THE STYLE OF HENRY II. 145 



an enormous private practice. Diane de Poitiers' chateau at Ana 

 (c. 1548-54) should perhaps rather be reckoned in the former category, 

 since her royal admirer assigned a portion of the state revenues for 

 this purpose, and took a special interest in its erection. This mansion 

 (Fig. 140) was one of the most sumptuous in France, rivalled only by 

 those of the Montmorencys and the Guises. The central quadrangle 

 contains the principal buildings on three sides, and is enclosed on the 

 fourth by a screen wall breaking forward to join the gate pavilion. 

 This was surmounted by a bronze group in which a stag struck the 

 hour with his hoof to the accompaniment of the mechanical baying of 

 hounds, and in the tympanum was Cellini's celebrated Diana. Opposite 

 this gateway was the state entrance. A loggia ran along the back and 

 right wings, and the latter was carried across the front of the chapel 

 concealing the turrets, an arrangement, perhaps, not originally intended. 

 The basecourt, containing some older irregular buildings, lay behind 

 the chapel and had an entrance gate of its own. The left-hand court 

 contained Goujon's fountain with the group of Diana and the stag. 

 A large part of the chateau has been destroyed, but the left wing, the 

 two chapels, the two gateways, and part of the crypto-porticus, which 

 surrounded the sunk garden behind, are still standing, and the state 

 entrance bay is rebuilt in the court of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 

 Paris. Anet exhibits the characteristics of de 1'Orme's manner. He 

 could conceive a largely planned scheme, he could detail individual 

 parts exquisitely, but his restless spirit drove him to spoil the breadth 

 of his composition by elaborate and fussy features. The less im- 

 portant, and therefore simpler, portions such, for instance, as the 

 pavilions at the angles of the enceinte are often the most satisfactory. 

 The side gatehouse, too, has more dignity than the main entrance, 

 with its twice broken screen and complicated superstructure. The 

 trompe, the pepper-pot turrets, the sarcophagus chimneys would all 

 be better away. The faades of the court of honour are, however, 

 set out with great dignity, and the central feature, which, to judge from 

 its resemblance to the gate pavilion at Ecouen and the Breze monu- 

 ment, may owe something to the presence of Jean Goujon at Anet 

 (1553), is a very noble composition. 



OTHER WORKS OF DE L'ORME. De 1'Orme also built for Diana 

 the majestic bridge gallery across the Cher at Chenonceaux (1557) 

 (Figs. 141 and 165). The chateau of Meudon, built for the Cardinal 

 of Lorraine, Charles of Guise (1554, destroyed 1804), with its terraced 

 gardens and grotto, are also ascribed to him. Here, in attempting an 

 engineering feat beyond the knowledge of the times, he met with dis- 

 comfiture. Instead of bringing water from St Cloud by an aqueduct, 

 he tried unsuccessfully to raise it by pumping from the Seine, but 

 the undertaking, after costing 40,000 1., had to be abandoned. 



