One of the finest religious monuments of the French Renaissance is the tomb of François I and his wife Claude de France, located within the Basilica of Saint Denis (1547–1561). It was created by the architect Philibert Delorme and the sculptor Pierre Bontemps. The principal element is a triumphal arch, modeled after the Arch of Septimius Severus in Rome, crowned with four statues of fame, as well as the King and Queen. The vault of the arch and the entablement are richly decorated with sculptural decoration of olive leaves and other classical themes, and with tablets of black and white marble. The tall, slender columns give the tomb an exceptional lightness and grace. After the death of King Henry II, France was torn by the outbreak of the French Wars of Religion, which largely pushed aside architecture and design. Nonetheless, a few last Renaissance projects were launched, largely inspired by Catherine de Medici, the widow of Henry II. The most important project of the period was the new Tuileries Palace. It was designed by the chief royal architect, Philibert Delorme, in response to the Queen's wish for a modern palace with a large park on what was then the edge of the city. It featured a central pavilion with low wings composed of arcades topped by a residential floor with alternating dormer windows triangular frontons. All the facades lavishly decorated in the Italian Renaissance style, including elongated sculpted figures inspired by the works of Michelangelo. After the death of Delorme in 1570, the task was taken up by Jean Bullant, but then it was interrupted again by the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572, and was not completed until decades later. The decorations invented by Delorme included a new style of classical columns, French Corinthian, banded with several ornamental rings. Catherine de Medici also imposed the Italian style at Fontainebleau, with the construction of a new wing, the "Aile de la Belle Chiminée" (wing of the beautiful chimney). The facade was designed by Francesco Primaticcio and featured a combination of Italian and French elements; pilasters, statues in niches, a high roof with lucarnes, a central frontispiece resembling Italian church architecture, and two diverging stairways. The second plan of the Château de Verneuil (since demolished) by the young architect Salomon de Brosse (1576) was another landmark of the late French Renaissance style.