9. Louis Francois Trouard Is His Great (X6) Great-Grandfather
Jim Parsons' flair for creativity may well come from a distant relative of his - French architect Louis Francois Trouard (1729-1804). Trouard, whose major works include the Maison Trouard (pictured), was born to a sculptor father who had already garnered ample wealth from his art and through supplying marble to the then-king. He studied at the Académie de peinture and won the academy's grand prize (the predecessor to the Prix de Rome) in 1753. Then, he studied at the Académie de France à Rome from 1753 until 1757. Whilst in Italy, between 1754 and 1758, he created a detailed travelogue which described innovative trends in architecture, as well as the medieval architecture of Pisa. He went on to construct a number of highly architecturally impressive houses and was made the architect of the royal commissaries - the organisation responsible for the construction of religious buildings with funds seized from fleeing Protestants. He added to a number of existing high-profile buildings with his own building work, including the church of Saint-Louis at Versailles (which is now Versailles Cathedral). Parsons learned about his ancestry on season four of the U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? in 2013.
