoeur, Architecture classique, 2:372-77. 275 C • Perrault, MêmQires, 109. 276'C. Perrault, Mémoires, 109-10. 277J • F • B1on4e1, Architecture ~~5]tse 4,107 note X. 278L • Lange in "La Grotte", 141-2, discusses Claude' s- proposed èolossa1 statues. ) z 1 279J • F • ,B1on:del, Architec;ture Françoise, 4':197 note x. • 1 \ Other projects Dy Claude designed for Versailles were: the ô allée d'e.au., vases for the garden, and ta n~w plan for the' chateau; see C •. Perrault, Mêmoires, 119-112. . 1 280 . - C. Perrault, M&oires, '109-10. 281 AlI references to the obelisk'in this paragr~ph a~e based on C. Perrault, "Dessin d'un obêligquè~ in th~_ Mêmoires, ( 234 .... 41. ( l' '" 117, 282The fol1owing description of the King's dev~~e is given in Medailles sur les principaux evenements du regne'de Louis le Grand avec des explications historiques, ~aris, 1702', 74:- "Le ~olei.l qu.-i. U.1Lt de. C.OlLp.6 cl c.e.tte Vevüe.· et lu mot.6, Nec. ptulLi.bu.6 ,impà.ll, ~.ig n-i. 6~e.n.t cl la 60ü la. tM.ILe. et plU;.6 ieulL.6 globe..6 c.e.le.6te.6, de me6me te. génie au Roi .6U.H.l.1L4.it cl gouvelLnelL une.mble. e.t la. FlL4nc.e et plu.6.ieu!L.6 lLoya.ume.6." (1663') . , l' ( !, ,' '------~------, . - ~ ... - ... - '" 118 r BIBLrOGRPJ'HY Acad®mie des inscriptions et belles lettres. Histoire de l'Académie royale des inscriptions et belles lettres, , :. depuis son'establissement jusqu' a er~sent. 51 vols. Paris" 1736-1791. Aca~ie'des in~criptions et belles lettres. Medailles sur les'principaux evenements du reqne de LoUis le Grand, ... avec des exelications historiaues. Paris, 1702. Acad~mie royale d '-archi tecture. Procès-verbaux, 1671-1793. , . Edited by H. Lemonnier. 10 vols. Paris, 1911-29. , 1 Adam, A. Histoire de la Litt~rature Française au :xvrle:~,. '. siêcle. 5 vols. Paris, 1948-62. Adams, W.H. The French Garden, 1500-1800. New York~ 1979. Alembert, J~ d'. 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Bihliothèque Mazarine, Haris (Cliché RN.) . 6.' Charles Perrault: Frontispiece to Hymnes de l'abbé Santeuil (from M. Soriano, Dossier Perrault, 'plate opposite • P. 225). 7. Geneviève, Paris App. C3). 8. Claude Perrault: Project for an Obelisk, (aris: (from A. Laprade, D'Orbay, App. C4) . \ , \ ., ~, " ." -~ '"G; ~ t ':: ~ ".. ,> ' .. T '1 1 1 - 1 1- 1: :.. " / - ; / , ; 1 - -:-~j "#} • .. ,- l. ;' , . nt_ •...... IIII~IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII.;IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ...... 11 Il;;111111.. -,-,' '[ i