Oeil-de-boeuf

Oeil-de-boeuf windows, also called bull's-eye windows, are small circular or oval windows. In French, oeil-de-boeuf means eye of the steer, and, in the French Palace of Versailles, erected for Louis XIV between 1661 and 1708, there is a small antechamber called the oeil-de-boeuf room, which is lighted by such a small, round window.

Very typical of French architecture, particularly in Paris, where round windows are most often underlined on the facades by elaborate decorations.

This type of window is also frequently featured in the Jacobean manor houses of 17th-century England. They are very typical of Parisian architecture.

• photo : Salon de l'Oeil-de-Boeuf (Room of the Bull's eye), created in 1701. The ante-room to the King's bedchamber, note the trelliswork frieze depicting playing children which strikes a light-hearted note.