Architecture as Idea in France 1500-1550 by Tara Bissett A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art History University of Toronto © Copyright by Tara Bissett 2017 Architecture as Idea in France 1500-1550 Tara Bissett Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art History University of Toronto 2017 Abstract In early sixteenth-century France, architecture was more an idea than a set of buildings. Architecture was drawn upon as a rhetorical authority around 1500, where sculptors, painters, goldsmiths, printers, masons, and other skilled craftsmen strived to act as architects in the media in which they were skilled. Rhétoriqueurs used the architectural idiom increasingly to flatter patrons and receive commissions. Perhaps due to the fact that “architecture” was not circumscribed by guild membership, it was often conceptually elided with other notions like sculpture, the antique, and ornament. This thesis reconsiders the relationships between the artistic categories of architecture, sculpture, and painting. It also analyses the word “ornament”, and suggests that the term assumed ambiguous designations in the early modern period that rarely reflected the definitions it inherited from eighteenth-century contexts. Four chapters establish how architecture as an idea is given presence in the early decades of the sixteenth century. The first chapter shows how ceramicists, painters, and sculptors practiced “architecture” when they migrated to France to furnish the royal chateaux. The chapter further argues that concepts of order and license were derived from ii these various craft contexts, and related less to concepts of harmony and proportion that has been conventionally attributed to “classical” architecture. The second chapter is an exploration of architecture’s corpus as a collection of objects. With this in mind, the chapter investigates the relationship between the culture of collecting, the naming of objects, and the appeal of the fragment. Chapter three shows how architecture was commonly presented as a frame, particularly in royal entries and as title pages. The final chapter shows how some of the most enduring architectural types, particularly the temple, were most effectively expressed in miniature and as what we conventionally think of as ornament. iii Acknowledgments This dissertation is dedicated to my grandparents, Jack and Sasha Bissett and Yvonne Walker, who taught me that education was freedom. They also told me to sit down on Friday and just write the thesis before dawn on Monday. I also thank my parents, Terry Bissett and John Bissett, who showed me that curiosity is a virtue, and that everything is interesting. I am especially thankful to my mom, who led by example and continues to do so, and who has left her phone on every night since I was born in case I need to call her. And also thanks to Gil van Elslande. The thesis is also for Charlie Salmon, whose love and support was essential in this PhD experience, and whose musical wonderfulness will always live on in my memories. I am eternally grateful to my supervisor, Professor Matt Kavaler, who always allowed me to find my way, but who introduced me to ideas, art, and scholarship that I would never have discovered on my own. Without his patience, support, and gentle prodding from time to time, this thesis would still be underway. As much as he was a mentor, Professor Kavaler also made the PhD writing experience civilized and pleasurable by arranging opportunities for his students to meet with visiting scholars, and to visit galleries on roadtrips, or inviting us for discussion over wine and cheese. It is without a doubt that I am indebted to him and have benefitted enormously from his generosity as a scholar and as a person. I extend sincere gratitude to my committee, Rebecca Zorach, Jill Caskey, Philip Sohm, and Joseph Clarke. The incredibly thought provoking comments I received before and during the project, and also since it has been finished, have shaped my ideas enormously. Such a wide ranging and interdisciplinary topic benefitted (and will continue to benefit) from these scholars who came to my dissertation from so many different perspectives. I am particularly grateful to Rebecca Zorach, whose ideas and scholarship changed many of my ideas about French art history even before I started writing. Notably, her comments and responses to my work were essential pieces in the process of bringing this to fruition. iv I also thank my U of T professors, especially Christy Anderson, Rodolphe el Khoury, Evonne Levy, Alison Syme, and Paolo Scrivano, for teaching me how to look closely at the material world, and how to think about it creatively. I am indebted to Krista de Jonge for her advice and discussions in the early phases of this project. I learned so much from the instruction of Professor Elizabeth Legge and Professor Mary Lou Lobsinger throughout these years, and I thank them both sincerely for their kindness, support, and humour. My experience at U of T would have been very different without my friends and colleagues, who made the last several years a much better place: Tianna Uchacz, Angela Glover, Betsy Purvis, Olenka Horbatsch, Katie Jacobiec, and Flora Ward. I especially ackowledge Elisabeth Neumann for the support, absolutely brilliant insight, and friendship she gave me in both my academic and personal life. I’m also especially grateful to the friendship and inspiring coversations with Rose Logie, Emre Gonlüger, and David Alexandre, and our many days and nights laughing and talking about films, art, music, politics, and life in general. My friends outside of university have been invaluable. Thank you to my other family: Joanna, Gregg, Eva, and Naomi Shaw. What would I have done without you? I could not have continued without Stephanie Marchioni’s unwavering support, creative mind, and friendship. Thanks as well to Eric McIndoo. I also deeply thank my dear friends who have been by my side these last few years: Spice Maybee, Ondine Snowdon, Nicola Malcolm, and Janice Dowson. My amazing family: Diane, Stan, Tamara, Shanae, Isiah, Kristin, Vanessa, Jorja. And Shannon, Marshall, and Emmett. And Galina, Leslie, Wayne, Shelley, and John. Finally, I am especially grateful to Mark Cutforth for the reprieve and the patience. In no way does this last category reflect a hierarchy of gratitude. Without these last mentions, this dissertation would quite literally not be finished. I would like to thank Cynthia Saruk and Kerry Fast. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the administrative staff at the Art History department kindly and graciously indulged my inability to operate on an administrative level. But it’s much more than that. Thank you so much for your support, Gaby Sparks and Joanne Wainman, without whom everything was impossible on v so many levels. But I also sincerely thank Margaret English, Isle Wister, Louise Kermode, and Vicky Dingillo for their encouragement throught the years. I acknowledge the support of scholarships that I received through the course of my PhD., including the CEFMF Research Grant, the Peter A. Brieger Fellowship, and SSHRC Fellowship. It made things a little easier. The memories of my brother, Paul, and of my favourite person, Charlie Salmon, inspired me every day to continue. Their memories took form in the words of David Foster Wallace, who said, “You can be shaped, or you can be broken. There is not much in between. Try to learn. Be coachable. Try to learn from everybody, especially those who fail. This is hard...”- Infinite Jest. This dissertation is for them. vi Architecture as Idea in France 1500-1550 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IV IMAGE LIST IX INTRODUCTION 1 ARCHITECTURE AND AUTHORITY 3 THE IDEA OF ARCHITECTURE AS THE IDEA OF ORNAMENT 9 ARCHITECTURE AS ORNAMENT 13 ORNAMENT AND ITS DISCONTENTS 16 MATERIAL AND CRAFT IN THE FORMULATION OF ARCHITECTURE AS IDEA 26 ORNAMENT, CRAFT, AND ARCHITECTURE: CURRENT SCHOLARSHIP 28 THE CORPUS OF EARLY SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE 34 OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS 39 CHAPTER ONE 43 CRAFTING ARCHITECTURE 43 SCULPTORS AS ARCHITECTS 52 CRAFT, ORNAMENT, AND ARCHITECTURE 59 ARCHITECTURE AS FORM: COLLAGE AND ASSEMBLAGE 67 ARCHITECTURE AND THE 1520S WORKSHOP 73 THE BOOKISH VOCABULARY OF BUILDING 78 ASSEMBLAGE: THE CANDELABRUM AND THE GROTESQUE 81 ORDER 85 I. Internal Ordering 90 II. Copia and License 92 III. Rule and Control 99 CONCLUSION 101 CHAPTER TWO 103 OBJECTS AS ARCHITECTURE 103 KLEINARCHITECKTUR, MICROARCHITECTURE, AND ARCHISCULPTURE 104 OBJECTS VERSUS THINGS 113 ANTIQUE ARCHITECTURE AS AN ARCHITECTURE OF REPRESENTATION 116 MAKING “THINGS” OUT OF OBJECTS 119 OBJECTIFYING THINGS: NOMENCLATURE AND COLLECTING AS ARCHITECTURE 122 NOMENCLATURE AND THE CANDELABRUM 125 THINGS OF TRIUMPH: ARCHITECTURE AS “COLLECTION” 129 LUXURY GOODS AND ARCHITECTURAL DISPLAY 137 CONCLUSION 143 CHAPTER THREE 145 vii ARCHITECTURE AS FRAME 145 FRAMES AND INTERMEDIARIES 147 TRIUMPHAL ARCH AND ROYAL ENTRIES 149 ROYAL ENTRY LIVRETS 152 SHIFTS IN THE ONTOLOGY OF THE ROYAL ENTRIES’ OBJECTS 158 I. Gifts 159 II. Fountains 160 III. Triumphal arches 162 THE ROYAL ENTRIES OF HENRI II 165 PROCESSIONS IN STONE 169 CIVIC VIRTUES: THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH AND THE CHURCH 173 ARCHITECTURAL FRONTISPIECES IN PRINT 179 The Triumph of Fame 183 Architectural Emblems 186 CONCLUSION: THE URBAN TRIUMPH 191 CHAPTER FOUR 193 THE MONUMENTAL IN MINIATURE: THE TEMPLE OF FRANCE 193 SMALLNESS 194 GEOFFROY TORY: ARCHITECT FOR KING FRANCIS I 197 I. The 1525 Hours and the Temple de France 206 THE ANCIENT TEMPLE 212 THE TEMPLE OF FRANCE 214 JERUSALEM AND THE HOLY SEPULCHRE 221 SOLESMES 225 ROMA ANTICA 230 GUILLAUME PHILANDRIER AND THE ANTIQUE TEMPLE AS ORNAMENT 234 CONCLUSION 237 CONCLUSION 238 BIBLIOGRAPHY 241 viii Image List Introduction 0.1 Chateau of Gaillon, Gaillon, commissioned by Georges d’Amboise, circa 1508 Left: (Image: Anthony Blunt, Art and Architecture in France. Great Britain: Penguin Books, 1957, fig. 3) Right: (Photo Tara Bissett) 0.2 Fountain at Gaillon, engraved by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, 1576 (Image reproduced in Jean Guillaume.