Philibert Delorme
b. Lyon, c. 1510;
d. Paris, 1570.

Philibert Delorme, a prolific and inventive designer of châteaux, fortifications and public buildings, who taught France the classical style - lucid, rational and regular. He was the son of a building contractor in Lyon and from the age of 15, while studying for the church, managed his father’s business in his absence. The experience helped to give him, as heir to medieval traditions of masonry, his enormous practical ability. In 1533 he went to Rome to continue his clerical studies, and while there he took an enthusiastic interest in archaeology and the new architectural fashions in Italy, making friends with leading scholars and architects. Back in France, determined to pursue a career in architecture, he won the patronage of King Henri II and the royal family, who rewarded him with church preferment. Among many works for his royal employers are the tombs of Francois I in the abbey of St Denis, Paris, and large parts of the château of Fontainebleau. He built the château of Anet (largely destroyed in the French Revolution) for the King’s mistress Diane de Poitiers.

List of major buildings / works
Chateau of Anet, 1547-52.
Château of Fontainebleau, 1548-59.
Tomb of Francois I, St Dents, Paris, 1549-58.