Jean Delespine or Jean de l'Espine (1505–1576), was a French angevin

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

Biography

Jean Delespine was a renowned architect. The Renaissance in

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France *County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France ** Du ...

owes much to the artistic and architectural production of this master builder. Today he is attributed about forty works, almost all located in the former province of Anjou. Jean Delespine was, at his beginnings, the student of Jean Mariau, an architect in

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

, to whom he succeeded, in 1535, as ''Commissaire des œuvres et réparations de la ville'' of Angers. Delespine was in charge of important urban developments. He worked under the direction of a succession of mayors, including , and . His official functions were at the origin of contacts with the Controller General of the Bâtiments de France,

Philibert Delorme Philibert de l'Orme () (3-9 June 1514 – 8 January 1570) was a French architect and writer, and one of the great masters of French Renaissance architecture. His surname is also written De l'Orme, de L'Orme, or Delorme. Biography Early care ...

, a great Renaissance architect, (

Palais des Tuileries The Tuileries Palace (, ) was a palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the Seine, directly in the west-front of the Louvre Palace. It was the Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henri IV to Napoleon III, until it was ...

Château d'Anet The Château d'Anet is a château near Dreux, in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France, built by Philibert de l'Orme from 1547 to 1552 for Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II of France. It was built on the former château at the ...

) attached to Anjou as

commendatory abbot A commendatory abbot () is an ecclesiastic, or sometimes a layman, who holds an abbey ''in commendam'', drawing its revenues but not exercising any authority over its inner monastic discipline. If a commendatory abbot is an ecclesiastic, however, ...

of the . In 1571, Delespine ceased his duties as curator of the city's works. In 1576, he died in his home of the rue Beaurepaire in Angers. His body lies in the church next to the Carmelite convent. His tomb bore an epitaph to the glory of his architectural talents: ''... mais qui n’admireroit ta hardie entreprise'' / ''de ta brave lanterne au pignon de l’église'' / ''posée en l’air si hault entre deux piramides'' / ''dont les poincts eslevez touchent aux nues liquides'' / .... also reports some extracts of this epitaph: ''On cognoist l'arbre au fruit, l'ouvrier à l'ouvrage'' / ''les tiens portent assez, L'Espine, tesmoignage'' / ''De l'excellent esprit dont Dieu t'avoit pourveu'' / ''quand parmi les plus grands en crédit on téa veu''.

Works

* Saint-Maurice d’Angers Cathedral. In 1533, the

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

of the middle tower caught fire. Master Jehan of L'Espine was in charge of the reconstruction of the bell tower. He built the gallery housing the statues of

Saint Maurice Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, Maurits, or Mauritius; ) was an Egyptians, Egyptian military leader who headed the legendary Theban Legion of Roman Empire, Rome in the 3rd century, and is one of the favourite and most widely venerated saints of tha ...

and his knights companions between the bases of the towers on the western façade. The statues were sculpted by Jean Giffard and Antoine Desmarais. *

Tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...

s and x of bishops and in Angers Cathedral *

Château d'Ancenis The Château d'Ancenis is a castle in the town and ''Communes of France, commune'' of Ancenis in the Loire-Atlantique ''Departments of France, département'' of France. The castle is on the bank of the Loire. History The original castle was built ...

* Château of

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most p ...

* Château de Serrant *

Château de Valençay Château de Valençay is a château in the commune of Valençay, in the Indre department of France. It was a residence of the d'Estampes and Talleyrand-Périgord families. Although it is part of the province of Berry, its architecture invit ...

. * The original castle became a Jesuit college, and currently the military school of the Prytanée national militaire of

; * The at Angers.L'hôtel Pincé et la rue Lenepveu à Angers
/ref> * The palace of Angers, seat of the

présidial The presidial courts (; singular ) were judicial courts of the Kingdom of France set up in January 1551 by Henry II of France with jurisdiction between the ''parlements'' and the bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a ba ...

of Angers * The development of a new river port in Angers under the municipality of mayor René Ayrault who will leave his name to this realization: the port Ayrault * Modernisation of the Angevin fortifications and creation of two monumental city gates * Reconstruction of a wing of the cloister of the of Angers, currently * Construction of the Renaissance bell tower of Les Rosiers-sur-Loire * Building of the bridge of

Durtal Durtal () is a Communes of France, commune in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department in western France. It is around 32 km north-east of Angers the department capital. Population See also *Communes of the Maine-et-Loire de ...

* Realization of tombs, churches, manors, mansions, fountains, etc.

Gallery

Some of the works by Jean Delespine File:Logis Pincé.jpg, Le logis Pincé in Angers File:Chateau Valencay 20050726.jpg, Château de Valençay File:Serrant 3.JPG, Château de Serrant File:FrancePaysDeLoireAngersCathedraleStMaurice.jpg,

References

External links

1557 - Jean Delespine, architecte
Archives ville d'Angers
Jean de l'Espine
on Structurae
Jean Delespine
on Wiki Anjou {{DEFAULTSORT:Delespine, Jean Renaissance architects 16th-century French architects 1505 births 1576 deaths