To re-roof such a thing was to waste money; but to embed a whole brand-new Barock château in it, as the duc d’Arcachon had recently finished doing, was to make some sort of ringing proclamation. In the visual language of architects and decorators, the proclamation said something about whatever glorious principles were personified by all its swooping, robed, wreathed, winged demigods. Translated into English it said, "I am rich and powerful, and you are not."