Note 114 — Chapter XI · ARCHITECTURE OF THE EARLY RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE

The most authoritative French writers are misleading in affirming that no radical departure from their best building traditions was made by the French architects of the Renaissance. Thus Viollet le Duc (Dict., vol. 3, _s. v._ _Château_, p. 174) says of these architects, “Toujours fidèles a leurs anciens principes, ils ne sacrifièrent pas la raison et le bon sens.” But while affirming this, these same writers sometimes make admissions which so materially qualify the affirmation as to deprive it of its truth; thus the same author, remarking on the changes that were making in the character of the château, adds (p. 185), “Nous accordons que la tentative était absurde; mais la renaissance française est, à son début, dans les lettres, les sciences ou les arts, pleine de ces hésitations.”