People:

• Centre canadien d'architecture (compiler)
• Hubert Rohault de Fleury (architect)

Title:

Education

Date:

1800-1807

Level of archival description:
File 1

Extent and medium:

• 2 albums

Scope and content:
Hubert Rohault de Fleury studied under Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand at the École polytechnique and with Julien-David Leroy at the École des beaux-arts. The confluence of their respective pedagogies is evident in albums DR1974:0002:012:001-049 and DR1974:0002:013:001-008 where Durand's` "rationalized" methodology of design is applied to Leroy's vocabulary of antiquity(1).

Hubert's two albums of student drawings for the École des Beaux-Arts (DR1974:0002:012:001-049 and DR1974:0002:013:001-008) are complimentary. The former contains competition drawings and programmes for the monthly competitions (Concours d'emulation) as well as drawing, prints, and programmes for the 1800 (2e), 1801, and 1802 (1er) Grand Prix competitions, each of which trace the entire process from "Concours d'essai" and "esquisse", up to and including, studies for final renderings. The latter album contains large-scale final renderings for the 1800, 1801, and possibly the 1798 Grand prix competitions.

As in Durand's "mecanisme de la composition", Hubert proceeds from the simple to the complex, often utilizing the graph paper or hand drawn grid particular to Durand's design methodology (codified in his book 'Precis des Lecons' 1802). This process is readily apparent in both Hubert's "Concours d'emulation" drawings, and, more completely, in the drawings for the Grand Prix competitions. The studies for Hubert's winning 1802 Grand Prix entry for a'Foire' indicate that he isolated and studied different building types before combining them into the unified complex evident in his final renderings.

The original final renderings of the Grand Prix winners were kept by the École des beaux-arts. Album DR1974:0002:012:001-049 contains only the prints of the final renderings. The success of Hubert in the Grand Prix competitions is not surprising. His large wash final renderings for the 1800 and 1801 competitions (DR1974:0002:013:001-008) indicate that the neo-classical simplicity then favoured by the judges at the École des beaux-arts dovetailed with the notions of economy implicit in Durand's functionalist approach to design.

(1) Barry Bergdoll, "Hubert Rohault de Fleury: Architectural Education", 'CCA Research Report', n.d.

Reference number:

CI001.S1.D1

Contains:

• DR1974:0002:012:001-049, Album of student drawings for architectural competitions held at the École spéciale de peinture, sculpture et architecture and drawings for the conversion of the Église de la Madeleine into a Temple de la Gloire, Paris, drawings executed 1800-1807, manuscripts between 1800 and 1802, published 1806
• DR1974:0002:013:001-008, Album of student drawings for architectural competitions held at the École spéciale de peinture, sculpture et architecture, Paris, 1800-1802