Violet-le-Duc, EUGENE, architect, was born in Paris, 24th January 1814, and studied with especial care the ancient monuments of Provence, Italy, and Greece. In 1814 he was director of the restoration of the Sainte Chapelle, and from this time on was the great 'restorer' of ancient buildings in France, both secular and ecclesiastical; displaying unquestioned zeal and learning, but, from the point of view of those who suspect wholesale 'restorations,' a lack of piety for the actually old. He served as an engineer in the defence of Paris, and was a prominent advanced republican politician till his death, 17th September 1879.
Of his numerous works the best known was his great dictionary of French Architecture (1853-69). There have been translated into English works on military architecture, how to build a house, the annals of a fortress, the habitations of man in all ages, on restoration, and a volume on Mont Blanc. See monographs by Sauvageot (1880) and Saint-Paul (1881).