234 RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



227. FONTAINEBLEAU ; HORSE-SHOE STAIR, BY JEAN DU CERCEAU (1634). 



only the pavilions having two ; but the extent of the court being 

 considerable, viz., about 225 feet square, the traditional arrangement 

 of angle and central pavilions would have produced an insignificant 

 effect, and a new device was therefore adopted to remedy it : the central 

 pavilions were flanked by a pair of smaller ones. The walling is covered 

 with plaster, and the dressings are in stone. The main entrance facing 

 the town on the north side, which is entirely in stone, is treated as 

 a gigantic heavily rusticated niche with semi-dome of majestic effect (R 

 on the plan), and very similar in design to the gateway at Courances 

 illustrated in Fig. 217. 



Horse-Shoe Stair. The rebuilding, or remodelling, of de 1'Orme's 

 Horse-Shoe Stairs (1633) was the only work apart from decoration 

 carried out under Louis XIII. (s on the plan, and Fig. 227). Long 

 ascribed to Le Mercier, this work is now known to have been designed 

 by Jean du Cerceau. It consists of two arms carried on ingenious 

 ramped vaulting, and with its subtly flowing curves and graceful balus- 

 trade forms a noble approach from the White Horse Court to the royal 

 apartments on the upper floor. Its curvilinear plan constitutes a curious 

 anticipation of the rococo manner of the next century. 



COULOMMIER. The early years of Maria de' Medici's regency gave 

 Salomon de Brosse the opportunity of summing up in a grave key a 

 century's experience of classical building as adapted to French require- 

 ments, in several princely residences. The Luxembourg Palace remains 

 almost intact, the chateau of Coulommier-en-Brie is known from 

 engravings, while about the chateau of Blerencourt there appears 

 to be no information. The plan of Coulommier (Fig. 229), built for 

 Catharine of Gonzaga, Duchess of Longueville, resembles that of the 

 first scheme for Verneuil (Fig. 163) in the arrangement of double 



