Renaissance Architecture in France
The classical revival of the 15th century in Italy was too important a movement to have remained long without its influence extending to other countries. In France this was accelerated by the campaigns of Charles VIII., Louis XII. and Francis I., which led to the revelation of the artistic treasures in Italy; the result being the importation of great numbers of Italian craftsmen, who would seem to have been employed in the carving of decorative architectural accessories, such as the panels and capitals of pilasters, niches and canopies, corbels, friezes, &c., either in tombs, as for instance in those of Charles of Anjou at Le Mans (1472) and at Solesmes (1498), of Francis, duke of Brittany (1501), and of the children of Charles VIII. (1506) at Tours, and of Cardinal d’Amboise in Rouen cathedral, the figures in all these cases being carved by French sculptors. They were also employed in architectural buildings, where the design and execution were by French master-masons, and the Italians were called in to carve the details, as in the choir screens of Chartres, Albi and Limoges cathedrals, the portal of St. Michel at Dijon, the eastern chapels of St Pierre at Caen, and numerous other churches throughout France; or for mansions like the Hôtel d’Alluye at Blois, the Hôtel d’Allemand at Bourges, and the châteaux of Meillant (1503), Châteaudun and Nantouillet (1519). The great centre of the artistic regeneration was at first at Tours, so that in Touraine, and generally on the borders of the Loire and the Cher at Amboise, Blois, Gaillon, Chenonceaux, Azay-le-Rideau and Chambord, are found the principal examples; later, Francis I. transferred the court to Paris, and the château of Madrid, and the palaces of Fontainebleau, St Germain-en-Laye, and the Louvre, follow the change. In all these châteaux the Italian craftsman would seem to have been under the direction of the master-mason or architect, because the whole scheme of the design and its execution is French, and only the decoration Italian. In cases where the Italian was not called in, the Gothic flamboyant style flourishes in full vigour with no suggestion of foreign influence, as in the palais de justice at Rouen, the church of Brou (Ain), 1505-1532, the Hôtel de Cluny, Paris, and the rood-screen of the church of the Madeleine at Troyes (1531).
Between the last phase of Flamboyant Gothic and the introduction of the pure Italian Revival there existed a transitional period, known generally as the “Francis I. style,” which may be subdivided under three heads:—the Valois period, comprising the reigns of Charles VIII. and Louis XII. (1483-1515); the Francis I. period (1515-1547); and the Henry II. and Catherine de’ Medici period (1547-1589). The first two are characterized by the lofty roofs, dormers and chimneys, by circular or square towers at the angles of the main building with decorative machicolations and hourds, by buttresses set anglewise, which run up into the cornice, and square-headed windows with mullions and transoms. In the second period the machicolations are converted into corbels carrying semicircular arcaded niches in which shells are carved; the buttresses become pilasters with Renaissance capitals; and the Gothic detail, which in the first period is mixed up with the Renaissance, disappears altogether. In the third period Italian design begins to exert its influence in the regular interspacing of the pilasters or columns with due proportion of height to diameter, in the completion of the order with the regular entablature, and its employment generally in a more structural manner than in the earlier work.
The two first periods are well represented in the château of Blois, where, in the east wing built by Louis XII., square-headed windows alternate with three central arches, the buttresses are set anglewise running into the cornice, and pillars and angle shafts are carved with chevrons, spiral flirtings, or cinque-cento arabesque; the cornices of the towers containing staircases project and are carried on arched niches supported on corbels (the new interpretation of the machicolations of the feudal castle); above the cornice is a balustrade with pierced flamboyant tracery, and the dormer windows retain their Gothic detail. In the north wing of Francis I. all these Gothic ornamental details disappear, and are replaced by the Renaissance. Panels and pilasters take the place of the buttresses—the panels sometimes enriched with cinque-cento arabesque; shells are carved in the arched niches of the cornice, and modillions and dentil courses are introduced; the balustrade is pierced with flowing Renaissance foliage interspersed with the salamanders and coronets; the same high roofs are maintained, but the dormer windows and chimneys, still Gothic in design, are entirely clothed with Renaissance detail.
The finest feature of the façade of this north wing, facing the court, is the magnificent polygonal staircase tower in its centre (Plate VIII., fig. 84); four great piers rise from ground to cornice, between which the rising balustrade is fitted; the whole feature Gothic in design, but Renaissance in all its details. The splendid carving of the panels of the piers and the niches with their canopies was probably done by Italian artists. The figures in these niches are said to be by Jean Goujon. The great dormers and chimneys have not the refinement in their design which characterizes the lower portion, and may be of later date. The north front of the château is raised on the foundation walls of the old castle, part of which is encased in it, and this may account for the slight irregularities in the widths of the bays. The design differs from that of the south front, the windows all being recessed behind three-centre arched openings; the open loggia at the top, which is admirable in effect, is a subsequent alteration.
Before passing to the Louvre and Tuileries, representing the third period, we must refer to some other important early châteaux and buildings. Some of these, such as the châteaux of Madrid and Gaillon, are known chiefly from du Cerceau’s work, as they were destroyed at the Revolution. Of the latter building, the entrance gateway is still in situ; there are some portions in the court of the École des Beaux-Arts at Paris, consisting of a second entrance gateway, a portico and some large panels. The gateway shows a singular mixture of Gothic and Renaissance; the centre portion, with the gateway and great niche over, is debased classic, the side portions retaining the buttresses, mouldings, panels and other features belonging to the latest phase of Flamboyant Gothic.
Of buildings still existing, the hôtel de ville of Orleans (1497) is a good example of early transition work, in which Gothic and Renaissance work is intermingled, and it is interesting to compare it with the hôtel de ville at Beaugency, built by the same architect, Viart, some twenty-five years later. There is the same principle in design, much improved in the later example, but all the Gothic details have disappeared.
In the château of Chenonceaux (1515-1524) we find a compromise between the two styles; Gothic corbels, piers and three-centre arches are employed, varied with debased classic mouldings, shells and capitals; here, as at Azay-le-Rideau (1520), the château was not transformed like those at Langeais and Rochefoucauld, where what was externally a 14th-century castle developed internally into a 16th-century mansion; both Chenonceaux and Azay-le-Rideau were built as residences, and yet in both are displayed those features which belong to the fortified castle; at the angles of the main structure in both cases are circular towers, in the latter case crowned with machicolations and hourds, which, however, are purely decorative, pierced with windows, and broken at intervals with dormer windows, a feature which gives it the aspect of an attic storey. The lofty roofs and conical terminations to these angle towers, with dormer and chimney, give the same picturesque aspect to the grouping as that which was afforded in the fortified castle, where, however, they originated in the necessity for defence. The entrance portals of both chateaux are beautiful features, absolutely Gothic in design, and only transformed by cinque-cento detail.
In the château of Chambord (1526) we find the same defensive features introduced, in the shape of great circular towers at the angles, but here with more reason, as the chateau was intended more for display than habitation. The chateau itself, about 200 ft. square, has circular towers at the angles, and in the centre a spiral staircase with double flight, leading to great halls on each side, which give access to the comparatively small rooms in the angles of the square and the towers beyond, and to the roof, which would seem to have been the chief attraction, as there is a fine view therefrom; and the elaborate octagonal lantern over the staircase, the dormer windows, chimneys and lanterns on the conical roofs of the towers, are all elaborately carved. There are three storeys to the building, subdivided horizontally by string courses, and terminated with a fine cornice carrying a balustrade, and vertically by a series of pilasters of the Corinthian order. The varied outline of this building, with the alternation of blank panels and windows between the pilasters, relieves what might otherwise have been its monotony. The château is situated on the east side of a great court measuring about 500 ft. by 370 ft., with a moat all round. To the right and left of the central block the walls are carved up three storeys, and an attic, with open arcades inside, leading to the angle towers of the enclosure. At a later period Louis XIV. continued the unfinished structure by a one-storey building round. The carving of the capitals, corbels and other decorative work was all done by Italian artists, under the direction of some architect whose name is not known.
One of the gems of Francis I.’s work is the small hunting lodge originally built at Moret near Fontainebleau, to which at one time the king thought of adding, before he began his great palace there. This was taken down in 1826, and re-erected in the Cours-la-Reine at Paris. Though small, it is the purest example of the first Renaissance. Other examples are the hôtel de ville of Paray-le-Monial (1526); the Hôtel d’Anjou at Angers (1530), built by Pierre de Pincé; the Hôtel Bernuy at Toulouse (1530); the Hôtel d’Ecoville at Caen (1532); the Manoir of Francis I. at Orleans; the Hotel Bourgthéroulde at Rouen (1520-1532) and other buildings opposite Rouen cathedral, and what remains of the château known as the Manoir d’Ango (1525) at Varengeville, near Dieppe. The château of St Germain-en-Laye (1539-1544), the upper half of which is built in brick, belongs also to the early period, as also the hôtel de ville at Paris, built in 1533 by Domenico da Cortona, an Italian, who after spending some thirty years in France would seem to have caught the spirit of the French Renaissance so well as to be able to produce one of the most remarkable examples of the Francis I. style. In the existing building the original design has been copied from the building burnt down by the Communists in 1871.