312 RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



pavilion to match Bullant's block. At least, it seems that this was the 

 course of events, though it is not clear how far this scheme was put into 

 execution. 



THE TUILERIES : LE VAU'S LATER WORK. If it had not occurred 

 to them before, it now became evident to Colbert and Le Vau that two 

 long ranges of buildings running down by steps to meet each other 

 gave an unsatisfactory sky-line, and reduced the central tower to insigni- 

 ficance. The elevations were then completely recast (1664-70) (Fig. 

 298). The bulk of the work seems to have been done at Le Vau's 

 death, but it was not absolutely completed till 1697. An important 

 central building was formed, taking in five bays instead of three, coming 

 forward to the front of the loggia, and having a third order, an attic, 

 and square dome, de 1'Orme's central stair being at the same time 

 destroyed, and replaced by one at the side. A continuous balustrade 

 was carried through from this block to the end pavilions at a level 

 determined by the giant order, the intermediate buildings being 

 levelled up to make this possible. It is certainly regrettable that 

 de 1'Orme's and Bullant's enriched attics and delicate ornament, and 

 du Cerceau's domed stair-turrets should have disappeared in the 

 process, but the taste of the time may not have been altogether astray 

 in deeming them too slight and fussy for a palace of such proportions 

 as the Tuileries now became, a palace comparable by its mass and 

 dignity with the other buildings erected to the glory of Louis le Grand. 



VINCENNES AND VERSAILLES. Louis XIV. never forgave Paris the 

 indignities and enforced flights from his capital inflicted on him as a 

 child during the disturbances of the Fronde, and acquired the habit of 

 living in various country seats, while all Colbert's efforts failed to rouse 

 him to interest in the Louvre or Tuileries. At one time, in the early 

 part of his reign, the King's choice fell on the old castle of Vincennes, 

 and Le Vau was employed to bring it up to the requirements of the 

 Court, which he did by adding a pair of wings and joining them by a 

 monumental screen with a gateway in the form of a triumphal arch. 

 Vincennes was soon, however, eclipsed in the royal favour by Versailles, 

 as Louis' early liking for that hunting-box of his father's grew into an 

 absorbing passion. It not only became his habitual home and the 

 scene of Court life, but eventually also the seat of government. Thus 

 Versailles is the most characteristic and splendid product of the age ; 

 but the actual buildings of the palace proper, however impressive, are 

 only one among the factors which made the residence of Louis XIV. 

 the cynosure of Europe and an artistic centre of world-wide influence. 

 It was surrounded by stately dependencies and minor royal dwellings. 

 It was the centre of the most splendid example of a new type of 

 garden design. Its decoration was on a scale of magnificence hitherto 

 unparalleled, including works of painting, of sculpture, and of furniture 



