Versailles and Saint Chapelle

 One of the things I have been focusing on the last few trips has been pattern and its relation to status and wealth. The luxurious brocades and designs at Versailles were almost too much to handle. Not only were they over the top with their use of detail, but in certain rooms, they covered almost everything, from wall to wall.

I am a camera hog.

L'hameau, on the other hand, had little to no pattern around its walls. I was able to peek into a few windows, and the empty dwelling had no decoration. It certainly gave it a much more down to earth, rustic feel. 

When visiting Saint Chapelle, I was again blown away by the amount of pattern and detail that surrounded the interior. I had never really been in a church that had such lavish design from the floor (pictured below) to the ceiling. 

I found the floor one of the most appealing parts of the church, actually. Each of these squares had a different pair of animals within the design. Beautiful.

I think that the patterns and colors (including the royal blue that covered the ceiling) absolutely reflected the nature of the interiors, and their connection to the status of the people who commissioned them. Even though they were built for different purposes (housing a reliquary versus housing royalty), they share a correlation through their excessive patterns and color palettes.