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. For 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 now out of date, while his peculiar point of view one scarcely 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" 



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