PIERRE

See also:

• FRANCOIS (1558-1614)

FRANCOIS LEONARD

See also:

• PIERRE FRANCOIS LEONARD FONTAINE (1762-1853)

FONTAINE (1762-1853)  , French architect, was born at Pontoise on the loth of September 1762 . He came of a family several of whose members had distinguished themselves as architects . 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 Andre . To facilitate his improvement Andre allowed him to have access to his plans and to copy his designs . 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 for the plan of an underground chapel, he 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 the establishment of the consulate he was employed by Bonaparte, to whom he had been introduced by the painter, David, to restore the palace of Malmaison . Hence-forth 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 edifices de Rome moderne (2802); Descriptions de ceremonies et de fetes (1807 and 181o); Recueil de decorations interieures (2812); Choix des plus celcbres maisons de plaisance de Rome et des environs (1809-1813); Residences des souverains, Parallele (1833) .

L'histoire du Palais- Royal was published by

Fontaine alone, who lost Percier, his friend and associate, in 1838, and himself died in Paris on the loth of October 1853 .