Chapter XI: Architecture of the Early Renaissance in France

The Renaissance had not the same meaning north of the Alps that
it had in Italy--A fundamental change in French architecture
effected by the Renaissance influence--Survival of the Gothic
style--Conditions which favoured the change from Mediæval to
Renaissance forms--The transformation of the feudal castle into
the Renaissance château--Factitious character of the French
Renaissance château--Peculiar mixture of pseudo-Gothic and
neo-classic details in early French Renaissance
architecture--The château of Azay le Rideau--Survival in this
building of the larger mediæval forms--Its ornamental portal
based on that of Châteaudun--Analysis of this portal--A
different manifestation of Flamboyant ideas in the portal of
Chenonceaux--The château of La Rochefoucauld--The eastern wing
of Blois--The staircase tower of the court--The garden side of
the eastern wing--The château of Chambord--Its florid upper
part--Fontainebleau--Écouen--Bullant’s portico--Exceptional
character of the château of St. Germain en Laye--Further
transformation of French architecture in the later sixteenth
century 179