Laugier offered his own solution to this problem as well, in a chapter entitled “Exécution d’un ordre François” which begins: “Je vais d’abord donner l’idée d ’une colonne, qui par sa base, son
fût & son chapiteau, sera différente de toutes que l’on a imités d ’après les monumens
antiques ”34 Charles-Francois Roland Le Virloys’s Dictionnaire d’Architecture, Civile, Militaire et
Navale (1770-1) repeats d’Aviler and mentions the author’s own use of the French Order at the
Metz Theatre. J-F. Blondel did not introduce a French Order in his works, not even in his
Cours.,. (1771-7), yet he mentions that Le Brun’s French Order was based on the Composite
Order.35 Le Camus de Mezières (1780) considered that the idea of a French Order was long in the making although it was only a composite of known Orders with new ornaments to the capital of which he writes: “L ’idée est ingénieuse, mais l’ensemble n ’est enfin qu’un chapiteau
composite, rien de nouveau dans les proportions, conséquemment point de Sensations qui
caractérisent un nouvel Ordre.”36 He also mentions Claude Perrault’s contribution based on the
Corinthian Order. The term Ordre Frençois did not appear in the Encyclopédie Méthodique -
Architecture (1788-1825), by Quatremère de Quincy (1755-1849), the archaeologist son of an
ennobled family.
French architectural treatises abound in expressions such as “/a natiorf, “I’e ta f, “la FranceT, “les
françoid', and one is made aware from the writings that the French saw themselves as the direct
heirs of Greece, Rome and Renaissance Italy in shaping and upholding true architecture. They wished to ensure excellence whilst maintaining architecture as a living art. Due to the eminence of France in the eighteenth century, however, the teaching and practice of French architecture
eyraHip/»?
,
transcended national boundaries. This is manifestjn Le Blond’s invitation to design for Peter the Great of Russia, and in Boffrand’s invitation to Germany. A French national expression in architecture more relevant to this study, however, is conveyed in Savot’s investigation of domestic architecture entitled L’Architecture Françoise des Bastimens Particuliers (1624).
An early seventeenth-century French interest in Classical architecture and particularly in the Orders can be gathered from Le Muet’s translation of Vignola (1632) and from his translation of Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture (1645). His own Manière de bien bastir pour toutes sortes
de Personnes (1623:1647; 1663) which dealt exclusively with French domestic architecture, he
dedicated to the King, acknowledging his desire to be aligned with Classical writers, particularly Vitruvius: “Au Roy;
"Sire,
“Encore que vous consacrant cet ouurage, l’imite Vitruue, qui dédia ses Hures d’Architecture
à i’Empreur Auguste; ie n’ay pas toutefois la présomption de croire pouuir approcher de
l'excellence de ce grand et célébré auteur, comme votre Malesté surmonte la gloire de ce
fameux Monarque "37
The Académie Royale d’Architecture was established by Colbert on the 31st December 1671,
but received its authorization only in 1717 from the Parlement a Lettres Patentes.38 It facilitated
the teaching of the Classical theory and practice of architecture which took some time to evolve. Boffrand (1745) considered the function of the A cadém ie R oyale d ’Architecture as:
“...dépositaire de ces principes, sur lesquels sont fondées la pureté & la noble simplicité de
l’Architecture, doit être attentive à conserver, & à s’opposer aux folles nouveautés...”.39
François Blondel, first Director of the Académie royale d ’architecture and its first Professor,
stated the King’s intentions for it: “...afin de travailler au rétablissement de la belle architecture,
et pour en faire des leçons publique...
“...que les règles les plus juste et les plus correctes de l’architecture fussent publiquement
enseignées afin qu’il s ’y pust former un séminaire, pour ainsi dire, de Jeunes architectes. Et
pour leur donner plus de courage et de passion pour cet art. Elle [S.M. ]a ordonné qu’il soit de
temps en temps proposés de prix pour ceux qui réussiront le mieux...elle envoyera ensuite à
dépens à Rome. "40 Teaching ceased in 1694 and was resumed only in 1699, due to the war of
the League of Augsbourg which drained France of its financial resources.4i
From its inception the Académie Royale d’Architecture offered public instruction spanning both
theory and practice. 42 Originally it took place on Tuesdays and Fridays between two and four in the afternoon. During the first hour F. Blondel dictated lessons whilst in the second he explained Euclidian geometry and other matters relevant to architects. On Thursdays at the same time private meetings were convened at which those chosen by the King debated the art and rules of architecture. The participants at the private meetings were to voice their opinions after study and observation of works from the past and on treatises relating to such works. Each meeting considered a specific set subject. The first subject for deliberation was ce que c ’est
(1745) to explain the principles of architecture was called “Dissertation sur ce qu’on appelle Le Bon Goust en Architecture.”
The first academicians chosen by the King were François Le Vau ( 7-1670), Liberal Bruand (1635-1697), Daniel Gittar (1625-1686), Antoine Le Pautre (1621-1691), Pierre Mignard (1640- 1725) and François D ’Orbay (1624-1697), with André Félibien (1619-1695), Sieur d’Avaux & de Javercy, as historiographer and secretary of the A cadém ie under the direction of François
Blondel. From signatures in the register of attendance at the private meetings of the Académie
Royaie d ’Architecture it is evident that Claude Perrault attended regularly although he had not
been officially selected.44
When Hardouin-Mansart took over as Surintendant des Bâtimens du Roy (12.2.1699), he re
organized the Académie. There were now: 1. seven architects of the first class, a professor of
architecture and a secretary; 2. seven architects of the second class who could join the deliberations like the former; and 3. Officers in charge of buildings ( Controiieurs, inspecteurs )
who had the right to assist in the deliberations.45
Public teaching of architecture, open to all, continued into the next century when lessons in mathematics, architecture, perspective, and experimental physics, took place at the Louvre under the instruction of Le Camus, Loriot, Le Clerc, the Abbé Nolet and others.46 From 1743 public lessons in architecture were also offered at the Ecoie des Arts in the rue de la Harpe
under the direction of Jacques-François Blondel. The school was established in 1743 and J-F. Blondel’s public lectures were approved by the Académie Royaie d’Architecture in May of the
same year. In 1748, however, he suspended the initial course when he realized that his lessons in theory were suited only for artists, whereas he wanted to reach a wider audience. In Discours
sur ia Nécessité de i’Etude de i’Architecture (1754) he writes that architecture is “...une
profession si utiie à ia société, et si nécessaire à ia vie civiie...” which led him to believe that one
section of the audience at his public lectures would be amateurs of high birth. Their interest in the Elementary Course would arise so as to “...muitipiier ies connoissances, d ’éciairer ie goût,
de guider ie jugement de ceux qui par ieur naissance doivent un jour excercer ies premiers
empiois de i ’Etat, soit à ia Cour, soit dans ies Provinces, et qui pour cette consideration ne
Peuples pollclés, et sur lesquels Ils auront souvent des choix à faire, des décisions a donner et
des examples à laisser à la postérité.”^! (a statement which encapsulates his views on
architecture, on the society in which it was created and on those of its members who directed its outcome). This notion that both artists and patrons would wish to acquire a knowledge of architecture is seen in his interpretation of “Du goût de i’Art” in his Cours... (1771-1777), “Le
goût peut aussi se diviser en goût actif & en goût passif; run est le partage de l’artiste, l’autre
celui de l’Am ateur...l’amatuer n ’a besoin que de savoir démêler la beauté de travail & de
l’ordonnance; connaissances qui lui suffisent pour sentir le bon & le médiocre, et pour
distinguer l’un & l’autre...”.*s When his public course resumed in 1754, it combined theory and
practice, now aimed to suit several different audiences: 1. those of high birth who for the accomplishment of their status were expected to possess a certain amount of knowledge in a variety of subjects; 2. those who wished to practice architecture; and 3. those who undertook the task of buiiding. The lectures were designed so that their form of deiivery would be suitable to each audience.49
Like much else during the period, the teaching of architecture became formal. It was perhaps this formality which made the subject interesting to a wider audience, it drew amateurs, as J-F. Blondel appreciated and whom he tried to cultivate. This fact was recorded in Etat ou Tableau
de la Ville de Paris (1760) which set out to deal with the: “the necessary; the useful; the
agreeable; and the administration of Paris”. Architecture appeared in it as a subheading of “Education Agréable”, which is explained as: “Quoique dans I’usage du monde on ait attaché à
la culture des talens agréables, un prix peut-être un peut trop haut, on ne les place ici que dans
le dernier rang, parce que philosophiquement on ne sçauralt geres les envisager que comme le
luxe de l’educatlon: luxe néanmoins politiquement désirable, puisqu’il prouve la richesse et le
goût d ’une N atio n .”5o That is to say, if one valued one’s standing in society it was well worth
investing in the acquisition of such additional knowledge as enriched the perceived taste of individuais of status and through them of the State as a whole. Here one can note the importance of éducation agréabe to both patrons and architects, which is central in this thesis.
According to G-A. Prost, the curriculum at the Ecole des Arts covered music and dance in
addition to subjects relevant to architecture. It seems that the purpose of extending the range of subjects taught at the Ecole des Arts was to introduce and to familiarize future architects with
accomplishments which they might require in order to fit in their prospective clients. J-F. Blondel advised his readers as early as 1737 that “Je n ’ai pas non plus négligé les occasions de
n ’entre tenir avec les Seigneurs des lieux que j ’al visités.. which would have required some
familiarity with the manners of the aristocracy. The public lectures at the Ecole des Arts were
given daily, apart from Mondays, at a cost of twelve Livres per lesson to amateurs driven by
curiosity and good taste to follow the course. The cost of tuition to young artists was open to
discussions2 because some were offered scholarships. When lessons resumed in 1749 they
covered both theory and design, and the school offered twelve free admissions to the public lectures. In 1750 Blondel's school was selected to teach architecture to students of the Ecole
des Ponts et Chaussées the school of civil engineering; the Minister had obtained an annual
grant from the King for the tuition of six of these students.ss