THE Brochure Series OF ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION.
1900.
OCTOBER
No. 10.
THE CHÂTEAU OF CHAMBORD: FRANCE
The Château of Chambord is one of themost unique palaces of the Renaissancein existence. "It is," writesJules Loiseleur, "the Versaillesof thefeudal monarchy;andwas to theChâteau ofBlois, thatcentral residenceof theValois, whatVersailles wasto the Tuilleries,—thecountry-seatof royalty.Tapestriesfrom Arras,Venetian mirrors,curiouslysculpturedchests, crystalchandeliers,massive silverfurniture, andmiracles of allthe arts, wereamassed inthis palace during eight reigns, and dispersedin a single day by the breath of theRevolution.
LANTERN OF THE GREAT STAIRCASE
CHAMBORD
"It has often been asked why Francis I.,to whom the banks of the Loire presentedmany marvelous sites, selected such a wildand forsaken spot in the midst of aridplains for the erection of the strange buildingwhich heplanned. Hispeculiarchoice hasbeen attributedto hispassion forthe chase andalso becauseof the memoryof hisamours withthe beautifulComtesse deThoury,whom he hadvisited in thatneighborhoodbeforehe ascendedthe throne.Independentlyof thesemotives,which nodoubt countedin his selection,perhapsthe very wildness of the place and its distancefrom the Loire, which reminded himtoo much of the cares of royalty, was adetermining reason. Kings, like privateindividuals, and even more than they,experience the need at times of buryingthemselves, and therefore make a hiddenand far-away nest where they may be theirown masters and live to please themselves.Moreover, Chambord, with its countlessrooms, its secret stairways, and its subterraneanpassages, seems to have been builtfor one who, tired of the blaze of royal glory,sought here for shadow and mystery. Atthe same time when he was rearing Chambordin the heart of the unc
