FONTAINE, Pierre-François-Léonard

French architect and interior designer, partner with Charles Percier. This pair of architects redesigned the Tuileries Palace, Paris, and Saint-Cloud, for the Emperor Napoleon from circa 1801 to 1804. They were named "architectes du gouvernement" by Napoleon in 1801 and "Architectes du Louvre et des Tuileries" in 1804. They helped create the influential Empire styleGLOSSARYMajor phase of Neoclassical art that flourished in France during the time of the First Empire (1804-14). The Empire style was encouraged by Napoleon's desire for a style inspired by the grandeur of ancient Egypt and imperial Rome. In architecture it was exemplified by such Parisian buildings and monuments as the Church of the Madeleine by Pierre-Alexandre Vignon, Jean Chalgrin's Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, and Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine's Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and Vendôme Column; in painting, by Jacques-Louis David's Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine and Baron Antoine Gros's battle scenes; and in sculpture, by Antonio Canova's heroic statues of Napoleon and his family. of interior decoration.

Percier and Fontaine became acquainted with each other while both were studying architecture in Paris. Percier won the Prix de RomeGLOSSARYA scholarship, founded concurrently with the French Academy in Rome (1666), that enabled prize-winning students at the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris to spend a period (usually 4 years) in Rome at the state's expense. Prizes for architecture began to be awarded regularly in 1723, and prizes for engravers and musicians were added in the 19th century. The prizes were meant to perpetuate the academic tradition and during the 18th and 19th centuries winning the award was the traditional stepping stone to the highest honours for painters and sculptors. Many distinguished artists (as well as many nonentities) were Prix de Rome winners, notably David, Fragonard, and Ingres among painters and Clodion, Girardon, and Houdon among sculptors. The prizes are still awarded and the system has been adopted by other countries. in 1786 and spent the following years studying in Rome with Fontaine, who became his lifelong friend. They returned to Paris in 1790 and set up their own practice; their work eventually attracted the attention of Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon's wife, and she engaged them to renovate her Château de Malmaison (1800-03). From then on the Bonapartes became their principal patrons.

In their subsequent decorative work Percier and Fontaine virtually invented the severe but elegant Neoclassical blend of Greco-Roman and Egyptian forms and motifs that became known as the Empire style. They redid interiors, walls, and ceilings and designed furniture, accessories, and ornament for the old royal palaces and the new residences of the Bonapartes. Much of their work was done on the Louvre and the Tuileries palaces; they designed the arcades of the rue de Rivoli and the rue de Castiglione along the Louvre and designed the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel connecting the Louvre and Tuileries (1806-08). They also worked on the Château de Saint-Cloud and the Château de Fontainebleau. They also influenced taste through their publications, including 'Palais, maisons et autres édifices modernes dessinés a Rome' (1798; 'Palaces, Houses, and Other Modern Buildings Drawn in Rome') and 'Recueil de décorations intérieures' (1801 and 1812; 'Collection of Interior Designs').

Financing grew scarce in the later years of the Empire, and the return of the Bourbons in 1814 aborted several grandiose Napoleonic building projects and sent Percier into permanent retirement. Fontaine remained active, designing the sombre Neoclassical Chapelle Expiatoire (1815-26) in Paris and continuing to restore the Louvre-Tuileries complex under both Charles X and Louis-Philippe. He retired in 1848.