Guillaume-Abel Blouet (French pronunciation:[ɡijomabɛlbluɛ]; 6 October 1795 – 7 May 1853) was a French architect.
Blouet was born atPassy. He won the GrandPrix de Rome in 1821 at theÉcole des Beaux-Arts, entitling him to five years of study at theFrench Academy in Rome. The study of Roman architecture that was expected from students at theFrench Academy at Rome resulted in his speculative restoration of the original construction of theBaths of Caracalla,Restauration des thermes d'Antonin Caracalla, à Rome, présentée en 1826 et dédiée en 1827 à l'Académie des Beaux-Arts (1828).
_-_Blouet_Guillaume-abel_-_1831.jpg)
TheInstitut de France appointed Blouet the head of the fine arts section of the FrenchMorea expedition 1828–1833, the second of three great military-scientific expeditions led by France in the first half of the 19th century,[1] in which geologists and antiquarians accompanied an expedition with military objectives, in this case to deport all Ottoman nationals from theMorea, a turning-point in theGreek War of Independence. In the course of the expedition he established the identity of theTemple of Zeus at Olympia (1829), which was measured and carefully drawn and published.[2]
Having overseen the completion of theArc de Triomphe (1831–36), he toured the United States in 1836, together withFrédéric-Auguste Demetz, a penal reformer and lawyer at the French Royal Court, to study American prison architecture and administration for the French Ministry of the Interior.
Upon Blouet's return to Paris he devoted himself to the reform of prison design and in 1838 was appointed to the new post of Inspector General of French Prisons, which brought with it,ex officio, a seat on the Conseil des bâtiments civiles, the official national body that succeeded theBâtiments du Roi of the Ancien Régime.[3] Blouet believed in using architecture to realize social reform and together with Demetz worked on the design and layout of the buildings for theMettray Penal Colony, an agriculturalreform school, which was initially directed by Demetz after its opening in July 1839. It was noted as being officially opened on 22 January 1840.[4]
In 1846 he was appointed a professor at theÉcole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, where his pupils includedJules Pellechet. In 1848, when his post of Inspector General of Prisons was eliminated in a reorganization,[5] he was given in compensation the position of architect in charge of thePalais de Fontainebleau, which was to be a center of court life under theFrench Second Empire. He revised and completed theTraité théorique et pratique de l'art de bâtir ofJean-Baptiste Rondelet (1847). He was elected to theAcadémie des Beaux-Arts in 1850.
He died in Paris in 1853.
Media related toAbel Blouet at Wikimedia Commons
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
