Fair Women at Fontainebleau (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II The Duchesse D'etampes (queen Of Fetes) The dilapidated donjon which had nestled for centuries in the heart of verdant woods received one day the visit of a wizard-prince, and thereafter became transformed into a gorgeous pleasure-palace. The wizard-prince, known to a prosaic world under the title of King Fran9ois I, happened to be hunting in the neighbourhood, or perhaps was journeying with his Court from one city to another, when he passed through Fontainebleau and realized its wonderful possibilities. Fran5ois I had a keen eye for beauty and a good-will to produce it. He rarely missed an opportunity of spending money on adornment. Therefore he began, almost immediately, to weave spells over the ruined chateau, to rebuild the donjon, towers and battlements, and by the aid of such magicians as Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, Rosso, Primaticcio, and Benvenuto Cellini, to conjure up magnificent ornament, rich colouring, decorative design, and beautiful workmanship, hitherto undreamed of in the philosophy of France. The outlines of the oldbuilding disappeared, and were replaced by an imposing edifice which grew to completion under the skilled hands of an army of architects, artists and workmen of all nations. Green lawns, parks, and luxuriant gardens lay stretched beyond the courts and terraces, and these in turn gave place to tracts of fertile forest and sparkling waters. Rocks barren or wooded, boulders overgrown with moss and lichen, broke up the vistas of glade and grove, the lengthy avenues, the maze of branching alleys. Such was Fontainebleau, pearl of the Gatinais, where for twenty years and more the king laboured to make himself a fitting residence. At his death the palace was not finished, although the chief characteristics in architecture and decorat...