20 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



1497 and 1510 for George of Amboise, Cardinal-Archbishop of Rouen, 

 and minister to Charles VIII. and Louis XII., one of the most notable 

 buildings of the period, and the chief centre of Renaissance activity 

 outside the Loire district. Like Amboise and Blois it was not an 

 entirely new creation, though its new portions were more considerable. 

 The foundations of the existing castle, rebuilt half a century before, 



determined the plan, 

 which is thatof a hill- 

 top fortress (Fig. 8), 

 andsomeof its build- 

 ings were retained in 

 the new mansion. 

 This was almost en- 

 tirely destroyed at 

 the Revolution, but 

 from the few frag- 

 ments in situ incor- 

 porated in modern 

 barracks, and those 

 re-erected in the 

 courts of the Ecole 

 des Beaux Arts in 

 Paris, in conjunction 

 with engravings, an 

 idea may be formed 

 both of the mixed 

 character and of the 

 proverbial splendour 

 of its architecture, 

 the result of the best 

 available French and 

 Italian talent. Fra 

 Giocondo very pro- 

 bably acted as con- 

 sulting architect, 

 and Nicolas (Colin) 

 Biard of Blois as inspector and general superintendent of the works ; 

 and it is certain that the latter made the drawings for the chapel. The 

 master-masons Guillaume Senault, Pierre Fain, and Pierre de 1'Orme 

 contracted for portions of the building work, and Pierre Valence for the 

 installation in the court of a great fountain presented to the Cardinal by 

 the Venetian Republic. Decorative works were contributed by artists 

 of both nations: thus the chapel possessed an altar-piece (now in the 



1 6. 



COMPOSITE FRAGMENT FROM GAILLON : IN COURT 

 OF ECOI.E DES BEAUX ARTS, PARIS. 



