Richard Mique: Difference between revisions

 

==Biography==

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.

 

 

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 [[Hameau de la Reine]], a mock farming village built around an artificial lake 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 disastrous storm of 3 February 1990</ref>

 

During the Revolution, he was arrested along with his son as participants in a conspiracy to save the life of Marie Antoinette, whose favorite architect he had been. He was brought before a revolutionary tribunal and, after a summary trial on 7 July 1794, both father and son were condemned to death and executed the following day. This was just three weeks before the fall of [[Robespierre]] and the end of the [[Reign of Terror]].

 

==Works==

* 1762 : His first known design, for a [[kiosk]] in the gardens of [[Lunéville]].

* 1763-64 Two gates for the city of Nancy: the ''Porte Sainte-Catherine'' and the ''Porte Stanislas'' already show the neoclassical taste..

* 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 ''Hameau de la Reine'' in the garden of the ''Petit Trianon'' at 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).

* 1778-79 : The private theatre of Marie Antoinette at the ''Petit Trianon''.

* 1778-81 : The octagonal Belvedere (1778–81),<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)

*[http://www.carmel.asso.fr/Chef-de-travaux.html (Le Carmel en France) The Church of the Carmelites]

 

 

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