Name Jacques Gabriel Died 1742, Paris, France Children Ange-Jacques Gabriel | Role Architect Parents Ange-Jacques Gabriel Projects Pont de Blois | |
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People also search for Ange-Jacques Gabriel Structures Pont de Blois, Palace of Versailles, Palais Bourbon, Hotel Biron, Orleans Cathedral | ||
STRANGE GAME Jacques Gabriel Régent
Jacques Gabriel (1667–1742) was a French architect, the father of the famous Ange-Jacques Gabriel.
His mother was a cousin of Jules Hardouin-Mansart and his father, another Jacques Gabriel was a masonry contractor for the Batiments du Roi, the French royal works, and the designer of the Chateau de Choisy for the king's cousin, La Grande Mademoiselle.
The younger Jacques Gabriel was appointed one of the controlleurs generaux at the Batiments du Roi in 1688, at the age of twenty-one. Two years later he was sent to accompany Robert de Cotte on an eighteen-month sojourn in Italy, sharpening his eye, and on his return was made one of the Autres Architectes in the Batiments du Roi, where he proved an efficient administrator. He was made a member of the Academie at Mansart's reorganization of that body in 1699.
Pierre-Jean Mariette, who knew him well says that he was "expert in the conduct of building, but he could not have drawn the least jot of ornament" For designers of ornament, Gabriel relied on Pierre Lepautre and after Lepautre's death, on Jean Aubert, another designer trained in the Batiments du Roi (Kimball p 131).
Gabriel succeeded Robert de Cotte as Premier Architecte du Roi of de Cotte's retirement in December 1734 and held the post until he was succeeded by his "vastly more gifted" (Kimball) son, Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1742.
Gabriel's work in Paris has been much remodelled. Mariette's Architecture francoise offers plates illustrating several hotels particuliers by Gabriel. He completed the Palais Bourbon (begun by Giardini, continued by Pierre Cailleteau Lassurance). He completed the Hotel de Lassay nearby. He was responsible for the Hotel Peyrenc de Moras (de Biron), 1728-31.