Part 14 (1/2)

This Cour du Cheval Blanc acquired its name from a plaster cast of Marcus Aurelius's celebrated steed which was originally placed here under a canopy or baldaquin held aloft by colonnettes The ht fronole, but it was never cast in bronze and the statue itself disappeared in 1626 The courtyard, however, still kept the name until the last of Napoleonic days

As a Napoleonic memory this Cour des Adieux shares popularity with the famous Cabinet of the Ened his abdication Certainly most visitors will carry away thethe most vivid souvenirs of Fontainebleau

”_Le 5 Avril, 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte signa son abdication sur cette table dans le cabinet de travail du Roi, le deuxieme apres la chambre a coucher a Fontainebleau_”

The abdication itself (the document) is now exposed in the Galerie de Diane, transforht is the Aile Neuf, built by Louis XV, for the housing of his officers, on the site of the Galerie de Ulysse, originally one of the most notable features of the palace of Francois I Opposite is the sober alignment of the Aile des Ministres, and still farther to the rear are the Pavillon des Aue; the Chapelle de la Trinite; the Pavillon des Armes; the Pavillon des Peintres; the Pavillon des Poels; the Galerie des Fresques; and, finally, the Pavillon des Reines-Meres All of these details are of the period of Francois I save the last, which was an interpolation of Louis XIV

The Fer a Cheval stairway, however, most curious because of the difficulties of its construction, dates from the time of Louis XIII, and replaces the stairs built by Philibert Delore, dates only fro entrance court is a hundred and twelve th, and to see it as it was originally, before the destruction of the Galerie d'Ulysse, one ine it as closed in by a series of small pavilions with their frontons of colonnettes preceded only by a staircase and two drawbridges crossing the moat, which at that time surrounded the entire confines of the palace The moat is to-day surrounded, where it still exists, by a balustrade, due to the rather shabby taste of Louis XV

An inner courtyard, known as the Cour de la Fontaine, is incon than the entrance court, and the Cour Ovale, absolutely as Henri IV left it, is finer still At the foot of this latter court is the Baptistry where were baptised, in 1606, the three ”Enfants de France,” the dauphin, afterwards Louis XIII; the Princesse Elizabeth, afterwards the Queen of Spain; and the Princesse de Savoie

The Cour Ovale is practically of the proportions of the ancient Manor of Fontaine Belle Eau, built by Robert le Pieux There, too, Philippe Auguste, Saint Louis, Philippe-le-Bel, Charles V and Charles VII frequently resided Francois I had no wish that this old manor should entirely disappear and preserved its old donjon, a relic which has since gone the way of many another noble fane There are several other notable courts or gardens, the Cour des Offices, the Jardin de Diane, the Orangerie, the Cour des Princes, etc

All the original gardens were laid out anew by Louis XIV, and that of Diane underwent a considerable change at the hands of Napoleon, who also laid out a Jardin Anglais on the site of the ancient Jardin des Pins, where originally sprang into being the rippling Fontaine Beleau, or Belle Eau, which gave its name to the palace, the forest and the town

[Illustration: _Salle du Throne, Fontainebleau_]

The park, as distinct fro forest, is a finely shaded range of alleys, due chiefly to Henri IV, who cut the great canal of ornaement of its details

The principal curiosity of the park is the faood seasons and bad, can be counted on to give three thousand kilos of authentic _chasselas_, grapes of the finest quality One wonders who gets theation that has been raised eneral, the aspect of the exterior of the Palais de Fontainebleau, the walls themselves, the Cours, the alleyed walks are chiefly reminiscent of the early art of the Renaissance Francois I is, after all, more in evidence than the Henris or the Napoleons Within, the saree The Renaissance is _maitresse_ within and without; the other race

There is hardly an apartment in all the world of palaces in France, or beyond the frontiers, to rank with the great Galerie Francois I at Fontainebleau, though indeed its proportions aredefective to-day, for Louis XV blocked up all the s on one side

It remains, however, one of the richest exah somewhat tarnished by the heedlessness of Charles X

Never were there before, nor since, its era such s as are here to be seen The aspirants for the Prix de Ro set the how effective such examples are, are insistent The best examples of the School of Fontainebleau are a distinct variety of French painting The veriest dabbler in art can say with Michelet: ”There is no re Italian therein”

Frankly, these works were the product of secondary artists and their pupils Leonardo da Vinci, too old to do anything more than direct, saw himself succeeded by Del Sarto, Rosso and Primaticcio Cellini may have contributed, too, but his labours were doubtless blotted out to a great extent by the orders of the all-powerful duchesse d'etae, Primaticcio One of the masters of this coterie was Nicolo dell' Abbate, better known, perhaps, for his works painted at Bologna than for his frescoes at Fontainebleau

[Illustration]

The Galerie Henri II is notable also for its decorations, the harh ”restored” in late years, presents an astonishi+ng pristine vigour This aparts considered, as one of the chief show apartth is thirty metres, its breadth ten, with five aht on either side, one set giving on the Cour Ovale, and the other on the Parterre and theis broken up into octagonal _caissons_, their depths alternately laid with gold or silver, bearing the ram of the monarch and his _devise_ The parquet is laid in divisions reproducing the design of the ceiling On either side the walls are wainscoted in oak siold and silver, with the initials of Diane de Poitiers, and of her adram reproduces itself in the chimney-piece with the frescoes of Nicolo dell' Abbate, and fifty figures of s

The chapel dates chiefly from the tiing to later reigns

A certain sentiment, not a little real beauty, and much unauthenticated history attach themselves to the Salon Louis XIII, the Salle du Trone, the Apartment of Madame de Maintenon, those of Napoleon I, of Pope Pius VII and of Marie Antoinette

The Galerie de Diane is little re a reconstitution under the First Eh its decorations date fro, and furniture, apparently of the best of Renaissance times, are merely copies made by Louis Philippe, who did not hesitate, on another occasion, to blue-wash the Salon de Saint Louis, and who hung worthless third-rate paintings, which even provincial museums of the meanest rank have since refused to house, in the admirably decorated apartments of the period of Francois and Henri

Fontainebleau, to-day, is but a mentary, by no means complete; but all sufficient

Of later years there is actually little to single out in the way of remarkable additions or restorations Under the Second Empire the Galerie Francois I was repainted, sos, and various ranges of books were stored away in the Galerie de Diane, having been brought from the chapel which had ceased to serve as the Library This apartment was now refitted as a chapel, and, to supplant six wall paintings which had been removed, Napoleon III ordered seven canvases fro the life of Saint Saturnin