FRENCH ARCHITECTURE

French Architectural development from 1494 to 1830 may be divided into three stylistic
periods:
1. THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE
2. THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
3. NEO CLASSICAL PERIOD

FRENCH RENAISSANCE:
During this period the Italian campaigns of Charles VIII and Louis XII
encouraged the introduction of a new architectural style that was influenced by imported
Italian craftsmen and architectural books. Initially renaissance detail was merely grafted
onto traditional building types like, towered Chateau; churches with Gothic Vaults,
buttresses and Pinnacles. In chateau architecture, the orders were used to link window
frames into vertical sections and to embellish fantastically ornamented dormers and
chimneys. In church architecture too, Gothic ideas of proportioning and stone cutting
remained despite a layer or renaissance vocabulary. Under Francis I, Rosso and
Primaticcio initiated the Fontainebleau style of decoration with its reliance on strap work
and stucco figures. The arrival of Sebastiano Serlio in France and the visits of Philibert
and Jean Bullant encouraged a more confident use of the orders as articulation rather than
surface trim.

CLASSICAL PERIOD:
This period is called classical in order to characterize the seventeenth century
French architecture as a period that gave preference to qualities of logic balance and
quality. The greatest architects of the classical period are Jacques Lemercur, Francois
Mansart and Louis Le Vau.
 Lemercier introduced into French Architecture the sober but Rhythmic
language of the later sixteenth century in Rome such as his two storey church facades.
Mansart’s mature work is similarly majestic and restrained with much use of paired
superimposed orders, simple pediments and of course the double pitched roof that bears
his name on the whole seventeenth century France resisted the Baroque and Bernin’s
designs.

NEO CLASSICAL PERIOD: The neo-classical period in France drew on the

long traditions of classical based teaching the Academy of Architecture in Paris as
well as the new more archaeological ideas emanating from Legacy and the French
Academy in Rome. Initially as evident in the works of Gabriel, it was as much a
return to the Italian sixteenth century as and the French seventeenth century as to
antiquity itself.
 CHATEAU DE CHAMBORD
The chateau de chambord is one of the prettiest buildings in the valley De La
Loire. The only purpose of the building was to be used as a retreat for the French Kings
especially Louis XIV. The properties of the castle were a great location for hunting fox,
wolfs and deer during spring and fall.
The construction of the castle stared
in 1519 under the reign of Francois I
and was completed by 1547.
Florentine artist Leonardo Da Vinci
payed a short visit to the building
during its construction and added a
few embellishments to it like the
famous double spiral staircase. The
original wooden model was made by
an Italian artist Domenico Da
Cortona but it was much altered during execution. Domenico Da Cortona also known as
Boccador was one of the several Italian architects who came to France following Charles
VIII’s 1496 invasion of Italy. He arrived in 1495 and remained there until his death.
Chambord has a renaissance vigour of design.At first sight, chambord is medieval inplan
with a four towered square “donjon” inside a rectangular four towered enclosure.

The spiral staircase derives from a medieval concept. It goes far beyond it in its unique
division into two separate flights with numerous openings on the
arms of the corridors. A tribute to the former medieval French
tradition is to be found in the presence of powerful cylindrical
towers at the corners of the keep. The top of the stairs leads to the
large terraces of the castle. This double staircase was built in
order to be able to have 2 full troops of soldiers reaching down in
a matter of a few minutes in case of a surprise attack Four
rectangular vaulted halls on each floor form a cross shape
meeting in the center with the spectacular double helix open work staircase where people
can ascend and descend simultaneously without meeting. This and the subsidiary
staircases are crowned with lanterns. In the corners of the cross and in the towers are
separate apartments composed of hall, bed chambers and cabinet. The base of the steep
roofs which are punctuated with fantastic dormers and chimneys of varied height is a flat
terrace which both repeats the cross plan and continues with a balustrade all around the
exterior of the donjon. The detailed carving shows the individual hands of many masons
both French and German.

PALAIS DE FOUNTAINEBLEAU

The portions of PALAIS de

FOUNTAINEBLEAU constructed under Francois
I were built by Gilles de Breton. A French mason,
Gilles de Breton was the eldest son of a Parisian
Family of master masons. He was trained by his
father with whom he had worked for the chateau
de Chambord. Le Bretons main professional activity throughout his life was his devotion
to the chateau at FOUNTAINEBLEAU. In 1528, working from Sebastion Serlio’s
original design Le Breton extended the royal hunting castle according to the classical idea
of simplicity and clarity in composition of Greek and Roman architecture.

The first new buildings that he added were the entrance court, the porte Doree ( 1528 to
35 ), the pavilion of monsieur les enfantes and the chapel. The rebuilding of the main
staircase was completed in 1540. the architectonic treatment of windows and pediments
is a prominent element. Francois added to the older structure the Porte Doree with its
superimposed arches flanked by pilastered towers punctuated with tabernacle windows.
The cour du cheval blanc is sonerly articulated with brick or stone pilasters against white
plaster, but is now chiefly notable for the flamboyant double curved staircase.
 The most remarkable of Francois’s
additions to FOUNTAINEBLEAU was
the gallery with painted and stucco
decorations by the Italian painter
ROSSO which set the pattern for the
school of FOUNTAINEBLEAU. The
other important Italian painter at
FOUNTAINEBLEAU, Primaticcio
became the architect of the building in
the 1540’s, designing the Grotte des pins in a manner which recalls the more frigid
correctness of vignola.( this is a long wing with pavilions at the corners and
superimposed triumphal arch motifs
in the center). From the main door exterior
ramped staircases rise to the pavilion at either side.