The Haupt collection contains several sheets created in February 1792 by the Lorraine-born architect François Ignace Mangin (1742-1809). A total of five related drawings with wall and parquet designs for a salon are preserved, which originally apparently belonged to a series of at least eight drawings.
The inscription indicates that they were designs for the "Comte regnant Dela Leyen", i.e. the reigning Count von der Leyen. It is very likely that this refers to Count Damian Friedrich von der Leyen, provost of Mainz Cathedral, with whom Mangin was closely connected. The cathedral provost von der Leyen, who was elected in 1781, had commissioned Mangin with the planning of new buildings for the cathedral provostry there in that year. With the building, which was completed in 1786 and designed as a three-wing complex with a courtyard of honour, von der Leyen created a representative city residence, which, however, only existed for a few years. Due to the bombardment during the siege of Mainz by Prussian and Austrian coalition troops, the cathedral provostry was severely damaged on 29 June 1793 and finally demolished in 1808.
However, it is difficult to reconcile Mangin's designs, which are preserved in our collection, with the plans for the cathedral provostry. Besides the late date of completion of the designs, it is irritating that they cannot be easily located in the ground plan of the building. It is therefore more plausible that these are designs for another building that was to be built or rebuilt in the early 1790s for the von der Leyen noble family.
Notwithstanding this attribution question, which we hope to clarify in the course of the project, the drawings, which are extremely valuable not only for local architectural history, bear witness to a high artistic quality that distinguishes the Paris-trained architect Mangin as a remarkable representative of French classicism. Mangin was able to realize a number of buildings and projects, especially in the Electorates of Trier and Mainz, among which, in addition to the Mainz Cathedral Provostry, the "Monaise" Palace near Trier (1779-1783), the interior decoration of the Coblenz Palace (until 1787) and the conversion of the Niederwald Hunting Lodge with its gardens (1787-1791) deserve special mention.
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