THE STYLE OF LOUIS XVI. 453 



requirements of the building are fitted into an elongated rectangle, and 

 set out on an axial system carried to its utmost limits. As regards the 

 elevations, however, Louis can hardly be said to have been so successful, 

 or to have done much to relieve the monotony of the nearly cubical mass 

 by giving it giant order of Corinthian pilasters, with a balustraded 

 attic, and by placing a colonnade of the same order across one end 

 (Fig. 431), 



If externally Louis' work, though both imposing and finely detailed, 

 does not escape dulness, internally he redresses the balance. The 

 decoration throughout is admirably designed, and is of a very similar 

 character to that of the Opera at Versailles. The auditorium, which is 

 approached by a stately columned vestibule and a noble staircase, if 

 not the first to break with the traditional U plan, for that of Soufflot's 

 theatre at Lyons (1756) was planned as a truncated ellipse, was the 

 first so designed as to permit of a symmetrically planned ceiling. The 

 " parterre " is three-quarters of a quasi-circle in plan, and the surround- 

 ing podium which forms the first gallery carries an order of composite 

 columns embracing two tiers of balconies. From the two columns 

 which frame the opening towards the proscenium and the two diagon- 

 ally opposite them, spring four depressed arches, which, with the 

 pendentives between them, carry a circular saucer dome. On the three 

 sides of the auditorium the pair of columns intervening between these 

 angle ones carry flattened semi-domes. On the fourth side the straight 

 cheeks of the proscenium converge towards the stage, which is framed 

 in between another pair of columns. 



OTHER THEATRES. The influence of the Bordeaux theatre is 

 strongly felt in the design of the Odeon Theatre in Paris (1779-82) by 

 Marie Joseph Peyre (1730-85) and Charles de Wailly (1729-98), which, 

 though smaller and plainer, is more successful as regards the elevations. 

 The roof is steeper and better visible ; circular openings enliven the attics ; 

 in the absence of an order the arcaded galleries tell more effectively in 

 the composition ; and the columnar portico, occupying only about two- 

 thirds of the front, avoids the sprawling effect of its prototype. 



The success of Louis' work at Bordeaux was so great that he was 

 commissioned by the Duke of Orleans to design a theatre to replace 

 the opera house of the Palais Royal built by Moreau Desproux in 1763 

 and burnt down in 1781. The new house was placed on the west of 

 the palace and is the present "Theatre Frangais" or "Comedie Frangaise" 

 (1786-90), which, however, has undergone many alterations since. It 

 is not entirely detached like the theatre of Bordeaux, and is not externally 

 so ambitious or effective, but it resembles it in its covered galleries, its 

 columnar entrance hall, which here is circular, and the arrangement of the 

 auditorium, which here is elliptical with the long axis parallel to the stage. 



Of the theatre at Amiens (1778-80) by Jacques Rousseau (1733-1801) 



