Étienne Martellange facts for kids

An old drawing of the church that was part of the Jesuit school in Roanne. Today, it's called the Chapelle Saint-Michel.

A view of Avignon showing the Palais des Papes (Pope's Palace) and the Pont Saint-Bénézet bridge.

Étienne Martellange (born December 22, 1569 – died October 3, 1641) was a French Jesuit architect and artist. He traveled all over France, designing buildings for the Jesuit order. He created more than 25 buildings, mostly schools and their churches.

His buildings show the Baroque style, which was popular during the Counter-Reformation. Famous examples include the Chapelle de la Trinité in Lyon and the church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in Paris. As he traveled, Martellange also made nearly 200 detailed drawings. These drawings show towns, buildings, and monuments from the early 1600s. They are very important historical records of French towns from that time.

Étienne Martellange's Life Story

Martellange was born in Lyon, France, on December 22, 1569. His father, also named Étienne Martellange, was a well-known painter. Étienne had two brothers, Bernoît and Olivier, who also became Jesuits. We don't know much about his early life.

He joined the Jesuit order in Avignon on February 24, 1590, when he was 21. He became a "temporal coadjutor" (a helper in the Jesuit order) in Chambéry in 1603. The first time Martellange was called an architect was in 1603. Before that, he was known as an artist.

The Jesuits first came to France in the 1560s. But they were temporarily banned in 1595. This happened after someone tried to harm King Henry IV. In 1603, King Henry IV allowed the Jesuits to return to France. After this, they started building many new places.

Starting in 1604, Martellange traveled around France. He worked as an architect, planning and overseeing the building of Jesuit schools and novitiates. Novitiates were places where new Jesuits trained. For each building, he sent plans to the Jesuit leaders in Rome. The main architect there would carefully check them. The head of the Jesuit order also had to approve every project.

Martellange also sent updates and cost estimates for the building work. Some of his letters and 65 plans still exist today. While traveling, Martellange also drew pictures of local buildings and monuments. These very detailed drawings have been saved. They give us a valuable look into history.

Around 1637, he retired to the novitiate in Paris. He had designed this building himself. He passed away there on October 3, 1641.

Today, the Bibliothèque nationale de France (French National Library) in Paris has 65 of his architectural drawings. It also has 176 of his landscape drawings. Ten letters by Martellange are kept in the National Library of Malta. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has 17 more of his landscape drawings.

Martellange's Work as an Architect

Martellange helped design and build more than 25 Jesuit buildings in France. Most of these were schools with their churches. He also worked on novitiates (training colleges for Jesuits) in Lyon and Paris. He also designed a "professed house" (a home for Jesuits) in Paris.

He started his work in 1604 with the Jesuit school in Sisteron. For the first few years, he worked on projects near Lyon. But after 1610, he traveled to many more places.

Some of the buildings he worked on that still exist today include:

• The Chapel of the Jesuit school in Le Puy-en-Velay. This is now called the Église Saint-George or the Église du Collège.
• The Collège des Godrans in Dijon. This building is now the city library. Martellange likely only supervised this project.
• The Collège de la Trinité in Lyon. This is now part of the Collège-lycée Ampère. The Chapelle de la Trinité church was officially opened in 1622. It has been repaired and is now used for concerts and art shows.
• The Collège in Roanne. This is now the Lycée Jean-Puy and the Chapel Saint-Michel. Martellange worked on this school between 1610 and 1621. We have a lot of information about this project. The French National Library has four plans and five drawings that show how it was built.
• The Collège Sainte-Marie in Bourges. This is now part of the École nationale supérieure d'art.
• The Collège Henri IV in La Flèche. This is now part of the Prytanée National Militaire (a military school) and its church of Saint-Louis.
• The Chapel Saint-Thomas of the school in Rennes. This is now the Église Toussaints.
• The Chapel Saint-Louis of the Jesuit school in Blois. This is now the Église Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.
• The Chapel of the Jesuit school in Avignon. This is now the Musée lapidaire, a museum with old stone carvings. Martellange made the first drawings and started the building work in 1620. Eight years later, another architect, François de Royers de la Valfenière, took over the project.
• The Église Saint-Louis in Paris. This is now the Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis. Martellange drew the first plans for this church. Another Jesuit architect, François Derand, designed the front of the building.

See also

In Spanish: Étienne Martellange para niños