From this period French art had to give place to Italian art, which Charles VIII. had brought back as a trophy from his expedition to Naples, and which eventually took root in France, and expanded with all the splendours of the Renaissance until the close of the sixteenth century. Foreign artists began to distinguish themselves in the composition of tombs. Francis I., who had been struck with admiration by the monuments of this kind at Florence, Rome, and Milan, determined to have some equally remarkable in his own kingdom. The tomb of Louis XII., the _chef-d’œuvre_ of a Florentine artist, served as a type and a model for those of Francis I. and Henry II., which were completed with still greater magnificence by the French artists Pierre Bontemps and Germain Pilon, under the superintendence of Philibert de Lorme. These funeral monuments are the most marvellous of all that have been produced by French, in imitation of Italian, art (Fig. 361). [Illustration: Fig. 359.--The beheaded Knight holding his fleshless head in his hands.--A bust in the Namur Museum, dating from 1562, with this inscription: “A day will come when my account will be squared” (“Une heure viendra qui tout paiera”). This sinister cry of vengeance was no doubt addressed by the widow or the family of the victim to his murderer.] [Illustration: Fig. 360.--Tomb of Louis, Duke of Orleans, and Valentine of Milan, his spouse; executed by order of Louis XII.--Formerly in the Church of the Celestines, Paris; now in the Church of St. Denis. (Sixteenth Century.)]