406 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



and Toulouse Cathedrals, St Wulfran at Abbeville, St Ouen at Rouen. 

 This fashion had the unfortunate result of bringing about the destruc- 

 tion of many fine stone screens, such as that in St Germain 1'Auxerrois 

 by Lescot and Goujon. Sometimes a rood-screen was dispensed with 

 altogether, and a curved rood beam such as those of St Maclou and 

 St Vincent at Rouen, the former composed of scrolls, the latter of palm 

 branches. 



The Age of Louis XV. produced a style, which, like the artificial 

 society of the day, has much that is attractive, and is far from deserving 

 all the abuse so freely levelled at it. Even in its monumental work, 

 when at its best, it falls little short of austerer periods. But if it can 

 occasionally impress, it seldom fails to charm or to amuse. The 

 sprightly badinage of a Voltaire was its literary expression, not the 

 sonorous eloquence of a Racine; and it is in a dainty playfulness and 

 in finished elegance that its architecture excels. 



DECORATIVE PANEL BY WATTEAU. 



