Jules Hardouin-Mansart

French architect

• Born: c. April 16, 1646
• Birthplace: Paris, France
• Died: May 11, 1708
• Place of death: Marly-le-Roi, France

Hardouin-Mansart contributed extensively to French architecture and city planning during the reign of Louis XIV, especially in designing and in altering the huge complex of Versailles Palace and its environs. His further legacy included training architects, sculptors, stonecutters, Gobelin tapestry weavers, porcelain specialists, and crystal cutters. From his architectural achievements emerged a more beautiful Paris and Versailles.

Early Life

Jules Hardouin Mansart (zheuhl ahr-dwah mahn-sahrt), Mansart being the name he took in 1668, was born into a family that produced architects, artisans, and artists for generations. He is often mistaken by the casual reader for his great-uncle François Mansart , a formidable architect whose building designs reflect classicism. Because Jules’s early years were spent in François Mansart’s household, he was taught architecture by his great-uncle and imbued with his bias. He was also trained in drawing by C. Poerson. François Mansart hosted famous statesmen and architects such as Jean-Baptiste Colbert , a virtual dictator of the arts, as well as an important governmental figure, André Le Nôtre, Louis Le Vau , and Libéral Bruant. Hardouin was thus influenced by such men of distinction.

Hardouin was one of four children—the third child and the second of three sons. His father held the position of first painter in the cabinet of the king. The Mansarts descended from artisans in Italy (the Mensartos), who had gravitated to France at the beginning of the French Renaissance. In 1556 their name appeared as Hardouyn. By the time of François Mansart’s death in 1666, Jules (then twenty years old) had been directly influenced in architecture by his great-uncle, but at the same time he developed his own métier. Hardouin inherited not only his great-uncle’s drawings and papers but also his considerable fortune. Among the inherited papers were designs that had been commissioned by the king but not used, although the king technically was still privy to them. Two years later, Hardouin married Anne Bodin; the couple had five children: three girls and two boys. His own sons became the fathers of architects. That year, Hardouin took his great-uncle’s surname, Mansart.

Louis XIV , the Sun King, ascended the throne at age four in 1643 and had one of the longest reigns in French history. Mansart’s professional life was inextricably associated with this monarch. The king presided over a virtual bureaucratic stronghold in business and also in all the arts. To survive, let alone to prosper, under Louis XIV, an aspirant needed to subscribe at least partly to his vagaries. The king’s goal in the arts was to revive classic expression filtered through the French spirit. Scholars are in agreement that during Louis’s reign the thrust of the arts was to compete with Periclean Athens and Augustan Rome. The arts did flourish, and dozens of brilliant people emerged in this era—Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Molière, Pierre Corneille, Claude Lorrain, Jean Racine, and Jean-Baptiste Lully, among many others. Mansart joined these luminaries in his eventual appointment as architect in chief to the court; Versailles is invariably linked with the name and the work of this architect.

At age twenty-four, Mansart assisted the work in progress on the Hôtel des Invalides, the modern tomb of Napoleon. By that time, he had already designed a number of buildings and the next year was at work in a limited position at Versailles. Four years later, Colbert, the minister and financier of the court, recognized the talents of Mansart and gave him the opportunity to design the Château de Clagny, in the forest of Saint Germain, belonging to Madame de Montespan, the king’s favorite. This celebrated and headstrong beauty of royal blood, who was aggressive and ambitious, convinced the king of the importance of architecture as a metaphor of royal power. It is believed that because of her influence, Louis arranged for royal commissions of extravagant and ornate designs, a practice that continued throughout much of his reign. Mansart’s first royal commission to build the Château de Clagny was fortuitous for his career, but his architectural initiative was always to be narrowed by the demands of royal edict. This limitation consigned Mansart to following plans that interfered with a level of his creative development. Colbert continued to be closely affiliated with Mansart; at age twenty-nine, the architect was pressed by Colbert into membership in the Academy of Architecture, a highly conservative group. Soon afterward, Mansart was introduced to the king and given the remarkable commission of designing and building huge additions to Versailles, plans that were often structured by Louis XIV. Mansart was then only thirty years old.

Life’s Work

Mansart is closely associated with the additions to Versailles, both interior and exterior, which became his main preoccupation from 1678 until his death. At his death, he was held to be the undisputed main architect of Louis’s kingdom. His impact on the design and execution of Versailles’ development is greater than any other architect’s work. During his tenure there, significant and stunning designs were executed, including the great forecourt, the Hall of Mirrors, and the horsehoe-shaped stables (for approximately six hundred horses and equipage), which formed part of the entrance design. Numerous additions to the principal facade contributed to the splendor of Versailles: the central block of the garden facade, two sprawling wings that extended the main structure to 1,935 feet, and the Hall of Mirrors (which remains one of the favorite apartments of visitors). Specialists and tourists also delight in the orangerie. Mansart was also involved in the design of the Grand Trianon and the charming buffet d’eau fountain, as well as with the Parish Church of Versailles. Although built from his plans, the church was not completed until after Mansart’s death.

Mansart, who was inundated with commissions while architect at Versailles, also designed the impressive châteaus at Saint Cyr and Marly-le-Roi. The aqueducts and waterworks of Marly-le-Roi are also the inspiration of Mansart. Paris is studded with his monuments, considered outstanding by architects the world over—the Place des Victoires (where only remnants are visible), the Dome des Invalides, and the Place Vendôme, which remains one of the most impressive squares in all Europe. What is notable about the Place Vendôme is the design, in which the interior angles are limited. The use of space hems in the square without distracting from the central axis. Art critic Anthony Blunt suggested that it is a Baroque concept with details of classicism.

Mansart garnered most of all the possible honors during his mature years. In 1683, he was ennobled; ten years later, he was made comte de Sagonne; and at age fifty-three he was given the post of superintendant des bâtiments du roi. Unlike his great-uncle François Mansart, he worked within the limitations of the king’s wishes, and he was rewarded with honors and money. By age fifty-nine, he ranked as one of the most influential people in the court and held the post of cabinet minister.

Apart from his work on official monuments, buildings, and Parisian palaces, Mansart also worked on town houses. His designs altered the appearances of town houses to make them seem more informal, light, and cozy. He diversified the shaping of rooms, made frequent use of mirrors, and adopted a lightness and elegance of decorative line. With his design of the Hôtel de Noailles at Saint Germain, he developed a new horizontality. These same effects are noted in the Hôtel de Lorges, the Convent des Recollets, and in his own magnificent maison in the rue des Tournelles. The Palais Royale was redesigned, and, in conjunction with A. J. Gabriel, he made additions to the Pont Royal.

Having achieved eminence as a result of his architecture and his influence through the teaching and the training of many artisans, Mansart was the subject of many paintings and sculptures. In one engraving, Mansart is depicted with a strapping physique, his huge, curly periwig framing a large face with a dimpled chin and broad brows, his observant eyes staring with a calm assurance. After his death at age sixty-two, Mansart was interred in his own parish of Saint-Paul, with a Latin epitaph stating that he had influenced architects, sculptors, painters, and ornamentalists.

Significance

Mansart is not definitely associated with any particular school of architecture. Certainly, he worked in the Palladian school (a revival classic style based on the works of Andrea Palladio). Accomplished at composition, adept at managing proportion and scale, Mansart designed the wondrous Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, the Grand Trianon, and the stables. The Place Vendôme near the Louvre remains the quintessential Parisian square. Typical of Mansart’s period is the elevation in his structures, his capacity for good massing (like that of his great-uncle) reflected in the Dome des Invalides, which is freestanding. This monument is notable because of the baroque energy of the lines, which virtually dance to the very top of the dome. Such an effect is characterized by some historians as a main sign of seventeenth century architecture.

Centuries after Mansart’s death, much evaluation still needs to be done to determine his architectural niche. Because he was deluged with commissions, both royal and private, he catered to many of the preconceived ideas and styles of his monarch and his patrons. Often he was too pressed to be discriminating, and thus, according to some critics, elements of his work suffer because of an architectural eclecticism. He is denounced for ruining Le Vau’s Ionic order on the principal story of Versailles, which looked “mean” when the pattern was repeated over the six hundred yards of the extended front.

Mansart’s influence is far-reaching because of his training of architects and allied artisans, his work with city planning, and his reorganization of the Royal Academy. Even Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, some insist, bears the stamp of Mansart’s inspiration. Some French writers and historians believe that Mansart has not received the recognition that he deserves; others deem that he has been overpraised. Still, Versailles clearly reflects his influence in the second stage of redesigning and rebuilding, and it is significant, indicating the unlimited resources of the architect. Paris, too, reveals the treasures of Mansart’s work in architecture, gardening design, and the arts, a distinct contribution to the enrichment of Western civilization.

Bibliography

Berger, Robert W. A Royal Passion: Louis XIV as a Patron of Architects. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Explains how Louis assumed the role of builder prince, commissioning buildings to emulate and surpass the glory of ancient Rome. Surveys the work of Mansart and other architects who designed buildings for the Sun King.

Blunt, Anthony. Art and Architecture in France, 1500 to 1700. Baltimore, Md.: Penguin Books, 1953. Gives a succinct yet detailed overview of history, politics, and architecture during the life of Mansart, including the influence of the Cardinal de Richelieu, Cardinal Jules Mazarin, and Colbert. Particular emphasis is placed on the work of Mansart at Versailles and on his other designs in Paris and throughout France.

Braham, Allan, and Peter Smith. François Mansart. London: A. Zwemmer, 1973. An exhaustive study of the great-uncle of Mansart. Examines François Mansart’s designs of town houses and drawings for the Louvre and his significant influence on his great-nephew.

Cronin, Vincent. Louis XIV. London: Collins, 1964. This biography of the Sun King provides a context for the life and work of Mansart. Material on Madame Athénaïs de Montespan and Colbert is informative and amusing.

Kalnein, Wend von. Architecture in France in the Eighteenth Century. Translated by David Britt. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995. Two chapters in this book provide information about Mansart’s work and influence on eighteenth century architects.

Mitford, Nancy. The Sun King: Louis XIV at Versailles. New York: Harper & Row, 1966. A lively, well-illustrated book containing valuable information on Louis and devoting ample attention to the genius and contributions of Mansart. Emphasizes the solid reputation of Mansart, after which he was given the challenge and responsibility of a major overhauling and additional architectural design of Versailles.

Van Derpool, James Grote. Jules Hardouin-Mansart. New Haven, Conn.: Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers, 1947. Gives an overview of Mansart, who, Van Derpool says, determined the character of French architecture during Louis XIV’s reign. Provides a basic discussion of the techniques of architecture and Mansart’s contributions.