Claude Perrault – The Architect Behind the Louvre‘s Classical Facade
Claude Perrault is best known as one of the architects behind the magnificent classical east façade of the Louvre in Paris. But Perrault was also a physician, scientist and inventor, whose diverse talents shaped many facets of 17th century French culture. From anatomy to acoustics, hydraulics to aesthetic theory, Perrault brought his incisive mind and creative vision to illuminate the world around him. Yet it was his groundbreaking work as an architect that would indelibly shape the face of Paris and influence generations to follow.
The Privileged Upbringing of a Renaissance Man
Claude Perrault was born in 1613 into an affluent Parisian family that valued education and actively nurtured the talents of its seven children. His father Pierre was an influential lawyer, while his mother Pâquette managed the large household. Perrault attended the prestigious Collège de Beauvais, followed by medicine and anatomy studies at the University of Paris. He received a bachelor‘s in 1639 and a master‘s degree in 1641, and established a successful 20-year practice as a physician in Paris.
Yet Perrault grew restless with medicine, finding himself drawn more towards natural philosophy and the workings of the physical world. From observing sap circulation in plants to designing complex machines to ease friction, Perrault had a perpetually inquiring mind. He began an extensive study of Vitruvius‘ Ten Books on Architecture, steeping himself in classical theories. This project put Perrault firmly on the path to his architectural destiny.
Though Perrault departed from medicine himself, three of his brothers carried on the family‘s medical legacy. Younger brothers Pierre and Nicolas followed in their Claude‘s early footsteps, while Charles wrote pioneering medical works like An Essay on the Remedies of the Ancients Against the Plague. The intellectually gifted Perraults also included famed fairytale author Charles, whose classic Tales of Mother Goose would delight future generations.
Claude Perrault first dabbled with inventing calculating machines and water clocks. But soon his creative talents would take on a monumental new challenge – reinventing the Louvre to reflect the Sun King‘s magnificence.
Winning the Competition for a Classical Louvre Facade
In the 1660s, an expansion of the medieval Louvre palace was commissioned by finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert on behalf of Louis XIV. At the time, the Louvre had an irregular external appearance reflecting its composite construction history. Colbert initiated a fierce competition between leading architects of the day to produce a harmonious facade reflecting France‘s increasingly absolute monarchy. Charles Le Brun, Louis Le Vau and François d’Orbay countered with elaborate baroque schemes crammed with ornamentation.
Perrault took a radically different approach, proposing a restrained three-part columnar screen attached the Louvre‘s long eastern wing. With a baldachin-topped central pavilion and sloping mansard roofline, Perrault oriented his facade southwards toward the city. His radical vision married French classicism with contemporary Italian baroque, using Crisp Corinthian columns to articulate a linear rhythm.
While his lack of architect credentials provoked skepticism, Perrault intelligently mobilized support within Colbert‘s circle. His brother Charles championed his cause as First Commissioner of Royal Buildings. The Perrault family‘s long-time patron Pierre Perrault was appointed Finance Receiver for Paris, allowing him to back the unprecedented design. Favor shifted decisively towards Perrault’s facade, which promised to embody Louis XIV‘s majestic imperial ambitions. Construction commenced in 1668 on the Colonnade, the Louvre‘s most monumental exterior feature.
Though Perrault collaborated closely with Le Vau and Le Brun, the Louvre’s Colonnade remains largely his conception. Twelve Corinthian columns stand two stories high across a length of 440 feet, supporting an entablature carved with allegorical images of the Sun King’s political reign. Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s centralization of power is embodied by the Colonnade’s firm symmetry. Classical order and geometric harmony reflect the overarching certainty that Louis XIV strove to project.
Ultimately the splendid new Louvre wing was incorporated into a vast, unfinished courtyard scheme with three open sides. Financial constraints and Louis XIV’s departure for Versailles prevented the Perrault blueprint being fulfilled to completion. Nonetheless, the Louvre Colonnade would directly inform Neoclassical civic structures across Europe and America for centuries to come. As architectural historian Anthony Blunt memorably stated: "Paris has many beautiful buildings, but few can compare in grandeur with the colonnade of the Louvre, which is perhaps the finest piece of architecture constructed in Paris during the 17th century."
Diverse Architectural Projects Across Paris
In the wake of his Louvre success, Perrault became exceptionally influential as a master of French classicism. His avant-garde style blended modern baroque sensibility with faithfulness to classical rules. Perrault applied this approach to many important Parisian commissions over the next 20 years.
He participated in an ambitious extension of the Tuileries Palace that ultimately remained unrealized. In 1667, Perrault‘s excellent political connections saw him appointed as designer of the new Paris Observatory under construction. This prestigious academically minded project allowed him to deploy his sophisticated technical expertise in hydraulics, optics and mechanics. The resulting building – featuring a majestic octagonal central room ringed by lateral wings – still operates today as home of the Paris Observatory.
Further high society architectural patronage followed, including Duke Colbert‘s Château de Seaux and private hôtel in Paris. Other Perrault landmarks gracing the city include St-Benoît church, additions to the church of Sainte-Geneviève, and an altar at Les Petits-Pères. Regrettably financial troubles later saw Sainte-Geneviève‘s abbey demolished and secularized during the French Revolution.
Perrault also tried diverting from classical convention in several projects. His design proposals for Place des Victoires – an extravagant central square honoring Louis XIV with an equestrian statue – were an exuberant combination of concave facades and radial sightlines converging on the monumental bronzed centerpiece. Place des Victoires was partially built before the plan was abandoned in 1685. He also drafted a magnificent triumphal arch to be constructed over Rue Saint-Antoine for the royal entrance ceremony of Marie Thérèse, the Sun King’s new wife. Intended to showcase French cultural supremacy, this symbolically potent structure incorporated rich allegorical ornamentation and a bold arched passageway. However, financial constraints meant that only part of Perrault‘‘s ambitious arch design was executed in stone.
This creative torrent represented Perrault‘s most productive years as an architect. His groundbreaking modern French classicism produced structures of great harmony, restraint and dignity that still dominate Paris‘ urban landscape.
The Universal Pursuits of a Renaissance Polymath
Beyond his prolific architectural legacy, Perrault maintained diverse intellectual pursuits across science, philosophy and the arts. As a prominent member of the newly constituted Academy of Sciences, Perrault wrote pioneering treatises about sap circulation, embryonic development and animal physiognomy. He conducted extensive anatomical studies and dissections, including one infamous public autopsy of a camel that triggered Perrault‘s final fatal illness.
In mechanics and physics, Perrault investigated pneumatics, light diffraction and acoustics – arguing vigorously for the modern wave theory of sound propagation. He viewed classical Greek musical theories as inferior to the advanced harmonies of his contemporary era, expounding this position stridently in critical essays. Perrault also designed an ingenious water clock, a correcting device for reflecting telescope mirrors and a friction-reducing pulley system. These practical inventions were integrated operationally into the Louvre façade and Les Invalides hospital to assist astronomical observations and building maintenance.
Outside of France, Perrault’s discoveries circulated rapidly across the cosmopolitan 17th century European intellectual scene. British polymath Robert Hooke lauded Perrault’s novel theories of plant sap circulation and embryonic preformation in his own widely read marvelousMicrographia. These groundbreaking biological ideas also attracted the attention of Leibnitz as the influence of French intellectual academies reached its zenith.
Perrault even propounded an aesthetic theory that resonates with early modernism – arguing that positive pleasure in art derives from perceiving novel visual configurations, rather than aristocratic classical conventions of beauty. He aimed to bring innovation and “a pleasing diversity” to architecture in his own Louvre Colonnade by introducing a radical new external perspective.
By participating in vibrant philosophical discussions around aesthetics, optics, acoustics and natural history, Perrault helped shape the course of Enlightenment science. Not just a pivotal figure in French architecture, Perrault was one of the last true Renaissance polymaths. His intellectual vision broadly impacted Paris’ flourishing arts and letters scene during the splendid final decades of Louis XIV’s absolute rule.
The Enduring Fame and Influence of a Pioneering Architect
The sheer breadth of Perrault’s contributions highlight the extraordinary cultural flowering experienced in late 17th century Paris. Yet despite his dazzling scientific creativity and philosophical essays, it is Perrault’s architectural daring that looms largest within his varied legacy. The majestic colonnaded curtain wall dominating the east wing of the Louvre announced a brilliant new phase of French neo-classicism to the world. Perrault‘s clean lines, geometric order and restrained facade detailing influenced civic buildings for generations after in Paris and well beyond.
As reigning architectural Louis XIV distanced himself from Paris for a secluded life in Versailles, Perrault continued reworking his architectural treatise based around Vitruvius. He resided loyally in the cultural heart of Paris until his demise from infection in 1688, nursed at the end by his devoted brother Charles. The graceful colonnade running seamlessly along the Seine remains Perrault‘s supreme built tribute to his king and country – the work of versatile prodigy proudly signing himself as “Architect to the King’ on this resplendent facade.
Claude Perrault’s extraordinary diversity of talents, overcoming resistance from artistic traditionalists, ushered in an exciting new era of creative French confidence. His pioneering fusions of baroque sensibility with cool classicism grace Paris physically to this day. Perrault‘s inventive spirit also presaged Enlightenment breakthroughs in the sciences shortly to transform European society irrevocably. Both architecturally and philosophically, Claude Perrault‘s legacy resonates as triumphantly as ever beneath the majestic pillar tops of his shimmering Louvre facade.
Sources:
Blunt, Anthony. “French architecture in the 17th century.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/art/Western-architecture/France#ref750521. Accessed 1 Mar. 2023.
Pérouse de Montclos, Jean-Marie. “Claude Perrault.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 9 Feb. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claude-Perrault. Accessed 1 Mar. 2023
Millon, Henry A. “17th century classicism in France.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/Western-architecture/Late-Baroque-and-Rococo. Accessed 1 Mar. 2023.
Rabreau, D. Claude Perrault. New York, Exhibition Catalog from the Bibliotheque Nationale.
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