THE STYLE OF LOUIS XV. 



385 



which are actually larger than the castle itself, were built by Aubert 

 (1719-35) for the Uuke of Bourbon, Louis XV.'s first Prime Minister. 



It was said by a wit of the time that this great hunter must have 

 believed in the transmigration of souls, to house his dogs and horses in 

 such palatial style. The principal building is 590 feet long and accom- 

 modates 240 horses. In the central pavilion is a riding school with a 

 monumental entrance. On each side stretches an expanse of rusticated 

 wall 50 feet high pierced by ten huge arched windows and with terminal 

 pavilions. This range of buildings and the roadway converge at an 

 acute angle, and a circular building is cleverly placed at their junction to 

 form the transition between the end pavilion of 

 the stable and a similar one, set at an angle to 

 it, which acts as the gateway of the village. 

 This roofless rotunda, forming a riding arena 

 130 feet in diameter, is entered through three 

 giant arches framed in an order of detached 

 Ionic columns carrying an immense trophy. 

 Though no considerations consistent with 

 common-sense can justify its colossal propor- 

 tions no beast smaller than a megatherium 

 could require vaulted halls 50 feet high with 

 doorways 25 feet high by 14 feet wide the 

 simplicity in the distribution of its bold masses, 

 with rich ornament concentrated on one or two 

 points, and above all by its sheer scale, this 

 design is one of the most impressive of the 

 century. 



PALATIAL ARCHITECTURE. In palace 

 architecture the earlier half of Louis XV.'s 

 reign was not productive. The King con- 

 tented himself with modifying and re-decorat- 

 ing his existing residences, and sought to cheat 

 his chronic ennui by varying the round of his 



predecessor's chateaux with stays at Choisy, inherited from la Grande 

 Mademoiselle (Fig. 314), Petit-Bourg, bought from the Due d'Antin, or 

 Mme. de Pompadour's house at Bellevue. At Fontainebleau a scheme 

 drawn up by de Cotte for closing the fountain court by a new wing 

 at the edge of the lake with a stately double outer stair was not put 

 into execution, but a stone block le Massif added later at its south- 

 western angle in the manner of Jacques Ange Gabriel (T on plan, 

 Fig. 61), deserves that its merits should be recognised, although it 

 supplanted the old Pavilion du Roi, and breaks the symmetry of the 

 court. The celebrated gallery of Ulysses was pulled down to make 

 room for a range of courtiers' apartments of careful but unexhilarat- 



369. CHANTILLY : THE 

 STABLES, BY J. 

 AUBERT (1719-35). 

 PLAN. FROM MARI- 



ETTE. 



