THE STYLE OF LOUIS XIV. 



315 



301. VERSAILLES : GARDEN FRONT, AS REMODELLED FOR SECOND TIME BY 



LE VAU (1668-74). f>'oi an Old Print. 

 N.B. The munber of windows is incorrectly shown. 



302. 



VERSAILLES: ENTRANCE FRONT, AS REMODELLED BY LE VAU (1668-74). 

 FROM PERELLE. 



pilasters, the entablature breaking forward over them and supporting 

 statues. At intervals, too, where broader wall spaces occur, niches and 

 statues are introduced. 



Most of the criticisms commonly made on Versailles do not apply 

 to Le Vau's buildings. In front, the central part had not been 

 dwarfed by the lofty chapel and pretentious " Ailes Gabriel" (Fig. 401). 

 Towards the garden, what is now reduced to a disproportionate pro- 

 jection in the middle of a long line of buildings was then the entire 

 palace. Though the picturesqueness of the old brick pavilions and 

 high-pitched roofs was gone, the elevations were not monotonous, 

 because in the first place there was much less of them before the huge 

 wings were added to north and south, and secondly, the great central 

 recess before it was filled up to form the " Galerie des Glaces " broke 

 its lines and gave an agreeable play of shadow. The new Versailles 

 of that day, as seen from the gardens, expressed a single stately 

 conception, in elegant, yet simple and truthful language. 



THE GARDENS. The gardens had by this time reached a state 

 not very different from their present one. The main features of the 

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