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119-509: The 1906 French Renaissance style brick and limestone building was designed by Carrere and Hastings , following the consolidation of New York City in 1898. John Carrere was a resident of Staten Island and he helped select the dramatic hilltop site of Borough Hall. The interior of the building contains a series of thirteen WPA murals illustrating events in Staten Island history, painted by local artist Frederick Charles Stahr . The building

238-613: A Neo-Renaissance style, while the Hall of Columns, under the ballroom, was remade in a neoclassical style. He added new stained glass windows, made by the Royal Manufactory of Sèvres . Emperor Napoleon III , who had been baptized at Fontainebleau, resumed the custom of long stays at Fontainebleau, particularly during the summer. Many of the historic rooms, such as the Gallery of Deer, were restored to something like their original appearance, while

357-507: A Turkish-style salon was created for her in 1777, a room for games in 1786–1787, and a boudoir in the arabesque style. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette made their last visit to Fontainebleau in 1786, on the eve of the French Revolution . During the French Revolution the château was far from the turbulence of Paris, and did not suffer any significant damage, but all the furniture was later sold at auction. The buildings were occupied by

476-625: A commission by fellow Staten Islander John Carrere, but no money for murals was available when the building was finished in 1906. Thirty years later, Stahr applied for funding through the Works Progress Administration, and the project was approved in 1936. Working out of a third-floor studio, Stahr created storybook style oil paintings on canvas over the next two years, which were cemented to Borough Hall's walls as he went along. The thirteen murals depict Verrazzano 's discovery of Staten Island in 1524; Henry Hudson 's 1609 visit aboard

595-650: A large parterre of flower beds, decorated with ancient statues and separated by paths into large squares. The fountain of Diana and the grotto were made by Tommaso Francini , who may also have designed the Medici Fountain in the Luxembourg Garden for Marie de' Medici . On the south side, Henry created a park, planted with pines, elms and fruit trees, and laid out a grand canal 1200 meters long, sixty years before Louis XIV built his own grand canal at Versailles . King Louis XIII , who had been born and baptized in

714-482: A modern palace with a large park on what was then the edge of the city. It featured a central pavilion with low wings composed of arcades topped by a residential floor with alternating dormer windows under triangular frontons. All the facades were lavishly decorated in the Italian Renaissance style , including elongated sculpted figures inspired by the works of Michelangelo . After the death of Delorme in 1570,

833-507: A national museum in 1927 and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 for its unique architecture and historical importance. "Fontainebleau" took its name from the "Fontaine Belle-Eau", a natural fresh water spring located in the English garden not far from the château. The name means "Spring of beautiful water". In the 19th century the spring was rebuilt with an octagonal stone basin, as it appears today. The earliest reference to

952-602: A new brick and stone building, built in stages in 1738–1741 and 1773–74, extending west toward the Pavilion and grotto of the pines. Between 1750 and 1754, the King commissioned the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel , who had designed the Place de la Concorde and Petit Trianon to build a new wing along the Cour de la Fontaine and the carp pond. The old Pavilion des Poeles was demolished and replaced by

1071-409: A new kind of roof, called a comble brisé , which had two different angles of slope. It was crowned with a ridge of ornament. The sculptural decoration on the facade, by Jean Goujon was especially remarkable. On the two lower levels, it was discreet, composed of inlays of polychrome marble and medallions with sculpted garlands. However, on the attic or top floor, he lavishly covered every part of

1190-500: A new wing, the Aile de la Belle Chiminée (wing of the beautiful chimney). The facade was designed by Francesco Primaticcio and featured a combination of Italian and French elements; pilasters, statues in niches, a high roof with lucarnes, a central frontispiece resembling Italian church architecture, and two diverging stairways. The second plan of the Château de Verneuil (since demolished) by

1309-736: A prominent feature of the French Renaissance style. As the French Court settled in Loire Valley, the courtiers and ministers built or rebuilt palatial residences nearby. The Château d'Azay-le-Rideau (1518–1527) was constructed on an island in the Ile River by Gilles Berthelot, a wealthy banker from Tours , who was president of the Chamber of Accounts, Receiver-General of Finances, and Treasurer of France. From 1518 to 1524, dykes were dug to stabilize

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1428-544: A richly coffered ceiling and dome. It was largely completed in 1546. The emblem of Henry II, the salamander, marks the keystones. In 1554, under Henry II, the architect Philibert de l'Orme built a new organ loft, supported by two tall marble columns. Stained glass windows made in Sèvres, designed by Louis' daughter Marie , an artist, were installed in the 19th century during the Louis Philippe period. The stairway of

1547-516: A room for celebrations and balls. The 'H', the initial of the King, is prominent in the decor, as well as figures of the crescent moon, the symbol of Henry's mistress Diane de Poitiers . In the 19th century King Louis Philippe added the elaborate wooden floor, which copies the original designs in the coffers of the ceiling. At the eastern end is a monumental fireplace, which flanked with two statues of Satyrs copied by Primaticcio from Roman originals. (The current statues are later copies). Above

1666-574: A royal residence at Fontainebleau dates to 1137 under King Louis VII the Younger , but it had probably been built earlier, during the reign of Philip I of France (1060 to 1108), when the Gâtinais region was annexed from the Duchy of Burgundy . It became a favorite summer residence and hunting lodge of the kings of France because of the abundant game and many springs in the surrounding forest. The first chateau

1785-517: A series of heroic paintings for the salons. A new wing, named for its central building, La Belle Cheminée, was built next to the large fish pond. Henry IV also devoted great attention to the park and gardens around the chateau. The garden of the Queen or garden of Diana, created by Catherine de' Medici, with the fountain of Diane in the center, was located on the north side of the palace. Henry IV's gardener, Claude Mollet , trained at Château d'Anet , created

1904-464: A visit by the last survivor of its royal residents, the Empress Eugénie , on 26 June 1920. The façades the major buildings received their first protection by classification as historic monuments on 20 August 1913. In 1923, following World War I , it became home of the Écoles d'Art Américaines , schools of art and music, which still exist today. In 1927 it became a national museum. Between the wars

2023-414: A wide variety of decorative plaques and sculptural decoration on the facades, usually borrowed from ancient Greek or Roman models. These included the caryatide , elaborate cartouches , renommées , relief statues representing Fame , over doorways, grotesques , often in the form of satyrs and griffons , and sculpted draperies and garlands. They also often included stylized monograms of the initials of

2142-643: Is a New York City Landmark and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Borough Hall was originally designed with thirteen arched niches on the main floor, designed to showcase a series of murals. Each niche is 13 feet (4 m) high by 6.5 feet (2 m) wide. Frederick Charles Stahr, who grew up on Staten Island and had studied painting in Munich and at the Academy of Design in Rome, had been promised

2261-431: Is bristling with lucarnes , chimneys and small towers. The interior is symmetrical; the large central open space had as is centrepiece, the double spiral stairway. Ornament inspired by northern Italy predominates in the interior, in the form of a vaulted ceiling with carved decoration in each vault; sculpted capitals on the columns; and cul-de-lampes , or sculpted decoration on the base of columns and arches where they met

2380-742: Is built on the Loire river banks by Jean II de Chambes , diplomat in Venice and in Turkey and private counselor of King Charles VII. Between 1465 and 1469, Louis XI ordered the construction of the Château de Langeais at the end of the promontory, a hundred meters in front of the 10th century dungeon. In 1494, Charles VIII led a large army into Italy to capture Naples , which had been seized by Alfonso V of Aragon . He passed through Turin , Milan and Florence , and retook Naples on 22 February 1495. In that city he discovered

2499-614: Is still part of the Oval Court. Louis VII built a chapel which was consecrated in 1169 by Thomas Becket , the English priest in exile in France because of this disagreements with King Henry II of England . He also sponsored the construction of a monastery of the Trinitarians , a mendicant order of monks, close to the castle The modest medieval castle remained until the reign of Francis I of France (1494–1547). The King commissioned

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2618-452: Is the Château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . The facade was entirely redone and, unlike the earlier châteaux, it was given an Italianate flat terrace roof lined with large stone vases with an emerging caved flame. Other notable châteaux of this period include the Château d'Ancy-le-Franc (1538–1546) in Burgundy. The second period of French Renaissance architecture commenced in about 1540, late in

2737-452: The Arch of Septimius Severus in Rome, crowned with four statues of fame, as well as the King and Queen. The vault of the arch and the entablement are richly decorated with sculptural decoration of olive leaves and other classical themes, and with tablets of black and white marble. The tall, slender columns give the tomb an exceptional lightness and grace. After the death of King Henry II , France

2856-530: The Bayonne Bridge , showing a snappily-dressed Othmar Ammann , the bridge's designer, watching its construction sometime between 1928 and 1931. French Renaissance architecture French Renaissance architecture is a style which was prominent between the late 15th and early 17th centuries in the Kingdom of France . It succeeded French Gothic architecture . The style was originally imported from Italy after

2975-652: The Château de Chenonceau . The bridge over the Cher river had been built by Philibert Delorme. After his death in 1570, Catherine asked Jean Bullant to build a picturesque gallery (1576) atop the bridge. A much larger ensemble of buildings around the bridge was planned by Bullant, but was never built. Palace of Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( / ˈ f ɒ n t ɪ n b l oʊ / FON -tin-bloh , US also /- b l uː / -⁠bloo ; French : Château de Fontainebleau [ʃɑto d(ə) fɔ̃tɛnblo] ), located 55 kilometers (34 miles) southeast of

3094-721: The Flamboyant Gothic style . However, a few classical elements introduced during the Renaissance appeared in churches. Examples include the classical portals of the churches of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois , directly across from the new Lescot Wing of the Louvre, and Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs in Paris. The latter was borrowed directly from the Palace of Tournelles, designed by Philibert Delorme . The church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont (1530–1552), near

3213-579: The French Renaissance . The emblem of Francis I, a salamander surrounded by flames, is found alongside each painting he commissioned in the Grand Gallery. In about 1540, Francis began another major addition to the château. Using land on the east side of the château purchased from the order of the Trinitarians, he began to build a new square of buildings around a large courtyard. It was enclosed on

3332-605: The Hundred Years' War by the French kings Charles VII , Louis XI , Charles VIII , Louis XII and François I . Several notable royal châteaux in this style were built in the Loire Valley , notably the Château de Montsoreau , the Château de Langeais , the Château d'Amboise , the Château de Blois , the Château de Gaillon and the Château de Chambord , as well as, closer to Paris , the Château de Fontainebleau . This style of French architecture had two distinct periods. During

3451-504: The Pantheon in Paris, has a Gothic choir, but a facade with a classical pediment, balustrades with classical columns and a remarkable rood , or bridge, crossing the nave. The Church of Saint-Eustache (1532–1640), in the center of Paris, was begun by François I and is second in size only to Notre-Dame among Paris churches. It is a hybrid of Flamboyant Gothic and Renaissance styles. The exterior, plan and vaulted ceiling are Gothic, but

3570-467: The loggia originally planned by Francis I into a Salle des Fêtes, or grand ballroom, with a coffered ceiling. Facing the courtyard of the fountain and the fish pond. The decoration of the new ballroom featured murals by Francesco Primaticcio , surrounded by elaborate stucco sculpture. A new generation of artists joined the work, including the Mannerists painters Primaticcio and Niccolò dell'Abbate . It

3689-506: The rocaille style of the day. The decoration of the fireplace dates to the same period. The doors have an arabesque design, and were made for Marie Antoinette , as were the sculpted panels over the doors, installed in 1787. The bed was also made specially for Marie Antoinette, but did not arrive until 1797, after the Revolution and her execution. As a result it escaped the sales of the château furnishings which took place immediately after

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3808-543: The Belle Cheminée, noted for its elaborate chimneys and its two opposing stairways. In 1565, as a security measure due to the Wars of Religion , she also had a moat dug around the château to protect it against attack. King Henry IV made more additions to the château than any king since Francis I. He extended the oval court toward the west by building two pavilions, called Tiber and Luxembourg. Between 1601 and 1606, he remade all

3927-419: The Belle Cheminée. King Louis XVI also made additions to the château to create more space for his courtiers. A new building was constructed alongside the Gallery of Francis I; it created a large new apartment on the first floor, and a number of small apartments on the ground floor, but also blocked the windows on the north side of the Gallery of Francis I. The apartments of Queen Marie Antoinette were redone,

4046-649: The Centaurs and the Lapithes . On the side of the gallery facing the windows, the frescoes represent: A Sacrifice ; The Royal Elephant ; The Burning of Catane ; The Nymph of Fontainebleau (painted in 1860–61 by J. Alaux to cover a former entry to the gallery); The Sinking of Ajax ; The Education of Achilles and The Frustration of Venus . The ballroom was originally begun as an open passageway, or loggia, by Francis I. In about 1552 King Henry II closed it with high windows and an ornate coffered ceiling, and transformed it into

4165-559: The Central School of the Department of Seine-et-Marne , until 1803, when Napoleon installed a military school there. He chose Fontainebleau as the site of his historic 1804 meeting with Pope Pius VII , who had travelled from Rome to crown Napoleon emperor . Apartments were refurnished and decorated for the Emperor and Empress in the new Empire style . The Cour du Cheval Blanc was renamed

4284-531: The Cour d'Honneur, or Courtyard of Honor. One wing facing the courtyard, the Aile de Ferrare, was torn down and replaced with an ornamental iron fence and gate, making the façade of the palace visible. The gardens of Diane and the gardens of the Pines were replanted and turned into an English landscape garden by the landscape designer Maximilien Joseph Hurtault . Napoleon's visits to Fontainebleau were not frequent, because he

4403-651: The Dutch ship Halve Maen ; two panels showing stoic Lenape natives trading furs for trinkets; French Huguenot farmers; British Admiral Howe taking charge of the island in 1776 and creating Fort Hill; the 1776 peace conference among Howe, Benjamin Franklin , John Adams and Edward Rutledge at the Conference House in Tottenville; the so-called Battle of St. Andrew's; British ships departing during Evacuation Day in 1783;

4522-408: The French Court. The renovation projects of Louis XV were more ambitious than those of Louis XIV. To create more lodging for his enormous number of courtiers, in 1737–38 the King built a new courtyard, called the Cour de la Conciergerie or the Cour des Princes, to the east of the Gallery of Deer. On the Cour du Cheval Blanc, the wing of the Gallery of Ulysses was torn down and gradually replaced by

4641-528: The Gallery of Deer, were built to enclose the old garden of Diana . He also added a large jeu de paume , or indoor tennis court, the largest such court existing in the world. A second School of Fontainebleau group of painters and decorators went to work on the interiors. The architect Martin Fréminet created the ornate chapel of the Trinity, while the painters Ambroise Dubois and Toussaint Dubreuil created

4760-519: The Gros Pavilion, built of cream-colored stone. Lavish new apartments were created inside this building for the King and the Queen. The new meeting room for the Royal Council was decorated by the leading painters of the day, including François Boucher , Charles-André van Loo , Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre and Alexis Peyrotte . A magnificent small theater was created on the first floor of the wing of

4879-577: The Horse and reputed lover, the Marchese Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi  [ sv ] , of betraying her secrets to her enemies. Her servants chased him through the halls of the château and stabbed him to death. Louis XIV came to see her at the château, did not mention the murder, and allowed her to continue her travels. On May 19–20, 1717, during the Regency following the death of Louis XIV,

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4998-641: The Italian architect and architectural theorist Sebastiano Serlio . During the Hundred Years' War , Charles VII found the Loire Valley an ideal place of refuge. He was crowned in Reims following the Johan of Arc epic battles that began the departure of the English from the whole kingdom. The middle of the 15th century was a key period for the Loire Valley in the history of France and its architectural heritage. The greats of

5117-496: The King was installed in 1748 and 1749, in the space occupied during the reign of Francis I by the bedroom of Anne de Pisseleu , the Duchess of Étampes, a favorite of the King. It was designed by the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel , who used many decorative elements from the earlier room, which had originally been decorated by Primaticcio. The upper portion of the walls is divided into panels, oval and rectangular, with scenes representing

5236-473: The Loire river bank in the style of Venetian Renaissance . Its architecture is of transition between military and pleasure architecture and bears witness to the time when castles became châteaux . The main building was built in 1453 and in an unprecedent manner, two square pavilions were added between 1453 and 1461, anticipating the classical architecture by several decades. Jean III de Chambes built or transformed

5355-615: The Queen Mothers (Aile des Reines Mères) next to the Court of the Fountain, designed by Primatrice. King Louis XIV spent more days at Fontainebleau than any other monarch; he liked to hunt there every year at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. He made few changes to the exterior of the château, but did build a new apartment for his companion Madame de Maintenon , furnished it with some major works of André-Charles Boulle and demolished

5474-474: The Queen. The ornate ceiling over the bed was made in 1644 by the furniture-maker Guillaume Noyers for the Dowager Queen Anne of Austria , the mother of Louis XIV, and bears her initials. The room was redecorated by Marie Leszczynska , the Queen of Louis XV in 1746–1747. The ceiling of the alcove, the decoration around the windows and the wood panelling were made by Jacques Vererckt and Antoine Magnonais in

5593-525: The Revolution. It was used instead by Napoleon's wives, the Empress Joséphine and Marie-Louise of Austria . The walls received their ornamental textile covering, with a design of flowers and birds, in 1805. It was restored in 1968–1986 using the original fabric as a model. The furniture in the room all dates to the First Empire . The balustrade around the bed was originally made for the throne room of

5712-645: The Russian Tsar Peter the Great was a guest at Fontainebleau. A hunt for stags was organized for him, and a banquet. Officially the visit was a great success, but in the memoirs published later by members of the delegation, it appears that Peter disliked the French style of hunting, and that he found the château too small, compared with the other royal French residences. The routine of Fontainebleau also did not suit his tastes; he preferred beer to wine (and brought his own supply with him) and he liked to get up early, unlike

5831-657: The architect Gilles Le Breton to build a new palace in the Renaissance style. Le Breton created the Cour Ovale, or oval courtyard, He preserved the original medieval keep on one side, but added a monumental new building, the Porte Dorée or Golden Gate, in the Italian Renaissance style, as the main entry of the palace, On the north side he built another building with a Renaissance stairway, the Portique de Serlio, which gave access

5950-566: The architect and illustrator Domenico da Cortona , whom he assigned to remake his château in Amboise . In 1453, at the end of the Hundred Years' War, Charles VII authorized the construction of the Château de Montsoreau by Jean II de Chambes, then diplomat in Venice and Turkey and private adviser to the king. It was built on the site of the ancient fortress of Foulques Nerra , unusually, directly on

6069-535: The building was already done in the earlier Medieval style , with high lucarnes flanked by pinnacles on the roof. The first Renaissance additions were the large bays on the ground floor, which opened out with a view of the Loire. Amboise also had, on the Hurtault tower, some of the first Renaissance pilasters in France, sculpted columns on the wall that were purely decorative. The landscape architect whom Charles brought from Italy, Pacello da Mercogliano , created

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6188-504: The center of Paris , in the commune of Fontainebleau , is one of the largest French royal châteaux . It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the French monarchs , including Louis VII , Francis I , Henry II , Louis-Philippe , Napoleon I , and Napoleon III . Though the monarchs only resided there for a few months of the year, they gradually transformed it into a genuine palace, filled with art and decoration. It became

6307-427: The chateau. The King and his wife, Catherine de' Medici , chose the architects Philibert de l'Orme and Jean Bullant to do the work. They extended the east wing of the lower court and decorated it with a horseshoe-shaped staircase, which was later enlarged, and became a symbol of the château. Their major project was the Oval Court, which was designed to be the entrance to the new royal apartments. They transformed

6426-412: The château took place between 1964 and 1968 under President Charles de Gaulle and his Minister of Culture, Andre Malraux . It was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. In 2006, the Ministry of Culture purchased the royal stables, and began their restoration. Beginning in 2007, restoration began of the theater of the château, created by Napoleon III during the Second Empire. The project

6545-408: The château, continued the works begun by his father. He completed the decoration of the chapel of the Trinity, and assigned the court architect Jean Androuet du Cerceau to reconstruct the horseshoe stairway earlier designed by Philibert Delorme on the courtyard that had become known as the Cour de Cheval Blanc. After his death, his widow, Anne of Austria , redecorated the apartments within the Wing of

6664-446: The coat of arms of France and the salamander , the emblem of the King. The upper walls are covered by frescoes framed in richly sculpted stucco. The frescoes depicted mythological scenes to illustrate the virtues of the King. On the side of gallery with windows, the frescoes represent Ignorance Driven Out ; The Unity of the State ; Cliobis and Biton ; Danae ; The Death of Adonis ; The Loss of Perpetual Youth ; and The Battle of

6783-413: The collection, including the replica of the crown of Siam given by the Siamese government to Napoleon III, a Tibetan mandala , and an enamel chimera from the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736–1795). The Gallery of Francis I is one of the first and finest examples of Renaissance decoration in France. It was begun in 1528 as a passageway between the apartments of the King with the oval courtyard and

6902-421: The columns on the courtyard, and the sculpture in light relief, showed the Italian influence. The arrival of François I in Blois, accompanied by his court and a large contingent of artists, made that château the centre of the French Renaissance. It became his principal residence and he devoted much of his effort on rebuilding the north wing, called the Loges , where his apartments were located. The architecture

7021-423: The creation of the loggia and the passageway, which divided up the courtyard, and the street gate. Much polychrome interplay (brick/stone) and various ornaments (cabochons, diamonds, masks) evoke luxury, surprise and abundance, themes peculiar to Mannerist architecture. The Renaissance had less influence on French religious architecture; cathedrals and churches, for the most part, continued to be built or rebuilt in

7140-416: The east wing of the lower court, and decorated it with the first famous horseshoe-shaped staircase. In the oval court, they transformed the loggia planned by François into a Salle des Fêtes or grand ballroom with a coffered ceiling. They designed a new building, the Pavillon des Poeles , to contain the new apartments of the King. The painters Primaticcio and Niccolò dell'Abbate continued their decoration of

7259-411: The eastern end of the room is a gallery where the musicians played during balls. The decor was restored many times over the years. The frescoes on the walls and pillars were painted beginning in 1552 by Nicolo dell'Abate , following drawings by Primaticcio. On the garden side of the ballroom, they represent: The Harvest ; Vulcan forging weapons for Love at the request of Venus ; Phaeton begging

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7378-407: The erection of Fort Richmond and Fort Tompkins in anticipation of the War of 1812 ; a stagecoach stopping at the Black Horse Tavern, which had been destroyed to accommodate road widening in 1934, three years prior to the 1937 painting; the Hotel Castleton , run by freed black men in the 19th century and destroyed by fire in 1907; the first Clifton to Tottenville railroad in 1860; and, finally,

7497-415: The façades around the courtyard, including that of the chapel of Saint-Saturnin, to give the architecture greater harmony. On the east side, he built a new monumental domed gateway, the Porte du Baptistère. Between 1606 and 1609, he built a new courtyard, the Cour des Offices or Quartier Henry IV, to provide a place for the kitchens and residences for court officials. Two new galleries, the Gallery of Diana and

7616-476: The first French Renaissance garden on the terrace, surrounded by a forged wrought iron fence. Charles did not see the château completed; he died there in 1498, after accidentally hitting his head on a lintel. Not all the architectural innovation took place in the Loire Valley. Georges d'Amboise was archbishop of Rouen, but also the chief minister for Italian affairs for both Louis XII and Charles VIII. Between 1502 and 1509 he largely redecorated his residence in

7735-499: The first manifestations of the French classicism, its exceptional ornamentation and pristine condition earn it a mention in every overview of French Renaissance. Pierre Assézat, a wealthy woad merchant , launched the first phase of construction in 1555–1556. The main L-shaped structure was built along with the staircase pavilion in the corner. The designs of the façades, featuring twin columns which develop regularly over three floors (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian), take their inspiration from

7854-441: The first period, between about 1491 and 1540, the Italian style was copied directly, often by Italian architects and craftsmen. In the second period, between 1540 and the end of the Valois dynasty in 1589, French architects and craftsmen gave the style a more distinctive and original French character. The major architects of the style included the royal architects Philibert Delorme , Pierre Lescot and Jean Bullant , as well as

7973-402: The forms of the square, the Greek cross and the circle. The dome had a spiral coffered interior, resembling those in ancient Rome; it was one of the first of its kind in France. The Château d'Écouen , designed by Jean Bullant , features the classical orders on the portico on its western facade. it was inspired by the portico of the Pantheon in Rome. The columns of the facade rise all

8092-433: The foundations. Towers bulge from the corners of the château, bound by a horizontal plat band between the two floors and broad cornice elevating the attic storey; a high roof is pierced by lucarnes , or dormer windows, framed by decorative pilasters and capped with ornate pediments (which became the most recognizable feature of French Renaissance architecture) and topped with rounded, rectangular chimneys. The double doorway

8211-419: The fresco themes are more contemporary. A fresco above the fireplace depicts Sébastien de Rabutin, a huissier of the Court of Henry II, who in 1548 killed a wolf during a hunt in the forest of Orléans. Henry II commissioned the painting to commemorate the event. Behind the ballroom is St. Saturnin's Chapel. The lower chapel was originally built in the 12th century, but was completely rebuilt under Francis I with

8330-425: The gallery with murals glorifying the king, framed in stucco ornament in high relief, and lambris sculpted by the furniture maker Francesco Scibec da Carpi . Another Italian painter, Francesco Primaticcio from Bologna ("Primatice" to the French), joined later in the decoration of the gallery. Their elaborate mixture of painting and sculpture became known as the first School of Fontainebleau , which helped launch

8449-491: The grand stairway tower in the Italian style in 1510–1515, its carvings are similar to the ones of the gate-house of Château de Gaillon . In 1491, before the Italian campaign, Charles VIII had begun rebuilding the Château d'Amboise , turning it from a medieval castle into a more comfortable residence, with two wings and a chapel. He returned from Italy to Amboise in March 1496, where nearly two hundred stonemasons and ninety other skilled craftsmen were already at work. Much of

8568-479: The great chapel of the Trinitarian monastery, but in 1531 Francis I made it a part of his royal apartments, and between 1533 and 1539 it was decorated by artists and craftsmen from Italy, under the direction of the painter Rosso Fiorentino , or Primaticcio, in the new Renaissance style. The lower walls of the passage were the work of the master Italian furniture maker Francesco Scibec da Carpi ; they are decorated with

8687-490: The great classical models such as the Coliseum . The capitals also precisely adhere to classical models, known from engravings. The erudite architecture—its source can also be traced to the treatises of the royal architect Sebastiano Serlio —expresses order and regularity. After Bachelier's death in 1556 the construction work stopped; it was restarted in 1560 under the direction of Dominique Bachelier, son of Nicolas. He undertook

8806-522: The kingdom settled in the region, fitting out medieval fortresses or erecting new buildings. Charles VII resided in Chinon , which remained the seat of the court until 1450, and he and his dauphin, the future Louis XI , ordered or authorized construction works to be carried out. Then began the construction of the Châteaux of the Loire Valley . Thus, from 1443 to 1453, the main building of the Château de Montsoreau

8925-445: The large parterre into a French formal garden . He removed the hanging garden which Henry IV had built next to the large fish pond, and instead built a pavilion, designed by Le Vau, on a small island in the center of the pond. Louis XIV welcomed many foreign guests there, including the former Queen Christina of Sweden , who had just abdicated her crown. While a guest in the château on 10 November 1657, Christina suspected her Master of

9044-449: The lavish gardens and the new architectural style of the Italian Renaissance , which he judged far superior to that of his own medieval palace in Amboise . An anti-French coalition of armies forced him to retreat from Naples, but he took with him twenty-two skilled Italian craftsmen, including gardeners, sculptors, architects and engineers, including the scholar and architect Fra Giocondo and

9163-463: The love life of Alexander the Great . The paintings are framed by large statues of women by Primaticcio. The eastern wall of the room was destroyed during the reconstruction, and was replaced during the reign of Louis Philippe in the 19th century with paintings by Abel de Pujol . All of the queens and empresses of France, from Marie de' Medici to the Empress Eugènie , slept in the bedchamber of

9282-459: The main facade was also a striking innovation; it was the first correct use in France of the three classical orders, one above the other. Only a few of the original buildings remain. The central building was later demolished, but the porch can be seen today in the courtyard of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. A third innovative feature was the chapel, consecrated in 1553. In his plan, Delorme combined

9401-444: The nearby Amboise and died in the same year that construction began. He may have played a part in designing the unique double spiral stairway. The plan of the Château is that of a medieval fortress, with round towers on the corners and massive keep or central tower, but the exuberant ornament is purely early French Renaissance. The facade has pilasters at regular intervals, balanced by horizontal bands of relief sculpture. The roof

9520-454: The new ballroom and the gallery of Ulysses with murals by Primaticcio framed in ornately sculptured stucco. François I began other châteaux in the Paris region, The biggest and most impressive was the Château de Madrid , in what is now the Paris suburb of Neuilly , which he began in 1527, because he found the Louvre uncomfortable. It was largely abandoned and then demolished in the late 18th century. Another late château created by François I

9639-489: The north by the wing of the Ministers, on the east by the wing of Ferrare, and on the south by a wing containing the new gallery of Ulysses. The château was surrounded by a new park in the style of the Italian Renaissance garden , with pavilions and the first grotto in France. Francesco Primaticcio created more monumental murals for the gallery of Ulysses. Following the death of Francis I, King Henry II continued to expand

9758-442: The old apartments of the baths under the Gallery of Francis I to create new apartments for the royal princes, and he made some modifications to the apartments of the King. The architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart built a new wing alongside the Gallery of Deer and the Gallery of Diana to provide more living space for the Court. He did make major changes in the park and gardens; he commissioned André Le Nôtre and Louis Le Vau to redesign

9877-461: The orders of classical columns and other Renaissance elements appear in the interior. One of the finest religious monuments of the French Renaissance is the tomb of François I and his wife Claude de France, located within the Basilica of Saint Denis (1547–1561). It was created by the architect Philibert Delorme and the sculptor Pierre Bontemps . The principal element is a triumphal arch, modeled after

9996-540: The other, modeled after the palaces of Naples and Urbino . The second phase was new courtyard, the Cheval Blanc, with three long wings constructed of brick and moellons et enduit , a mixture of rubble and cement, which became a common combination in French Renassiance architecture. The round medieval towers of the old château were replaced by square pavilions with high roofs and lucarne windows. The third phase

10115-404: The owner. The Château d'Anet was constructed by Philibert Delorme for Diane de Poitiers , the favorite mistress of Henry II , between 1547 and 1552. It originally had three wings, a chapel and a large garden, as well as an imposing gatehouse, whose centerpiece was the famous Nymph statue by Cellini , now at Fontainebleau, along with sculptures of a stag and two hunting dogs. The porch of

10234-459: The private apartments were redecorated to suit the tastes of the Emperor and Empress. Numerous guest apartments were squeezed into unused spaces of the buildings. The old theater of the palace, built in the 18th century, was destroyed by a fire in the wing of the Belle Cheminée 1856. Between 1854 and 1857 the architect Hector Lefuel built a new theater in the Louis XVI style , where famous actors from

10353-415: The reign of François I, and continued until the death of his successor Henry II in 1559. This period is sometimes described as the high point of the style. It included work by Italian architects including Giacomo Vignola and Sebastiano Serlio , but more and more it was made by French architects, particularly Philibert Delorme , Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau , Pierre Lescot and Jean Bullant , and by

10472-481: The remodeling of the medieval oval courtyard. The 12th-century tower was preserved, and a new residential block was constructed, its facade ornamented with pilasters and high windows with lucarnes and with triangular frontons , which became a signature feature of the new style. The old medieval chatelet , or gatehouse, was replaced by a new structure, the Porte Dorée , which was composed of grand loggias one above

10591-534: The right stairway of the Lescot Wing, decorated with a sculpture of hunting scenes. The hôtel d'Assézat in Toulouse , built by architect Nicolas Bachelier and, after his death in 1556, by his son Dominique, is an outstanding example of Renaissance palace architecture of southern France, with an elaborate decoration of the cour d'honneur ("courtyard") influenced by Italian Mannerism and by classicism . As one of

10710-514: The royal apartments. Beginning in about 1528, Francis constructed the Galerie François I , which allowed him to pass directly from his apartments to the chapel of the Trinitarians. He brought the architect Sebastiano Serlio from Italy, and the Florentine painter Giovanni Battista di Jacopo, known as Rosso Fiorentino , to decorate the new gallery. Between 1533 and 1539 Rosso Fiorentino filled

10829-867: The sculptor Charles Henri Joseph Cordier . Close by, in the Louis XV wing, the Emperor established his office, and the Empress made her Salon of Lacquer. These were the last rooms created by the royal residents of Fontainebleau. In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War , the Second Empire fell, and the château was closed. During the Franco-Prussian War, the palace was occupied by the Prussian Army on 17 September 1870, and briefly used as an army headquarters by Frederick Charles of Prussia from March 1871. Following

10948-757: The sculptor Jean Goujon . The features of this period included the greater use of the ancient Classical orders of columns and pilasters, preceding from the most massive to the lightest. This meant starting at the bottom with the Doric order , then the Ionic , then the Corinthian on top. The order used on each level determined the style of that level of the facade. Philibert Delorme went further and added two new orders to his facades: French Doric and French Ionic. These columns were regular Doric and Ionic columns decorated with ornamental bands or rings. The second period featured also

11067-539: The soldiers of the Old Guard , assembled in the Court of Honor. Later, during the Hundred Days , he stopped there on 20 March 1815. In his memoirs, written while in exile on Saint Helena , he recalled his time at Fontainebleau; "...the true residence of kings, the house of the centuries. Perhaps it was not a rigorously architectural palace, but it was certainly a place of residence well thought out and perfectly suitable. It

11186-450: The strong horizontal bands marking the floors, and by the gradual and subtle change of the ornament on each level, representing the three classical orders of architecture. To avoid monotony, the frontons of the windows alternated between triangles and rounded arches. The top floor did not have a high roof lucarnes , like most other French Renaissance buildings; it was composed instead of alternating windows and sculptural decoration, beneath

11305-569: The sun to let him drive his chariot ; and Jupiter and Mercury at the home of Philemon and Baucis . The floor, which mirrors the design of the ceiling, was crafted by Louis-Philippe in the first half of the 19th century. The frescoes on the side of the Oval Courtyard represent: The feast of Bacchus ; Apollo and the Muses on Mount Parnassus ; The Three Graces dancing before the gods ; and The wedding feast of Thetis and Peleus . Some of

11424-462: The task was taken up by Jean Bullant , but then it was interrupted again by the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572, and was not completed until decades later. The decorations invented by Delorme included a new style of classical columns, French Corinthian, banded with several ornamental rings. Catherine de Medici also imposed the Italian style at Fontainebleau , with the construction of

11543-504: The theatres of Paris performed portions of plays for the guests of the Emperor. On the ground floor of the Gros Pavilion, the Empress Eugénie built a small but rich museum, containing gifts from the King of Siam in 1861, and works of art taken during the pillage of the Summer Palace in Beijing. It also featured paintings by contemporary artists, including Franz Xaver Winterhalter , and

11662-668: The upper floors of the wing of the Belle Cheminée, burned in 1856, were rebuilt by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation . During World War II, it was occupied by the Germans on 16 June 1940, and occupied until 10 November, and again from 15 May to the end of October 1941. Following the war, part of the château became a headquarters of the Western Union and later NATO 's Allied Forces Central Europe / Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe , until 1966. The general restoration of

11781-447: The valley of the Seine , the Château de Gaillon , in the Italian style. He acquired a fountain, marble medallions from Genoa , sculpted frontons and pilasters with seashell ornamentation, and various architectural elements from Italy and used them in the chậteau. Gradually, the decoration transformed the château from a medieval fortress to an elegant Renaissance residence. Most of the Château

11900-574: The wall with sculptures of slaves, warriors, trophies, and mythical divinities, representing in classical style the military triumphs of France. Inside the Lescot Wing the decoration was inspired by ancient Greece. In the ballroom, the balcony for the musicians was carried by caryatides made by Jean Goujon, inspired by those on the Acropolis in Athens. Goujon was also responsible for the coffered ceiling of

12019-577: The wall. After he was released from his captivity in Spain in 1526, François I decided to move his court from the Loire Valley to the Ile-de-France region centered in Paris. He constructed or reconstructed seven châteaux in the Ile-de-France, the most important of which was the Château de Fontainebleau . The architect the King chose for Fontainebleau was Gilles Le Breton . Work commenced in 1528 with

12138-553: The war, two of the buildings became the home of the School of Applied Artillery , which had been forced to leave Alsace when the province was annexed by Germany . It was occasionally used as a residence by the presidents of the Third Republic , and to welcome state guests including King Alexander I of Serbia (1891), King George I of Greece (1892) Leopold II of Belgium (1895) and King Alfonso XIII of Spain (1913). It also received

12257-564: The way to the roofline. The interior is also remarkable, with some of the original ceramic tile floor still in place and highly decorated fireplaces. This château is now the French National Museum of the Renaissance. One of the last commissions of François I, given just a year before his death, was the reconstruction of a part of the Louvre Palace , built by Charles V , in order to make it more comfortable and palatial. The project

12376-407: The young architect Salomon de Brosse (1576) was another landmark of the late French Renaissance style. It was commanded by Henry IV of France . Its symmetry, corner pavilions, twin pilasters, discreet roof, absence of lucarnes and its rotunda at the entrance made it a concise summary of the French Renaissance style at the end of the 16th century. Catherine de Medici also commissioned additions to

12495-410: Was a square "donjon" or keep , a fortified tower surrounded by a wall. It was three stories high, and occupied an area of about fifty square meters. The lower walls were three meters wide while the upper walls were a meter wide, made of stone, had windows facing north and south and were topped by a wooden palisade. The King resided on the middle level. The original tower, rebuilt to fit the later styles,

12614-439: Was a new gallery to connect the old and new buildings. The decor of this new gallery was created by a Tuscan craftsman, Rosso Fiorentino . who arrived in 1530. The final new project was a grand stairway on the oval court leading up the royal apartments. It had a portico with classical columns resembling a triumphal arch . The design of this stairway was not borrowed from Italy, but copied directly from classical Roman models. It

12733-610: Was a sign of the beginning of more originality in French Renaissance architecture. Beginning in 1530, the group of Italian artists imported by François I, led by Rosso Fiorentino , Francesco Primaticcio , and Niccolo dell' Abbate , becoming known as the First School of Fontainebleau , decorated the interiors of the new rooms. Their work had a major influence on Renaissance decoration throughout Europe. This included frescoes in elaborate stucco sculptural frames, cartouches in all forms, and medallions in high relief. The architecture

12852-407: Was also the birthplace of Francis II , Henry II's firstborn son. Following the death of Henry II in a jousting accident, his widow, Catherine de' Medici , took over the project, which she carried out through the reigns of her three sons, Francis II, Charles IX , and Henry III . She named Primaticcio as the new superintendent of royal public works. He designed the section known today as the wing of

12971-515: Was certainly the most comfortable and happily situated palace in Europe." Following the restoration of the monarchy , Kings Louis XVIII and Charles X each stayed at Fontainebleau, but neither made any major changes to the palace. Louis-Philippe I was more active, both restoring some rooms and redecorating others in the style of his period. The Hall of the Guards and Gallery of Plates were redecorated in

13090-406: Was constructed like a small arch of triumph. The grand stairway, in the Italian style, was the most important interior feature; it had a coffered ceiling decorated with sculpture. The Château de Blois (1519–1536) was originally begun by Louis XII of France , cousin and successor to Charles VIII. The initial design was more medieval than Renaissance; only the pillars and decorated capitals of

13209-483: Was demolished in the 19th century, but some portions remain and some of the decoration is now on display in the Musée national des Monuments Français in Paris. The Château de Bury , another medieval castle (since demolished), was constructed beginning in 1511 by Florimond Robertet, a state secretary and treasurer for both Charles VIII and François I. Following the new style, it was designed for living, not for fighting. It

13328-520: Was funded by the government of Abu-Dhabi , and in exchange the theater was renamed for Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan . It was inaugurated on 30 April 2014. On 1 March 2015, the Chinese Museum of the château was robbed by professional thieves. They broke in at about six in the morning, and, despite alarms and video cameras, in seven minutes stole about fifteen of the most valuable objects in

13447-514: Was inspired by the design of Donato Bramante for the Cortile del Belvedere of the Vatican Palace in Rome. Its facade facing the courtyard presented arcades and niches decorated with pilasters in the Italian style, but it was left unfinished. One characteristic feature of François I decoration at Blois was the corniche aux coquilles , a cornice with a sea shell motif. The Château de Chambord

13566-683: Was occupied so much of the time with military campaigns. Between 1812 and 1814, the château served as a very elegant prison for Pope Pius VII. On 5 November 1810, the chapel of the château was used for the baptism of Napoleon's nephew, the future Napoleon III , with Napoleon serving as his godfather, and the Empress Marie-Louise as his godmother. Napoleon spent the last days of his reign at Fontainebleau, before abdicating there on 4 April 1814, under pressure from his Marshals , Ney , Berthier , and Lefebvre . On 20 April, after failing in an attempt to commit suicide, he gave an emotional farewell to

13685-454: Was ornamented with sculpture of putti , of garlands of fruit, of satyrs and heroic figures from mythology. The most important included twelve rectangular frescos, in highly decorative three-dimensional sculpturesque frames, in the Gallery of François I (1533–1539). Following the death of Francis I in 1547, his successor King Henry II continued to enlarge and embellish the château. The architects Philibert Delorme and Jean Bullant extended

13804-529: Was perfectly symmetrical, with four round towers, around a central cour d'honneur , which was decorated with a statue of David by Michelangelo . A double stairway on the exterior at the main entrance replaced the traditional winding stairway within a tower. The facade was largely vertical, but was divided by horizontal cordons or bands of decoration following the style of palaces in Florence and Rome. This symmetrical balance of horizontal and vertical lines became

13923-559: Was the summit of the early French Renaissance style, a harmonious combination of French tradition and Italian innovation. François I conceived the idea of a comfortable hunting lodge in the forest. Work began in 1519, but was interrupted by the capture of the King by the Spanish-Imperial army at the Battle of Pavia in 1525. It resumed in 1526 after the King was released, and was finished in 1538. Leonardo da Vinci spend his last years at

14042-467: Was torn by the outbreak of the French Wars of Religion , which largely pushed aside architecture and design. Nonetheless, a few last Renaissance projects were launched, largely inspired by Catherine de Medici , the widow of Henry II. The most important project of the period was the new Tuileries Palace . It was designed by the chief royal architect, Philibert Delorme, in response to the Queen's wish for

14161-540: Was undertaken by Pierre Lescot , a nobleman and architect, and was modified by the new King, Henry II , who added a new pavilion on the southwest to serve as his residence. The result was a skillful blend of Italian and French elements. The facade featured arcades on the ground level in the Italian style, and was divided by three avant-corps decorated with sets of twin Corinthian columns and topped with consoles with rounded frontons. These vertical elements were balanced by

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