THE STYLE OF LOUIS XII. 



II 



the ripple of water. Gables, windows, parapets, canopies are pierced 

 into an exquisite stone lace. 



High steep roofs were, and have remained, a characteristic of most 

 French buildings, in strong contrast to Italian practice. No greater 

 difference can be imagined between two buildings than that one should 

 be bounded by a bold cornice and the other run up into a broken 

 skyline, with a large 

 proportion of its 

 total height above 

 the eaves, and of a 

 different colour and 

 texture from the 

 walls. The diver- 

 sity and pictur- 

 esqueness of these 

 roofs were enhanced 

 by ornamental 

 ridges, finials, and 

 lanterns, steep and 

 often crocketed 

 gables, and lofty 

 lucarnes or dormers, 

 which were usually 

 on the wall face, 

 sometimes two 

 storeys high, break- 

 ing up the masses 

 of slate or tile with 

 a splash of the wall 

 colour. 



The elevations 

 were broken by but- 

 tresses and turrets, 

 canopy - work and 

 hanging arches, and 

 finished with battle- 

 ments, pinnacles, and machicolations. A luxuriant vegetation wreathed 

 its tendrils in the hollows and sprouted on the skyline. Figures with 

 supple bodies and writhing limbs peopled the labyrinthine curves, and 

 wall surfaces were powdered with devices. In arches and openings 

 the prevailing pointed form (which, curiously enough, survived longer in 

 Italy) was replaced with growing frequency by the circular and elliptical, 

 or quasi-elliptical with three or five centres, or by flat lintels, the 



10. CASTLE OF CHATEAUDUN : STAIR NEWEL. 



