THE STYLES OF HENRY IV. AND LOUIS XIII. 225 



a charming example of the fashionable brick and stone manner (Fig. 

 299). In the year 1616 he already held the post of Architect General 

 of the Buildings of the King and Queen-Mother at a yearly salary of 

 2,400 1., and during the last fifteen years of his life was the unquestioned 

 leader of his profession. 



J. C. METEZEAU, JEAN DU CERCEAU. By this time the feud 

 between the two families seems to have been healed, for Jacques Clement 

 Metezeau (1581-1652) was supervising architect under de Brosse at the 

 Luxembourg (1615-18). He acted in the same capacity, or perhaps 

 as architect in chief, for the nave of the Oratoire Church (1624-7), 

 and seems to have carried out on his own account the important 

 Hotel de Longueville (c. 1620), and several chateaux. On his brother's 

 death he succeeded to his post as architect to the King, and in 1624 

 his salary was the same as that of de Brosse. 



Jean du Cerceau was also architect to Louis XIII. at a salary of 

 800 1., and had one of the largest private practices of his day. He was 

 the architect of the important Hotels de Sully and de Bellegarde, later 

 Seguier (1612-30). He also entered into speculative undertakings, 

 such as the rebuilding of the Pont-au-Change with the houses on it. 



LE MERCIER. Soon after de Brosse's death, Jacques Le Mercier 

 (1585-1654), who was already one of the King's architects at 1,200 1., 

 in 1618, succeeded to his position in regard to the royal works, and 

 in 1639 became First Architect to the King at 3,000 1. He was also 

 Cardinal Richelieu's private architect. A member, probably, of a 

 family of master-masons, practising at Pontoise and Paris, Le Mercier 

 represents the more traditional and conservative tendencies of his 

 day. Taking up the national style at a point to which de Brosse had 

 carried it, he used it with vigour and amplitude, but made no advance 

 on his great predecessor, whom, in spite of a protracted sojourn in 

 Italy (1609-13), he equalled neither in refinement nor in scholarship, 

 while he scarcely kept abreast with the improvements in planning of 

 his contemporaries. That the completion of the old Louvre (1624-54) 

 should have been placed in the hands of one so reverent of the past 

 is most fortunate ; a man of stronger individuality might not have been 

 content to be guided to the same extent by the older work. His 

 highest original achievements are in church architecture, in which 

 domain important tasks fell to his share, and his church of the 

 Sorbonne (1635-53) is one of the most impressive buildings of the 

 time. Le Mercier may be regarded as the most typical architect of 

 the age of Louis XIII. 



LE MUET. His contemporary, Pierre le Muet (1591-1669), was 



likewise a follower of de Brosse, under whom he worked at the 



Luxembourg. Though he was one of the King's architects, his practice 



appears to have been chiefly a private one. His works included the 



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