Cerceau, Jean du

(c. 1585-1650)

   Member of a French family of architects founded by his grandfather, Jacques Androuet du Cerceau. Jean du Cerceau is best known for his design of the Hôtel de Sully in Paris (beg. 1625), built for the financier Mesme Gallet in the vicinity of the new Place Royale (now Place des Vosges), part of Henry IV's urban improvement and then one of the city's most aristocratic neighborhoods. It is called Sully after Henry IV's minister Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully, who purchased the property in 1634. The structure is a typical French château with a corps-de-logis (main body) flanked by wings, faced with heavy ornamentation and textures, and featuring an alternation of pedimented windows and niches filled with allegorical sculpted figures.