Philibert De L'Orme et les ruines antiques : l'architecte du Roi et le chanoine de Notre-Dame
Philibert De l'Orme and Antique ruins, the king's architect and the canon of Notre-Dame / Philibert De l'Orme represents an exemplary case of the attitude of a 16th century architect confronted with antique architecture. Having gone to Rome in order to measure and sketch the vestiges, he drew the paradoxical conclusion from his experience that the measurements were of no utility as the basis of an architectural esthetic : their variability and their relativity gave way to the reference to "Divine proportions" based on Scripture. As far as the surveys were concerned, always fragmentary, they could only lead to thoughts just as fragmentary, excluding all form of integral resurrection of the antique buildings : moreover, they would not be suitable to Christian architecture, which could only be built on the ruins of paganism