Louis Métezeau

Louis Métezeau (* 1559 or 1560 in Dreux, † August 18, 1615 in Paris) was a French architect from the Renaissance period and worked for the kings Henry IV and Louis XIII.

Life and work

Louis Métezeau was the eldest son Thibault Métezeaus to the world. He was the older brother Clement II Métezeaus, with whom he worked in later years in construction projects at the Louvre. On August 28, 1598, he married in Saint -Merry Isabelle de Hanqueil with which he children Elizabeth, Guillaume († 1671) and Charles ( 1615-1620 ) had.

After he had held the post of secretary in the court Catherine de Bourbon, Métezeau held from October 19, 1594, together with Jacques II Androuët you Cerceau the office of " Premier architecte du Roi " and worked from 1595 often with him and his brother Jean -Baptiste together. Under the French King Henry IV, he was responsible for numerous construction projects in the Louvre, for example, for the completion of the Great Gallery (French: Grande Galerie ) and the decoration of ancient hall. In 1608 he was described in the records as " Architecte du Roy et concierge de Pallais of Thuilleries " and held this year from the Office of the Premier architecte du Roi alone.

In 1610 he was jointly charged with the Florentine engineer Alessandro Francini with the organization and preparations for the official entry of Queen Maria de ' Medici on 16 May of the year in Paris, but this never took place because Mary's husband, Henry IV, was murdered three days before.

To Métezeaus other works are the plans for the former Hôtel d' Angoulême for Diane de France (now Hôtel Lamoignan ), the designs of the houses around the Place des Vosges, the construction of the Hôtel d' Alméras in 1611 and plans for the church Saint -Louis in Khanate la Mouteyre and the completion of the Château neuf in Saint- Germain -en- Laye.

Louis Métezeau died on 18 August 1615 and was a day later buried in the church of Saint -Paul.