Jacques-Germain SOUFFLOT and the homes of Mirabeau.

Jacques-Germain SOUFFLOT (1713-1780)

French architect and controller of the King's Buildings.

Autograph letter signed to the Marquis de Marigny.

Handwritten mention at the head of Marigny: R [answered] February 2, 1767.

One page in folio. Wax stamp in upper left corner.

Paris, February 2, 1767

From the Marquis de Mirabeau's heating problems to the organization of the auction of the Julienne collection in the Salon Carré of the Louvre: the architect Soufflot reports on his missions to the Superintendent of the King's Buildings.

___________________________________

“Sir, You have done me the honor of sending me from Menars a letter from M. de Mirabeau which I received eight to ten days ago. It would be desirable that the people who make requests to you would inform the inspectors or the controller of the details. I was still in Luxembourg the day before yesterday morning without finding M. de Mirabeau; I knew the purpose of it but he made me more aware, by a letter that he did me the honor of writing to me yesterday, about what I wanted to know ; I do not see, Sir, any inconvenience in the position of the stove for the neighbors. There would perhaps be some for the interior but he seems willing to take the necessary care to deal with it or to change his arrangement, if another was more suitable.

I did not find Mr. de Montullé either: but he came to see me this morning, and following the explanation he gave me of his intentions with regard to the salon where he is asking you to make the sale of M. de Julienne's office, I see no problem in it because it will be finished before the month of August. There will be none regarding the permission you gave to Sr. Fregel [?] because everything will be cleared before the end of February. I even told him today to go find Mr. de Montullé to agree on the closure with him. There are some repairs to be made to the tiles and stained glass windows. I told Mr. Brebion to report on it. I see that Mr. de Montullé will not spare himself from making them. I am with respect Monsieur Your very humble and very obedient servant Paris February 2, 1767. Soufflot. »

___________________________________

Younger brother of the all-powerful Marquise de Pompadour, Abel-François Poisson de Vandières, Marquis de Marigny and Ménars (1727-1781) owes his career and fortune to the protection of his sister. His appointment as Director General of Buildings in 1751 gave him considerable power. Under his administration, Paris experienced a real construction fever: the Military School, the Surgery School, numerous theaters and the development of the Place de la Concorde. He opened the first museum in France in Luxembourg and vigorously defended the new canons of neoclassicism. It was he who commissioned Soufflot to build the new church of Paris on the Sainte-Geneviève mountain, which has since become the Pantheon.

Victor Riquetti de Mirabeau (1715.1789) occupied an apartment with his family at the Palais-Luxembourg. Taking advantage of the Buildings Administration, Mirabeau did not hesitate to request work several times to improve his comfort. Soufflot, as controller of the King's Buildings, supervised all the work necessary for the residences belonging to the crown.

The second part of the letter concerns one of the most important auctions of the 18th century. That of the collections of Jean de Jullienne (1686-1766), director of the Teinturerie des Gobelins but above all an art lover, patron and enlightened collector. Friend and protector of Antoine Watteau of whom he owned some forty paintings and four hundred drawings, generous donors to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, he brought together in his time the most exceptional collection of paintings, drawings, furniture and objects of art, notably major pieces by André-Charles Boulle and the most beautiful lacquerware from Japan.

Jean-Baptiste-François de Montullé (1721–1787) obtained, as this letter confirms, permission to sell the prodigious collection of Jean de Jullienne to the Louvre; more precisely in the Salon Carré, at the end of the Grande Galerie where the Salons of the Royal Academy took place. This show was generally organized around August 25, the date of Saint-Louis, and we then understand why Soufflot in the letter states that before this month “everything will be cleared”.

Soufflot planned the repairs and necessary maintenance to be carried out at the Grand Salon du Louvre and commissioned Maximilien Brébion (1716.1797), his main collaborator, to take care of them. The latter completed the construction of the Pantheon upon the death of Soufflot in 1780.

___________________________________

. Soufflot. His life, his work – His aesthetic. Jean Mondain-Monval. Lemerre. 1918.

. The Countess of Rochefort and her friends. Louis de Loménie. Mr. Lévy. 1870.