Louis Antoine de Pardaillan (5 September 1664 – 2 November 1736) was a French nobleman, marquis of Antin, Gondrin and Montespan, and first Duke of Antin. Biography The legitimate son of Louis Henri de Pardaillan, marquis of Montespan, and Madame de Montespan, he was carefully raised by his father at the Château de Bonnefont in Gascony with his older sister Marie Christine. He came to court in 1683 then set out on a military career, with his father gaining him a commission as lieutenant. Thanks to his 1686 marriage, he was able to enter the circle of the Grand Dauphin. His wife, Julie Françoise de Crussol, was a grand daughter of Charles de Sainte Maure, Duke of Montausier and a great-grand daughter of the famous marquise de Rambouillet. He was also an ally of his half-brothers the Duke of Maine and the Count of Toulouse, legitimised bastard children of Madame de Montespan and Louis XIV. However, despite his best efforts, he was unable to win the king's favour and, after he made an error in maneuvering his troops at the battle of Ramillies, he was even dismissed from the army in 1707. Yet, later in 1707, Madame de Montespan's death brought her son Louis Antoine the bequest of Château de Petit-Bourg at Évry-sur-Seine and, more importantly, royal favour when he was finally rewarded by being made governor of the Orléanais (1707) then head of the Bâtiments du Roi (1708). In the latter role he gained particular access to the king. In 1711, Louis XIV promoted the marquisate of Antin into a "duché-pairie", and in 1724 d'Antin became a knight of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit. An excellent organiser with a natural aptitude for command, he knew how to please and how to smooth out difficulties, enriching himself greatly from the Law system. As head of the Bâtiments, the duke of Antin supervised works on Versailles. A confidant to Louis XIV and his architectural projects (such as the Salon d'Hercule), he managed to complete them under Louis XV. Antin opened new marble mines in southern France, such as that at Beyrède, which supplied a marble that was named "brèche d'Antin" after him, which was the preferred marble of Louis XIV and used for several of Versailles' fireplaces, such as the monumental one in the Salon d'Hercule. In 1692 he bought the château de Bellegarde at Bellegarde, which he rebuilt at the start