Louis Métezeau

Louis Métezeau (1559 – 18 August 1615) was a French architect.[1]

Court facade of the Hôtel d'Angoulême

Life and career

He was born in Dreux, Eure-et-Loir and died in Paris. He was the son of Thibault Métezeau, the brother of Clément II Métezeau[2] and the nephew of Jean Métezeau.[1]

He probably undertook the construction of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre[3] (the eastern section is traditionally attributed to him)[4] and conceived the Place des Vosges in Paris.[2] His one documented structure is the Hôtel d'Angoulême (1584).[5]

Métezeau was probably involved in the building of the Palais du Luxembourg for Marie de Medicis: she is believed to have sent him to Florence in 1611 to make drawings of the Palazzo Pitti, which was to be used as a model by the regent's order.[6]

At his death he was identified as Premier Architecte du Roi of Henry IV of France.[7][8]

  • The eastern section of the Louvre's Grande Galerie, from an engraving by Jean Marot (c. 1670)

Notes
  1. Babelon 1996, p. 345.
  2. "La place Ducale, coeur battant de Charleville". Les Échos. 20 July 2006. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  3. "Reprise des travaux". The Louvre. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  4. Ballon 1991, pp. 39–40.
  5. Ballon 1991, p. 43.
  6. The Architecture of the Renaissance by Leonardo Benevolo, p.706; The architecture of Paris by Andrew Ayers, p.130. Collins on the other hand says Salomon de Brosse, the main architect of the palace, sent Louis' brother, Clément Métezeau (Concrete by Peter Collins, Kenneth Frampton, Réjean Legault, p.166).
  7. Babelon 1996, p. 346.
  8. "Chapelle Saint-Louis, Prytanée militaire, La Flèche, France". Université du Québec. Retrieved 25 March 2010.

Bibliography
  • Babelon, Jean-Pierre (1996). "Métezeau: (1) Louis Métezeau", vol. 21, p.p 345–346, in The Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner, reprinted with minor corrections in 1998. ISBN 9781884446009. Also at Oxford Art Online.
  • Ballon, Hilary (1991). The Paris of Henri IV: Architecture and Urbanism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN 9780262023092.


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