Perrault, Claude

Claude Perrault, (born Sept. 25, 1613, Paris, France—died Oct. 9, 1688, Paris), French physician and amateur architect who, together with Louis Le Vau, Charles Le Brun, and François d’Orbay, designed the eastern facade of the Louvre.

Perrault’s training was in mathematics and medicine, and he was a practicing physician. He was elected a member of the newly founded Academy of Sciences in 1666, and in 1673 he produced a renowned French annotated translation of Vitruvius’s architectural treatise. Claude’s brother, Charles, was assistant to J.-B. Colbert, the superintendent of works under Louis XIV, and Charles saw to it that Claude, who had little practical experience, was appointed to the three-man commission responsible for the rebuilding of the Louvre.

Louvre Museum

Claude Perrault collaborated in the final design of the Colonnade, a massive row of paired columns that rises above the unadorned first story and dominates the majestic east facade of the Louvre. Perrault claimed responsibility for this design, but it is now thought that he collaborated on it with Le Vau and d’Orbay and helped solve the engineering problems associated with the Colonnade’s construction. Perrault was probably the designer of the Paris Observatory, which still stands.

Perrault’s foremost scientific pursuit was as a director of a team that performed dissections on various animals; his death is attributed to a disease contracted while dissecting a camel.