Les projets de Jacques Gondoin : première réponse aux rêves versaillais de Napoléon

Abstract

The drafts made by the architect Jacques Gondoin — the results of Napoleon’s first order for the Château de Versailles — were the most complete among all those suggested to the Emperor between 1806 and 1811, since they included the whole estate. Previously studied in conjunction with Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine’s and Alexandre Dufour’s proposals in publications dealing with Napoleon’s plan to make the palace of the kings of France his own residence, Gondoin’s work has become the object of renewed interest thanks to the recent authentication of the architect’s estimates, within the archive department of the Château de Versailles. The examination of these new sources allows us to complete the information given by other archived documents, in particular the plans that are held in the Château de Versailles and the National Archives, along with elevations belonging to a private collection. New information is being published for the first time due to the analysis of the estimates for plans conceived for the Emperor’s apartments. Attention is drawn mainly to the Emperor’s ‘usual apartment’, which was to be located on the ground floor with a totally new décor — to the detriment of masterpieces of eighteenth-century decorative art. Besides the detailed interventions planned for each room, the twelfth of the fifty-three volumes, of the estimates dedicated to this imperial apartment, contains two drawings of ceilings, giving precise details about the architectural décor and the composition of the paintings which were to adorn them. Gondoin’s drafts were not carried out, however his plans served as a reference for his colleagues Fontaine and Dufour, who in turn were asked to imagine the transformation of the Château de Versailles into a Napoleonic residence — something which never happened.

Keywords

• Alexandre le Grand
• Auguste
• Bonaparte
• Jacques Caffiéri
• Coriolan
• Louis Costaz