Jacques Perret
Encyclopedia
Jacques Perret was a French
architect
in the service of the Catholic King Henry IV of France
. He was a Huguenot
, from the Savoie
.
In July of 1601, he published a sequence of 22 plates, engraved by Thomas de Leu, and a textual commentary, Des Fortifications et Artifices Architecture et Perspective. Perret offered his work, a series of ideal city plans with fortifications, to the service of the king.
The plans themselves are unremarkable as descendants of the Italian Renaissance penchant for radially symmetrical city design (e.g. Filarete
's Sforzinda); what makes Perret’s work noteworthy is the compulsive ornamentation of the city walls with biblical quotes, particularly from the psalms. His closest French Protestant predecessor was Bernard Palissy
, better known for his work in ceramics, who includes a similar city in an appendix to his 1563 Recette véritable, a garden based on the psalms. Perret’s choice of texts also favors the psalms, reinforcing his identity as a Protestant. One statement that shows up repeatedly is, “In God alone is there repose and true happiness,” implying that worldly fortifications are useless even against worldly dangers. Several inscriptions carry variations on the theme of the king as God’s delegated punisher of evil and protector of the good, an idea with a personal stake for the Calvinist Perret in a Catholic and often hostile France.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
in the service of the Catholic King Henry IV of France
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
. He was a Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
, from the Savoie
Savoie
Savoie is a French department located in the Rhône-Alpes region in the French Alps.Together with the Haute-Savoie, Savoie is one of the two departments of the historic region of Savoy that was annexed by France on June 14, 1860, following the signature of the Treaty of Turin on March 24, 1860...
.
In July of 1601, he published a sequence of 22 plates, engraved by Thomas de Leu, and a textual commentary, Des Fortifications et Artifices Architecture et Perspective. Perret offered his work, a series of ideal city plans with fortifications, to the service of the king.
The plans themselves are unremarkable as descendants of the Italian Renaissance penchant for radially symmetrical city design (e.g. Filarete
Filarete
Antonio di Pietro Averlino , also "Averulino", known as Filarete was an Italian Renaissance architect, sculptor and architectural theorist from Florence. He is perhaps best remembered for his design of the ideal city of Sforzinda, the first ideal city plan of the Renaissance.-Biography:Antonio di...
's Sforzinda); what makes Perret’s work noteworthy is the compulsive ornamentation of the city walls with biblical quotes, particularly from the psalms. His closest French Protestant predecessor was Bernard Palissy
Bernard Palissy
Bernard Palissy was a French Huguenot potter, hydraulics engineer and craftsman, famous for having struggled for sixteen years to imitate Chinese porcelain...
, better known for his work in ceramics, who includes a similar city in an appendix to his 1563 Recette véritable, a garden based on the psalms. Perret’s choice of texts also favors the psalms, reinforcing his identity as a Protestant. One statement that shows up repeatedly is, “In God alone is there repose and true happiness,” implying that worldly fortifications are useless even against worldly dangers. Several inscriptions carry variations on the theme of the king as God’s delegated punisher of evil and protector of the good, an idea with a personal stake for the Calvinist Perret in a Catholic and often hostile France.