Mansart, Nicolas François

SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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b. 23 January 1598 Paris, France

d. 23 September 1666 Paris, France

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French architect believed by many historians to be the greatest French architect of all time.

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Mansart was a classical architect who designed in High Renaissance style in France. Chief architect to Louis XIII, he was responsible for a number of fine châteaux and hôtels such as the Château de Maisons (1642–51) near Paris and the Hôtel Carnavalet (1660) in Paris. He was also the architect of the magnificent Paris church of Val de Grâce (begun in 1645).

The mansard roof, which has two different slopes of pitch, one steeper than the other, was named after Mansart (with a small change of spelling for euphony). It was a type of roof that was very popular in France from the early seventeenth century onwards and was revived under Napoleon III in the nineteenth century. However, although Mansart popularized this style of roof, he did not invent it; indeed, it was used in earlier works by both Pierre Lescot and Jacques Lemercier.

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Further Reading

R.Blomfield, 1911, A History of French Architecture, Vol II, Bell (the standard work). A.Braham and P.Smith, 1974, François Mansart, Zwemmer.

A.Blunt, 1941, François Mansart and the Origins of French Classical Architecture, The War burg Institute.

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