353 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



from the formality of the Grand Reigne, undoubtedly pushed defiance 

 of classical traditions further than any other period since the Renais- 

 sance ; it reached a climax beyond which no further advance in the same 

 direction was possible and necessitated a fresh return to the sources. 

 But to say this is not to condemn it, and an impartial student of its work 

 cannot but recognise that it has never been surpassed for finish, both of 

 design and execution, for sparkling elegance and coquettish playfulness, 

 in a word for complete adaptation to the life of an age which, with all 

 its faults, had many delightful qualities. The chief of these was the ease 

 and polish of its social intercourse. It was, par excellence, the age of 



" Salons," where conver- 

 sation was raised to the 

 rank of a fine art, and 

 cultivated with a brilli- 

 ance never attained in any 

 other time or country. 

 The movement, which 

 had been initiated a cen- 

 tury earlier by Mme. de 

 Rambouillet, both in its 

 social and its architec- 

 tural aspects, and had 

 been growing in force 

 ever since, now reached 



^w<P" fflftVfy its climax. The influence 

 ^^%9 tr**^ of woman was everywhere 



felt, and after the mascu- 

 line vigour of the style 

 of Louis XIV., those of 

 Louis XV. and Louis XVI. 

 have, at least as regards 

 decoration, somewhat of 

 a feminine quality. 

 CHANGES IN PLANNING AND DECORATION. The chilly splendours 

 of the vast and imposing halls, which had persisted in the last century, 

 might be an admirable setting for state pageants, but they no longer 

 answered the wants of society, whose chief requirement was a congenial 

 milieu for intimate gatherings, combining cosiness, daintiness, and 

 gaiety. The age of the withdrawing-room and boudoir had arrived. 



At Versailles and other palaces large apartments were broken up 

 into suites of small ones petits appartements, petits cabinets just as in 

 the country petites maisons were preferred to chateaux. It is precisely 

 in such apartments, devoted to pleasure and social life, that Louis XV. 

 architecture finds its most characteristic expression, and to the decora- 



344. PANEL CENTRE BY J. VERRERCKT IN 

 Louis XV. 's APARTMENTS AT VER- 

 SAILLES (1753). 



