or may not have been this connection of the great architect with this
work which gave him influence in France, but certainly almost the
whole of the later French Renaissance, or at any rate its good time,
was marked by a conformity to the practice of Vignola, in whose
designs we usually find one order of columns or pilasters for each
storey, rather than to that of Palladio, whose use of tall columns
equalling in height two or more floors of the building has been
already noticed.
Designs for the Louvre, the rebuilding of which was commenced in the
reign of Francis the First (about A.D. 1544), were made by Serlio, an
Italian; and though Pierre Lescot was the architect of the portion
built in that reign, it is probable that the design obtained from
Serlio was in the main followed. The part then finished, which, to a
certain extent gave the keynote to the whole of this vast building,
was unquestionably a happy effort, and may be taken to mark the
establishment of a French version of matured Renaissance architecture.
The main building has two orders of pilasters with cornices, &c., and
above them a low attic storey, with short piers: at the angles a
taller pavilion was introduced, and next the quadrangle arcades are
introduced between the pilasters. The sculpture, some of it at least,
is from the chisel of Jean Goujon; it is good and well placed, and the
whole has an air of dignity and richness. The _Pavillon Richelieu_,
shewn in our engraving (Fig. 73), was not built till the next century.
The colossal figures are by Barye.
A little later in date than the early part of the Louvre was the Hotel
de Ville, built from the designs of Pietro da Cortona, an Italian, and
said to have been begun in 1549. The building had been greatly
extended before its recent total destruction by fire, but the central
part, which was the original portion, was a fine vigorous composition,
having two lofty pavilions, with high roofs at the extremities, and
a remarkably rich stone lantern of great height for a central feature.
[Illustration: FIG. 73.--PAVILLON RICHELIEU OF THE LOUVRE, PARIS.]
In the reign of Charles IX. the Palace of the Tuileries was commenced
(1564) for Catherine de Medicis, from the designs of Philibert
Delorme. Of this building, that part only which fronted the garden was
erected at the time. Our illustration (Fig. 74) shows the
architectural character of a portion of it, and it is easy to detect
that considerable altera
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