“Chambord Castle in France”

The subject

The Château de Chambord

The largest château of the Loire, Chambord is François I’s Renaissance dream in stone — a forest of towers, turrets and chimneys rising from the flat hunting land of the Sologne.

Begun in 1519 as a hunting lodge for the king, it has some four hundred and forty rooms and a famous double-helix staircase — two spirals winding around one another so that those going up never meet those coming down — a design often linked to Leonardo da Vinci, who spent his last years nearby.

Its roofline is a whole skyline in itself: a crowd of chimneys, lanterns and turrets. I drew that above all — the fantastical crown of the building against the sky.

Colour keeps the pale Loire stone light and the sky wide.

Ink carries that intricate roofline and the ranks of windows; the washes keep the stone pale and the sky open.

It is the most exuberant building in the set — a king showing off, and a joy to draw.

See also · Castles Bamburgh Castle · Alnwick Castle · Windsor Castle Before the Rain