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Mr Jean Pierre BABELON

Mr Jean Pierre BABELON, member of the Institute, will give a lecture at the Calvet Museum on the topic : Around the Gardens of Le Nôtre".

Jean-Pierre BABELON

Officer of the Legion of Honour, Grand-Officer of the National Order of Merit, Officer of the Order of Palmes Académiques, Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (Paris, 17 November 1931).
 
Elected, on 19 June 1992, ordinary member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, to the André GRABAR seat. President for 2001.
 

Specialisation:

• MODERNIST [history of modern France (second half of the 16th century – first half of the 17th century, in particular the Wars of Religion and the reign of Henri IV),
• urban history (Paris in the 16th-19th centuries),
• art history (French architecture of the 16th-18th centuries, in particular châteaux: Louvre, Versailles, Chantilly),
• history of the Château of Versailles,
• history of gardens,
• museography,
• history of heritage,
• archivist,
• history of medieval France (reign of Saint Louis).
   

Career:

• 1950-1954. École des Chartes (palaeography archivist graduate).
• 1954-1957. Assistant-Archivist at the Departmental Archives of Seine-et-Oise and project leader at the Château de Versailles.
• 1956. Graduate of the École du Louvre.
• 1957-1985. Curator of the Museum of French History at the National Archives, then Head Curator (1978) of the ancient section.
• 1967-1969. Professor in the History of Paris at the École du Louvre.
• 1969-1985. Associate Professor at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, 4th section.
• 1985-1989. Inspector General of the Archives of France.
• 1989-1996. Director of the Museum and National Domain of Versailles and Trianon, then Director General of the Public Body of the Museum and the domain of Versailles (1995).
• Since 1997. President of the Jacquemart-André de Paris Foundation (conservation of the Jacquemart-André de Paris Museum), then President of the Jacquemart-André Foundation (with conservation of the Royal Abbey and the Jacquemart-André de Chaalis Museum) (2000).
• 2000. Assigned by Pierre Messmer, Chancelor of the Institute, for a mission concerning the handling of the inventories of the Institute’s different foundations.
• Member of several learned societies, among others, the Society of the History of Paris and Île-de-France (Paris, former President), the Society of the History of French Art (Paris, former President) and the Society Henri-IV (President).
• Member of the Higher Commission of Historic Monuments, the National Commission of the General Inventory of Monuments and Artistic Riches of France and the Municipal Commission of Ancient Paris (former Assistant Secretary General).
• Member of the Academy of Architecture and the Academy of Versailles,

• Commander of the Merit of the Order of Malta and Officer of the Order of the Polar Star (Sweden).
   
  

  Main publications:

• 1958, 19692. History and description of the buildings of the National Archives.

• 1960. Saint Louis at the Sainte-Chapelle (exhibition catalogue).
• 1965, 19912. Parisian homes under Henri IV and Louis XIII (work taken from theses presented at the École des Chartes and the École du Louvre).
• 1966, 19912. The Palais de Justice, the Conciergerie, the Sainte Chapelle.
• 1968. Art riches in the district of the Halles, house by house (in collaboration with M. Fleury and J. de Sacy).
• 1970. The century of Saint Louis (collective work).
• 1972. Coligny (exhibition catalogue).
• 1972, 19912. Saint-Roch Church in Paris.
• 1974. Monumental Paris (in collaboration with M. Fleury and A. Erlande-Brandenburg).
• 1974. Louis-Philippe (exhibition catalogue).
• 1976. The Parisian at home in the 19th century (exhibition catalogue).
• 1977. Israël Silvestre. Views of Paris (Introduction and remarks).
• 1978. "From Grand Ferrare to Carnavalet, the birth of the classic hotel" (in La Revue de l’Art).
• 1980. "The notion of heritage" (in collaboration with A. Chastel, in La Revue de l’Art).
• 1982. Henri IV.
• 1982. Tributes to the Chambre de France (Chambre des Comptes de Paris, series P), 14th-15th century. Analytical inventory, 3 vol. (in collaboration with L. Mirot).
• 1983. The King’s Council. Série E. Digital directory (in collaboration with N. Valois).
• 1986. "Le Louvre, demeure des rois, temple des arts" (in Les lieux de Mémoire).
• 1986, 19882. The château in France (collective publication; direction).
• 1987. Paris in the 16th century, City of Paris.
• 1987. The Marais, myth and reality (collective publication; direction).
• 1988. Henri IV. Love letters and political writings (critical edition).
• 1989. French Castles of the Renaissance.
• 1989. New tributes to the Chambre de France (Chambre des comptes de Paris, series P), 17th-18th century, Analytical inventory, 2 vol. (in collaboration with L. Mirot and J. Vieilliard).
• 1989. The French Revolutions (collective publication).
• 1992. "The Châteaux of the Loire" (in Les lieux de mémoire).
• 1998. François Mansart. The genius of architecture (collective publication; direction).
• 1998. The frescoes of Tiepolo (in collaboration with N. Sainte Fare Garnot).
• 1998. "Parisian ceilings of the 17th century" (in La Revue de l’Art; collective special issue; direction).
• 1999. Chantilly.
• 1999. French-style gardens (in collaboration with J.-B. Leroux and M. Chamblas-Ploton).
• 2000. Album of the Comte du Nord. Collection of plans of the châteaux, parks and gardens of Chantilly from 1784.
• Collaboration, among others, in the preparation of the Grand Dictionnaire Encyclopédique Larousse, the Dictionnaire du Grand Siècle and the Dictionary of Art, ed. Macmillan.
• Joint Director of Monuments et Mémoires of the E. Piot Foundation.
   
  

  Versailles:

 

Versailles has always fascinated the great poets of writing and images. Yet, the strict organisation dictated by Louis XIV, should, at first sight, offer us a closely defined world, concluded and closed to all escapism and any considerations unfamiliar with the concepts which surrounded its birth. However, on the contrary, the quality of the elements which form it, the buildings and the gardens, is so prominent that it becomes immediately a source of inspiration. The scale and variety of the spaces, their openness to the sky, the sun and the clouds of Ile de France, transcend the events of past centuries to achieve eternal values, which reach all generations, offering happiness born from delectation.
 
Vasco Ascolini, too, was seized by this timeless beauty and drew his creative inspiration from it. I remember his enthusiasm when he brought me the first pictures and, together, we looked for the places which could feed his quest for “impressions”, starting with the admirable nave of the Orangerie. The forty-seven photographs presented today are the product of this Season at Versailles, or, should I say, this Season in Versailles.
 
In these splendid works, we will not find any romantic agitation before the melancholic foliage of “the boring park of Versailles” mocked by Alfred de Musset, no reference to the passing of time and the nostalgia of past glories, but a direct vision of its reality, its volumes, its materials and its lighting. The geometry, ever present and always unexpected because it has been seized in the ephemeral appearance of the instant, frames magnificently these settings and respects the immateriality, a reference to the site’s continuing mythology. The stone on the large clad walls, the marble of the statues and the staircases, the mass, like woven tree-covered alleys, create, with the sky and the light, subtle variations, echoes, music, reflecting the author’s extreme sensitivity, and, even more, the accuracy of his hunter’s vision as he lies patiently in wait, a master of what he finds, because he has been looking for it. Jean Pierre Babelon, Member of the Institute of France, Director of the Chateau and the estate of Versailles.
 

Jean Pierre Babelon

Membre de l'Institut de France.
Directeur du Chateau et du domaine de Versailles.
chateau de Versailles

Published on : 05/28/2002