128 RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IX FRANCE. 



should be observed, is justified. According to one account, St Maur 

 was begun in 1537, in which case it scarcely antedated Ancy-le-Franc, 

 or perhaps only by a few months. Another account places the begin- 

 ning of the works in 1542 which would make it almost certainly later 

 than Ancy. The original design for St Maur, which was considerably 

 modified later on, comprised three wings with basement, principal 

 storey and attic, and a fourth with a one-storeyed flat-roofed gallery. 

 The basement and coigns were rusticated, the windows treated with 

 architraves and broken pediments. The elevation in de 1'Orme's 

 woodcut, where the high roofs behind the pedimented attics are not 

 shown, has a decidedly Italian look. 



JEAN BULLANT AND OTHER FRENCH ARCHITECTS. The fifth of 

 the group was probably a native, and certainly an inhabitant, of Ecouen 

 on the Montmorency estates. He seems to have been trained as a 

 mason, and himself deplores his lack of literary culture and ignorance 

 of Latin. He had, however, the good fortune to study architecture 

 in Italy, possibly through the munificence of his feudal lord and patron, 

 the great Constable, and by 1545 was employed at the chateau of 

 Ecouen, at a time when Goujon was probably still the architect in 

 charge and thus able to influence him both in architecture and 

 sculpture, for Bullant seems to have practised the latter art as well in 

 later life. 



In addition to the great figures in Parisian architecture, a certain 

 number of architects in provincial centres were beginning to be in- 

 fluenced by the new movement. Among these were Nicolas Bachelier 

 of Toulouse ; Guillaume Philandrier (or Philander), a canon of Rodez 

 (born 1505, died 1563), who studied under Serlio, and his fellow- 

 townsmen, Baduel and Guillaume I.issorgues; Hugues Sambin of 

 Uijon ; and Michel Adam of Orleans. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF FRENCH ARCHITECTS. The French architects 

 shared with the Italians that versatility which enabled them to practise 

 two or more arts with equal success, and to approach the architect's 

 work from a variety of standpoints. Thus, we find sculptor-architects 

 in Goujon, in Bachelier, and perhaps in Bullant, and a painter-architect 

 in Lescot. The architect, too, was often an author and an engraver : 

 Goujon, Bullant, de 1'Orme, Philander, and Sambin gave the fruits of 

 their reading and experience to the world in treatises and translations, 

 engraving the plates themselves, while du Cerceau devoted the best 

 part of his life to illustrating every branch of design. Again in 

 de 1'Orme is seen a man who entered the profession with the qualifica- 

 tions of a practical builder and mason, but of one polished by travel 

 and classical study. 



The points in which the Frenchmen differed from the Italians were 

 first that they broke less completely with Gothic tradition and had a 



