BRUAND, Libéral

Libéral Bruand (also spelled Bruant), French architect. Builder of the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, he is noted for the gravity, dignity, and simplicity of his designs.

Libéral was the most-notable member of a family that produced a series of architects active in France from the 16th to the 18th century. He was the son of Sébastien Bruand and brother of Jacques Bruand, who designed the Hall of the Corporation des Drapiers, the façadeGLOSSARYthe front or principal face of a building, especially one elaborately constructed; a blind façade is a façade that is purely decorative and does not relate to the structure of the building. of which survives in the Musée Carnavalet. Libéral became "architect of the king" (architecte du roi) in 1663 and succeeded his father as master general of carpentry upon Sébastien's death in 1670.

Bruand designed the chapel of the hospital of the Salpêtrière (1670). The hospital's chapelGLOSSARYa small separate place for worship, either part of a large church or a separate building. was separated into units so that the staff and patients might be segregated in the interest of hygiene and yet participate in religious ritual together.

The reputation of Bruand rests on his plan for the Invalides (c. 1671-74), another hospital intended to house disabled veterans. The double-tiered arcades that bound the inner court are especially fine; their repeated arches have a nearly Roman severity, much like that of an ancient aqueduct. Bruand also designed a church for the complex, but Jules Hardouin-Mansart took over and changed the project; the domeGLOSSARYin architecture, hemispherical structure evolved from the arch, usually forming a ceiling or roof. is distinctively his.

Bruand probably drew up the unexecuted plans for a country house at Richmond, Yorkshire, England, for the duke of York, who subsequently became James II. Bruand's own modest home still stands on Paris in the rue de la Perle.