François-Joseph Bélanger

Born in Paris, Bélanger attended the Académie Royale d'Architecture (1764–1766) where he studied under Julien-David Le Roy and Pierre Contant d'Ivry.

Bélanger began his career in 1767, working at the Menus Plaisirs du Roi designing ephemeral decorations for court fêtes, and by 1777 he was its director.

It is Neoclassical taste, with caryatid demi-figures and framed medallions in blue and white Ten years later he purchased the position of chief architect to Monsieur, the comte d'Artois, brother of Louis XVI, thanks to the protection of the marquis de Voyer, Marc-René de Voyer d'Argenson, famous patron of that time.

Bélanger constructed the Folie Saint James, a French landscape garden, in Neuilly from 1777 to 1780, and worked for the comte d'Artois at the Château of Maisons-Lafitte.

He supervised the workshop supported by the connoisseur Louis-Marie-Augustin, duc d'Aumont, that produced hardstone and porphyry vases, pedestals, and tabletops, which were mounted with gilt-bronze ornaments to his designs.