294 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



symbolical meaning of the whole scheme as much as their form and 

 colour to its decorative effect. There is an intellectual quality, a spirit 

 of order and organisation in Louis XIV. decoration which is as char- 

 acteristic as its pomp and sumptuosity. 



J. LE PAUTRE, J. MAROT, LE BRUN. The style in its maturity, 

 which may be said to have lasted approximately from 1650 to 1685, is 



summed up in the works 

 of three men, Jean Le 

 Pautre, Jean Marot, and 

 Charles Le Brun. Jean 

 Le Pautre (1618-82), 

 brother of Antoine, had 

 studied in Italy and 

 was an accomplished 

 draughtsman prolific in 

 invention. He engraved 

 and published innumer- 

 able designs for door- 

 ways, chimney - pieces, 

 ceilings, alcoves, panel- 

 ling, friezes, arabesques, 

 pulpits, altars and 

 screens, grottoes and 

 fountains, and also for 

 furniture and plate. It 

 is uncertain how far his 

 designs were actually 

 carried out, but for a 

 century at least they 

 were studied by decora- 

 tors. The architect, 

 Jean Marot, also en- 

 graved a number of 

 designs very similar in 

 character. Le Brun, 

 whose practice as a 

 decorator was greater 

 than that of any con- 

 temporaries, not only designed and superintended his vast works, but 

 himself painted a considerable portion of them. 



CHARACTER OF THEIR DECORATION. In a room designed by one 

 of these men (Fig. 279), whether or not an order of pilasters is used, 

 the walls are divided into compartments consisting of motives reaching 

 from the floor or dado to the cornice; these panels are rectangular 



280. DESIGN FOR INTERNAL DOORWAY, 

 BY J. LE PAUTRE. 



