DERAND (DERRAND), François. – French architect, born in the diocese of Metz on 20 February 1591, entered the Society of Jesus in Rouen on 25 April 1611, died at Agde on 26 October 1644.
He designed plans for various buildings for his Order (Rouen, etc.), but his name remains linked to the church of the professed house of the Jesuits in Paris (now St-Paul-St-Louis), for which the young priest supplanted (1627–41) the elderly master Étienne Martellange (who in turn responded with his masterpiece, the chapel of the novitiate in Paris). The sources do not agree on the part played by the two rival architects in the construction of the church; the dome and the celebrated and much debated façade (inspired by that of St-Gervais in Paris and by Flemish models) are certainly by D.
Death prevented D. from reaching the maturity of his talent. What he was capable of is shown in his book L’architecture des voûtes, ou l’art des traits et coupe des voûtes (Paris 1643; reprints there 1741, 1755; adaptation by G. B. de la Rue, Traité de la coupe des pierres, ibid. 1728). A portfolio of drawings attributed to D. is preserved in the Louvre.