Gilles-Marie Oppenordt was a celebrated French designer at the Bâtiments du Roi, the French royal works, and one of the initiators of the Rocaille and Rococo styles, nicknamed "the French Borromini". He specialized in interior architecture and decoration, though he has been connected with the furniture of Charles Cressent. His surname has also been spelled Oppenord and Oppenort.
Title page of the Grand Oppenord
Signed drawing of a writing desk
Palais-Royal. Preliminary design (c. 1716) for a bed alcove
The Palais-Royal is a former French royal palace located on Rue Saint-Honoré in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was built for Cardinal Richelieu from about 1633 to 1639 by architect Jacques Lemercier. Richelieu bequeathed it to Louis XIII, before Louis XIV gave it to his younger brother, the Duke of Orléans. As the succeeding Dukes of Orléans made such extensive alterations over the years, almost nothing remains of Lemercier's original design.
Entrance front of the Palais-Royal
The Palais-Cardinal, c. 1641
Philippe de France, duc d'Orléans the younger brother of Louis XIV.
General site plan (1692) by François d'Orbay, showing the gardens as redesigned by André Lenôtre around 1674