| | Biography
Born in Paris, into a well-educated and well-connected family (his father was a civil servant, his mother hosted a weekly Salon attended by the writer Stendhal [1783-1842] and other luminaries), Viollet-le-Duc had a rebellious, unconventional temperament and - having decided on a career as an architect - refused to attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Instead he joined the architectural offices of Achille Leclere as a pupil in order to acquire direct experience of his chosen profession. He also took a number of trips around France, in order to study monuments from the French Middle Ages, along with Romanesque and Gothic art.
In 1836 he went to Italy to study Renaissance architecture from both thetrecento and quattrocento, but on his return he was again drawn to his preferred French Gothic. He trained under the medieval archeologist Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus (1807-57), while helping him with the restoration of the Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois (1838).
Restorations by Viollet-le-Duc
In 1839, the medievalist and Minister of Historical Monuments, Prosper Merimee (1803-70), a family friend, gave Viollet-le-Duc the prestigious commission of restoring the abbey church of La Madeleine (1840), at Vezelay. This was followed by the restoration of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (1840) - a project he completed in collaboration with Jacques Felix Duban (1798-1870). After this, in 1845, he and Lassus were commissioned to restore the Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris, for which they were to design a new Gothic-style sacristy. Art critics hailed this appointment as constituting official sanction for the Gothic Revival style in France. Another of Viollet-le-Duc's important projects was to restore the abbey church of Saint-Denis (1846).
In 1848 - having established himself as an active and influential figure in the Ministry of Historical Monuments - he was appointed Inspector General of Diocesan Monuments, responsible for the archeological restoration of numerous medieval buildings, including the Synod Hall at Sens (1849), Amiens Cathedral (1849), the fortifications of the southern city of Carcassonne (1852), and Saint-Sernin, Toulouse (1862).
His other famous architectural restorations included: the 12th century Chateau de Pierrefronds (1858-85) in Oise (uncompleted at his death); Chateau de Vincennes (1860) Paris; Chateau de Roquetaillade (1850-70) near Bordeaux; Lausanne Cathedral (1874) Switzerland; and Chateau de Coucy (1875) Aisne.
As noted above, although Viollet-le-Duc initially executed his restorations in the original style of the building concerned, he soon began to add completely new elements of his own. While restoring Notre Dame Cathedral, for instance, he added a third tower, and to the fortified wall towers of Carcassonne he added a new set of pointed conical roofs, derived from the architecture of northern France. These tactics were heavily criticized by the eminent 19th century art critic John Ruskin(1819-1900) who labelled it false and destructive. Viollet-le-Duc however was adamant that he was perfecting, not harming, the original medievaldesign.
Building Designs
All Viollet-le-Duc's original architectural designs for churches and other ecclesiastical structures were done in a Gothic style, as exemplified by the churches of Sainte-Gimer (1854-9), Nouvelle Aude (1855), Sainte-Denis-de-l'Estree (1861). Rather surprisingly, however, nearly all of his secular buildings were modelled on Renaissance designs, including elements borrowed from Giulio Romano (1499-1546), Vignola (1507-73) andAndrea Palladio (1508-80).
Writings on Architecture
An active theorist and historical researcher throughout his career, Viollet-le-Duc produced a mass of notes and drawings, illustrating his architectural ideas as well as his actual practice. His two greatest works - upon which his reputation largely rests - were the encyclopedic books entitled: Reasoned Dictionary of French Architecture 11th-16th Century(1854-68), and Reasoned Dictionary of the French Bank from the Carlovingians to the Renaissance (1858-75). Consisting of 16 volumes, these two treatises contained a wealth of exact structural data plus extensive design analysis, which provided the necessary intellectual impetus for the French Gothic Revival movement. A third important book was his Conversations on Architecture (1858-72). Translated into English as Discourses on Architecture (1874-81) by the architect Benjamin Bucknall (1833–95), it served to systematize his architectural theories and contained details on the construction of iron skeletal frames, which had a huge impact on American architecture, most notably works by William Le Baron Jenney (1832-1907) and the Chicago School of Architecture (c.1880-1910). Other Americans influenced by his theories on Gothic design included Richard Upjohn (1802-78), James Renwick (1818-95) and Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959). In Europe, several of his "iron designs" went on to influence the Art Nouveau style, especially in the work of Hector Guimard (1867-1942), and would have been noted by Gustave Eiffel designer of the celebrated Eiffel Tower(1887-89) in Paris. According to Sir John Newenham Summerson (1904-92), the eminent British architectural historian, Viollet-le-Duc ranks alongside the great Renaissance pioneer Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72) as the greatest theoretician in the field of European architecture.
After a second career as a military engineer in the French army, employed in the defence of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1), Viollet-le-Duc retired to Lausanne, in Switzerland, where he designed and built his own villa (now destroyed). He died there in 1879.
Other 19th Century Architects
• Georges-Eugene Haussmann (1809-91)
Radically changed urban layout of Paris
• Charles Garnier (1825-98)
French architect, worked with Viollete-le-Duc and Gustav Eiffel
• Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-86)
America's greatest Romanesque revivalist
• Otto Wagner (1841-1918)
Viennese architect, famous for his ornamental designs
• Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926)
Catalan architect, famous for Gothic/Art Nouveau biomorphic designs
• Victor Horta (1861-1947)
Art Nouveau architect, noted for glass/cast-iron decorative elements
• Joseph Maria Olbrich (1867-1908)
Founder member of Vienna Secession
• Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
Art Nouveau architect famous for Paris Metro designs
• Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928)
Architect, furniture designer, painter, arts and crafts champion
• Peter Behrens (1868-1940)
Founder of Deutscher Werkbund; influenced Gropius, Corbusier, Van der Rohe |
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