CHALGRIN (Jean-François). - Lot 63

CHALGRIN (Jean-François). Born in Paris. 1739-1811. Architect. Prix de Rome (1758). Representative of the neoclassicism that developed under Louis XVI. Among other works, he designed the church of Saint-Philippe-du-Roule. L.A.S. "Chalgrin". Paris, August 29, 1786. 3 pp. in-4. On the subject of several plots of land coveted by the architect: ...Unfortunately I was not in Paris on the day of the Administration's meeting and of the dispatch of your letter, but I thought that I should, out of the greatest honesty, defer to the Bureau's decision on the price which they themselves would have put on the land. It is a duty that I felt I had to fulfil, and I would pass on what had been decided and decided by him [...]. I'm sorry to have been deprived of this land, and I don't think anyone would have regretted giving it to me. But there is no need to think any more, and I will be satisfied with my small piece of land in this part [...]. I believe, Monsieur, that the Administration has a plot of land opposite the rue du Montparnasse, adjoining the new city walls. Si Monsieur cela estoit et que l'Administration voudut m'arranger en, elle me feraoit grand plaisir cela moigneroit pour ce qu'j'eus besoin mais je m'arrangereis. I was told that it was fifteen arpens, and I would ask for it under the conditions I proposed...Accepted by the Royal Academy of Architecture in 1770, Chalgrin was distinguished by the Count of Provence, who appointed him Intendant of his buildings, then First Architect. He was notably responsible for the Palais du Luxembourg. He designed the decor for the ballroom at the Petit Luxembourg for the wedding of the Dauphin and Marie-Antoinette in 1770. Imprisoned under the Terror, he was reinstated under the Directoire and retained as architect after the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire. In 1799, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts and became a member of the Conseil des bâtiments civils. He will go down in history as the designer of the plans for the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile.