lost/wandering/pacing about in my palace
Explanation:
The young man in question appears to be Charles IX, and in his mouth "mon Louvre" would refer to the Royal Palace, long before it became a museum.
As for "au fond de" , here it would seem to imply a sense of vastness, and hence of being lost in it, wandering about aimlessly in it, etc.
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Note added at 33 mins (2008-02-18 13:21:33 GMT)
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The palais du Louvre in Paris, on the Right Bank of the Seine is a former royal palace, situated between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. Its origins date back to the medieval period and its present structure has evolved in stages since the sixteenth century.
The Louvre, which gets its name from a Frankish word leovar or leower, signifying a fortified place, according to the French historian Henri Sauval (1623-1676), was the actual seat of power in France until Louis XIV moved to Versailles in 1682, bringing the government perforce with him; the Louvre remained the formal seat of government to the end of the Ancien Régime. [ ... ]
The earliest above ground part of the Palais du Louvre was begun in 1535. The architect Pierre Lescot introduced to Paris the new design vocabulary of the Renaissance, which had been developed in the châteaux of the Loire Valley. His new wing for the old castle defined its status, as the first among the royal palaces
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_du_Louvre
Charles IX (June 27, 1550 – May 30, 1574) born Charles-Maximilien, was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
King Charles IX called for calm, but stayed in the safety of the Louvre until Saturday, 26. August, when he left to go the parliament to explain the necessity of giving the command to bump off the Protestants, in order to prevent a conspiracy.
http://www.metropoleparis.com/2003/836/836henri.html
The origins of the Louvre date to 1200 when Philippe August began construction of a fortress on the banks of the Seine. However this original edifice comprised less than a quarter of the present Cour Carrée on the eastern end of the Louvre (the Sully wing of the Museum). [ ... ]
Significant alterations were made by François I (who commissioned the architect Pierre Lescot in 1546), and renovations of the west and south wings were carried out during the reigns of Henri II, Charles IX, and Henri III. (Lescot died in 1571.)
http://www.paris.org/Musees/Louvre/buildhistory.html
Revolutionary passions gave rise to a most laughable error about Charles IX., in connection with the Louvre. During the Revolution hostile opinions as to this king, whose real character was masked, made a monster of him. Joseph Cheniers tragedy was written under the influence of certain words scratched on the window of the projecting wing of the Louvre, looking toward the quay. The words were as follows: "It was from this window that Charles IX., of execrable memory, fired upon French citizens." It is well to inform future historians and all sensible persons that this portion of the Louvre-- called to-day the old Louvre--which projects upon the quay and is connected with the Louvre by the room called the Apollo gallery (while the great halls of the Museum connect the Louvre with the Tuileries) did not exist in the time of Charles IX. The greater part of the space where the frontage on the quay now stands, and where the Garden of the Infanta is laid out, was then occupied by the hotel de Bourbon, which belonged to and was the residence of the house of Navarre. It was absolutely impossible, therefore, for Charles IX. to fire from the Louvre of Henri II. upon a boat full of Huguenots crossing the river, although at the present time the Seine can be seen from its windows.
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/debalzac/Ca...
| Bourth (X)
Local time: 19:40
Native speaker of:  English
PRO pts in category: 110
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