University of Virginia Library

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71

29. Clérisseau, Charles-Louis.

ANTIQUITÉS / DE / LA FRANCE, / Par M. Clerisseau, Architecte,
de l'Académie Royale de Peinture / & Sculpture de Paris, Membre
de la Société Royale de Peinture, / Sculpture & Architecture de
Londres. / PREMIERE PARTIE. / A PARIS, / De l'Imprimerie de
Philippe-Denys PIERRES, rue S. Jacques. / Et se vend / Chez /
L'Auteur, au Louvre, Porte de la Colonnade. / Le Sieur Poulleau,
Graveur, à l'Estrapade. / Le Sieur Joullain, Md d'Estampes, Quai de
la Mégisserie, à la ville de Rome. / M. DCC. LXXVIII.

Folio. Half title ([i]); title page ([iii]); dedication ([v-vi]); preface
(vii-xiv); table of plates (xv-xxii); list of subscribers (1 leaf); engraved
frontispiece (1 leaf); 41 engraved plates.

The engraver was C. R. G. Poulleau, who also acted as one of the sellers
of the book.

The list of subscribers included fourteen architects, four men of
law, four doctors, one engineer, one engraver, one engraver of medals,
seven painters, and one sculptor.

Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721-1820), born in Paris, was educated
at the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture there and later at
Rome after he had won the Prix de Rome in 1746. While in Rome he
knew Winckelmann (Nos. 128a & b); Robert Adam, whom he accompanied
to Spalatro (No. 3); Chambers, who lived with him in Rome
(Nos. 23 & 24); and Piranesi (No. 99). He went to London to work
with the Adam brothers in 1771, but their bankruptcy sent him back to
France in 1778. Although he was appointed first architect to Catherine II
of Russia in 1783, he returned to France before the Revolution and he
settled in the country, gaining membership in the Legion d'honneur under
the Empire. He had been an Academician as early as 1769 and also
was a member of the Academy of St. Petersburg.

This work was first issued in 1778 (see Plate XVII). The second
edition of 1806 had a text by J. G. Legrand. Plates I-IX illustrate the
"Maison quarrée," Plates X-XIX the amphitheater at Nîmes, and Plates
XX-XLI a temple near the baths at Nîmes and fragments found nearby.

Clérisseau prefers the spirit of the ancient monuments to exact
copies and tells us why:

Pour arriver à ce point de perfection, il nous reste donc encore à faire sur
l'antique de nouvelles observations non moins intéressantes aux celles qui nous

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Plate XVII. From No. 29. Title page.

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73

ont occupé jusqu'à présent. Si nos édifices n'ont point cette majesté & cette
sage convenance, qui caractérisent les Monumens des Anciens; n'est-ce point
parce qu'en copiant exactement les formes de leurs masses, & les proportions
de leur détails, nous n'etudions pas assez l'esprit dans lequel ces Monumens
étoient composés, & nous ne recherchons pas ce qui a pu leur imprimer ce
caractère imposant qui nous étonne encore aujourd'hui dans leurs vestiges?
[Pp. xi-xii]

He had several reasons for starting with Nîmes in general and with
the "Maison quarrée" in particular:

Clérisseau assisted Jefferson with his designs for the Capitol at
Richmond, and, of course, the "Maison quarrée" was chosen by Jefferson
as his model. The resemblance between the two buildings, beyond the
use in both of the rectangular, porticoed temple form, is not great, however,
due primarily to the change in orders from the Corinthian of the
original to the Ionic of the Capitol (see Plates XVIII, XIX, XX, and
XXI). The introduction of windows in the Capitol also lessens the resemblance
to the original temple in both Jefferson's drawings and in the
model made under Clérisseau's supervision and sent to Richmond from
Paris (N-280). (See also No. 80 for further information on Jefferson
and the temple.)

Sowerby points out that Jefferson bought this book from Clérisseau
himself in 1786, a year before his famous visit to Nîmes. Jefferson "pd.
Clerissault for a book 72 f." according to his notebook for June 2, 1786.
But Jefferson had known about the building before that, since he was
using it in his designs for the Capitol as early as September 20, 1785, as
stated in a letter to James Madison.

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Plate XVIII. From No. 29. "Facade de la maison quarree à Nismes" (Pl. II).

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Plate XIX. From No. 29. "Elevation laterale de la maison quarrée à Nismes" (Pl. III).

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Plate XX. Jefferson's drawing for the front elevation of the Capitol, Richmond
(N-273-79). See Plate XVIII.

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Plate XXI. Jefferson's drawing for the side elevation of the Capitol, Richmond
(N-273-79). See Plate XIX.

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The half title of this book is "Monumens de Nismes." The book is
called "Première Partie," but this volume is all that was ever published.
This edition was printed by P. D. Pierres, who a few years later was to
print the first edition of Jefferson's Notes on Virginia.

Jefferson's own copy of the book was sold to Congress. He ordered
it for the University in the section on "Architecture" of the want list, but
there is no record that it was acquired in his lifetime. The copy in the
library now was acquired soon after 1950.

U. Va.

*NA335.N5C6.1778

M

Sowerby 4209

Coetnempren, Armand-Guy Simon de, comte de Kersaint. See Kersaint,
Armand-Guy Simon de Coetnempren, comte de (No. 62).