This blending period occupied practically the entire era of the Valois rule and covers the styles of the transition (1483 to 1515), the style of Francis I (1520-47), and the style of the ad vanced Renaissance (1547-89), by which time the classic methods of design had replaced the richness and picturesqueness of the Formative period. The Classic era, with the fulsome, florid styles of Henry IV, Louis XIV followed, succeeded in 1715 by the extravagances and capriciousness of the Rococo period. Sev eral edifices reflect in the broadest artistic sense the stylistic peculiarities of these three eras of the French Renaissance. The 'Chateaux at Blois, begun by Louis XII depicts all of the variations of the Blending or Formative period. The increasing use of the orders of architecture and the restrictive following of antique precedents exhibited in the Luxembourg Palace, the monumental colonnade of the Louvre, the Hotel des Invi.lides, and the Place Vendome exhibit the stage of development under the Bourbons. License overcame, under Louis XV, the monumental observations of formal principles of classic design. The notable exceptions to this general trend of capricious ness is found in the works of the Ecole Mili taire, originally terminating the Champ de Mars, and the two imposing edifices, adorned with monumental colonnades, of the Place de la Concorde, Paris, planned by the gifted Gabriel, which are the great architectural achievements of the period of the Decline, and, while the style of Louis XV itself was a style that char acteristically avoided the formality that dis tinguishes classic design, these particular works have served as inspiring examples for all sub sequent architects. The style of the Decline was halted by the revival of interest in things of classic origin during the period of reaction under Louis XV and the Empire, when in the Pantheon and the Madeleine and the Arc de l'Etoile there was a registration of the convic tion that the translation of grandeur was pos sible only through the expression in architec tural forms of classic Roman canon. The ar tistic history of the Louvre is an epitome of the entire history of French architectural develop ment. Commenced under Francis I (1546), the beginning exhibits an Italian character. The work associated with the reigns of Henry II, Charles IX and Henry III (1547 to 1589), char acterize the developing Renaissance. The addi tions made during the reigns of Henry IV, Louis XIII and Louis XIV exhibit the develop ment of the orders and matured Renaissance method, while the colonnade under Louis XIV types the high water mark of Classicism. Napoleon I added his quota, and under Napo leon III, the Empire found its expression in what is now known as the New Louvre, two wings projecting from the old palace.
In England, The Netherlands and Germany, during the time contemporaneous with the Valois era in France, the great country man sions, manor houses and palaces were the first to receive and show Italian influence. The Renaissance in England makes its first feeble appearance in a decorative way during the Tudor period, a debased Gothic style. There followed during the Elizabethan period 1603), by Dutch and Italian artists, a curious mixture of Gothic and Italian forms, which is well exemplified in the Burghley House. De tails of freely treated classic forms, which came into use during the reign of James I (1603-25), illustrate the Jacobean style. This style in reality was the introduction to the Classic period in which, under Inigo Jones (1572-1652) and Sir Christopher Wren, (1632 1723), correctly proportioned and monumen tally conceived public works were erected. The palace at Whitehall (Jones) and Saint Paul's Cathedral (Wren) summarize the achievements of this period. Under the Georges a revival of Roman precedents, due to the genius of Robert Adam (1728-92), took place. With the idea that the architect should control all phases of his design, including even interior decora tions and furniture, the name of Adam became synonymous with an English decorative school that produced results showing a rare taste in combining classic motifs with fertile fancy.
The abandonment during the late Georgian period of the stiffness of the earlier era marks the characteristic of the style that served as the fountain head from which the American colonies borrowed models of their earliest architecture. The American churches were adapted from the Wren-Gibbs precedents (Saint Paul's, New York 1766). The drawings of Adam and his associates affected all phases of the domestic design. The translations into wood and brick of the Georgian stone motifs distinguished the early American style to which the name Colonial has been applied. (Mt. Vernon, the Home ot General Washington).
The same general progression that marked the development of the Renaissance styles in France occurred in Germany, although the periods are not as definitely established. Be ginning late (1555) the change from Gothic to Classic was rapid. Unlike France, the chief examples of the various periods are for the most part confined to secular architecture. In castles, town halls and corporation houses, irregularity of plan and a tendency to distrib ute ornament freely over facades, feature the German Renaissance. The orderly character of the French and Italian designer is replaced by the personal preferences of the German carver. The highest achievement of the era is the Castle of Heidelberg (1601) and its climax is reached in the degraded use of Rococo orna ment in the Zwinger Palace, Dresden.
In Spain skill in metal work and delicate carving characterize a free and joyous appli cation of Italian Renaissance forms to con structions of the early 16th century. This style, known as the Plateresque (1556), was widespread throughout Spain. The portal of the University at Salamanca and the Church of San Domingo at Salamanca are excellent examples of the style. The artistic barrenness of the reign of Philip II was followed by a cold classic era — Griego-Romano — whose masterpiece was the Escurial, completed by the great Herrera. The palace of Charles V, ad joining the Alhambra, Granada, by Beruguete exhibits the Spanish adaptation of the Italian Paladian style. Toward the end of the 17th century a period of decadence set in during which debased taste and the throwing aside of all architectural restraint gave rise to the style Churrigueresque.
The Netherlands were late in re-acting to the influence of Humanism and, in general, tended toward florid and unrestricted combina tions of Italian, Spanish and French prece dents.
During the latter half of the 18th century a great activity in archmological re search took place. Scientific examination of classic and pre-classic monuments and sites was undertaken, which procedure, with increas ing enthusiasm, has continued to the present day. Academic theory and fanciful classic idealism gave way to definite and rational un derstanding of Roman and Greek methods of construction. The first effect of the publica tion of archieological research inspired the am bition upon the part of designers. in various countries to design and construct after the form of the classic prototypes. This struc tural interest gave rise during the first half of the 19th century to the Greek and Roman classic revivals. The works of Piranesi, Lord Burlington, the illustrated description of the excavations at Pompeii, Herculanwum, Pal myra and Baalbek and Spalato, stimulated a Roman revival which in France expressed itself structurally in the Pantheon (1759-90) in which the dome and the porch of the Pantheon in Rome was the prototype. Napoleon commissioned Vignon (1807) to erect the Church of the Madeleine, a design whose interior is based upon the Roman Thermm and its exterior a monumental peristyle of Roman Corinthian columns. The column of Trajan in Rome inspired the Napoleonic column of the Place Vendome, and the various monumental arches of triumph re echo the Roman triumph forms.