France

DELORME

Philibert Delorme (1514-70), the son of a stonemason, spent several years in Rome during the mid-1530s. This was an exciting time for Renaissance architecture because of the rebuilding and urban renewal that followed the 1527 sack of the city.

Architecture and Urban Planning

Delorme’s subsequent architectural projects were influenced by the buildings he studied in Rome; that influence gave him new status as an architect in his homeland. His publications, especially L’Architecture of 1567, as well as his designs were important for French architecture during the second half of the 16 th century. Unfortunately, most of his buildings have been destroyed, including the Tuileries in Paris commissioned by Queen Catherine de’ Medici (1519-89) near the end of his career.

DUCERCEAU

Jacques Androuet Ducerceau the Elder (c. 1515-85) was the patriarch of a family of architects, engravers, and engineers. His son, Baptiste (c. 1545-90), responsible for construction of the Louvre, also erected Pont Neuf (the oldest bridge still standing in the city of Paris). In 1539 Jacques Ducerceau published the first French architectural handbook, Livre d’architecture. His most important work for later architects was Les plus excellents batiments de France (The most excellent buildings of France, 1576 and 1579), which documented not only the buildings but also their gardens. The exuberant ornamentation of Jacques Ducerceau’s style, evident in his architectural engravings, helped introduce the Mannerist mode to France. Mannerism, consisting of very stylized details in surface ornamentation and design, became the dominant artistic style of latter-16th-century France.