Three Works - Louis XIII (1865) engraved by Lemercier

 Three Works: Interior Decorations and Furnishings, original copperplate engravings, engraved by Jacques Lemercier, engravings from the publication "Decorations and Interiors of Furniture in the Age of King's Louis XIII and XIV" (1865), 35 cms x 24 cms (plate size, excluding window mount), 38 cms x 49 cms (with mount boards),  generally good condition.

The engraver and architect, Jacques Lemercier, shares with Mansart and Le Muet the distinction of  articulating  French architectural forms under Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu.  Lemercier, while in Rome, engraved a model of St. Peter's and was a leading exponent of the classic tendencies of Palladio. Cardinal Richelieu, in particular, entrusted him with a series of important works.  For example, in 1624, Lescot's plan for the Louvre had been scarcely executed when the cardinal, an enthusiastic patron of architecture, placed Lemercier at the head of the undertaking.  Lemercier In carrying on the work begun by Lescot stuck to the latter's style and design, but  followed his own ideas in a more substantial plan and also in quadrupling the Louvre's construction area. Each of the four sides having a pavilion at its centre. he built on the northern half of the west side the celebrated Pavilion de l'Horloge and also the western part of the north side of the Louvre.