THE STYLE OF LOUIS XV. 



366. 



DESIGN FOR VILLA NEAR GENEVA, BY F. 

 BLONDEL, JUN. : PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. 

 FROM MARIETTE. 



The screen, now 

 almost obsolete in 

 chateau design, was 

 here represented by 

 a colonnaded loggia 

 with a terrace above 

 it. As a rule, 

 chateaux were de- 

 signed on similar 

 lines to those of 

 the hotels in the 

 Faubourg St Ger- 

 main, and consist 

 of a single oblong 

 block with but 

 slight central and 

 terminal projec- 

 tions : such were 

 those of Stain by 

 Mollet, Petit Bourg 

 as remodelled by 

 the elder L'Assur- 

 ance, and Sable by 



des Gots. Like the hotels they are generally of the greatest sobriety of 

 design, sometimes as in the chateau of Bellevue, built for Mme. de 

 Pompadour by the younger L'Assurance (1748), of absolutely barrack- 

 Uke baldness, the most sparing use being made of orders, or of any 

 external decoration to mark the main divisions. 



The chateau was always the centre of an extensive scheme of laying 

 out, while the skill with which gardens in confined town sites were also 

 turned to artistic account, and made to afford a sense both of space 

 and privacy, is quite remarkable. These designs were often made by 

 ordinary architects, such as Blondel and Cartaud, as well as those who 

 made a speciality of this subject, such as Le Blond and des Gots. 



STABLES, CHANTILLY. The subsidiary buildings were as a rule 

 kept separate, and even at some distance, from the main block ; in most 

 of the above examples the court is enclosed only by a dry moat or rows 

 of chestnut trees. 



If anything could be simpler in treatment than the majority of 

 chateaux of this period it would be their outbuildings. The stables of 

 Chantilly (Figs. 369, 370, and 371) are, however, a notable exception, and 

 at first sight one would be tempted to class them as one of the pompous 

 products of the Grand Reigne, were it not that Louis XIV. would hardly 

 have tolerated such megalomania in a mere subject. These stables, 



