Renaissance architecture of Toulouse

The city was also the seat of the first French provincial parliament, whose jurisdiction extended from the Rhône to Gascony, of a university renowned even beyond the borders (mainly in law), and of a large archbishopric in which the church of Saint-Sernin was considered one of the holiest places in the world.

[2][note 1] These factors of dynamism fostered a deep humanist impulse, affirmed the city's role as a radiant artistic place[2] and maintained a climate of social emulation in which it was important to be visible.

[1] These characteristics of the Toulouse Renaissance can be found in the richness and quality of its architecture, fortunately largely preserved but perhaps difficult to apprehend in its entirety because it is somewhat scattered throughout the vast perimeter of the historical centre and moreover partially hidden in courtyards not easily accessible to the public.

[2] On a façade of this tower, in a stone frame arranged in the manner of an ancient temple whose column capitals implement the superimposition of the Doric and Ionic orders, the capitouls presented themselves as Roman consuls.

The Latin inscription engraved in the stone announces: FIEBAT ANNO CHRISTIANAE SALUTIS MDXXV IDIBS NOVEBR NOBILIBUS PREINSIGNITIS CAPITOLINIS DECURIONIBUS, which means "Was made the year of salvation 1525, at the ides of November, by the noble and very distinguished decurions of the Capitol".

By posing as "decurions" sitting in a "Capitol", the capitouls of the Renaissance hoped to put forward a historical legitimacy which they claimed dated back to antiquity and exceeded that of the kings of France,[note 2] in the face of a royal administration and a Parliament that tended more and more to limit their prerogatives and the municipal liberties they had conquered.

The middle part of the portal was sculpted by Geoffroy Jarry in 1561, it shows enslaved prisoners surrounding the coat of arms of Toulouse, to symbolise the power of the city as capital of the province of Languedoc.

It was in 1541, under the impulse of King Francis I, who had some reason to be wary of the conquering Spain of Charles V, that the construction of the Pont-Neuf was decided upon with the strategic aim of ensuring the passage of troops from one side of the Garonne to the other in all weathers.

This construction site was therefore a place of emulation, exchange and training, with a national and even European influence: at the request of King Philip II of Spain, Dominique Bachelier went to Saragossa in 1584 to repair the bridge linking the banks of the Ebro River.

Its symbolic importance was exploited by the royal power: Henry IV wanted to exhibit his sculpted effigy, while the equestrian portrait of Louis XIII crowned the triumphal arch that stood until the 19th century at the entrance of the bridge, on the left bank.

Jean de Bernuy came to Toulouse from Burgos to start trading in woad at the end of the 15th century, and was so successful that in 1502 he launched the first campaign of work on his hotel, leading in particular to the erection of the beautiful Gothic stair tower.

The layout of the façades, featuring twin columns which develop regularly over three floors where the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders are superimposed, is inspired by great antique models such as the Colosseum, but also by the treatises of the royal architect Serlio.

The stone bays are of an increasingly complete Doric order throughout the levels, the novelty of which made all the more impression in Toulouse as Jean de Bagis, a member of the King's Grand Council, was one of the most important figures in the city.

A precursor to the introduction of the classical orders in France, Jean de Pins had Ionic pilasters carved from the engraving of a treatise by Cesariano (published in Italy in 1521) devoted to the ancient architecture he had probably come across during his stay in Milan.

This ensemble corresponds to the then-new style known today as mannerism, whose principal traits are an abundance of sculpted figures, the depiction of a fantastic bestiary, and a marked taste for relief and polychromatic interplays.

Initially associated with the campaign of Nicolas Bachelier (1538) and then with the 1545s because of its resemblance to a 1539 engraving of Serlio's "Regole generali", it has also been attributed to the workshop of Pierre Souffron (around 1606) because of the renovation of the perron and the upheaval of the courtyard of honour at that time.

More recently the decade 1550 has been proposed because elements (base and sheath of the telamons, anatomical treatment...) are similar to mantelpieces of the Madrid Castle sculpted after 1540, engravings of which were circulated by Androuet du Cerceau in the 1550s.

The paired, fluted and filleted columns are crowned with Corinthian capitals that refer to Roman models such as the Pantheon or the Temple of Mars Ultor, engravings of which were given by Alberti, Labacco or Jean Martin in publications that were published in Italy and France between 1550 and 1553.

Designed to express the owner's honourability and moral standards, the portal of the Hôtel de Molinier bears witness to the fact that at that time, in architecture as in rhetoric, "any discourse that tended towards greatness required wealth and abundance".

Built from 1617 onwards, the Hôtel de Chalvet is representative of a change of style which was to leave its mark on the architecture of 17th century Toulouse: the sculpted decoration is abandoned in favour of austerity only brightened up on the openings by alternating brick and stone.

[13] The ornamental vocabulary of the first Renaissance (scrolls, medallions, putti) was replaced in 1538 by the "fenestre à l'antique" (antique window) installed by the architect and stonemason Nicolas Bachelier at the Hôtel de Bagis.

[16] In his Extraordinary book, citing the example of ancient triumphal arches, Sebastiano Serlio explained that he interrupted the entablature of his portals to make room for the desire to display the culture or ambition of the owner: "There are even some who, in every small work they have made, would like enough space and place to put letters, coat of arms, mottos, and similar things".

[16] From honorary claims to displayed humility, from aphorisms of ancient philosophy to biblical sentences, the inscriptions on the "speaking facades" chose Latin to showcase the moral and intellectual dimension of their patron.

In the city where the Dominican Order and the oldest literary institution in Europe were founded, then an administrative and judicial metropolis, the cultural, political, and intellectual context lent itself to the public expression of the art of self-governance.

In the courtyard of the Hôtel Delpech, eight windows built between 1554 and 1560 bear Latin inscriptions taken from the Bible, the most legible of which reads as follows: QUI TIMENT DOMINUM NON ERUNT INCREDIBILES VERBO ILLIUS ("They that fear the Lord will not be incredulous to his word").

In a 16th-century marked by humanism and antiquarian culture, the owners did not hesitate to be represented as Roman emperors in medallions carved in stone, evocative of the ancient coins and medals collected by humanists.

The Toulouse prelate and humanist Jean de Pins, ambassador to Milan, Venice and Rome, played a major role in the introduction of Italian models by having the courtyard of his hotel decorated around 1528 with heads sculpted in medallions.

[17] Although several ornaments considered to be in the antique style (scrolls, candelabra, putti, medallions) were a great success as early as 1520, capitals referring directly to Classical orders, taken from book quotations, were carved in the 1530s.

Dated to 1538 and attributed to Nicolas Bachelier for some, to the beginning of the 17th century and the workshop of Pierre Souffron for others, a more recent publication now mentions the decade 1550 and a resemblance with engravings of the fireplaces of the Château de Madrid (destroyed).

[20] Mannerist aesthetics, based on the unusual and the association of opposites, where the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms merge, uses refined motifs, polychromy (brick and stone) and ornaments (cabochons, diamond points, masks) evoking luxury, surprise and abundance.