LUXEMBOURG PALACE. A palace situ ated in the Rue de Vaugirard, in the southern part of Paris, celebrated for its architecture, its gallery of modern French art, and its gar dens. Its erection was begun in 1616 by Salo mon de Brosse, for Maria de' Medici, and its rusticated masonry was intended to recall the architecture of the Pitti Palace in Florence, her former home. It was completed in 1620, but altered internally by Chalgrin near the end of the eighteenth century. Between 1835 and 1841 the main body of the palace was nearly doubled in size and provided with a new southern or garden faeade reproducing the former one, while in the court inclosed between the old and new construe t ions a magnificent semicircular hall was built for the sessions of the House of Peers, and later of the Senate. These additions were the work of A. de iiisors. The Hall of the Senate was de stroyed by fire in 1859, hut was rebuilt on the same design. The name of the palace is derived from the Duke of Piney-Luxembourg. whose man sion once stood on the same site, hut it has been officially known, under different governments. by the names of the governmental bodies which have successively occupied it : e.g. Palais do Directoiro, du Consulat, dot SC.mat-conservatenr, de la Chambre des Pairs, de la Prr.feettire, and du SC•nat. It was occupied by the Senate from 1g52 to 1870, and thence until 1879 by the Prefecture of the Seine and the municipal council. It has since 1879 been again occupied by the Senate. It has in addition served throughout nearly its whole history as a royal or public picture-gal lery. An important series of twenty-four paint ings by Rubens. illustrating the life of Maria de' Medici, once occupied the east gallery. lint is now in the Louvre. and the splendid Museum of Modern Art, which formerly ocenpied this gallery and other apartments of the palace, is now housed in a and eomparativelY modern building. though still known as the Mustne du Luxembourg. This is on the whole the most important collection of enntemporary art in existence, and is devoted to both sculpture and painting. About ten years after an artist's death, his ‘VOrii, are removed to the Louvre or to the provincial galleries. Alost of the works are by French artists, but there is a special room devoted to other nationalities, the Ameri can tieing the best represented next to the French.
The magnificent ceilings and mural decorations of the Senate ( handier, Salle d'attente, and other apartment• of tile palace constitute in them selves a notable collection of the works of Flan drin, Vauchelet. Pujol, motel others, be sides examples of the work of Ruben,. Philippe de t'llanipagne, Poussin, and other masters of the seventeenth century.
The building itself, with all its has pre,erved unchanged its original style and character. While recalling by its rusticated ma sonry time garden front of the l'itti Palace, it is thoroughly French in design. The main struc ture. originally 11-fornied in plan, front; on a Court of Honor, which measure: 300 by 360 and is inclosed on the Hanks and front by low wings or galleries. 'Hie entrance from the Rue de Vangirard to this court is through a dome capped portal serving as a eloek-tower, an ex tremely successful design. Each of the four faeades of the main palace, as enlarged in 1835 41, consists of a central pavilion with two corner pavilions, the whole hieing covered by a high roof of the type commonly known as a _Mansard. The proportions, of all parts of the building are happy. the composition and details dignified and harmonious, the internal decorations admirable and in place; sumptuous. The apartment; of Maria de' Medici were restored in 1817 and refur nished in the style of her time. and the elegant chapel adjoining them was restored in 1842. The gardens of the Luxembourg are of great extent and beauty. Originally laid out by Be Brosse, they were nearly stripped in the llevolutimm, but restored in 1801, and although somewhat reduced in size by the cutting through of modern they arc still among the most noted gardens in France, and the only survival in Paris of a gen uine Renaissance garden.
The Petit Lu.remboury (formerly the Petit Bourbon), adjoining the above palace on the West, and oecupied by the president of the Sen ate, was built by Richelieu in 1629. partly on the site of the old convent of the Fines du Calvaire. The elegant chapel by A. de Oisors stands on the site of the original chapel of the convent. some extant portions of which have been annexed to the Petit Luxembourg.
Consult: Favre, Lc m Ito mu,. rkits ct fifIcn (Ts sag 1111 rif•itx paluis (Paris, 18821 ''i.e muse p do Luxembourg." in Les mu sks de Fru nce (1,ti!I•1 seq.)