the dominant style in france during the baroque period was
French Baroque architecture - wikipedia French Baroque architecture Jump to : navigation , search Palace of Versailles French Baroque architecture , sometimes called French classicism , was a style of architecture during the reigns of Louis XIII ( 1610 -- 43 ) , Louis XIV ( 1643 -- 1715 ) and Louis XV ( 1715 -- 74 ) . It was preceded by the French Renaissance and Mannerism styles , and was followed in the second half of the 18th century by Neo-classicism . The style was originally inspired by the Italian Baroque style , but , particularly under Louis XIV , it gave greater emphasis to regularity , the colossal order of facades , and the use of colonnades and cupolas , to symbolize the power and grandeur of the King . Notable examples of the style include the Grand Trianon of the Palace of Versailles , and the dome of Les Invalides in Paris . In the final years of Louis XIV and the reign of Louis XV , the style became lighter , colossal orders gradually disappeared and the style became lighter , and saw the introduction of wrought iron decoration in rocaille designs . The period also saw the introduction of monumental urban squares in Paris and other cities , notably Place Vendôme and the Place de la Concorde . The style profoundly influenced 18th - century secular architecture throughout Europe ; the Palace of Versailles and the French formal garden were copied by other courts all over Europe . Contents ( hide ) 1 Early French Baroque 2 The Louvre facade 3 The Palace of Versailles 4 Religious architecture 5 The Debut of the Dome 6 Residential architecture - the Hôtel Particulier 7 The Residential Square 8 Gallery 9 See also 10 Notes and citations 11 Books cited in text Early French Baroque ( edit ) The French Baroque , from the beginning , was an expression of the power and majesty of the Kings of France . It proceeded deliberately in a different direction from Italy and the rest of Europe , combining classical elements , especially , colossal orders of columns , and avoiding the exuberant decoration that appeared on facades and interiors in Spain , Germany and Central Europe . It was used less frequently on churches , and more often in the design of royal palaces and country residences . Another distinctive element of the French Baroque style was the integration of the architecture of the house with the formal gardens around it , in what became known as the French formal garden . Salomon de Brosse ( 1571 - 1626 ) was the one of the first French architects to adopt the style , in the construction of the Palais du Luxembourg he built for the mother of Louis XIII , Marie de Medici between 1615 and 1624 . The Luxembourg Palace established a new pattern for royal residences , with pavilions on the corners , lateral wings , and a grand central entrance surmounted by a cupola . The walls feature colossal orders of columns with triangular pediments , indicating the classical inspiration behind the French movement . A traditional French feature was the high sloping mansard roof and the complex roofline . Like the palaces of the Medicis in Rome , the palace was surrounded by a large garden and fountains . The interior design was also innovative ; the pavilions around the main block contained the apartments , allowing a greater flexibility and functionality of the interior space . One of the most accomplished formulators of the new style was François Mansart , a tireless perfectionist often credited with introducing the full Baroque to France . He was not the first to use the sloping Mansart roof , but he used it so effectively that it took his name . In his design for the Château de Maisons in Maisons - Laffitte , ( 1630 -- 51 ) , Mansart showed the continuity between the French Renaissance style and the new style . The structure is strictly symmetrical , with an order applied to each story , mostly in pilaster form . The frontispiece , crowned with a separate aggrandized roof , is infused with remarkable plasticity and the whole ensemble reads like a three - dimensional whole . Mansart 's structures are stripped of overblown decorative effects , so typical of contemporary Rome . Italian Baroque influence is muted and relegated to the field of decorative ornamentation . Louis Le Vau was another central figure in the early French Baroque style . He designed the Château of Vaux - le - Vicomte ( 1656 - 1661 ) for Nicolas Fouquet , the Superintendent Finances of the young Louis XIV , The design of the chateau itself was similar to that of the Luxembourg Palace and the Palazzo Barberini in Rome . What made it distinctive from earlier styles was the unity of its architecture , interior , and landscape around it . Its facade featured stylized monumental columns , wings combined with mansard roofs and a prominent dome , in the baroque style . The interior was lavishly decorated with murals by Le Brun ; and it was placed in the center of enormous formal gardens designed by André Le Notre , laid out in geometric patterns paths , flower beds , fountains and reflecting pools , which seemed to extend the architecture of the house in every direction . The grand salon of the building opened out onto the garden , a feature which thereafter became a regular feature of baroque palaces . After seeing the lavishness of the building , the King dismissed and imprisoned Fouquet , took possession of the house for the crown , and soon put Le Vau to work to create his own palace in Versailles . The same three artists scaled this concept to monumental proportions in the royal hunting lodge and later main Palace of Versailles ( 1661 -- 1690 ) . On a far grander scale , the palace is a hypertrophied and somewhat repetitive version of Vaux - le - Vicomte . It was both the most grandiose and the most imitated residential building of the 17th century . Mannheim , Nordkirchen and Drottningholm were among many foreign residences for which Versailles provided a model . Château de Maisons - Laffitte by François Mansart , ( 1630 -- 51 ) Palais du Luxembourg by Salomon de Brosse ( 1615 - 1620 ) Vaux - le - Vicomte near Paris , by Louis Le Vau and André Le Nôtre , ( 1656 - 1661 ) The Louvre facade ( edit ) In 1665 the chief minister of Louis XIV , Jean Colbert , invited the most famous architect and sculptor of the Italian Baroque , Gian Lorenzo Bernini to Paris , to propose a design for a new wing of Louvre , located on the eastern side of the Renaissanace Cour Carrée , or square courtyard . This design would have aligned the architecture of Paris to the Italian Baroque style . However , Louis turned instead to a French architect , Claude Perrault ( 1613 - 1688 ) , who had translated the works of the celebrated Roman architectural theorist Vitruvius into French . Louis wanted a design that would be distinctly French , rather than a copy of the Italian style . He gave the commission to Perrault , who built a new facade to the east , as well as a new facade on the south of the courtyard facing the Seine . The new facade featured the colossal order ; that is , a long row of double columns two stories high , resting on top of a massive massive lower level with an arcade of rounded arches . It had a flat roof concealed by a balustrade , with a triangular fronton in the center over the main entry . Perrault also designed a new facade for the courtyard facing the river to the south , a new facade on the interior of the court facing west , and a matching new facade on the north . Proposed baroque east facade of Louvre by Gian Lorenzo Bernini East facade of the Louvre by Claude Perrault ( 1665 -- 68 ) The Palace of Versailles ( edit ) The most important showcase of the French Baroque was the Palace of Versailles . It was begun in 1624 by Louis XIII as a hunting lodge . In 1634 , Louis XIII had it enlarged into a chateau by his chief architect and engineer , Philibert Le Roy . In 1661 , Louis XIV decided to enlarge it further , without destroying the original . He commissioned Louis Le Vau and Charles le Brun as his architect and designer , and assigned André Le Nôtre to create a grand formal garden that could be viewed from the Chateau , on the model of Vaux - le - Vicomte . When Le Vau died in 1670 , the project was given to Jules Hardouin - Mansart , the nephew of Francois Mansart . The new Palace surrounded the old brick chateau , with new wings the north , south and to the rear . The facade , like the new Louvre wing , featured colossal order columns , while the roof was flat with a terrance , decorated with balustrades , pilasters , balconies , statues , and trophies . Beginning in 1674 - 75 , Le Brun created the interior , including the most famous room in the Palace , the Hall of Mirrors , which overlooked the new garden . A small army of painters , sculptors , and decorators went to work , using marble , polychrome stone , bronze . mirrors and gilded stucco . Le Brun himself painted the ceiling . The Hall of Mirrors became the symbol of the entire French Baroque style . The new Palace was open to almost any visitor , and became an immense theater , where the King carried out his ceremonies , with meticulous protocol , in public view . Garden facade of the first Chateau by Philibert Le Roy ( 1634 ) Grand Court of the enlarged Chateau , by Louis le Vau ( 1661 -- 78 ) Hall of Mirrors at Palace of Versailles by Charles Le Brun ( 1678 - 1684 ) The Garden facade by Louis Le Vau ( 1661 -- 78 ) Louis continued to add to the Palace through the end of his reign . In 1687 , Jules Hardouin - Mansart and then Robert de Cotte erected the Grand Trianon , on the model of an Italian building , the Marble Trianon . It had a single floor , decorated with plaster and marble , with a flat roof and balustrade . The plan was very simple , with a peristyle flanked by two wings and two avant - corps , or sections in advance of the wings . It had a simplicity and purity of form that inspired similar palace buildings across Europe , from Prussia to Russia . Mansart also completed the Orangerie of the Chateau ( 1684 - 1686 ) in a similar style , surrounding a formal garden and pool . The gardens designed by Andre Le Notre were designed to complement the architecture of the palace and to express , by it geometric alleys , pools , rows of the trees , flower beds and fountains , the mastery of the King over nature . The final piece of the Palace constructed by Louis XIV style was the chapel , by Robert de Cotte , finished in 1710 . The room was given more space and light by the use of classical columns instead of massive pillars , and by placing the supporting columns on an upper level . Louis XV continued to add to the Palace , mostly with changes to the interior rooms . His major contribution was the Petit Trianon , by Ange - Jacques Gabriel . Its austere architecture was a sign of the transition from French Baroque to neoclassicism . Chapel of the Palace of Versailles by Jules Hardouin - Mansart and Robert de Cotte ( 1689 - 1710 ) The Grand Trianon by Jules Hardouin - Mansart and Robert de Cotte ( 1687 -- 88 ) Garden of the Versailles Orangerie by André le Nôtre The Petit Trianon by Ange - Jacques Gabriel ( 1762 - 1768 ) Religious architecture ( edit ) The architecture of churches during the early French Baroque period evolved more slowly ; the late Mannerist Gothic style , exemplified by the Church of Saint - Étienne - du - Mont by Claude Guérin ( 1606 -- 21 ) , was still the dominant style . However , between 1690 and 1755 twenty - four new church facades were built in Paris . Competitions for new church designs , particularly the Prix de Rome and the competition for the enlarging of Saint - Sulpice and Saint - Eustache in Paris , brought forward many original ideas . The first French church facade in the new baroque style was for the church of St - Gervais - et - St - Protais ( 1616 ) by Salomon de Brosse . It featured , like Church of the Jesu in Rome , a facade with the three orders of columns , Doric , Ionic and Corinthian , arranged in stages one above the other . Another variant of the new style appeared in the main Jesuit church in Paris , the Church of Saint - Paul - Saint - Louis , inspired by the Jesuit Church of the Gesù in Rome . Designed by the Jesuit architects Etienne Martellange and François Derand , had two levels , with the lower level at the height of the chapels , and an upper level , with a second order of columns , and a fronton over the portal of the church . The upper level was supported by consoles in an reversed S form . The surface of the facade was decorated with statues in niches , and with renouncements . The interior plan was rectangual , with a large vaulted nave , flanked with chapels . The interiors of new parish churches , such as Saint - Sulpice , Saint - Louis - en - l'Île and Saint - Roch largely followed the traditional gothic floor - plan of Notre - Dame , though they did add façades and certain other decorative features from the Italian Baroque . Saint - Roch ( 1653 -- 90 ) , designed by Jacques Lemercier , had a Gothic plan but colorful Italian - style decoration . To follow the advice of the Council of Trent to integrate themselves into the city 's architecture , new churches were aligned with the street . rather than always facing east - west . The church of Saint - Étienne - du - Mont by Claude Guérin , in the late Mannerist Gothic style ( 1606 -- 21 ) The Church of St - Gervais - et - St - Protais , the first Paris church with a façade in the new Baroque style ( 1616 -- 20 ) The Church of Saint - Paul - Saint - Louis ( 1627 -- 41 ) by Etienne Martellange and François Derand Interior of Saint - Paul - Saint - Louis ( 1627 -- 41 ) Church of Saint - Roch ( 1653 -- 90 ) by Jacques Lemercier The debut of the dome ( edit ) The major innovation of French Baroque religious architecture was the introduction of the cupola or dome over the central nave , a style imported from the Italian Baroque . The dome of the Church of the Gesù , Rome ( 1584 ) Church of the Gesù ) ) in Rome , by Giacomo della Porta ( 1568 - 1584 ) served as the prototypa . The first Parisian church to have a dome was the chapel of the whose facade is now found in the courtyard of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux - Arts on rue Bonaparte in Paris . The next , larger dome was constructed at the Église Saint - Joseph - des - Carmes ( 1613 -- 20 ) in the same neighborhood . A larger and still more impressive early dome was built by François Mansart for the Church the Visitation Saint - Marie ( 1632 -- 34 ) . Another innovative dome was built by Jacques Lemercier for the College of Sorbonne , beginning in 1635 . This design featured a hemispherical dome on a tall octagonal drum , the first of its type in France , with four small cupolas in the angles of the Greek cross above the two Corinthian orders on the façade . A much larger and higher dome on the Italian baroque model was begun by François Mansart , then Jacques Lemercier and completed by Pierre Le Muet for the chapel of the royal hospital and abbey of Val - de-Grace ( 1645 - 1665 ) . The facade has two levels of columns and pediments and a peristyle of detached columns , and the dome is decorated with an abundance of vaults , ribs , statues , contreforts , and ornaments , making it the most Italianate of French domes . The second part of the 17th century saw the beginning of two more important domes . The Chapel of the College des Quatre - Nations , ( now the Institut de France by Louis Le Vau and François d'Orbay ( 1662 - 1668 ) was built with a bequest from Cardinal Mazarin across the Seine from Louvre , and contains his tomb . The most grand of the domse was that of Les Invalides , the chapel for the hospital of military veterans , built by Jules Hardouin - Mansart ( 1677 - 1706 ) , both as a symbol of charity and of military glory . The dome is placed on a church in the form of a trek cross . The cube of the building is surmounted by a cylindrical column of two drums , giving the dome exceptional height . The dome itself is richly decorated with sculpture on the entablements as well as ornaments of gilded bronze between the vertical ribs of the dome . Church of the Convent of the Visitation by François Mansart ( 1632 -- 34 ) Church of Val de Grace by Louis Le Vau ( 1624 - 1669 ) Eglise Saint - Roch , Paris by Jacques Lemercier ( 1653 -- 90 ) Chapel of the College of Sorbonne by Jacques Lemercier ( 1635 - ) Collége des Quatres - Nations by Louis Le Vau and Jacques d'Orbay ( 1662 - 1668 ) Les Invalides by Jules Hardouin - Mansart ( 1677 - 1706 ) Residential architecture - the Hôtel Particulier ( edit ) The residential building style known as the Hôtel Particulier reached its maturity during the Baroque era , particularly in Paris , where members of the nobility built their town houses . They was defined by Catherinot in the Traité de l'architecture ( 1688 ) as a `` Less beautiful than palaces and more beautiful than simple residences . '' The early Hôtel Particuliers in Paris were partly by Italian architecture and the model of the Luxembourg Palace , on a smaller scale . The early Baroque Hôtel Particulier , such as the Hôtel de Sully in Paris , The house was usually placed between a walled courtyard in the front and a garden in the back , with the entrance to the courtyard through a pavilion on the street . The Hôtel de Sully in Paris , ( 1624 - 1630 ) , designed by Jean - Androuet du Cerceau is a good example of the early style , as is the Hôtel Carnavalet . While the Hôtel de Sully was originally planned to be built of brick and stone , it was finally built entirely of stone . The Hôtels grew in size and complexity through the 17th century , with the appearance of the vestibule between 1635 and 1640 . The newer houses also began to have two courtyards , one for ceremony ( The Cour d'honneur ) and the other for more practical purposes , such as the stables . The facade of the residential building facing the garden came to occupy the entire width of the piece of land . New specialized kinds of rooms , such as dining rooms and salons , began to appear . Notable Examples of the French Baroque Hôtel Particulier include the Hôtel Carnavalet , the Hôtel de Sully ( 1624 - 1639 ) ; the Hôtel de Beauvais ( 1655 - 1660 ) , and the Hôtel de Soubise ( 1624 - 1639 ) ( now the French National Archives ) . A notable example outside of Paris is the Palais Rohan , Strasbourg . Hôtel de Sully ( 1624 - 1639 ) Hôtel de Beauvais ( 1655 - 1660 ) Hôtel Carnavalet The Palais Rohan , Strasbourg The residential square ( edit ) Main articles : Louis Quinze and Style Louis XIV The residential square , a group of houses with of identical size and dentical architecture around a square , usually with a fountain in the middle , first based on the Italian model , appeared in Paris in the Place Royal ( now Place des Vosges ) between 1605 and 1613 . The buildings had high mansard roofs , and tricolor facades of broke , stone , and slate . In the beginning , a statue of Louis III on horseback was placed in the center . A smaller square , Place Dauphine , originally with thirty - two houses , was built on the ( ( Ile - de-la - Cité next to the Pont Neuf between 1607 and 1610 ) ) . It faced an equestrian statue of Henry IV of France . The next major urban square constructed in Paris was the Place des Victoires ( 1684 - 1697 ) , a real estate development of seven large buildings in three segments around an oval square , with an equestrian statue of Louis XIV planned for the centerpiece . This was built by an enterprising entrepreneur and nobleman of the court , Jean - Baptiste Prédot , combined with the architect Jules - Haroudin Mansart . The new square was a showcases of the new monumental style of Louis XIV . The old brick and stone of the Henry IV squares wss replaced by the Grand Style of monumental columns , which usually were part of the facade itself , rather than standing separately . All the buildings around the square were connected and built to the same height , in the same style . The ground floor featured a covered arcade for pedestrians . Between 1699 and 1702 , another square was constructed also by Hardouin - Mansart . the Place Vendôme , In another innovation , this project was partially financed by the sale of lots around the square . All of these projects featured monumental facades in the Louis XIV style , giving a particular harmony to the squares . Louis XV followed the example of Louis XIV . In the later years of his reign Louis constructed a major new square in the center of the city , Place Louis XV ( now Place de la Concorde , with a harmonious row of new buildings designed by Ange - Jacques Gabriel . Following the example of the earlier squares , it featured an equestrian statue of Louis XV , which was pulled down during the French Revolution . Louis XV built other monumental squares following the same architectural model in the centers of Rennes and Bordeaux . Another notable square , Place Stanislas , was built in the city of Nancy , in Lorraine , shortly before that Duchy was formally attached to France . Place des Victoires ( 1684 - 1697 ) by Jules Hardouin - Mansart Place Vendôme ( 1699 - 1702 ) by Jules Hardouin - Mansart Design for the Place Louis XV by Ange - Jacques Gabriel ( 1758 ) Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux by Ange - Jacques Gabriel ( 1730 - 1775 ) Nancy , Place Stanislas , E. Héré , 1752 - 1760. jpg Gallery ( edit ) Château de Dampierre by Jules Hardouin Mansart . Château de Beaumesnil , Eure . Choir of Auch Cathedral , Auch , Midi - Pyrénées . See also ( edit ) France portal Architecture portal Style Louis XIV Louis Quinze Architecture of Paris French Baroque and Classicism Notes and citations ( edit ) Jump up ^ Hopkins , Owen , Les Styles en Architecture ( 2014 ) , pp. 84 - 87 Jump up ^ Prima and Demartini ( 2006 ) , page 190 . ^ Jump up to : Prima and Demartini ( 2006 ) , page 191 . Jump up ^ Hopkins ( 2014 ) & p. 84 . Jump up ^ Renault and Lazé ( 2006 ) , page 55 Jump up ^ Cabanne ( 1988 ) pg. 30 . Jump up ^ Cabanne ( 1988 ) pg. 30 - 31 . Jump up ^ ( ( # CITEREF ) ) . Jump up ^ Texier ( 2012 ) page 52 Jump up ^ Texier ( 2012 ) pages 30 - 35 ^ Jump up to : Texier 2012 , pp. 30 -- 31 . Jump up ^ Texier ( 2012 ) pgs. 34 - 35 . Jump up ^ Ducher 1988 , p. 124 . Jump up ^ Ducher , 1988 & pg. 124 . ^ Jump up to : Texier 2012 , pp. 32 - 33 . Jump up ^ Texier , 2012 & pages 28 - 29 . Jump up ^ Texier , Simon ( 2012 ) , pp. 38 - 39 Jump up ^ Texier , Simon ( 2012 ) , pp. 38 - 39 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baroque architecture in France . Books cited in text ( edit ) Prina , Francesca ; Demartini , Elena ( 2006 ) . Petite encylopédie de l'architecture . Paris : Solar . ISBN 2 - 263 - 04096 - X . Hopkins , Owen ( 2014 ) . Les styles en architecture . Dunod . ISBN 978 - 2 - 10 - 070689 - 1 . Henry A. Millon ( ed . ) , The Triumph of the Baroque : Architecture in Europe , 1600 -- 1750 ( 1999 ) . Frédérique Lemerle & Yves Pauwels , `` Baroque Architecture '' , Flammarion , 2008 * Ducher , Robert ( 1998 ) . Caractéristique des Styles . Flammarion . ISBN 2 - 08 - 011539 - 1 . Texier , Simon ( 2012 ) . Paris - Panorama de l'architecture . Parigramme . ISBN 978 - 2 - 84096 - 667 - 8 . <Th_colspan="2"> ( hide ) Baroque architecture by region <Td_colspan="2"> Andean ( Peru , Ecuador ) Czech ( Bohemia , Moravia ) Dutch Republic England France Germany Italy ( Sicily ) Malta New Spain ( Mexico ) Philippines Poland Portugal Russia Petrine Naryshkin Elizabethan Siberia Spain Ukraine Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French_Baroque_architecture&oldid=837777411 '' Categories : Baroque architecture in France French Baroque Baroque architectural styles Baroque architecture by country French architecture by period Ancien Régime French architecture 17th - century architecture 17th century in France Talk Contents About Wikipedia Euskara Polski Edit links This page was last edited on 23 April 2018 , at 00 : 09 . Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply . By using this site , you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . 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1. French Baroque architecture
2. Palace of Versailles
3. Grand Trianon
4. French formal garden
5. Dome architecture