[4] All his life François worked in the shadow of his brother Louis,[5] who was very successful, becoming Premier Architecte du Roi after the death of Jacques Lemercier in 1654.

[13] In 1662, François Le Vau began to work in the royal office of the Ponts et Chaussées (Bridges and Roads) under Louis XIV's minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert.

[15] A large presentation drawing (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; undated)[16] and several engravings of designs by François, one by Isaac Durant and several by Claude Olry de Loriande,[17] have been identified by several architectural historians as belonging to the project described in the letter of December 1664.

[18] The design is similar to the scheme that was eventually adopted in many important respects, in particular a trabeated, free-standing colonnade of coupled columns raised above the ground floor.

[20] The dating of François Le Vau's Louvre project to 1662–1664[18] has been disputed by some authors, who suggest it was actually created sometime after 14 May 1667, when Louis XIV selected the colonnaded design proposed to him by the Petit Conseil, but before the decision to double the width of the south wing in the spring of 1668.

It begins with the following lines: O Palace, the most attractive in the universe, True miracle of art, worthy of the most beautiful verses, Since the profound wisdom of the great Colbert Destines you to be a masterpiece of the world, And since according to the designs of the famous Le Vau, I have engraved your marvelous picture on copper; I want to portray you anew in this book, Since my hand knows the arts of engraving and writing.

François was one of the majority opposing a location under the dome, because, as he put it, "this church is not a mausoleum, like the Valois Chapel", thus disagreeing with the premise of his brother's design and (according to the architectural historian Hilary Ballon) "giving vent to rivalrous feelings that evidently outlasted Louis's lifetime.