2O2 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 





to have been actually laid till the latter had been succeeded by 

 Bullant (1570-8). The building advanced rapidly under Baptiste du 

 Cerceau's supervision (1578-90), but was not ready for the reception 

 of the tomb and the body of Henry II. till 1594; those of Catharine 

 and Henry III. were brought there from Blois in 1609. The Bourbon 

 dynasty neglected the building, which never received its attic and outer 

 dome, and it grew so ruinous that it was pulled down in 1719 and the 

 materials dispersed. The tomb found its way into the adjoining 

 Abbey, some of the statues to various Paris churches ; of the marble 



columns some went 

 to the Regent Or- 

 leans' garden, and 

 may still be seen in 

 the Pare Monceau. 



This Chapel or 

 Tower of the Valois, 

 as it was called, 

 stood against the 

 north transept of the 

 Abbey church from 

 which alone it was 

 entered, and was 

 circular in plan, 

 whence its alterna- 

 tive name Notre 

 Dame la Rotonde 

 (Fig. 201). The 

 total diameter was 

 about 100 feet, and 

 that of the central 

 chamber about 42 

 feet. The space be- 

 tween this and the 

 outer walls was 



occupied by two tiers of six radiating trefoil chapels. The central hall 

 was covered by a semicircular stone dome pierced by six round-headed 

 windows. Externally was an attic of the height of this dome, and 

 above it a semicircular timber dome, the first of its kind in France, 

 and a lantern (Fig. 203). The interior and the tombs were entirely 

 carried out in marble black, grey, white, and red with enrichments in 

 bronze. Internally there were two orders, Corinthian and Composite. 

 Externally there were a Doric, an Ionic, and an attic order. The design 

 as a whole, in which are embodied reminiscences of unexecuted designs 

 by Bramante and Raphael for the apses, and San Gallo's model for the 



204. 



ST DENIS: TOMB OF FRANCIS L, 

 BY PH. DE L'ORME. 



