c. 1537-1539<\/p>\n
Ch\u00e2teau, Fontainebleau<\/p>\n
The exterior dimensions of the plan of the building at ground level, without the original attached staircase tower at the west end of the north wall and without the Galerie Basse on the south side, were approximately 22 by 11 meters; the Galerie Basse measured about 22 by 6.6 meters.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n The Pavillon des Po\u00eales was situated at the south end of the east wing of the ch\u00e2teau; it was destroyed in 1738 and replaced by the existing Gros Pavillon.2<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 It balanced the slightly larger Tour du Jardin at the north end of the east wing (A.3<\/a>).\u00a0 If, as seems likely, the Tour du Jardin was built around 1530-1531, then the Pavillon des Po\u00eales, the east fa\u00e7ade of which has the same design, was built to match it.\u00a0 The later pavilion was similarly planned to provide views over the grounds of the ch\u00e2teau.<\/p>\n The earliest document related to the Pavillon des Po\u00eales is for the decoration of its Grande Salle des Po\u00eales (see L.45<\/a>).\u00a0 In the Comptes<\/i> this record of payment falls within the period 1538-1540 and appears immediately before a record of payments for the festival decorations erected on the occasion of Charles V\u2019s visit to Fontainebleau during the last week of 1539.\u00a0 The document related to the Grande Salle mentions the pavilion as \u201cfait de neuf.\u201d\u00a0 It was in this building that the emperor lodged; the author of the Cronique du Roy Fran\u00e7yos<\/i> believed that it was actually built for his visit.3<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Although it was probably finished quickly – but not completely decorated as it would be – so that it would be ready to serve the emperor, it must have been begun well before the king invited him to France in August 1539.4<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 It was almost certainly built first of all to continue the plan of the east wing of the ch\u00e2teau and may have been begun around 1537.5<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Its name derives from the stoves (po\u00eales) that were used to heat the first floor room called the Grande Salle des Po\u00eales, and, it would seem, other rooms of the pavilion.<\/p>\n The appearance of the exterior of the pavilion in the sixteenth century is known from five views of Fontainebleau by Du Cerceau: four prints of 1579 from Le second volume des plus excellents bastiments de France<\/i> (Fig.Du Cerceau Print View<\/a>) and a contemporary drawing in the British Museum (Fig.Du Cerceau BM Drawing<\/a>).6<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 It is also known from a tapestry cartoon in reverse in the Barberini Collection in Rome that shows the whole of the Cour de la Fontaine (Fig.Barberini Tapestry Cartoon reversed<\/a>).7<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Du Cerceau\u2019s two printed plans also of 1579 (Fig.Du Cerceau Plan Extended<\/a>; Fig.Du Cerceau Engraving Plan<\/a>) give the arrangement of the ground floor around that time.\u00a0 The views all show the Pavillon des Po\u00eales after the small cabinet of Henry II was added by Philibert de l\u2019Orme in the mid-1550s to the east end of the terrace above the Galerie Basse.8<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Du Cerceau\u2019s views and plans show the pavilion with the ground floor and first floor of the Gallery of Ulysses joining the west end of the Galerie Basse and the terrace above it.\u00a0 However, his view of the front of the east wing of the ch\u00e2teau facing the Basse Cour (Fig.Du Cerceau, Basse Cour, East Front<\/a>) does not include any part of the Gallery of Ulysses, nor any indication of the Galerie Basse, which belonged entirely to the south side of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales.\u00a0 The east wing is shown as an entirely independent block framed at the far left by the Tour du Jardin and at the far right by the Pavillon des Po\u00eales.9<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Furthermore, this view shows a round instead of a square staircase tower attached to the Pavillon des Po\u00eales, although Du Cerceau\u2019s plans and his panoramic printed view from the north show it correctly square and with a spiral stair within.10<\/sup><\/a> Du Cerceau\u2019s prints show the pavilion attached to the three levels of the east wing to the north, while at the time the pavilion was built there was behind it only a ground floor supporting a terrace that extended to the Gallery of Francis I, matching the ground floor and terrace to the south of the Tour du Jardin.11<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Several seventeenth and eighteenth century views verify what appears in Du Cerceau\u2019s print and give certain smaller details, although these views show modifications, some actual and built since the time of the original construction, but some made by the printmakers themselves.12<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 All but one show the Pavillon des Po\u00eales after the large Salle de Billard was attached to its west end in 1654, covering part of the pavilion itself.13<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Dan said the Pavillon des Po\u00eales was originally constructed of mortar and pebble masonry (moillon<\/i>); Guilbert gave its construction as of mortar and pebble masonry and brick (mo\u00eblon & brique<\/i>).14<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 This would seem to indicate plastered walls with brick pilasters, architraves, cornices, and frames resembling the still existing original north side of the Basse Cour.\u00a0 In Du Cerceau\u2019s view of the ch\u00e2teau from the Basse Cour (Fig.Du Cerceau, Basse Cour, East Front<\/a>) the west front of the pavilion appears identical to that of the Tour du Jardin.15<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 The ground floor was unarticulated except for a base and a cornice.\u00a0 The first story was divided into three sections by four pilasters with a window entirely filling the area in the center.\u00a0 The second story was an arcade of three arches flanked by four pilasters.\u00a0 Du Cerceau shows a winged putto\u2019s head above each arch as in his depiction of the Tour du Jardin.\u00a0 The steep pointed attic had one dormer window flanked by pilasters and with a pediment.\u00a0 Originally to the right at ground level was the west wall of the Galerie Basse, probably with a door in the center, similar to the door with a cornice shown by Du Cerceau at the east end.<\/p>\n The east side was almost identical to the west and hence was unlike the east side of the Tour du Jardin.\u00a0 The only difference shown in Du Cerceau\u2019s view of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales from the east (Fig.Du Cerceau Print, Cour de la Fontaine<\/a>) was the ground floor of the main block that had three large rectangular framed windows, the one in the center twice as wide as those at its sides.\u00a0 To the left was the east wall of the Galerie Basse, its door elaborated with a cornice.\u00a0 Du Cerceau shows the dormer in the attic without pilasters but with a pediment.<\/p>\n The broad south front facing the lake was the most elaborate fa\u00e7ade and the one that most revealed the intentions of the pavilion.\u00a0 Its appearance is most completely shown in Du Cerceau\u2019s printed view of the ch\u00e2teau from the south (Fig.Du Cerceau Print View<\/a>).16<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 At ground level the main block of the building had before it the Galerie Basse, the foundation of which was set on the edge of the lake.\u00a0 The front of the gallery was divided into five bays by six pilasters set upon high plinths.\u00a0 The three center bays had open arches closed with a parapet to the level of the top of the plinths.\u00a0 The end bays were walled with a framed door in the center of each crowned by a simple cornice.\u00a0 There was a framed oculus above each door.\u00a0 The west door opened onto a small landing from which extended a wooden walkway that was carried over the edge of the lake to stairs that led to the land.\u00a0 The east door opened onto a small flight of stairs that descended directly into the lake.\u00a0 The interior of the Galerie Basse was about 19.3 meters long and about 4.8 wide.\u00a0 It contained twenty columns shown on the plans, which were fluted according to Dan (see L.44<\/a>; Fig.Du Cerceau, Galerie Basse, Plan<\/a>).\u00a0 A pair was set before each pier of the south side and before each of an equal number of shallow piers across from them that were attached to the north wall.\u00a0 There was also a column in each corner, those on the north side set also before attached piers but narrower than the others of this wall.\u00a0 The columns were probably set on plinths and were probably as high as the piers to the level of the springing of the arches.\u00a0 On the north wall the four large piers must have carried a blind arcade.\u00a0 The end bays may also have had blind arches on the north and the south sides.\u00a0 Dan indicated that the columns carried vaults as well as an arcade.\u00a0 On the plan in the Morgan Library17<\/sup><\/a> one broad arch is indicated for each set of paired columns crossing from the south to the north side.\u00a0 An arch half as wide spanned the ends of the gallery between the single columns in the corners.\u00a0 The plan gives no indication of other vaults although groin vaults are regularly shown elsewhere on the plans of the same set in the Morgan Library of other areas of the ch\u00e2teau.\u00a0 It seems then that the arches (somewhat flattened?) and their spandrels carried a flat ceiling and this arrangement allows for the figures by Primaticcio, known from drawings and prints, in the spandrels that Dimier assigned to this room.\u00a0 Its decoration was begun by Rosso (see L.44<\/a>).\u00a0 There was a door in the center of each end wall.\u00a0 The oculi above the two doors in the south side would have illuminated the end bays.\u00a0 Du Cerceau\u2019s plans show no doorways leading from the Galerie Basse to the ground floor of the pavilion behind it.\u00a0 The piers, columns, and arches of the Galerie Basse supported the terrace that was accessible from the first floor.<\/p>\n Du Cerceau\u2019s plans of the ground floor of the main block of the building behind the Galerie Basse cannot show the original disposition of the spaces on this floor.\u00a0 The plans indicate two rooms, the largest, at the east, square with its sides as long as the breadth of the block and with three windows facing east, which appear in Du Cerceau\u2019s view from that direction (Fig.Du Cerceau Print, Cour de la Fontaine<\/a>).\u00a0 It had a door at the east end of its north wall that is shown also in the same view from the east.\u00a0 If there was originally no entrance from the Galerie Basse then it is likely that this door is part of the original plan.\u00a0 A fireplace was set against the north wall and what would seem to be its chimney can be seen in that same view by Du Cerceau.\u00a0 A door at the north end of the room led to a smaller square room which had a fireplace against its east wall with what seems to be its chimney visible also in the same exterior view.\u00a0 There was a door in the center of the south wall that gave access to a narrow corridor that had a small spiral staircase (in a square cage in Du Cerceau\u2019s plan) at its east end that would have led to the first floor.\u00a0 It is unlikely that this arrangement is original as no stairway would have entered at this location the Grande Salle des Po\u00eales above if that room occupied the entire first floor, as seems likely. It would appear, then, that the corridor and small stairway were added when the first floor was divided into two rooms (see L.45<\/a>) and that originally the ground floor had only one room illuminated by the three windows at the east.\u00a0 However, it is possible that there were from the first two rooms and that the second had a window in the center of its west wall.\u00a0 When the second room was made square either the original window was moved to the center of its west wall or a window was introduced in this wall for the first time, which, in either case, would not have been centered on the exterior of this wall.\u00a0 Du Cerceau\u2019s plans do not show an entrance into the small ground floor room from the large staircase tower against the north wall of the east room, although it was apparently possible to enter this tower at ground level through a door in its north side.\u00a0 Hence it is possible that the ground floor could originally have been entered here.\u00a0 No evidence survives to indicate that the ground floor was decorated.<\/p>\n There is no sixteenth century plan of the first floor but it is likely that it contained only one room, the Grande Salle des Po\u00eales.\u00a0 The dimensions of its interior plan would have been about 19.3 by 8.8 meters.\u00a0 It had before it the terrace supported by the Galerie Basse. This terrace had a low wall on its southside.\u00a0 The front of the Grande Salle des Po\u00eales was also divided into five bays by six pilasters on plinths.\u00a0 There were no arches.\u00a0 Windows were fitted into the center three bays above a low wall as high as the plinths of the pilasters.\u00a0 The end bays had doors with frames and cornices that opened onto the terrace.\u00a0 The east and west walls had a large window.\u00a0 The original appearance of the north wall cannot be known for sure.\u00a0 Toward the west end there would have been the entrance from the stairway tower across from the second bay of the south side.\u00a0 In the matching position toward the east end there would probably have been the entrance from the terrace to the north that led to the Gallery of Francis I.18<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 The three center bays were probably not pierced.\u00a0 The room, which had a flat and probably coffered ceiling made of wood, may have been decorated by Rosso (see L.45<\/a>).<\/p>\n The second story was completely occupied by the Salle Haute with arches on three sides; it was almost identical to the top story of the Tour du Jardin, the broad front of which faced north.\u00a0 The south front of the Salle Haute was divided by six pilasters on plinths into five bays.\u00a0 These pilasters framed arches.\u00a0 Du Cerceau\u2019s printed view of this front shows a winged putto\u2019s head over each arch.\u00a0 A parapet enclosed the room to the upper level of the plinths.\u00a0 As described above, the east and west sides had the same design but only three bays.\u00a0 The effect of this room was meant to be of an entirely open belvedere, and so it appears in Du Cerceau\u2019s views and in the Barberini cartoon.\u00a0 But it is known from the specifications of 1542 for its woodwork that it had casement windows (see L.43<\/a>).\u00a0 The interior of the Salle Haute would have had the same dimensions as the Grande Salle des Po\u00eales on the floor beneath.\u00a0 From Vasari\u2019s description of Rosso\u2019s decoration of this room and from Dan\u2019s comments, it appears that it presented a series of arches and piers without pilasters and with a band of wall above.\u00a0 The north wall probably had a blind arcade.\u00a0 The entrance from the staircase tower would have been in the second bay from the west end.19<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 The ceiling would have been flat.<\/p>\n The attic level had three dormers of the same design as those at the east and west.\u00a0 The original plan of its interior is not known.\u00a0 It was entered from the stairway tower.<\/p>\n Although Rosso designed the decoration of at least two and possibly three of the interiors of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales, it is not documented that he had anything to do with the design of the building itself.20<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 However, Guillaume\u2019s attribution of the Tour du Jardin to him seriously raises the probability that Rosso would also have had a hand in the conception and design of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales.\u00a0 It would have been planned in response to the Tour du Jardin and the west fa\u00e7ades of both pavilions were identical.\u00a0 Both had a belvedere at the top, which Guillaume recognized as an Italian feature which would have been introduced by Rosso.\u00a0 There was also the open Galerie Basse set in front of the building\u2019s south side.\u00a0 This, too, seems especially Italian, not only in its openness but also in its direct access to the lake, an arrangement that suggests Venice, which Rosso had visited just before coming to France.\u00a0 The interior of the Galerie Basse was very richly articulated with paired fluted columns and arches.\u00a0 This richness brings to mind that of the exterior staircase and portico in the Cour Ovale (A.2<\/a>; Fig.Bray Elevation<\/a>) that Chastel attributed to Rosso.\u00a0 Again, as with the Tour du Jardin, it may not be possible to attribute to Rosso the idea for a pavilion on this site.\u00a0 Nor would he on his own necessarily have devised the Grande Salle des Po\u00eales on the first floor, for the origins of such a room for heat stems from the climate and culture of northern Europe.\u00a0 But as \u201ccapo generale sopra tutte le fabriche\u201d at Fontainebleau, as Vasari says he was, it is very likely that the Pavillon des Po\u00eales, begun just as the decoration of the Gallery of Francis I was coming to an end, was built from designs by him and under his direction.<\/p>\n On the relation of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales to the Gallery of Ulysses to which it became connected, see L.46<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a>1<\/sup> These measurements are calculated from Morgan, 1956, 31, \u201cRez de Chauss\u00e9e de la Cour des Fontaines,\u201d in toises<\/i> (1 toise<\/i> = 1.949 meters).\u00a0 These measurements are slightly larger than those that can be calculated from the two plans of the ch\u00e2teau at Fontainebleau in Du Cerceau, 1579 (Fig.Du Cerceau Engraving Plan<\/a>; Fig.Du Cerceau Plan Extended<\/a>), which give around 19.5 x 9.7 meters for the main block and 19.5 x 7 meters for the Galerie Basse.\u00a0 Guillaume, 1985, 12, n. 5, Figs. 6a and 6b, 13-14, stated that the most detailed plans of the Galerie Basse are found in Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que Nationale, D\u00e9partement des Etampes, Va 446, and a part in Paris, Archives Nationales, 01<\/sup> 1421-1433; the plans he illustrates are from Archives Nationales 01<\/sup> 1459 of 1733, which are almost identical to those of Morgan, 1956, 31.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>2<\/sup> Dimier, 1900, 319, stated that it was demolished at the same time as the Gallery of Ulysses, the destruction of which Guillaume, 1985, 7, placed in 1739.\u00a0 Claude Lauriol, in EdF<\/i>, 1972, 482, stated that the Pavillon des Po\u00eales was destroyed with the creation of the Gros Pavillon in 1750.\u00a0 This was also indicated by Bottineau, 1962, 44, n. 104, with reference to the Galerie Basse.\u00a0 Reiset, 1859, 205, thought it was destroyed in 1703.\u00a0 For an over-all account of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales, see Roy, 1929, 246-249.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>3<\/sup> Guiffrey, Cronique<\/i>, 1860, 290.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>4<\/sup> The emperor first accepted Francis I\u2019s invitation on 22 October 1539; see Knecht, 1982, 295-296.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>5<\/sup> Dimier, 1898, 91, 107-127; 1900, 253-254; and 1928, 109, thought it was built around 1535, and pointed out that Guilbert, 1731, I, 1, must have meant 1535 for its construction, and not 1545 as he stated – Guilbert said around 1545 and that it was one of Francis I\u2019s last works – because he also commented that Charles V was lodged there in 1539.\u00a0 See also Roy, 1929, 284, and Herbet, 1937, 109.\u00a0 Claude Lauriol, in EdF<\/i>, 1972, 482, gave its construction as c. 1535.\u00a0 Pressouyre, 1974, 31, n. 29, as built around 1535.\u00a0 Guillaume, 1985, 26, 30, n. 53, 39, thought it was built in 1536 or 1537.\u00a0 Prinz and Kecks, 1985, 423, 425, as built c. 1535-1537.\u00a0 Babelon, 1989, 204, 433, 434, Fig., 520, Fig.\u00a0 See also Pozzo-M\u00fcntz, 1866, 266, 290-291.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>6<\/sup> London, British Museum, inv. no. 1972 U. 1354, pen and ink and wash, 50.5 x 74.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>7<\/sup> This cartoon was kindly brought to my attention by Candice Adelson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>8<\/sup> Roy, 1929, 248.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>9<\/sup> See Guillaume, 1979, 225, 228, Fig. 4, and Guillaume, 1985, 30-36, on the original separate conception of this east wing from the south side of the Basse Cour that became the Gallery of Ulysses.\u00a0 This seems to be reflected in Du Cerceau\u2019s print, although it was made well after the gallery was built.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>10<\/sup> As pointed out by Guillaume, 1979, 238, n. 7, who also said that originally it contained a square staircase and not the circular one that is shown in one of Du Cerceau\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>11<\/sup> On the terrace to the north of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales, see Dimier, 1898, 108-109, and Roy, 1929, 256.\u00a0 Guillaume, 1986, 36-41, seems to indicate also construction behind this pavilion begun about the same time with a terrace on either side.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>12<\/sup> The prints known to me from reproductions are:<\/p>\n Isra\u00ebl Sylvestre, inscribed \u201cVeue de la Cour des Fontaines et du Jardin de l\u2019estang,\u201d from Divers veues du chasteau et des bastiments de Fontainebleau<\/i>, published by Isra\u00ebl Henriet in 1649; Guillaume, 1985, 16, Fig. 11 (detail; Fig.Sylvestre, Ulysse<\/a>); J.-P. Samouyault, in EdF<\/i>, 1972, 328, no. 427b, and Fontainebleau<\/i>, 1973, I, 221, and II, 100, no. 427b, Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que Nationale, Topographie Va 336 T II.\u00a0 This view shows the pavilion before the Salle de Billard was built, which is visible in another view by Sylvestre (see below).\u00a0 The Galerie Basse appears with four open arches while there were only three.<\/p>\n Isra\u00ebl Sylvestre, inscribed \u201cVe\u00fce de l\u2019Estang de Fontainebleau,\u201d Cox-Rearick, 1972, 49, Fig., Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que Nationale (Fig.View of the Lake<\/a>).\u00a0 This view shows the Pavillon with the large Salle de Billard at the south end of the fa\u00e7ade.<\/p>\n Perelle, inscribed \u201cVeu\u00eb de la Cour des Fontaines de Fontainebleau \u00e0 main gauche de l\u2019Estang,\u201d Blomfield, 1911, Pl. X.\u00a0 This view shows the south front of the pavilion with only three bays.<\/p>\n Perelle, inscribed \u201cVeu\u00eb de l\u2019Etang, du Jardin, et de la Cour des Fontaines, \u00e0 Fontaine-bleau,\u201d Brion-Guerry, 1955, 40, Fig.<\/p>\n Pierre Alexander Aveline, inscribed \u201cVe\u00fce et perspective du Jardin de l\u2019Etang et de la Cour des fontaines de Fontainebleau,\u201d Dimier, 1925, 47, Fig.\u00a0 This view shows the south front of the pavilion with only four bays.<\/p>\n P.-A. Aveline, inscribed \u201cVeu\u00eb de la Cour du cheval blanc \u00e0 Fontaine-bleau,\u201d Dimier, 1925, 52, Fig.\u00a0 The west front of the pavilion shows the addition of niches and a door.<\/p>\n Rigaud, inscribed \u201cVeu\u00eb d\u2019une Aile du Chateau de Fontainebleau prise de la cour des Fontaines,\u201d Dimier, 1925, 42, Fig. Babelon, 1989, 434, Fig., reproduces a seventeenth century drawing by Van der Meulen (Mobilier national, dessin 170) of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>13<\/sup> See Guillaume, 1985, 12-13.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>14<\/sup> Dan, 1642, 128; Guilbert, 1731, II, 1-2; see also Pressouyre, 1974, 29, n. 17, on the use of \u201cmo\u00eblon et brique\u201d by Le Breton.\u00a0 Both Dan and Guilbert stated that the building was faced with cut stone under Charles IX; Guilbert said this was done around 1565.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>15<\/sup> Du Cerceau\u2019s plans show a window just left of center on the ground floor that would be blocked from view by the bridge crossing the moat in his view from the Basse Cour.\u00a0 But this window may belong to a later modification (see below).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>16<\/sup> The comparable drawing in the British Museum (Fig.Du Cerceau BM Drawing<\/a>) is slightly less detailed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>17<\/sup> See n. 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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