MAim
609
MAN8I
Mans, Lb. See Lb Manb, Dioobsb of.
Mansard (Mansart), the name of two French architects. — I. FRANfois, b. in Paris, probably of Ital- ian stock, in 1598; d. there, 1666. During at least t^e last thirty years of his life he exercised the greatest in- fluence on the development of architecture. Among his contemporaries only Salomon de Brosse ap- proached him in ability. Defects and oddities, so glaring as even to provoke published satires, for some time prevented him from obtaining conmiissions. He had so hiffh a sense of true architecture that he hardier ever decided on a plan definitely at the outset, antici- pating that improvements on the first conception would be sure to surest themselves later on. Thus he lost the commission for building the Louvre, be- cause nothing could induce him to submit detailed plans. Having built <me wing of the chateau 1^- son-Lafitte (1642), he destroyed what had been built so as to rebuUd it <m what he thought a better plan, the ultimate r^ult being the finest of all his non-ecclesiastical works. After beginning Hoe finely planned abbey church of Val-de-Gr&e (16^5), his fas- tidious self-criticism made him leave the work, carried only as far as the groimd plim, for others to finish. He is said, however, to have elsewhere executed what had been his desi^ for this church. These two are re-
§arded as his oest works. To him are due, also, the esign and construction of several ch&teauz — Fresnes, Bemy , Bercy, and others. At Paris he built, wholly or in part, the H6tels Camavalet. de La Vrillidre. Manuin, de Conti, and others, and the lagades of the Feuillants, Dunes de Ste-liarie, and Minimes. His work is char- acterized rather by the essential beauty of construc- tion than by the adventitious charm of ornamenta- tion, which, indeed, he employed sparingly. His style was influenced by Salomon de Brosse, but he also strove to follow the older Italian masters.
II. Jules, grand-nephew of Francois, was originally Jules Hardouin, but took the name of Mansara; was b. in Paris, 1646; d. at Hiarly 1708. He had more ap- parent success than Francois, if less ability. He en- loyed in a high degree the favour of Louis XIV, who bestowed on him numerous titles and offices, as well as the dignity of Count and the inspectorship of build- ings. Nearly all the architectural undertakings of this king are linked with the name of Jules Mansard, who, indeed, has been blamed, rightly or wrongly, for some of Loms's extravagant expenditures. Few architects have ever received such remunerative, or so many, commissions. He sought to combine the style of his grand-uncle, and of Le Brun, with the extreme classical style so much affected at that time, and thus became in some degree an exponent of the Baroque style. His best work is the cnurch of the Invalioes, with its dome and cupola similar to St Paul's in Lon- don, which is of the same period, and designed after the plan of St Petor's at Kome. Mansard generally laid more stress on elegance of effect than on monu- mental grandeur, so tmit some of his effects tend to triviaUty. The nave of the In valides is merely a cubi- cal base for the great dome, and its double row of col- umns, though graceful, has little of imposing grandeur in its effect. The outer shell of the dome is of wood, a feature which this building shares with other French structures of similar character. The decoration be- tween the ribs of the cupola, the pierced taperinjs lan- tern, encircled with corbels, and the pointed tip, all contributed to its elegance, so that the cap of the dome seems rather to soar than to rest on its supports. This graceful dome, with its high drum and attic, forms a striking point in the panorama of Paris. In the inte- rior, Mansard made use of a happy artifice in order to secure the illuminating effect of the dome to the full without exposing the painting to the direct glare of day: he built two domes the one over the other, the one above with attic windows so placed as not to be visible from the interior; through an opening in the IX.-~.39
inner dome one sees the paintings in the outer, but not
the windows. In spite of certam faults of detail, this
structure is, on the whole, one of the finest Baroaue
buildings in existence. With Leveau, Mansard fin-
ished the ch&teauof Versailles, which exercised so wide
and powerful an influence on the architecture of the
Baroque period. In the exterior, an effect of space
and sweep was sought rather than pure beauty. TTie
interior more than satisfies the anticipations raised by
the exterior. The Grand Trianon and the Colonnades
are also Jules Mansard's, as well as many other build-
ings in and near Versailles. His work, in domestic
architecture and public buildings is, indeed, scattered
all over France, and what is known as the "Mansard
roof" takes its name from him.
Langs, Diet, dea archUecte9 fran^is (Paris, 1873): ArchiveadB Vart franfaU, 2nd series, II; NouveUea Archives de Vart firanoaia; Duasxsnx, Le Chateau de VeraaiUea (Venailles, 1881); Our- LITT, Oeeehichte dee BarotketUa (Stuttgart, 1887-69).
G. GlETMANN.
Mansi, Gian Domjsnico, Italian prelate and scholar, b. at Lucca, of a patrician family, 16 Feb., 1692; d. archbishop of that city, 27 Sept., 1769. At the age of sixteen he entered the Congregation of Clerks Re^ilar of the Mother of God and made his professicm in 1710. Except for some journeys made for purposes of study, his wnole life, imtil his appointment as Archbishop of Lucca (1765), was spent in his religious home. In 1758, after a sojoiim at Rome, where he had been ex- cellently received by Cardinal Passionei, there was question of elevating him to the Sacred College, but ms unwise collaboration in an annotated edition of the famous "Encycl^>6die" (see Encyclopedists) dis- pleased Clement XIII. It should be remarked that the notes in this edition were intended to correct the text. Three years after his elevation to the episco- pate he was smitten with an attack of apoplexy whidi left him suffering, deprived of the power of motion, until his death. Pious, simple, very kindly, very helpful, and extremely charitable to the poor, he made an excellent bishop, and his death caused general re- gret. His long career was filled chiefly with the re- editing of erudite ecclesiastical works with notes and complementary matter. His name appears on the title-pages of ninety folio volumes and numerous quar- tos. An indefatigable worker, widely read and thor- oughly trained, his output was chiefly of a mechanical order, and unoriginal because hurried. His task was most often limited to inserting notes and documents in the work to be reproduced and sending the whole result to the printer. This left room for numberless shortcomings; Mansi's publications cannot satisfy the critical judgment; he himself, indeed, was a savant rather than a critic; he went too fast, and did too many things, to keep his aim fixed on perfection.
The only work worth mentioning that is all MansiVi own is a "Tractatus de casibus et censuris reservatis'*, published in 1724, which brought him inte difi&culties with the Index. The rest are alTannotated editions. In 1726 there was Jo. Burch. Menckenii De Charlataneria eruditorum declamationes duse cum notis variorum; from 1725 to 1738, an annotated Latin translation of the three works of Dom Calmet — the " Dictionnaire de la Bible", "Prol^gom^nes et Dissertations", and "Commentaire littoral". In 1728 he reprinted the"Vetus et nova Disciplina"of Thomassin; from 1738 to 1756 he issued in twenty-eight folio volumes the "Annales" of Baronius and those of Ray- nald, printed with the "Critica" of Paei; in 1742 he re-edited the Chronicle of Castruccio (1314-28); in 1749 Natalis Alexander's "Historia ecclesiastica"; in 1753 a "Diario antico e modemo delle Chiese di Lucca", considerably enlarged by himself; in 1754, "Jo. Aloerti Fabricii Lipsiensis inter suos S. Th. D. et professoris publici Bibliotheca Latina mediae et infinue setatis, cum supplemento Christiani Schottgenii," with his own notes also, in three quarto volumes (the work
