RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



nothing now remains but the street front, a small but very successful 

 piece of Louis XVI. design without orders, but effectively decorated 

 with appropriate sculpture (Fig. 432). 





433. ARABESQUE BY CAUVET. 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



ST SULPICE : SERVANDONY AND MEISSONNIER. The reaction to 

 classical purism was first manifested, as noted above, in Servandony's 



design for the west 

 front of St Sulpice, 

 and it is a most re- 

 markable fact that 

 t\vo designs so dia- 

 metrically opposed 

 in their inspiration 

 as his and Meisson- 

 nier's (see pp. 402-3) 

 should have been 

 produced within six 

 years of each other 

 by architects of the 

 same age and similar 

 training, both in 

 revolt against aca- 

 demic teaching. 

 The difference lies 

 in the fact that, 

 while Meissonnier 

 was merely up to 

 date, Servandony 

 was ahead of his age. 

 He saw that the 

 flowery by-path of 

 rococo art was an 

 impasse leading no 

 whither, that if pro- 



434. PARIS: ST SULI>ICE. FACADE BY SERVANDONY 

 (1733-45): SOUTH TOWER BY MACLAURIN: 

 NORTH TOWER BY CHAI.OKIX. 



