He was born in Paris, the son of the eminent French architect and engraver, Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau, and the brother of the architect Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau.[2]
He worked at the Château de Charleval in the 1570s[2][3] and was responsible for military fortifications in Tours in the 1580s.[2] He also worked on the Château de Verneuil-sur-Oise (ruins), the Château de Montceaux (destroyed 1798; ruins), and the Château de Nérac.[2][4][5]
He became a royal architect during the reign of Henry III. In 1594, during the reign of Henry IV, Louis Métezeau was also appointed royal architect, a designation opposed by Androuet du Cerceau on the grounds that only one architect could hold the position at any given time. Androuet du Cerceau's claims were rejected in 1599, when the crown asserted its right to name as many royal architects as it wished.[6]
It is considered unlikely that the two architects collaborated during their dispute. Androuet du Cerceau is traditionally credited with the design of the western section of the Louvre's Grande Galerie (1595–1610), which extended along the right bank of the Seine as part of Henry IV's grand project to link the Louvre to the Tuileries Palace, while the eastern section, in a very different style, is traditionally credited to Louis Métezeau.[6] The project was abruptly halted after the assassination of the king in 1610, but the Grande Galerie and the Gros Pavilion des Tuileries (begun in 1595, now known as the Pavillon de Flore), that formed the junction between the Grande Galerie and the south end of the Tuileries, were completed, but in the 1860s Androuet du Cerceau's work was entirely demolished and rebuilt in a different design by the Louvre's architect Hector Lefuel.[7]
