1 66 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



which he wrote in the first bitterness of his disgrace to clear himself 

 of the charges brought against him. 



THE TUILERIES. In any case she commissioned him to design 

 the new palace of the Tuileries, where, unconfined by crowded streets 

 and city walls and yet almost at the gates of the Louvre, she could 

 develop a scheme of airy courts and broad gardens. The site of some 

 tileworks was purchased in 1562, and building began two years later. 

 De 1'Orme's design, only known till recently from the plan and a few 

 details published in " I.es Plus Excellents Bastiments de France," and 

 from the small part built, can now be studied in full in du Cerceau's 

 bird's-eye views (Fig. 139), which explain some obscure points and 

 exonerate him from the responsibility of the queer domed tower of 

 later date (Fig. 297), hitherto attributed to him. Space being no object 

 the buildings were kept low, and only the pavilions had two full storeys 

 with dormers above in the roof, while the connecting galleries consisted 

 of a single storey with an attic over it. The total area covered was to 

 have measured about 875 by 540 feet, the central court measuring about 

 370 by 290 feet (see plan, Fig. 158). This court lay across the width of 

 the palace and was flanked by two lesser courts, each subdivided by 

 an assembly hall of elliptical plan. While the twelve angle and 

 axial pavilions were to have plain pavilion roofs, these halls were to 

 have curved roofs, doubtless constructed on the architect's system of 

 timber-doming. His other favourite invention, the " French Order," 

 was applied to the Ionic columns and pilasters, which emphasise 

 the pavilions. The open arcades which ran along the outer faces of the 

 central portion (Fig. 159) were similarly treated, while the attics here 

 and in the main court were composed of high dormers alternating with 



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158. THE LOUVRE AND TUILERIES IN 1580: FLAX. 



