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The Scale Model of Rome
Paul Bigot
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Paul BIGOT : a Norman in Rome

Paul Bigot Orbec museum

Paul Bigot was born on the 20th of October, 1870 in Orbec (Calvados). He studied architecture at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, in Paris. While he was living at the Villa Medicis (he was awarded the Grand Prize of Rome in 1900), Paul Bigot presented a model of the biggest edifice that was devoted to the Romans' leisure activities, the Circus Maximus. Then he made a raised model of Ancient Rome.
In 1908, Paul Bigot was asked to show his raised model at the section of archaeology, at the 1911 International Exhibition of Rome.

In 1911, the still unrefined model was mounted in one of the rooms of Diocletien's Baths, in Rome. There, it was well received by the archaeological world. On the fifteenth of April, 1913 the model was reassembled in the Grand Palais (Paris). There, during the French Artists Show, it was exhibited at the section of architecture. At that time, the idea of re-creating the model using metal was raised. A bronze copy was started but Paul Bigot gave up the idea.

Soon after the first World War, the Rockfeller Foundation gave Bigot enough money to "finish the bronze model and make two plaster ones": one for the Sorbonne and another for the Museum of Pennsylvania (USA).

In 1925, he was appointed Professor at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1930, he constructed the building which is on Rue Michelet in Paris. This building was intended to house the Art and Archaeology Institute. On the fourth floor, a big room was devoted to the installation of his Scale Model of Rome. Only one year later, he was elected member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts à l'Institut de France.

In 1937, the model was mounted at the Museum of Chaillot. It was then that Paul Bigot decided to modify it. He wanted his model to be as advanced as the latest archaeological discoveries. At the same time, the idea of recreating his model using durable material was raised once again. However, because of the second World War and Paul Bigot's death, on the eighth of June, 1942 the project was not realized.

Now there remain only two complete specimens of Bigot's raised model: the original, which was donated to Caen and a colour copy that is in the Brussels Museum of Art and History. The unfinished bronze model is in the cellar of the Paris Institute of Art and Archaeology.

Références bibliographiques :

• Manuel Royo, Rome et l'architecte. Conception et esthétique du plan-relief de Paul Bigot, Caen, Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2005.

Voir dans Rome, L'espace urbain et ses représentations. Textes réunis et présentés par François Hinard et Manuel Royo, Presses de l'Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1991,
les articles de :

• Henry Bernard, « Paul Bigot, mon patron », p. 165-184.
• Jean-Charles Balty, « Henry Lacoste et la maquette de Bruxelles : l'enseignement de l'architecture et de l'urbanisme », p. 223-236.
• Paola Ciancio Rossetto « La reconstitution de Rome antique. Du plan-relief de Bigot à celui de Gismondi », p. 237-246.
• Giuseppina Pisani Sartorio, « Le plan-relief d'Italo Gismondi. Méthodes, techniques de réalisation et perspectives futures », p. 257-280.

Publications de Paul Bigot :

• sur le Grand Cirque :
• "Recherche des limites du Grand Cirque", Bulletino della Commissione archeologica comunale, 1908, p. 241-253.

• sur sa maquette :
  • Notice sur le relief de la Rome impériale, Rome, 1911 (plaquette de la Mostra archeologica des Thermes de Dioclétien).
  • Reconstitution en relief de la Rome antique, Paris, 1^e éd. 1913, 2^e éd. Massin, 1933, 3^e éd. Corlet, Condé-sur-Noireau, 1985.
  • Rome antique au IV^e siècle apr. J.-C., Paris, Vincent, Fréal et Cie, 1942, rééd. 1955 (avec une préface d'Henry Lacoste).