Jean Le Pautre

Jean Le Pautre, Sight of the Basin of Latone in the Gardens of Versailles, 1678

Jean Le Pautre or Lepautre (June 28, 1618 – February 2, 1682) was a French designer and engraver, the elder brother of the architect Antoine Le Pautre and the father of Jacques Le Pautre. Jean Le Pautre was an apprentice to a carpenter and builder. In addition to learning mechanical and constructive work, he developed considerable skill with the pencil. His designs, innumerable in quantity and exuberant in content, consisted mainly of ceilings, friezes, chimney-pieces, doorways and mural decorations. He also devised fire-dogs, sideboards, cabinets, console tables, mirrors and other pieces of furniture.

Le Pautre was long employed at the Gobelins manufactory. His work is often very flamboyant and elaborate. He frequently used amorini and swags, arabesques and cartouches in his work. His chimney-pieces, in contrast, were often simple and elegant. His engraved plates, nearly 1,500 in number, are almost entirely original and include a portrait of himself. He made many designs for Andre Charles Boulle.

He became a member of the academy of Paris in 1677.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 
• Préaud, Maxime (2011). 'Jean Lepautre’s Forgotten Seven Cannons', Print Quarterly, XXVIII, 2011 pp. 318–20.