=Luxembourg Palace.=--Before enumerating other examples of the Classicism of Louis XIV, we must revert to a notable example of the advanced Renaissance; namely, the =Luxembourg Palace=, which was erected in 1611 by Salomon de Brosse for Marie de Médicis, the wife of Henri IV. In conformity with her Florentine tastes the design was based upon that of the garden front of the Pitti Palace, which is distinguished by its orders of rusticated pilasters. But the French character prevails in the plan, which presents a central main building or _corp_ _de logis_, flanked by wings that extend back and form the sides of a courtyard, which is separated from the street by a screen-wall with _porte-cochère_. Moreover, the garden front is distinguishably French in the picturesque variety obtained by the projecting portions that form terminal and central pavilions, crowned with characteristic roofs. It is a design of quietly elegant refinement. A corresponding choiceness of quality was prolonged into the classical régime in the =Château de Maisons=, near =St. Germain-en-Laye=, by François Mansart and in the same architect’s domical church of =Val de Grace, Paris=, in which he was assisted by Lemercier. Meanwhile, Mansart’s nephew, Jules Hardouin Mansart, was associated with Levau in Louis XIV’s special pride, =Versailles=. =Versailles.=--This immense palace is representative at once of the monarchical spirit of the time and of the sterility of classicism. Colossally pretentious, for the total length of the garden façade is one thousand three hundred and twenty feet, the design in its monotonous repetition of orders, scarcely relieved by the tame projections, is also monumentally dull. It fronts upon formal gardens, laid out with terraces and fountains, that in their magnificence are a memorial to the genius of Le Nôtre. The decorations of the interior of the palace exhibit the unfortunate taste for prodigal display, represented in exuberant and oppressively heavy relief work, executed in gilded _papier maché_, and set off with prodigious canvases by Lebrun and his assistants. J. H. Mansart also designed the =Place Vendome=, around the four sides of which all the houses are treated with a uniform order of colossal pilasters, out of scale with the size of the square and pretentiously inappropriate. His, too, was the Veterans’ home, the =Hôtel des Invalides=.