THE STYLE OF LOUIS XIV. 



305 



incorrect proportions of the parts one to the other, and so forth. Such 

 experiments stand or fall, not by their degree of concordance with 

 academic rules, but by their success in producing the desired effect. 

 But the defects of the plan, which failed to give the accommodation 

 required, or the comfort and convenience to which the French had 

 become accustomed, the smallness of the windows, the darkness of the 

 court, the insignificance of the main entrance, the gross untruthfulness 

 of the elevations, the inordinate cost, the destruction of existing beauties, 

 all these presented more vulnerable points of attack. Bernini had in 

 fact forgotten that he was in Paris and not in Rome. He ignored 

 the practical requirements of the palace, the exigencies of the climate, 

 the affection of the French for the work of their sixteenth century 

 architects, - >r deep-rooted belief in the need of some degree of 



correspondence between internal arrangements and external appearance. 

 The sections (Fig. 291) reveal how totally the scenic effects aimed at 

 were divorced from reality. The outer walls of the palace and those 

 of " "ourt each rise some 20 feet higher than the rooms behind 

 them, and are mere screens. The French critics, however, were blinded 

 by the undeniable defects of the design to its real greatness. Its 

 colossal order with ell its ungainliness, the long line of the massive 

 cornicione, the rugged masonry of the plinth, the very monotony of 

 the elevations, the gaunt baldness of the total mass, would have pro- 

 duced an astounding effect of arrogant power. The French designs 

 with all their excellences differed in nothing but extent from that of 



SCALE or 



.SCALE or'H 



METRES 

 -3 FEET 



10 50 



5 Y ', ' 10 '|? EET 

 u~j 1 1 1 M ETR ES 



290. BERNINI'S DESIGN FOR LOUVRE 

 PLAN. FROM BLONDEL. 



291. BERNINI'S DESIGN FOR 

 LOUVRE : SECTION. FROM 

 BLONDEL. 



