THE STYLE OF LOUIS XVI. 



423 



402. PETIT TRIANON, BY J. A. GABRIEL (1762-8): PLAN. FROM 

 ARNOTT AND WILSON. 



sparsely distributed and is confined to the order and a delicate enrich- 

 ment of the mouldings round the windows. The whole charm of the 

 design resides in the perfection of its proportions, aided by great refine- 

 ment in the detail, and the beautiful colour and texture of the building 

 stone. 



The interior was much altered in Louis XVI. 's reign, but enough 

 of the original work remains to show Gabriel's skill in planning it, and 

 his excellent taste and fertile fancy in decorating it. The stone stair- 

 case hall, for instance, with its splendid wrought-iron balustrade is a 

 piece of virile design, entirely in the Louis XVI. style. Some of the rooms, 

 on the other hand, e.g., the antechambers, retain more than a trace of 

 the rococo manner. A curiosity of the dining-room, which has a rich 

 decoration of carved fruit and flowers, was a mechanical device to avoid 

 the presence of servants at the royal supper parties. The centre of 

 the table descended into the basement after each course to be relaid, 

 its place being automatically filled in the meantime by a metal rose. 



Gabriel also arranged dignified approaches to the house. From 

 each angle project quadrant-shaped wing-walls, ranging with the base- 

 ment, to mask the differences of the ground levels. On the west they 

 are prolonged to enclose a terraced parterre, and the windows look 

 between walls of clipped elm down a perspective of lawns and fountains 

 towards the Grand Trianon, which is concealed by the charming Concert 

 Pavilion, an octagonal room with projections on the four diagonal 



