Pierre Lepautre or Le Pautre (1652 – 16 November 1716) was a French draughtsman, engraver and architect,[1] especially known as an ornemaniste, a prolific designer of ornament that presages the coming Rococo style.[2] He was the son of the designer and engraver Jean Lepautre and nephew of the architect Antoine Lepautre.[3] His appointment in 1699 as Dessinateur in the Bâtiments du Roi, the official design department of the French monarchy, headed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and later Robert de Cotte in the declining years of Louis XIV, was signalled by the historian of the Rococo, Fiske Kimball, as a starting point in the genesis of the new style.[2]