1539?<\/p>\n
Pavillon des Po\u00eales, Ch\u00e2teau, Fontainebleau.<\/p>\n
The Grande Salle, as it is called in one document referring to its decoration during Rosso\u2019s lifetime (see below), was situated on the first floor of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales (L.42<\/a>) behind the terrace that was supported by the arches of the Galerie Basse.\u00a0 If this room occupied the entire floor, which is likely given that it was called \u201cgrande,\u201d then its dimensions were about 19.3 by 8.8 meters.\u00a0 From the exterior views of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales by Du Cerceau (Fig.Du Cerceau Print, Gallery<\/a>), the Grande Salle would seem also to have been about the same height as the Salle Haute, approximately 6 meters.\u00a0 In the 1550s the room was divided into two, which received entirely new decoration.\u00a0 It was at this time under Henri II that the small cabinet by Philibert de l\u2019Orme was added at the east end of the terrace, as seen in Du Cerceau\u2019s prints.1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 It is, however, easy to see what the exterior of the first floor of the Pavillon des Po\u00eales looked like without that small addition.\u00a0 The south fa\u00e7ade had five bays, without arches, which were separated by pilasters set on plinths.\u00a0 Windows were fitted into the center three bays above sections of a low wall placed between the plinths.\u00a0 The end bays had doors – the one at the east is conjectured – that opened onto the terrace.\u00a0 The east and west fa\u00e7ades were divided by pilasters into three bays, with a window filling the center one (Fig.Du Cerceau Print, Cour de la Fontaine<\/a>).\u00a0 Toward the west end of the north wall across from the second bay of the south side was the entrance from the stairway tower.\u00a0 In the matching position toward the east end of the north wall there would probably have been an entrance from the terrace running between the Pavillon des Po\u00eales and the next pavilion to the north facing the Cour du Cheval Blanc.\u00a0 From the appearance of three of its fa\u00e7ades and from what can be assumed about that of the north wall, one can have some idea of the interior wall areas of the Grande Salle des Po\u00eales that would have received decoration.\u00a0 The ceiling would have been flat, made of wood, and probably coffered.\u00a0 The Grande Salle was heated by stoves that were its special feature and from which it was also called the \u201csalle des poisles\u201d (see below).\u00a0 It would have been here that Charles V stayed when he visited Fontainebleau at the end of December, 1539.<\/p>\n Although the Cronique du Roy Fran\u00e7oys<\/i> mistakenly states that the building in which the emperor was lodged was built for him, it does indicate that it was decorated, at least to some extent, by the end of 1539:<\/p>\n \u201cDudict Arthenay s\u2019en vindrent lesdictz seigneurs Empereur et Roy le long de la Beausse au tr\u00e8s magnificque et sumptueux chasteau de Fontainebleau, o\u00f9 le Roy, si toust qu\u2019il sceut la venue dudict Empereur en France, luy feist construire et \u00e9diffier ung sumptueux logis de pierre, faict en forme de pavillon tout \u00e0 jour, lequel par dedans est fort excellant.\u00a0 Au dessus du plancher d\u2019icelluy mises et appous\u00e9es les armes dudict seigneur Empereur avec l\u2019aigle de sable en plusieurs lieux.\u00a0 Les salles, chambres et galleries estoyent si richement tendues de tapisseries et d\u00e9cor\u00e9es de beaux et riches tableaux et statues qu\u2019il n\u2019est possible \u00e0 homme mortel de le povoir descripre ni r\u00e9citer, de sorte qu\u2019il sembloit mieux ung paradis, ou oeuvre divine, que humaine, et s\u2019esbahissoit chescun de veoir le lieu si noble et enrichi, en si peu de temps aorn\u00e9 et pr\u00e9par\u00e9.\u201d2<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n If the \u201csalles, chambres et galleries\u201d mentioned in the Cronique<\/i> refer only to rooms in the Pavillon des Po\u00eales then they would include the Salle Haute (L.43<\/a>) and the Galerie Basse (L.44<\/a>).\u00a0 However, it is known that the decoration of neither of these was completed by the time of Charles V\u2019s visit.\u00a0 In any case, it was the Grande Salle that was heated and it was here that the emperor would have stayed in December.\u00a0 It would have been decorated for this visit.<\/p>\n Within the period of 1 January 1538 to 31 December 1540 there is a record of payments for stuccowork and painting in the \u201cgrande salle du pavillon naguerre fait de neuf pr\u00e8s l\u2019estang dudit lieu, o\u00f9 doivent estre mises les po\u00ebsles dudit Sieur.\u201d3<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 As this record immediately precedes another of payments for the festival decorations made for the emperor\u2019s visit to Fontainebleau (see L.48<\/a>), it is most likely that the stuccowork and painting were also done in preparation for Charles V\u2019s arrival.\u00a0 Then, shortly after Primaticcio returned to Fontainebleau sometime after the end of October 1541, Claude Badouin [\u201cAudit Badouyn, paintre\u201d] was paid \u201cpour avoir vacqu\u00e9 tant \u00e0 la fa\u00e7on des patrons des tapisseries, que \u00e0 la fa\u00e7on et [sic<\/i>; read \u201cde\u201d] painture d\u2019un tableau \u00e0 frais en fa\u00e7on de tapisserie, contre la muraille, en la salle des poisles, au grand pavillon pr\u00e8s l\u2019estang dudit lieu, \u00e0 raison de 20 liv. par mois,\u201d and \u201cA Jean Picart, doreur,\u201d was paid \u201cpour l\u2019enrichissement d\u2019un grand tableau \u00e0 frais estant en laditte salle des poisles, entre les deux grands tableaux qui sont en fa\u00e7on de tapisserie, \u00e0 raison de 16 liv. par mois.\u201d4<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 What seems to be indicated in these few documents is that originally the Grande Salle was decorated in fresco and stucco and that later Badouin added at least two frescoes that imitated tapestries.\u00a0 Whether or not the large fresco that Picart \u201cenriched\u201d was new or not cannot be determined.\u00a0 It is possible that Badouin\u2019s painted tapestries were replacements for actual ones that were part of the scheme of decoration that was prepared for Charles V\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n The Cronique<\/i> makes a point of how quickly the decorations of the pavilion were made in anticipation of the emperor\u2019s arrival.\u00a0 It also mentions the use of tapestries, as well as paintings and statues.\u00a0 All of these could have been part of the decoration of the Grande Salle.\u00a0 In fact, the use of already available tapestries – for certainly there would not have been time to weave tapestries for Charles V\u2019s visit – would have made it possible to decorate this room more quickly than perhaps would have been the case if a series of large frescoes had to be executed.\u00a0 Of course, it could be that the decoration of the room was begun before it was known that the emperor would visit Fontainebleau.\u00a0 The plan of the decoration may then have been altered so that the room would be completely ready when Charles V arrived.\u00a0 The emblems of the emperor it received would have been temporary installations.<\/p>\n There is no specific reference to Rosso working in the Grande Salle but it is most likely that the decoration of the major room in the Pavillon des Po\u00eales was entrusted to him, together with that of the Salle Haute and of the Galerie Basse in the same pavilion.\u00a0 It is also most likely that he, as the king\u2019s most important artist, was responsible for any changes that were made to an original plan because of Charles V\u2019s pending visit.\u00a0 Unfortunately there is no visual evidence that can be related to the decoration of the Grande Salle before it was divided into two rooms and wholly decorated anew in the 1550s.5<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a>1<\/sup> On these rooms and the small cabinet, see Dan, 1642, 128; Laborde, I, 1877, 283-285, 371; Dimier, 1898, 110-112; Dimier, 1925, 43-44; Roy, 1929, 247-249, 270-273; and B\u00e9guin, 1964, 93.\u00a0 Claude Lauriol, in EdF<\/i>, 1972, 482, and Fontainebleau<\/i>, 1973, 154-155, stated that the original Grande Salle was divided into a \u201cpetite salle\u201d and the \u201cchambre du roi.\u201d\u00a0 The documents and Dan refer only to the \u201cchambre\u201d and the added \u201ccabinet,\u201d but from Du Cerceau\u2019s plans of the ground floor showing two square rooms, one larger than the other, and a corridor with a spiral staircase, it would appear that the first floor would have been similarly divided.\u00a0 Otherwise the staircase would have entered directly into the single large room, which is an unlikely arrangement.\u00a0 The coffered and sculpted ceiling of the king\u2019s chamber removed to the Antichambre des Reines-M\u00e8res is square.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>2<\/sup> Guiffrey, Cronique<\/i>, 1860, 290.\u00a0 See also Jacquot, 1975, 431, and n. 26 bis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/a>3<\/sup> This document is transcribed under P.22.\u00a0 Dimier, 1898, 113; and 1900, 290 (referring to Laborde, I, 1877, 134), connected it to the Salle Haute (L.43<\/a>), but documents specifically name that room as the \u201csalle haulte\u201d or the \u201cgrande salle haulte.\u201d\u00a0 Thus, the designation \u201cgrande salle du pavillon\u201d would seem to refer to another room in the Pavillon des Po\u00eales, and that could only be the room on the first floor.\u00a0 Dimier says nothing of the decoration of this floor before the 1550s, although this is the one floor that had to have been completed before Charles V visited Fontainebleau.\u00a0 Herbet, 1937, 126, also thought this document refers to a room on the first floor.\u00a0 Roy, 1929, 246, mentioned the document and the \u201cgrande salle\u201d but did not precisely identify this room.\u00a0 Mentioned in Carroll, 1987, 31, 35, n. 95.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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