Lassus, Jean-Baptiste-Antoine

Lassus, Jean-Baptiste-Antoine (1807–57). French architect. A pupil of Lebas and Labrouste, he was an early student of Gothic. He worked on the restoration of Sainte-Chapelle, Paris (from 1838), especially its influential polychrome decorations (hailed in 1844 by A. W. N. Pugin as ‘glorious’), with Duban and Viollet-le-Duc. From 1849 he was in sole charge, and designed the elegant flèche. From 1844 he collaborated with Viollet on the huge programme of restoration at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris, where many significant French Gothic Revivalists who trained under Cottingham, acquired their skills. He was an active conservator, working in the Dioceses of Paris, Le Mans, and Chartres (where he restored the Cathedral spires). A scholarly Ecclesiologist, he contributed numerous learned papers to various publications, including The Ecclesiologist (1856). Although his designs for the Lille Cathedral competition (1855) were placed third, they were the ones partially realized. He designed several other Gothic Revival churches, including Sacré-Cœur, Moulins (from 1849), St-Jean-Baptiste-de-Belleville, Paris (1854–9), St-Nicolas, Nantes (1844–69), and St-Pierre, Dijon (1853–8).

Bibliography

Germann (1972);
Lassus (1842–67, 1858);
Léon (1951);
Middleton & and Watkin (1987);
Troche (1857)