Amboise, once home to the French royal court because the French King confiscated it from Louis d'Amboise, sometime Bishop of Albi, is today a small market town. At the beginning of France, Clovis I , the first Christian ruler of the Franks, signed a treaty of alliance with the Arvernians in at Amboise. The Edict of Amboise conceded the free exercise of worship to the French Protestants. It was followed some years later by one bearing the name of Nantes. He died on 27 May and was buried at St Anne's, Soho.
He had been ordained deacon in and priest the year after, but it was not until that he took up his sole church appointment, as curate of Bradfield in Essex, which he held until By this time he had written and illustrated several works of architectural history, the main occupation of his career.
Petit had shown a taste for sketching in his early years and he made many hundreds of drawings in pencil and ink. These were often finished in watercolour, though in a limited palette. His favourite subject was old buildings, particularly churches, and he spent much time visiting and sketching them.
His drawings were rapidly and adeptly executed on the spot, his style in the tradition of English topographical watercolour painters of the previous generation, such as Samuel Prout — Although his works display an instinct for the picturesque setting and the telling viewpoint, his aim was less to produce finished paintings for their own sake than to record historic buildings and architectural details. Many were reproduced in his profusely illustrated books. He occasionally painted in oils.
In almost all of these respects he resembles John Ruskin — , whose concern for the conservation of old buildings was Petit's too. In Petit made his first extensive tour on the continent, which informed his Remarks on Church Architecture , part travelogue, part discursive survey of architectural styles since the Roman. Subsequent works provide more detailed analyses of individual buildings, including Tewkesbury Abbey, Sherborne Abbey, and Southwell Minster. Petit's credentials as an antiquary are reflected in his co-founding of the British Archaeological Institute in and his elections as fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and honorary member of the Institute of British Architects.
