Laudator Temporis Acti

Morris Bishop, Ronsard: Prince of Poets (1940; rpt. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1959), pp. 9-10 (on the Château de la Possonnière):

On the north side rose the main building, the quarters of the Ronsard family. It was, and is today, a graceful and comely structure, ornamented with the Italian elegance Louis de Ronsard loved. Enormous windows, symbols of Renaissance enlightenment, open to the southern sun. The grace of the façade is marred, but the charm of incongruousness is enhanced, by a pentagonal medieval tower, out-topping the roof-line, and bearing, beneath its crown, a richly ornamented Renaissance window. The old tower peers abroad like an ancient bedizened patrician of Antonio Moro or Titian.

At the base of the tower opens a narrow door giving access to the spiral staircase contained within. Over the door is an elaborately carved Italian lintel, with the inscribed dedication of the house: VOLVPTATI ET GRATIIS, to pleasure and the Graces.

Related posts:

• Inscription for a House
• Small Houses