4 6 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



The sovereign power built up by his predecessor as a national 

 asset was used by Francis and his descendants for their private 

 enjoyment. Disorganisation invaded every department. Extravagant 

 expenditure threw the finances into a chaos from which neither 

 exorbitant taxation nor the sale of offices could extricate them. In 

 religion, Francis, failing to effect a settlement, \vhich might have saved 

 France the loss of much of her best blood, eventually gave in to the 

 party of obscurantism, and permitted the persecution of the Reformers. 



TASTES AND INFLUENCE OF KING 

 AND COURT. The true glory of his age 

 lies in the achievements of literature, 

 learning, and art, and in the keen interest 

 with which they were followed by the 

 king and the society around him. In 

 this respect the reputation of Francis 

 and his Court as prime movers in the 

 Renaissance movement is justified. 

 Whatever their shortcomings, they can- 

 not be accused of lack of culture. Art, 

 and the things of the intellect, took a 

 large place in their interests. Some 

 may have patronised artists and scholars 

 from the love of display or of being in 

 the fashion, but the fact that display was 

 only thought effective when artistic, and 

 that fashion took the form of culture 

 must be reckoned to their credit. 



The king's sister, Margaret of Na- 

 varre, was an authoress, and gathered 

 scholars, divines, and writers around her. 

 The Duchess of Etampes, " fairest of the 

 learned and most learned of the fair," 

 was a patron of art and learning ; Car- 

 dinal du Bellay was the lifelong friend 

 of Rabelais, and the discoverer of de 

 I'Orme; even the terrible and un- 

 lettered Montmorency had a keen eye for artistic talent, and was 

 generous in its encouragement. With Francis himself culture was a 

 passion, and a love of art and intellectual concerns was an abiding 

 factor in his life. He founded the royal library at Fontainebleau, and 

 the College de France at Paris. His purse was ever at the service of 

 men of letters and artists, whom he admitted to intercourse on equal 

 terms, counting among his friends the poet Marot, the learned Bude, 

 Andrea del Sarto, Benvenuto Cellini, Dominic of Cortona and two of 



TROVES: ORIEL IN HOTEL 

 DE MARISY. 



