THE STYLE OF THE EMPIRE. 



483 



found ready worked in the royal stores, and determined the dimensions 

 of the monument, which are less than those of its prototype. The 

 Roman arch is 63 feet high, 75 feet wide, and 24 feet deep. The Arc 

 du Carrousel is 47 feet high, 56 wide, and 21 deep. The arches are 

 14 feet 6 inches, and 9 feet, wide respectively, and the height of the 

 springing of the main arch is 21 feet. Napoleon placed the bronze 

 horses carried off from St Mark's, Venice, upon the platform, but the 

 Allies returned them to their former owners, the Duke of Wellington 

 personally superintending their removal. If small, particularly in rela- 

 tion to the large open space in which it stands, this arch is perhaps 

 the most tasteful of the many monuments by which Napoleon com- 

 memorated the glories of his rule and arms. For like Louis XIV., but 

 without Louis' discrimination, he looked upon art principally as a means 

 for impressing the world with his 

 majesty and irresistible power. 



ARC DE L'ETOILE. Another 

 of them was the "Arc de Tri- 

 omphe" or "de la Grande 

 Armee," now generally known as 

 "Arc de 1'Etoile" from the site, 

 which, after some hesitation, was 

 assigned to it, at the starlike inter- 

 section of the Champs Elysees 

 with two diagonal avenues ; the 

 avenues meeting at this point 

 have since been increased to 

 twelve. In 1806 Chalgrin was 

 instructed to design this monu- 

 ment to the victorious armies of 

 France in collaboration with Jean 



Armand Raymond (1742-1811), who was a pupil of Blondel and Le Roy, 

 and had made a special study in Italy of Palladio's works. They were 

 only able to agree as to the design of the general mass. Raymond 

 wished to decorate it with columns carrying statues ; Chalgrin preferred 

 reliefs applied to the walls. Though Raymond's design was accepted, 

 he retired from the work in 1808, and Chalgrin's scheme was in the 

 main carried out, though the course of the erection was a checkered one. 

 At Chalgrin's death (1811) only the pedestals had been built ; the works 

 were then superintended by his pupil Goust till his death (1828). They 

 were, however, long interrupted (1814-23). On their resumption Huyot 

 was appointed as his colleague, but afterwards superseded by a com- 

 mission of four architects including Fontaine and Gisors (1825-28). On 

 Goust's death, when the work had reached the main architrave, Huyot 

 was reinstated, to be once more superseded (1832), this time by Blouet, 



453. PARIS : ARC DU CARROUSEL, BY 

 PERCIER AND FONTAINE (1806). 



