Little architectural character in the sculpture of the Renaissance--Close imitation of Roman models--Great delicacy of design and execution in much carving of the Renaissance--Lack of vital beauty in this carving--Comparison with Greek conventional ornamentation--Exceptional beauty of foliation in the reliefs of the Lombardi--Lifeless character of the scroll leafage of Filarete--Artificial convolutions of Renaissance ornamental designs--Artificial and inorganic composition in the works of Benedetto da Maiano--Representation of artificial objects in Renaissance ornamentation--Disordered composition in the borders of the Ghiberti gates--Comparison of Greek leafage with that of the Renaissance--The grotesque in Renaissance ornamentation 167 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 CHAPTER XII LESCOT AND DE L’ORME