Les origines de la Petite Galerie du Louvre : nouveaux documents et nouvelles interprétations

Abstract

A building as emblematic as it is complex, the Petite Galerie has been the object of numerous shidies and the first phases of its constaiction gave rise to a multitude of hypotheses. The discovery of new documents however leads to the interrogation of the established consensus and the proposition of a renewed history of this part of the palace. The project was developed around 1566, but the work only went as far as the foundations. Henri III had die work resumed, probably around 1580, raising the essential part of the ground floor, but soon after had the central part demolished. This was then reconstructed under Henri IV, who had the building completed and saw to the achievement of the sculptures that still decorate the lower register. In combination with a meticulous examination of the subsisting parts, this new information allows, above all, the conclusion that, if the initial plan was undoubtedly conceived by Pierre Lescot, the ground floor was built according to new drawings most likely due to Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau. This monument thus constiaites a rare preserved example of royal buildings under Henri III and as a result, its facades appear particularly interesting for the understanding of the evolution of French architecture in the 1580s.