Churches were also furnished with elaborate stalls, pulpits, and rich utensils, but in the latter the style of the designs was still Mediæval. In the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. in England the style gradually altered to the Italian forms of the Renaissance, and many Italian architects and carvers found work in this country in making furniture for the royal palaces, and besides, great quantities of Italian, Flemish, and French furniture were largely imported. Jean de Mabuse and Torrigiano were employed as architects and sculptors by Henry VII., and Holbein and some Italian artists designed furniture and goldsmith’s work for Henry VIII. In France, during the reigns of François I., Catherine de’ Medici, and Henri II., a great activity took place in architecture and in all the industrial arts, in which that country not only imitated, but sought to excel, the work of the Italian schools. [Illustration: Fig. 236.—Stool of Carved Wood; Italian; Sixteenth Century. (J.)] As already mentioned, the French kings and Medicean princesses in the sixteenth century had invited from Italy Cellini, Primaticcio, Il Rosso, Serlio, and others, who succeeded in founding the style of the Renaissance in France, and about the same time many French artists journeyed to Italy to acquire the newer style which had been evolved from the study of the old classic remains of that country. Among the names of the principal French artists, sculptors, and carvers of this period are those of Jean Goujon, Nicholas Bachelier of Toulouse, Jean Cousin, Germain Pilon, Philibert de l’Orme, Du Cerceau, who published designs for all kinds of decorations and carvings, and Hugues Sambin of Dijon. Most of these men were architects and also designers of the heavy and rich furniture that was characteristic of the French Renaissance. Some of these artists and their works have been noticed in the chapters on Renaissance architecture and metal work. The cabinet (Fig. 238) is a good example of the architectonic style of French furniture of the sixteenth century. French wood carving is distinguished from the Italian of this period by the great use of the cartouche and strap-work (Fig. 239), which was so characteristic of the Henri-Deux style. [Illustration: Fig. 237.—Chair Decorated with Gauffered Leather; Early Sixteenth Century; Italian Style. (J.)] [Illustration: Fig. 238.—French Cabinet; Sixteenth-Century Work. (P.)] [Illustration: Fig. 239.—Carved Wood Panel; French; Sixteenth Century. (P.)]