I/O 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



162. CHATEAU DE VERNEUIL-SUR-OISE : FIRST SCHEME. ENTRANCE FRONT. 

 (PROBABLY BY J. A. nu CERCEAU THE ELDER.) 



From a Drawing by (lie Architect. 



his first considerable opportunities for active practice while residing 

 under the protection of Renee of Ferrara at Montargis (1562-9). It 

 has been conjectured with much probability that the Maison Blanche 

 at Gaillon was built for Cardinal Charles of Bourbon from his designs 

 (c. 1565). This fantastic erection illustrates some of the worst 

 tendencies of the age, indiscriminate ornament and rustications, 

 figures of conflicting scale, caryatids, half term, half woman, with 

 butterflies' wings. It would, however, be absurd to be too severe 

 on what was, after all, a mere caprice intended as the scene of an 

 occasional summer frolic. 



VERNEUIL. Some of the same love of the grotesque and the over- 

 elaborate, and the same failure to keep scale characterise du Cerceau's 



more important works. But here, as in 

 the case of the Tuileries, these exuber- 

 ances are kept in check by the large and 

 orderly framework of the total scheme, 

 and affect only certain features. His first 

 considerable work was the chateau of 

 Verneuil-sur-Oise begun in 1565 and 



C J t _.b* continued on an extensively remodelled 



^ !T 'V-Js-Vt '^^"''^i^ji design for the Duke of Nemours, son-in- 

 ' law of Renee (1568-75). The first 



scheme (Figs. 162 and 163), in spite of 

 its general sobriety and regular setting 

 out, had much of the broken outline of 

 an earlier age, a result produced by the 

 use of coupled pavilions boldly projecting 

 on either side of each angle. In the 



p 

 ra 



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 M (hi, fH 



i_ri - fiui* fiU;. < * 



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SCALE OF ^ 



J METRES 



100 



-JFEET 



163. VERNEUIL: FIRST 

 SCHEME. PLAN. FROM 

 DU CERCEAU. 



