The architecture of the renaissance in France : a history of the evolution of the arts of building, decoration and garden design under classical influence from 1495 to 1830

I. South West Angle Of The Court Of The Louvre, Paris

THE

ARCHITECTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE

A HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE ARTS OF BUILDING, DECORATION AND GARDEN DESIGN UNDER CLASSICAL INFLUENCE FROM 1495 TO 1830

BY

ARCHITECT. ASSOCIATE OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. AUTHOR OF “FRENCH CHATEAUX AND GARDENS IN THE XVI. CENTURY"

VOLUME I

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VU

LONDON

B. T. BATSFORD, 94 HIGH HOLBORN

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS, 153-7 FIFTH AVENUE

Preface

IN the title of these volumes the words “ Architecture of the Renaissance” are intended to be understood as embracing all those styles, whether of building or decoration, which are ultimately based on Classical Architecture, from the re-intro¬ duction of classical forms at the Renaissance to the revival of Gothic in the nineteenth century, and the word “France,” a geographical term of more varied import than is always realised, as corresponding roughly with the Continental possessions of the French State immediately before or after the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, i.e., in 1791 or 1815.

It is not a little remarkable that among the mass of literature on the subject (for which the reader is referred to the Biblio¬ graphical Note, p. 495), no work exists, so far as I know, in English, or even in French, dealing exclusively with the whole Renaissance architecture of France. Monographs abound in various languages, especially French, on particular phases of style, buildings, or groups of buildings, often admirable and exhaustive. But the student has not always easy access to them, time to peruse them, or sufficient familiarity with any tongue but his own to be able to use them with full profit, bor a general survey of the subject he is compelled to fall back on the necessarily scanty and condensed sections devoted to it in general histories of European or French architecture. Among these Fergusson, owing to the mass of material which has become available since his day, is now out of date, while his peculiar point of view — one scarcely shared by any one without reserve at the present day — contri¬ butes to diminish the value of his criticism. English or American histories still in progress have not as yet reached the period in question, nor is it to be expected that their treatment of Renais¬ sance architecture in any one country can be a detailed one.

The present work is an attempt to supply a student who has at least a bowing acquaintance with Classic Architecture and its influence in Italy at the Renaissance, such as might be acquired by reading Anderson and Spiers’ “ Architecture of Greece and Rome

VI

PREFACE and of Anderson’s “ Architecture of the Renaissance in Italy, with an account of the main trend of architectural thought and practice in France during the period defined, and of the principal facts connected with important buildings and architects, set forth in their relation to political, social, and literary history. The execution of the task has been greatly facilitated by the late Baron Heinrich von Geymiiller’s “ Baukunst der Renaissance in Frankreich.” Although forming part of a so-called ‘ Handbuch,” this somewhat unreadable and confusingly arranged work would be better described as a collection of materials for a history interspersed with essays on special topics. It is, how¬ ever, a monument of minute and painstaking research, my indebtedness to which it would be difficult to exaggerate ; and I avail myself of this opportunity to pay a tribute of admiration to the erudition and usually sound judgment of the author, who, unfortunately, did not live to complete the concluding volume.

Even Geymuller does not profess to carry his narrative beyond 1755, and therefore stops short of some very interesting phenomena still in the direct line of Renaissance descent. While this somewhat arbitrary selection of a date is particularly unfor¬ tunate, it is obvious that no year can be pointed to as coinciding with a complete solution of continuity in the process of develop¬ ment, and it is only after much hesitation that I have fixed upon the year 1830 as the terminus ad quem of this history. An unbroken, if varied, sequence of styles, each in turn paramount throughout the greater part of France, came to an end with that of the Empire, whose existence, feebly prolonged in the midst of new and disturbing influences, may be said to have died out about the time of the fall of the elder Bourbons. On the other hand the work resulting from these influences in the succeeding period is too eclectic to possess the recognisable characteristics of a style, and at the same time perhaps too near our own day to be seen as yet in its true perspective.

Any conceivable subdivision of the subject is open to some serious objection, and I am fully conscious that the system adopted in the following pages, of a classification by reigns, is by no means an exception. Its inevitable drawbacks will, how¬ ever, be reduced to a minimum, if it be remembered that each chapter deals, not so much with the architecture produced during the actual reign of the sovereign named, as with a stylistic development culminating in that reign, and extending betu een

PREFACE

Vll two approximately assigned dates, and secondly that, chronologically, these periods of development usually overlap, some¬ times to a considerable extent. The system has this advantage, that the names of sovereigns have acquired a distinct meaning in trade and conversational diction, and call up in the mind a certain historical background fraught with suggestions of con¬ temporary events, manners, and costume. It is also justified by the fact that, in France, the Court and Government have exerted a more sensible influence on the evolution of design than in less centralised states.

In the matter of illustration it has been my aim to place before the reader in the first place, of course, photographs and modern drawings of buildings, now, or till recently standing, but also the vanished buildings and unexecuted projects w hich throw an equally strong light on the ideas which inspired the work of successive ages. That this must generally be done by reproducing the drawings of by-gone generations of designers, so variously different in character from those of our own day, is in itself a gain, since the graphic method of presentment adopted by a du Cerceau, or a Marot, a Neufforge or a Fontaine is one element in his conception of design, and should be taken into consideration in the study and appreciation of the style in which he worked.

The subject of this history is so wide that it necessarily includes much matter of a controversial nature. This tui ns principally on the dates and authorship of buildings anteiioi to the seventeenth century, whose records are fragmentary or non-existent. The limits of these volumes have obliged me in many cases to assert facts or probabilities, without supporting such assertions by arguments or reference to authorities. Those who wish to investigate such matters further will, in most cases, find the points fully discussed in the serried pages of GeymUller, who, if his conclusions occasionally appear to go beyond the point which his argument warrants, never fails to set forth with the utmost candour all the available evidence, together with the opinions of other writers.

One of his most notable contributions to scholarship has been finally to dispel the mists introduced into the subject by Chauvinistic French writers of the last century, with the late M. Leon Palustre at their head. The aim of this school was to reduce the influence of Italy on the French Renaissance to the

PREFACE viii

vanishing point. Their arguments were chiefly based on the fact that building accounts of the period, which are extant in an admittedly incomplete state, seldom mention the names of eminent Italians, who were often paid by the grant of benefices and Court sinecures, while they do include the names of obscure Frenchmen, whose small daily salaries are often sufficient evidence of their subordinate positions. Again they laid more stress on differences of style between works in France and Italy than is found to be justified if the proved versatility of Italians working in other lands is taken into account. A reaction has since set in, and though many questions still remain unsolved, French writers of the present day are, as a rule, ready to agree with the view taken in the following pages, that from the last years of the fifteenth century, Italy intervenes in a decisive manner in the destinies of French art.

W. H. WARD.

2 Bedford Square, W.C.

AUTHOR’S

NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I take this opportunity of acknowledging with gratitude my great and various obligations to all those who have lent me their aid in the pro¬ duction of these volumes. Among these the first place belongs to my friend Mr John W. Simpson, to whose suggestion the work owes its origin, and to whose unfailing good nature and unerring judgment I have frequently appealed — and never in vain — at critical junctures. To Mr Arthur Stratton I owe a deep debt for valuable advice and criticism in the revision of the work and the selection of illustrations, involving much work and considerable inconvenience to himself. My thanks are also due to Mr Arthur Tilley, of King’s College, Cambridge, and to Mr R. Phene Spiers, for various suggestions, and to the latter for the loan of a number of photographs.

I am greatly indebted to Mr Alan Potter for his admirable photo¬ graphs, many of which were taken expressly for this work, and to Messrs Lawrence Gotch and Philip Hepworth for their excellent measured drawings and sketches. I also gratefully acknowledge the permission to reproduce drawings by Messrs Louis Ambler, C. Farey, C. W. Pike, V. O. Rees, Arthur Stratton, and G. G. Wornum ; the kind assistance given me by Mr T. Honnor in photography and typewriting, and Mrs Lamont’s invaluable help in compiling the Index and reading the proof. I have also to record my indebtedness to the Council of the Royal Institute of British Architects for subjects from old books and prints in the Library, and to Messrs Arnott and Wilson for Fig. 402.

Thanks are due to the French publishers who have with characteristic courtesy permitted me to reproduce examples from their valuable works. Details of the subjects and their sources are given in the Index to Illustrations. Their names are as follows : — Messieurs F. Boissonas, Geneva; E. Twietmeyer, Leipzig; A. Calavas, F. Contet, Ch. Eggimann, Ch. Foulard, A. Guerinet, and E. Levy, all of Paris.

I can only fitly conclude this note by expressing my gratitude to my Publishers for their kindness and valuable help in many ways throughout the long preparation of the book, and in particular to Mr Plarry Batsford for his laborious work in connection with the illustrations and printing.

W. H. W.

Contents

VOLUME I.

Introduction

PAGE

FRANCE IN THE XVTH CENTURY — NATIONAL DISORGANISATION AND REVIVAL — FRENCH GOTHIC — ARCHITECTURAL NEEDS OF FRANCE — CHANNELS OF ITALIAN INFLUENCE ON FRENCH ART — THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY : LOMBARD, ROMAN, SCHOLASTIC, AND BAROCCO PHASES — FUSION OF ITALIAN AND NATIVE ELEMENTS IN FRENCH ARCHITECTURE — RESULT¬ ING STYLES --------- xv

CHAPTER I.— STYLE OF LOUIS XII. (i495-ISI5)

Beginnings of Italian Influence — Attempted Fusion between Lombard Renaissance and Flamboyant Gothic.

REIGNS OF CHARLES VIII. AND LOUIS XII. — EFFECTS OF ITALIAN CAM¬ PAIGNS — ITALIAN DESIGNERS AND CRAFTSMEN INTRODUCED — COLONY OF AMBOISE : FRA GIOCONDO — FRENCH BU ILDERS — CHARACTER OF HYBRID STYLE — CHATEAUX, HOTELS, PUBLIC BUILDINGS: GAILLON, BLOIS, ETC. — CHURCHES AND TOMBS -

CHAPTER II.— STYLE OF FRANCIS 1. (1515-45)- Fusion between Native Style and Lombard Renaissance Completed

REIGN OF FRANCIS I.— -BUILDING ACTIVITY— INFLUENCE OF COURT — CHAR¬ ACTER OF EARLY RENAISSANCE STYLE IN FRANCE— LOIRE CHATEAUX : EI.OIS, CHAMBORD, ETC.— ITALIAN DESIGNERS AND CRAFTSMEN : BOCCA- DORO — FRENCH BUILDERS — OTHER CHATEAUX: MADRID, FONTAINE¬ BLEAU, ST GERMAIN — HOUSES — PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHURCHES AND TOMBS: ST EUSTACHE, ETC., AMBOISE TOMB

xi

CONTENTS xii

CHAPTER III.— STYLE OF HENRY II. (1530-90). Influence of Roman Renaissance

PAGE

END OF FRANCIS I.’s REIGN — SCHOOL OF FONTAINEBLEAU : ROSSO, PRIMA- TICCIO, SERLIO — ANCY-I.E-FRANC — RISE OF NATIVE ARCHITECTS : DU CERCEAU, GOUJON, LESCOT, DE L’ORME, BULLANT — TRANSITION FROM EARLY TO ADVANCED RENAISSANCE — REIGN OF HENRY II. — INFLUENCE OF COURT— CHARACTER OF ADVANCED RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE: SEVERE AND FREE SCHOOLS — THE LOUVRE, ANET, MONCEAUX — HOTELS — DECO¬ RATION — REIGNS OF THE LAST VALOIS KINGS — ARCHITECTURE DURING THE CIVIL WARS — CHARACTER OF LATER RENAISSANCE — TUILERIES, VER- NEUIL, CHARLEVAL — GARDEN DESIGN — HOTELS, ETC. — ARCHITECTURAL LITERATURE — CHURCHES AND TOMBS — TRANSITIONAL TYPE : BRETON CHURCHES — CLASSIC TYPE: CHAPELS AT ANET, VALOIS MAUSOLEUM - 1 1 3

Chapter Iv.— Styles Of Henry IV. And Louis XIII. (1590-1660)

Utilitarian Architecture and Rival Tendencies of Netherlands Barocco and Roman Classicism.

REIGNS OF HENRY IV. AND LOUIS XIII. — EFFECTS OF POLITICAL AND RE¬ LIGIOUS SETTLEMENT — BOURBON ART POLICY — ADVANCE IN PLANNING — BRICK AND STONE ARCHITECTURE — RUSTICATION — DE BROSSE, LE MERCIER, LE MUET, F. MANSART — WORKS AT THE LOUVRE AND TUILERIES, FONTAINEBLEAU AND ST GERMAIN ; THE LUXEMBOURG, RICHELIEU, BLOIS, ETC. — HOTELS — TOWN PLANNING — DECORATION — CHURCHES — HUGUENOT AND JESUIT ARCHITECTS — DOMES — TOMBS - 206

VOLUME II.

CHAPTER V.— STYLE OF LOUIS XIV. (1640-1710). Barocco-Palladian Compromise — “The Grand Manner.”

REIGN AND ART POLICY OF LOUIS XIV. AND HIS MINISTERS — THE ACADEMIES — ARCHITECTURAL LITERATURE — VARIOUS ORIGINS OF THE STYLE— ITS SUMPTUOUS CHARACTER — EARLY DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE: F. MAN¬ SART, LE VAU — PARISIAN HOTELS — CHATEAUX : MAISONS, VAUX, ETC. — DECORATION : LE BRUN, LE PAUTRE, J. MAROT — GARDEN DESIGN :

I. E NOTRE — PALATIAL ARCHITECTURE : LE VAU, BERNINI, PERRAULT,

J. H. MANSART — COMPLETION OF LOUVRE AND TUILERIES; VERSAILLES, MARLY, ETC. — PUBLIC WORKS AND MONUMENTS — LATER DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATION : BERAIN, DE COTTE — CHURCH ARCHITECTURE — BASILICAN AND DOMICAL TYPES: ST SULPICE, SOR- BONNE, VAL-DE-GRACE, INVALIDES, VERSAILLES CHAPEL

CONTENTS

Xlll

CHAPTER VI.— STYLE OF LOUIS XV. (1710-70). Rococo -Palladi an Compromise

PAGE

J. J. GABRIEL — ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION — J. F. BLONDEL — DOMESTIC AND PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE — PARISIAN HOTELS — CHATEAUX — FRENCH INFLUENCE ABROAD — TOWN PLANNING : NANCY, PARIS — CHURCHES - 356

CHAPTER VII.— STYLE OF LOUIS XVI. (1730-90). Puristic Reaction — Beginnings of Archaeo¬ logical Tendency

END OF' LOUIS XV. ’s REIGN AND REIGN OF LOLHS XVI. — CAUSES OF FRENCH REVOLUTION — ARC IDEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES — INFLUENCE OF ROUSSEAU — ANGLOMANIA — SERVANDONY, J. A. GABRIEL, SOUFFLOT — STRAIGHT LINES AND SYMMETRY RESTORED — CLASSICAL PURISM — PALATIAL AND DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE: COMPIEGNE, PETIT TRIANON— THE ENGLISH GARDEN — HOTELS — DECORATION — TOWN PLANNING — PUBLIC BUILDINGS, THEATRES — ANTOINE, LOUIS — CHLIRCHES : PANTHEON - - - 4°7

CHAPTER VIII.— STYLE OF THE EMPIRE (1790-1830). Archaeological Classicism

THE REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON — BREAK UP OF INSTITUTIONS AND TRA¬ DITIONS — INCREASED INTEREST IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY — PERCIER AND FONTAINE — PUBLIC WORKS AND MONUMENTS: ARCHES, COLUMNS: MADELEINE, BOURSE — TOWN PLANNING — TOMBS — CHURCHES — CHARAC¬ TER OF RESTORATION PERIOD — REVIVALS — DECLINE OF CLASSICISM - 466

Bibliographical Note ------- 495

Index to Illustrations - - - - - - - 501

- 5°8

Index to Text

2. The Chateau of Tanlay.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the peoples of Europe, led by Italy, passed from their mediaeval to their modern stage of development, with all that those expressions imply. The great transforming process, which brought this about, and was to a great extent inspired by the New Learning, or recovered lore of Classical Antiquity, is known as the Renaissance. The value of its character and work has been variously estimated at different periods, but we have now emerged from the controversial era, and with the growth of the historical spirit it can be viewed dispassionately, as an inevitable step in the advance of civilisation, not more exempt from defect than others. The twentieth century may, in fact, be content to strike a balance between the abuse with which the nineteenth attacked the Renaissance and the indiscriminate admiration with which it was previously regarded.

Its history has been told, and told exhaustively, from almost every point of view. The task attempted in these pages is to trace its effects, both immediate and secondary, on the art of architecture in France, a country which for a thousand years has played so commanding a part b

XV

XVI

INTRODUCTION.

in European civilisation that no aspect of its own civilisation can fail to be of importance for its neighbours.

All Renaissance architecture must in some degree be of a hybrid character, the resultant of an endeavour to clothe structures adapted to the requirements of a later age in a code of forms and proportions derived from the architecture of classical antiquity — to recast a national style in a classical mould. The character of the outcome of such a process of assimilation naturally varies in proportion to the force of resistance exerted by the national style. But it is not less interesting or valuable to study it when, as in the case of France, that resistance is strong, than when, as in the case of Italy, it hardly existed.

In Italy the distance traversed by the national styles from the common classical starting point was but small. And nothing is more striking in her mediaeval architecture than the persistence in it of classical traditions of wall and space composition, of horizontality and dead-weight construction, as well as of detail and features, and the influence they exerted upon exotic styles of diverse origin imported into the peninsula from time to time. At first, in Tuscany at least, the difference between the later Romanesque buildings and those affected by that study of ancient monuments which Brunelleschi revived, is principally manifested by a closer systematisation of design and increased refinement of detail.

In France, where the national style had reached a stage of development which constituted the almost direct antithesis of its remote classical origin, the fusion was effected with far less ease ; and, if for that reason its results but seldom rival the best works of the Italian Renaissance in ideal charm, they yet possess a haunting interest, and offer perhaps even more suggestion for the modern world by reason of the traces of straggle which they bear upon them.

Gaul had been almost as thoroughly permeated with Latin civilisation as Italy herself, but the proportion of the northern invaders

population had been greater, and the influence of Germanic institutions more powerful. In the new state which emerged there alter centuries of obscure conflicts, the civilisation of medieval Europe reached its fullest, its most characteristic, expression. From the twelfth to the fourteenth century, and especially in the reigns of Philip Augustus and Saint Louis, this state was gaining in consistency, power, and territory, and France took a leading part not only in the political, but also in the spiritual, intellectual, and artistic life of Europe. This was the heroic age of crusading and chivalry, of the religious orders and the guilds, of scholastic theology and cathedral building. It was followed by one of growing prosperity and refinement, but declining vigour, which ended in the disasters of the Hundred Years’ War (i337'I453)>

INTRODUCTION.

XVII

After suffering the miseries and degradation consequent on foreign invasion and internal strife, the country was gradually restored to inde¬ pendence and unity by the heroism of Joan of Arc and the astute policy of the reigns of Charles VII. (1422-61) and Louis XL (1461-83). A new France then arose from her ashes with the feudal and ecclesi¬ astical ideals of the Middle Ages greatly shaken. A successful struggle against the invader had awakened a new sense of nationality and of solidarity with the crown, the one mediaeval institution which emerged unweakened from the anarchy. The kings set on foot a work of reorganisation, by developing the central administrative, judicial, fiscal, and military system at the expense of the local and feudal ones. They made themselves paramount over all conflicting powers ; they controlled the Church and the municipalities, and deprived the nobles of their independent authority, absorbing their territories and enrolling their persons in the royal armies. They fostered industry and trade ; and the restoration of order and prosperity, which permitted the rise of an influential middle class of lawyers, bankers, and manufacturers, was accompanied by the growth of the capitalist principle in commerce. The newly invented printing press favoured the spread of education. Literary activity and classical studies revived, and the growth of Humanism went hand in hand with that of individualism.

This national history had been accompanied by a highly char¬ acteristic architectural development, culminating, when the mediaeval monarchy was at its height, in a noble austere style with simple structural forms and symbolic sculpture, architectonic in its character. In the ensuing era of material progress, the structural problems being already solved, the builders devoted themselves to elaboration and embellishment; while losing in virility, architectural forms grew richer and more graceful, sculpture more purely decorative. With the national disorganisation and impoverishment during the Hundred Years’ War, came a moral and artistic decline. Architecture was reduced to embroidery on old themes, and lost itself in ingenuities of design and dexterities of execution, while sculpture fell into an ex¬ travagant naturalism. This was the state of affairs in the second half of the fifteenth century when the national revival and renewed prosperity called for a new outburst of architectural activity.

France under Louis XI. produced work of considerable magnifi¬ cence, but the Dukes of Burgundy, the last of the great vassals to be subdued, were far more liberal patrons of art than the French king. In their territories, which included a large part of the present Belgium as well as the eastern provinces of France, and which had to a great extent escaped the devastation of the English wars, architecture had entered upon a phase of exceptional splendour, in which all the characteristics of contemporary Gothic, virtuosity, exuberance and naturalism, were

INTRODUCTION.

xviii

pushed to extremes. It might have seemed as if the national style was about to enter upon a new cycle of evolution. But it contained in itself the germs of decay, and many causes contributed to render it unsuitable to meet the requirements of a civilisation which was being transformed by powerful agencies, unless it were itself transmuted in like manner.

It was an inevitable condition of mediaeval art to be moulded by the Church. The Church was the all-embracing medium of human activity ; and the strenuous life of mediaeval Europe naturally found its artistic expression in the building and decoration of churches, whether the immediate motive were spiritual fervour, local patriotism, or family pride. Such was the splendour of the results, that all contemporary building was moulded to the ecclesiastical style, even in the case of military architecture, which in the main was the outcome of the utilitarian considerations of warfare. But in the late fifteenth century the Church had lost her moral and intellectual superiority. Gorgeous ceremonial and a multiplicity of observances took the place of zeal and faith. The lives of the clergy were often worldly, if not scandalous, and they not infrequently ranged themselves on the side of obscurantism, while the spread of culture and classical studies was weakening their hold on men’s minds. The ascetic conception of life of the Middle Ages had already broken down in practice ; the humanistic gospel of self-cultivation and the joy of life now swept away the embargo which the Church had laid on the free exercise of all bodily and mental powers.

Since the ideal mediaeval church consisted, as it has been said, of a stone roof, or rather ceiling, and of glass walls, the efforts of the builders had been concentrated upon the carrying of rib vaults on the minimum of direct support by a nicely calculated system of thrust and counter¬ thrust. But this system had outlived its raison d'etre, France was well equipped with places of worship ; and the mysteries of vaulting held no secrets for the maitres d' oeuvres. No further progress was possible in that direction, and the need was for systems of wider adaptability.

In so far as Gothic architecture was military it had also survived its use and efficiency. The knell of feudalism and private warfare had rung, and the towered stone-built castle could not resist artillery. Since fortification was now controlled by the central government and applied almost exclusively to cities and frontier fortresses, and since it consisted more and more of earthworks, Its design provided an everdiminishing scope for architecture proper, whose mission was increas¬ ingly the housing of peaceful citizens. Then mediaeval architecture was in large measure the result of corporate energies, the outcome of a period when the State was a mere aggregation of corporations. Gothic

INTRODUCTION.

XIX edifices were often built by, or at the expense of, corporations, ecclesiastical, social, or industrial. The guilds, which so largely reared and decorated them, had grown prosperous and oligarchic. The capitalism and individualism, which were sapping their foundations, were forces which would have to be reckoned with in a new architectural development.

Again, though the French people is of composite origin, their mediaeval architecture was, in the main, the product of the Teutonic genius of the North expressing its subjective, analytic, realistic bent — all, in fact, that was most opposed to the classical spirit. But French society was now again coming under the sway of classical thought, and it was natural that the Southern or Gallo-Roman element should exert a more decisive influence on the national art. This could not, however, proceed from the southern provinces of France, where classical culture had been a power in the twelfth century, for the life was crushed out of them by the Albigensian crusades (1208-18), and they had been obliged to adopt the art of the victorious North with her language and political supremacy.

Lastly, Gothic architecture was of purely native growth. Originating in the lie de France, the nucleus of the later kingdom, it had spread with it, and beyond it, to all western Europe. A nation cannot go on indefinitely creating and exporting ideas. French art in the late fifteenth century had exhausted, not indeed its skill or vigour, but its stock of creative ideas. It was time that the debt should be repaid by the importation of a new inspiration from abroad.

The architecture of the future, then, would be mainly secular and peaceful : it would have to house the Royal Court, the symbol of the new national life, the nobility now taking their part as servants of the State, and the middle classes enriched by the newly established security. The chateau and hotel would be its standard, not the church or the keep. It would be the product of individual genius, and freed from the pre-occupation of a single structural problem. It would be tinged by humanistic ideas and give expression to the objective, synthetic, idealistic tendencies of classical civilisation ; and, since southern Prance was not in a condition to supply the impulse for turning the native building art into new channels, this must be sought in a foreign land.

Now Italy, and Italy alone, could supply what was lacking in French architecture under the changing conditions of the times, by providing it with a fresh unexploited source of inspiration. Already a number of agencies were busy introducing the new influence, and with others, soon to come into operation, were to continue to do so for several centuries.

Travellers are important agents in the spread of a foreign type of

XX

INTRODUCTION.

culture. But in the fifteenth century those passing between Italy and France were almost confined to clergy, ambassadors, merchants, and artists.

The relations between the French Church and the Holy See produced a constant interchange of visits. French clerics of standing, like Bishop Thomas James of Dol, usually journeyed at least once to Rome, and great political Churchmen, like the Cardinals of Amboise, passed frequently to and fro. Again, French benefices were a convenient provision for Italian younger sons and “ nephews ” of popes and cardinals ; though these prelates often considered their duties discharged when they had drawn the revenues.

Then, too, there were frequent embassies from Paris to the various Italian courts, such as that conducted, in 1495, to Venice by Philippe de Comines, who was greatly impressed by the beauty of that “ most triumphant citie that euer I sawe.” “ Sure in my opinion,” he exclaims, the Grand Canal “is the goodliest streete in the world and the best built.” Nor was he less struck by the Certosa of Pavia. “This goodly Charterhouse Church, which in very deed is the fairest that euer I saw, for it is all of fine marble.”* Meanwhile the growing power of the French drew many Italian missions to the French court, on whose equipment much money was lavished. Ambassadors and their retinues displayed Italian fashions and brought costly gifts, while Italian bankers and merchants in French towns took a not unimportant, if less ostenta¬ tious, share in the dissemination of their country’s art.

At this early stage the sight of articles of Italian workmanship, finding their way into the country in the train of any of these categories of travellers, such as goldsmiths’ work, medals and cameos, books, pictures, furniture and intarsias, casts and bronze work, terra-cottas and maiolica all helped to accustom French eyes to Renaissance forms, and the very fact that Italian quarries were the source of the marble supply necessitated that such larger objects as fountains or tombs, if of marble, should be Italian made.

Strangely, however, it was to soldiers that France owed the greatest impetus towards the Renaissance, for the campaigns gave thousands of Frenchmen, from the kings downwards, an opportunity of seeing and admiring Italian art. These began with the expedition of Charles VIII., through upper Italy and Tuscany, to Naples in 1495, followed by others under Louis XII., Francis I., and Henry II. up to 1559. Then after a lull there were fresh wars under Louis XIII., and again under Louis XIV. and XV., but these were of less artistic consequence since Italy was then more familiar and of diminished importance as an art centre.