French Architecture
Château de Chambord. In this, one can see the circular shapes that are iconic to Renaissance.
Rose Window, Flying buttresses.
Gothic Renaissance
Gothic architecture occured first in France and was very religious, mostly seen on the cathedral built during this medieval time. The Gothic time saw four periods: Early Gothic, where we saw the beginnings of the pointed arch, tall walls held up with multiple flying buttresses, and premature vaults (usually a very low amount) to hold up the large and usually very heavy ceiling. Early Gothic also had some remnants from Romanesque times. Late gothic used similar proportions and shapes from early Gothic and developed them further to achieve more majestic structures that weren't as heavy. The ceilings got largrer so the vaults got more technical and more decorative becoming an all new kind of vault called the Ribbed Vault. The flying buttresses also matured and served both the purpose of decoration and keeping the walls up. The next time period is the Rayonnant which is the time period where the buildings got a lot more artsy by utilizing great scale and spatial rationalism. Decorative windows such as the rose windows and other forms of stained glass adorned the increasingly tall walls (tall walls and high ceilings were favored due to them being "closer to Heaven and God". The last time period is the Flamboyant where the windows took on a shape that colsely resembled flames. It was pretty insignificant.
The secular buildings that were used were mainly just castles andcivic buildings which were basically just like the cathedrals and palaces, except Castles were magnificent, large buildings that were made of limestone
They were were centred on an either circular or polygonal keep and had massive walls, draw bridges, forts, and often large, deep moats.
A slow awareness to the classical revival in Rome and Greece began to reach France during the end of the 15th century. The Renaissance influence as introduced with the grand châteaux being built in the Loire Valley. François I encouraged famous Renaissance artists, sculptors, and painters such as Leonardo da Vinci to settle in France. He made his Château Fontainebleau a center of this new artistic direction. The Loire valley spread many ideas along the river. This is how the Renaissance influence went all throughout France. There are domed structures found on the new palaces and religious buildings that was based on the earlier architecture of the Greeks, Romans, and the Islamic states. There were three periods during the Renaissance: Early Renaissance, High Renaissance, and Mannerism. Mannerism is the only period that architecture was played around with. Architects experimented with using architectural forms to emphasize solid and spatial relationships.
This is Notre Dame de Paris. Here you can see the flying buttresses handing from the walls, the tall tower, and the magnificent rose window i the center.
A typical French chateau (castle). One can see the square type layout, the deep moat, a draw bridge, ad the heavy and strong looking walls.
