342 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



unusual for the period. The dome is excellently managed externally. 

 The circular drum, pierced by eight round-headed windows, rises from 

 the square central mass between four slender turrets, and is flanked 

 by eight groups of pilasters in lieu of buttresses. Above it is a low 

 attic carrying the graceful curve of the slated dome. The height and 

 form of the inner dome (which is about 44 feet in diameter, and 94 

 feet high from the floor at the springing) are happily calculated, the 

 lighting well placed, and the simplicity of the decoration, which, apart 

 from the Corinthian order, is confined to a little carving in the pen- 

 dentives and the coffering of the ribs, combines with severe and noble 

 proportions to produce a highly impressive interior. 



THE VAL - DE - GRACE. The 

 second example of a mixed type is 

 in the Abbey Church of the Val- 

 de-Grace, founded by Anne of 

 Austria (1645) in gratitude for the 

 birth of Louis XIV., and, both 

 for size and beauty, one of the 

 most important domed buildings in 

 France. Francois Mansart was the 

 architect in the first place, but it is 

 impossible to say how far the merits 

 or demerits of the design as it now 

 stands are due to him except as 

 regards the plan (Fig. 328), since 

 . he retired from the conduct of the 

 building when it was only 10 feet 

 out of the ground. Le Mercier, 

 who carried the work up to the 

 springing of the dome, and Le 

 Muet, who completed it, may have 

 introduced modifications of their 



own. Mansart consoled himself by carrying out his intentions on a 

 smaller scale in the chapel of the chateau of Fresnes, where, however, 

 the dome is relatively more lofty internally. The church forms the 

 central feature of a stately lay-out of conventual buildings comprising 

 several rectangular courts. Its west front is in the axis of a spacious 

 forecourt whose angles are accentuated by pavilions of effective design. 

 This court is closed in front by an iron railing, and opposite to it it was 

 intended that there should be a crescent of houses of uniform character. 

 The conventual plan of nave and chapels is retained, but beyond 

 them the church widens so as to form a kind of Latin cross ; the nave, 

 in fact, leads into a square block containing the dome-space and all its 

 essential appurtenances, while the three dissimilar buildings which project 



328. 



CHURCH OF THE VAL-DE GRACE 

 PLAN. FROM BLONDEL. 



