Pierre Lescot

Francis commissions the architect Pierre Lescot in 1546 to erect the present west wing of the Louvre complex, which will transform the old château into the palace that we know today.

A project put forward by Serlio is set aside in favor of Lescot's, in which three sides of a square court are to be enclosed by splendid apartments, while on the east, facing the city, the fourth side is probably destined to be lightly closed with an arcade.

Festive corner pavilions of commanding height and adorned by pillars and statues are to replace the medieval towers.

Francis also imposes a series of new taxes and institutes several financial reforms.

He is not, therefore, in a position to assist the German Protestants, who are now engaged in the Schmalkaldic War against the Emperor; by the time any French aid is to be forthcoming, Charles will have already won his victory at the Battle of Mühlberg.

The causes of the war themselves—chiefly, the contested dynastic claims in Italy—are to remain unresolved until the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis brings the Italian War of 1551–59 and six decades of conflict to a close.

The mature mastery of accomplished French sculptor Jean Goujon, whose earliest recorded work as an architectural sculptor dates from 1540 at Rouen—the Corinthian columns of the organ loft in the Church of Saint Maclou—is first reflected in a rood screen relief depicting the deposition of Christ from the cross (1544–45; Louvre).

Created for the Church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris, this work marks the beginning of his collaboration with the architect Lescot and exemplifies his personal version of Mannerism.

The screen’s central panel, a Pietá, exemplifies Goujon's mature style, which—although indebted to the Italian Mannerist-derived school of Fontainebleau and to the Mannerist painter Parmigianino—remains an entirely personal synthesis of classical Renaissance motifs.

Goujon begins work in 1547 on the fine sculptures for the Fontaine des Innocents, which are figures carved in shallow relief within an architectural framework, commissioned as part of the decoration of the city to commemorate the solemn royal entry of King Henry II into Paris.

Goujon also comments on sculptural ornament in an appendix to an edition of the work of the classical Roman architect Vitruvius, published in 1547, for which he also executes woodcut illustrations.

Lescot’s excellent understanding of Italian Renaissance styles enables him to expel from French architecture the lingering traces of the Gothic style in rebuilding the old medieval palace of the Louvre.

In the Cour Carreé, Lescot combines a French system of pavilions with an Italianate elevation of superimposed orders, enriching the facades with delicate low-relief sculpture designed by Jean Goujon.

Another of Lescot’s surviving major works is the Fontaine des Innocents, built around 1550.

Ronsard, regarded as the leader of the "Brigade," devotes his career to answering du Bellay’s nativist call for new poetry based on classical models.

Equally skilled at writing love poems, pastorals, sonnets, philosophical poems, and political verse, Ronsard’s assimilation of classical and native idiom and verse forms expands the range of French poetry.

The twenty-six-year-old poet produces Odes, a verse collection, in 1550.

His own generation in France will label him "prince of poets.”

Work begins in 1578 on the Pont Neuf across the Seine River via the Île de la Cité in Paris, designed by Baptiste Du Cerceau and Pierre des Illes, who may have made use of an earlier design by Guillaume Marchand.

Pierre Lescot, one of the great French architects of the mid-sixteenth century, has contributed a decorative style that has provided the foundation for the classical tradition of French architecture.

Lescot, who comes from a wealthy family of lawyers, had in his youth studied mathematics, architecture, and painting.

There is no evidence that he visited Italy, although much of his design has been classical; it appears that he had acquired his knowledge of architecture from illustrated books and from Roman ruins in France.

Lescot's most important contribution to architecture has been his rebuilding of the Louvre, which he had begun in 1546 as a commission from Francis I.

The style and design of Lescot's work on the Louvre reflect a revolution in French architecture marked by the influence of classical elements.

His work on the facade has combined traditional French elements and classical features to create a unique style of French classicism.

Lescot's other work includes the Hôtel Carnavalet (1545), which still survives in part; a screen at Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois (1554); the Fontaine des Innocents (1547–49); and the château of Vallery.

Unfortunately, none of these works has survived intact.

Lescot dies in Paris in 1578.