MARTIN, Pierre-Denis

(b. ~1663 Paris, d. 1742 Paris)

French painter, also called Martin le Jeune or Martin des Gobelins (because he was employed at the Gobelins Manufactory). He is said to have been the cousin or nephew of Jean-Baptiste Martin without evidences. He was the pupil of Adam Frans van der Meulen and Joseph Parrocel.

He painted historical subjects, battles, hunts, and architectural views, particularly of royal residences, such as the Palace of Versailles and the Château de Compiègne. He produced a series of paintings at the Château de Choisy, which are now in the Versailles Museum.

"Aqueduct and "machine de Marly"

The garden at Marly, laid out between 1676 and 1686 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, was reputed to be Louis XIV’s finest garden. The whole complex was laid out on sloping ground so that there was always enough pressure for the fountains and other water devices.

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View of Versailles

Pierre-Denis Martin (Martin le Jeune) was a French painter who is generally assumed, without evidence, to have been Jean-Baptiste Martin’s nephew. He was also a pupil of Adam Frans van der Meulen, and he collaborated with Jean-Baptiste.

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View of the Château of Marly

Martin’s painting represents a view of the chateau of Marly as seen from the Watering Trough.

The royal château was the third element in the royal lifestyle: Versailles for business, the Trianon for pleasure, and Marly for a privacy that did not exclude privileged guests. In each case architecture eloquently reflected function. Marly constituted two rows of six pavilions flanking parterres, an ornamental lake, and gently sloping groves. The large central pavilion was the home of the king.

Marly was destroyed during the Revolution, the building materials were sold to merchants during the reign of Napoleon I.

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