FONTAINE, Pierre François Léonard (1762-1853), French architect, was born at Pontoise, September 20, 1762. He was of a family several of whose members had distinguished themselves as architects, and he early showed the taste and the ability which promised to revive in his person the family distinction. Leaving the college of Pontoise at the age of sixteen he was sent to L’Isle-Adam, to assist in hydraulic works undertaken by the architect André. To facilitate his improvement André allowed him to have access to his plans and to copy his designs. At this time he formed a friendship with another young student of his art, Thibaut, whose passion quickened his own. In October 1779 he was sent to Paris to study in the school of Peyre the younger, and there began his acquaintance with Percier, which ripened into a life-long friendship. After six years of study he competed for a prize at the Academy, and, winning the second, received a pension and was sent to Rome (1785). Percier accompanied him. The Revolution breaking out soon after his return to France, he took refuge in England; but after ths establishment of the consulate, he was employed by Bonaparte to restore the palace of Malmaison, Henceforth he was fully engaged in the principal architectural works executed in Paris, as architect successively to Napoleon I., Louis XVIII., and Louis Philippe. In conjunction with Percier (till his death) he was employed on the Arch of the Carrousel, the restoration of the Palais-Royal, the grand staircase of the Louvre, and the works projected for the union of the Louvre and the Tuileries. In 1812 he was admitted a member of the Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1813 was named first architect to the emperor. With Percier he published the following works,— Palais, Maisons, et autres Édifices Modernes dessinés à Rome (1798); Description des Fêtes et Cérémonies du Mariage de Napoléon et de Marie Louise (1810); and Recueil de Décorations Intérieures (1812). Fontaine lost his friend and associate Percier in 1838, and died himself at Paris, October 10, 1853.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 9, p. 362 [7 words — estimated reading time: 1 minute]
FONTAINEBLEAU, a town of France, at the head of an arrondissement, in the department of Seine-et-Marne, about 37 miles S.E. from Paris on the railway to Lyons, in 48° 24' 23" N. lat. and 2° 42' 1" E. long. It stands in the midst of the forest of Fontainebleau, is well built, and has broad, clean, handsome streets. Among the more important buildings and institutions are the hotel de ville, the barracks, the court-house, two hospitals, a college, and a public library. The Pompadourmansion, and a portion of that which belonged to the cardinal of Ferrara, are still preserved; and a statue of General Damesme adorns the principal square. Wood-turning and the manufacture of porcelain and earthenware are the chief industries; and wine, grapes, garden produce, and paving stones are articles of export. The population in 1871 was 11,545. In the immediate vicinity of the town is the celebrated palace of Fontainebleau—one of the largest, and in the interior one of the most sumptuous, of the royal residences of France. The origin of the name and of the building are equally unknown; but the old manor-house was used by Louis VII. in the latter part of the 12th century, and continued a favourite residence of Philip Augustus and St Louis. The existing edifice was begun by Francis I., who laid out immense sums of money in its erection, employing Primaticcio, a famous Italian architect, to draw the plans, and commissioning Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, and Benvenuto Cellini to expend the resources of their arts in making it a truly royal residence. Henry IV. doubled the area of the buildings and gardens, adding among other portions the great Diana gallery, the Court of the Princes, and the Galerie des Cerfs. A canal which he constructed was afterwards filled up by Louis XIV. ...With Louis XV. the palace fell into disfavour, and for a time it was used as a military school. Napoleon I. restored it with great splendour, at a cost of 6 million francs, and often resided in it; but after the return of the Bourbons it was again allowed to fall into disrepair. Louis XVIII. and Louis Philippe both did somewhat to its restoration. The congeries of buildings is very extensive, the roofing, it is said, covering no less than 14 acres. There are five great courts, distinguished as the Court of the White Horse, the Court of the Fountain, the Oval or Donjon Court, the Court of Princes, and the Court of the Kitchens or of Henry IV. The first is also called the Court of Adieux in memory of the parting scene between Napoleon and his Old Guard in 1814, at the foot of the Horse Shoestaircase. The chapel of the Holy Trinity was built under Francis I., and the chapel of St Saturnin dates from the same period, and occupies the site of an older building which was consecrated by Thomas à Becket. It is impossible to do more than mention a few of the historical events which have taken place at Fontainebleau. Philip the Fair, Henry III., and Louis XIII. were all boru in the palace, and the first of these kings died there. James V. of Scotland was there received by his intended bride; and Charles V. of Germany was entertained there in 1539. Christina of Sweden lived there for years, and the gallery is still shown where she caused her secretary Monaldeschi to be murdered, or, as she regarded it, executed. In 1685 Fontainebleau saw the signing of the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and in the following year the death of Condé. In the 18th century it had two illustrious guests in Peter the Great of Russia and Christian VII. of Denmark; and in the early part of the 19th it was twice the residence of Pius VII.,—in 1804, when he came to consecrate the emperor, and in 1812-1814, when he was that emperor’s prisoner. It was within its walls that the sentence of divorce was passed against Josephine. The forest of Fontainebleau is one of the most beautiful wooded tracks in France, and for generations it has been the chosen haunt of French landscape painters. The most celebrated spots are the Vallée de la Solle, the Gorge au Loup, the Gorge d’Apremont, and the Fort 1’Empereur. The whole area extends to 81,740 acres, and it is traversed by 12,000 miles of road and pathway.
See Pfnor, Monographie de Fontainebleau, with text by ChampollionFigeac, Paris, 1866.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 9, p. 363 [765 words — estimated reading time: 5 minutes]
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