332 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IX FRANCE. 



it with a mirror in two or three sheets (Fig. 316) ; large panels in other 

 parts of the room being also filled in the same way. Coved plaster 

 ceilings and two-leaved doors became general. Staircases, whose 

 balustrades were by this time as a rule in metal, began to be laid 

 out in curved sweeps and with steps curved in plan. Madame de 

 Maintenon's suite at Fontainebleau and some of the rooms at Trianon, 

 Louis XIV. 's state bedroom at Versailles and its antechamber (named 

 the (Eil-de-Boeuf from its elliptical borrowed light) retain decorations 

 of this period. Other examples are offered at Dijon by a drawing- 

 room in the Hotel de Vogue and the Mairie Staircase in the Palais des 

 Etats. 



LATER HOTELS IN PARIS. In the opening years of the eighteenth 

 century much building was done in Paris, especially in new quarters 

 then being developed, the Faubourgs St Honore and St Germain. 

 Several of the architects most in vogue, who took part in it, belonged 

 to Mansart's circle. Among them were his brother-in-law, Robert de 

 Cotte, one of the ablest architects of the period, who carried to a 

 conclusion several works left unfinished by Mansart : his cousin Jacques 

 Jules Gabriel, and his draughtsman L' Assurance. Malicious tongues 

 insinuated that for many years Mansart and de Cotte exploited the 

 talents of L'Assurance and Pierre Le Pautre for their own benefit, and 

 that the real credit of much of their work is due to them. Most of 

 such houses, as, for instance, the Hotel d'Estrees (1704), now the 

 Russian Embassy (79 Rue de Crenelle), by de Cotte, and the Hotel 

 de Rothelin (1710), now Ministry of Commerce (101 Rue de Crenelle), 



by L'Assurance, need no 

 further description than the 

 general one given above. 

 Their charm depends almost 

 entirely on proportion, and 

 they must be seen for their 

 merits to be appreciated, 

 since they are of that un- 

 obtrusive character which 

 tends to evaporate in a draw- 

 ing. The Hotels de Tunis 

 and Thiers, built together 

 by Pierre Bullet (c. 1707) in 

 the Place Vendome, have 

 some points of interest (Fig. 

 317). The facade being 



already provided by the 

 Two HOUSES IN PLACE LOUIS-LE- J 



GRAND (VENDOME), BY P. BULLET. scheme of the place, the 

 PLAN. FROM BI.ONPEL. architect's skill was concen- 



