Jean François Chalgrin

For more information on Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin, visit Britannica.com.

Paris-born architect who studied with Servandoni and Boullée, and worked for a while as Inspecteur des Travaux de la Ville de Paris (from 1763) under Moreau-Desproux: he erected the Hôtel St-Florentin, Paris (1767–70), to plans by Gabriel, but he was responsible for the Neo-Classical courtyard-screen, portal, and interior décor. An important Neo-Classicist, he designed the basilican St-Philippe-du-Roule, Paris (1768–74), in a severe Antique style, much influenced by Cordemoy, Laugier, and Contant d'Ivry. The interior has free-standing Ionic columns defining the barrel-vaulted nave, and continuing in a curve around the apse, while the Tuscan Order was used for the entrance-portico. The church was contemporary with similar buildings by Potain and Trouard. Quatremère de Quincy praised St-Philippe in 1816 as a model for French architects to follow because it adopted the Early Christian basilica and avoided Baroque excesses. While working on St-Philippe, Chalgrin completed Servandoni's great Church of St-Sulpice, building the north tower (1776–8), changing Servandoni's unfluted proposals for the west front to a fluted arrangement, and carrying out other works, including the baptistry and organ-case. He also designed several gardens, as well as the exquisite Pavillon de Musique, Versailles (1784), with its rotunda containing a trompe-l'œil painting that suggests the room is set in a garden. He remodelled the Palais du Luxembourg, Paris (1787–1807), creating the impressive Neo-Classical Salle du Sénat and grand staircase (1803–7), and designed the enormous Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, Paris (1806), completed by Blouet (1836), which has two main axes instead of just one, and is astylar.

Bibliography

• Builder (1980)
• Gaehtgens (1974)
• Gallet (1972)
• Middleton & Watkin (1987)

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)