The rear view of the building ([Plate LVIII.]) shows that part of the construction which was based upon the ancient rampart of the city. The two large towers are those before referred to, which were still standing as part of the rampart when the building of the house was begun. One was entirely reconstructed by Cœur, with the exception of the first story, which is of old Roman work as the layers of brick and masonry indicate; the other received only its crown and a new interior construction, and like the first, was flanked by a tower destined to serve as a cage for the stairway.
The only room of architectural interest in the interior, which has been largely remodelled to serve the various public uses to which the building has since been put, is the chapel ([Plates LVI.] and [LVII.]). Here the side walls have suffered from too ardent restoration; but the splendid painted ceiling is intact. It is divided by ribs, the bosses of which are decorated with the arms of Jacques Cœur and those of his wife, into twelve triangles, four large and eight small ones; and within these triangles, relieved against a background of gold-starred blue, angels bearing ribbons inscribed with scriptural texts are painted. The breadth and beauty of the design, the sobriety and harmony of the color-scheme and the excellence of execution gives this ceiling first importance as a document in the history of French decorative painting.
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Taken as a whole this house, though rivalled by the Hôtel de Cluny at Paris and the Palais de l'Échiquier at Rouen, ranks as the most splendid civil construction antedating the Renaissance which remains in France. Its history is known without interruption from the beginning. Five years after its confiscation it was restored to Cœur's descendants. In 1501 it was sold by them, passing through several hands, until in 1682 it became the property of the city of Bourges and was made to serve as the Hôtel de Ville. In 1858 it was ceded to the State, and is now used as a Palais de Justice.
| PLATE LVII | HOUSE OF JACQUES CŒUR: CHAPEL CEILING |