François de Cuvilliés (I)
architect, decorator, and engraver; b. October 23, 1695 (at Soissons, Aisne, France); d. April 14, 1768.
He came to Paris in 1714 and entered the atelier of Robert de Cotte. September 15, 1725, he was appointed Hofbaumeister to the Elector Karl Albrecht (of Bavaria). After December 13, 1763, he assumed the direction of all the Elector's constructions. When Karl Albrecht became emperor as Karl VII (January 24, 1742), Cuvilliés was made Hofkammerrath and Hofbaumeister at the imperial court. He built the Amalienburg at Nymphenburg near Munich. It is probable that he designed the Residenz-theater in Munich, which was begun April 15, 1751, and is one of the finest examples of the French baroque style in Germany. He made extensive additions to the Residenz (Royal Palace) at Munich. Cuvilliés excelled in the arrangement of parks and gardens. A catalogue of his numerous works on art and decoration and of his many engravings is given by Destailleur and Bérard (op. cit.).
Just-Aurèle Meissonier
jeweller, painter, sculptor, architect, and decorator; b. 1693 (at Turin); d. July 31, 1750 (in Paris).
From Louis XV he received the title dessinateur du cabinet et orfèvre du roi. Meissonier built the tomb of Jean Victor de Besenval in the church of S. Sulpice (Paris). He designed the decorations of the many fêtes for the court. Many of the decorative plates engraved by him and preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale and Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal (Paris) have been reproduced in a single volume, Recueil des Œuvres de J. A. Meissonier (1 vol. 4to, Paris, 1888.)
Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Entwurff Einer Historischen Architectur: in Abbildung unterschiedener berühmten Gebäude des Alterthums und fremder Völcker ; umb aus den Geschicht-büchern, Gedächtnüß-münzen, Ruinen, und eingeholten wahrhafften Abrißen, vor Augen zu stellen (Leipzig: 1725). 4550
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Alessandro Specchi, Scala di Spagna (Rome: 1721-5).
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