The court life at the time of Francis I. was beginning to assume some of the brilliancy and splendor for which it became so famous in the reign of _le Grand Monarque_. The fall of Florence and the expulsion of the French from Italy brought many Italians into France. Among these were men of letters, poets, musicians, sculptors, painters, and architects. Italian was generally understood at court, and became a frequent medium of conversation. Many Italian words were thus introduced into French phrases, and the French tongue became thereby materially changed and softened in its pronunciation. It was at this time that so many old feudal fortresses were torn down to give place to the châteaux of the Renaissance. The king lived familiarly with artists, men of letters and celebrities, and patronized all who had made a name in art or literature. Fontainebleau, which was originally a hunting-seat of Saint Louis IX., began to rise into a stately palace under the direction of Sebastian Serlio and Rosso, a Florentine. This Italian artist, Rosso, or Battista di Jacopo, was named by King Francis, “chief and superintendent over all the buildings, paintings, and other decorations of the palace,” with a large salary, for Rosso lived like _en grand seigneur_. As a painter his industry was great, and he displayed much ability in his designs for the decoration of the _Galerie de François I._, which he constructed over the lower court. During the reign of Louis Philippe some of Rosso’s paintings were discovered under a coating of whitewash, and were restored by that king’s order. But the _chef-d’œuvre_ of the Renaissance was the _Château de Chambord_, which, though it was not half completed at the time of the visit of the Emperor Charles V., so greatly excited his wonder and admiration. One of the marvels of this château was “its double spiral staircase of two hundred and eighty-six steps, rising in the centre of the edifice from its basement to its highest point,—the lantern, crowned by an enormous _fleur-de-lys_. It was a sort of puzzle. Eight persons could walk abreast up or down it, the ascending and descending parties never meeting, yet seeing each other.” [Illustration: FRANCIS I. From a painting by Titian in the Louvre.]