Claude Perrault
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Claude Perrault ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; 25 September 1613 – 9 October 1688) was a French physician and amateur architect, best known for his participation in the design of the east façade of the Louvre in Paris.<ref name=Britannica>"Claude Perrault. French physician and architect", Britannica online. Retrieved 5 May 2022.</ref> He also designed the Paris Observatory and was an anatomist and author who wrote treatises on architecture, physics, and natural history.<ref name=Hazard>Hazard 2007.</ref>
His brother, Charles Perrault, is remembered as the classic reteller of the old story of Cinderella among other fables.<ref>"Charles Perrault. French author", Britannica online. Retrieved 5 May 2022.</ref><ref>Michel 1996.</ref>
BiographyEdit
Perrault was born and died in Paris.<ref name=Britannica/><ref name=Tadgell>Tadgell 1996.</ref>
As physician and natural philosopher, who received a medical degree from the University of Paris in 1642, Perrault became one of the first members of the French Academy of Sciences when it was founded in 1666.<ref name=Britannica/><ref name=Herrmann>Hermann 1982.</ref>
A committee commissioned by Louis XIV, the Petit Conseil, comprising Louis Le Vau, Charles Le Brun, and Perrault, designed the east façade of the Louvre.<ref>Ayers 2004, p. 31.</ref> It was begun in 1667 and was essentially complete in 1674.<ref>Berger 1993, p. 48.</ref> By 1680, Louis XIV had abandoned the Louvre and focused his attention on the Palace of Versailles. The wing behind the east façade was not finished until the 19th century with the advent of Napoleon. The definitive design of the east façade is attributed to Perrault, who made the final alterations needed to accommodate a decision to double the width of the south wing.<ref>Ayers 2004, p. 36.</ref> He also created projects for the joining of the Louvre with the Tuileries Palace<ref name=Tadgell/><ref name=Blondelp14>Blondel 1756, pp. 9–15.</ref><ref>Picon 1988, p. 189.</ref><ref>Daufresne 1987, pp. 73–78.</ref> and may have devised the use of iron tie rods behind the entablature of the east façade in order to solve engineering problems arising from forces causing stress in the masonry.<ref>Berger 1993, pp. 65–74.</ref><ref>Neumann 2013, p. 297.</ref>
- Projects for the Louvre
- Claude Perrault, perspective bird's-eye view of the Louvre from the east – Berger 1993, figure 67.jpg
Drawing of 1668, attributed to Perrault, showing a design for the east façade of the Louvre<ref>Berger 1993, p. 90 (A6) and Fig. 67.</ref>
- Louvre et Tuileries - Plan général suivant le second projet de Claude Perrault - Architecture françoise Tome4 Livre6 Pl2.jpg
General plan of Perrault's second project for the joining of the Louvre and the Tuileries, engraved by Jacques-François Blondel<ref name=Blondelp14/>
Perrault designed the Paris Observatory (1667–1669), a research institute of the Académie des Sciences.<ref name=Herrmann/><ref>Picon 1988, pp. 197–223.</ref> His design for a triumphal arch on Rue St-Antoine was preferred over the competing designs of Le Brun and Le Vau, but was only partly executed in stone.<ref name=Herrmann/><ref>Picon 1988, pp. 223–230.</ref> When the arch was taken down in the 19th century, it was found that he had devised a means of interlocking the stones, without mortar, so that it had become an inseparable mass.<ref>Gietmann 1913, p. 702.</ref> He also created a design (unexecuted) which used free-standing columns for the reconstruction of the church of Sainte-Geneviève in Paris.<ref name=Tadgell/><ref>Picon 1988, pp. 237–248.</ref>
- Other architectural designs
- Claude Perrault, perspective bird's-eye view of the Observatoire, Paris – Berger 1993, figure 68.jpg
Bird's-eye view of the Paris Observatory, 1667 drawing by Perrault<ref>Berger 1993, Figure 68.</ref>
- Arc de Triomphe du Thrône, RP-P-1964-1779.jpg
Design for the Arc de Triomphe du Thrône on the Rue Saint-Antoine, 1670
Aside from his participation in the design of the Louvre, he became well known for his translation into French of the ten books of Vitruvius, the only surviving Roman work on architecture. Begun at the instigation of Colbert, it was published, with Perrault's annotations, in 1673. His treatise on the five classical orders of architecture followed in 1683.<ref name=Hazard /><ref name=Herrmann/>
In addition, he made a valuable contribution in acoustics. His treatise on sound was a part of the book Oeuvres diverses de Physique et de Mecanique. In his later book, he treats such subjects as sound media, sources of sound and sound receivers. In musical acoustics, he noted the importance of vibration on consonance and dissonance. His study "De la Musique des Anciens" in the Oeuvres diverses discussed how combinations of notes yields harmony. It also contains critical examinations of old manuscripts on European music.<ref>Perrault; Lesure.</ref>
Written worksEdit
- Les dix livres d'architecture de Vitruve, corrigez et traduits nouvellement en françois avec des notes et des figures. Paris, Coignard, 1673.
- Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire naturelle des animaux, 1676 (Memoirs for a natural history of animals: containing the anatomical descriptions of several creatures dissected by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris).
- Essais de Physique, ou receuil de plusieurs traitez touchant les choses naturelles, 4 volumes. Paris, Coignard, 1680–1688.
- Ordonnance des cinq espèces de colonnes selon la méthode des anciennes. Paris, Coignard, 1683.
- Ordonnance for the five kinds of columns after the method of the Ancients, translated by Indra Kagis McEwen with an introduction by Alberto Pérez-Gómez. Santa Monica, California: Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1993.
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NotesEdit
BibliographyEdit
- Ayers, Andrew (2004). The Architecture of Paris. Stuttgart; London: Edition Axel Menges. Template:ISBN.
- Berger, Robert W. (1993). The Palace of the Sun: The Louvre of Louis XIV. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press. Template:ISBN.
- Blondel, Jacques-François (1756). Architecture françoise, vol. 4. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert.
- Daufresne, Jean-Claude (1987). Louvre et Tuileries: Architectures de papier. Brussels: Pierre Mardaga. Template:ISBN.
- Gietmann, Gerhard (1913). "Perrault, Claude", vol. 11, pp. 701–702,Template:Unreliable source? in The Catholic Encyclopedia, edited by Charles G. Herbermann et al., 15 volumes. New York: The Encyclopedia Press.
- Hazard, Jean (2007). "Claude Perrault, architecte célèbre, médecin inconnu, chercheur indefatigable" (in French) ["Claude Perrault, famous architect, unknown physician, untiring researcher"]. Histoire des Sciences médicales, vol 41, no. 4, pp. 399–406. Template:PMID.
- Hermann, Wolfgang (1982). "Perrault, Claude", vol. 3, pp. 391–392, in Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects, edited by Adolf K. Placzek. London: The Free Press. Template:ISBN.
- Michel, Christian (1996). "Perrault family: (3) Charles Perrault", vol. 24, p. 470, in The Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner. London: Macmillan.
- Neuman, Robert (2013). Baroque and Rococo Art and Architecture. Boston: Pearson. Template:ISBN.
- Perrault, Claude; Lesure, François. "Du bruit"; et "De la musique des anciens", extracts from Oeuvres diverses de physique et de mécanique (tome 2); and Préface manuscrite du Traité de la musique de Claude Perrault (Bibl. Nat. manuscr. fr. 25,350). Bibliothèque nationale de France.
- Picon, Antoine (1988). Claude Perrault, 1613–1688, ou, La curiosité d'un classique. Paris: Picard. Template:ISBN.
- Tadgell, Christopher (1996). "Perrault family. (2) Claude Perrault", vol. 24, pp. 470, in The Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner. London: Macmillan.