Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

JEAN GOUJON (c. 1520-c. 1566)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 283 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

JEAN See also:GOUJON (c. 1520-c. 1566)  , See also:French sculptor of the 16th See also:century . Although -some See also:evidence has been offered in favour of the date 1520 (Archives de fart francsais, iii . 350), the See also:time and See also:place of his See also:birth are still uncertain . The first mention of his name occurs in the accounts of the See also:church of St Maclou at See also:Rouen in the See also:year 1540, and in the following year he was employed at the See also:cathedral of the same See also:town, where he added to the See also:tomb of See also:Cardinal d'See also:Amboise a statue of his See also:nephew Georges, afterwards removed, and possibly carved portions of the tomb of See also:Louis de See also:Breze, executed some time after 1545 . On leaving Rouen, See also:Goujon was employed by See also:Pierre Lescot, the celebrated architect of the Louvre, on the restorations of St-Germain 1'Auxerrois; the See also:building accounts—some of which for the years 1542–1544 were discovered by M. de Laborde on a piece of See also:parchment binding—specify as his See also:work, not only the carvings of the See also:pulpit (Louvre), but also a Notre See also:Dame de Piete, now lost . In 1547 appeared See also:Martin's French See also:translation of See also:Vitruvius, the illustrations of which were due, the translator tells us in his " See also:Dedication to the See also:King," to Goujon, " nagueres architecte de Monseigneur le Connetable, at maintenant un See also:des v8tres." We learn from this statement not only that Goujon had been taken into the royal service on the See also:accession of See also:Henry II., but also that he had, been previously employed under Bullant on the .See also:chateau of Ecouen . Between 1547 and 1549 he was employed in the decoration of the Loggia ordered from Lescot for the entry of Henry II. into See also:Paris, which took place on the 16th of See also:June 1549 . Lescot's edifice was reconstructed at the end of the 18th century by See also:Bernard See also:Poyet into the See also:Fontaine des Innocents, this being a considerable variation of the See also:original See also:design . At the Louvre, Goujon, under the direction of Lescot, executed the carvings of the See also:south-See also:west See also:angle of the See also:court, the reliefs of the Escalier See also:Henri II., and the See also:Tribune des Cariatides, for which he received 737 livres on the 5th of See also:September 1550 . Between 1548 and 1554 See also:rose the chateau d'See also:Anet, in the embellishment of which Goujon was associated with Philibert See also:Delorme in the service of See also:Diana of See also:Poitiers . Unfortunately the building accounts of Anet have disappeared, but Goujon executed a vast number of other See also:works of equal importance, destroyed or lost in the See also:great Revolution . In 1555 his name appears again in the Louvre accounts, and continues to do so every succeeding year up to 1562, when all trace of him is lost .

In the course of this year an See also:

attempt was made to turn out of the royal employment all those who were suspected of Huguenot tendencies . Goujon has always been claimed as a Reformer; it is consequently possible that he was one of the victims of this attack . We should therefore probably ascribe the work attributed to him in the Hotel Carnavalet (in situ), together with much else executed in various parts of Paris—but now dispersed or destroyed—to a See also:period intervening between the date of his dismissal from the Louvre and his See also:death, which is computed to have taken place between 1564 and 1568, probably at See also:Bologna . The researches of M . Tomaso Sandonnini,(see See also:Gazette des See also:Beaux Arts, 2e periode, vol. xxxi.) have finally disposed of the supposition, See also:long entertained, that Goujon died during the St See also:Bartholomew See also:massacre in 1572 . See also:List of See also:authentic works of See also:Jean Goujon: Two See also:marble columns supporting the See also:organ of the church of St Maclou (Rouen) on right and See also:left of See also:porch on entering; left-See also:hand See also:gate of the church of St Maclou; bas-reliefs for decoration of See also:screen of St Germain 1'Auxerrois (now in Louvre); " Victory " over See also:chimney-piece of Salle des Gardes at Ecouen; See also:altar at See also:Chantilly; illustrations for Jean Martin's translation of Vitruvius; bas-reliefs and sculptural decoration of Fontaine des Innocents; bas-reliefs adorning entrance of Hotel Carnavalet, also See also:series of See also:satyrs' heads on keystones of See also:arcade of courtyard; See also:fountain of Diana from Anet (now in Louvre); See also:internal decoration of See also:chapel at Anet; See also:portico of Anet (now in courtyard of f tole des Beaux Arts);' bust of Diane de Poictiers (now at See also:Versailles); Tribune of See also:Caryatides in the Louvre; decoration of " Escalier Henri IL, " Louvre; ocils de bceuf and decoration of Henri II. See also:facade, Louvre; See also:groups for pediments of facade now placed over entrance to See also:Egyptian and See also:Assyrian collections, Louvre . See A . A . Pottier, Quvres de Goujon (1844); Reginald See also:Lister, Jean Goujon (See also:London, 1903) .

End of Article: JEAN GOUJON (c. 1520-c. 1566)
[back]
CLAUDE PIERRE GOUJET (1697-1767)
[next]
JEAN MARIE CLAUDE ALEXANDRE GOUJON (1766-1795)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.