arried out by the
architect Lemercier on the basis of a project adopted in 1642, and, to a
great extent, completed before the arrival of Anne d'Autriche, twenty
years later.

This queenly personage had ideas of her own as to what sort of a
residence she would have in Paris, and beyond her personal needs little
was done for the moment towards actually linking up the various loose
ends, each more or less complete in itself, which now composed the Paris
palace of the French monarchs.

Her son, the king in person if not in power, was not likely to be
endowed with instincts which would put him in the rank of the
traditional castle or palace builders of his race; it was literature,
music and painting which more particularly flourished during his reign,
and so the Austrian contented herself at first with merely putting the
former apartments of Catherine de Medici into condition for her personal
use and building a Salle-de-Spectacle, and--happy thought--a
Salle-des-Bains.

Louis XIV, as he found time, after the war of the Fronde, actually did
bethink himself of completing, in a way, the work of his elders, and
charged the architect Levau to finish off the north wing, which was done
in 1660. A year later the Galerie Henri IV was practically destroyed by
fire and rebuilt by Levau, who gave the commission for its interior
decoration to Lebrun.

Soon the south wing was completed, leaving only the gap for the eastern
facade which was intended to be the chief entrance to the mass of
buildings, which still bore the comprehensive name of "The Louvre."

For the accomplishment of this facade, the demolition of certain
dwellings of the nobility which had clustered around the royal fabric
was necessary, and the Hotels du Petit Bourbon, de Villequier, de
Chaumont, La Force, De Crequy, de Longueville, and de Choisy fell before
the picks of the house-breakers. Levau commenced work on the facade at
once, and made rapid progress until 1664, when an abrupt order came for
him to stop all work. Political conspiracy, graft, if you like, was at
work, and Colbert, little favourable towards Levau, made a proposition
to the king to open a competition for the design and execution of the
facade. Willingly enough, his mind doubtless more occupied with other
things, Louis XIV agreed, and a general call was sent out to all French
architects to enter the lists. Confusion reigned, and Levau was about to
be recalled when Colbert spied an unrolled parchme