Louis-François Trouard
Louis-François Trouard (1729-1804) was a French architect.
Biography
Born in Paris, his father was an sculptor and marble supplier to the king who found fortune.
Louis-François Trouard studied with Louis-Adam Loriot at the Académie de peinture. Winner of the academy's grand prize (the predecessor to the Prix de Rome) in 1753, he studied at the Académie de France à Rome from 1753 until 1757. During his stay in Italy from 1754 until 1758, he created a travelogue that described innovative trends, as well as the medieval architecture of Pisa.
Upon his return to Paris, he constructed a house for his father at 9 rue du Faubourg-Montmartre. The construction employed a Greek frieze evoking the style of his classmate in Rome, Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux. He built another house for his father in 1761 at 1 rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière (the house has since been destroyed).
Under the protection of Monseigneur de Jarente, he was made the architect of the royal commissaries who were responsible for the construction of religious buildings with funds seized from fleeing Protestants. He completed the decor of Saint-Louis de Versailles in 1764, the chapel of catechisms.
He then commenced construction of Saint-Symphorien, the third parish of Versailles, which he constructed as a basilica.
In 1765, he succeeded Ange-Jacques Gabriel as the architect of the Orléans Cathedral.
He joined the Royal Academy of Architecture in 1769. His students Claude Nicolas Ledoux, Pierre-Adrien Paris' and his own son, Louis Alexandre Trouard, received the grand prize in 1780.
In 1773, Trouard was forced to leave Versailles for his reputed involvement in an embezzlement scandal and return to Paris. King Louis XVI later cleared him of the accusations.
Key Achievements
- Maison Trouard, constructed in 1758, for his father in the fishmongers' quarter, at 9 rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière, 9th district.
- Chapelle de la Providence - beside the cathédrale Saint-Louis in Versailles (1764)
- Completion (tower and eastern facade) of the Cathédrale Sainte-Croix d'Orléans (1765-1773)
- Église Saint-Symphorien, Versailles (1764-1771).
- Salon des Aigles at the Hôtel d'Aumont, 10 place de la Concorde, which is now the Hôtel de Crillon
- Chapel at Meung-sur-Loire
Personal Life
- Louis Trouard is the 6 times Great Grandfather of actor Jim Parsons of the television show The Big Bang Theory, as discovered on Who Do You Think You Are.[1]
References
Further reading
- Michel Gallet, Les architectes parisiens du XVIIIe siècle, pp. 465-467, Éditions Mengès, Paris, 1995, ISBN 2-8562-0370-1