Pierre Le Muet
Encyclopedia
Pierre Le Muet was a French architect famous for his book Manière de bâtir pour toutes sortes de personnes (1623 and 1647), and for the château
x he constructed, most notably Tanlay in Burgundy, as well as some modest houses in Paris, the grandest of which, the Hôtel d’Avaux (1644-1650) survives and has recently been restored to a semblance of its seveneenth-century condition.
Le Muet had accompanied the royal armies in the south of France. His Manière de bâtir gave designs for town houses in the Parisian mode, designed to occupy eleven lots from the simplest most constricted plot of urban land to hôtels particuliers of middling importance. Claude Mignot points out that his model in this enterprise was Sebastiano Serlio
, whose sixth book, elle habitationi de tutti li gradi degli huomini was already circulating in France in manuscript; Salomon de Brosse
's manuscript copy is at the Avery Library of Columbia University
. The additional designs in 1645 show Le Muet the builder of three Parisian residences, the maison Tubeuf, and the hôtels Coquet and d’Avaux (1644-50), and of three châteaux: Château de Pont-sur-Seine, Aube (burned down in 1814), the Château de Tanlay
and the Château de Chavigny at Lerné (Indre-et-Loire). Marot worked from drawings furnished by Le Muet which corrected some irregularities demanded by exigencies of the actual sites, regularizing the court at Tanlay, for instance (Mignot) or giving an elevation and section never executed at the hôtel d’Avaux.
Two further Paris editions of Le Muet's work appeared after his death, in 1663-64 and 1681, and in London a translation was published by Robert Pricke, The Art of Sound Building (1670).
Le Muet was also the author of a small volume, Palladio, habillé à la française, which appeared in 1645.
See also the following French architects of the first half of the 17th century:
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
x he constructed, most notably Tanlay in Burgundy, as well as some modest houses in Paris, the grandest of which, the Hôtel d’Avaux (1644-1650) survives and has recently been restored to a semblance of its seveneenth-century condition.
Le Muet had accompanied the royal armies in the south of France. His Manière de bâtir gave designs for town houses in the Parisian mode, designed to occupy eleven lots from the simplest most constricted plot of urban land to hôtels particuliers of middling importance. Claude Mignot points out that his model in this enterprise was Sebastiano Serlio
Sebastiano Serlio
Sebastiano Serlio was an Italian Mannerist architect, who was part of the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau...
, whose sixth book, elle habitationi de tutti li gradi degli huomini was already circulating in France in manuscript; Salomon de Brosse
Salomon de Brosse
Salomon de Brosse was the most influential early 17th-century French architect, a major influence on François Mansart. Salomon was from a prominent Huguenot family, the grandson through his mother of the designer Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau and the son of the architect Jean de Brosse...
's manuscript copy is at the Avery Library of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. The additional designs in 1645 show Le Muet the builder of three Parisian residences, the maison Tubeuf, and the hôtels Coquet and d’Avaux (1644-50), and of three châteaux: Château de Pont-sur-Seine, Aube (burned down in 1814), the Château de Tanlay
Château de Tanlay
The Château de Tanlay at Tanlay is a French château built in Burgundy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, famous for its beauty and the setting. The walls are of limestone under tall sloping slate roofs à la française, surrounding three sides of a central court with cylindrical towers...
and the Château de Chavigny at Lerné (Indre-et-Loire). Marot worked from drawings furnished by Le Muet which corrected some irregularities demanded by exigencies of the actual sites, regularizing the court at Tanlay, for instance (Mignot) or giving an elevation and section never executed at the hôtel d’Avaux.
Two further Paris editions of Le Muet's work appeared after his death, in 1663-64 and 1681, and in London a translation was published by Robert Pricke, The Art of Sound Building (1670).
Le Muet was also the author of a small volume, Palladio, habillé à la française, which appeared in 1645.
See also the following French architects of the first half of the 17th century:
- Salomon de BrosseSalomon de BrosseSalomon de Brosse was the most influential early 17th-century French architect, a major influence on François Mansart. Salomon was from a prominent Huguenot family, the grandson through his mother of the designer Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau and the son of the architect Jean de Brosse...
- Liberal BruantLibéral BruantLibéral Bruant , was a French architect best known as the designer of the Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, now dominated by the dome erected by Jules Hardouin Mansart, his collaborator in earlier stages of the construction...
- Jacques LemercierJacques LemercierJacques Lemercier was a French architect and engineer, one of the influential trio that included Louis Le Vau and François Mansart who formed the classicizing French Baroque manner, drawing from French traditions of the previous century and current Roman practice the fresh, essentially French...
- Louis Le VauLouis Le VauLouis Le Vau was a French Classical architect who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was born and died in Paris.He was responsible, with André Le Nôtre and Charles Le Brun, for the redesign of the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte. His later works included the Palace of Versailles and his collaboration...
- François MansartFrançois MansartFrançois Mansart was a French architect credited with introducing classicism into Baroque architecture of France...
- Charles Métezeau
External links
- Claude Mignot, Manière de bâtir pour toutes sortes de personnes This article is based on Mignot's information.
- Hôtel d’Avaux, Paris