Charles Percier

Winner of the 2017 Alice award from Furthermore grants in publishing, a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, given annually to an illustrated book that makes a valuable contribution to its field and demonstrates high standards of production. Read the full announcement here.

Named a 2016 50 Books | 50 Covers award winner by the AIGA, the professional association for design.

Handsomely designed and richly illustrated, this publication surveys the magnificent spectrum of projects undertaken by French architect and interior designer Charles Percier (1764–1838). After gaining an illustrious reputation for supervising the scenery at the Paris Opéra during the French Revolution, Percier was later appointed by Napoleon Bonaparte. With the Emperor’s support, he developed the opulent versions of neoclassicism closely associated with the Napoleonic era, and now known as Directoire style and Empire style. Percier worked on the renovation or redecoration of many of France’s royal palaces, including the Louvre, the Tuileries, and the chateaux of Malmaison, Saint-Cloud, and Fontainebleau. The full scope and variety of Percier’s design projects are revealed in this book, which also includes archival material detailing Percier’s relationships with patrons and peers.

Jean-Philippe Garric is professor of architecture at the University of Paris I, Panthéon Sorbonne.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Susan Weber

Preface
Jean-François Hebert

Biography
Jean-Philippe Garric

Chronology
Saskia Wallig

Government and the Arts in France, 1789-1848
Thierry Sarmant

Charles Percier

Percier Alone
Jean-Philippe Garric

The Schools of Percier
Jean-Philippe Garric

Percier’s Ring
Jean-Philippe Garric

The Atelier of Isabey
Vincent Cochet

The Roman Sojourn
Letizia Tedeschi

Letter to John Flaxman, November 1791
Jean-Philippe Garric

Architectural Patrimony

The Château de Fontainebleau
Vincent Droguet

The Abbey of Saint-Denis, 1936
Jean-Philippe Garric

The Musée des Monuments Français
Jean-Philippe Garric

Architect of the Book

Graphic Art as Matrix
Jean-Philippe Garric

Percier under the Loupe
Jean-Philippe Garric

Documenting the Recueil de Décorations Intérieures
Iris Moon

The Italian Edition of the Recueil
Letizia Tedeschi

The Livre du Sacre
Christophe Beyeler

Decorative Arts

Percier and François Honoré Georges Jacob-Desmalter
Jean-François Belhoste

Two Commodes
Iris Moon

A Scrapbook from Percier’s Workshop
Jean-Philippe Garric

Designs for the Manufactories and the Garde-Meuble
Anne Dion-Tenenbaum

Two Tureens and Their Variations
Anne Dion-Tenenbaum

Court Architect

The Synthesis of Architecture and Decor
Jean-François Bédard

Percier and the Imperial Court
Vincent Cochet

Josephine’s Boudoir, Château de Saint-Cloud
Jean-François Belhoste

The Louvre and the Tuileries
Jean-Philippe Garric

The Arcades on the Rue de Rivoli
Charlotte Duvette

The Rhetoric of Unbuilt Architectures
Jean-Philippe Garric

Percier’s Legacy
Jean-Philippe Garric

Checklist

Bibliography

About the Authors

Index

Bard Graduate Center publishes award-winning exhibition catalogues, books, and journals focusing on scholarship in the decorative arts, design history, and material culture.

Winner of the 2017 Alice award from Furthermore grants in publishing, a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, given annually to an illustrated book that makes a valuable contribution to its field and demonstrates high standards of production. Read the full announcement here.

Named a 2016 50 Books | 50 Covers award winner by the AIGA, the professional association for design.