370 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



354. FANTASTIC DESIGN FOR GARDEN GROTTO, BY J. A. MEISSONNIER. 



the restraint which kept Le Brun's work within bounds. They avoid the 

 severity of geometrical patterns and straight lines ; clouds and draperies, 

 grotesque or natural figures overstep and disguise the architectural lines, 

 and structural functions are symbolised rather than expressed by luxuriant 

 plastic forms (Fig. 353). At the same time he steers clear of misappli- 

 cations of architectural forms, such as the reversed pediments or inverted 

 capitals with which Borromini bedizened his work. 



MEISSONNIER. Wild as are some of Oppenordt's designs, they 

 are surpassed by those of Juste Aurele Meissonnier, a native of 

 Turin, who practised in France, originally, it would seem, as a 

 designer of plate and china, but also of decoration and, in some 

 cases, of buildings. In his designs for the silversmith and the 

 potter he affected, like Palissy, the forms of fish, lobsters, and shells. 

 Mingling them with game and vegetables, he built up his composi- 

 tions out of a series of swirling lines, and seems to dispense with 

 straight ones of set purpose. It is by this characteristic, and the re- 

 sulting effects of plasticity and motion, that he exhibits Borrominian 

 influence rather than by wilful perversions (Figs. 354 and 387). His 

 decorative foliage is swept upwards as by a whirlwind. His architecture 

 appears to have passed through a semi-fluid state, during which it was 

 agitated by a violent swell or convulsed by an earthquake, before solidi- 

 fying. Piers, entablature, steps, and balustrades bend backwards and 

 forwards, surge up and down, like the crests and troughs of a billowy 

 sea. No element of chance, however, enters into these effects, they are 

 the calculated result of a conscious art seeking its effects by an elaborate 

 system of balance and grouping. The whole trend of the age was 



