Richard Mique: Difference between revisions

Richard Mique was born at [[Nancy, France|Nancy]], the son of Simon Mique, an architect and entrepreneur of [[Lunéville]] and grandson of Pierre Mique also an architect. Following their example,<ref>He may have followed the courses of [[Jacques-François Blondel]] in Paris. </ref> he became an architect in the service of duke [[Stanisław Leszczyński|Stanislas Leszczyński]], ex-king of Poland and father of [[Maria Leszczyńska]], the consort of King [[Louis XV of France]]. Following the death of [[Emmanuel Héré de Corny|Héré de Corny]], Mique participated as ''premier architecte'' in Stanislas' grand plans for reordering and embellishing Nancy, his capital as Duke of Lorraine. Stanislas made him a [[knight|chevalier]] of the Order of Saint-Michel and maneuvered unsuccessfully to have Mique placed on the payroll of the [[Bâtiments du Roi]].<ref>Twice politely refused by the [[Abel-François Poisson, marquis de Marigny|Marquis de Marigny]] (Higonnet 2002: 26)</ref> Following his patron's death in February 1766, Mique was called to France the following October, at the suggestion of [[Maria Leszczyńska]]'s Polish confessor. His official career in France was initially stymied by the influence of [[Ange-Jacques Gabriel]], ''premier architecte''. His main clients were a series of royal ladies. For [[Maria Leszczyńska]], he built a convent, prominently sited in the town of [[Versailles (city)|Versailles]], on lands at the edge of the park belonging formerly to [[Madame de Montespan]]'s [[Château de Clagny]], of which eleven hectares were consigned to the queen by her husband, [[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]]. At the queen's death, her daughter [[Marie Adélaïde of France|Madame Adélaïde]] completed the project.

Mique must have gained the confidence of the dauphin and the dauphine for, upon the accession of the dauphin as [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]] in 1774, he was appointed ''[[Bâtiments du Roi|intendant et contrôleur général des bâtiments du Roi]]''; he succeeded Gabriel as ''premier architecte'' to [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]] the following year, thus overseeing the last works carried out at Versailles before the [[French Revolution]]. He purchased a [[Fiefdom|seigneurie]] in Lorraine, which completed his transformation to courtier-architect.

He laid out the queen's garden at the [[''Petit Trianon]]'' from 1774 to 1785 in collaboration, it is believed (though without documentary evidence) with the painter [[Hubert Robert]]. The design — "one of the first instances... of pre-Victorian [[kitsch]]" (Higonnet 2002) — was based on sketches by the comte de Caraman, an inspired amateur of gardening. Mique was also responsible for the [[PetitHameau hameau|Petitde Hameaula Reine]], a mock farming village built around an artificial lake, and located at the northeastern corner of the estate. <ref>The garden setting of the ''hameau'' is discussed in Pierre-André Lablaude's book, ''The Gardens of Versailles'' (1995), a survey prompted by the replanting needed after the diastrousdisastrous storm of 3 February 1990</ref>

* 1765 : Plans for the Sainte-Catherine barracks at [[Nancy, France|Nancy]].

* 1767-72 : Buildings for an [[Ursulines|Ursuline]] convent in the town of [[Versailles (city)|Versailles]] for [[Maria Leszczyńska]]. The convent now houses the Lycée Hoche. Mique's first two plans were rejected. The third executed design is similar to [[Jacques-Germain Soufflot]]'s Church of Sainte-Geneviève in [[Paris]].

* 1775-84 : All the structures, including the bridge, that form the picturesque hamlet, the ''[[Petit hameau|Hameau de la Reine]]'' in the garden of the [[''Petit Trianon]]'' at [[Palace of Versailles|Versailles]]. Mique carried it out in its naturalistic ''jardin anglo-chinois'' probably laid out in collaboration with the painter Hubert Robert; for inspiration, he was directed to visit the Anglo-Chinese park at [[Ermenonville]] (Higonnet 2002: 29).

* 1775-85 : Church of the Carmelites, [[Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis Basilica|Basilica of Saint-Denis]], for the aunt of [[Louis XVI]], [[Princess Louise-Marie of France (1737–1787)|Madame Louise]], who had become a nun in the convent at Saint-Denis. Madame Louise dictated in detail the subjects she wanted for the sculptural decorations. The neoclassical building, with a Corinthian portico adapted from the Roman [[Maison Carrée]] at [[Nîmes]], was consecrated 28 May 1784.

* 1778-791777 : TheTurkish privateboudoir theatrefor of [[Marie Antoinette]] at theChateau [[Petitde Trianon]]Fontainebleau.

* 1778-81 : The octagonal Belvedere (1778-811778–81),<ref>A version of the circular [[Temple of Vesta, Tivoli]].</ref>, consecrated to the Seasons, the ''Pavillon du Rocher'' and the ''Temple de l'Amour''<ref>It was built to house [[Edmé Bouchardon]]'s ''Love fashioning a bow from the club of Hercules'', now at the [[Musée du Louvre]].</ref> in the newly-informal gardens of the [[''Petit Trianon]]'' at Versailles. The Temple of Love, visible from the Queen's bedroom, was the setting for many fêtes (Higonnet 2002: 28)

* 1780s : [[Château de Bellevue]], alterations in the interior (demolished) and alterations to the park, which required 42,000 new trees and a hermitage, for ''Mesdames'', the daughters of Louis XV.

* 1782 : Consolidation of the tower at the CathédraleCathedral of Orléans (1782-1787)

* 1785 : Modifications at the [[Château de Saint-Cloud]] for [[Marie Antoinette]] (bombed by French artillery on 13 October 1870 and razed in 1891)

* 1785 : ''Boudoir'' for [[Marie Antoinette]] at the [[''Petit Trianon]]''.

[[Category:People from Nancy, France]]

[[Category:18th-century French architects]]