{{Short description|French architect}} {{More citations needed|date=July 2023}} [[File:Libéral Bruant statue au Louvre v2.jpg|thumb|Statue of Libéral Bruant at the Louvre]]
'''Libéral Bruant''' ({{IPA|fr|libeʁal bʁyɑ̃}}; c. 1635 – 22 November 1697) was a French architect best known as the designer of the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris. Bruant was the most notable member in a family that produced a long series of architects active from the 16th to the 18th century.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}
== Biography == In 1660, Bruant was the architect chosen for rehabilitations to Louis XIII's old arsenal (the ''Salpêtrière''), which was being converted into what would become the world's largest hospice. It is now the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital.
He designed the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, which is now dominated by the dome erected by Jules Hardouin Mansart, his collaborator in earlier stages of the construction.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Libéral Bruant {{!}} Art Nouveau, Parisian, Buildings {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Liberal-Bruant |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
In the Marais district of Paris, the ''hôtel particulier'' Bruant built for himself in 1685,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sight MUSÉE DE LA SERRURE in Paris, |url=https://www.belvicci.com/sight/france/paris-3e-arr-du-temple-11e-quartier-des-archives/musee-de-la-serrure |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=www.belvicci.com}}</ref> at 1 rue de la Perle now houses the Bricard Lock Museum (Musée de la Serrure). Its Baroque façade of golden limestone is enlivened by windows set into blind arches that march across its front and busts in oval reserves, all under a richly-sculptured pediment that is pierced by an oval window.
In 1671, he became one of the first eight members of the Académie royale d'architecture, created by Louis XIV.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Libéral Bruant architecte |url=https://paris1900.lartnouveau.com/documents/bruant.htm |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=paris1900.lartnouveau.com}}</ref>
Bruant died on 22 November 1697, in Paris.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Libéral Bruant architecte |url=https://paris1900.lartnouveau.com/documents/bruant.htm |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=paris1900.lartnouveau.com}}</ref>
== Architectural style == A comparison of Bruant's central entrance to the Invalides, under an arched cornice packed with military trophies with Mansart's ''Église du Dome'', gives a clear idea of the difference between Bruant's High Baroque and Hardouin-Mansart's restrained and somewhat academic Late Baroque.
==See also== * Architecture of Paris * Les Invalides
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.bricard.com/musee.html |title=Photo of the Hotel Bruant |accessdate=February 25, 2004 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929041259/http://www.bricard.com/musee.html |archivedate=September 29, 2007 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruant, Liberal}} Category:17th-century French architects Category:1630s births Category:1697 deaths Category:Architects from Paris Category:French Baroque architects Category:Members of the Académie royale d'architecture Category:Architects from Versailles