THE STYLE OF FRANCIS I. 



49 



43- 



CASTLE OF FONTAINE-HENRI, 

 NEAR CAEN. 



additions, but even entirely new 

 buildings were planned to some 

 extent on traditional lines. 



The general scheme of courts 

 and towers persisted, together 

 with the moat and drawbridge. 

 The principal apartments occu- 

 pied the back and sides of the 

 court, while the front wing was 

 often lower (Fig. 53) and con- 

 tained a central gatehouse (Fig. 

 60). The typical plan of the 

 chateau and hotel of the seven- 

 teenth century was thus already 

 foreshadowed. The smaller 

 chateaux and manors often con- 

 sisted only of a single block ; 

 either regular (Figs. 69 and 70) 

 or L-shaped,asat Azay-le-Rideau. 

 These arrangements were sym- 

 metrised as far as circumstances permitled. Where existing buildings 

 necessitated the retention of irregularities, attempts were made, in re- 

 modelling them, to straighten the sides, to mask awkward angles, and 

 to balance the features. In new buildings courts were almost invariably 

 rectangular. In some cases more than mere regularity was aimed at, 

 and plans were set out on definite geometrical schemes of "ideal" 

 symmetry, as at Chambord, Madrid, and La Muette. 



Yet planning remained in some respects rudimentary. For while 

 mediaeval arrangements had ceased to be adequate, the nature of modern 

 requirements was imperfectly understood. Traditional plans were ex- 

 panded by repetition of parts, but these were not correlated. Thus the 

 hall was replaced by a number of large and splendid apartments, the 

 scene of state functions and fetes, but they were not individually devoted 

 to special uses. Ranges of smaller chambers for sleeping and retirement 

 were provided around them. Balconies, galleries, and terraces grew in 

 frequency (Fig. 51), and cloisters often occupied one or more sides of a 

 court (Fig. 71). But little attempt was made to increase privacy or ease 

 of access. Rooms were frequently only reached through others or directly 

 from the open air. Stairs were still generally spiral, though not always in 

 projecting turrets, but straight flights parallel to the walls, or dog-legged 

 stairs began to make their appearance. Round towers and turrets 

 (Figs. 39 and 53) were still the rule, but were not infrequently replaced 

 by square ones, and these began to develop into important pavilions 

 (Fig. 60). 

 4 



