300 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



poise to the curves of the galleries and dome, which have small orders 

 only, while the pavilions are themselves picturesque in their combination 

 of high-pitched roofs with Corinthian pilasters and vases. 



LE VAU'S WORK AT THE LOUVRE. The same clinging to national 

 traditions was shown in the various schemes made for the completion 

 of the Louvre, an object dear to Colbert, who wished to make it a 

 palace worthy of the greatness of the French monarchy. Since Le 

 Mercier's death (1654), Le Vau had been carrying on the works, and 

 the palace only lacked its eastern facade and main entrance. Le Vau 

 had followed his predecessor's design almost unchanged. He had 

 duplicated Lescot's front on the south of the quadrangle, intercalating 

 a central pavilion of his own as Le Mercier had done on the west. 

 This southern entrance (Fig. 286), which stood, not in a narrow street, 

 as the Pavilion de 1'Horloge then did, but facing the whole width of 

 the Seine, obviously required bolder treatment. Keeping the general 

 lines of the angle pavilion with the substitution of a square dome, he 

 introduced a giant order of columns ranging with the two storeys, and 

 surmounted by pedestals, ranging with the attic, to carry statues. It is 

 probable that Le Mercier, too, would have adopted a giant order, though 

 he would perhaps have placed it above the ground storey as he did in 

 his design for the east front. Le Vau also prepared a design for this 

 last remaining portion, but Colbert felt that the right note had not been 

 struck by either of them, and interrupted the work (1664). 



COMPETITION FOR COMPLETION OF LOUVRE. A competition was 

 held, and the criticisms of architects invited on the designs it produced. 

 Among those who submitted schemes were Frangois Mansart, Jean 



- PAVILLON DE MAR5AM 



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285. LOUVRE AND TUILERIES IN 1815 : PLAN. 



