François Mansart

Background

In the 1640s, Mansart worked on the convent and church of Val-de-Grâce in Paris, a commission from Anne of Austria, but was replaced following allegations of profligacy in cost management. In the 1650s, he was targeted by political enemies of Cardinal Mazarin, and in 1651 they published 'La Mansarade', a pamphlet accusing him of wild extravagance and machinations. After Louis XIV's accession, Mansart lost many commissions to other architects; his designs for remodeling the Louvre were not executed because he would not submit detailed plans. In the year before his death, he produced two plans for the proposed Chapelle des Bourbons, a complex of funeral chapels for the Bourbon kings to be added to the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

Both were presented to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, but the project was unbuilt. Some of his plans were reused by his grandnephew, Jules Hardouin Mansart, notably for Les Invalides. Mansart died in Paris on 23 September 1666.

Did You Know?

• He was not trained as an architect but as a stonemason and sculptor, and is thought to have learned architecture in the studio of Salomon de Brosse.
• The only surviving example of his early work is the Château de Balleroy, commissioned by a chancellor to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, starting in 1626.