rivals - François Boucher and Carle Van Loo - were both abroad.

As director general of Ponts et Chaussées (bridges and highways), Orry finished the Crozat canal and maintained and developed France's road system. He sent to the intendants, in 1738, a detailed instruction on the duty (la corvée royale) for all inhabitants to spend a fortnight a year on the construction and maintenance of transport routes, classed