THE STYLE OF LOUIS XV. 



359 



345. FRIEZE AND HEAD OF MIRROR-FRAME BY J. VERBERCKT IN Louis 

 XV. 's BEDROOM AT VERSAILLES (1738). 



tion lavished on them that the term Style of Louis XV. can most 

 properly be applied. Many of the chief monuments erected at this 

 period might, except for relatively unimportant details, belong equally 

 well to the periods which preceded or followed ; the majority of its 

 buildings betray their Louis XV. character externally if at all only 

 by the few features which were carved or otherwise enriched. Just as 

 disintegration appeared in the State when a strong hand was no longer at 

 the helm, so opposing tendencies in architecture and decoration, which 

 had been forced into temporary reconciliation under the rule of Le 

 Brun and Mansart, now diverged more and more. If a definition of a 

 style could be devised to embrace both the court and the drawing- 

 rooms of the Hotel de Soubise (Figs. 318, 3 [9, and 352), it would be so 

 elastic as to be unmeaning. This is still more patent if one compares 

 examples of architecture of the classical tradition, such as Servandony's 

 design for the west front of St Sulpice (Fig. 434), with the rare cases 

 where the principles w.hich guided decoration were extended to building, 

 as in Meissonnier's design for the same facade (Fig. 387). 



DIVERSITY OF STYLE. Even confined to decoration, the term 

 Style of Louis XV. is a generic one, embracing a number of sub-styles 

 or fashions, which flourished during the greater part of the eighteenth 



