Orbay, François d'

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Orbay, François d' (1631–97). Paris-born architect. He assisted Le Vau at the Château de Vincennes (1654–61), and after Le Vau's death executed the designs for the Escalier des Ambassadeurs (Ambassadors' Stair), Versailles (1674–80—derived from a design by Perrault of c.1667–8, but destroyed), and the Collège des Quatre Nations, Paris (1662–74—now the Institut de France). He became Hardouin-Mansart's draughtsman at Versailles and, according to some, he designed the garden elevations of the Palace there (begun 1668) as well as the Louvre colonnade, Paris (begun 1667), in which case he was a major figure in the evolution of the French Classical style of Louis Quatorze. He designed (drawing heavily on Bullet's work) the Arc de Triomphe du Peyrou, Montpellier (1690), built (1691–2) in modified form by Augustin-Charles d'Aviler (1653–1700)), and the Cathedral of Mountauban (1691–1739— with changes by Hardouin-Mansart).

Bibliography

Blunt (1982);
Hautecœur (1949);
Laprade (1960);
Jane Turner (1996)