François Blondel

Who was François Blondel?

Nicolas-François Blondel was a soldier, engineer of fortifications, diplomat, civil engineer and military architect, called "the Great Blondel", to distinguish him in a dynasty of French architects. He is remembered for his Cours d'architecture which remained a central text for over a century. His precepts placed him in opposition with Claude Perrault in the larger culture war known under the heading Querelle des anciens et des modernes. If François Blondel was not the most highly reputed among the académiciens of his day, his were the writings that most generally circulated among the general public, the Cours de Mathématiques, the Art de jetter les Bombes, the Nouvelle manière de fortifier les places and, above all his Cours d'Architecture.

He was well educated in languages as a youth, and participated for a time in the Thirty Years' War In 1640 the Cardinal de Richelieu entrusted him with diplomatic missions in Portugal, Spain and Italy, which gave him an opportunity to study at first hand the fortification systems of those nations.