AneoclassicalFrench architect, interior decorator, and designer, Charles Percier was an illustrious representative ofDirectoire StyleandEmpire Style.
Image source:https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/1d6c19a5-3e0b-4d8e-b877-10c85c018296
About his life
Percier was born in Paris in 1764. In 1784, at age nineteen, he won thePrix de Rome, a government-funded scholarship in Rome. Then he metPierre-François-Léonard Fontainewho became his friend for life. Percier & Fontaine became the leading architectural firm of the Napoleonic period, their work influenced the whole of Europe and America and the widespread adoption of theEmpire style. In 1801, Percier was appointed government architect.
What were his major works?
For the oldroyal palacesand the new Bonapartes residences, together with Fontaine, he designed interiors, walls, and ceilings and designed furniture, accessories, and ornament. They designed thearcadesof the rue de Rivoli and rue de Castiglione along the Louvre and designed theArc de Triomphe du Carrouselwhich connected the Louvre and Tuileries (1806–08), theLouvreand the Palaces of theTuileriesdid much of their work. They also worked on theChâteau de Saint-Cloudand theChâteau de Fontainebleau.
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In theRecueil de décorations intérieures(1801 - 1812)在室内decorat珀西的产品ion and furniture design were presented, a collection of 72 plates of furniture and furnishings and the most important and influential book of ornaments in France at the epoch. Recueil was Persier’s masterpiece, according to Fontaine’s admission. Although both signatures were affixed to the plates, Persier drew and engraved them himself.
How can we identify Percier’s style?
Percier favored luxurious and grandiose renditions of neoclassicism, the so-calledDirectory style, and theEmpire style. The style is distinguished by a small amount ofdetail and ornamentation, inspired mainly by ancientRomanobjects that were discovered duringexcavations in Pompeii. Directory furniture was the last phase of theLouis XVI style. The Empire style was based on the inspiration of Napoleon by the greatness of AncientEgyptand imperial Rome.
Info sources:
https://www.britannica.com/art/Empire-style
https://www.britannica.com/art/Directoire-style
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Percier
Charles Percier: Architecture and Design in an Age of Revolutions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Percier#cite_note-1
http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/architecture-biographies/charles-percier