Recently it has been called the
Cour des Adieux, on account of the farewell of Napoleon I. in 1814. It was
once surrounded by buildings on all sides; one was removed in 1810, and
replaced by a grille.
The principal facade is composed of five pavilions with high roofs, united
by buildings two stories high. The beautiful twisted staircase in front of
the central pavilion was executed by Lemercier for Louis XIII., and
replaces a staircase by Philbert Delorme. Facing this pavilion, the mass
of buildings on the right is the Aile Neuve of Louis XV., built on the
site of the Galerie d'Ulysse, to the destruction of the precious works of
Primaticcio and Niccolo dell' Abbate, with which it was adorned. Below the
last pavilion, near the grille, was the Grotte du Jardin-des-pins, where
James V. of Scotland, coming over to marry Magdalen of France, daughter of
Francois I., watched her bathing with her ladies, by the aid of a
mirror....
To the west of the Cour du Cheval-Blanc, and communicating with it, is the
Cour de la Fontaine, the main front of which is formed by the Galerie de
Francois I.
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