350 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



criticisms must be added the more general one that the edifice is 

 deficient in devotional character. This is due partly to the secular type 

 of its decoration and the use of windows with segmental heads, recalling 

 domestic work, partly to an excess of uniformly distributed lighting, pre- 

 cluding the half-tones and mysterious glooms of contrasted lights and 

 shadows. This mundane elegance and prosaic glare are suggestive of 

 what is indeed the true intention of the building, the glorification of the 

 "Grand Monarque"and his armies far more than of humble thanks- 

 giving to the Lord of Hosts. 



CHAPEL OF VERSAILLES : Plan, Interior. Before leaving the 

 subject of church architecture under Louis XIV., there remains to 

 describe one of its most successful works, which though non domical, 

 and indeed nearer to the basilica-type, has been reserved for final 

 mention, as being the latest carried out for the King, and as fore- 

 shadowing some of the changes which were adopted in the next reign. 

 The present palace chapel was the last of the many buildings with 

 which J. H. Mansart beautified Versailles. It is not only conceived 

 on a more magnificent scale than any of its four predecessors, but is one 

 of the architect's most successful compositions, and one in which the 

 richness and dignity befitting its purpose are obtained by the directest 

 and simplest means. The design, indeed, flows immediately from the 

 requirements, and is a truthful expression of the construction. In prin- 

 ciple Mansart adopted 

 the arrangement tradi- 

 tional in castle chapels 

 a two-storeyed build- 

 ing, the upper part for 

 the master and the lower 

 for the servants and 

 the section customary in 

 contemporary churches. 

 He introduced, how- 

 ever, important modifi- 

 cations and made artistic 

 use of the consequences 

 which they entailed. 

 Starting with a nave of 

 five bays with an apse at 

 the east end (Fig. 335), 

 , he enlarged it by adding 



an aisle which he carried 

 K Ei round the apse, and a 



western vestibule to the 

 nave between two spiral 



SCftLE OF L 



335. VERSAILLES : PALACE CHAPEL, BY J. H. 

 MANSART (1696-1710). PLAN. FROM BLONDEL. 



