Pierre Lescot
On the 10th of September 1578, the French architect Pierre Lescot died. He worked in the French Renaissance, and he left Paris two landmarks, the Fontaine des Innocents and the Lescot wing of the Louvre. The wing set the standard for French classicism. Lescot is also credited with helping bring classical architectural elements into French building. Yet he did not come from a family of builders, and the record of his life is surprisingly thin. Why did a landowner's son end up shaping a royal palace? How did his plan win out over a rival's? And why do we know so little about the man behind such celebrated work?
Pierre Lescot was born in Paris, the son of a lord rather than a craftsman. His father, also named Pierre Lescot, was the sieur of Lissy-en-Brie and Clagny, near Versailles. Lescot inherited those lands.
Most architects of the French Flamboyant Gothic and Renaissance periods came from families of masons, who gained practical experience on building sites. Lescot did not follow that path. The poet Ronsard wrote a eulogistic poem that sketches his early years. According to it, Lescot gave his youth to drawing and painting. After the age of twenty, he turned his attention to mathematics and architecture.
Wealth and official responsibilities seem to have narrowed his artistic pursuits as he grew older. The commission that made his name came from the crown itself.
Sebastiano Serlio, an Italian architect and theorist, proposed a design for the Louvre, and it was set aside. King Francis I of France chose Lescot's plan instead. He appointed Lescot as the architect responsible for building projects at the Palais du Louvre, with the aim of turning the old château into a renowned palace.
Lescot's scheme enclosed three sides of a square courtyard with elaborate apartments. The eastern side faced the city as it then stood. It was probably meant to be only lightly closed, with an arcade. At the corners, tall festive pavilions adorned with pillars and statues were to replace the medieval towers.
When Francis I died, his successor, Henry II, confirmed Lescot in the post. Lescot kept working on the Louvre until his own death. Little of the grand vision took shape, however. Beyond the demolition of parts of the old feudal structure, most of the palace saw scant progress. Only the west side and part of the south side were finished. Together they form the present southwest wing of the Cour Carré, known as the Aile Lescot, or Lescot Wing.
The Lescot Wing went up between 1546 and 1551. It rises two stories and carries an attic decorated with richly detailed bas-relief panels by Jean Goujon. A sloping roof crowns the whole, a traditional French feature well suited to a rainy climate.
On the ground floor, deeply recessed windows with arched heads create the impression of an arcade. The central pavilion and the end pavilions project outward from the facade. Each is crowned by small round windows known as oeil de boeuf windows.
On the second floor, slender fluted pilasters divide the windows. The pediments above them alternate between triangular and arched shapes, giving the facade a steady rhythm. Goujon's panels were no afterthought, and the interior shows that even more clearly.
Jean Goujon's name runs through almost every known work by Lescot. All of Lescot's known works feature sculptural decoration by Trebatti and Goujon, and Goujon collaborated with him on the Louvre. His carving and the other architectural decorations were woven carefully into the overall design.
The ground-floor Salle des Caryatides, dated 1546-1549, takes its name from four caryatid figures by Goujon. They support the musicians' gallery, and the room survives as a notable feature of the wing. The Salle des Gardes and the Henry II staircase also remain as traces of Lescot's contribution to the Louvre.
The balance between architect and sculptor did not always favor Lescot. In the Fountain of Nymphs, built in 1547-1549, his architectural contribution plays a more subdued role than Goujon's sculptures. The sculptor's work draws the eye, and the architecture stays in the background.
Between 1540 and 1545, Lescot completed his earliest works, among them the rood screen at Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. Only some of the sculptures that Jean Goujon made for it have survived.
The Château de Vallery is also credited to Lescot's design.
In Paris, the Hôtel de Ligneris was built in 1548-1550 to his plans. Today it is known as the Musée Carnavalet. François Mansart later modified the building extensively, so the house now shows more than one architect's hand.
Whether Pierre Lescot ever saw Italy is unknown, because his career is poorly documented. His understanding of Italian architectural practice may have come only from the architecture and engravings associated with the School of Fontainebleau.
Beyond his recognized works, no other documented projects are attributed to him. A dismissive remark appears in the memoirs of the duc de Nevers, published long after Lescot's death. They mention "Magny", most likely meaning Clagny, as "a painter who used to make inventions of masquerades and tourneys." Court architects of the 15th to 17th centuries were expected to design such spectacles.
When Lescot died, Jean Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau succeeded him as the architect of the Louvre.
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Common questions
Who was Pierre Lescot?
Pierre Lescot was a French architect of the French Renaissance, born in Paris around 1515. He died on the 10th of September 1578. He is known for the Fontaine des Innocents and the Lescot wing of the Louvre.
What did Pierre Lescot design at the Louvre?
Pierre Lescot designed the wing now called the Aile Lescot, part of the southwest side of the Cour Carré. It was built between 1546 and 1551 and set the standard for French classicism.
Why was Pierre Lescot chosen to rebuild the Louvre instead of Sebastiano Serlio?
King Francis I of France set aside a design by the Italian architect Sebastiano Serlio and chose Pierre Lescot's plan. He appointed Lescot as the architect responsible for building projects at the Palais du Louvre.
Who sculpted the decoration on Pierre Lescot's buildings?
Jean Goujon and Trebatti provided the sculptural decoration for all of Pierre Lescot's known works. Goujon collaborated with him on the Louvre, including the four caryatids of the Salle des Caryatides.
What other buildings did Pierre Lescot design besides the Louvre?
Pierre Lescot designed the Hôtel de Ligneris, now the Musée Carnavalet, built in 1548-1550. He also designed the Château de Vallery and made the rood screen at Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, among his earliest works.
Did Pierre Lescot come from a family of masons?
Pierre Lescot did not come from a family of masons. He was the son of a seigneur, also named Pierre Lescot, who was the sieur of Lissy-en-Brie and Clagny near Versailles.
Who succeeded Pierre Lescot as architect of the Louvre?
Jean Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau succeeded Pierre Lescot as architect of the Louvre after Lescot's death in 1578.
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6 references cited across the entry
- 1"the man who was first responsible for the implantation of pure and correct classical architecture in France."David Thomson, "A Note on Pierre Lescot, the Painter" The Burlington Magazine 120 No. 907
- 2The contract is of 1551. The project is analyzed in the context of Parisian urbanism in David Thomson, Renaissance Paris: Architecture and Growth, 1475-1600 (Berkeley: University of California Press)
- 5Ronsard's poem, Discours à Pierre Lescot, was written in 1555 and subsequently modified (Thomson 1978:667).
- 6"un Peintre qui souloit faire des inventions pour les masquerades & tournois nommé Magny, resident à Paris...", noted in Thomson 1978:667 and note.