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V;
ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
^ART IN THE
MODERN STATE
BY
LADY DILKE,
S.ENAISSANCE IN FRANCE,"
D'APRfcS DES DOCUMENTS IN^DITS," ETC. ETC.
AUTHOR OF "the RENAISSANCE IN FRANCE," "CLAUDE LORRAIN
LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL.
Limited.
iSSS.
[A// rights rcsei-ved.l
5V
CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,
CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.
5-5
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
I'AGS
FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU I
The origin of the modern state in the seventeenth
century — The Renaissance and the " Grand Siecle " —
The poHtical situation — Richelieu's poHcy — The As-
sembly of Notables — Judicial murder of the Duke de
?kIontmorency and other opponents — Intimidation of
the Parliament of Paris — Abuse of church patronage —
Oppression of the Huguenots — Organisation of the
Academy as a literary police — The Cid — The dictionary
— Richelieu's death — The foundations of despotic power
secured.
CHAPTER II.
FRANCE UNDER COLBERT 29
The Fronde and Mazarin— Advent of Colbert —
Colbert and Fouquet — Fouquct'sfall — Colbert establishes
financial equilibrium — Creates the navy — His edict on
commerce — Chambers of marine insurance — Compagnie
des Indes — Colbert's system of protection — Thetarift"of
1664— His industrial policy — The Academy of Painting
and Sculpture placed in conmiand of State manufactories
and the schools established in connection with them.
vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
PAGE
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE . . . .51
Colbert, Chief Commissioner of Works — His clerk,
Charles Perrault — Le Vau and Bernini— Colbert forms
the Committee of the Eoard of Works — The Lomre
Colonnade — Claude Perrault — Versailles — The Com-
mittee of the Board of Works becomes the Academy of
Architecture — Continues to advise the Board of Works
— Acts as a general court of appeal to the profession
— Mansard — His additions to Versailles — His in-
dependence — The Academy sinks into insignificance —
Character of the works under Louis XIV. — None of
Colbert's projects carried out.
CHAPTER IV.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE . 8 1
Important part played by the Academy in the
organisation of the arts — The struggle of the Academy
with the maitrisc — Colbert supports the Academy — Le
Brun director — Constitution of the Academy — School —
Exhibitions — Lectures — Library — Collections — Obli-
gation of paying court to ministers — Protestant members
turned out — The Academy completely dependent on
the administration — Its influence on French art and
industry.
CHAPTER V.
THE ACADEMICAL SCHOOL lOI
Contest between the maitrisc and the Academy for
the training of students — The model — Expenses of the
life-class met by voluntary contributions — Revolt of
students under Abraham Bosse— Colbert interferes —
Institution of competitions — The Grand Prix — The
School of France at Rome — Hogarth on the Italian
journey — Errard — Admission to the schools gradually
made less easy— Regulations — Difficulties of maintaining
discipline — Master and student — Democratic organi-
sation of the school in connection with the Academy —
From the Academy proceeded other schools all over
France which have constantly influenced French pro-
duction.
CONTENTS. vii
CHAPTER VI.
PAGE
LR BRUN AND THE DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES . . II9
Simon Vouet — Le Brun— The Little Gallery of the
Louvre — The Great Gallery— Le Brun's versatility —
His supremacy — The Degre des Ambassadcurs — The
Galerie des Glaces — The Salons de la Guerre and de la
Paix— Flimsy character of much of the decoration —
Marly — Rapid production— Theatrical purpose — Sir
Joshua and Le Brun— Le Brun and Alignard — Le Brun's
despotism — His influence on art — Landscape — Le Brun,
as opposed to Mignard, a representative of tradition.
CHAPTER VIL
THE SCHOOL OF SCULPTURE 1 46
Puget — Girardon — Sarrazin and Guillain — The
school of Sarrazin — Le Brun's skilful use of patronage —
Girardon becomes his right hand at Versailles — The
Grotte de Thetis — La Fontaine's visit— The works of the
interior — The queen's apartments — The state apart-
ments — Cafficri — Coysevox and "consors" — The present
state of the sculptures of Versailles — Under Le Brun's
rule sculpture a subordinate element of decoration —
The best traditions of the school nevertheless preserved.
CHAPTER \TII.
ENGRAVING 1 67
Engravers in subjection to printers — Two groups,
engravers and etchers — Claude Mellan and other
satellites of Simon Vouet — Jacques Callot — His origin-
ality—His followers — Fair dell' Impruncta — Siege of
Breda — His studies and character — Abraham Bosse —
Hisquarrelswith the Academy — Nanteuil — His influence
at Court- He obtains the edict of St. Jean de Luz — His
portraits — Ostentatious living — Edelinck — The Cabinet
d'Estampes— The salaries of engravers to the CrowTi —
Their lodgings in the Gobelins and Louvre — Their
ofiicial recognition — Their unpopularity in the Academy
— Their situation even now scarcely modified.
viii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
PAGE
INDUSTRIAL ARTS : THE GOBELINS— THE SAVONNERIE . 189
Ivlanufactures started by Henri IV.— Revived by
Colbert — The Gobelins — The Louvre— The Savonnerie
— The king's visit — The organisation of 1667 — Ap-
prentices — Academical school — The aid given on
occasion by the Academy— The looms of the Gobelins
— The Savonnerie and the Louvre— Costly furniture —
Van Somer — Oppenord — Boulle — The forges of the
Gobelins and the Louvre— Claude De Villers — Ballin —
Warin the medallist— Effect of systematic training has
survived neglect and change.
CHAPTER X.
CONCLUSION 216
Disciplined reaction against the Renaissance in-
augurated by the " Grand Siecle " — Individualism built
up absolutism — The revolution of 1789 gave check to
absolutism — Modern democracy the protest of the
Renaissance against the crimes which stifled it politically
— In art \vc have a corresponding situation.
APPENDIX,
I.
MKMOIRE DU PROCUREUR DU ROV AU CHATELET CONTRE
L'ACADl^MIE 223
II.
RAISONNEMENT DKSINTKRESSE POUR LES MAiTRES TOU-
CHANT L'.\CAD1^MIE DE ST. LUC 225
III.
LIST OF PAPERS CONTAINED IN ARCHIVES OF THE ACADEMY
OF ST. LUKE AT ROME RELATIVE TO THE JUNCTION
PROPOSED WITH THE R.A. OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE
AT PARIS, TOGETHER WITH AN UNPUBLISHED LETTER
OF LE BRUN jl227
CONTEXTS. ix
IV.
PAGE
NOTE ON THE PRIVILEGES OF ACADEMICIANS . . . 230
NOTE OX THE ACADE.MV LECTURES 230
VI.
NOTE ON THE ACADEMY EXHIBITIONS 232
VII.
NOTE OX THE LOUVRE COLONNADE 232
VIII.
EXTRACTS AND SUMMARY OF CONTEXTS OF REGISTER OF
THE ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE FROM 1672 TO 1694 233
IX.
UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS RELATIVE TO CALLOT'S STAY
AND \VORK IN FLORENCE 24c
X.
EDIT DU ROY POUR L'KTABLISSEMENT D'UNE MANU-
FACTURE DES MEUBLES DE LA COURONNE AUX
GOBELINS 24:
A*
ABBREVIATIONS.
Arch. Nat.— Archives Nationales.
C. DES Bts. — -Comptes des batiments du roi sous le regne de
Louis XIV., publics par Jules Guiffrey, 1664-16S7.
1-Cj. — Inventaire general du mobilier de la Couronnc sous Louis
XIV. (1663-1715), par Jules Guiffrey.
.\RCH DE l'Art Fr.— Archives de Fart frangais, Recueil de
documents inedits, publies sous la direction de AI. de
Chenneviires. Paris, 1852-1862.
Nouv. Arch. — Nouvelles archives de I'art fran9ais, Recueil de
documents inddits, publies par la socidte de I'histoire
de Part fran^ais. Paris, 1S72-1S85.
P.V. — Proces-verbaux dc I'Ancienne Acaddmie de Peinture et de
Sculpture. Publies par M. A, de Montaiglon, 1875.
M.I. — Memoires inedits sur la vie et les ouvrages des membres
de I'Academie Royalc, publies par ]\IM. Dussieux,
Soulic, etc. etc.
PiGANlOL. — Piganiol de la Force. Nouvelle description des chateaux
et pares de Versailles et Marly. Paris, 1764.
ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
CHAPTER I.
FRANXE UNDER RICHELIEU.
To the student of the modern social system, a minute
knowledge of the various conditions of life in France
during- the " Grand Siccle " is indispensable. The
France of RicheHeu and Colbert gave birth to the
modern state, so that, if we would know anything-
accurately about modern political and social organisa-
tion, we have to look to the system which lies at the
root of our own growth. This is the case in every
branch of life. Administrative problems, social diffi-
culties, industrial needs, all the disturbing complexities
of our present economical situation were formulated and
constructively dealt with by the rulers of France in
the " Grand Siccle." The true greatness of this great
century consists in this, not in its vain wars, and formal
stage, and stilted eloquence, and pompous palaces, and
grandiose art, but in the formation and working out of
the political and social system of which these things
were the first fruits. It is idle to indulge in academical
discussions as to the merits of this system. We have
inherited it, it has penetrated our lives in every
direction, we act, we think under its invisible pressure,
/
2 ART L\ THE MODERN STATE.
and its study is pregnant with teaching, not only for
the student, but also for the practical man.
One of the most noted, and justly noted connoisseurs
of Paris asked : " How can one dwell on the art of the
seventeenth century? It has no charm." The answer
is, that it presents in its organisation, from the point
of view of social polity, problems of the highest
intellectual interest. Throughout all its phases the life
of France wears, during the seventeenth century, a
political aspect. The explanation of all changes in the
social system, in letters, in the arts, in fashions even,
has to be sought in the necessities of the political
position ; and the seeming caprices of taste take their
rise from the same causes which went to determine
the making of a treaty or the promulgation of an edict.
This seems all the stranger because in times preceding,
letters and the arts at least appeared to flourish in
conditions as far removed from the action of statecraft
as if they had been a growth of fairyland. In the
^Middle Ages they were devoted to a virgin image of
virtue ; they framed in the shades of the sanctuary an
ideal shining with the beauty born of self-renunciation,
of resignation to self-imposed conditions of moral and
physical suffering. By the queenly Venus of the Re-
naissance they were consecrated to the joys of life,
and the world saw that through their perfect use, men
might renew their strength, and behold virtue and
beauty \\ith clear eyes. It was, however, reserved for
the rulers of France in the seventeenth century fully
to realise the political function of letters and the arts
in the modern state, and their immense importance in
connection with the prosperity of a commercial nation.
The policy pursued by Louis XIV.'s great Minister,
Colbert, derived its impulse, in this as in every other
FRAXCE UXDER RICHELIEU. 3
respect, from the state policy inaugurated by his great
predecessor, Richeh"cu ; and it is quite impossible to
rightly understand the relations between the state and
the arts which were created in France by Colbert,
unless we first recall the circumstances which led
Richelieu into the arbitrary courses which he invigorated
Avith his splendid talent, and which are alternately the
object of extravagant blame or extravagant admiration,
only because the conditions under which he had to work
are so little understood.
When the reign of Henri IV. came to its fatal
close, men weary of combat were ready to barter liberty
for law. The ideal to which the sixteenth century had
aspired — the ideal which had involved the liberation of
human life from all the restraints which prevented its
harmonious development — was replaced by the vision
of order. This love of order was the passion of the day,
and in the name of order all tyranny was justified. To
this attitude of mind, innovations, political or religious,
were alike odious, and power awaited those alone who
either divined or shared it. Step by step, every aspira-
tion after freedom — freedom of thought, freedom of
expression, freedom of life — was suppressed, and the
desire for individual liberty which the sixteenth century
had fostered, encountered everywhere a royal tyranny,
the very existence of which depended on its destruction.
The work of establishing this tyranny and of destroy-
ing the liberties of France fell to the lot of Richelieu.
Trained both as a soldier and a priest, equally ready
with measures of red-handed repression or secret police,
Richelieu w^as doubly fitted for the task. All that the
Renaissance prized most highly had no value for him,
and if he had little love for liberty, for letters he had
still less. It must not, however, be supposed that the
B 2
4 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
system on which he worked — the system which ulti-
mately gave France that leading place in Europe which
she has ever since maintained — was the outcome of mere
personal and arbitrary caprice. Every great political
and social system which has given a new aspect to
histor}-, and constituted itself a power among men, has
necessarily had for the very principle of its existence
the consent of some great moral truth. In the affirma-
tion of this truth has lain the source of strength, but
also of weakness, for in pushing it to extreme con-
clusions the negation has been reached of other truths,
opposite in character, but equal in value, which have in
their turn asserted their existence and put to confusion
those who had ignored their force,
Richelieu was deeply imbued with the importance
of truths diametrically opposite to those which were
embodied in the movement of the Renaissance. For
the Renaissance had proclaimed that the most noble
fruits of life are produced only when complete scope is
allowed to the development of the individual, but
Richelieu remembered that the individual counts for
very little in the development of a people. The affirma-
tion of the supreme rights of the individual, having been
carried to its extreme, had ended in reaction, and the
whole tendency of Richelieu^s policy was necessarily
governed by the consequences which this reaction had
imposed. The day had not yet come for the asking in
what way individual liberty might be secured, whilst at
the same time there should be created in the mass that
unity of purpose which alone ensures collective action
and leads to national greatness. The task of the
moment was only the simple task of creating this unity
of purpose and of realising this ideal of collective action ;
to this task Richelieu devoted the most splendid
FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU. 5
energies which ever inspired a suffering human body,
and he accomplished that which he set himself to
do.
The Renaissance, in its devotion to a noble moral
ideal which had for its object the making of a great
man, had overlooked the value of the social and
political ideal which aspires to the making of a great
nation ; but if the Renaissance paid dear for its neglect
of the claims of citizenship, the reactron by which it was
followed was destined to pay no less dear for its neglect
of individual claims. The principles of absolutism have
now, in spite of slight vicissitudes, dominated in one
shape or another the social and political world of
Europe for two centuries ; and just as in the sixteenth
century we see the individual upraising himself against
moral and religious oppression, even so we see to-day
the revolt of those who have suffered from the social
and political tyranny inherent to that ideal of the state
which was inaugurated by Richelieu and Colbert. That
they did so inaugurate it was a necessity of their posi-
tion, a necessity of the reaction of which they were the
exponents. It is easy to represent Richelieu as an
ambitious priest, who, making himself the tool of abso-
lute monarchy, seized on wealth and power, crushing
out popular liberties, and destroying alike free cities and
free thought. In truth Richelieu cared for none of
these things; the royal power was not to him an object
for reverence, but for use, and if Protestantism were to
be put down, and the power of the great nobles broken,
it was not in the interest of the throne or the Church,
but to clear the way for the welding of all the forces
of the nation into one giant whole. The welfare of the
people, the glory of letters and the arts, the develop-
ment of trade, and industrial resources, were matters for
6 ART L\ THE MODERN STATE.
consideration^ not in and for themselves, but only
inasmuch as they contributed to the building up of
that fabric of national grandeur which was the supreme
object of Richelieu's policy. It was not a selfish
polic}' ; his ambition was not for himself, but for the
nation to wdiich he belonged ; it was not a servile
polic}-, he cared naught for Louis and much for France ;
but he was utterly indifferent as to whether the people
he was called to govern were happy, or enlightened, or
prosperous, so long as by their united forces the state
grew strong. To bring about this result Richelieu
laboured, taking no rest, and as he worked he ruthlessly
destroyed all life and liberty the existence of which was
incompatible with regular growth. No cruelty was too
pitiless, no treachery too base, if required to maintain
the pressure necessary to force into even channels all
the springs of national energy. The pride of the great
nobles was brought to the scaffold; the pride of
the magistracy broken to the task of registering
decrees to order ; stiffnecked members of Huguenot
consistories stooped to accept civilities accorded to
them solely as men of learning; while learning and
letters themselves were forced to put on a ro}-al livery as
the i^rice of bare existence.
The pressure of things without coincided with the
necessities of the internal situation. On every frontier
of France the deadly presence of Austria-Spain made
itself felt, and helped to impose on Richelieu those
conditions Avhich he in his turn imposed on France.
All internal dissensions, all seeds of domestic opposition
had to be utterly destroyed, so that he might use the
whole resources of the nation in the struggle to main-
tain her place in Furope. The Huguenots challenged
their own ruin by striving: to take him at a disadvan-
FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU. 7
tage during his first campaign in the Valtelline. The
Cardinal turned and temporised with them at ]\Iont-
peUier (1626), but, having gained time, he deliberately
negotiated the Peace of Monzon witli the enemy, in
order that he might be free to crush Protestant France.
Until the walls of La Rochelle had fallen (1628),
Richelieu scrupulously avoided all foreign complica-
tions ; when that terrible hour of reckoning had struck,
when fire and famine and the sword had carried ruin,
with every circumstance of anguish inconceivable, to
the most heroic source of energy in France, then he
felt free once more to take the field. But again, the
Italian campaign had scarcely opened when a second
desperate rebellion, under the Duke de Montmorenc}',
compelled Richelieu to abandon his footing. He drew
back but for a moment, and the execution of the Duke
at Toulouse gave the signal for the third renewal of
the never-ending struggle with Austria-Spain. I'or
five long years it now continued with varying fortunes,
till in 1635 all seemed lost, and Paris herself was
actually threatened by the Spaniard ; but the tide
turned at its worst, Savoy Avas mastered, Alsace was
secured, and Richelieu, before his death, had the good
fortune to sec his highest hopes on the verge of fulfil-
ment, and to hear the news of victory for once ringing
louder than the echoes of defeat. If ever during his
long tenure of power the fight with dangers without
seemed to slacken for a moment, then indeed be sure
that the fiercest internal effort was being made in
preparation for its renewal : only once, and that when
he employed the prestige of his brilliant successes in
Italy (1629) to overawe Languedoc, had the Cardinal
felt himself sufficiently strong to face, at the same time,
his foes both foreign and domestic. The national
8 ART IX THE MODERN STATE.
existence was at stake throughout these long years of
unequal struggle, during which the treachery of those
within her borders was an even greater menace to the
life of France than all the forces of her foes without.
To secure victor}', to prevent defeat abroad, lives and
liberties were freely sacrificed at home, and any act,
however oppressive or illegal, became just.
It was thus that the Cardinal was forced to have
recourse to the most bloody and unlawful measures in
order to crush the power of the great nobles of the
realm. He had founded his rule, curiously enough,
on a mock appeal to the popular will. The Assembly
of Notables which he called together in 1626 was,
like the plebiscite of 1S52, a farce intended to preface
the exercise of arbitrary' power. The country gentle-
men and tradesmen who had been invited to join the
magistracy at Paris ^ were flattered by the prospect of
a direct influence on public affairs, and Richelieu desired
them to counsel him "sans crainte ni desir de deplaire
ou complaire a personne."- But the line they were
expected to take on each point submitted to them was
distinctly indicated from the outset, and on assembling
in the great hall of the Tuileries, the Notables heard,
from the lips of the Cardinal's mouthpiece, ]\Iarillac,
the Keeper of the Seals, that it was necessar\-, in order
to check the lightness with which men engaged in
seditious practices, that new laws should be enacted
against political offenders, so that justice might be
done without awaiting the results of legal procedure.-'
It is clear that to obtain these laws was the chief
' " Proccs- Verbal dc cc qui s'est passe ;i rassemblee des Notables,
tenue au Palais dcs Tuileries tn Tannec 1626. Extiait du Mvnnre
/><i;/}a/j de la meme annec." Paris, 1787.
^ Jduu, p. 39. • Ji/c-M, p. 20.
FRAXCE UNDER RICHELIEU. 9
if not the sole object for which Richeh'eu had called the
Assembly together. On its dispersal there instantly
followed, one after another, the judicial murders of
the greatest nobles of France. The temper of these
men was an undoubted danger which threatened not
only the unity but even the very existence of the power
which Richelieu sought to establish. Corneille, in the
opening scene of the Cid, records the arrogance of their
tone and pretensions. The speeches of Don Gomez
are evidently inspired by memories of the rebel Duke
de ^lontmorency, who had perished on the scaffold in
1632, just four }-ears previous to the appearance of this
famous pla\'.
The death of the Duke de Alontmorency — a man
who by marriage stood very near the king, for his
wife was a cousin of the queen-mother, in whose
interest he had taken up arms — was preceded and fol-
lowed by the fall of other victims hardly less illustrious.
In all these cases, judgment was procured by wholly
illegal expedients. It is, however, certain that it was
in each instance absolutely necessary, not only to
Richelieu's safety, but necessary in the interests of
France, that a conviction should be obtained at any
price. It was impossible to deal effectively with
dangers abroad whilst domestic plots and conspiracies
required to be strictly watched. Foreign complications
were actually made the signal for home intrigues ; every
threat of disaster to the national arms was welcomed as
giving fresh opening for an endeavour to compass the
downfall of the Cardinal. To achieve this result the
nobles of France intrigued with England or Spain
abroad, and stirred up the Huguenots to revolt at
home. Thus Soubise, at a critical moment of the
Italian campaign, in 1625, embarrassed Richelieu by
lo ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
rousin^^ the country at his back, obliging him to sacri-
fice the prospects of the war and the interests of his
alHcs by the hasty conclusion of peace. To accomphsh
the hke end, princes of the blood crossed the frontier
and negotiated with the deadliest enemies of France.
Nor negotiated only ; secret treaties were actually
signed by them with Austria-Spain. Things went so
far that, in 1632, the French saw their territory invaded
by the heir to the crown ; they saw Gaston, Duke of
Orleans, the son of Henri IV., in arms, and accom-
panied by the very dregs of the Spanish forces.
As it was impossible to inflict on Gaston himself the
punishment which his crimes and his cowardice de-
served, the chastisement of his accomplices — whom he
always unscrupulously betrayed — had to be obtained by
fair means or foul. On this, the first occasion of a
serious plot against Richelieu's policy and life, there
was no evidence of the guilt of one of the chief culprits,
the young Count de Chalais, which could have been laid
before Parliament. The Cardinal, therefore, had recourse
to a commission, irregular both in its constitution and
in its form of procedure. At the arbitrary decree of
this chamber of justice, the young Count and Marshal
de Marillac died by the hand of the executioner in 1632.
In spite of repeated appeals to the Parliament of
Paris, by whom alone he could have been legally
tried, the Duke de iNIontmorency was brought before a
similar tribunal. The deliberations of the Parliament
of Toulouse were openly directed, in virtue of a royal
warrant, by an officer of the Crown specially despatched
for the purpose of obtaining a verdict. In justification
of these high-handed severities, Richelieu pleaded that
it would be unjust to try to set an example "par la
soumission dcs petits;" but he did not suffer " les petits"
FRANCE hWDER RICHELIEU. ii
to escape, for on this occasion the minor culprits received
their full share of penalties, some being condemned to
be torn by four horses, whilst others were to be broken
on the wheel.
Having once entered on this course, Richelieu was
unable to draw back ; he was forced to take the same
steps over and over again — steps which, theoretically at
least, he did not approve. Not only were the proceed-
ings of these irregular commissions directed by Crown
officers, but the creatures nominated to sit were bought,
and bound to return a verdict in accordance with the
exigencies of the political situation. Thus, while the
Cardinal was announcing his desire to reform the magis-
tracy and to put an end to the sale of offices of trust,
his practice was in direct opposition to his principles.
A year after the execution of the Duke de Llont-
morency, the lengths to which Richelieu found himself
forced to go, are even more plainly illustrated by the
steps taken in reference to the trial of the Duke de la
Valette. The Duke, \\\\o was reckoned the best match
in France, had been forced, in 1633, to marry a niece of
Richelieu in order to make terms for his father, the
Duke d'Epernon, who had, as Governor of Guienne,
been involved in a desperate quarrel with the Arch-
bk^hop de Sourdis, apparently sent to Bordeaux b}- the
Cardinal for the express purpose of provoking it. De
la Valette revenged himself for being forced into a con-
nection which he regarded as a disgrace, by ironical
jests, which are said to have wounded Richelieu so
deeply that, in 1639, he declared that should the Duke,
his niece's husband, be put upon his trial for his alleged
incompetence or treachery at the siege of Fontarabia,
he himself was read}- to play the part of prociircur-
gaicral. Warned by the fate of others, De la Valette
12 ART IX THE MODERN STATE.
fled to England ; and as England refused to give him
up^ the trial was proceeded with in his absence.
The officers of tlie Parliament of Paris were sum-
moned to St. Germain, where a curious mixture of
cajolery and coercion was employed to bring them to
compliance. No explanation was given of the object
for which they had been convoked until they had eaten
a splendid dinner, to which they had been set down on
their arrival. Not until they had well dined were they
informed that the king had required their attendance in
their capacity of councillors of state. In the council-
chamber, the king himself curtly informed them that
they had been sent for to try the Duke de la Valctte.
Though thus taken at a disadvantage, Le P"a}-, the
premier president, had the courage to represent that the
proposed course was illegal, and humbly to entreat his
majesty to act according to law. " Je ne le veux pas,"
was the answer ; "vous faites les difficiles, et il semble
que vous voulcz me tenir en tutelle ; mais je suis le
maitre, et je saurai me faire obeir." The report was then
read to them, and the king himself solicited the votes,
challenging those present, one by one, and returning to
their abject protestations the same answer: "That's not
a vote. Vote." The Cardinal looked on without speak-
ing, but the fear which he inspired was so great that
only one man dared stand firm. Dc Bellelievre courage-
ously declared that the course adopted was incompatible
with the royal dignity, and refused, in answer to the
king's repeated demands, to swerve from his original
statement. He alone, too, when the second sitting of
this arbitrariK-constitutcd commission took place, on
the I4tii of May, 1640, coolly discussed the evidence,
and protested that it was absolutely insufficient to sus-
tain the charge of high treason. The others, to a man,
FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU. 13
gave their vote for death, justly alarmed at what might
be the consequences of any exercise of independent
judgment ; for Louis, in dismissing them on the first
occasion of their meeting, had made use of these signi-
ficant words : " Ceux qui discnt que je ne puis pas
donner les juges qu'il me plait a mes sujets quand ils
m'ont offense, sont des ignorants qui sont indignes de
posseder leurs charges."
On this wise Richelieu intimidated the magistrac}-,
strained, and even violated, the laws. To make head
against the foreign enemies of France, he had to crush
all opposition at home ; to crush all opposition at home,
he forced the guardians of justice to becoine the mere
tools of Government. The Parliament of Paris went on
protesting, but in vain, against his illegalities. It has,
indeed, been contended that the spirit displayed by this
body, its resistance to the high-handed exercise of abso-
lute power, was never inspired by the love of civic
liberties, but was prompted only by professional jealousy,
zealous in the tenacious observance of the letter of the
law, eager to defend details of effete procedure and all
vested interests, however obnoxious to the light of reason
or the common good. If, however, the Parliament had
confined its action to matters such as these, it would not
have become the object of extreme measures of coercion
on the part of the Crown ; it contained many who were
mere lawyers, but it also numbered among its members
those who believed in their responsibilities as magis-
trates, as citizens, as men, and occasionally the whole
body would be thus inspired to active protest in the
cause of liberty and justice.
In their dealings with Richelieu the Parliament
were always forced in the end to bow to his will, but
they seized on every opportunity of marking their
14 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
disapproval, and the infinite annoyance with which
he regarded their attitude of irreconcilable opposition is
illustrated by many maxims laid down in the " Testament
Politique." It is not safe, of course, to take a work of
doubtful authenticity as an authority for what the
Cardinal wished to do, but it is an instructive com-
mentary on what he really did. Perhaps, too, in this
lies the best evidence against Richelieu's having had
any direct concern in its composition, otherwise he
would afford an unique example of public performance
in perfect harmony with private intentions, of success
attained, not only in the very direction, but by the
precise measures by which it was intended to be
compassed. According to the "Testament," that very
suppression of venality which Richelieu is elsewhere
represented as having had at heart, was a reform wholly
inexpedient, for the sale of public posts acted as a bar
to men of low birth, and men of \q\k birth ought to
be kept out of high office, for "les esprits de telles
gens sont d'ordinaire difficiles a manier." Richelieu —
governing always with one great object in view,
determined to enforce that union within, which alone
could make I'rance externally powerful, having need
at every turn of facile tools — found himself forced to
break the neck of theory in practice, and thus as late
as 1639, just before proceeding to try the Duke de la
Valctte, he refreshed his supply of persons easy to
handle by creating and selling no less than four
hundred places of *^ procurcur au Parlement de Paris."
Whilst he crushed the great nobles, and forced
the magistracy to become the tools of authority,
Richelieu was not slack to follow up the same lines
of policy in other directions. The benefices of the
Church, as well as the offices of state, were reserved
FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU. 1$
for tlic poor in spirit ; a little learning- was no draw-
back, but the recognised qualifications for a bishop
were huinilit}', good birth, and general respectability-
unblemished by any touch of prick!}' austerity. Of
these, humility alone was indispensable, and throughout
the days of Richelieu the humble " petit collet " in-
variably received preferment. Now and then a high
post was attained by a great militant ecclesiastic,
like De Sourdis, who was, as we have seen, sent to
Bordeaux to worry the Duke d'Epernon ; but Godeau,
Bishop of Grasse, is a better representative of Kichelieu's
bishops. As the Abbe Antoine, Godeau was renowned
as a scribbling piquc-assiette, a hanger-on at the Hotel
Rambouillet, who pla}-cd lackey to Julie, and afforded
a daily butt for the witticisms of Voiture. He had just
enough pride left to feel uneasy in his position, and to
show it, whereupon his successful rival in the good
graces oi \\\^ prccieuscs counselled him in rhyme :
Quittez Tamour, ce n'est votre metier :
P'aitcs des vers, traduisez le psautier.
Godeau took the hint, bethought himself of the
Cardinal, and fell at his feet with a translation of
the " Benedicite," done into French verse. " Monsieur
I'Abbc/' graciously replied Richelieu, " vous me donnez
' Benedicite,' et moi jc vous donnerai Grasse/' The
" nain de Julie," as he called himself, accordingly
became a bishop, and in that position admirably
fulfilled his benefactor's ideal of respectable mediocrity,
unblemished by any touch of " austeritc epineusc."
This same prickly austerity would alone have
sufficed to make the Huguenots hateful in Richelieu's
eyes, even if he had not seen in them " des ames
rebelles a la legitime autorite ; " but in the hands of
i6 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
the Dukes de Rolian and de Soubise the organisation
of the party assumed an aggressive character, so that
in the interests of legitimate authorit}' its destruction
became necessary. Nor could a man of Richelieu's
peculiar genius ever regard with toleration those who
had once thwarted his plans and resisted his power.
Although the edict of 1629, which deprived the
Huguenots of their right of public meeting, expressly
maintained their freedom of worship, Richelieu always
refused to recognise, even by implication, their ecclesias-
tical constitution. When the Consistory of Montauban
came to do homage to the great Cardinal — who, with
the ruins of La Rochelle at his back, had carried
fire and sword throughout the province of Languedoc,
and deprived the Protestants of their last cit}- of
refuge — they were at once informed that as men of
letters they would be always welcome, though as an
ecclesiastical corporation they could not be received.
Xor was it possible, under this general and arbitrary
pressure, that even letters and learning should be free.
Having established his power, and obtained a firm
hold upon all civil and ecclesiastical organisations, it
would seem as if Richelieu had been in full possession
of the means of government ; but he saw his wa}' to
a further and more complete security by the vigilant
direction and control of all the opinions as well as of
all the acts of men. Those of independent spirit soon
became sensible of the weight of his intentions in this
direction. In the very year of that same "pacification "
of Languedoc, Descartes cjuittcd h^'ance for Holland,
foreseeing that in his native country he would be
neither "assez seul ni assez libre.^^ Balzac retired to
Angoulcme ; Corneille, after a moment of revolt,
humbly gave in his submission, and so obtained the
FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU. 17
protection of the tutelary god of letters : " unc pro-
tection/^ said Sarrasin, ''qu'on scrait plus que sacrilege
de violer."! And, to the last, this system of repression
held good ; in vain did the Sorbonne in 1638 unite
in desiring to receive the gifted Antoine Arnauld,
then a young man, whose merit was beyond doubt,
and whose theology had not yet incurred serious
suspicion. Richelieu, dying, still kept watch, and on
a technical point prevented his admission.- Nor did
minor men escape watchful observation. The Cardinal,
having strained the quality of justice and of mercy
in the service of a power to which he was himself a
slave, came to live on the breath of spies, came to
fear not only the influence of the great with his weakly
master, but the influence of the infinitely little with
the great. He would take note of the social rela-
tions of even quite obscure persons. The name of
Jacques Hillcrin, consciller an parlemcnt^ came up on
one occasion when arbitrary measures were in con-
templation against some of the body to which he
belonged: "Let him alone," said the Cardinal, "aussi
n'y a-t-il ricn a gagner avcc lui qui vit dc telle sorte
qu'il ne voit princes n'y grands, n'y se trouve en
compagnie.'' -^ The less fortunate Scarron, coiiseillcr dc
qraiid'cliainbrc, whose life was more worldly, and
<b
whose tongue had something of the bitter wit which
distinguished his more celebrated son, not only lost
his place, but was finally exiled from France.
The true reason for the extreme measures taken
against Scarron is doubtful, but it was known that
when the letters patent** creating the Academic Fran-
' " D"scourssur laTragedie." See " L'Amourtyrannique, " Scmlcri.
- See p. 29, vol. i., "Vie d' Antoine Arnaukl." Lausanne, 1783.
3 " Lettres Chronologiques," p. 116.
"» Tiie Letters Paicitt wcie drawn up l-y \'alentin Conrart ; the privileges
C
i8 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
caise came before Parliament for verification (1635)^
he sarcastically remarked : " This reminds one of the
emperor who, having forbidden the senate to deal with
public affairs, consulted it as to what sauce should be
eaten with a large turbot, which had been sent to him
from a distance/^ ^ Scarron, it would seem, did not
realise that the Academy itself was called into exist-
ence to render definite political services, and that its
members were destined to discharge at the will of the
Cardinal, in a very practical fashion, the functions of a
literary police.
The list of the original members does not contain
a single name of note. Its nucleus was, indeed, formed
by a small society styling itself Academic des Beaux
Esprits, which, in 1630, had begun to meet at the house
of Valentin Conrart to read the rhymes of his gallant
relative, the Abbe Godeau. Conrart himself was a
Calvinist, who had retouched Marot's version of the
Psalms, but was better known by his rhymes in reply
to the popular ballad of " Le Goutteux sans pareii."
At a later date his name figured on Colbert's list of
literary pensioners :- " Au sieur Conrart, lequel sans con-
noissance d'aucune autre langue que sa maternelle est
admirable pour juger toutes les productions de Pesprit
— 1500 liv." Those who met at Conrart's house were
mostly rhymesters like himself ; one only — Gombault —
was a man of quality who had contributed to the " Guir-
landc de Julie," and therefore passed as a poet at the
Hotel dc Rambouillet. With two exceptions — IMalle-
conferrc'l were the exemption from " toutes tutellcs ct curatelles et cic tons
gueis et gardes," " le droit de commiltimus dc toutes leurs causes person-
nelles, possessoires, ct hypothecaires." — Pellisson, " Histoire de I'Aca-
demie Fran(;aise," ed. Olivet, vol. i. pp. 30, 33. ' IbU. p. 45, note.
- Clement, "Hist, de Colbert," ed. 1S74, vol. ii. p. 275, and Bourgoin,
" Un Bourgeois de Paris lettre."
FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU. 19
ville, a hanger-on of Bassompierre's (then confined to
the Bastille), and Serizay, who owed his fortunes to the
Duke dc la Rochefoucauld, whom the Cardinal had
practically exiled to Poitou — all were devoted to Riche-
lieu. The negotiations for the official organisation of
their body were carried on by the Abbe Boisrobert, who
had been brought to their meetings by Nicolas Faret, ^
whose name, rhyming w^ith cabaret, now lives only in a
satire of Boileau's. Boisrobert, who describes himself
as 7in grand dupeur d'oreilles, occupied in the Cardinal's
court, the post that fifty years earlier would have been
conferred on an official fool, and his jests were so
necessary to his master's digestion that on one occasion,
Richelieu, having fallen ill, whilst the Abbe happened
to be in disgrace, his doctor would give no other pre-
scription than " Recipe Boisrobert.''
Throughout the whole transaction, Boisrobert was
actively supported by two other members of the society
who lived, like himself, in dependence on the Cardinal :
Chapelain, the whipper-in of Richelieu's private pack of
poets, and Sirmond, a paid political pamphleteer, who
had replaced Alathieu de Mergues in the Minister's
service. It is, then, no matter for surprise that we find
the newly-constituted body bound by their prefatory
article to absolute submission to the Cardinal's wishes.
*' And firstly," the statutes begin, "personne ne sera
recu dans I'Academie qui ne soit agreable a Monseigneur
le Protecteur."- The members were not^ indeed, long
' Faret was ordered to prepare a statement setting forth tlie nature of
the project, and Serizay a letter imploring the Cardinal to grant his
protection. The letter in substance said, " que si ^Ie^ le Cardinal avait
-public ses ecrits, il ne manqucroit rien a la perfection de la l.ani^ue, qu'il
^uroit fait sans doute ce que I'Academie se proposoit de faire, mais tjue sa
modestie I'empechant de mcttre au jour ses grands ouvrages, etc., etc."
- Pellisson, " Histoirc de I'Academie Francaise," vol. i. p. 4S9.
C 2
20 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
left in doubt as to the precise nature of the duties-
which they were expected to perform in return for
official recognition and protection, for the appearance
of Corncille's famous play^ the Cid, gave their pro-
tector an early opportunity of testing the docility of
his creatures.
The disgust with which Richelieu viewed the popular
success of this play has been usually explained by the
fact of a previous quarrel Avith Corneille, who had been
one of the paid poets attached to the Cardinal's court,
for the purpose of putting into shape, dramas of which
he himself suggested the subject. The freedom with
which, on one occasion, Corneille had departed from his
instructions brought on him an angr}^ reproof, to which
he replied by instantly quitting the CardinaFs service,
boasting publicly, as he did so, of his independence.
But all this does not fully explain the persistence with
which Richelieu fought against the success of the Cid.
He is represented as having spitefully set himself to
injure the man who had vexed his vanity, but another
reason is evident to any attentive reader of the play, a
reason which explains both its extraordinary vogue
and Richelieu's obstinate ill-will. The heroes of the
Cid are the "grands do la Cour," the very class with
which Richelieu was engaged in perpetual and deadly
warfare. These are the men to whom the king is repre-
sented as owing his kingdom and his crown ; it is they
whose quarrels shake the empire, but it is the force of
their arms which repels the foreign invader and gives
safety and splendour to the throne. There are many
passages which may well have been publicly applauded
by the enemies of the Cardinal with special intention,
and the whole tendency of the situation was such as
must have inspired him with disgust and anger. In-
FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU. 21
5tead, however, of taking up the point really at issue,
Richelieu probably thought it wiser to dispute the
public enthusiasm on literary grounds. He, therefore,
requested the Academy to pronounce judgment, and
the Academy, after months of negotiation, published
their " Sentiments on the Cid''' (1638).
The character of their official utterances had not
been calculated to give weight to the literary decisions
of the new Academy. Gombault, the man of quality,
had lectured on the "Je ne scais quoi ; '^ Racan had
followed suit with a diatribe, Contre Ics Sciences.'^
Habert, a young artillery officer, had published three
hundred lines on the Temple de la Mart, whilst his
brother, the Abbe Cerisy^ was pronounced to have
dethroned Ovid by his masterpiece, La Metamorphose
dcs yeiix de Philis en Astres. The public, it must be
confessed, who compared Corneille's work with these
productions, was likely rather to find justification for
its enthusiasm than reasons for damning the too-suc-
cessful play.
The embarrassment of the unfortunate Academicians
was indescribable. They were indeed in a position of
great difficulty ; such a measure of criticism as would
have fully satisfied their protector would not only have
alienated the public, but have caused divisions in their
own councils. One of the four representatives deputed
by the Academy to review the expression of their
"sentiments" before submitting them to the protector
himself, was Serizay, a man who, as we have seen,
shared to the full both the popular feeling for Corneille's
play and the popular hostility to the Cardinal Minister.
The Sentiments, as handled by him, did not, as might
have been expected, meet the Cardinal's approbation.
' Pellisson, " Ilistoire de rAcadcmie Francaise," vol. i. p. 76.
22 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Serizay was summoned to come to him at once^ in order
that he might " better explain his intentions." ^ Serizay,
however, promptly escaped to Poitou, pleading engage-
ments to his master, the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, and
the Cardinal's "intentions" Avere carried out by more
docile instruments.
The publication of the Sentiments thus reformed
sufficed to bring Corneille on his knees. Coupled with
the violent attacks of a host of scribblers eager, like
Scudcri, to pay court to the sole dispenser of patronage^
the action of the Academy was an evident manifestation
of a displeasure which at any moment might visit him
with serious consequences. He, therefore, who had
once bravely boasted that his work should secure an
audience sans appui, hastened to appease the offended
Qirdinal by the submissive dedication prefixed to
Horace.
These details of Richelieu's proceedings against
Corneille, plainly show that the lines of policy which he
pursued in his dealings with letters, were precisely the
same as those followed by him in all other directions.
He put Corneille on his trial, just as he had put the
Duke de la Valettc on his trial, and when the verdict
of the Academy did not fulfil his requirements — ^just as
in the case of the Duke he had said to the Parliament
by his mouthpiece the king, '' That's not a vote. Vote ! "
until he got the reply he wanted — even so he sent back
their Sentiments to the united body of Academicians
until they had been brought into strict conformity with
his own.
There is, however, another aspect under which the
operations of the Academy, as influenced by Richelieu,
must be considered ; for the character of the whole
' rdlisson, " Ilistoire de I'Acadcmie Frangaisc," vol. i. pp. iiS-19.
FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU. 23
brilliant future of French literature was so much the
very flower and outcome of the general conditions
created in France by the great Cardinal's rule, that no
review of the salient features of his policy can pass over
in silence those secret workings by which the world of
letters was brought into harmony with the new political
and social system. It was with his express approval, if
not at his instigation, that the great work of the
" Dictionar}- " was undertaken and pushed forward by
the French Academy. The two Academicians who
specially devoted themselves to the task — Chapelain
and Sirmond — were both in the Cardinal's paid service.
Sirmond, on joining the first meeting at Conrart's
house, had proposed that all the members of the
Academic des Beaux Esprits should bind themselves by
an oath to employ only words which had been approved
by a majority of votes, so that, as Pellisson observes, he
who failed to keep his engagement would have been
guilty, "not of a fault only, but of a crime." This was
the proposal which, rejected in its original form,
actually gave birth to the great project of the
" Dictionar}' ; " a work which from the first progressed
but slowl}', as in one of his epistles the Abbe i3oisrobert
tells us :
Dcpuis six mois dessus I'F on travaille,
Et le destin m'aurait fort oblige
S'ii m'avait dit, tu vivras juscja'au G.
But the effect which it had on French literature was
none the less certain and immediate. An overwhelming
importance came to be attached to the use onl\' of such
words as had been approved by the official judge of
taste ; man)- in the highest degree valuable as means of
expression were irrevocably ostracised on grounds of
euphon}-. The use of such as were old-fashioned, or
24 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
betrayed any approach to uliat Voltaire has termed "la
malheurcuse facilitc du langage marotiquc/' was strictly
forbidden^ for this might have led to obscurity of style,
and '-'ce qui n'cst pas clair n'est pas francais," had
already become a ruling precept. The compass of the
French tongue was thus greatly reduced; but, within
given limits, it ^\■as rendered an instrument of remark-
able perfection. All that it was permitted to say it
could soon say perfectly. It was, however, no more
free than the Parliament or the Academicians them-
selves to say all that was to be said about anything.
The mechanical pressure applied destroyed the flexibility
of the language, destroyed its powers of suggestion, and
thus acted even as a restraint upon thought. There
could be no shadowing forth of those imaginative states
of feeling, of those vague emotions under whose inspira-
tion language becomiCS something other than a tool of
the intellect. For the very essence of such states of
feeling and emotion is indefinite, and refuses to submit
itself to the most delicate analysis; they could find,
therefore, no adequate form of expression in a language
to every particle of which had been assigned a precise
meaning distinctly recognised and exactly defined.
A literature fostered under these influences was
characterised, as might have been expected, by the
lustre of intelligence rather than by warmth of feeling.
The very consciousness of the determination to produce
that which was pronounced admirable prevented spon-
taneity of purpose. The intention to work up to a fixed
pattern cf excellence called forth splendid qualities of
mind, of judgment, of taste, but shackled the movement
of the passions, and thus the most magnificent effects
of the noble literature born under the auspices of the
Academy seem to have been conceived with preoccu-
FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU. 25
pations which barred the action of great enthusiasm.
These very conditions were, however, specially favourable
to the production of work which, in its commonest
forms, could receive an exquisite finish. Words having
all been prepared for use, like highly-cut gems, the
whole skill of a writer could be solely devoted to
employing them in such wise as should bring out their
full, recognised, and legitimate value. Narrative,
whether historical or familiar^ the exposition of critical
or scientific analysis, and rhetoric, in all its branches,
profited by the purity which the French tongue thus
acquired. The art of oratory^ of dramatic declamation
especially, obtained a splendid brilliance and polish,
whilst the French stage was carried to a point of regularity
which made it the model and admiration of Europe.
When Richelieu constituted the French Academy
the political organisation of France was accomplished.
The fears and interests of the great nobles were com-
bining to bring them to the foot of the throne ; law and
civil order lay within the grasp of the rulers of the state.
By the formation of the Academic Francaise the Cardinal
began thework of bringing under the direction and control
of the central authority, those social forces which had
never before been made the servants of direct political
purpose. Swiftly and surely the action which he had
taken in respect of literature was destined to be extended
to the sciences and the arts. All the forces of thought,
all the energies of labour, were now ready to be held by
similar ties to the administration, to accept popular tasks,
and to conform to an officially recognised standard of
excellence. This part of his work the Cardinal was not,
indeed, destined to complete, nor could he even attempt
those large measures, connected with the various
branches of the public service and the general economy
26 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
of the state, which were necessary in order to bring the
whole conditions of the national life into perfect harmon}-
with the principles of his rule. The vast administrative
reforms required in order to place the financial system
on a satisfactory footing, and in order to relieve industry,
commerce, and agriculture from the obsolete trammels
of another age, were left to be dealt with bv Richelieu's
successors. But the solution of all these problems had
to be sought by them in the direction and by the
methods which his rule had imposed.
" Cc qui est libre dans son commencement devient
quclquefois necessaire dans la suite." The rising passion
for order which had seconded the Cardinal in every direc-
tion, had aided the rapid absorption into the national
system of the principles on which he governed, so that
although death came (1642) before he had filled in the
outlines of his great system, its completion in future
days had become a necessity. The Cardinal had
struck at the root of every force capable of offering any
resistance to the central authority. As he lay in his
dying agony, his enemies rejoiced, and believed that as
he passed away their own strength would return. Never
did men more gravely miscalculate their own weakness
and the might of the forces arrayed against them. The
Cardinal dead, the great nobles who had disputed his
power found themselves face to face with France ; the
new France, unknown to them, which he had created ; a
I'rance in which every organisation, civil and ecclesias-
tical, had begun to fear the central authorit}', in which
every corporation was looking to the Crown for protec-
tion and countenance; a France in which the}' them-
selves, the proudest princes in ICurope, should count but
as the ornaments of a Court. l''or it was no phantom
greatness that Richelieu had given to his countr}-, and
FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU. 27
although the royal power, which had been but an
instrument in his hands, became a scourge to those who
followed him, )-et its utmost excesses could not destroy
the bond into which he had knitted the vcr\' nerves and
sinews of France. That strange duality of mind which
characterises the whole nation, and gives a iM'actical
strain to all their speculation, leads them also to idealise
their practical life ; and the large lines of Richelieu's
policy, with its equally ordered hierarchy of labour and
service to the state, with its contingent and rising scale
of reward and consideration maintained in harmonious
action b}' supreme authority duly invested with the
splendid symbols as well as with the grave reality of
power, appealed not only to the national vanity and
love of show, but to that profound passion ior symme-
trical unity and completeness which is the leading, and
perhaps the noblest, trait of the French genius.,
Richelieu himself had been the first to set the
example of that self-abnegation in the service of the
state which he rigorously exacted of others, lie has
been reproached with the fortune which he amassed,
with the number of his more than royal residences, with
the splendour of his more than princely household, with
the pomp and circumstance with which he surrounded
every act of his life. But these Vv-ere the incidents, not
the objects of Richelieu's career ; ambitious schemes for
self-aggrandisement waited on the uses of power. To
him everything had a political significance, and every-
thing was therefore a matter for the care of Government;
so letters and the arts, fur -which he had no natural
interest, could not be overlooked in this connection.
They were fitting attendants in the train of the great,
and as such it was necessary to give them due protection
and acknowledgment.
28 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Union, direction, and protection, in these lay the
future greatness of France, as conceived by Richelieu —
a greatness Avhich should be over and above all a poli-
tical greatness dominating the rest of Europe. To lay
the foundations of this political greatness, oppression
and cruelty laboured hand in hand with statecraft. But,
to rate Richelieu and his policy^ foreign and domestic,
by the prejudices of a Liberal and the principles of a
Freetrader, would be equally futile and inartistic. His
political ideal, if contrasted with that of others who
have controlled the destinies of France, attains a lofty
standard. His conception of the state, embracing in its
logical perfection the minutest details of life as well as
the vast interests of the nation, justifies itself as perhaps
the only political Utopia v.hich has ever had a practical
value.
After the wasteful husbandry of the Renaissance,
after its one-sided reclamation of individual liberty^
France had need to be recalled, even harshly, to opposite
considerations ; France had need to be reminded that
the life of the state, like the life of the family, is founded
on much renouncement of personal liberty, on much
self-restraint and self-abnegation. Her great ruler had
no free field to work in ; the nation was bound to learn,
with him, at the cost of blood and tears, the value of
unity in great things and small, to be lessoned in self-
sacrifice, moral and ph)'sical, and to count all sacrifice
but a part of the just debt due from the citizen to the
Republic. The teaching of the Renaissance was thus
set at naught, for the fatal condition of learning one
thing well seems to be that, for the moment, ever^'thing
else shall be forgotten, and France was now destined to
forget — but too completely — the sacredness of liberty
and of life.
CHAPTER ri.
FRANXE UNDER COLBERT.
The death of Richelieu arrested for a while the process
of transformation which was taking place in every
department of state government in France, and the
selfish ambitions which he had kept in check with an
iron hand immediately broke loose in the follies and
faction-fighting of the Fronde. The reminiscences of
liberty which Mazarin had aroused by a series of arbi-
trary edicts found no true-hearted exponent amongst
the leading partisans who joined the movement for pur-
poses of their own. The Parliament, indeed, attempted
to maintain the demand for something in the nature of
an Habeas Corpus Act ; but their Court allies, the
heroes of the Fronde, carried on the most shameless
intrigues, having naught in view except the satisfaction
of their personal interests. There were crying evils to
remedy ; the financial situation alone was a sufficient
rcasoii for revolt; tax upon tax was imposed without
regard to consequences or respect to the most formal
pledges ; whilst Mazarin's creature, ICmer}-, silenced
remonstrance with the biting jest, " That good faith
was a tradesman's virtue." To ride abroad redressing
human wiongs was, however, no part of the schemes
of men like tlie brilliant Condc or the adventurer De
30 ART IX THE MODERN STATE.
Retz. The opportunity which the movement afforded
for attemptinf^ the rc-establishment of some counter-
poise to the royal power, the bearing which such an
attempt, if successful, might have on the future of
France, could not escape the notice of a man of such
high intelligence as De Retz. But in the conversation
which he has left on record as having taken place
between Conde and himself in the gardens of the
Archbishop's palace at Paris, De Retz makes no pre-
tence of urging these considerations because they were
weighty in themselves ; he only fastens on them as
offering a foothold for ambition. Even had the disin-
terested desire to reform the state of France existed,
the maxim that "a king must always be obeyed" had
been impressed so deeply on the minds of men that,
though it might be put to silence for a time, it could
not be forgotten. The great opportunities of the
Fronde were therefore wasted in years of selfish
disorder, which rendered men only the more ready for
unconditional surreridcr when Colbert preser.tcd him-
self, and, as has been happily said by M. Clement, with
Colbert the spirit of the great Cardinal came back to
power.
Born at Reims on the 29th of August, 1619,
Colbert was educated by the Jesuits, and at the early
age of nineteen ' entered the War Office, in which
department Le Tcllier, a connection of his famil}- by
marriage, filled the post of Under-Secretary of State.
From the first, Colbert distinguished himself by his
abnormal powers of work, by his extraordinary zeal in
the public service, and by an equal devotion to his own
interests. His Jesuit training showed fruit in his
dealings with all those who, like Le Tellier or ]\Iazarin,
' Bibl. Nat. MSS. I'.aluze, " P.^picrs dcs Armoires," vol. ccclxii. fol. 12.
^///./Clement, "Hist, de Colbert," 2nd ed., 1S74, vol. i. p. $.
FRANCE UNDER COLBERT. 31
could be of use to him on his road to power, whilst the
old tradition of his Scotch blood is favoured by a
certain "dourness'' of character which rendered him
in general difficult of access. Men scanned his coun-
tenance when they approached him, eager for some
favourable indication of his humour, and the books of
the Academy formally record that once he received the
members with " un visage fort guay/' ^ As for women,
Madame de Sevigne tells us they could only obtain an
audience of Colbert by favour of the king, and to un-
welcome petitioners he would oppose so dead a silence
that they were reduced to sa\', like the witty INIadame
Corneuil : "At least, my lord, show by some sign that you
hear me ! " - His marvellous strength of brain, seconded
by rare powers of endurance, enabled him to work
habitually fourteen hours a day, to enter into every de-
tail of every branch of the administration, whilst at the
same time he ne\'er lost sight of that noble project of
universal reform which he had conceived, and which
embraced both Church and State. The rare intervals
of rest which his vast labours permitted were spent with
books, for the pleasures which are a snare to facile
natures had no hold on him, nor could the sincere
affection which he bore his family, and which is a
welcome and human trait of his iron nature, betray
him into weakness. When public interests were at
stake, Colbert spared no man, not e\cn the dearest of
his own household.^
Qualified in every way for the work of administra-
tion, absolutely indifferent to popularity, Colbert seemed
destined by nature to lead the final charge against the
surviving forces of the feudal s}'stem. After the troubles
of the Fronde had died awa\-, and the death of Mazarin
' P. v., vol. i. p. 372. "^ "Menagiann," ed. 1715, vol. v. p. 27.
3 See letters to his sons, " Lctlres et Insts. dc Colbert," Clement,
32 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
had left Louis XIV. a king in deed as well as name,
these forces of the past were personified by Fouquet,
and the duel between Fouquet and Colbert was the
dramatic close of a struggle predestined to end in the
complete triumph of absolutism. The magnificent and
brilliant Fouquet, who for years past had taken advantage
of his position as Surintendant des Finances to lavish the
resources of the state on his private pleasures/ was
plainly marked out as the object of Colbert's hostility.
Mazarin, indifferent probably to depredations of which
he had himself set the example, persistently shut his
eyes to the scandals pointed out by Colbert, who_, in
1659,2 had loudly demanded the creation of a Chamber
of Justice to examine into the disgraceful abuses exist-
ing in the financial administration. Mazarin dead^ the
enemies of the Surintendant at once coalesced against
him, nor could the utmost efforts of those whom he had
obliged with more than royal munificence avail in his
defence. On the losing side were ranged all the spend-
thrift princes and facile beauties of the Court, all the
greedy recipients of I'ouquet's ostentatious bounties.
Fie had reckoned that the greatest names in France
would be compromised by his fall, and that by their
danger his own safety was assured.^ Fie had reckoned
without Colbert ; he had reckoned without that power
which had been steadily growing throughout all vicissi-
tudes of fate during the last two generations, and which
was now centred in the kincr. No stranger turn of
fortune can be pictured than that which, on the threshold
of the modern era, linked the nobles of France in their
' P"or expenses at Vaux, sec BonafTe, " I.e Surintendant Fouquet;'
also Chcruel, "La Vie Publiciae et I'rivce de Fouquet;" Duiiiesnil,
"Iliit. des plus Celebres Amateurs Francais."
* Clement, "Hist de Colbert," vol. i. p. ()0 et scq.
■3 Clement, ibid. p. 119 ; and " Lettres et Insts. de Colbert," vol. ii. p 8.
FRAXCE UXDER COLBERT.
jj
last struggle for independence with the fortunes of a
rapacious and fraudulent financier, nor can anything be
more suggestive of the character of the coming epoch
than the si^ht of this last battle fought, not in the field
of arms, but before a court of law.
To Colbert, the fall of Fouquet was but the necessary
preliminary to that reform of every branch of the ad-
ministration which had been ripening in his mind ever
since he had entered the public service. To bring the
financial situation into order, it was necessary first to
call Fouquet to account. The preface to the Edict of
1661," creating that Chamber of Justice which Colbert
had vainly demanded of INIazarin in 1659, sets forth that
'* the scandalous abuses connected with the administra-
tion of the public purse had determined the king to hold
an inquiry into the details of all receipts and expendi-
ture throughout the kingdom, so as to prevent a few
private persons from making monstrous fortunes by
illegitimate means, and setting the example of a luxury
calculated to corrupt public character and morality."
Although the Chamber was carefully composed of
men whose zeal was supposed at least to equal their
capacity, Fouquet's party was so strong that the king
himself had to intervene in order to urge the proceed-
ings to a conclusion. " Lorsque je trouvai bon," said
Louis XIV., " que Fouquet eust un conscil libre, j'ay cru
que son proces dureroit peu de temps ; mais il y a plus de
deux ans qu'il est commence, ct je souhaite extresmement
qu'il finisse. II y va de ma reputation." - When the king
spoke thus it seemed, indeed, as if the trial might be
prolonged to all eternity. Colbert had made what
' Clement, "Ilist. de Colbert," vol. i. p. 125.
- Cherucl, "Journal d'Ollivier Lefcvre d'Ormesson,"' ed. lS6r, vo'. ii.
p. 174.
D
34 ART IX THE MODERN STATE.
appears to us to have been a mistake in tactics, for he
had carried on, with a high hand, his suppressions and
conversions of "rentes" simultaneously with his pro-
secution of Fouquet. All the vested interests menaced
by these proceedings were consequently armed against
him, and ready to combine with the personal friends of
the Stiriiitcndant in hindering the attempt to bring him
to justice. The termination of the trial, long delayed,
was only procured by repeated coercion ; judges thought
to be favourable to the accused were removed, and
replaced by others known to be less leniently inclined ;'
many were deprived of their public offices and emolu-
ments, and some were sent into exile.- But, in spite of
these oppressive measures, the sentence obtained fell
short of that which alone could have satisfied Colbert,
for the life of Fouquet was spared, and he was con-
demned only to banishment and the confiscation of all
his goods. There was, however, one last resource, nor
did Colbert hesitate to use it. The king was advised to
strain the royal prerogative yet further, and he therefore
arbitrarily increased the penalty pronounced by a court
the members of which he himself had nominated, and
the perpetual exile to which Fouc^uet had been con-
demned was changed into imprisonment for lifc.^
Colbert attached so much importance to his share in
the case that he dictated the whole story to Perrault,
who says: "II me la fit retourncr trois ou quatre fois
avant de la transcrire dans le registre."^
' Clement, " Hist, de Colbert," vol. i. p. 136.
- Ibid. p. 145. 1 Ibid. p. 144.
■* "Mem. de Perrault," Avignon, 1759, p. 39. The document itself
has been printed by Clement in vol. ii. ist part, p. l"] et se<j., " Lettrcs et
Insts. de Colbert." It is the most considerable composition by Colbeit
extant, and is entitled, " Memoire sur les affaires des fmances de France
pour scrvir a I'histoire, etc."
FRANCE UNDER COLBERT. 35
It was the record of a cjreat triumph ; but the result
of this triumph must not be looked for in the mere
issue of a trial in which justice was obtained by the
brutal exercise of despotic power and at the price of
repeated violations of the law ; it must be looked
for rather in the consequent public exposure of the
fraudulent and rotten system which had prevailed in
the financial administration for long years past.' The
fall of the chief offender, Fouquet, having been brought
about, it was easy to force all those who had been
guilty of similar malversations on a minor scale, to
run the gauntlet of the High Commission. Restitution
and confiscation became the order of the day, and when
the Chamber of Justice was finally dissolved in 1669,
far beyond any advantage which might be reckoned
to the Treasury from these sources Avas the gain
to the nation in the general sense of security and
confidence. It was felt that the days of wholesale
■dishonesty and embezzlement were at an end, and
that the economical future of France would now rest
on a sound basis. Relieved from all anxiety in this
direction, confident in the unconditional support of a
young monarch whose passion for absolute rule aptly
seconded his own purposes, inspired by an inborn
hatred of all abuses, of all corruption, and burning
with an extraordinary zeal for the public service,
Colbert went forward from this moment without
hesitation, devoting his whole energies to the gigantic
task of reshaping the internal economy of France.
Richelieu, as we have already seen, had indeed
secured the political position, but his strength had
been strained to the uttermost in the effort to combat
the dangers which menaced the very existence of
' Clement, "Hist, de Colbert," vol. i. p. 138^/5^(7.
D 2
36 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
authority, and he had been powerless to reform the
internal administration or to develop the industrial
resources of the country. All the talent of the brilliant
and spendthrift Mazarin but just availed to maintain
the situation as created by his great predecessor, and
he lacked the power, even if he had had the will, to
handle administrative or economical problems. These
questions fell to Colbert's lot, and at a moment
propitious beyond all others for giving practical
effect to schemes such as must usually make head
against a dead weight of resistance. Backed by
despotic power, his achievements in these directions
have, to an incredible extent, determined the destinies
of modern industry, and have given birth to the whole
system of modern administration, not onl}- in France,
but throughout Europe.
In the teeth of a lavish expenditure which he was
utterly unable to check, once and again did Colbert
succeed in establishing a financial equilibrium when
the fortunes of France seemed desperate.' In the
years 1660-4, when, as we have just seen, he forced
all those who had profited by the depredations of
Mazarin and Fouquet to disgorge, whilst at the same
time he inspected and revised all sources of public
revenue, and consolidated the public debt,^ these great
reforms were accomplished by unjust and arbitrary
measures.^ But Colbert could not shut his ej-es to
the teaching of experience, and just as at a later
date he found himself unable to ignore the facts
which made against the wisdom of his own commercial
policy, in spite of his profound conviction that national
' Clement, " Hist, dc Colbert,"' vol. i. pp. 149-172, and see also his-
" Gouvernement de Louis XIV."
== Ibid. pp. 151, 163. 3 Ibid. pp. 155-6.
FRANCE UNDER COLBERT. yj
prosperity must necessarily result from prohibitive
tariffs.i even so at the close of his career, when the
treasury of France was exhausted and her future
revenues burdened by wars which he had vainly
opposed, Colbert, taught by the strong representations
which had been made by Lamoignon and others
against the illegal courses of 1660-4, made choice of
different methods; and the measures by which he
succeeded for the second time in placing the national
finances on a sound footing would be recognised to-day
as just and regular.^
Not even the great questions of finance were suffi-
cient to absorb the energies of Colbert. His extra-
ordinary grasp of every subject proper to the cares
of government is proved by volumes of letters and
instructions,^ in which he daily handled the affairs of
each department of State, discussing and directing with
a command of special detail so minute and a wisdom
so pregnant, that it seems as if each in turn must have
been the single object of a life's experience and devo-
tion. The French navy Colbert may, indeed, be said
to have created. "+ When the siege of La Rochelle
began in 1627, Richelieu had not a single man-of-war
ready to put to sea, and for the transport of arms and
ammunition was obliged to requisition trading-vessels
and fishing-boats in the harbours along the coasts ;5
nor at any time during the course of operations could
• Clement, "Hist, de Colbert," vol. i. pp. 297, 365.
- Il'iif. pp. 168-9 ^^ ^'l-
s Clement, " Lettres et Insts. de Colbert."
■t " I'rincipcs de M. Colbert." Eug. Sue, "Ilist. de la Marine Fian-
9aise," vol. i. p. 287.
5 "'Vie dii Cardinal Richelieu," Ams\ 1714, vol. i. pp. 302-.?.
Clement, "Hist, de Colbert," ed. 1S46, chap. xix. ; and "Hist, de
Ministerio Cardinalis Richelij," ed. 1649, p. 222.
58 ART IX THE MODERN STATE.
the French muster more than forty small vessels in
response to the Cardinal's appeals ; whilst the English
fleet despatched to the relief of the besieged was not
onl}- infinitely more numerous, but consisted of ships
vastly greater in size.^ The organisation then to some
extent introduced into this branch of the service by the
great Cardinal collapsed under the thriftless rule of
Llazarin, and the French navy again fell into a state
of deplorable neglect, which could not escape the
lynx-eyed watchfulness of Colbert. He took matters
promptly into his own hands, demanding exact reports
as to the number and tonnage of the merchant shipping
in the different ports and harbours of France, whilst at
the same time he pushed on the work of construction in
the ro)-al arsenals and dockyards with unparalleled
vigour,- creating the port of Rochefort, and bringing
up the Royal Navy in ten years from 20 or 22 vessels
all out of repair, to 196, of which 120 were vessels of line
with a tonnage of 107,950, and all this he did, although
his repeated entreaties failed to induce Louis XIV. to
visit either of the great ports or review the magnificent
fleet which had been created in his name.
The official documents concerning this subject all
show that the larger aspects of state policy were
familiar to Colbert ; he never forgot that the interests
of the monarchy were inseparable from all that con-
tributed to the welfare of the nation. His functions as
Minister of Marine (the duties of which department he
had actually discharged since 1661) were defined by a
regulation bearing date March 7th, 1669,^ which opens
' "Mem. dc Bassompierre," ed, 1665, vol. iii. p. 159.
- "Tableaux des Vaisscaux," etc., L"ug. Sue, "Hist, dc la Marine,"
vol. i. p. 344 ; and "Mom. d'TnTrcvillc," ibid. vol. i. p. 346.
3 Eug. Sue, " Hist, cc la Marine," vol. i. i>p. 2S5-6.
FRANCE UNDER COLBERT. 39
■with a clause pointing out the close connection uhich
exists between the navy and commerce. This, coupled
with the fact that since Colbert had taken the matter
in hand, as Minister of Finance, French commerce
had notably augmented throughout the kingdom/ is
assigned as the reason for transferring to him, as respon-
sible Minister, not only the whole care of the navy in
all the provinces of France, but also everything regard-
ing commerce both internal and external, all French
trading companies and their concessions, all colonies,^
and manufactories in whatsoever land they may be
established. We have, indeed, but to turn to Colbert's
"Edict on Commerce," which appeared in 1673, and to
that on the navy issued in 1681, to find in their careful
provisions full justification of the trust reposed in him,
while the opinions of Lord Tenterden, Lord Mansfield,
and other authorities on the subject, bear witness to the
value of his fjreat work in the foundation of Chambers
of Marine Insurance, and the authority accorded to his
sagacious regulations in this matter down to the pre-
sent day.3
The creation of the Compagnie des Indes Orientales
had originated in a scheme of Fouquet's. The mer-
chants of Tours, Nantc-s, and La Rochelle, when in 1663
they presented their petition for its foundation, set
forth that what they proposed was the " memo dessein
que celui qui avait ete accepte par M. Fouquet quelque
temps avant sa detention." It is, therefore, more than
probable that Colbert had long been familiar with the
project which he supported by lavish expenditure of
■ Sea Wolowski, " Dc I'Oiganisation Industrielle de la France avant
. . . Colbert." Revue dc Legislation et de la lunspritdcncc,yi2L\%, \%\l.
- See Pauliat, " Madagascar sous Louis XIV."
3 VValford, "Cyclopedia of Marine Insurance," vol. iv. pp. 309-313.
40 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
influence and money, if indeed he were not himself the
author of it.' He is, indeed, often accused of having
developed his commercial policy at the expense of
those agricultural interests which Sully had fostered,
and which must always be a chief source of the pros-
perity of France. His edicts prohibiting the export
of grain constituted, it is true, a standing menace to
the producer, whose permit, terminable in three or six
months, depended now on the prospects of harvest, now
on the probable wants of the king's troops in winter
quarters, or again on the policy of cutting off the
enemy's supplies. 2 The husbandman, always uncertain
of his market, was thus practically discouraged, and
agricultural commerce was checked, but it must be
remembered that these measures were exceptional, and
that Colbert's industrial policy was in the main based
on the then universally accepted proposition that good
economy involved thedrawing within the national borders
of ever-increasing stores of the precious metals. Hence
his system of bounties on export of home produce,
hence the rewards given to the East India Company
(1671) for carrying French instead of Irish cattle to the
" Isles francoises d'Amerique," for he aimed at the
fostering of home production by an elaborate system
of protection, whilst at the same time the markets of
other countries were to be forced open and flooded with
I'^ench goods. Courtilz de Sandras puts into Colbert's
mouth the argument used to-day by United States pro-
tectionists : " Shouhl an)' one argue that if we put our-
selves on this footing . . . the foreigners can do the
same, so it would be simpler to lea\c things just as
' r.'iuliat, " Madagascar sous Louis XIV."
= Clement, "Hist, de Co'.beri," vol. i. p. 365 ; and " Couvcrnemcnt
de Louis XIV.," cliap. xii. p. 227.
FRANCE UNDER COLBERT. x\
tlicy are ... to speak thus one must be ignorant
that we need no one, but our neighbours need us.
The kingdom has, with few exceptions, all within its
borders, but in tlic neighbouring states it is not so." '
Any attempt on the part of a weaker power to imitate
Colbert's own polic}', such, for instance, as that made in
the Papal States byAlcxandcr Vll.and Clement IX., was
instantly repressed with a high hand ;~ and perhaps no
more eloquent condemnation of Colbert's whole scheme
is to be found than that furnished by the negotiations
conducted on this occasion by the Abbe de Bourlemont.
It was indeed necessary to the successful result of
Colbert's commercial policy, as it would be necessary
to the complete success of any protectionist policy, that
the nation pursuing it should be able to dictate her own
terms to the rest of Europe.
His leading idea was to lower all export dues on
national produce and manufactures, and whilst diminish-
ing import duties on such raw materials as were
required for French manufactures, to raise them until
they became prohibitive on all foreign goods. The
success of the tariff of 1664 misled Colbert. That tariff
was a splendidly statesmanlike attempt to put an end
to the conflict and confusion of the duties, dues, and
customs then existing in the different provinces and
ports of France, and it was in effect a tariff calculated
for purely fiscal purposes. -^ Far other were the con-
siderations embodied in the tariff of 1667, which led to
the Dutch and English wars, and which, having been
enacted in the supposed interests of home industry,
' "Test. Polit. de Messire Jean Baptiste Colbert," chap. xv. : " Dcs
Marchands et du Commerce."
= Clement, "Hist, de Colljcrt," vol. i. p. 305.
3 Ibid. pp. 292-3.
42 ART IX THE MODERN STATE.
eventually stimulated production in other countries.
England set up manufactures of silk, of hats, and also
of all those coarser kinds of cloth which up to 1659 she
had been accustomed to import in large quantities from
France, whilst the Dutch not only got hold of French
paper-makers, but having learnt how to fabricate canvas
for their own shipping, also secured the English market,
which had previously depended wholly on France for its
supply of the like goods. '
If, however,, the industrial policy of Colbert cannot
be said to have realised his expectations, since it neither
brought about a great increase in the number of home
manufactures nor succeeded in securing a larger share
of foreign trade, there is not a doubt that, in spite even
of the disastrous wars which it provoked, it power-
fully contributed, on the whole, to place France in the
front rank as a commercial nation. The very pains
and penalties by which he vexed those same industries
which it was his main object to foster, and which became
much worse after his death,^ were not without a bene-
ficial influence on their general character. At first sight
such attempts as that to fix by law the length, width,
price, and quality of different stuffs by subjecting the
unhappy producer of material not precisely in con-
formity with the legal standard to infamous punish-
ments, would api)car to be an illegitimate interference
v.-ith individual liberty in the endeavour to attain, by
arbitrary tampering with the natural conditions of
production, that perfection of workmanship which should
properly result from mutual emulation between rival
■ "Mem. sur la Commerce," etc., " Leltrcs et Insts.," vol. ii.
I"-" pnrtie, annexes, p. cclvii. Sec also Clement, " Gouvernement de
Louis XlV.,"c]iap. x.
* Levasseur,"llisloire des Classes Ouvrieics," 1st scries, vol. ii. chap. vi.
FRANCE UNDER COLBERT. 43
competitors for custom. It may, however, be pleaded,
in extenuation of these and other like measures, that
since the guilds and corporations of the arts and trades
were becoming daily less powerful, it was needful that
the supreme authority should find some means whereby
the influence which they had previously exercised in
keeping up the standard of work in their respective
industries should be replaced. At the present day the
spirit of Colbert's legislation in this respect survives
in such establishments as the conditioning houses of
Roubaix and of Lyons, the functions of which are
described at length in the " Report of the Ro}-al Com-
mission on Technical Education." i But the conditioning
performed in these houses, which undertake the testing of
all raw material and manufactured goods, is entirely
optional. If buyer and seller agree to any transaction
without submitting to the official test and expenses they
are at liberty to do so ; whereas Colbert, b}^ penalties so
cruel that they could not be rigorously exacted, sought
to enforce the observance of perfectly arbitrary regu-
lations. 2 Most writers have, in fact, pointed to these
enactments as a series of glaring mistakes. P'rom an
economical point of view they are clearly right, but is
there not another aspect of the question — the political .''
And from the political point of view may it not be justly
urged that, although industrial development was checked
by Colbert's severe penalties against the manufacture or
• " The condilioning house of Roubaix, like the similar establishments
of Lyons and Crcfeld, undertakes the testing of all raw materials and
manufactured goods with regard to actual weight, measurement, and
condition. Certain standards of condition are recognised in various
materials, upon which allowances are made for the moisture they
contain. . . . The house was built by the town at a cost of ^^ 16, 000.' —
Vide " Report of Royal Commission on Technical Education."
= Clement, " Hist, dc Colbert," vol. i. pp. 326-7.
44 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
sale of inferior goods, \-et, in so far as these regulations
tended to maintain a high standard of excellence, they
did actually fulfil to a large extent his purpose of
adding lustre to the character of French industry, and
thereby increasing the importance of France in Europe.
Evcr3-thing that could increase the importance of
the nation, as well as all that could add to its real
power, was an object of Colbert's patriotic solicitude.
To surround the throne of France with every attribute
of majesty which could heighten its lustre in the eyes
of foreign courts was but to complete his general
scheme for the political aggrandisement of France.
Why was he ready to confer substantial encouragement
on men of letters and artists, but because they alone
could give to luxury a dazzling elegance ? To the pure
pleasures of art Colbert was as indifferent as Richelieu
himself; he saw, however, not only its value as a means
of national glory; he was also the first to appreciate the
immense services which it might be brought to render
to national industry. Hence arose Colbert's intimate
relations with the chief of the Academy of Painting and
Sculpture, and herein, too, lies the explanation of much
that at first sight appears to be abnormal in the
character of French seventeenth-century work, especially
if compared with that of the period immediately
preceding.
This matter alone, which, if compared to the whole
scheme of his administration, seems but a puny detail,
serves to show the completeness of Colbert's conception
of the modern state. The devoted servant of the
most despotic Crown in Europe, he never lost sight
of the interests of the people. The Academy of
Painting and Sculpture and the School of Architecture
were not called into being in order that royal palaces
should be raised surpassing all others in magnificence.
FRANCE UNDER COLBERT. 45
Bievrebache and the Savonneric were not established
only that sucli palaces should be furnished more
sumptuously than those of an Eastern fairy tale.
Colbert did not care chiefly to inquire, when organising
art administration, what were the institutions best fitted
to foster the proper interests of art; he asked, in the
first place, what would most contribute to swell the
national importance. I'>ven so, in surrounding the king
with the treasures of luxury, his object was twofold —
their possession should indeed illustrate the Crown, but
should also be a unique source of advantage to the
people. Glass-workers were brought from Venice, and
lace-makers from Flanders, that they might yield to
France the secrets of their skill. Palaces and public
buildings were to afford commissions for French artists,
and a means of technical and artistic education for all
those employed on them. The royal collections were
but a further instrument in educating the taste and
increasing the knowledge of the working classes. The
costly factories of the Savonneric and the Gobelins were
practical schools, in which every detail of every branch
of all those industries which contribute to the furnishing
and decoration of houses was brought to perfection,
whilst a band of chosen apprentices were trained in the
adjoining schools.
To these schools Colbert assigned a prominent posi-
tion in his scheme, looking on them as the home and
nursery of French industry. After six years of ap-
prenticeship and four of service, the bo\-s, who were
received into them free of charge, went forth passed
masters in their respective crafts, and carried the fruits
of their training into all the provinces of France.*
These schools, as well as the institutions of which
' " Notice Ilistorique sur les Manufactures Impcriales de Tapisseries,
etc." Lacordairc, 1853, p. 55.
46 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
they formed a part, were placed by Colbert in direct
relations with the privileged Academy of Painting and
Sculpture, and under the protectorate of this body,
officially organised and recognised corporations of
artists, eager to enjoy the privileges of the central
society of Paris, spread themselves over France.
On the other hand, the facilities afforded for foreign
study by the foundation of the School of France
at Rome, secured the interests of art education in
its highest form, and gave into the hands of the ruling
Minister a supply of men perfectly accomplished, and
fitted to undertake the execution of the most compli-
cated tasks or the direction of the most important estab-
lishments. Thus, that unity of authority which had been
the precept of the great Cardinal's policy imposed its
extreme consequences, and prevented in France that
lamentable divorce between art and industry which
took place at this moment in every other country in
Europe. Each link was complete in the chain which
connected the humblest institutions v.'ith the proud
central Academy, and from the director of the central
Academy all received ultimate guidance and control.
To Colbert, therefore, is due the honour of having
foreseen, not only that the interests of the modern
state were inseparably bound up with those of industr}^
but also that the interests of industry could not without
prejudice be divorced from art. The principles on
which he worked contained, indeed, certain seeds of
failure ; in his industrial system protection was pushed
to an extreme which injured those whom it was meant
to serve ; and the arbitrary caprices of the power which
he and his great predecessor liad rendered sovereign
speedily brought about financial disaster. The pitiless
and despotic Louvois, who had succeeded his father,
FRANCE UNDER CGLBERT. 47
Colbert's old patron Le Tcllicr, as Secretary of State
for War, played on the imperious vanity of King Louis,
and engaged him in wars big and little, v.hich in most
cases wanted even the shade of a pretext. Wars big
and little caused reckless expenditure, together with
that terrible corruption which seems invariably to
follow in its train, and against which Colbert had
fought from the first with bitter earnest. All the zeal
of the great ^Minister's strict economy could only stay
for a while the sure approach of national distress.
In cruel vexation he saw himself forced to close his
establishment of Bicvrebache, and to sacrifice the
industrial training of French workmen to the expenses
of the war with Holland which the king had arrogantly
provoked, and for which the exigencies of his own
commercial policy had been made the excuse. i
When Colbert died, on 6th September, 1683, the
misery of France, exhausted by oppressive taxation,^
and depopulated by armies kept constantly on foot,
cried out against the Minister who, rather than fall
from power, had lent himself to measures which he
heartily condemned. For the moment men forgot
how numerous were the benefits which he had con-
ferred, how great a work had been accomplished by
his hand, and remembered only the harshness with
which he had dealt justice and stinted mercy. Yet
order reigned where, before his advent, all had been
corruption and confusion; the navy of France had
been created, her colonies fostered, her forests saved
from destruction ; ^ justice and the authority of the
' See "Mem. de Terrault," p. 16S, ct scq.
^ See " Abus du Credit et le Desoidre financier a la fin du Regnc de
Louis XIV."— Vuitry, Kevite des Deux Motidcs, Jan., 1884.
-^ See Maury, " Les Forets de la France."
48 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
law had been carried into the darkest corners of the
land ; religious toleration, socially if not politically,
had been advocated ; whilst the encroachments of
the Church had been more or less steadfastly opposed.
Colbcrt^s attempts to unify legislation were premature,
but, aided by his uncle Pussort, he got embodied the
Code Louis (1667), the Ordonnance Criminale (1670), the
Ordonnance des Eaux et Forets (1669), the Edict on
Commerce (1673), the Code Maritime (1681)^ and pre-
pared his Code Colonial, commonly called the Code
Noir, which appeared after his death.
To the material prosperity of the nation — even
after we have made all possible deductions for the
evils arising from an exaggerated system of protection
— an immense and enduring impulse had been given.
"One single instance," says Levasseur, "suffices to
measure the distance which separates the administration
of Colbert from that of his predecessors. Whilst
Fouquet did not get even twenty-three millions of
the eight\--four levied on the nation, Colbert knew^
in his first year, how to get in fifty-three millions of
the cight\--eight which he levied. . . . For eleven \-ears
he balanced receipts and expenditure. He inherited
a debt of eleven millions of 'rente' and left behind
him only a debt of eight millions, after having met the
expenses of two wars and of the wildest extravagance." ^
In spite of disgrace and death his influence survived ;
in spite of the financial disorders, which went on
steadily increasing, and which at last brought France
to the verge of bankruptcy, his work bore fruit in the
frequent efforts which were made to equalise the
pressure of taxation. When, in 1695, the difficulties
' Levasseur, " Hiit. des Classes Ouvrierts," vol. ii. pp. 169-170.
FRAXCE UNDER COLBERT. 49
were so great that even the food of tlic wild beasts
in the menagerie was cut off/ and the desperate expe-
dient of a poll-tax was resorted to in order to meet the
ruinous expenses of war; several intendants at once
pointed out its unfair incidence, and urged the adoption
of schemes by which it might be made proportional.
They remembered the statesman who, when a war
Avas contemplated, had bidden them report whether the
peasants " se retablissent un peu, comment lis sont
habillez, mcublez, et s'ils se rejouissent d'avantage les
jours de fcstes et dans les mariages qu'ils ne faisaient
cy-devant." At a later date, 1701, these representations
in favour of proportional taxation actually took effect :
" La capitation de 1695 etait tin ivipol dc quotitCyTp\nsc\uQ
chaque contribuable etait directement impose a la taxe
que lui assignait le tarif, et que le produit total, non
fixe a Tavance, etait le resultat des cotes individuelles
inscrites aux roles. Celle de 1701 devient tui inipot de
repartition : la somme a percevoir dans chaque gencralite
est arretee en conseil, et elle est ensuite repartie entrc
les contribuables par des officiers publics determines et,
en dernier ressort, par les intendans, Cette repartition
ne pent plus s'operer exclusivement suivant le tarif
de 1695, et le plus souvent ellc se fait a raison des
facultes des contribuables. Sous ce rapport, la capita-
tion est plus proportionnelle aux fortunes." -
These were considerations of a new order in state
government, which should mean the good husbandry
of national resources, and it is the glory of the age
of Louis XIV., and its great importance to men, that
it saw the inauguration of this new ideal, to the
' O.' 1053. Arch. Nat.
- Vuitry, Revue des Deux MjnJes, 1SS4. See also Forbonnais,
" Recheiches et Considerations sur les Tinances de France."
E
50 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
realisation of which modern poh'tical and social economy
constantly aspires. The brilliant Fouquet had played
with these problems.' Colbert gave his life to their
solution. 2
' " Interrogation de Fouquet," F. de Laborde.
- See M, Cheruel, " Histoire de rAdministration Moderne en France."
Also Joubleau, " Etude sur Colbert."
CHAPTER III.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE.
Ix the dialogue which Diderot invents at Marly between
the two most celebrated kings of France, Henri IV.
thus addresses Louis XIV. : "You are right, my boy, all
this is very magnificent ; but I should like to see the
homes of my peasants at Yonne ; " i and Diderot adds :
" What would he have thought to have found, all round
these magnificent palaces, his peasants starving on straw,
in their roofless lairs ? "
This is the picture put before us by an eye-witness in
1762, when the Grand Siccle had borne its proper fruit :
during no other century had so many splendid archi-
tectural monuments been raised in France, and, at its
close, never had the poor been so ill housed, never had
their lives been devoured by a more hungry misery !
The love of building, which prevailed in the Renaissance,
and which Fouquet, at a later date, carried to an extra-
vagant excess, was inherited by the Grand ]\Ionarque,
and became, in virtue of the social conditions of the day,
an appanage of the Crown, A hundred years before
Diderot, Colbert wrote: "There is no one now in
France, but the king, who employs sculptors, painters,
and other skilful workmen : if his Majesty docs not find
' Letter to Mdlle. Yoland.
E 2
52 ART IX THE MODERN STATE.
them employment, they must go elsewhere to seek their
living.'^ ^
" Vingt-quatre violons du roi etaient toute la musique
de la France," and the history of French architecture in
the seventeenth century is simply the history of the
royal palaces of France ; for though Colbert would
have had it otherwise, not even he could divert to works
of public utility the gold required for the wars and
pleasures of the king.
During the Renaissance, when Paris had still her
rivals, every province in France could show some costly
pile in progress — some chateau or church, fit to be the
wonder of a future age — whilst on the smaller houses of
eood citizens were lavished all the resources of a humbler
beauty, full of variety and charm. The work of the
Grajid Sikle, on the other hand, is not only all royal
but all monotonous. Since none but the king could
give employment, all that was made was made to please
him, and his tastes, superb and practical, were those of
one whose ideals w^ere wholly external. " Mazarin,"
says M. de Laborde, " could not inspire the king with
love of art, for that cannot be taught ; and, wanting in
that natural instinct which discovers genius, and that
delicacy of taste which loves perfection, Louis XIV. got
out of the difficulty by appealing to the grandiose ; in-
capable of feeling any beauty in simplicity, he threw
himself into profuse magnificence." ~
No greater contrast could be desired to the loveliness
of Blois, of Chambord, or of Ecouen — a loveliness which
once lingered even where the formal gardens of Le
Notre glowed in the sunshine of the Tuileries — than
the orderly grandeur of Versailles and the stately glories
' Letter, 1672, cited by Clement, " Hist, de Colbert," ed. 1846, chap.
xvii. p. 340. = De Laborde, " Le Talais Mazarin," p. 32.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE.
DJ
•of its courts. Not that this grandeur and glory arc un-
intelligent, for, at the king's call, there came a crowd of
all the talents, eager to fulfil his purposes of magnifi-
cence and splendour; but the result has an eminently
unintellectual aspect, for in truth a ray of genius would
have embarrassed the builders of Versailles and dis-
turbed the convincing effects at which they aimed with
much just pride of skill.
The cradle of Versailles was Vincennes. Whilst
Louis XIV. was yet a boy, the old fortress was trans-
formed with a view to his amusements, and Colbert,
then no more than Mazarin's man of business, was
instructed to bring together there " tout cc qui s'y pent
faire pour Ic plaisir du roy."' Any residence, beyond
the reach of a Paris mob, must have had peculiar charm
to a boy whose childhood had seen the restless days of
the Fronde. The freedom and safety of Vincennes
became very dear to him, but Vincennes was soon out-
grown, and at Versailles he sought a vaster theatre for
the display of those tastes which, fostered by Colbert
on his way to power, were destined to bring to the
ground his darling schemes for the welfare of the
French people.
Nominated publicly to the post of Commissioner
of Works in January, 1 664, a post which he had
been for some time secretly preparing to occup)',
Colbert had settled to his own satisfaction the line
which he intended to pursue. He held that, for the
<Tlorv and honour of the king of France, the Louvre
had to be completed in such wise that, for size and
magnificence, it should surpass the palaces of ail other
kings and countries, whilst Paris should be filled with
public monuments destined to eclipse the triumphs of
' " Lettres de Colbert," November 29, 1653.
54 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Greece and Rome. But, on this head, as on many
others, Colbert had miscalculated his strength, for the
claims of that enlightened self-interest which to him
appeared all-convincing, were easily outweighed in the
mind of his master by the dictates of pleasure or caprice.
Colbert himself was not a man of taste, but he had
too exact a mind to remain unconscious of his own
deficiency. In early days, when making purchases for
Mazarin, he used anxiously to solicit the Cardinal's
guidance,! and he prepared himself to take over the
Board of Works by selecting a few confidential advisers
who formed a small committee which ultimately became
the Academy of Inscriptions, and gave birth, a few
years later, to yet another academy — the Academy of
Architecture.
One of the chief in influence among these advisers
was Colbert's own clerk, Charles Perrault,- the author
not only of the Contes des Fees, but of the curious
memoirs 3 which contain so much of the secret historv
of these transactions. He enumerates the projects
named at their first meeting, held on the 3rd Februar}',
1663 ; and when we find that the Louvre was to
be finished, many monuments to be raised to the glory
of the king, and numbers of medals were to be struck,
it seems odd that not one of those called to advise as to
the execution of these schemes possessed any practical
qualifications.
Shortly after this first meeting the members were
formally presented to the king, whom they found in a
closet behind his mother^s bedchamber, "which," says
' De Laborde, " Le Palais Mazarin," p. 262.
- The others were the Abbe de Bourseis and the Abbe de Canaques,
both, lil<e Chapelain, members of the Academic P'ran^aise. De Canaques
was satirised by Boileau.
^ "Mem. de Perrault," Avignon, 1759.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE. 55
Pcrrault, " he incessantly quitted to watch her, waiting
on her in her sickness, ministering to almost all her
wants.'^i The queen-mother was sick to death, but her
son's anxiety did not make him the less superb in com-
mitting to the care of the new Academy " that which he
held dearer than anything in the world — his glory ! "
But " ma gloire '^ had a twin brother in " mon bon
plaisir/' and before he had been a year in office, we
find Colbert appealing to the king against that reckless
expenditure at Versailles, which hindered the execution
of all other projects. " I entreat your ]\Iajesty to allow
me to say two words as to the reflections I often make
on this subject, and to be pleased to forgive my zeal.
That building is far more a question of your ^Majesty's
amusement than of your Majesty's credit, . , . Vet if
your Majesty seeks where the 500,000 crowns are gone
which have been spent there the last two years, your
Majesty will have great difficulty in finding them.
Whilst your Majesty has spent such great sums on this
building, the Louvre has been neglected. . . . Ah !
what a pity that the greatest and most virtuous king,
of that true virtue which is the stuff of the greatest
princes, should be measured by the yard of Versailles ! "
Already this absorbing passion for show and pleasure
had begun to vex the soul of Colbert ; already that
economy which he was bent on introducing into the
public service was menaced by the expense of the king's
diversions. "As for me,"' he continues, " I confess that
in spite of your Majesty's dislike to running up the
current account, could I have foreseen how great would
have been the drain of Versailles, I should have advised
the carrj'ing it under that head so as to conceal the
amount." In his despair, Colbert next urged as a
' " Mt'm. dc rcrrault," p. 4c.
56 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
compromise that a fixed yearly sum should be allotted
to this pleasure-house, whilst more strenuous efforts
should be made for the completion of the Louvre ; but
in vain. Versailles was the creation of the king himself;
as to the Louvre and the buildings of Paris, he could
force himself occasionally to give them dignified atten-
tion, but he took no more interest in them than he did
in his fleet, and thus Colbert's prediction is verified, and
this chief of kings is now judged by the crumbling
glories of a deserted palace.
Still Colbert refused to forego his projects. Having
formed his council, his next care was to select an
architect, and he at once found himself in a sea of
difficulties. As " Surintendant et ordonnateur general
des maisons royales, jardins et tapisseries de Sa Ma-
jeste, arts et manufactures de France," he had, under
his orders, four intendants, three supervisors, three
treasurers, and the first architect to the king, Le Vau.
But the plans of Le Vau for the principal facade of the
Louvre were too modest for him, so he stopped the
works, and invited the profession to criticise Le Van's
plans and send in designs of their own.' This was the
first act of the play in which Bernini was eventually
called to take a principal part.
The Paris architects were, of course, all delighted to
criticise Le Vau ; many, too, were ready with designs of
their own, to be exhibited in the same room with the
condemned model by the man in disgrace. Amongst
these was one, as Charles Perrault tells us, b\- his
"brother^ the doctor,'' which all approved, probably
because none feared an amateur as a serious rival, but
they reckoned without the doctor's brother. TJic
great feature of this plan was an immense peristyle,
■ " Mem. (.Ic reriaull," p. 6o. ■ Ibid. p. 6i.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE. 57
or colonnade of fluted pillars, crowned by elaborate
capitals of the Corinthian order, and the novelty and
splendour of the project are said to have astonished
Colbert; but his admiration of the doctor's genius, as
well as his disapprobation of Le Van's designs, had
probabl}' both been inspired of set purpose by the
<astute Charles Perrault, who had from the first laid his
plans to procure the honour of finishing the Louvre for
his own family. For the moment, however, he had
to content himself with seeing his brother's design
despatched to Rome, together with that of Le Vau,
which had held its own well in this com,petition, for
Colbert naturally hesitated to commit so important an
undertaking to the doctor's hands without further advice.
The fresh plans and fresh criticisms received from
Rome were but a further embarrassment ; Colbert could
not make up his mind to take the responsibility of a
decision. Seeing his hesitation, the Abbe Benedetti^
took the opportunity to press the claims of Bernini,
from whom a criticism and a project had also been
solicited by the French Ambassador ; and although
Colbert noticed that the Cavaliere seemed to have
thought of nothing but the outside, he was in such
difficulties that he took the desperate step of inviting
Bernini to Paris. 2
The Perraults now appeared to have been com-
pletely checkmated, and the most absurd concessions
were made to the vanity of the very vain old Italian to
secure his co-operation in the completion of the palace
' Benedetti had been employed by Mazaiin, in 1644, to negotiate with
Bernini before he entrusted the building of his palace to Fran9ois Mansard,
and had again endeavoured to introduce an Italian architect, when Le Vau
was selected to carry out additions to Vincennes. See " Le Palais Mazarin,"
note 189.
= Colbert's Letters, 3rd October, 1664.
58 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
of palaces. He was escorted to Paris by the French
Ambassador, the Duke de Crequi himself, who^ when
he had taken leave of the Holy Father, " colla solita
pompa/' visited the Cavaliere, " colla medesima," in order
to request him to depart. His progress across France
was triumphal ; every city through which he passed had
the king's orders to present him with addresses and
gifts. Even the great tOAvn of Lyons, paying by custom
such homage to princes of the blood alone, had to acquit
itself like the rest. M. de Chantelou, the Steward of the
Royal Household, was sent out to meet Bernini, when
he approached Paris in the month of May, with orders
to take his commands and bear him company, and he
was received almost immediately by the king at St.
Germain with all imaginable honours.
On the other hand, those of the profession who had
been ready to combine against Le Vau were not pre-
pared to yield the place to a foreigner, though they had
criticised Le Vau and quizzed the doctor. Forced now
to receive Bernini with every outward demonstration
of respect, they in secret made common cause against
him, whispering about that this new rival eclipsed all
others only by his pretensions and his arrogance.
Bernini soon gave them their open opportunity ;
in the magnificent scheme which he elaborated, he
betrayed the weakness on which the practical e}-c of
Colbert had fastened at the outset ; he neglected all
those domestic requirements on providing for which
h^'ench architects had begun to pride themselves ; he
took thought for banqueting halls, for theatres, and
state reception chambers, and left such common matters
as sleeping rooms and offices, Italian fashion, to take
care of themselves. Colbert, who attached a reasonable
importance to the distribution of comfortable living
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE. 59
rooms.i not onl}' for the king but for his Court, was
no less exacting as to provisions which might facih-
tate the discharge of their duties by the officers of
the household^ and loudly expressed his dissatisfaction. -
Charles Perrault at once improved the occasion, and by
dint of persistently dwelling on these particular defects,
worked Colbert up into a state of exasperation. Yet,
in bringing Bernini to Paris, and in treating him as one
inspired, Colbert had committed, not only himself, but
the king, so deeply, that to dismiss the Italian like
an ordinary mortal was impossible ; he was therefore
forced to temporise, and even to continue to approve
openly what he secretly condemned. So successfully
did he conceal his irritation, even from those about him,
that at one moment the wily Perrault thought he had
overreached himself, and, alarmed at the public
reprimand he had received at a meeting of the Board
of Works, pursued Colbert down a corridor,^ humbly
entreating him to overlook the liberty he had taken
in criticising Bernini's plans. " What,'' replied Colbert
furiously, " do you think I don't see it all as well as
you .'' Peste soit dn B. . . . qui pensc nous en /aire
acci'oire ! " "I was astonished," says Perrault, ''and
gave thanks to Almighty God that He granted me
this clear view of the Court, and of the dissimulation
necessary to those who would live therein!" It was
evident that the fate of Bernini's plan was sealed.
Meanwhile, in spite of the gathering storm, prepara-
tions for the new buildings of the Louvre went on.
The first stone was laid on 17th October, 1665, by the
' The question of interior arrangements was frequently the chief problem
of the plans submitted to the Academy, See Register of Academy of Arclii-
tecture, June 9, 1677, etc., now preserved in ihe Archives of the Insliiut,
extracts from which will be found in Appendi.\ VIII.
= " Mem. de Perrault," p. 86. 3 Jbid. p. 93.
•6o ART ly THE MODERN STATE.
king himself, with flourish of trumpets and much pomp
of flowing wigs, and coats weighty with gold.' Before
the close of the year the foundations were far advanced,
but the situation became more and more embarrassing
every day. No petty act of discouragement and annoy-
ance vv^as left unpractised by which Bernini might be
forced to take the initiative^ and relieve his unwilling
hosts of his irksome presence. The old man's vanity,
no mean defence against indirect attacks, at last gave
way; forced to entertain the unwelcome suspicion
that his triumphant honours were to be exchanged for
humiliation and defeat, he requested leave to depart,
and his ill humour broke forth when his secret and
deadly enemy^ Charles Perrault, carried to him the
king's parting gifts : a grant of a yearly pension of
I2pool. for himself, another of 1200 1. for his son,
and three bags, each containing a thousand gold coins.
"These I carried to him in my own arms," says
Perrault, *Sn order to do him the more honour." But
Bernini was not to be so deceived. " Such good-days,"
said he, "would be pleasant enough if they came often ;
as for your patents, I don't look to see them paid above
once or twice at the most.'' And so they parted. 2
Perrault had got rid of Bernini ; he had now to get
rid of Le Vau. By adroit suggestions the king had
been disgusted with the magnificent schemes of the
Italian ; by the pretence of imposing on his admiration
a second and more modest design of Le Vau, he
was warily brought to pronounce himself finally in
favour of the colonnade by Claude Perrault.-^ Even
then, however, Colbert hesitated to commit himself
' These coais for great ceremonies were so heavy wiili metal that tlicy
■were instantly laid aside on entering tlie jirivate apaitments. See
"Journal de Dangeau," 19 Fevrier, 1714.
-"Mem. de Perrault," p. no. See also Gazette dcs Ikaux Arts, Mars,
JSS4. 5 ihiJ, p. 127.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE. 6i
Avliolly to a man who might be an ingenious and
brilhant draughtsman, but who had no professional
training or experience. The friends of Le Vau, who
counted thirty years of service, were merciless in their
chaff, "Architecture/' they said, "must be very ill
since she was to be put into the doctor's hands ! '■" But
the doctor's devoted brother^ ever fertile in expedientSj
again came to the rescue, and by his invention of the
" Conseil des batiments " which ultimately became the
Academy of Architecture (1671) the difficulty was solved.
Strong in the outspoken approval of Louis XIV.,.
Perrault advised that his brother's design should
be placed in the hands of a committee of the Board
of Works contrived on the model of the first committee
appointed by Colbert to aid him in his functions as
Chief Commissioner^ the committee which had de-
veloped into the Academy of Inscriptions. ^ The early
meetings of this committee were quite informal. Charles
Perrault acted as secretary, the doctor submitted his
designs, Le Vau pointed out, as in duty bound, certain
unprofessional artifices which were undoubtedly bad
building.2 Colbert called Le Brun to his aid, Le Brun
concurred with Le Vau in condemning the employment
of iron braces, to counteract the pressure of the archi-
traves, and other such unworkmanlike devices ; but these
objections were overruled, the die was cast, the works
went on.
Perrault the doctor was told, just as Bernini had
been told, that on no account must he interfere with
or injure the old Louvre, and more especially must
he respect the work of Pierre Lescot on the facade of
the interior of the court facing east. Bernini had cast
' "Mem. de Perrault," p. 122.
- See Registre du Conseil des Batiments, Arch. Nat., and see also
Blondel, vol. iv. p. 4.
62 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
all such warnings to the winds ; in his scheme, the old
court was filled up by four enormous pavilions, which,
projecting- inwards, gave it the shape of a Greek
cross ; building round this nucleus, he had arranged
four smaller courts, irregular in shape, and ill lighted,
the different parts all of various heights, finished up
by terraces, which, serving the upper storeys and con-
nected by staircases, aff'orded a kind of promenade.
Bold projections broke up the line of the palace on the
south by the Seine ; there, as well as on the north and
east, the moat remained. As for the fagade on the
east, where Perrault's colonnade was destined ultimately
to stand, that also was broken up irregularly, and as far
as can be judged from the plans, the cornice with its
consoles and statues must have crushed the whole.'
The central entrance was poor, though the vestibule
within was magnificent, and the staircases well placed.
The same defects marked the proposed fagade to face
the Tuileries on the west ; the central body of the
building seems out of all proportion with the pavilions
at the corners, and the double rows of arcades in the
first and second storeys look as if they were stuck to,
or hanging from, the enormous Corinthian columns
which run up past them, and which are, as it were,
cut through by the cornice on which the second
storey rests.^ The great space between the Louvre
and the Tuileries lay empty, only covered by an
immense connecting gallery, running along on the
north side ; wdiile on the east, Bernini would have
cleared the ground right up to the Pont Neuf, raising
in the centre a rock a hundred feet high, surmounted
' Blondel, vol. iv. book 6, No. i. plate 8.
-De Clarac, " Musee de Sculpture," ed. 1S41, vol. i. p. 372. Sec
also Perrault's criticisms of and defence of such treatment of an order.
Appendix VII.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE. 63
by the statue of the king, decorated on all sides by
nymphs and urns, out of which water should have
flowed to the most distant parts of Paris.
That this scheme was stupendous, nobody will
deny ; that it was, as Bernini did not scruple to assert,
the fruit of direct Divine inspiration, not even Bernini
himself could have believed ; but whatever the defects
of his plan, the reproach specially brought against it
by his Parisian critics applied with equal force to
the designs of Claude Perrault. If Bernini, as they
said, had thought of nothing but the outside of
the palace, most certainly Claude Perrault, when he
designed that magnificent mask, the colonnade, had
paid very little attention to the inside :i if he were a
genius he was not an architect, and he never seems
to have thought of putting his own work into relation
with that of his predecessors. Until his advent, all
additions and alterations in the Louvre had been made
more or less in reference to the facade by Lescot, on
the west of the old court. Its proportions had been
disturbed by Lemercier,^ but Lemercier religiously
preserved the style of the Renaissance, and Le Vau,
in 1660, took up his work in the same spirit. In
1663 the desire to complete the fourth facade so as to
make it more magnificent than all the rest, overleaped all
other considerations, and the construction of Perrault's
colonnade was allowed to disturb the whole economy
of the Louvre.^ It was so much too long for the
side to which it was attached,"^ that another sham
front had to be carried along the side facing the Seine,
' De ClaiMC, " Musce de Sculpture," vol. i. p. 3S2.
- The original size of the court was one-fourth that of the present area.
' Guilhermy, " Itineraire Archeologique," p. 268.
•* Mr, Fergusson considers it too long also for its height, but adds that
this was not the fault of the architect.
64 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
and so much too high for the rest of the court, that
the balustrade which surmounted the cornice stood
considerably above the line of roof on the inside. In
short it was about as adapted to its purpose as the
Observatory with which the doctor had at the same
time endowed Paris. ^
The fatal consequence of his dealings with the
Louvre was that it became impossible to carry along
on the inside the attic and French roof of Lescot,
which had been hitherto respected and continued round
the court by his successors. Nothing daunted, Perrault
destroyed their work, and replaced it on three sides
of the Court by a repetition of the order employed in
the first storey, a scheme the effect of which has been
disastrous. For the west wing now alone remains
with its original attic, at once a provocation and a
protest ; again and again it has been menaced by those
who had rather sacrifice its beauty than leave it out
of line with the rest of the quadrangle, whilst it has
as often been saved by those to whom perfect symmetry
was too dear a price to pay for loss of the original record.
In the noisy war of blunders and spites which
raged round the colonnade, Le Vau, the humbled first
architect to the Crown, plays his part in silence. He
had not only to bear the pain of seeing himself set
aside for a layman, but was obliged to give that layman
the practical help indispensable to the carrying out of
his plans. This he seems to have done so loyall}' that
many believed him to have been himself the author of
the work. To these Claude Perrault triumphantly
replied : " Look at Le Vau's plans ; show me his
peristyle V^~ and this test, which had helped to suppress
Bernini by making Colbert feel that there was some-
' See Lcgrand and Landon, " Description de Pari:-. " -Mem., p. 125.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE. 65
thing humiliating in the absence of a colonnade, success-
fully served to shame Le Vau. The pensce du peristyle
was the unanswerable argument which silenced those
who, like Germain Brice ' or Francois Dorbay, believed
that Perrault had as much share in the colonnade of the
Louvre as Catherine de Medicis in the Tuileries ; but
Le Vau himself, essentially an architect of the old
French school, can scarcely have envied the honours of
that last and greatest triumph of the heavy transitional
architecture which had arisen with the Jesuits in the
reign of Plenri IV.
M. de Labordc aptly said of Le Van's predecessor,
Lemercier, that he showed in the building of the
Sorbonne " qu'il savait inventer, dans Ic Louvre qu'il
savait respecter." 2 Le Vau was less happy than
Lemercier in that he was forced by the king to destroy
in the Louvre what he would fain have respected ; just
as, at an earlier date, he had been forced to destroy in
the Tuileries the spiral staircase of Delorme, a triumph
of construction, by the same royal order. At Versailles,
however, Le Vau suddenly obtained some small com-
pensation. In 1669 Colbert had spoken of the building
of Versailles as a matter not absolutely settled ; he had
informed his Council that the Tuileries and Louvre
must be finished, had gone into minute questions con-
nected with the great staircase, the colonnade, the attic,
and had even considered the rebuilding of neighbouring
houses ; but, as to Versailles, he only suggested that "a
definite understanding should be come to in respect of
the plans and designs of the additions to be made.'" ^
' "Description de Paris," ed. 169S, vol. i. p. 26.
- " De rUnion des Arts," vol. i. p. 99.
3 " Lettres et Insts.," vol. ii. p. ccx. These plans are now in the
Cabinet des Estampes.
F
66 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Up to this date he had succeeded in staving off any-
thing more than some sh'ght alterations in the wings of
the " petit chateau,'^ ^ as the pleasure-house of Louis XIII.
was popularly named, but even as he spoke the future of
Versailles was determined ; the king decided ^to make
additions sufficient to house himself and his Council for
many days whenever it suited him ; and the chateau
forthwith had to be transformed into a royal palace.
Then it was that Le Vau, forced to abandon the Louvre
to Perrault, was called to make plans for Versailles- —
plans by which he had hoped to justify the reputation
he had won at Vaux le Vicomte as the architect of
Fouquet ; but an ill fate pursued him, and even as they
were taking shape he died.
Now, the informal Committee of Works had con-
tinued to act satisfactorily as long as Le Vau was alive;
his authority had always been sufficient to settle vexed
questions of practical detail, but there was no one to
replace him. Neither his son nor his son-in-law,
Francois Dorbay — to whose superintendence the plans
for Versailles were necessarily entrusted — was a man of
sufficient standing to take his place.-^ Colbert therefore
largely increased his committee, calling to his aid
Liberal Bruand, the builder of the Invalides and of
Richmond Palace, Pierre Gittard, Antoine Lepaultre,
and Pierre Mignard_, whose task it was to supervise the
sculptors employed in the royal palaces, just as Le Brun
directed all the painters and decorators. To these were
added Francois Blondel,^ as lecturer, and Felibien des
' Dussieux, "Chateau de Versailles," vol. i. p. 90.
* For plans of the Louvre and Versailles see J. F. Blondel, "Arch.
Fran. Recueil," etc., vol. iv., Paris, 1756.
3 He was made also Garde des Antiques in 1673. O.'' 1053. Arch. Nat.
■* Diplomatist and mathematician, having great theoretical and some
practical knowledge of architecture, author of " Cours d'Architecture,"etc.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE. 67
Avaux, to fulfil the same duties which he already-
discharged, as Secretary to the iRoyal Academy of
Painting and Sculpture. The next step was to set
aside part of the gallery of the Palais Royal for the
Thursday meetings of the committee, w^hich was formally
•installed on the 31st day of December, 167 1, and recog-
nised as the " Academie des Architectes du Roy/' ^
As we turn over the leaves of the old registers
•of the proceedings, now preserved in the library of
the Institute, our first impression is, that this Academy,
so far from serving any practical end, spent most of
its time in useless discussions. Debates on propositions
such as that " Toutes choses faites de bon goust doivent
necessairement plaire^ mais qu'il y a plusieurs choses qui
peuvent plaire qu'on ne pent pas pour cela dire de bon
goust," are diversified by much reading of Vitruvius,
Serlio, Scamozzi and Battista Alberti. One asks one-
self how is it that the Society came to fail so completely
of its high purpose ? True, as the days go on, the
reading serves chiefly as a text for the examination
of professional problems, and even these are not
discussed merely in the air ; but it is comparatively
rare to find the Academicians holding council over
difficulties regarding public works actually in progress.
Up till the death of Colbert in 1683 the members took
a certain share in the decision of questions concerning
the Louvre. In June, 1674, they approved Perrault's
proposal to suppress some details in the pediment ; in
Alarch, 1677, his designs for the attic were submitted to
them ; in January, 1679, they inspected models of the
west front in order to determine the proper elevation
of the wings, each man being desired to send his
opinion to Colbert privately. But at this date all hope
' See Appendix VIII., " Registre de I'Acad. d'Avch."
F 2
68 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
of the completion of the palace must have been given
up, for in 1672 Colbert had been reduced to add in
a note to the Budget of Expenditure, " il faut mettre le
Louvre en etat de ne pas perir," ^ and although the
Colonnade was carried so far that in 1676 the two
enormous blocks, each fifty feet long, quarried at Meudon,
were raised with infinite pains on the cornice of the cen-
tral pediment, the works continued to languish as if every
one's patience had been exhausted by the effort, till with
the death of Colbert they came wholly to a standstill, re-
maining in a state of such utter neglect that Bachaumont,
writing seventy years later, notes that " ces nouvelles
parties . . . ne sont ni achevees ni couvertes." 2
If the share of the Academy in the completion of
the Louvre was little, the part it played in the building
of Versailles was still less. Shortly after Le Van's death,
at the sitting of March, 1672, the "'assemblee des archi-
tectes nommes par le roy," deliberated as to the
disposition of certain pilasters near the entrance to the
great court, and other matters in connection with his
plans ; but, after this for several years, the Academy hears
no more of Versailles. Not, indeed, until the moment at
which the chateau, as rehandled on Le Van's plans, was
almost complete (20th May, 1674), were the members
again taken into council, and then only concerning
points of interior decoration.
The old chateau of Louis XIII. stood, when Le Vau
was called to remodel it, between court and garden, its
wings extending along the court on the north and south.
Le Vau, faithful to the traditions which had guided him
in dealing with the Louvre, respected the '' little
chateau," isolating it from his own work, except on
' Clement, " Hist, de Colbert," ed. 1846, chap. xvi'. p. 340.
^ "Essai sur rArchitecture," p. 81, ed. 1751.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE. 69
the west or garden front — this front he carried on to
right and left, throwing out two other wings north and
south, which were separated by open courts, l3nng on
either side of tlie central Cour de Marbre. In this w^ay
he preserved the older wings of the chateau, which
gave much grace and lightness to the general aspect ;
and on the east, where the new buildings were extended
up to the offices of Louis XIII., they were also con-
nected with the old hunting lodge, portions of which
may still be detected behind the Galerie des Glaces, and
in the great corridor. Violently opposed by Perrault's
partyj who were anxious to give the doctor the oppor-
tunity for another colonnade,' Le Vau found an un-
expected supporter in the king himself, for a too great
persistency in suggesting that the chateau was so
ruinous that it must be pulled down, irritated him into
peremptorily declaring that it should stand. '^ Pull it
down if you like, but if you do, it shall be rebuilt stone
for stone." 2 An outburst of temper which is popularly
set down to filial piety, but if filial piety was the cause,
then it is odd to find a little later that the chapel of
Louis XIII. was sacrificed without protest by Mansard,
to the wardrobe of his son.
Jean Hardouin Mansard, on being called to Versailles,
W'as not in the least inclined to begin discussions with
the Board of Works, or to refer difficulties to the judg-
ment of his brother Academicians. " He was," says
St. Simon, '' a well-made handsome man of the scum
of the people, with much mother wit, wholly applied to
' The doctor's plans filled two vols., " Dcssins d'Aichitecluie pour le
Louvre et Versailles, etc.," par Claude Perraull. Sold by Charles Perrault
to the Crown (together with " Registre du Conseil des B'\" now in
Arch. Nat.), and after various vicissitudes burnt in the Louvre, 1S71.
Cited by I'iganiol ; and by lilondcl, vol. iv. pp. 4, 4S, et seq.
= Mem., pp. 161, 162. " Lettres et Insts.," vol. v, p. 266.
70 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
the art of pleasing, but unpurged from the grossness
contracted in his origin. Hodman, stone-cutter, mason,
pointer, he worked himself in with the great Mansard
. . . who tried to train him and make something of him.
He was thought to be his son. He called himself
his nephew, and some time after his death (1666)
took his name to give himself importance, in which he
succeeded." I Nominated as an " architecte du roy" in.
1675,2 he soon found favour at Court, for though
ridiculously inferior to the great Francois Mansard in
originality and abilit}^, he had just those gifts of facility
and expedition which pleased Louis XIV.-^ The
Versailles of Le Vau was then practically finished, al-
though the noble Dcgrc des Anibassadcurs^ (destroyed by
Louis XV.) and other portions of the interior were still
in progress, but the Versailles of Le Vau \\as no sooner
finished than it was condemned as too small. The
vast additions, which the king impatiently demanded.
Mansard instantly supplied, working with such rapidity
that, in the space of a few years, he not only
rehandled Versailles, but called into being those
typical creations of the day, Marly, Trianon, and
Clagny. The great wing was thrown out on the south
and tacked on to the chateau by building along the
Coiir des Princes (1679-81) ; the terrace of Le Vau on
the west became the Galerie des G laces (1679), a new
and lofty chapel arose on the north (i68i-2),5 and
within five years from the commencement of the reign
of Mansard, Louis XIV. began to make the palace his
habitual residence. Throughout all these alterations the
' St. Simon, Mcmoires, ed. 1S73, vol. v. pp. 459, 460.
- See " Registre de I'Acad. d'Arch." Appendix VIII.
3 "Journal de Dangeau," April 3rd, 1685.
4 Finished in 16S1, Dussieux, "Chateau de Versailles," vol. i. p. 99.
5 Replaced by the present chapel in 17 10.
■ THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE. 71
little chateau was still respected; coming from the town,
even to-day, and looking up the slope from the wide
Place d'Armes, the eye travels over the vast area of the
Great Court lined with statues, and beyond, again, across
other courts of lessening size, till it rests on the small
building which is enveloped in the immense palace of
Louis XIV. Long and narrow, the new palace engulfs
the old, and the toy-like red-brick building, daintily
faced with pale buff stone, is lost at the end of the
distant perspective.
Only twice, whilst he was carrying out this immense
enterprise, did IMansard condescend to consult his
fellows. In 16S9, when it was nearly finished, he
graciously allowed them to inspect his design for the
chapel, just as he had previously^ submitted to them
the plans for the construction of the great north wing,
the building of which destroyed Perrault's famous Grotte
de Thetis- and the reservoirs of Louis XIII.; these plans
being presented for inspection solely that the Academi-
cians might save his time by arranging for their execution
with the contractors "qui pourront se presenter." In
like manner, Mansard's project for the entrance to the
Hotel de Noailles (1679) came before them, as well as
that for the Dome des Invalides (1689) ; but the points
Avhich he allowed them to consider were such as the
proper depth of vaulting on walls of given dimensions^
or the simplest construction for the roof he had ordered
for the Town Hall of Aries. -^ His extraordinary favour
with the king enabled Mansard to rule as dictator. "If
any one had a house to build," says St. Simon, "he
expected him to send for Mansard, just as an invalid
was expected to send for Fagon.'" His salary was in-
cessantly augmented, in spite of the pressing need for
^ October 27th, 16S4. = Mem., p. 157. 3 16S4.
72 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
economy ; he was ennobled ; was made, after Colbert's
death, Intendant des Batiments (1684), Inspector-General
(1691) ; and when Colbert de Villacerf, Louvois' creature,
was forced to resign, Mansard obtained the coveted Sur-
intendance, selling his post of Intendant to the younger
Blondel,! whilst he kept his appointment of First Archi-
tect to the Crown. As Surintendant, the lustre which
he contrived to give to his post^ the account to which he
turned the opportunities it afforded of private interviews
with the kingC'qu'il connoissoit en perfection "j, were
so great that at his death^ in 1708, nobles intrigued
for his succession, and the Due d'Antin, the son of
Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan, only secured
it through the active support of Madame de Maintenon.2
Under these conditions the credit and consequence
of the Academy rapidly diminished, and its part, as far
as regarded works undertaken for the Crown, was
reduced to nothing. Cut off from the brilliant prospects
which had glittered before their eyes when they first
assembled, having had little to do with the Louvre and
less with Versailles, with no more likelihood of being
allowed by Mansard to share in the construction of the
Place V^endome than they had had of touching the
Invalides under Liberal Bruand, the Academicians were
forced to narrow their ambitions. They lectured to
students, read amongst themselves, and welcomed appli-
cations for advice from private persons. Sometimes they
furnished plans, sometimes surveyed their execution, or
even acted as arbitrators in such professional disputes
as a quarrel between the brothers Lepaultre,-^ or a
difference between the Due de Bouillon and his builder
' Dussieux, "Chateau de Versailles," vol. i. pj). loc, loi.
=" " De r Union des Arts, ' vol. i. p. 130.
3 July I2th, 1677.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE, u
Vauban.i Occasionally even legal points, such as right
of way, were brought before them for settlement.
Even the practical applications which they received
were of such a nature as proves the truth of Colbert's
remark that no one in France employed skilled work-
men but the king. The Prince of Orange, indeed,
requests plans for a palace (1685) ; but we hear next to
nothing of building on an important scale by French
nobles, and during fifteen years the most considerable
projects brought before the Academy were designs for a
hospital at Besancon (1673), for finishing the towers of
Rcnnes Cathedral (1674), and for a Jesuit church at
Caen (1682). For the most part their attention is
occupied with matters no more considerable than a
gateway at the P^euillants (1677), an altar for the
Sorbonne (168 1), or a chapel at St. Eustache (1682).
Frequently advice is sought on points of a most ele-
mentary character : the Chapter of Beauvais (1676) have
to be told that, until they can replace the leaden roof of
their cathedral, they had better make a provisional frame-
work of wood, and thatch it or cover it in with loose straw,
and Chartres (1676) wishes to know if a man is obliged
to prop up his neighbour's house when he is engaged in
pulling down his own, the Academy being requested to
take into account the fact that at Chartres all the houses
are of wood.
As for matters of archaeological interest they are
rarely touched on. In February, 1678, at Perrault's
instance, the drawing is examined of a triumphal arch,
recently discovered at Reims ;- and once they discuss the
plans of some old work sent up from Troyes ; but in
' May, 16SS.
- The Porte de Mars, built by Agrippa ia honour of C?esar Augustus,
now standing built into the walls of the city near the Porte de Laon.
74 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
each case the main interest is eminently practical ; just
as the one problem which engaged their whole attention
throughout the course of that inspection of the ancient
monuments of Paris and the neighbourhood, which they
began by Colbert's orders in July, 167S, was — " How to
render masonry durable ? " ^
Louvois, who, shortly after his accession to power,^
made the most magnificent promises as to the im-
portance and prosperity he intended to confer on the
Academy of Architecture, ended, after a message con-
cerning an " Arc de Triomphe/' 3 and a request for
advice on the scheme for carrying the Eure to Versailles,^
with a series of consultations about repairs for broken-
down bridges in various parts of France, which were
carried on chiefly through Pierre Bulet, the architect of
the Porte St. Martin, whom he had ordered them, in
1685, to receive of their company. As for the building
of the Place Vendome, the only trace left of the project
in the councils of the Academy is that discussion on
"grandes places," in which it is decided that they ought
not to be occupied by the houses of private persons.
Suddenly this harmless society was surprised by the
terrible announcement that Felibien had received a
letter from M. de Villacerf ; a letter as brief as it was
conclusive : ^' Le roy," said the Surintendant, " m^a
ordonne de faire cesser TAcademie d'Architecture ; je
vous prie d'en avertir M, de la Hire ^ affin qu'il n'enseigne
plus, et MM. les Architectes affin qu'ils ne s'y trouvent
plus."
The Academicians needed no explanation of this
' Printed in extenso by M. de Laborde, see " Revue de I'Architecturc
cl Travaux Publics. C. Daly, annee 1852." - 29th December, 1684.
^ Jan. 12, 16S5. See Registre, Appendix VIII.
■* Ibid. Mars 2, 16S5.
s La Hire had succeeded Blondcl as professor and lecturer.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE. 75
order. Louvois was dead, and with him liad departed
the energy which alone had supported the nation in the
kinjj's mistaken courses ; discouracrement had seized on
the pubhc mind ; pushed hard by the alhed forces of
Europe, France had been forced to exchange the excite-
ment of active warfare for the dull necessity of defence.
Famine stalked the land ; all trades languished ; com-
merce was annihilated. I " Famines, floods, cattle plagues
had afflicted a nation exhausted/' says Forbonnais, " by
twenty-two years of war and misery." To an adminis-
tration overwhelmed with debt, even the small subven-
tion due to the Academy of Architecture was a burden
of Avhich it was well to be rid. There was but one way
of saving the prestige attaching to their titles and
functions, and the members at once entreated to be
allowed to meet and teach gratuitously. The desired
permission was granted; but from this date their at-
tendance became irregular, there were no more visits
from Commissioners of Works, no more practical interest
in their proceedings ; sometimes Dorbay attends and
reads Blondel's "Architecture" with Felibien, sometimes
the register of these academic studies is sadly interrupted
by the chronicle of deaths.
At the close of the reign, the great works with which
Colbert had dreamed of endowing Paris under the
auspices of the Academy of Architecture were repre-
sented by three triumphal arches,^ the Invalides, the
Observatory, the Louvre Colonnade, and the unfinished
Place Vendomc ; whilst, in the levelling of the Butte des
Moiilins^ and in the piercing of a couple of avenues.
' See Fenelon's Lc'Ltcr, Qluvrcs, vol. iii. p. 443, ed. 1S37.
= Porte St. Antoine, restored ; I'orte Si. Denis, built by Blondel ; and
Porte St. Martin, built by his pupil, Pierre Pulet.
3 Clement, "Hist, de Colbert," vol. ii. p. 221.
76 ART IX THE MODERN STATE.
many noble monuments had been mercilessly destroyed
as Gothic. There has been, it is said, great exaggeration
as to the sums spent on Versailles and its dependencies ;
it is evident, too, that there can be no foundation for the
popular story that the king burnt the accounts for very
shame, for he spent as he ruled, by Divine right. Setting
aside all fable and conjecture as to the cost of much
that has escaped us, the figures that we have are startling
enough. In vain Colbert strove to keep down by rigorous
supervision the outgoings on works in progress,^ and
to ""prevent the losses incurred through the thefts of
servants and dependants ; ^ in vain he exacted incessant
watchfulness from his subordinates in the attempt to
check the frauds inevitable on the employment of
thousands of workmen ; the expenditure increased with
every year. About ;^ 14,000,000 of our present money
(165,000,000 liv.) are accounted for by the Board of
Works under Louis XIV., and of that sum at least two-
thirds went on Versailles and the dependent palaces of
Trianon, Clagny, and St. Cyr ; of the remaining third,
half was absorbed by Marly, the Louvre, the Tuileries,
and other royal palaces ; Marly, that last caprice of the
Gi^aiid JMonarqiie, of which now only a few ruins remain,
swallowing up 22,000,000 fr. reckoning at the present
rate,3 so that only a very small portion of the total
was expended on works of any public utility such as
the Invalides or that Canal des deux Mers from which
' His orders to Lefebvre, one of his inspectors at Versailles, were to
rise at five o'clock to visit all the wurks, check the number of the 36,000
men employed, and be ready to answer questions on all points of detail.
— " Letlrcs et Insts.," vol. v. p. 337.
' Petit, a controleur, reports in 1665 that when the Court left St.
Germain the servants took even the locks off the doors. Dussieux,
" Chateau de Versailles," note, vol. i. p. 103.
3 Clement, " Hist, de Colbert," vol. ii. p. 207.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE, -j-j
Riquet was called in the heat of his labours that he
might scheme idle schemes for bringing- the Loire to
Versailles.!
Depense totale de Versailles, Eglises, Tiianon, Clagny,
Saint Cyr, la Machine dc Marly, la Riviere d'Eure,
Noisy, et les Moulineaux .....
Tableaux, etoffes, argenterie, antiques ....
■Nleubles et autres depenses .....
Chapelle (construite de 1699 a 1710) ....
Autres depenses de tout genre .....
Total pour Versailles et dependances
Saint Germain ........
Marly (non-compris la machine qui figure a I'article Versaillei)
- Fontainebleau ........
Chambord .........
Louvre et Tuileries (expenses on this stopped in 1679) .
Arc de Triomphe de St. Antoine .....
Observatoire de Paris (construit de 1667 a 1672) .
Hotsl Royal et Eglise des Invalides ....
Place Royale de I'Hotel Vendosme (Louvoi?, 16S7-99)
Le Val de Grace .......
Annonciades de Meulan ......
Canal des Deux Mers (non-compris ce qui a ete fourni par
les Etats de Languedoc) .....
Manufactures des Gobelins et de la Savonnerie .
Manufactures etablies en plusieurs villes
Pensions et gratifications aux gens de lettres
Liv.
81,151,414
6,386,774
13,000,000
3,260,241
13,000,000
116,798,429
6,455,561
4,501,279
2,773,746
1,225,701
10,608,969
513,755
725,174
1,710,332
2,062,699
3,000,000
88,412
7,736,555
3,645,943
1,707,990
1,979,970
165,534,515
The fact that the king never put a check to the
sums he spent on himself enables us at least to take
■ "Mem. de Perrault," p. 146,
- Fontainebleau — a good deal going on, 1039-42. Extracts from
"C. des B'-.," 1639-43. Miintz et Molinier, 1886.
3 Calculated by Clement, "Lettres et Insts.," vol. i. p. cli., to represent
350,000,000 of modern French money. See also " Hist, de Colbert," note,
vol. ii ]ip. 207 and 2IO. Eckhardt calculated Versailles at 116,238,893
liv., equivalent, according to him, to (in 1834) 500,000,000 f. See
" Etats au vrai de toutes les sommes employees par Louis XIV. a
Versailles, Marly, et dependances ; au Louvre, Tuileries, Canal de Langue-
doc, secours, etc." Eckhardt, Versailles, 1836.
78 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
his palaces as the complete expression of his mind ;
the love of size and the love of ornament which they
betray corresponded with that passion for show and
effect which was ingrained in his intensely theatrical
nature. The pleasant graces which entice the eye to
the dwellings of the Renaissance were born of individual
fancy, and contrast with that vanity of display which,
growing steadily throughout the Grand. Siecle, replaced
variety of interest by a monotonous pomp. The change
had in truth begun before King Louis was born ; it
was inaugurated by the construction of the Place
Royale (1615), when the historic Palais des Tournelles
was razed to the ground to open up its spacious square,
and the demolitions of Sully began to impart to the
physiognomy of Paris that prosaic aspect which,
heightened by the improvements of successive reigns,
was finally brought to perfection by the Prefects of
the Second Empire.
The Place Royale set the fashion of erecting rows
of buildings consisting of houses built on a symmetrical
plan, regardless of the possibly different tastes and
occupations of their inhabitants. "They stand," says
Michelet, " like men in the mines of Siberia, distinguished
from each other only by their number;" and Germain
Bricc notes the commonness, the clumsiness of its aspect.
The houses round this Place are, he says, "d'une sym-
metric cgale mais assez grossiere.''^ A further triumph
of regularity at the expense of variety and originality of
purpose was proclaimed by the Luxembourg, built by
Jacques Desbrosses^ for Marie de Mcdicis ; and the abuse
' ''Description dc Taris," ed. 1713, vol. ii. p. 62.
- Jacques Desbrosscs built also the Portal of St. Germain, pronounced
byPeirault to be "one of the most beautiful buildings of the last hundred
years." — " Ordonnance des Cinq Especes deColonnes," Paris, 16S3, p. 117.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE. 79
of rustication on wall and pillar, probably intended to
recall the Florentine palaces of the queen's youth, adds
to the general appearance of heaviness from which not
all the skill of the architect, displayed in the bold and
simple distribution of the masses, can redeem the
building.
This same heaviness, which M. de Laborde fancies
to have been dispelled by the gracious influence of
Poussin's stay in Paris, ^ prevails even in the best work
of Fran9ois Mansard, whose Chateau de Maisons, like
the north front of the Louvre,^ marks the period when
the architecture of the day became settled in style. The
Colonnade of Perrault is heavy; heavier still the aspect
of that Palace of Versailles whose dimensions "are
unsurpassed by any other, either of ancient or modern
times." 3 This impression of dulness, of heaviness, of
commonness even, is heightened when as at Versailles
colossal size is combined with profusion of ornament.
Colossal size demands simplicity of treatment, perfection
of proportion, and King Louis hated the one and could
not understand the other. He had no perception of
constructive beauty, and could see no merit in work
which, like the north front of the Louvre, was practically
without ornament, and relied for effect on the happy
disposition of its masses and window openings. His
love of decoration had been fostered by Bernini's visit ;
and the vases and trophies which originally crowned the
balustrade above the attic of Versailles, show how
Mansard borrowed from the Italian's plans for the
Louvre, decorative features which had commended
themselves to the king's approval. Shorn of these
' " Le Palais Mazarin," quatriemc lettre, Les Hotels de Paris,
- Begun by Lemeicier and finished on his lines by Lc Vau and Dorbay.
3 Fcrgusson's "Modern Architecture," p. 233.
8o ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
additions the elevation of the garden front has lost,
it is said, its proper effect ; and it is clear that
throughout the building, all considerations of style were
sacrificed to the display of ornament, much of which,
owing to the gigantic size of the palace, seems sadly
inefficient.
Walking on the deserted terraces, beneath the
crumbling walls of Versailles, what is the message
that comes to us from this ruin of royal things ? What
is left there to-day of the great king, and of that virtue
excelling the virtue of all other kings in which Colbert
would fain have believed ? An empty pleasure house
haunted by memories of lust, and insolence, and greedy
self! A princely life at once so small of purpose and so
great in place, was fitly housed in this mighty palace,
great, not by the imperial gifts of space and height, but
by a gigantic accumulation of littleness. This, then, is
that yard of Versailles with which Colbert threatened
King Louis that he should at last be measured.
CHAPTER IV.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE
— THE MAITRISE — ERRARD — LE BRUN.
The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
played a far more important part in the organisation
of the vast works carried out during the Grand Siecle
than did the Academy of Architecture. Necessarily so,
for building had come to be regarded merely as a
vehicle for decoration, and to win familiarity with the
difficult beauties of proportion and construction, of
balance and symmetry, has always required more
court than any minds except those of rare constitution
have been willing to pay.
The circumstances which led to the foundation of this
society were preciselysimilar to thosewhich in every other
direction heralded the coming of the modern era. The
battle between the new Academy and the ancient guild of
painters, sculptors, and gilders, was fought out during
the seventeenth century, with hostility as bitter as that
which marked the great war between Richelieu and the
princes of France. The incidents of the struggle were
less picturesque, but the interests at stake were equally
weighty, for the triumph of the Academy determined
the future of France as a commercial nation, and
G
82 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
largely contributed to the brilliant prosperity of her
industrial undertakings.
The feudal system had pressed heavily not only on
the artisan, but on every class of the community. The
guilds, which had in their origin done good service by
enabling the producer to make head against seigneurial
oppression, grew to exercise a cruel and vexatious
tyranny over the poorer workmen, whilst at the same-
time they became in the highest degree burdensome to
the consumer. '^ These rules/' says the edict of Charles
V. concerning the tailors (1356), ''were made in the
interest of each trade rather than for the common,
good." I It had already become evident that the action
of the corporations, by limiting the number of skilled
workmen — since no one who had not, at much expense,
been received by them could exercise his calling — was
prejudicial to the public, inasmuch as ''the more skilled
artisans there are, so much the cheaper will be the articles
produced ; '' 2 ^nd this which was said of the tailors
applied in truth to the members of all the other
trades.
The pretensions of the corporations greatly increased
under Louis XI. ,3 who looked to them for political
support ; and they were vigorously maintained through-
out the sixteenth century in the teeth of growing
opposition and dislike. Concessions were sometimes
made by the government to their adversaries, partly by
the granting of immunities for special causes, and partly
by the exercise of extreme tolerance in applying to work-
men laws enacted in the interest of those who claimed
^ Valleroux, "Corporation cl'Arts et Metiers," p. 79. == Edict, 1597.
3 Some of the statutes renewed in 1464 and 1467 restricted admission to
mastership to the sons of mailrcs (Valleroux, " Corporalion d'Arts et
Metiers," p. 82).
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OP PAINTIXG, ETC. 83
jurisdiction over them. The main tendency of the
royal power was, however, rather to identify its authority
with that of the corporations, making use of their
organisation for fiscal and other purposes, whilst granting
in return for these services such concessions of privilege
that by degrees the right to work became throughout
France the monopoly in every trade of a close
corporation.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century no
body of skilled artisans were in a more difficult and
distressful position than the painters and sculptors of
Paris. Oppressed by the incessant and annoying inter-
ference of the corporation of peintres-ymagiers, they
were ready to sell themselves to government in exchange
for an}' measure of reasonable protection. The inaitrise
claimed absolute authority over all artists not exercising
their calling within the precincts of royal palaces under
license of a brevet dn I'oi. The privileges of the corpora-
tion, which had been less boldly maintained during the
troubles which marked the reigns of the Valois and the
close of the sixteenth centur}', were persistently reasserted
under Henri IV. and Sully as soon as a more settled
order prevailed ; but the legal judgments given in their
favour were often successfully evaded by the brevet-
holders, and consequently in 1619 matters came to a
crisis, and the inaitrise once more appealed directly to
the Crown.
In this appeal the guild of master painters asserted
their exclusive right not only of producing but of selling
works of art. They forbade the holder of a brevet from
working even in the house of a master until he had
complied with the rules of their corporation, and con-
cluded by demanding increased authority over their own
apprentices. A long struggle ensued, till in 1622 the
G 2
84 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
master painters actually obtained the royal assent to
their demands, and all artists in Paris would have lain
at their mercy had not the brevet-holders pertinaciously
opposed the registration of the Act. For seventeen
years they carried on the war by a series of ingenious
legal delays till, in 1639, all means of resistance being
exhausted, the letters patent granted in 1622 were duly
registered, and the corporation, inspirited by their
triumph, began immediately to put forth fresh
pretensions.
In 1646, when the follies and disorders of the
Fronde were at their height, the corporation seized the
occasion to make a violent onslaught on all the holders
oi brevets. At this moment the precincts of the Court
were no longer a stronghold whence the attacks of the
guild of master painters could be successfully repelled,
and it was necessary to seek other means of safety.
The existence of the Academic Fran^aise, and the
emoluments and immunities conferred on its members,
probably suggested to the persecuted brevet-holders the
possibility of obtaining for themselves equal protection,
if not equal privileges. In 1648^ therefore, they enrolled
themselves in a self-constituted society,' and entered on
negotiations with the view of obtaining the countenance
of the Crown, which, after many difficulties, they carried
to a successful issue. 2
Various attempts were now made to conciliate the
' See " Statuts et Reglements dc rAcademie," Fev. 1648, and
"Leltres Patentcs," O.' 1056, "Arch. Nat."
" See "Reqiic.'e to Queen in Council," by J\I. dc Cliarmois, January,
1648, and "Arret du Conseil d'Estat ; portant deffences aux maitres jures,
peintres et sculpteurs de donner aucun trouble ou empeschement aux
Pcintres et Sculpteurs de I'Academie en quelque sorte et maniere que ce
soit a peine de deux mille livres d'amende." O.' 1056, "Arch. Nat."
Vitet, " Acad. Roy.," pp. 195, 208, et seq.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAIXTIXG, ETC. 85
old corporation, and in 165 1 a junction was actually-
effected between the young Academy and the vmitrise ;^
but irreconcilable differences arose, and at last an open
breach took place. The masters, who, it must not be
forgotten, counted amongst their number men of no
mean talents, were animated by a spirit of independence
which rendered them averse to any compromise, and
ensured the failure of any attempt at union which
involved the abdication of their long- established
supremac}-. For nearly three centuries their body had
possessed complete legal control, not only over all
artists, but over all the trades in which carving, painting,
or even gilding played a part. They had maintained
an active police, entering houses and workshops, and
forcibly interfering with the labour of all those who
either did not acknowledge their jurisdiction or had
infringed the most trifling of their regulations. Thus
they not only formed an organisation as obnoxious to
the centralising tendencies of the day as the consistories
of the Huguenots or the Parliament of Paris itself, but it
was impossible that they should tamely accept the inno-
vations and pretensions of a younger society aspiring to
lead the way in the path of reform. Open hostilities
immediately followed the breakdo^\•n of the junction.
The Academ}', having drawn up a new code of rules
and obtained the protection of Mazarin,- made a deter-
mined stand, and thenceforth the struggle between
them and their opponents followed its natural course,
modified only by the changes in the political situation.
When Mazarin seemed likely to be driven from power
the masters became threatening ; when the authority of
' " Articles pourla Joncfion," O.' 1056. "Arch. Nat."\'itet, "Acad.
Roy.," ch. iii. "Hist, de I'Acad.," Montaiglon, vol. i. p. 17.
^ //'/</. pp. 165, 166, 173-7.
86 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
the Crown was re-established the Academy recovered
courage.
Foredoomed to failure, the members of the old
guild fought tenaciously, raising their claims the higher
as it became the more certain that they would never be
gratified. In vain did the more prudent, like Laurent
Magnier, entreat them to reform ; they persisted in
their foolish courses, and, like other corporations of
more recent date, brought themselves into disrepute
by reckless expenditure on eating and drinking. i
If, however, we remember that these men were the
sons of those who built the cathedrals of France ; the
sons of those to whom she owed the enamels, the
painted glass, the pictured books, and all the lovely
household art of the Renaissance ; their struggle — even
in all its obscure windings and all its spiteful jealousies
— wins from us something like pity and reverence : the
pity and the re\erence to be accorded to those who at
their own peril hold to the forms of a dying creed, nor
see that its grace departs at the touch by which they
would fain protect it.
The battle, apparently doubtful, was in reality
carried on against adverse fates. Colbert, in deter-
mining the general lines of his industrial policy, had
been led to examine into the situation of the Academy.
Always inclined to exaggerate the power of legislation
in respect to the development of com.merce, he had
resolved active!}' to control and support the organisa-
tions of the various arts and trades;- and, just as he
was bent on reducing the fiscal system to one uniform
method throughout the provinces of France, even so he
determined on bringing the various guilds to accept a
' M. I. vol. i. p. 417.
- Neymaik, " Colbert ct son Temps," vol. i. pp. 26S-2V2.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAINTING, ETC. 87
single code of regulations for each art or trade — a code
which in every instance Avas to embody enactments far
more stringent^ as well as wider in scope, than those
which had been in force of old.^
In the case of the painters and sculptors, Colbert had
to choose between the Academy and the inaitrisc, and his
choice would not be doubtful. On the one hand, he
found the masters bent on maintaining an insolent
independence ; on the other, a body of men equal if not
superior in ability, of bolder views, of greater energy,
panting for official position and official support, ready
to give any pledges and assume any duties in return for
his gracious countenance and protection. Le Brun, the
mouthpiece of the Academ.y, might have urged in vain
the good example set by Italian princes in the en-
couragement of the arts,2 had he not been able to enforce
his arguments by an appeal to the interests of French
industry and the pressing needs of those branches of
foreisrn manufacture which he knew Colbert to be
anxious to naturalise in France. The sturdy masters,
who kept shop with their bands of lusty apprentices,
were therefore set aside for those in whom Colbert
discerned tools more fitting to his hand and purpose,
and in their place arose the Academicians — the
associates of wits and men of letters, not unwelcome
even at Court, but slavishly bound to the strict per-
formance of services to the State, such as their rivals,
bred in traditions which they obstinately refused to
modify, were incapable of rendering.
Secretly and speedily Colbert-^ and Le Brun elabo-
rated new statutes and regulations, Avhich, whilst entirely
* Valleioux, " Corporations d'Arts et Metiers," p. 97.
- Statuts et Rcglements IV., *' Proces-Verbaux," vol. i. p. S.
3 Elected Vice-rrotector in 1661.
88 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
liberating the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
from all fear of the inaitrise, placed that body wholly in
dependence on the Crown. These statutes were finally
confirmed by the Parliament of Paris on the 14th May,
1664/ and this event was so decisive of the fortunes of
the Academy, which thenceforth stood in direct con-
nection with the Board of Works, and discharged the
functions of a State department, that it is always styled
the " Grande Restauration,^' as marking the moment
when its history, so to speak, ceases to be a matter of
mere private interest, since it becomes inseparably con-
nected with the work of government in France.
At this critical juncture fortune also gave her timely
aid ; for the death of M. Antoine Ratabon, Chief
Commissioner of Works and Director of the rising
Academy, who had been but an unworthy successor to
Sublet des Noyers, enabled Colbert to take the Board
of Works into his own hands, whilst securing the
appointment of Le Brun to an office of which he had
long enjoyed the secret povver.2 No time was now lost
in working out a systematic organisation. Le Brun,
who had skilfully kept himself clear from all the com-
promising disasters of the junction, came boldly to the
front. The administration of public works, of the royal
galleries and collections, and of all provincial academies
and schools, was centralised under the direction of the
Academy, whilst to the Director was entrusted not only
the government of the Academy itself, but the practical
' This confirmation was preceded by: "Arret du parlement pour
verification du brevet," 28 Dec, 1654. "Arret renvoyant brevets et ordonnant
aux peintres du roi de se joindre," 8 Fev., 1663. "Lettres patentes pour
approbation des Statuts," Oct., 1663. *' Les Statuts," 24 Dec, 1663.
"Arret du parlement pour verification des lettres patentes du Dec, 1663,"
14 Mai, 1664. See O.' 1056, "Arch. Nat."
- "Hist, de I'Acad.," Montaiglon, vol. ii. pp. I11-I19, and p. 13S.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAIXTIXG, ETC. 89
control of all branches of industry which demanded the
co-operation of art." The great majority of the members,
recognising the value of his services and the force of his
character, gave to Lc Brun their hearty support, whilst
the party which for a time had put forward the claims
of Charles Errard, Ratabon's natural son, was reduced
to acquiescence in his supremacy. Assembling the
whole body at his lodgings in the Gobelins, Le Brun
celebrated the occasion by a 'Mnagnificent dinner" at
which no expense was spared to render it worthy of
their common triumph. -
The opposition with which the masters had met the
first establishment of the new corporation, the pre-
tensions by which they had made the junction a source
of fruitless vexation, the irritating persecutions by
which they had tried to assert their authority, recoiled
heavily on themselves. The Academy, which in 1648
had only sought to be delivered from the tyranny of the
masters, now claimed in turn the privileges of the
oppressor ; that liberty which it had demanded for
itself it now denied to others ; and by royal decree the
right to teach and lecture publicly was reserved to
members of the new corporation, and all outsiders, no
matter what their condition or quality, were strictly
forbidden to estabhsh life classes either for sculpture or
painting.^
Within its own lines the Academy was, how^ever,
extremely liberal. Pupils of inferior ability who faileci
to reach the rank of Academicians were allowed to
reckon the years of study passed in the schools in the
' "Hist. dd'Acacl.," Montaiglon, vol. ii. p. 75.
= Ibid. p. 138.
3 Vitet, "Acid. Roy.," p. 241 ; and "Hist. del'Acad.," Montaiglon,
vol. ii. p. 144.
•90 ART IX THE MODERN STATE.
place of the apprenticeship required by the statutes
of the inaitriscs in the various cities of the realm. ^
The number of Academicians was practically un-
limited ; any painter, sculptor, or engraver,^ who ful-
filled certain easy conditions,^ received a certificate ^
and became at once an " Academiste," and was ad-
mitted to all the deliberations of the society, although
not permitted to vote. The right to be present at
private meetings, to take part in the yearly exhibitions,
together with freedom to exercise their calling, were
indeed almost the only advantages enjoyed by those
Academicians who were not on the list of officials.
The special advantages — such as exemption from
taxation — granted by the Crown to forty of their
number,^ went in the first place to those actually filling
some post in connection either with the teaching or the
business of the society.^ As for the salaries which these
chief officers were supposed to receive, it seems more
than doubtful whether any large proportion of them
ever went into their own pockets. The expenses of the
school were so great that the)^ always exceeded the
sum allotted for its maintenance and left a deficit^ which
the Academy had of course to make good. 7
Nor Avere these the only heavy responsibilities from
which the main body of Academicians wholly escaped.
Various duties were incumbent on the holders of official
posts, to the punctual discharge of which Colbert
^ " Hist, de TAcacl.," Montaiglon, vol. ii. p. 112.
= P. v., vol. i. p. 25S.
■^ Applicants had to produce a certificate of good conduct, a diploma
work, and to pass a viva vac examination. Ibid. pp. 192, 256.
"* Rule xxii. Rules of 1664.
s By the settlement of 1655 to thirty, but their priviltges were only
xnade valid in 1604. P. V., vol. i. p. 257.
* Ibid. p. 277, and Appendix IV., Priv. of Acad., Statutes of 1664.
^ Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 52, 76.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAINTING, ETC. 91
attached great importance. Any slackness in their
fulfihnent was invariably made an excuse for the impo-
sition of further obligations. If the Academicians
begged to be let off holding yearly exhibitions/ he
replied : " Very well, they shall be biennial, but I shall
attend, and you must lecture before me on the works
sent in." If they complained that to draw up reports of
their own discussions was a task for which they had
neither time nor patience, he instantly saddled them
with a secretary,- whilst insisting that their discussions
should be better worth reporting. If the delivery of the
monthly lectures in the Academy became irregular, he
insisted that twelve more should be given yearly on the
paintings in the royal galleries ; ^ and whenever these
tasks became a weariness to the flesh, or professional
engagements interfered with their punctual discharge,
his chief clerk ■+ would appear and utter such alarming
threats as to the stoppage of allowances as goaded the
unfortunate Academicians to fresh exertions.
Yet though unsparing in his exactions, Colbert
showed no ungenerous care for the real interests of
the society. Even their collections did not escape his
watchful solicitude. The library from the first grew
rapidly by the gifts of friends and members ;5 but casts
from the antique had been less readily obtained. Colbert,
therefore, not only ordered that splendid series of special
casts, some of which, executed at Rome by the care
of M. de Chantelou, are still amongst the ornaments of
' See Appendix VI. 3.
= Felibien ties Avaux. P. V., vol. i. pp. 315, 324.
3 Conf. de I'Acad., Felibien des Avaux, i;05. For royal collections,
-see Felibien's "Tableaux du Cabinet du Roy," and "Statues et Bu^tts
Antiques des Maisons Koyales."
■* P. v., 31st August, 1669.
s Ibid. vol. i. pp. 270, 280, 325, 362 ; vol. ii. p. 139, etc.
92 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
the Louvre, but also authorised the Academy to take
from the royal collections several valuable works of
classic sculpture.! He descended even to the perpetually
recurring difficulties of the life class,^ and actually
bestowed on the school "deux esclaves Turque," poor
wretches, whom we are told " Monseigneur a faict venir
des Galer de Toulon pour servir de modelle lesquels la
Compagnie a veu les ayant fait despouller." ^
It is always a question how much the unconscious
working of human forces, and how much the clear
insight of administrators and law-makers, may count
for in the development of any great intellectual or
social problem. If Colbert were, by his business
instinct?, eminently fitted to put the house of France
in order, so was Le Brun a man made to rule in an
epoch when art was destined to be the handmaid either
of public use or public show. All that a strong intellect,
backed by great physical powers, could yield was within
his reach. Whether he was painting gigantic battle-
pieces, or lecturing the members of the Academ}-, or
drawing up a scheme of instruction for the workmen in
royal factories, or designing fireworks for Vaux le
Vicomte,4 or works of sculpture for Versailles,^ every-
thing that he did was planned in an admirably sound
and practical fashion ; but we look in vain for any
evidence of what we call "feeling.'^ The elements of
moral fervour which gave to the work of the Renaissance
some of that power over the heart of man which is the
rarest attribute of art, were extinct in France when Le
Brun became the Director of the new Academy, but the
' P. v., vol. i. pp. 14, 366; also "Lettre? de Poussin," p. 273.
"" Ibid. pp. 355-6. 3 Ibid. p. 328,
■* M. I., vol. i. p. 20. See also for the illuminations at Versailles in
1674, Diissieux, " Chateau de Versailles," vol. i. p. 73.
5 M. I., vol. i. p. 28.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAINTIX<^, ETC. 93
task which he fulfilled, the task of bringing into order and
cohesion the traditions, teaching, and interests of French
artj required no such stimulus for its apt performance.^
''Les premiers ouvrages/^ says Coypel, in running
over a list of Le Brun's own work, ^'^sont beaucoup plus
piquants que les derniers, mais il ne faut s'en prendre
qu'a la necessite ou il se trouvait de satisfaire le Prince
et le Ministre." So pressing was this necessity, that
Le Brun soon found that in order to maintain his credit
and influence he was forced to spend much time in
paying court not only to Colbert, but to all those in
power. Little by little his example and the force of
circumstances imposed the same obligation on all the
other officers of the Academy, until it became, as we
learn from the curious account given by d'Argenvillc in
the life of Bon Boullogne, a daily occupation and tax.
Boullogne, having set his pupils to work, went out, we
are told, at nine in the morning, "pour faire sa cour
aux Ministres," nor did he return till noon. Severe
was the penalty paid for slackness in these observances,
for the same writer, alluding to the poverty of Halle,
remarks that " had he only known how to pay his court
to Ministers, his merits would certainly have procured
him a pension." Nor was the loss of pensions and
employment the only punishment incurred by such
neglect ; the subjection of the Academy grew to be so
complete that they dared receive no one, however
considerable his claims, if obnoxious to those in power.
Louis Dorigny's reception, for example, was successfully
prevented by a mere whisper to Mansard, then Chief
Commissioner of Works, that he was the son of the
man who had engraved the Mansaradc- a satirical
' De Laborde, " De TUnion des Arts," vol. i. p. 97.
- D'Argenvillc, " Vies des Peintres," vol. iv. p. 273.
94 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
print, which in 165 1, three years before the birth of
Louis, his father had published in ridicule of the tax on
the fine arts then proposed by Mansard. Nor was
the court which had to be paid to the great and
powerful confined to mere empty homage. The
extreme urgency displayed in exacting diploma works^
was largely due to the necessity under which the Academy
laboured of making presents to those from whom it
obtained support. Mazarin, Seguier, Ratabon, the First-
President BanvillCj and even Colbert himself, had to be
propitiated in this fashion by gifts of no mean value. 2
The tolls thus constantly levied were, however, but a
minor portion of the tribute paid by the Academy to
their patrons ; the very constitution of the society
underwent great modifications. For the certainty of
employment, for the exclusive right of public teaching,
and for the increase of pensions and privileges, the
members bartered much of their early independence.
The statutes of 1664 contained additions which if not
numerous w^ere important. In 1655, when the first
allowance, or rather promise of an allowance, was made
to the Academy by the Crown, it was agreed that all
commissioners and sub-commissioners of works should
be permitted to vote and even preside at the election
of rectors ;3 but w^hen pensions and allowances were
increased at the Gi'ande Restaui'atiou, this small con-
cession was not considered sufificient. All the four
rectors, whose election previously had been at least
supposed to be determined by a majority of votes,
became nominees of the Crown, the Academicians
exercising only such indirect influence over their
' r. v., vol. i. pp. 261-274, etc.
= Ibid. pp. Ill, 131, 140, 162, 360, 383, 387-8 ; vol. ii. pp. 12, 13, 105.
■5 Vitet, "Acad. Roy.," p. 230, rule 3.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAL^TING, ETC. 95
selection as might arise from the agreement that they
should be appointed from among the number of pro-
fessors past or present, the choice of whom was still left
in the hands of their brother artists.
Under this pressure the temper of the Academy
speedily became as pliant as could be desired, and when
the word was reluctantly given by Colbert in 1681 to
turn out the Protestant members of their body, the
Academy seconded the measure with an eagerness which
contrasts with their treatment of such propositions at an
earlier date. The masters, during the junction, had
always tried to make capital out of the religious
difficulty, and attempts were made to exclude from the
higher offices all those who were of "la religion :'^i
these failing, a formal complaint was embodied in a
statement of their case laid by them before the Procurcnr
dii Roiau Chatelct. In this document, drawn up probably
shortly before the Grande Res tan ration, tlio. Academicians
are taxed with giving power to "un homme de la re-
ligion pretendue Refformee de faire prester le serment
aux academistes catholiqucs soulz le tiltre de Secretaire
de I'Academye dont les mceurs seront suspects.^' ~
Yet, as far as we can see, no distinction was made
between Catholics and Huguenots in the election to
offices as long as the Academy was left to itself. In
1 650,, when Louis Testclin, the most generous and
active of the original members, was received as
professor, the post of secretary was conferred on his
brother Henri, as staunch a Calvinist as himself.^
' P. v., vol. i. p. 93.
= Coll. Delamare, Police Reports, Fonds. 2791, Libl. Xalionale. This
document, which is undated, is, I believe, hitherto unpublished. See
Appendix I.
s P. v., vol. i. p. 33. See Preface to the "Hist, de I'Acad."^
attributed to II. Testclin. Montaiglon, Paris, 1S53.
96 ART Ii\ THE MODERN STATE.
Sebastian Bourdon, a noted Huguenot, whose enemies
had in early days driven him from Rome by threats of the
Inquisition/ was one of their most distinguished rectors,
and when Le Brun read over the hst^ of those whom
the king ordered to recant or be deprived of their
posts, besides the names of Henri TesteHn and of
L'Espagnandell, a well-known sculptor, we find those of
no fewer than three keepers : Ferdinand, Besnard, and
Rousseau — together with that of Michelin, one of the
assistant professors.
All resigned ; Testelin made up his mind to retire
to the Hague and die in exile, only asking that a
certificate might be given him that the cruel blow
from which he suffered had been caused by no fault of
his own, he having for thirty-three years faithfully and
honourably discharged all his duties towards that body
which he and his brother had been chiefly instrumental
in creating. Yet after having been turned out as
a Huguenot, he was insulted as a deserter and a
fugitive P L'Espagnandell and]Besnard, who seem to
have had no resources, after struggling for a time
abjured, and were again received as Academicians ;4
but D'Agard^ (a painter not named in the first list), with
Rousseau and Louis Cheron, took refuge in England,
where they found employment from the Duke of
Montagu, and the Academy having struck from off
their books all these devoted names, demonstrated
further zeal by setting as subjects for diploma pictures
such themes as " Le Retablissemcnt de la Religion
Catholique dans Strasbourg," " I'Heresie terrassee," and
' M. I., vol. i. p. 89. = P. v., vol. ii. p. 198.
^ p. v., vol. ii. pp. 197-S. Nouv. Arch. 1879, p. 134. See alsa Mem.
inel. de Jean Ron (a Protestant assistant of Testelin). F. Waddington,
1857.
•* P. v., ^ol. ii. p. 313. 5 Jbid. p. 215.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAINTING, ETC. 97
'^ Le Triomphe de I'Eglisc," or by inventing', as in the
case of Fontenay, the flower painter, little favouritisms
for the encouragement of those who were "nouvelle-
ment convertiz a la foy Catholique." ^
After this all semblance of independence dis-
appeared, and the Academy continued to exist only as
a highly-organised department of State. The system on
which it was worked, though admirable in many of its re-
sults, by giving this peculiarly public and official character
to the leading artists of the day, altered the private con-
ditions of their lives, dictated to them their daily thoughts
and cares, and changed the very quality of their work.
That which is expressively called " qualite intime"
disappears from French art during the " Grand Siccle/'
It was impossible that a man living under the con-
ditions of which we have now traced the growth, forced
to give up the best hours of every day to the inexorable
necessities of official ante-chambers, should produce work
nourished by the more secret forces of his being. The
noblest talents were brought to share in solicitation and
intrigue, to perform daily homage to the powerful, to
think continually, not of what they themselves would
make with joy, or even of what the king might like to
see, but rather always of what it would best become the
ruler of France to possess.
Even the study of nature was carried on with an eye
to courtly representation, and thus led to that choice of
theatrical pose and movement, to that preference for the
most striking effects both of composition and colour,
which is characteristic of even the best art of that day.
French eyes, which of old had been charmed by silver
greys, soft blues, and jewel-like touches of scarlet,
began to demand costly masses of ultramarine and such
' P. v., vol. ii. pp. 237, 241, 31J, 325.
H
98 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
juxtaposition of other hues as might enhance their
telHng effect. Onward through the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries rises the steady crescendo, till we
come to that acme of not inharmonious riot for which
David's pupils coined the verb " vanloter."
To those who care for no work in which they cannot
find evidence of the continuous ripening of some
deep passion and purpose, the magnificent productions
of the age of Louis XIV. can bring little but disgust.
We must go outside the circle within which centred the
real movement of the day; we must turn to the
etchings of Callot, who repudiated France ; to the
classic dreams of Poussin, who, like Descartes, lived in
voluntary exile ; to the intensely human portraits of
Philippe de Champagne — the grave Fleming whom no
letters of naturalisation could ever make a Frenchman ;
or to the modest canvases of the three brothers Lenain,
if we wish to find something of that which it was
necessary to sacrifice in order to carry out the splendid
scheme inaugurated by Colbert and Le Brun.
The end imposed the means ; the enormous in-
fluence over the whole field of national industry which
the Academy acquired could not have been obtained at
a lesser price. To judge the work done for France by
these men and their chief we must look, in the first
place, to the political importance of their enterprise, to
the splendour and magnificence of the whole conception,
and to the perfect fitness and finish of every detail.
Everywhere we see signs of a marvellous promptitude of
purpose and certainty in the calculation of desired
effect, the outcome of a training exactly adapted to its
ends. If, on close inspection, the " sublime style,"
which leaves its imprint on things great and small,
seems like that of Bossuet's funeral discourses to have a
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAINTING, ETC. 99
nobler show than substance ; if, as Michelet wittily
remarks, the "trumpet appears to have become the
national instrument," it was at least an instrument most
appropriate to the ceremonial of an ostentatious court.
Stage effects were the object of every artist, and to his
contemporaries Le Brun appeared, as he did to Lepicie,
" our great poet in painting.'^
Up till 1793, in spite of the check received in
1694, when all the Academies were ordered to close
their doors, ^ the huge machine performed its double
functions with a regularity that was in itself majestic.
Tasks of the humblest or the loftiest order were
fulfilled with equal zeal and dignity. Academicians
might one day be despatched to found great schools
or direct great manufactures who were ordered to
Marly the next and given tin leaves to paint and nail
in the semblance of a hedge where stubborn nature
had refused to grow the hornbeams ordered by the
Grand Monarque.2 But, no matter what the task of
these royal servants, the same high standard of per-
formance presided at its execution. And so widespread
was the sense of the value of the Academy as a teaching
power, that when the general crash came and it was
suppressed in its academic capacity it was spared as an
educational body. The Ecole des Beaux Arts sprang
in direct descent from that life class established with so
much pains in the teeth of the angry masters and
opened in February, 164S, by Le Brun.
Suppressed in 1793-^ as an Academy, the old society
» P. v., vol. iii. p. 141.
^ D'Argenville, " Vies des Peintres," " Life of Blain de Fontenay,"
vol. iv. p. 2S3.
3 The Proces-verbaux of the sittings were saved by Renou who bec.ime,
on the suppression of the Academy, Secretary of the School. See " Diet,
de I'Acad. des Beaux Arts."' Paris, 1S5S.
H 2
loo ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
lived on in the school, and the collections which had
accumulated in the long course of years, the library,
the casts, the diploma works/ and archives, naturally
became the property of the school, which then also
inherited and carried on the old traditions of academical
training and accomplishment, which had been matured
by so much self-abnegation and sacrifice. That training
has always been based since the days of Le Brun on the
" eternelle etude du modele de I'ecole," with which
reactionary writers from Diderot onwards have ever
been ready to reproach it; but whilst we admit its
insufficiency as an exclusive means of instruction, it is
impossible to ignore the fact that the very antagonists
of this system have owed to its method and discipline
more than half their practical strength.
One result is plain — that is, whether lending its
powers to express the pompous materialism of the
epoch of Louis XIV., the frivolities of the age by which
it was succeeded, the heroes of the Revolution, the
romantic movement of the Restoration, the common-
place sentiment which flourished under Louis Philippe,
the cosmopoHtan interests and elegance of the Second
Empire, or the so-called Realism of to-day, French art
always preserves its characteristic excellence ; no matter
what the varied fluctuations of style and intention, all
that it pretends to make — it makes well.
^ See "Description des oeuvres d'art dans lessalles de I'Academie" ( 1 715),
Guerin. The Gallery of the Louvre has now carried off some of the most
important of the diploma works, such as Watteau's " Embarquement pour
Cythere ; " others, less remarkable, have been drafted into provincial
museums. Great importance was also attached from the first to the
library. See P. V., vol. i. pp. 325, 362, vol. ii. p. 139; see aho vol. i.
p. 270, and M. I., vol. i. p. 76.
CHAPTER V.
THE ACADEMICAL SCHOOL.
*' To pester the three great estates of the Empire about
twenty or thirty students drawing after a man or a horse,
appears, it must be acknowledged^ foolish enough ; but
the real motive is, that a few bustling characters, who
have access to people of rank, think that they can thus
get a superiority over their brethren, be appointed to
places and have salaries — as in France — for telling a lad
when a leg or an arm is too long or too short." ^ When
he wrote this, Hogarth had no idea that the painters of
Paris had been driven " to pester the three great estates
of the Empire " before they could get permission to tell
a lad whether an arm or a leg was too long or too
short ! Training apprentices was far too profitable
a monopoly for the masters to relinquish without a
struggle, and on this grave question the quarrel between
them and the members of the Academy hinged from
the very beginning of troubles.
Every means of persecution, legal and illegal, was
used to prevent students from attending the Academy
school for "I'enseignement d'aprcs le naturel," or syste-
matic study from the living model. Defeated in their
' Hogarth, "Anecdotes of Himself," ed. 1833.
102 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
appeals to the arm of the law, the masters raised the
cry of immorality ; but the charm of novelty continued
to work, the crowd continued to flock to the rooms io
the Hotel Clissoni jn which the Academy class was held,,
and the masters seeing that one live model was an
irresistible attraction, swallowed their scruples and
opened a second "academy" with two. They christened
themselves the Academy of St. Luke, and elected Simon
Vouet their " Prince " on the undertaking that he would
superintend the life-class ; but Vouet was ill ; after placing
the model once or twice he left the pupils to their own
devices, and his death, which happened shortly after,
put an end to the hope that he Avould some day return
and reinvigorate their languishing studies.
One by one the neglected lads returned to the
Academy,^ which was on the point of closing its doors ;
but the return of the students could not restore its
broken fortunes, for having no funds, the members were
unable to imitate the generosity of the wealthy masters
and keep up a life-class gratis. 3 The maintenance of the
model was a serious question, for the fees of the students
were insufficient to cover his wages, and these, as well as
all other expenses, had to be paid by the Academy.
Recourse was had, therefore, to all sorts of expedients ;.
the Academicians taxed themselves,^ with the result
that Sarrazin, one of the ablest of their number, had to
^ The Academy had early been forced to seek a more spacious lodging
than that near the church of St. Eustache, which had been found for them,
by the generosity of their early patron, M. de Charmois.
- The monthly receipts from fees suddenly doubled. December, 1650.
P. v., vol. i. pp. 38-9.
3 The lessons in perspective by A. Bosse, in anatomy by the friendly
surgeon Quatroussc, had always been given gratis, and it was from the
first enacted that whenever the king paid for the model that class also,
should be free.
■t March, 164S.
THE ACADEMICAL SCHOOE 103
leave them avowedly on this account ; they doubled the
charge to students, they asked the model to take the
fees, but all in vain. The vicissitudes of the attempted
coalition ^ with the maitrisc further disturbed the finances,
and many2 Academicians, finding they could not attend
and teach without being out of pocket, became shy of
fulfilling their duties.
Heroic efforts were made by the Protestant secretary,
Louis Testelin_, to keep the class going at his own ex-
pense; but if the model arrived there were no teachers,
if the teachers attended there were no students, if the
students assembled there was no model, "Girar" finding
it not worth while for the "peu d'escoliers qu'il y a."
A change was made, and on March 3rd, 1657, we find
the pathetic entry : " Charlie le modelle," Girar's
successor, " a manque plusieurs fois." Their place of
meeting was equally uncertain ; no sooner had they put
in order the rooms assigned them in the Louvre than
they had notice to quit,^ and were forced to spend some
years in lodgings in the Rue de Richelieu, whilst waiting
again for temporary quarters in the Palais Royal.
It was impossible for a school carried on under these
conditions to be efficient. The teachins: had Ions: become
o o
a matter of complaint, for it was so difficult to induce
competent men to give their time regularly, that great
laxity crept into the choice of those appointed as
professors."* The students, justly discontented, rebelled,
under the leadership of a lad named Jean Friquet ; and
' 1652.
- M. I., L. Testelin, vol. i. p. 221. P. V., January, 1654.
3 P. v., vol. i. p. no, et scq.^ and "Hist, de I'Acad.," Montaiglon,
vol. ii. pp. 59, 60,
'' The arrangement was that for two hours every day, Sundays and
holidays excepted, in winter from 3 till 5, in summer from 6 till 8, the
" ansien " or professor for the month should preside and teach. P. V.,
vol. i. p. 8, Rule iv.
I04 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
encouraged by the engraver, Abraham Bosse, who had a
bitter quarrel with the Academy, which fills the pages
of many now forgotten pamphlets, they set up a rival
school of their own i in the cnclos of St, Denis a la
Charte. There they worked, placing the model and
criticising each other in turn, till on November 2nd,
1662, they were suddenly dispersed by an order from
Chancellor Seguier himself.
Against this decree the panvres estudiants at once
petitioned, pleading that the situation of the Academy
was objectionable, inasmuch as poor students setting
out on foot after seven o'clock, to return to such distant
quarters as the Faubourgs St. Antoine, St. Victor,
St. Jacques, or the Marais, did so at the peril of their
lives, and making out also a very good case in the
name of liberty of private study, which, however,
they somewhat injured, being instigated by Bosse to
add an inconsequent rider to the effect that the perspec-
tive lately taught in the Academy was nicely calculated
to turn the mind away from the objects it should be led
to comprehend.
The action of the students, however justifiable, was
ill-timed ; and Colbert, who had just brought Fouquet to
the ground, was not likely to tolerate the revolt of a
handful of mutinous lads against the authority of a body
he had chosen to protect. The rebellious students
were promptly forced on their knees, and at one and
the same sitting (January 13th, 1663) the " academistes "
received the humble submission of the deserters, and
enjoyed the long-expected satisfaction of deliberating
how they should employ the salaries and allowances
promised to them by Colbert in the king's name.
On this memorable occasion Colbert not only
' r. v., vol. i. p. 197.
THE ACADEMICAL SCHOOL. 105
granted salaries to the officials, and an allowance for the
iife-class of the Academy, but he instituted a prize fund
for the students by the en:iployment of which the
Academicians hoped to win over their refractory pupils,
Le Brun also announced that Du Metz, Colbert's chief
clerk, would give a gold watch and two gold medals as
prizes for the three best drawings of " Moses Breaking
the Tables of the Law ; " ^ and Du Metz's example was
speedily followed by another pcrsonne airieuse, whose
good intentions were made known on the 14th July, when
the Academy was sitting for the purpose of awarding
the prizes in the preliminary competition for the Grand
Prix.^
The details of the arrangements made for this
competition are curious, not only because they contain
the germ of a system pursued down to the present day,
but also because from these small beginnings sprang
that great institution, the School of France at Rome.
The competition was divided into two stages, and in the
first place drawings were sent in of the subject proposed. ^
That selected in 1663, as the first of the series to be
continued every year on the "actions eroiques du roy,"
was an allegorical treatment of the taking of Dunkirk,
the town figuring as Danae, whilst Great Britain, in the
guise of an old woman, gratefully received a shower of
French gold from Jupiter — Louis XIV.'^ The acqui-
sition of Dunkirk was the news of the day. Charles
Perrault had been requested by Chapelain, at Colbert's
instance, to compose some fine prose on this theme j but,
' These prizes fell to Meunier (M. I., vol. i. pp. 57-S), Comeille, and
Friquet, all men who afterwards distinguished themselves.
- P. v., vol. i. p. 231.
3 The expenses of these were paid out of class receipts, so as to keep all
tlie Royal Fund for the trial competition. Idid. p. 231. ^
* Ibid. p. 221.
io5 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
despite the prompting of Le Brun, the students showed
no great alacrity, and when June arrived, only a {q.\<!
"dessains et modelles'' having been brought in of the
subject, which had been given out in April, it was pro-
claimed that all those who had failed to enter for the
preliminary should be shut out from the final compe-
tition, i Furthermore — moved probably quite as much
by anger at this sluggishness on the part of the students
as by the fear, openly expressed, that they would none
of them be able, as yet, to produce anything worthy
consideration — Academicians, and even all persons of
age and discretion who attended the life-class, were in-
vited to compete.2 It is true that the title of Academician
was very liberally bestowed, since all whose diploma work
satisfied the rather moderate requirementsof theAcademy
were at once allowed to take the oath and style them-
selves " academistes," so it is probable enough that the
admission to the competition for the Grand Prix did
not imply an influx of mature talent likely to prove a
formidable obstacle to the success of " la jeunesse.-"
Perhaps the Academicians declined to take advantage
of the invitation ; perhaps on second thoughts the
invitation was cancelled ; at any rate we find, when the
prescribed works were completed, and the prizes awarded,
a 3^ear later, that all the three successful competitors
belonged to the student class. A curious ceremony took
place when these works, after having been exhibited for a
week at the Academy, were transferred to the students'
class-room. They had to run the gauntlet of free
criticism, and their authors were instructed to " soutenir
leurs instanssions et resonner en presence du Professeur
' P. v., vol. i. p. 233.
= Not to deprive " la jeunesse du prix qu'elle esperoit," a second prize
was restricted to the students. Ibid, vol. i. p. 209.
THE ACADEMICAL SCHOOL. 107
quy se treuvera." As an encouragement to those
going through this ordeal, the prizes, consisting of
three gold medals by Warin, were meanwhile hung up
to view above the President's chair ; for the presentation
had been put off, in consequence of a hint that Colbert
himself intended to be present ; and the written awards,
which had already been opened, were solemnly sealed
up again for 'M'ouvertur quy s'en fera en la presence de
Monseigneur Colbert." ^
On the loth of September, 1664, this great ceremony
took place. A minute, pointing out the five qualities to
be esteemed in judging an historical picture, had been
prepared for Colbert's guidance, but the document
ended with " ce sont les sentiments de 1' Academic,
Monseigneur, qu'elle soumet a votre jugement." The
prizes were awarded to Meunier, Corneille, and Roger,
but, as each treated a different subject,- it would seem
that the Academy had departed in more than one
particular from their original programme,^ and, whilst
restricting the competition to pupils in their own school,
had allowed considerable liberty in the choice of subject,
provided only that it contained allusion to the " fais
croiques du roi." The prize, too, had become a matter
of far greater consequence, for the medals awarded were
presented by Colbert to Meunier, Corneille, and Roger,
" en leur promestant que le Roy leur donnera panssion
pour aller a Rome quand TAcademie le jugera apropos."
'' This same travelling to Italy," says Hogarth,''- " has,
in several instances that I have seen, reduced the
student from nature, and led him to paint marble
' r, v., vol. i. p. 265,
- Meunier, " The Golden Fleece;" Corneille, " Danac ;" and Roger,
a bas-relief of Marsyas. F. V., vol. i. p. 266.
3 Ibid.^ Rule .\xiv. p. 256.
4 "Hogarth Anecdotes," ed. 1S33.
io8 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
figures, in which he has availed himself of the great
works of antiquity as a coward does when he puts on
the armour of an Alexander; for, with similar pre-
tensions and similar vanity, the painter supposes he
shall be adored as a second Raphael Urbino."
It was, however, no new thing for the Crown to pay
the expenses of young artists studying in Italy. Michel
Corneille, the elder brother of Jean-Baptiste, himself
had been in receipt of a pension '^ pour lui donner
moien de se rendre plus capable dans son art ; " and as
far back as 1618 we find Cristofle Cochet, a young
sculptor, receiving an allowance for the same purpose. i
Then, as always, it was far easier to obtain a nominal royal
grant than to get it paid ; and the difficulties of the boys
in receipt of pensions were enhanced by spasmodic
attempts to relieve the Treasury at their expense, when
they would suddenly find, as in 1625, that their
allowances, not originally calculated on too liberal a
scale, had been reduced by a quarter, or even a half.^
The first winners of the Grand Prix fared no better ;
they had to wait for two years before they received
their due. As early as November, 1664, the Academy
had formally certified that Corneille and Meunier had
both made such progress that they were fully fit to
profit by study in Italy.3 A few w^eeks later, Du Metz
announced that, instantly on receipt of the certificates,
orders had been given to hold ready the money required
for the journey and maintenance of the students.
Unfortunately at this very moment Colbert was deeply
preoccupied by his great fiscal reforms, and by his
attempt to regularise taxation in France.'* It was
' Nouv. Arch. Chateaux Roy., 1S72, p. 16.
= Ibid. p. 53. ' P. v., vol. i. pp. 271, 272.
■» Clement, " Hist, dc Colbert," vol. i. pp. 175, 292. See also chap, ii.,
ed. 1846.
THE ACADEMICAL SCHOOL. 109
probably due to this fact that the departure of the
students was so long delayed ; they were not, however,
wholly losers by their two years' waiting-, for the scheme
for their residence in Italy was greatly enlarged, and
before they started had developed into the foundation
of the School of France at Rome.^
The statutes of this new creation were read out, in
the presence of the assembled Academicians, on March
26th, 1666, together with the names of the students "tant
peintre que sculpteur et architecte retenus pour lad.
Academic de Romme." After which, Charles Errard,
the Academician who had been nominated Rector, took
his leave, meaning to start upon his journey before the
next meeting of the Company.^ The Academy then
formally recorded its desire for his success, and bidding
Errard " God speed," commended to his care the little
band selected to accomjpany him.
Errard had had private reasons for accepting a post
which at an earlier date would not have satisfied his
ambition. The death of his reputed father, Ratabon,
had deprived him of the support which gave him
consequence ; and when Colbert, after his accession to
power, called Le Brun to take a seat in the newly
created Board of Works, Errard saw that he could never
hope to acquire the ascendency.
The fate of Pierre Mignard was in evidence to show
how far Colbert would go to maintain his authority.
He had taken up Le Brun and was decided in crushing
opposition. Therefore, when Mignard placed himself at
the head of the brevet-holders in order to wage war
on the Academy, Colbert sent him word, through
1 r. v., vol. i. pp. 300, 301.
- Ibid. p. 301. Poussin had refused the post ("Mem. de Perrault,"
p. 62).
no ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Perrault, that "if he persisted in disobedience, he should
be made to quit the country/' ^ and though Mignard
retorted with big words he felt obliged to take refuge
with the maitres in the Academy of St. Luke^ and
thenceforth set such a limit to his acts as enabled
Colbert to ignore him.
Errard no more than Mignard was inclined to
submit to the dictatorship of Le Brun, but Errard was
too deeply committed to the Academy to hope to make
his peace with the maitres, amongst whom he would
have acain found himself constrained to take the
second place, therefore, says his biographer, " il fit une
retraite glorieuse et utile ; " for having advocated the
establishment of the Academy of France at Rome,
he not only obtained the post of Director, but induced
Colbert to pay down in full, before his departure, all
the sums which had long been owing to him for work
executed for the Crown.^
At Rome Errard did well. The school grew rapidly
in importance, and his name was justly associated with
its success. He seems to have had the power of
inspiring his pupils with honourable emulation, " les
jeunes peintres sous son inspection y faisaient a I'envi
des copies des bons tableaux, et les jeunes sculpteurs en
faisaient reciproquement des plus belles statues et des
meilleurs bas-reliefs," thus realising that ideal course of
study which the Academicians had laid before Bernini
in 1665, "assavoir qu'avant d'estudier d'aprez nature
il faust remplire Tesprist des belles hidee de lAntique." ^
Nor did his services stop with the inspection and
direction of the students. In 1676, he all but brought
about the junction of the Royal Academy with the
' " Vie de Pierre Mignard," by Monville.
= M. I., vol. i. pp. Si, S2.
^ P. v., vol. i. p. 290.
THE ACADEMICAL SCHOOL. iii
Academy of St. Luke.^ and took the casting of Trajan's
Column, and many of the finest casts from the antique
now in the Louvre were executed under his eye.
The exercises of the school at Rome were also
turned to account for the instruction of the school
in Paris. The first drawings done by the students
under Errard's direction were laid before the Academy
by Du Metz ; then it was decided that the " envois de
Rome " should always be publicly exhibited, but
eventually they were made the occasion for a contest
amongst the Paris pupils who discussed their merits in
full conclave, '^ ou par escrit ou de vive voix." ~
Admission to the school, which had been at first so
easy a matter that it was almost a mere question of
fees, became far more difficult after the liberality of
Colbert enabled the Academy to open the life-class free
of charge ; and the privileges which had been accorded
to all holders of diplomas were gradually restricted by
the regulations necessary to prevent too great pressure
on the limited space at disposal. When the rights
granted to the sons of masters during the junction^
were cancelled in 1663,4 an exception was made in favour
of those whose fathers had died, from which it would
seem that the Academy was still anxious to win over
young recruits from the maitrise. The children of
Academicians, as well as all Academicians and persons
of a certain age, and "de discretion considerable," were
allowed also to profit by the royal subsidy to the
fullest extent,^ whilst the same privilege of free
admission was also conferred each week on the six
' O. ' 1056, "Arch. Nat.," for documents concerning this junction ; also
in Archives of Academy of St. Luke at Rome. See Appendix III. ; also
P. v., vol. ii. p. S9.
^ P. v., vol. i. pp. 309, 338. 5 Ibid. p. 54. ■» Ibid. p. 223.
5 Ibid. pp. 20S-9.
112 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
students adjudged to have done the best in the week
preceding, and half the payment required from out-
siders was remitted to six others. In this way a
certain amount of emulation was created, and some
check put on " le trouble que les plus jeunes et qui ne
sont poin capable de profhter en ceste etude ont
accoutume de faire."
From these regulations it must be inferred that the
Academicians, though they had the right of free entry
for themselves and their children, were unable to pass in
any of the student-pupils whom to 'the number of six
each t they were allowed to take under their protec-
tion.- These, who all paid a fee at their matriculation,
made also — like the masters' apprentices during the
junction^ — a further payment for admission to the life-
class. This is proved by the fact that in October, 1666,
a special decree was required of the Academy in order
to pass in free " les jeunes hommes qui sont auprez de
Monsieur le Brun de la par du Roy." ^ Restrictions
were further imposed in October, 1668,^ as it was found
that students frequently abused the facility with which
they could obtain " protection pour designer.'' Letters
of permission were then printed and made current only
for three months, whilst it was further enacted that no
official should take under his wing more than six, no
Academician more than three outside pupils.
Even under the statutes of 1664, the discipline
instituted for the students preserved something of the
old relations observed in the guilds between master and
apprentice. No lad could enter the Academy to draw
until he had chosen for himself a "protector" from
amongst the members, to whom he was bound to give
' P. ^'., vol. i. p, 267. " Ibid. p. 294. 3 /^/,/. p, 54.
4 Ibid. p. 308. 5 Jl^id, p. 334.
THE ACADEMICAL SCHOOL. 113
account of his actions and occupations, and to whom at
least once a month he submitted his drawings.^ Nor
could a lad change from one master to another without
the consent of the "protector" whom he desired to
quit : the only exception to these rules was made for
" masters," who could, if they liked, retain the entire
responsibility for their sons' conduct;- and from an
entry made on November 29th, 1664, it is clear that this
was no mere form, for all the masters sending their
children to the life-class are on that day summoned to
answer for them at the next meeting of the Academy
— whether or no they complied with the injunction may
be doubtful.
To answer for a student's conduct was no sinecure ;
in early days no less a person than Eustache le Sueur
had to report " des desordres et des friponneries '^
which he was unable to repress. Two unruly youths
named Bomme and IMarot had proved more than a
match for the gentle painter of the life of St. Bruno.
Bomme was promptly expelled, and Marot shared his
fate shortly after, having meanwhile succeeded in
getting a lad named Mantagon into serious trouble.
These disorders led to the passing of a resolution that no
one should enter the life-class unless he had first been
approved by the " ansien quy est en mois/' and after
thisj things for a while went peacefully; but, in 1663,
the sculptor Girardon, a very different person from
Le Sueur, was treated to "plusieurs insollances, raillerie
€t argarade ^' on the part of "^ sertains estudiants adonnez
a la desbauche," some of whom were old oftenders,
having been already expelled from the Academy.
These turbulent spirits in revenge broke into the life-
class, committed " divers impertinence quy seroyen
' P. v., vol. i. p. 267. = Ibid, p. 267.
I
114 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
trot longue a resiter," succeeded in exciting a regular
outbreak and went off in triumph, carrying in their
train a large number of the pupils.
Amongst these was the afterwards celebrated sculptor
Antoine Coysevox, then a young man of twenty-three ;
but he seems to have speedily repented him of his
misdoings, and to have made humble submission together
with two other culprits named La Perdrix and Baudet
— the latter a pupil of Sebastian Bourdon's.^ The rioters
through Le Bran's influence were signally punished ;
but in spite of this, though Coysevox and Baudet
subsided, we find the incorrigible La Perdrix two years
later sharing the disgrace of an abominably ill-conducted
boy called Jaquin, and once more humbly entreating to
be allowed to "rentrer dans la liberte d'estudier a
I'Academie.'' 2
The wearing of a sword or carrying of other arms, a
practice to which all these lads were addicted, greatly
aggravated both ^'acsidans et scandalz." It had been
forbidden to all students shortly after the date of the
"Grande Restauration ; ^' but further precautions were
found necessary to prevent the incessant recurrence of
serious riots. It was resolved that students should not
be allowed to assemble in the rooms before the prescribed
hour, and access to the life-class was denied to all who^
came only " to look at the model," unless, indeed, they
were accompanied by an Academician. ^ A more decent
order was for a space maintained through the enforce-
ment of these regulations, and during several years the
worst excesses that had to be chronicled in the register
were the scribbling of " des escriture insollente " on the
' P. v., vol. i. p. 240. Baudet in later life distinguished himself by his
masterly engravings after Poussin. See Jlariette, " Abecedario."
= JOid. p. 292. 3 jiii(i_ p. 294.
THE ACADEMICAL SCHOOL. 115
walls of the staircase,! or quarrels about seats. But, in
November, 1670, a tremendous revolt took place which
had to be vigorously repressed. Thirteen students,
amongst whom was young Vanloo, were expelled for
disgraceful misconduct within the walls of the Academy,
accompanied with street-rioting, fighting, and yelling,
"des urlements estrange," attacking the neighbouring
shops, and throwing of stones and filth.
This, which Avas one of the worst, seems to have
been also the last serious difficulty experienced by the
Academy in maintaining a decent order amongst its
pupils, and, indeed, though the ears of the visitor- are still
often greeted by " des urlements estrange " in the
corridors of the Ecole des Beaux- Arts, and the students
of the Paris school have not unfrequently challenged
the decisions of their superiors by mutinous conduct,
such conduct has of late been invariably prompted b}'
some serious motive, and has never been characterised
by incidents such as disgraced the outbreak in which
the younger Vanloo was implicated.
It was not alone in the relations between a student
and his protector that the traditions of an older time
modified the constitution of the new society. In one
important respect, as M. Vitet has observed, the Academy
preserved a thoroughly democratic character. Every
boy who entered the school was sure that, when he had
reached a certain stage of facility, he would be received
an Academician. Once an Academician, he enjoyed
the right of being present at all deliberative meetings
of the forty acting members of the society, and, though
he could not vote, yet, being present, no measure
affecting the society or the profession could be passed
without his full knowledge. He and his children were
' P. v., vol. i. p. 310.
I 2
ii6 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
free of tlie life-school and of the other academical
classes, and their recognised connection with the
Academy was a title to employment, whilst it pro-
tected them from the harassing- interference of the
old guild. Thus every lad felt, when he took his
seat in class, that there was no insurmountable barrier
between himself and the elect who filled the most
distinguished posts ; and the whole body of those who
passed through the course w^ere interested in the main-
tenance of a corporation to which they were sure of
being attached, even if they could never hope to attain
the full power and privileges of an acting member.
In this way the Academy for a time preserved in its
constitution something of the collective character of the
ancient guilds, but little by little the traces of the past
order were obliterated. Besides the enormous power
which was gradually lodged in the hands of the leading
members of the society, through whom alone a share in
Crown commissions could be obtained, must be reckoned
the influence acquired through the foundation, under
their authority, of other schools and provincial academies
— satellites of the central sun of Paris. The corpora-
tions formed in the various towns of France were
obliged to submit their claims to Le Brun and the body
which he governed ; and by him and his fellow
Academicians their statutes were revised, and the course
of instruction to be pursued within their walls was laid
down on a strictly academical pattern.'
M. Courajod has, indeed, reproached the Academy
with timidity and jealousy, and taxed its members with
unwillingness to permit the establishment of any schools
outside its own body, except that little school at the
' Lyons, 1676; Reims, 1677; Bordeaux, 1676. But Lyons lapsed for
want of funds, and was re-established in 1756.
THE ACADEMICAL SCHOOL. 117
Gobelins rendered necessary by the Crown manufactory.!
The Academy was, however, powerless to find the
funds, without which the decree of 1676, authorising the
establishment of academical schools of painting and
sculpture in all the towns of France, remained of neces-
sity a dead letter. Add to the want of funds the steady
opposition offered by the guilds^ in every town to the
foundation of academical schools, and we find a very
sufficient reason for the length of time it took before
such teaching was widely disseminated in the provinces.
Even in the eighteenth century, when these schools
became common, their expenses were in all instances
provided, as at Lyons (1756), by " un petit nombre de
citoyens amateurs," who showed a public-spirited gene-
rosity which is worth noting. Their organisation, on the
other hand, was as constantly due to the enterprise of
some painter trained in the Academy of Paris.-^ In
this way that Academy most effectively contributed to
the spread of academical teaching, just as the workmen
from the Gobelins schools — which were, as conceived by
Colbert, the very nursery and cradle of French industry
— went forth, after their years of apprenticeship and
service, to carry the secrets of their training and their
skill to the remotest corners of France.
Nor must it be forgotten that the teaching which
even these workmen received was exactly the same in
kind as that given within the walls of the Academy
itself; for the very painters who made designs for Sevres
' " L'Ecole Royale des Elcves proteges," p. lix.
- The Academy School was established at Bordeaux, 1676, by letters
patent. This Academy had, in 1706, to have recourse to an "arret du
conseil d'etat" to prevent the "Corps de Metiers" from destroying it.
O.' 1056. Divers. 1642-1750. " Arch. Nat."
5 Courajod, xHd. pp. Ix.-lxi. " Lettre de I'Abbe Lacroix," O." 1923,
" Arch, Nat." Cited also by M, Courajod.
ii8 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
and the Gobelins, whose costly products were the toys
of princes, were actually obliged to organise the instruc-
tion, given in the schools attached, on the same principles
as that which they provided in the Academy for their
own sons. The artisan who left Paris for Bordeaux
found, therefore, that he could continue in the province
the course which he had begun in the capital ; just
as the lads who were sent up from local institutions
to the Academy of Paris were already prepared to fall
into the ranks of her students.
When Colbert died, many of his noblest foundations
were at once suppressed. The school of the Gobelins —
the great hive of Bievrebache — was emptied of its
people ; but there is no more astonishing testimony to
the soundness of the methods he employed than the
evidence on all hands that the principles on which
Bievrebache was conducted are still animatin;? the
great national manufactories of France. The workmen
of the Gobelins and of Sevres still go forth, like their
forefathers, to enrich the resources and raise the level of
private enterprise. The autocratic tyranny of the
Academy still bears fruit ; for the conditions created
under the auspices of Le Brun preserved sound tradi-
tions of teaching and training, and, in spite of wars
and revolutions, the connection between the arts and
industry, which other nations seek painfully to re-estab-
lish, has never been lost in France. French provincial
cities still maintain their academic schools, and we may
even now see the municipal councils of poor country
towns taxing their slender resources, with a noble public
spirit, to give the boy, who they hope may one day
distinguish himself, a start on his way to Paris.
CHAPTER VI.
LE BRUN AND THE DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES.
Slmox Vouet, first painter to Louis XI II., had pre-
pared the way for the tyranny of Charles Le Brun.
Vouet it was who drove Poussin out of France, and
snatched commissions from Philippe de Champagne.^
All his life long he allowed his pupils to vex the guild
of masterS;^ but as soon as Le Brun began to work the
Academy in organised opposition to the old corporation,
Vouet sprang from his death-bed, in order^ by their help,
to crush one in whom he saw a rival.
Vouet had then reigned for twenty years. On his
return to France^ in 1627, he started with immense
advantages, for he had spent ten years in Italy,^ and
had even visited Constantinople in the train of De Sancy,
the French ambassador. Turning to account the
experience thus acquired during the familiar hours in
which he gave lessons to the king, Vouet speedily
became a favourite, and " little by little got hold of all
great works, was followed by all the painters of Paris,
for whom he found employment, and became the
teadier of all those who desired to learn his art."-*-
' Ltpicie, "Viesdes Peintres. Disc. Pref.," pp. Ixiii., l.\x.
= Vitet, "Acad, Roy.," p. 49.
3 Nouv. Arch., 1S72, p. 51, ■* Lcpicie, ibid.
I20 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
On this wise the traditions of the school of
Fontainebleau were preserved throughout the reign of
Louis XIII. The king's first painter had knowledge,
method, much dignity, and more manner ; his drawings i
are sometimes grave^ if not noble in character ; his
paintings often recall (as in the Madonna of the
Brunswick Gallery) the work of his contemporary,
Sassoferato ; and the best results of his teaching were
exemplified in Eustache Le Sueur, a charming draughts-
man if an overrated painter.^ Vouet was not, however,
destined to found a school ; Le Brun, coming to the
front, transformed the traditions which his master had
respected, inherited his post, and enlarged its authority.
From his earliest days Le Brun had given proof of
that adroitness and worldly tact to which, quite as
much as to his professional talent, he owed the great
position which he eventually secured. He had in large
measure the faculty of success, was always happening to
draw what people wanted just when they wanted it, and
happening to be in the way himself whenever it was to
his own advantage. Aged eleven, he contrived to
attract the attention of Chancellor Seguier, and next
obtained a commission from Richelieu, which oppor-
tunely caught the eye of Poussin, with whom, in 1642,-^
he travelled to Rome. Returning to France four years
later, Le Brun, then a young man of twenty-seven,
found a formidable rival in Charles Errard, into whose
hands his father, the Chief Commissioner of Works,
Ratabon, had put work at the Louvre, Versailles,
Fontainebleau, the Tuileries (where he succeeded
Claude's friend, Jean Nocret), and other royal palaces.^
' See Louvre, and Print Room, British Museum.
- See Dussieux, " Noiiv, Recherches sur la Vie d'Eustache Le Sueur."
3 See M. L, "Vie de Le Brun." ■» Nouv. Arch., 18S2, p. 92.
LE B RUN AND DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES. 121
Immediate employment under the Crown seemed out
of the question, and Le Brun accordingly entered the
service of Fouquet, but in so doing he showed his ordi-
nary and admirable prudence, using his opportunities at
Vaux le Vicomte to secure the favour of Mazarin^ and
to make friends with Colbert. Supported by them, he
fought the battle of the new school against the old^
and, having got the control of the Academy, remained
master of the position. Commanding the industrial
arts through the Gobelins,^ and the rest of the profession
through the Academy, he put his stamp on everything
produced in France throughout the seventeenth century,
so that the so-called style of Louis XIV. is in truth
the style imposed by Le Brun on all his pupils and
assistants.
The starting-point of his long career of official work
and favour was the Little Gallery of the Louvre,
destroyed by fire, which spread even to the Great
Gallery, through the carelessness of a workman of
Henry de Gissey's in 1661,^ the very year in which
the downfall of Fouquet set free all his chosen servants
to take the livery of the Crown. Ratabon, though
failing in health and power, was still alive, and at his
instigation an attempt was made to checkmate Le Brun
by insisting that he should divide the work of restora-
tion with Errard. Sarrazin, the chief sculptor at the
' Le Brun got himself introduced to Mazarin by Valdor. Florent le
Comtc, "Cabinet des Singularitez," ed. 1700, vol. iii. p. 160. Valdor
published " Le Triomphe de Louis le Juste," Paris, Ant. Etienne, 1649.
- Founded 1660, as manufactory of meubles de la Conronne. AL L,
vol. i. p. 23. De Laborde, " De I'Union des Arts," vol. i. pp. 121-2.
3 See Montaiglon, " Henry de Gissey, dessinateur ordinaire des Plaisirs
et Ballets du Roi," and for '"Petite Galerie " the "notice" by M. de
Chenneviercs, second edition, 1S55, and " Petite Galerie du Louvre, du
dessin de AL Le Brun, etc.," gravee par St. Andre, 1695.
122 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Louvre, had died in the previous year, and it seemed
easy to set his assistants aside and suggest that Errard
should have sole conduct of the works of relief, whilst
to Le Brun should be committed the painting of walls
and ceiling. Le Brun, however, determined to try his
strength. Ignoring his instructions, he prepared a com-
plete scheme, including the works of relief which it had
been proposed to leave to Errard ; backed by Colbert he
carried his point, and the unfortunate Errard endured
the humiliation of seeing the pupils whom he had
trained, transferred (like Claude Audran and the two
Marsy) to the service of his rival. i
Colbert had risked nothing by pushing Le Brun at
Errard's expense : he knew how pleased the king had
been by the decorations for his marriage triumph, which
had been entrusted to Le Brun by the city of Paris, and
had witnessed in the previous year the royal satisfac-
tion with the enormous canvas of "Alexander and the
Family of Darius," painted at Fontainebleau under the
eyes of the Court. The check received by Errard was
final as far as his Paris career w^as concerned, though for
the moment, aided by the faithful Noel Coypel, he con-
tinued to carry out various decorations in the "little
chateau " at Versailles, which were, however, destined
to be swept away, almost as soon as finished, by the
alterations and additions of Mansard.- The death of
his reputed father, Ratabon, left him completely at
Colbert's mercy, and w^ien in his new capacity of
Siirintendant, Colbert announced to the assembled
Academy that there would be work for all in the royal
palaces,^ the conditions were so well understood that
Le Brun was promptly elected Chancellor for life, and
' M. I., vol. i. p. 8i. = Ibid. p. 8i.
■5 p. v., vol. i. p. 246. Vitet, "Acad. Roy.," p. 254.
LE BRUM AND DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES. 123
the gratefulness of this selection ^ was as speedily
acknowledged by orders that under Le Brun's direction
the Academy should at once begin v/ork on the plans
for the completion of the "Grande Galerie du Louvre."
To Louis Boulogne — it is said by Colbert's initia-
tive, that is by Le Br-un's desire — the chief part in
this work was confided. 2 Aided by his sons and
daughters, he took up Poussin's unfinished designs and
carried them out to completion as best he could. Li the
Little Gallery, or " Galerie d'Apollon," Le Brun, besides
the two Marsy whom he took over from Charles Errard
had already associated with himself some of the ablest
members of the society. The dignified and academic
Thomas Regnauldin, Gervaise, and Girardon,^ were told
off to model the stucco figures of the interior, "f- whilst
the Chancellor himself began to execute with his own
hand the most important compartments of the ceiling.^
No work, however, was more frequently interrupted
than this of the Apollo Gallery, and one of Le Brun's
designs, " Le Reveil de la Terre," actually remained to
be carried out in 1850 by M. Guitard.6 The master
was called off right and left to further other projects
and decorate other palaces. At one time, in his capacity
of Keeper of the Royal Collections, he must gather
together works of art; at another the Gobelins claimed all
his attention; then there was St. Germains to decorate;
the king to be accompanied in his Flanders campaign ;7
» 29th March, 1664. M. I., vol. i. p. iS.
= Jbid. p. 203.
3 See "Sculpture ; "seealsothe "Notice" by de Chennevicres, p. i^j^ctseq.
'' Lepicie, "Vies des Peintres," vol. i. p. 45.
5 See plates engraved by St. Andre, and for the ornaments, " CEuvre
de Jean Berain," Paris, 1659.
^ See " Notice des Dessins," Musee du Louvre, No. S40.
7 Lepicie, ibid. p. 39.
124 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
the pomp of the Dauphin^s baptism to be organised ;
the figure-heads of men-of-war to be sketched for
Toulon arsenals ; and, finally^ the monster demands of
Versailles, which grew till it became the one absorbing
enterprise, and the Great Gallery of the Louvre, like
the famous Gallery of Apollo, and the Colonnade
of Charles Perrault, remained unfinished. ^
At Versailles, Le Brun, for whom the title of First
Painter had been revived, ^ took command of all the
works of decoration, whether sculpture or painting.
Over the whole palace his rule was supreme, and all
other artists had to accept the position of his assistants.
Imagine the situation of Sir Frederic Leighton, cumu-
lating the offices of President of the Royal Academy,
Keeper of the Queen's Pictures, Director of the National
Gallery and of the South Kensington Museum and
Schools, having also under his hand the Board of
Works and several great national manufactories, as well
as the biggest building in the world to decorate and
furnish royally! Sir John Millais would of course sulk
off somewhere else, as Errard did to Rome ; Mr,
Herkomer would go to New York, perhaps, and found
the school of the future ; but their disappearance would
onl}' make Sir Frederic's position stronger, and thus,,
left to rule in undisputed sovereignty, imagine the
President (if you can) producing several vast historical
paintings a year, furnishing the designs which Hook
and Horsley, Fildes, Calderon, Poynter, Frith and
Goodall, P'aed, Long, Orchardson, everything, in short,
that writes itself R.A., would be sworn to carry out or
' Lepicie says: "After tlie death of Chancellor Seguier (1672)
Lou's XIV. positively determined to fix hii residence at Versailles.'' So
Seguier would seem to have joined Colbert in opposition to the scheme
(pp. 50-1). M. I., p. 27 et seq. ^ O.* 1053, "Arch. Nat."
LE BRUM AND DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES. 125
Starve ; wliilst Boehm, MacLean, and Gilbert com-
peted for the chance of embodying his projects for the
sculptured decorations of halls and gardens, and a crowd
of minor artists waited for patterns by which to work out
such details as locks and bolts for doors and windows.
As early as 1671, whilst the plans of Le Vau were
yet in progress, the whole force of the Academy was
centred on Versailles. The conventional and amiable
Blanchard, together with Houasse, Jouvenet, De la Fosse,
Claude Vignon, J. B. Champagne, and Nicolas Loir,i
deserted the Tuilcries, whilst Claude Audran, who,
together with Noel Coypel,^ had previously been em-
ployed, under Errard, at Versailles, returned thither,
leaving his task in the Great Gallery of the Louvre
unfinished. To these, shortly after, came Rousseau, the
Huguenot painter of perspectives, his co-religionist,
Henri Testelin, Baptiste Monnoyer (deservedly famous
for his lovely flowers), Verdier, and many others of
less note. Nor did Louis Boulogne and his family
remain behind. Aided by Nicolas Loir, who was
afterwards carried off to the king's apartments, the
father and his children decorated the attic of the
chateau with works which were speedily displaced or
destroyed by the construction of the Gallery of Mirrors.^
So great have been the successive changes and
alterations of Versailles that the only portions which
genuinely represent the decorations of the palace of
' Loir had been painting at the Tuilcries the " Salle des Gardes,"
under I-e Brun's direction. AI. I., vol. i. pp. 338-340. Lcpicic, "Vies
des Peintres," vol. i. p. 42,
^ In 1661-2, in the apartments of the Queen. Florent le Comte, vol.
iii. p. 125. M, I., vol. ii. p. 12. These works were destroyed by subse-
quent changes. M. I., vol. i. p. Si. Coypel decorated the "Salle des
Machines," at the Tuilcries, under Le Brun. Lepicie, ibid. p. 43,
3 C. des B'^, 1671-2-3. M. I., vol. i. p. 203.
126 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Louis XIV. are the king's state apartments, the Gallery
of Mirrors, the Halls of Peace and War, and one or
two of the queen's rooms. Even so, Versailles is the
only place where the works of Le Brun and his school
can be studied with anything like completeness. For
himself he reserved the magnificent state staircase,
commonly called the Degrc dcs Avibassadeurs, the
Gallery of Mirrors, and the Halls of Peace and War.i
which gave access to that gallery at either end. For
the decoration of the chapel, which at first took the
place of the old building left by Louis XHI., Le Brun
also prepared a great scheme which was never carried
out, the chapel itself being speedily destroyed to make
way for the present portentous structure ; and Louvois,
was delighted to deny the old master even the satisfaction
of seeing his great cartoon, the " Chute des Anges
Rebelles," painted by his pupils in the College des
Quatre Nations.- With the reign of Louvois the reign
of Mignard had begun, and such parts of the decoration
of Hardouin Mansard's last project as were left in the
hands of Le Brun's assistants — like the Resurrection
by Lafosse, and the Day of Pentecost painted by
Jouvenet, in the Chapel of St. Louis — now show but
as passages a trifle less tawdry than the rest.^
If we set aside all additions of a later date, we yet
find remarkable evidence of two distinct schools of
thought and expression existing side by side in the
decorations of Versailles : on the one hand, wc have
the pupils of Le Brun, and on the other, the men who
preserved more strictly than himself the traditions of
the reign of Louis XIII., men who had been trained by
Philippe de Champagne, by Sebastian Bourdon, or by
' Lepicie, "Vies des I'cintres," vol. i. p. 52.
= Ibid. p. 59. M. I., vol. i. pp. 49, 50.
3 riganiol, vol. i. pp. 37, 77, 79. D'Argenvillc, "Vies des Tcintres,"
vol. iv. p. 206.
LE BRUN AXD DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES. 127
Simon Vouet. Le Brun in liis masterful ^^•ay tried at
first to use them all indifferently. He put Baptiste de
Champagne to work in the Mercury room/ but shortly
after sent him into the queen's apartments, to which
he appears finally to have relegated all those whose
work was least suited to his own schemes. In these
apartments, Baptiste de Champagne decorated the
Orator}',^ whilst Errard's whilom assistant, Gilbert de
Scve, worked in the bed-chamber.^ To the queen^s
guardroom w^as transferred the work of another pupil
of Errard — the ceiling subject of Jupiter in a silver car,
and the accompanying chimney-pieces,'^ which had been
originally executed by Noel Coypel for a room absorbed
in the construction of the Hall of War. For Le Brun
always ruled with a certain magnanimity ; and even
during his stay in Rome, where he succeeded his master,
in 1672, as Director of the School of France, Coypel
continued to work for Versailles, and exhibited in the
Pantheon, before despatching them to Paris^ four
canvases intended for the Royal Council-chamber.^
To the queen's drawing-room Le Brun despatched
Mignard's pupil, Michel Corneille ;6 and Bourdon's
scholar, Nicolas Loir, who carried out, in accordance with
his suggestions, the group of Flora and Iris on the
' 1673, C. des B*^. For details on the family of P. de Champagne, see
"Note Biographique concernant le Peintre, J.-B. de Champagne," by M.
Galesloot, Acad. Roy. de la Belgique, Extr, du Bulletin, 2. Serie, t. xxv.
No. 2, 1S68.
- Piganiol, p. 151. C. des B'^ 16S0. Vl. I., vol. i. p. 34S. But his chief
works were at the Tuileries and at Vincennes. Felibien, vol. ii. p. 643.
3 Destroyed in remodelling the rooms for Marie Antoinette. Dussieux,
"Chateau de Versailles," vol. i. p. iSl. D'Argenville, " Vies des Peintres,"
vol. iv. p. 2S5. •• Jbid. p. 176.
5 Jbid. p. 172. D'Argenville adds that these were then in the Cabinet
du Roi au Luxembourg (1672). Can these be the four said to be four out of
five originally destined for the king's guardroom and now in the Louvre?
* iSL I., vol. i. p. 384. D'Argenville, ibid. p. 202. His drawings, see
Louvre and Print Room, British Museum, were empty, coarse, and formal.
128 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
ceiling of her ante-chamber ;i Paillet, another scholar of
Bourdon's, aided by Claude Vignon, executed the
cameos of the same room, whilst yet another named
Meunier,2 together with Poerson and Blain de Fontenay
(who also decorated the bathroom), painted the per-
spectives and flowers of the staircase, where we still find
a figure leaning blandly forward past a vase of flowers
and gazing with a look of pleased surprise, no longer
warranted by anything that he can be supposed to see.
All the other decorations have been replaced by
stucco and whitewash, and the motley Sunday mob
swarms up the steps once trodden only by the king and
those whom it pleased him to honour.
Le Brun's own most docile pupil was Verdier,^
whose wife, a woman " de peu de conduite," says
Mariette, was Le Brun's niece by marriage. Verdier
aided him largely in all that he undertook himself, as,
for instance, in the Gallery of Mirrors ; but the master
had also great confidence in the ability of Houasse, who
carried out his design of the " Triumph of Constantine,"^-
and whom he employed, together with Jouvenet, in the
Halls of Peace and War,5 and in the Mars room,'^
where hung the famous picture of the " Family of
Darius," which had laid the foundation of Le Brun's
favour with the king.7 To Houasse also was allotted
the ceiling of the Venus room, on the walls of which we
still find two perspectives by Rousseau,^ and by Houasse
' C. desB'^ 1674, 1678. D'Argenville, "Vies des Peintres," vol. iv.
p. 165.
- Meunier, Paillet, and Loir were amongst the better pupils of Sebastian
Bourdon. M. I., vol. i. pp. 97, 10?.
3 D'Argenville, ibid. j). 13S. •• //'/(/. pp. 13S, 142.
5 Piganiol, vol. i. pp. 144, 227. Dussieux, " Chateau de Versailles,"
vol. i. p. 149. M. I., vol. i. p. 204.
'' Piganiol, ibid. p. 143. " Ibid. p. 146.
^ Ibid. p. 136. D'Argenville, ibid. p. 15S. Dussieux, Hid. p. 147.
LE BRUN AND DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES. 129
are the two subjects from the story of Apollo and
Daphne' in the Apollo or Throne-room, where was
hung, at a later date, Rigaud's splendid portrait of the
king; 2 but the work in this room was shared with
De la Fosse, a pupil very highly esteemed by Le Brun,
although perhaps the least servile of all his assistants.
The ceiling of the Throne-room was entrusted to De la
Fosse,^ and in the Diana room the Iphigenia of the
mantelpiece, and two other subjects, were also by his
hand ;"•• here, too, De la Fosse had, as fellow-worker,
Blanchard, who painted the ceiling, and who then enjoyed
a reputation as a colourist w^hich almost rivalled that of
Houasse and Claude Audran, the latter of whom, on the
suggestion of Claude Perrault, there executed two
designs from the stories of Cyrus and of Caesar, which
formed pendants to those by De la Fosse. ^
Audran is indeed to be found everywhere at
Versailles, exercising his special talent for imitating,
with illusive reality, reliefs of gold and bronze. Origi-
nally an assistant of Errard's assistant, Noel Coypel, he
had attracted Le Brun's notice by his skill in this class
of work, and had even been employed to carry out parts
of his famous designs of the battles of Granicus and
Arbela. After working on the Great Staircase with
Le Brun himself, Audran joined Jouvenet and Houasse
in the Halls of Peace and \Var,6 aiding them also in
the works of the Mars and Diana rooms,7 and painting
a subject, now destroyed, in the king's bath-room. ^
' D'ArgenviUe, "Vies des Pcintres," vol. iv. p. 13S.
= Piganiol, vol. i. p. 165. ^ H'iJ. p. 162.
•» "Jason at Colchos" and " Alexander Lion-hunting." M. I., vol. ii.
p. 3. D'ArgenviUe, ibid. p. 191. ^ Piganiol, p. 140. M. I., vol. ii. p. 14.
^ Piganiol, p. 143. ' D'ArgenviUe, ibiJ. p. 137.
^ '•Venus receiving the arms of ^neas from Cupid." M. I., vol. ii.
p. 15.
K
I30 ART IN THE MODERN STATE
For all these works sketches and indications were
given by Le Brun^ and for the Degre des Am-
bassadeiLVS, engraved by Etienne Baudet, he actually
finished in detail drawings, not only for the paintings
in fresco and oil, but for all the ornaments which
gave this stair so sumptuous a character, as well as
the designs for all the sculptures and reliefs. ^ It
was for these stairs that Van der Meulen painted the
battle of Cassel and the sieges of Valenciennes, of
Cambrai, and of St. Omer, going himself to Cambrai
that he might make his studies on the spot.- So much im-
portance was, indeed, attached to the faithful representa-
tion of the king's glorious campaigns that Van der Meulen
followed in the train of Le Brun when he was carried
in Colbert's carriage to witness the taking of Luxem-
bourg, which had to be depicted in the halls of Marly,^
The four canvases carried out for the Great Stairs,
drawings for which are now in the Louvre, were
originally placed between pilasters at the side of doors
giving access to the king's state apartments, and were
relieved magnificently on imitation tapestries with
golden grounds, and accompanied with ornaments in
relief. Between these Claude Audran painted the four
galleries, or tribunes, out of which looked life-size
representatives of different Asiatic nations all amaze-
ment at the glories unrolled before them.4 The same
arrangement of alternate reliefs and suggested openings
was carried out in the splendid decorations overhead.
Balustrades, on which perched birds of many colours,
' Lepicie, "Vies des Peintres," vol. i. p. 55 et seq.
- Nouv. Arch., 1879, PP- 127, 129. Piganiol, vol. i. p. 21. lepicie,
ibid. p. 56 et seq.
3 Lepicie, ibid, p. 39. Dussieux, "Chateau de Versailles," vol. i.
p. 151. See also a very curious letter of Henri Testelin's to Charles Errard,
giving an account of Le Brun's reception at the camp by Louis XIV.,
in April, 1677. iS'ouv. Arch., 1S78, p. 27S. •* M. L, vol. ii. p. 13.
LE BRUN AND DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES. 131
flutterinij their plumes against the sky, showed above
the pictured galleries, and were spaced by boldly
modelled groups which surmounted the framework of
Van der Meulen's canvases. ^ Lighted by a vaulted
opening in the centre, the marbles of the walls and stair,
the trophies and other decorations of gilt bronze, the
carvings of the gilded doors, and the brilliant hues of
the paintings above and below the cornice, appeared
to enormous advantage; for the heavy character of
Le Brun's work generally causes his ceilings to detract
from, rather than enhance, the effect of his schemes of
decoration.
This is especially the case with the Grande Galerie,
•or Gallery of Mirrors, the works in which were
■commenced before the Great Stairs were finished.
Le Brun, who had meantime remodelled and re-
decorated the chateau of Sceaux^ for Colbert, began to
paint in the Gallery of Mirrors about 1679,^ and this
gallery still remains the most perfect monument of his
genius and the typical embodiment of the triumphs of
the great reign. Between long rows of marble columns
•of various colours enriched by bases and capitals of gilt
bronze, into which many details^ of Le Brun's composite
" French order " were introduced, are ranged trophies
of gilt bronze composed of eagles, lion-skins, suns
and garlands admirable alike in design and execution.
Above these the mimic architecture of the ceiling is
splendidly supported by caryatides of bronze and gilt,
whilst the angles and bays between the twelve
immense canvases of Le Brun, which are the principal
,glory of the place, are spaced with rich hangings and
' See " Gravures de la Chalcographie," Nos. 2219-27, 2557-54.
' M. I., vol. i. p. 30, vol. ii. p. 13.
3 Lepicie, "Vies des Peintres," vol. i. p. 59.
^ M. I., vol. i. pp. 32, 33, and 37.
K 2
133 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
wreathed with garlands of flowers faUing from the hands
of women and children — golden images personifying all
the arts and all the sciences. Bas-reliefs of lapis and
gold form the keys of the vaulting, and the vast
allegorical canvas,^ which represents the king in the
prime of his youth turning from Pleasure to seek Glory,
is set like a jewel in the centre. Minerva, Mars, the
Graces, Peace and Honour do him service, whilst
Discord lies crushed beneath the mighty shield of
France. All Olympus has flocked to the young
prince's feet ; but Glory, with her star-like crown, attracts
his eyes, and Time shows deeds which fill the Sun with
wonder. The Dutch campaign is chronicled in four
minor compartments ; then come the League of Spain,
Germany, and ^ Holland ; the conquest of Franche-
Comte ; the Flemish campaigns and the Dutch peace.
These chief subjects are supplemented by oval designs
of less importance, but all showing forth the triumphs
and virtues of the king, who expressed his admiration
for what Lepicie calls " this veritable epic " by a royal
gift to Le Brun conferred actually without consultation
with Colbert.-
The Halls of Peace and War, when uncovered m
1686,^ were hailed, like the Gallery of Mirrors, by
universal admiration ; now, stripped of their costly
furniture, and showing the eff"ect of incessant restoration,,
they preserve but the outlines of former splendour. It
is not easy to picture them hung with winter velvet or
summer silks — jegal stuffs, '^faites du temps de
Colbert" — and when jewelled tables and silver seats,
and vases glittered amongst the green leaves and fair
blossoms of stately orange-trees.
' D'Argenville, "Vies des Peintres,'' vol. iv. p. 141, engraved by Masse.
* Lepicie, " Vies des Peintres," vol. i. p. So. ^ M. I., vol. i. p. 69.
LE BR UN AND DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES. 133
Even then the theatrical element — the element of
stage display and pretence — prevailed in the paltry-
means employed to produce this effect of superb mag-
nificence. Painted canvas needs must fade, gilded
cameos scale and drop, fresco perspectives must be
repainted ; but why sham tapestry on the Great Stairs ?
Why sham lapis in the compartments of wall and
ceiling ? Why not inlay rather than paint on the polished
surfaces of marble basins ? Why, in all this royal splen-
dour, should abject poverty be so often confessed ?
One reason was certainly the haste imposed by the
impatience of the king to see his stately house of
pleasure finished. If the reliefs had been, not of stucco,
but of chiselled marble, if walls and ceilings had been
jewelled with lapis, ten times ten years would scarce have
sufficed for its building. A recent writer, M. Genevay,i
has suggested that the taste for sham decoration was
intentionally fostered by Colbert for reasons of economy.
No reasons of economy would, though, have induced the
king, had he preferred the real thing, to put up with
shams. He must have thought them superior ; the cheat
probably appeared to him the smarter thing, just as, in
the eyes of the Spanish monarch, the cardboard suit of
liis spendthrift painter outshone the livery of gold
brocade which it replaced.
Decoration was, indeed, in the eyes of Le Brun and
his master, '' la science du decor," and he understood to
perfection how to prepare the stage on which the royal
puppet and his minions should play their parts to advan-
tage. From what remains of his work, and from the en-
gravings by means of which he obtained a careful record
of every design he made, his system is clear.- He took as
' "Le Style Louis XIV."
- .See list given by \"illot in " Notice des Tableaux ilu Louvre." A
134 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
his point of departure the indications of the architect,
and filled in his constructive hnes with scene-painting of
marvellous skill, employing mimic architectural enrich-
ments, painted frieze, and cornice, and galleries, and
caryatides of seeming bronze, supporting painted orders
and interspersed with reliefs of stucco, which broke the
transition to the sculptured busts and statues of marble,
just as sham draperies were so designed as to enhance
the pictured movement of the canvases which rested on
them.
The staircase, recklessly destroyed by Louis XV., ^
was in even a higher degree than the Gallery of Mirrors,
a triumph of this class of combinations. The decorations
in strong relief, which spaced the balustrades, Avere in
direct relation to lower reliefs which led the eye gently
to the flat compartments, storied with tales of the royal
successes, and, if there was anything more remarkable
than Le Brun's skill in marrying the seeming to the
real, the round to the flat, then that greater marvel is
doubtless his perfect mastery of the use of gold. In
the utmost profusion of lavish spending, he yet so
distributes it that it is never tawdry, never interferes with
the coloured surfaces in its neighbourhood, and this treat-
ment of gold was, we may infer from Florent le Comte's
remarks on the frames at the Louvre exhibition in 1699,
an object of special study, for the pleasure of the golden
frame does not consist in its shining but in its quiet,
which should be broken only by the points selected for
polish. As M. Genevay notes, in speaking of the work
great deal of importance was attached to this matter of engraving.
On 14th February, 1685, it is recorded that Mosnier asked Le Brun (wish-
ing clearly to pay his court) whether he should comply with the proposal
made to him to engrave a work by Mignard, and said Le Noire had put
Mignard up to asking him through La Chapelle, but that he would only
do it if well paid. M. I., vol. i. p. 57.
' D'Argenville, "Vies des Peintres," vol. iv. p. 142.
LE BRUX AND DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES, i
J3
in the Gallery of Mirrors^ "les eclats de bruni sur les
extremitcs en relevent le mat."
Still, in spite of this wonderful magnificence, the
aspect of the great palace, although carrying with it — at
an\- rate when Le Brun had his way — an imposing
impression of grandeur, can never have been other than
cold and formal. The heaviness of the ceilings, the
depth and strength of their colouring, are in themselves
oppressive. In this respect, as in the determination to
produce complete illusion, LeBrun's practicecontrasts un-
favourably with that of all great masters. The truescience
of mural painting is to respect the wall ; the outlines in
Raphael's wall-paintings are ever3'where purposely of
equal value, and if we look at the walls of the Sistine,
where the Sibyls grow from the flat surface into strong
relief by the forcible accentuation of points of light, we
find the outline for the most part in half shadow, and
nowhere do the medallions, as at Versailles, make any
pretence of illusion ; no one could take them for real
sculpture. As for the ceiling, the colour perceptibly
lightens towards the centre, whereas in all the ceilings
of Le Brun the reverse effect is produced. Hot and
heavy arc the paintings overhead in the Mars room, and
in the Hall of Plenty there is nothing to lift the eye,
as it were, beyond the roof. Something may have to
be allowed for the darkening process of time, but in
the Gallery of Mirrors the ceiling must always have
hung like a dark pall above the floors from which
it was separated by walls of dazzling light.
Very soon the system of painted shows, which,
practised at triumphal entries and such like passing
ceremonials, admirably fulfilled the purposes of a holiday
pageant,' invaded not only the whole field of internal
' See for Dauphin's baptism at St. Germain-en-Laye, M. I., vol. i.
p. 20 ; also the funeral pomp of Chancellor Seguier, ibid. p. 29.
136 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
decoration, but that of the exterior also. Extensive
works of this kind had been carried out by Le Brun at
St. Germain-en-Laye after his return from the campaign
of Flanders (1667), but the facades of Marly, which he
took in hand in 16S3, owed a great deal more to paint
than simple decoration. In point of architecture, Marly
may be said to have been practically all paint.' Every-
thing that should have been sculpture, and even some-
thing more, was paint. The king's own pavilion, the
principal wing of the chateau, was noticeable only for
" une riche architecture" painted from the designs and
under the conduct of Le Brun. Rousseau, the Huguenot
painter of the perspectives in the Venus room, who had
begun the work, had to fly- France on the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes ; but it was completed by his pupil
Mosnier, and the gaiety of this fugitive splendour so
charmed Louis XIV. that he caused the homes of his
carp to be in like manner emblazoned. No less a person
than Blain de Fontenay was called from his work in the
queen's apartments to trace upon their gilded basins
garlands of flowers which could only be kept in bloom
by incessant vigilance and repair.'^
Day by day this wasteful theatricality gained ground,
until rapidity of execution became the merit valued
beyond all others. Poussin, in 1641, had written from
Paris to M. de Chantelou, "I could bear my burden
cheerfully if it were not that works which should demand
much time have to be finished at a blow. I swear to
you that if I had to live in this country I should become
a regular mountebank like all the rest. Study and
reflection are unknown ; whosoever desires to study or
' Gencvay, " Le Style Louis XIV. ," p. 112. Lepicie, "Vies dcs
Pcintres," vol. i. p. 57.
= D'Aigenville, " \"its dcs Peintres," vol. iv. p. 2SS. = Ibid. p. 2S3.
LE BRUN AND DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES. 137
do well should fly from France." ' Thirty years later,
tlie leading men habitually boasted of the despatch with
which they worked. " Rousseau/' says D'Argenville,
" went extremely fast, declaring that he should be too
happy if his hand would be as quick as his thought."
Time went on, and Vivien bragged of painting a picture
without leaving the breakfast table;- Largilliere plumed
himself on doing in a week, what would take another
man a month ; Rigaud, yielding to the common weak-
ness, knocked off a mock Vandyck at a sitting, whilst
Lagrenee, according to Diderot, produced, in addition
to minor work, seventeen large pictures in two years !
The gravity of purpose which had marked the old
academical set fast disappeared. Contrast the drawings
of Lc Sueur, or even of La Hire, with those of De la
Fosse or Michel Corneille ; the portraits of Philippe dc
Champagne, with those of Mignard or De Troy ! Now
this contrast is just as marked in lesser men. The
portraits of the brothers Beaubrun, the court painters,
who delighted to entertain in their studio Henrietta
Maria and her ladies, were sincere though wooden ;3 and
Gilbert de Seve, if highly uninteresting,'* retained that
indescribable air which means that a man takes himself
and his profession seriously, and which is almost wholly
lacking in the succeeding generation.
Of Le Sueur, Sir Joshua Reynolds has said that he
was the only French painter who had " a truly correct
taste, free from any mixture of affectation or bombast.
. . . h\\ the others of that nation," he adds, "seem to
have taken their ideas of grandeur from romances. . . .
' Letter to Chantelou, " Lettres de Nicolas Poussin," p. 64, eil. 1824.
° D'Argenville, "Vies des Pcintres," vol. iv. p. 308.
3 See portrait, Queen of Louis XIV., Versailles.
^ See works at Versailles.
138 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Their heroes are decked out so nice and fine, that they
look like knights errant just entering the lists at a
tournament in gilt armour and loaded most unmercifully
with silkj satin, velvet, gold, jewels, etc., and hold up
their heads and carry themselves with an air like a
petit maitre with his dancing master at his elbow, thus
corrupting the true taste, and leading it away from the
pure, the simple and grand style, by a mock majesty and
a false magnificence.'^ i
This sweeping condemnation is rather hard on Le
Brun, for, " after his fashion," as M. Ingres has said, " Le
Brun was a great artist. Look at his fine compositions
on the History of Alexander and at his immense labours
at Versailles. His reputation to-day has sunk, but, in
reality, he is far greater than that which remains to
him," 2 Jii iiis own work he always retained a certain
measure of dignity which leavened the theatrical
grandeur which he inaugurated, and which destroyed for
a while that tendency towards sober distinction which
is a natural element of all typical French work. Nor
was he to blame for best expressing that which all
wished to express ; everybody was posing a little ; even
the Lenain, as M. Champfleur}'^ has remarked, were not
free from this reproach ; but pose, restrained by Le
Brun within certain courtly limits, degenerated through
Mignard, whose very name happens to be an appro-
priate synonym for all mincing graces, into the sprawl-
ing affectations of the eighteenth century. Curiously
enough, Le Brun, who was the younger man of the two»
stands forth, if compared with Mignard, as the represen-
tative of tradition ; and even in developing the theatrical
tendencies of his day, he inculcated on his disciples an
' Leslie's Life, vol. i. p. 87.
- De Laborde, " Ingres, sa Vic, etc. etc.,' p. 163.
3 " Les Freres Lenain," p. 31.
LE BRUN AND DECORATORS OE VERSAILLES. 139
amount of" school" which his elder rival was incapable of
appreciating. Vouet's pupils, and men of the serious and
formal type of Jean Baptiste de Champagne, naturally-
grouped themselves about Le Brun, whilst Mignard
became the precursor of the epoch of Louis XV. His
tricky draperies and fluttering movement heralded the
future popularity of Boucher and Vanloo, whilst his
graceful conventionalities of form encouraged that
disuse of the model which shortly grew to the height
which excited the indignant remonstrances of Diderot. ^
Patronised by Monseigneur, for whom, in i6jj, he
had carried out the decorations of St. Cloud, Mignard
could obtain no footing at Versailles until, after the
death of Colbert, Louvois was free to pit his own protege
against Le Brun. " Ces Messieurs les Mignards," said
the Grand Monarque, " sont difficiles ; ils n'ont d'eloges
que pour leur heros;"- but the apartments of Mon-
seigneur, destroyed in 1728, were confided to Mignard
in 16S4, and, two years later, he obtained the little
gallery and private rooms of the king, where he painted
in allegorical disguises all the prettiest women of the
Court.3 Mignard was at his best in portraits, yet
Poussin, writing from Rome in 164S, says : " It vexes
me to spend a single sixpence on a portrait such as
Mignard's, who is, however, the man here who does
them best, although they are plastered and without
power or vitality ; '' but, though there is much truth in
this bitter criticism, the favour which Mignard enjoyed
with his Court patrons was not without justification. He
had a certain feeling for grace of arrangement, his
details, if common, were well put together, and his colour,
' Salon, 1765.
^ Dussieu.\, " Les Arl"^^ Fr^ a I'etranger," p. 69.
3 Destioyed in 1736. Engraved by Audran, C. des B'\ 16S6.
D'Argenville, "Vies des Peintres," vol. iv. p. 83. See list of drawings,
and Mignard's Inventory, Nouv. Arch. 1S74, pp. 42-4.
I40 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
if poor and cold, sometimes had wonderful delicacy of
carnation in the flesh. ^
Mignard, however, had neither the vigour nor the
remarkable command of all resources of decoration
possessed by Le Brun or even by a second-rate man
like Jouvenet, who not only excelled in compositions
calculated for great effect, but redeemed some vul-
garity in choice of type by his strong dramatic
sentiment^ and who, by a remarkable breadth and
suggestiveness of light and shade, generally succeeded
in masking the unpleasantness of his local colour. As a
colourist, too, Mignard was inferior to Houasse, if judged
by the damaged remains of his work in the Hall of
Plenty^ or even to De la Fosse^ as seen in his paintings
at the Invalides,^ for his work at Versailles had been
disfigured by restoration, and his decorations at Alon-
tague House, like those of Rousseau and Monnoyer,
have been totally destroyed.
Inferior in many respects to several of Le Brun's
assistants, Mignard was yet more inferior to Le Brun
himself, not only in point of capacity, but also as to
strength and breadth of character. Le Brun was a
tyrant, but he was never a petty or vexatious one.
Those who opposed his authority he put aside, but his
worst enemies have not recorded of him any such mean
and furtive tricks as Mignard employed when he
secretly stirred the maitrcs to annoy the Academy of
which he, after the death of Le Brun, was actually the
head.4 Of course the system which enabled Le Brun to
' See portrait of a lady in the possession of Mrs. Ker, portrait of
Henriette, Duchess of Orleans, belonging to Sir Charles W. Dilke, and
portrait of Descartes (?) at Castle Howard.
' De la Fosse left for England at Lord Montague's invitation, when,
after the death of Colbert, Lc Brun's authority was sensibly diminished.
'' See engravings by Picart and Cochin.
*■ Lepicie, " Viesdes Feintrcs," vol. i. p. 74.
LE B RUN AND DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES. 141
do so much was an abuse. For one man to get, like this
painter, all he wants, must be an abuse : it means the
use of others by him to such an extent that their
individuality is sacrificed. After all, however, for one
who needs the help of many to express that which he
can think, the most think nothing that is worth
expressing.
Under their Chancellor's rule, the Academy, which
had been ordered as a means of bringing to bear the
corporate wisdom of many on special problems, be-
came a mere bundle of tools ; the tyranny of Mansard
and the tyranny of Le Brun ran parallel to the
lines of royal absolutism. The king supported Le
Brun, as he supported Mansard, as he supported
Colbert; they were his vice-regents. The sole channel
of employment in any and every field was favour ; and
thus " skilful artists, painters, and sculptors fully capable
of rising on their own wings, out of deference to the
credit of the First Painter, associated their talents with
his, and were ready to follow out his noble designs."
The crowd of distinguished members of the Royal
Academy found at Versailles "favourable opportunities
for the exercise of gifts already great either by working
out the sketches of M. Le Brun ... or at least by
agreeing with him both on the choice of subject and on
the details accompanying it. Thus, the different rooms
which form the apartments of this superb chateau, have
been so skilfully painted by IMINL Noel Coypel,
Audran, Houassc, Jouvenet, De la Fosse, and many
others." i
The influence, though, which was favourable to the
development of docile natures, was fatal to any form of
original talent; and now and again there surges out of
this sea of busy movement the trace of some obscure
' Lcpicic, "Vies dcs Peintrc?," vol. i. pp. 51-2,
142 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
disturbance ; some man rises and protests against this
order of things, and is remorselessly swept away, like
that humble worker in ivory, Simon Jaillot, who refused
to be taxed by the Academy for the funeral pomp of
Chancellor Seguier, saying he saw no reason why he
should pay in acknowledgment of the advantages that
M. Le Brun " en avait resceu." Of course the speech
was repeated ; of course Le Brun insisted on an apology,
which failing to obtain, he, equally of course, expelled
the insolent one from the Academy. In vain Jaillot
continued to protest against the arbitrary oppression of
one " to whom the first rank has been given amongst the
painters of the day, but who holds it rather by his
wrath than by his deserts." Le Brun was not to be
appeased, and if the memorial reciting Jaillot's wrongs
awoke secret sympathy in the breast of any Acade-
mician no one raised his voice in Jaillot's favour. i Not
until Colbert had passed away was Van der Meulen
free to vent the malice with which he regarded the
author of his fortune, and working through Louvois to
contrive for Lc Brun humiliations which not even the
king's constancy could wholly palliate.^
Le Brun died in his lodgings at the Gobelins on the
1 2th February, 1690;^ and up till the day of his death,
in spite of Louvois and the Mignards, he bravely held
his own. He died, so to say, erect, giving proof to the
last of the same powers of organisation, the same
inexhaustible activity and fertility which justify his
claims to fame. No branch of art, no interest of his day
' P. v., vol. ii, p. 112.
- A recent writer, M. Genevay (" Lc Style Louis XIV.," p. 200), has
stated that we have no proof of the alleged hostility of Van der Meulen to
Le Brun, but the M. I. abound with allusions to it. See vol. i. pp. 57,
58, 71-2.
^ Lepicie, " Vies des Peintres," vol. i. p. 87.
LE BRUN AND DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES. 143
was unfamiliar to him, not even that love of landscape
which had begun to stir the world, growing and thriving
as if it were a necessary relief from the prevailing
passion for display and formality. Poussin himself had
been gradually absorbed by it ; at first, the lines of hill and
field, the shadows of the woods and the depth of waters
appear in his works as a mere architectural background
to the drama of human passions, but, by degrees, the
figures become mere furniture, just as the Angel and St.
Matthew of the Tiber landscape at Berlin count only for
as much as the rocks of the foreground, and, lastly, as in
the great tempera paintings of the Doria Palace,
landscape borrows no interest from human life. Caspar
Dughet and the host of minor men — Patel, Francisque
Millet, Forest,! and Abraham Genoels — followed in the
footsteps of Poussin and Claude. With Cenoels Le
Brun worked out the backgrounds of his Battles of
Alexander, and they show in a marked degree the
freshness of feeling with which, in spite of fixity of
doctrine as regarded points of treatment, it was
becoming possible, even for the most academic mind,
to look at nature.
The variety and extent of Le Brun's powers and
acquirements make it as absurd for us to call "Mignard
his rival, as it was to make him say that the death of
Le Sueur had " taken a thorn out of his foot.''^ - Le
Brun had far too just a knowledge of his own strength
to have thought, far too much dignity to have said,
anything so silly. His natural force of character, even
more than his extraordinary powers of work, gave him
' Forest, like the two Ellc, Michelin, Housseau, L'Espagnandell,
Rousseau, etc., etc., had to fly France on the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes.
- Le Sueur and Le Brun had worked together at the Hotel Lambert in
1649. Both were pupils of Simon Voiiet.
144 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
his firm hold over other men. As an artist he knew
more than others, and he also knew better how to turn
his knowledge to account ; but he was not only an artist,
lie was an administrator, and to his powers of adminis-
tration every branch of the art of the " Grand Siecle '^
bears eloquent witness.
As his influence died away, and the men whom he
had trained disappeared, exaggeration of movement
and pettiness of style made progress hand-in-hand with
that self-indulgent luxury which, as Diderot says,
degrades the greatest talents, "en les assujettissant a des
petits ouvrages, et les grands ouvrages en les reduisant
a la bambochade." The new school which stigmatised
Velasquez as " a Spaniard who, in spite of his visit to
Italy, remained an artist of very middling capacity," i
rejoiced over Lagrenee's Truth, Justice, and Religion
masquerading in a banker's dressing-room, or wept
before his dying Dauphin assisted in the last extremity
by the little Duke of Burgundy, stark naked, but saving
the proprieties by his cordon bleu. When taste had
taken this turn, well might the Arts of Vanloo grieve
lest Heaven should deprive them of their fitting patron,
Madame de Pompadour.
Nothing but little pictures, mean thoughts, frivolous
compositions, " propres au boudoir d^un petit maitre,
faites pour des petits abbes, des petits robins, des gros
financiers ou autres personnages sans moeurs et d'un
petit gout " ! We have stepped from the great stage to
the puppet-show ; and to these charming littlenesses,
prettinesses, emptinesses which make up the glorified
upholstery of Boucher, of Baudoin, of Fragonard, there
is allied a love of turbulence which in all phases of life
is a sure sign cf something wrong. Diderot speaks of
' G. Brice, " Description de Paris," ed. 1713, vol. i. p. 40.
LE BRUN AXD DECORATORS OF VERSAILLES. 145
Boucher as the " most deadly enemy of silence/^ and,
Avhen the younger Restout paints Anacreon singing,
exclaims, " If he sings it cannot be French music, for
he does not screech enough/' Yet Diderot himself
suffers from the same unrest, and is always begging
for more noise, more action, more passion !
Brilliant, indeed, were many of these men ; all too
fascinating the idylls of their theatrical Arcadia, the
powdered charms of their voluptuous nymphs; and
surely the names of Watteau and of Chardin shall
ever be counted as an honour to France. Yet, looking
back, we see the elder days were other. "' Soyez
galant ! " cries Boucher ; but Le Brun said, " Soyez
■noble I "
CHAPTER VII.
THE SCHOOL OF SCULPTURE — SARRAZIN, PUGET, AND'
GIRARDON.
The first name which comes to our lips when we call
over the roll of French sculptors in the seventeenth
century is that of Pug-et. Painter, architect, and
engineer, he was also by far the most vigorous repre-
sentative of sculpture during the reign of Louis XIV.
Curiously enough, in spite of his visits to Paris and his
years of residence in Italy, his work never lost its strong
local character. The Virgin of Lorgues, which he
executed for the Benedictines of Le Thoronet, is a
woman of Marseilles, her features strongly marked, and
the structure so forcibly indicated as to give an air of
age to a model already older than is usually the case
with those who sit for virgins. The deep line between
her eyebrows indicates that from her birth Puget's sitter
had faced the southern sun, and her thick hair, growing
stubbornly off the forehead, seems to uplift the veil she
wears ; on the boldly-cut lines of her mouth lies a
Provencal accent ; her hands have picked the fruits of the
olive and the vine, and everywhere falls the same rather
heavy emphasis in the modelling, which makes the
muscular forms of the body tell plainly, even beneath,
the broken and uneasy lines of the drapery.
SARRAZTN, PUGET, AND GIRARDON. 147
This Virfjin of Lorijues, executed when Pu^et
was between thirty and forty, shows all the features
which individualise his talent, and give his work its
typical and local character, whilst, at the same time, it
promises that energy and life, that skill in contrasting
decorative accessories with the simple surface of the
nude, to which he attained in the Saint Sebastian of the
Carignano church at Genoa. The Saint Sebastian,
which is, perhaps, Puget^s most complete work, belongs
to the same period as the French Hercules of the
Louvre, which, destined for Vaux le Vicomte, fell
into the hands of Colbert, and became the chief orna-
ment of the courts of Sceaux.^ Executed at Genoa,
this extraordinarily vigorous statue is nevertheless a
transcript from the galleys of Toulon, an embodiment of
that superb force which can defy the utmost tyranny of
Fate. Colbert, if he could not — and it seems he could
not — appreciate it at its full value, was, at least, so far
impressed that he unwillingly conceded the conditions
imposed by Puget, as the price of his consent to serve in
the arsenals of Toulon, and ordered him to return to
France.2
At this date, known, as Puget must have been in
Paris since the arrival of the Hercules, by work re-
markable for startling vigour, for character, and for
admirable decorative fitness, it is astonishing that he
was not summoned to Versailles instead of being con-
signed to the dockyards for the rest of his life.^
Was Le Brun envious of his gifts, or did he distrust
his power to control Puget and carry him through the
intrigues which would have greeted his coming to Paris ?
' Mariette, "Abecedario," vol, iv. p. 225; and Leon Lagrange, "Pierre
Puget," 2nd ed., p. 61. - (i65S). Leon Lagrange, ibU. p. 117.
3 See Correspondance, Arch, do I'Art Fr^., 1S56, p. 225 et sea.
L 2
148 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
It is clear from the terms of tlie i^enerous letter written
by him to Paget on the arrival of the Milo at Versailles
(1683), that he fully recognised his claims as a sculptor.
"I took care to be present/' he says, "at the opening of
the case containing your Milo, when the king had it
opened ; and when S. M. did me the honour to ask my
opinion, 1 tried to make him notice all the beauties of
your work. In so doing I only did you justice, for in
truth your statue appeared to me very beautiful in every
respect and wrought by a great artist." ' If, therefore,
Le Brun did not urge the employment of Puget on the
works at Versailles, it cannot have been from distrust of
his ability, but it may have been from distrust of his
character. The violent element in his work, which, on
first seeing the Hercules, must have startled and discon-
certed a man like Colbert accustomed to all the academic
proprieties, had its corresponding quality in Puget's
nature. Proud, self-confident, and authoritative, not to
say dictatorial, Puget was anything but easy to work
with, and the letters of Arnoul, the intendant des galcres, to
Colbert at this epoch show the difficult side of his nature.
" He seeks to build his own reputation rather than the
king's arsenal," complains Arnoul, and again, " He thinks
of nothing but the beautiful, whilst I must look to what
is useful and necessary." ~ Le Brun had had probably
some opportunity of judging Puget in this respect, in
connection with the works at Vaux, for Puget was well
known to Lepautre, who had recommended his employ-
ment by Fouquet on those works of sculpture for which,
at the moment of the S 2 ir intend anfs fall, he was actually
buying marbles in Italy. Early in the year, too (166S),
Puget had visited Paris,^ and Le Brun may then have
learnt something of that independence of temper, which,
' Lagrange, " Pierre Puget," p. 191. -Ibid. p. 156. ^ Ibid.^. 114.
SARRAZIN, PUGET, AND GIRARDON. 149
in 1688, led Puget to throw up the work to which he
had been called by Louvois and leave Paris, rather than
disentangle the intrigues by which he was hindered in
its execution.
There were obstacles in the way of placing Puget at
Versailles which were certainly grave enough to fright
the wariest schemer. The defeat of Poussin, the dis-
comfiture of Bernini, were not precedents likely to
engage any man of the higher sort to tempt the fates of
Paris, and Le Brun himself was also deeply committed
to Francois Girardon/ who had for years courted his
favour with obsequious subserviency. Already (1668)
he had, however, been obliged to despatch Girardon to
Marseilles, where trained workmen appear to have been
as scarce as at Toulon, and where disastrous conse-
quences resulted from the attempt to carry out Le Brun's
designs for the prow of the Royal Louis ; and, from the
letters of DTnfreville to Colbert, it is clear that there
was no one in the yards of either port capable of direct-
ing the " works of sculpture." The choice lay, therefore,
between the permanent appointment of Girardon to the
dockyards, and the recall of Puget,
Girardon was a practised, if not a born Parisian,
practised too in all the intrigues, professional and other,
aeainst which Pu^et would have been defenceless, whilst
Pueet, on the other hand, would have found at Paris no
employment for those special scientific acquirements,
which might have rendered his services in the dockyards
invaluable. Le Brun can scarcely have hesitated in his
choice of tools. Girardon was recalled to Paris, and
^ A pupil cf Arguier tsxiA protege of Chancellor Seguier. lie executed
Colbert's tomb on Le Brun's designs, and succeeded Le Brun as Inspector-
General of works of sculpture in 1690. One of his chief assistants at
Versailles was Robert le Lorrain. See Corrard de Breban, M. L, vol. ii.
p. 214 ; and ibid. vol. i. p. 291 ct scq.
I50 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Puget was left at Toulon ; but he got no free hand, and
his energies were constantly cramped in every direction,
in spite of D'Infreville's support, by Colbert's persistent
distrust of one who cared in the first place for "the
beautiful.'^
Through the generosity of Chancellor Seguier, Le
Brun's early patron, Girardon, had also enjoyed an
Italian training, but nearly all those whom he called
about him had been pupils or assistants of a sculptor
who had had for many years a preponderating influ-
ence in Paris. Jacques Sarrazin, the friend of Do-
menichino, had married, on settling in France, one of
Simon Vouet's nieces, and there had been no one to
dispute his authority, except, perhaps, the son of his
early master, Simon Guillain, whose name figures with
that of Sarrazin on the list of founders of the Academy.
Guillain, who died leaving a great fortune in 1656,1 had,
indeed, indignantly refused to work with Sarrazin in the
court of the old Louvre,^ for he also made a great figure
in those days. It was said of him, " Sa probite etoit
grande, ses sentiments honnetes, sa fierte noble et
civile, sa taille belle, et son coeur incapable de crainte."
His immense bodily strength, and skill in the use of the
" fleau,^^ which he always carried under his cloak, made
him a terror to street marauders, who fled from their
victims at his approach crying, "^ Voici notre fleau ;
passons vite notre chemin ! " In all things Guillain
belonged to the old school, was a favourite sculptor of
Anne of Austria, and maintained in his work (as if a
lineal descendant through Bartelemy Prieur) those tra-
ditions of the sixteenth century which were preserved
amongst painters by the pupils of Vouct and Sebastian
' Nouv. Arch., 1S72, p. 28.
' M. I., vol. i. p. 259.
SARRAZIN, PUCET, AXD GJRARDON. 151
Bourdon. Sarrazin, who survived him only four years.i
was, on the other hand, an innovator, and his caryatides
on the front of the Louvre show the results of his
eighteen years' residence in Rome, and how certain it
was that Le Brun could be sure of finding amongst his
disciples and assistants just those who would most
readily take to his views and assimilate his style.
Thus, it is not surprising that nearly all the sculptors
whom Le Brun called to Versailles, and certainly all the
most noted, had been pupils or assistants of Sarrazin.
Legendre, Lehongre, Thibaut Poissant, Gaspard and
Balthazar Marsy, Lerambert, Legros, Gilles Guerin and
Philippe Buyster^ had all been his disciples, and of some
we are told, as of Legendre, that, although they were
most deeply devoted to their master, they found this
devotion no stumbling-block to the closest relations of
friendship with Le Brun.^ Buyster and Guerin, who
had been apprenticed to Le Brun's father, a master
sculptor, worked under Sarrazin for many years ; carry-
ing out (after Guillain's refusal) the famous caryatides
and other decorations of the Lemercier pavilion of the
Louvre.4 Sarrazin must indeed have thought very
highly of Guerin, for after employing him on various
works for private persons, he recalled him to the Louvre
and entrusted him (1652)^ with the sculpture of the
king's bed-chamber. There, Guerin had amongst his
assistants another of Sarrazin's pupils, Nicolas Legendre
(who brought with him Laurent Magnier),^ Thomas
Regnauldin, a young disciple of ]\Iichel Anguier, and
-Francois Girardon, who, like Regnauldin, was then but
■ M. I., vol. i. p. 125.
' Ibid. vol. i. pp. 125, 259, 281, 307, 319, 330, 363.4"-
3 IbiJ. vol. i. p. 411. *• ibid. p. 119.
s Ibid. p. 415. ° Ibid. p. 417.
152 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
beginning to form himself in the exercise of his artJ
As a pupil and assistant of Guerin, who afterwards
employed him on the Hotel de Ville,^ Girardon, as well
as Regnauldin, may be considered to have been trained
in the school of Sarrazin, although he had previously
worked under Guillain's scholars the Anguier^^ and
the same may be said of another no less known artist,
Antoine Coysevox, who was trained by one of the
master's most loyal and devoted followers, the courtly
garde dcs antiques dit rot, Louis Lerambert^ — the friend
and fellow pupil of Le Brun and Le Notre, He is said,
however, to have owed his success with persons of " la
premiere qualite/' quite as much to his curly hair and
his graceful dancing as to his professional ability.
Even the Fleming, Van Opstal^ — who afterwards
brought in his compatriot Martin van der Bogaert,
commonly called Desjardins — worked under Sarrazin
on his first coming to Paris, and the Italian Tuby must
also have had personal relations with him, since we find
that he and Legros were the authors of the two
memorial notices of the master, which were presented to
the Academy after his death in 1660.6 Not alone by
his talent and the authority which he held at the Louvre
can the immense number of Sarrazin^s pupils be ex-
plained ; the attachment felt for him was due in great
measure to the beauty and nobility of his character. In
' M. I., %-ol. i. p. 263. " //'/(/. p. 264. 3 Jhid.^. 296.
''Ibid. vol. ii. p. 33, and Arch, de I'Art Fr\, 1855, p. 22S. See
Genevay, " Le Style Louis XIV.," p. 21S.
5 Le Van employed Van Opstal on his house in the He Notre Dame,
and he also worked on the Hotel Lambert. (M. I., vol. i, p. 17S.) See
"Sculptures de G. Van Opstal" (Louis Courajod). The bas-relief of
"The Flight into Egypt,'' inserted in the mantelpiece of the Diana room,
is attributed by M. Dussieux to Van Opstal. It is possibly one of the two
small marble reliefs by Van Opstal, taken to Versailles from the I Intel
de Gramont. M. I., vol. i. p. ib'2. ^ Ibid. p. 115.
SARRAZIN, PUGET, AND CIRARDON.
!)J
a note, which is attributed to Legros, we arc told that
Sarrazin "all his life strove to serve the interests of
all who had understanding ; if such as these found
themselves in any difficulty, he would take up their
concerns, and" (as he did for Philippe Buyster) ^
"carry them through with ministers; in the case of
others he would see that they received liberal payment,
so that it might be said that he did well by all men, but
chiefly by those who were men of capacity : thus, it was
plain that he loved all who were of high worth/' ~ On
this wise, it came to pass that all the abler men fell
under his influence, and that with the single exception of
Guillain's pupil, Michel Anguier,J all the sculptors of
Versailles may be referred to his school.
The struggle between Errard and Le Brun for
the conduct of the works of relief in the " Galerie
d'Apollon " was the first direct consequence of
Sarrazin's disappearance from the scene. Never before
had the direction of works of such a character been
placed in the hands of a painter. When Gilles Guerin
was carrying out the reliefs in the king's bed-chamber
at the Louvre, Thibaut Poissant and Michel Anguier
were engaged, in like manner, in the queen's apartments,
and in the hall opening into them. Sarrazin dead, the
attempt by Ratabon to push Errard, furnished Le Brun
with exactly the opportunity he desired for getting into
his hands that general control of all the artists working
for the Crown of which lie had long been ambitious.
Le Brun had paved the way for peaceable acceptance
of his authority by skilful use of the patronage which
first came into his hands through Fouquet ; he had
carried Anguier to St. Mandc in 1655, and transferred
' M. I., vol. i. p. 2S3. - Ibid. p. 126.
^ Ibid. pp. 192, 436, 452.
154 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
him later on to Vaux le Vicomte,i where, in 1658, he
introduced Poissant and Legendre^ who had been
previously working at Meudon with Sarrazin. To Le-
eendre 2 he committed all the stucco ornaments of the
ceilings, which are still one of the glories of Fouquet's
noble chateau, whilst by his relations with Anne of
Austria, he again procured employment for Anguier at
Val de Grace. When fresh power came to him through
the defeat of Errard, Le Brun's use of it could not have
been more prudent in its calculations, for he called to
the Apollo Gallery, Francois Girardon, the brothers
Marsy, and Thomas Regnauldin, thus attaching to
himself four men of great ability, whose support against
the maitres was invaluable.
The result of this adroit management was seen when
that final break with the guild of masters took place
which preceded the reconstitution of the Royal
Academy. Then the leading sculptors amongst the
masters all came over to Le Brun. Michel Anguier,
who — under the influence of Mignard and Du Fresnoy
— had for a time been violent in opposition, forsook his
allegiance, declaring that he left the masters '' par
consideration pour M. Colbert," vv'ho had, indeed, at the
instigation of Le Brun, given him a commission in the
Church of St. Eustache ; but Anguier required fuller
wage than this, and accordingly obtained the hand of a
niece of Remy, the king^s broiderer, in marriage, being
at the same time commissioned to execute ''six Termes
en pierre de Vernon " for the avenue of the park at
Versailles. 3 Buyster,^ a thorough artisan, who began
his career at Paris, in the yard of a coach-builder, and
who had at one time outrivalled Anguier in violence,
' M. I., vol. i. p. 440. - Ibid. p. 411.
3 Ibid. pp. 460-1. •» Ibid. p. 284.
SARRAZIN, PUGET, AND GIRARDON. 155
was reached through his friend Thibaut Poissant, whilst
Legendre, taking as his second wife one of the
•Chancellor's connections, not only re - entered the
Academy himself, but brought with him Laurent
Magnier — a most important triumph, for IMagnier, inde-
pendently of his powers as a sculptor, was one of the
best heads amongst the masters, and about the only one
who would have been capable of governing that body
successfully.
Girardon now gave himself absolutely over to
Le Brun, and practically held under him, from this
■date, that post of Chief Inspector of all works of
sculpture to which he was officially appointed in 1690,
after the death of his master. He appears to have been
a man whose cotip (Tceil and certainty of execution was
equalled only by his extraordinary sluggishness of
initiative. Whether this arose from mere laziness, from
that natural inability to compose and design which has
been acknowledged sometimes by artists such as Henner
— in other respects of no mean powers — or whether it
was the result of purely servile calculation, the fact is
that Girardon hardly ever did anything the pattern of
which was not furnished or suggested to him by Le Brun.
His principal achievement — the Tomb of Richelieu, now
in the Sorbonne — was not only carried out (as also that
of Colbert at a later date) from the designs of Le Brun.i
but shows in every touch of the chisel that Girardon
was so penetrated by his manner that it cost him no
effort to reproduce it in marble.
At Versailles, Girardon's work in the famous Grotte
de TJictisf' the construction of which had been begun
by Pierre de P^rancine, the engineer of all the playing
fountains of the palace, established his reputation.
' See Florent le Comte. - M. I., vol. i. p. 477.
156 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Le Brun found himself thoroughly understood, and the
king was delighted. The execution of the side groups
by Guerin and the Marsy, and of that portion of the
central one which was the work of Regnauldin, showed,
by contrast, how superior was Girardon to his fellow-
workers ; for if he had, as Piganiol de la Force ^ puts it,
less fire than some of his rivals, he was free from that
academic stiffness which mars the productions both of
Regnauldin and of Guerin, whilst, in point of precision,,
the brothers Marsy could not match him, though they
might rival him in vigour. ^
The remains of the Grotte de Thetis, now in the
Bosquet d'Apollon (having been transferred thither by
Mansard in 1684 to make room for the north wing),
would suffice, even if we had nothing else, to show how
invaluable Girardon's remarkable powers of calculating
effect at great distances,-^ must have been in the direction
of the vast works of exterior decoration at Versailles,
which filled the years between 1664 and 1671. There
is nothing more rare in modern art than to find a work
of sculpture, such as the group of Apollo and the
Nymphs, containing a large number of figures all in
true relations to each other. This is the particular
virtue which distinguishes most of the decorations of
Versailles, and which survives even now, although injury
and neglect have deprived them of the other claims
they may once have had to admiration, and this is the
virtue which they probably owe to Girardon's watchful
^ Piganiol, vol. ii. p. 329.
^ Amongst the chief works of Girardon at Versailles were four Tritons
at the Fountain of the Pyramid [ibid. p. 20) ; bas-relief on Charles Perrault's
design at the Baths of Diana (M. I., vol. i. p. 420 ; Piganiol, ihiii. p. 27) ;
a Proserpine — bronze {ibid. p. 166) ; " Winter " [ibid. p. 41) ; " Saturn," etc.
(ibid. p. 155) ; besides various restorations, as of the \'enus tl'Arlcs and
three vases.
^ See Perrault, " Ordonnancc des Cinq Especes de Colonnes," p. 14.
SARRAZTN, PUGET, AND GIRARDO.Y. ^ 57
eye. From this time forward we find him everywhere,
indoors and out, working at everything of importance
either singly or in company with Gaspard Marsy — on the
great groups of the entrance court, and on the figures
right and left of the centre pediment of the little chateau ;
with Desjardins and '' coJisors" on the statues in the
marble court ; with Tuby, Magnier and Legendre, at the
Pyramid ; on the Great Stairs with the full strength of
the staff; at the Fountains of Saturn with Regnauldin ;
at the Water garden with Lehongre and his assistants ;
with Espingola at the Fountains of Fame, In the
very thick of these labours, he found time to journey to
Rome, so as further to perfect himself for the king's
business, and to superintend divers works in the Louvre
and other royal palaces ; even the "belle chapelle'' of
Fontainebleau owed its decorations to his hand.'
When La Fontaine, who, like Boileau, was an intimate
friend of Girardon,- went over to visit Versailles in
1668,^ he found the Fountain of Latona just finished by
the Marsy, and most of the chief Avorks in the grounds
far advanced.4 It was a fatal year for those employed
there ; Buyster, who, in addition to his labours in the
court of the little chateau, ^ had just completed a
marble Faun near the Pyrajuidc d'Eaii,^ died in March ;
Van Opstal, whose bas-reliefs in the famous Grotte de
Thetis were destroyed by Mansard on its removal to its
present position, followed him in August,^ and in the
course of the next month Poissant, who had been busy
in the Horse Shoe enclosure, was also carried off^ In
' See C. des B'=. for years 1664-80. Lives of Girardon and assistants
in M. I. ; and also Piganiol. - M. I., vol. i. p. 302. 3 //;/,/. p. g^.
■• For the Statues of Ver?ailles see Thomassin (Simon), " Recucil dcs
Figures, Groupes, etc." Paris, 1694. = Piganiol, vol. i. p. 15.
* M. I., p. 289. Piganiol, vol. ii. p. 26.
^ M. I., vol. i. p. 183. •'^ Ibid. p. 329.
158 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
fact, when the great distribution of royal commissions
in 1671 took place, five leading sculptors were missing;,
the fertile Lerambert, who always produced at least two
important works a year, died in 1670,1 and Legendre,
who with Magnier had but just arrived from the Great
Gallery in the Louvre,^ early in 167 1.
At this critical date, the interior of the palace
absorbed all attention ; Legendre, Legrand, Besnard,
and Magnier, who executed all the carvings of the
Bath-room, 3 had been called from the gardens in the
previous year to work in the ground - floor rooms.
Nothing, indeed, is more remarkable than the readiness
vvith which Girardon and all the members of Le Brun's
staff handled the greatest diversity of materials ; plaster
or metal, stone or wood, modelling, carving, casting,
were as familiar to their fingers as every variety of size ;
to work on a miniature or on a gigantic scale was all
the same to them. The very men who worked on the
colossal statues and decorations outside the palace gave
a gem-like finish and elegance to the delicate mouldings
and reliefs of the interior.
Tuby, aided by Legros, Masson, Mazeline, and
Hutinot, designed all the stucco work of the queen's
apartments,^ and Hutinot was also employed in a like
manner with Regnauldin and Raon in the king's.
Lehongre, who, like Legendre, had a special gift of
excellence in delicate wood-carving, having decorated the
attic,5 descended to the ground-floor and took the Ionic,
afterwards called the Diana room,<J which gave access
to the Bath-room where Caffieri and Temporiti, \\\\o like
Tuby had long been attached to the Gobelins, were at
work aided by the Huguenot L'Espagnandell, Gaspard
' M. I., vol. i. p. 333. Piganiol, vol. ii. p. 336.
= Ibid. p. 419. C. des B'\, 1670. 3 /^/,/. 4 c. des B'^, 1G71-2,
s M. I., vol. i, p. 375. 6 /^,^;/_ p_ .-(5_ c. des B*\, 1671.
SARRAZIN, PUGET, AND GIRARDON. 159
Marsy, and Desjardins.^ In the Octagon Cabinet, for
Avhich Tuby executed statues, Lehongre, and afterwards
Legros, aided him by carving ornamentj^ but in the
Cabinet of Curiosities he not only carried out a large
proportion of the wood-carving and stucco reliefs, but
also the gilt bronzes which enriched the walls and the
furniture.-^ Ornament of a similar character, in the
vestibule, guard-room, bed and ante-chamber of the state
apartments, was entrusted to the two Marsy.4 These
rooms are, however, better known to us at present as the
Venus, Mars, Mercury, and Apollo rooms, for the Great
Stairs, from which the Venus room once gave access to
the state apartments, have disappeared. The guard-
room was even more speedily diverted from its original
use, being transformed into a ball-room and re-handled
by Magnier and Lehongre ;^ the Mercury room, on the
other hand, has always been known as the Chanibre dtt lit,
and was assigned as such by Louis XIV. to his grand-
child, Philip of Anjou, wdien King of Spain ; and in the
Apollo room the nails which fixed the dais still remain
to show its original use as a state ante-chamber, in which
the throne was placed when it pleased the king there to
give audience.
In delicate wood-carving and other ornamental
work Lehongre and his French brethren were rivalled, if
not surpassed, by the Genoese Cafifieri and by Temporiti
of Milan. Assisted by L'Espagnandell, Caffieri executed
all the doors and windows ; completing those of the
state apartments in 1672, then working in the queen's
oratory in 1673, and furnishing in the same year his
designs for the magnificent openwork bronze doors
which it was proposed to employ, but which were
' M. I., vol. i. pp. 309, 395. C. des B*5., 1672.
- M. I., vol. i. p. 376. C. des B'^, 1 67 1-2, 1676. 3 //,;v^. p. 376.
■* Ji'-d. p. 30S. C. des B'^, 1671. 5 Jlfid. pp. 37S, 419.
i6o ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
replaced by doors of wood, so terrible were the draughts
which chilled the air in those vast and splendid rooms.
On the 1 2th December, 1673, Colbert writes from
Sceaux to King Louis : '' Les ouvrages de Versailles
s'avancent et j'espere que dans la fin de ce mois le
Labirinte, le Marais, les appartements de Votre Majeste
et de la Reyne seront entierement achevez ; " and the
king replies from Nancy four days later^ writings as was
his wont, on the margin of Colbert's letter: '^Je seray
bien aise en arrivant de trouver Versailles dans I'estat
que vous me mandez." i Every possible means was now
taken to press forward the completion of the palace, and
whilst these works were finished in the various private
and state apartments of the ground-floor and first storey,
the construction of the Gallery of Mirrors had been begun,
and the Degre des Ambassadeiu's was rapidly progressing.
From 1674 to 1679 almost every one of the leading
sculptors already mentioned was engaged on it, but
gradually the larger and more important parts of the
work fell to three men, Tuby, Coysevox,^ and Cafifieri.
These three, under Girardon, seem to have approved
themselves to Le Brun as best capable of carrying out his
schemes, for, immediately on the completion of the stair-
case, he placed the chief work in the Gallery of Mirrors
in their hands. At the same time, also, there took place
a general re-handling of all the royal apartments^ neces-
sary to bring them into harmony with the Gallery of
Mirrors on which Lc Brun reckoned as his master work.
' Extract from MS. correspondence in the Archives of the Due de
Luynes at Dampierre.
^ Coysevox was a protege of the Cardinal Furstemberg, Abbot of St.
Germain des Prcs. He employed him first at Saverne. Besides work men-
tioned in the text he executed many statues in the gardens of Versailles.
(See Piganiol.) He was lodged in tlie Gobelins in 1694(0.^ 10S3, " Arch.
Nat."), where he died in 1720. 3 See C. des B'^, 16S0.
SARRAZL\, PUGET, AND GIRARDOX. i6i
For this gallery Le Brun picked his assistants with
extreme care : Tuby, Coysevox, Caffieri, L'Espagnandell
(who seems to have replaced Temporiti), and Legeret
were told off to work on the cornice of gilt stucco. To
Caffieri also fell the task of carrying out the gilt bronze
capitals of the marble columns against the walls^ accord-
ing to the details of Le Brun's ordre francais ; he de-
signed^ too, the noble doors giving access to the king's
apartments, nor did lie and L'Espagnandell disdain to
execute with their own hands such seemingly trivial
details as the '^ roses de metail " which fastened the
sections of the mirrors which fill the spaces between
the pillars. I The execution of the trophies of gilt
bronze^ which ]\I. Dussieux says were modelled by
Coysevox, seems to have been distributed amongst
various hands, for besides Caffieri, L'Espagnandell, and
Coysevox, six other sculptors received payment for them
in 1 68 1 — the year, too, in which Coisevaiix et Consors
completed the decoration of the Hall of War. The
"Consors '' were probably, in this instance, his nephews
and pupils, Guillaume and Nicolas Coustou,^ with whose
aid Coysevox began to carry out in marble the great
equestrian relief of the victorious king, the plaster
model of which, designed by Desjardins, is still in place
above the chimney-piece of the Hall, for the king died
whilst the work was in hand, and consequently the
marble was left unfinished.^
With the purely decorative work of the Great Gallery
and its adjoining halls Girardon had very little, if any,
concern ; it was simply a frame to the immense canvases
» C. des B'^, i6So.
= Lodged in Louvre, 1703. O.' 1053, "Arch. Nat."
3 Piganiol, vol. i. p. 172. INI. L A fine bust of Louis XlV.by Coysevo.x,
from the collection of Sir Richard Wallace, was exhibi'.ed at the Quai
IMalaquais this summer.
M
i62 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
of Le Brun, who naturally kept the general supervision
in his own hands. Girardon's co-operation was here
confined to the bringing in of a white marble Apollo,^
and to the draping of the antique busts which were
placed in the Halls of Peace and War.^ After the
death of Le Brun, although Girardon had then had the
'^ conduitte des ouvriers ^' in his hands for many years,^
Louvois and Mansard strove, by all means in their power,
to set aside one whom they looked on as a man of
"la vieille cour.'^ To some extent Girardon's own
habits put him at a disadvantage. He had never
attempted, like the other leading artists of his day, to
make a social figure, and was considered to be "un
peu menager." At the height of his fortune, he
contented himself with his modest lodgings in the
Louvre, w^here in 1679 he had succeeded Claude Ballin,'^
whilst his fellows built magnificent hotels, and his wife
(the beautiful flower-painter, Catharine du Chemin)
found herself obliged to economically sacrifice her
"grands talents" to her household cares. ^ Girardon's
compatriot, Mignard, found it easy to patronise and dic-
tate to him, regarding him as little better than a stone-
cutter, and, when Colbert had passed away, Louvois and
Mansard held him at their mercy, employing him only,
when they could not do without him, on works which
no one else dared to undertake.
When he died in 171 5, Girardon had seen all his
fellow- workers fall beside him one by one ; one by one
all his powerful patrons had perished. Many, like the
great Conde, who used to visit him at his work, had
passed away whilst he was yet in the prime of man-
hood, but he also outlived all those with whom he had
' C. dcsB*^., 1683. = Ilnd. 16S6. ■' //;/,/. 1687.
" O.' 1055, "Arch. Nat." s m. I., vol. i. p. 304.
SARRAZIN, PUGET, AND GIRARDON. 163
chiefly laboured : — the two Marsy, Gilles Gucrin,
Buyster, Lehongre, Desjardins, Regnauldin ; he out-
lived his chosen friends La Fontaine, Santeuil, and
Boileau ; he outlived the unfriendly Louvois and the
equally unfriendly ]\Iansard, consoled during his last
years by his pleasant and faithful relations to his native
town of Troyes, and reminded by an occasional visit from
the Regent Orleans that he was a last representative of
the great days of the " Grand Siecle." i
Of his work — and the same may be said of that of all
the sculptors of Versailles — there is scarcely any satis-
factory evidence remaining except in such parts of the
interior as have escaped the chances of change. With
the exception of his arrangement of the busts which were
left to Louis XIV. by JMazarin, and which are still in the
Halls of Peace and War, Girardon's chief work lay out of
doors, where time and neglect, with all the vicissitudes
of icy frosts and burning suns, have wreaked their wall
unhindered amongst the marbles and bronzes which
decorated the exterior of the palace and peopled its
gardens. The ground-work, so to say, is intact in the
state-rooms, except where minor details (as in the
chimney-piece of the Salon de Merciire) have suffered
alteration. The Great Gallery, the Halls of Peace and
War, the Bed-chamber of Louis XIV., the ante-chamber
of his queen,- are good specimens of the original scheme
of decoration and evidence of the perfection of work-
manship generally attained. I\Iany portions of the
work in these rooms are still exquisitely fresh : after the
lapse of two hundred years the surface of the stucco
reliefs is as clean and sharp as that of the chiselled
bronzes gleaming on the walls as if they had been
fastened there but yesterday. The look of newness, in
' M. I., vol. i. p. 302.
M 2
1 64 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
- many details such as these, is startHng, especially when
contrasted with the signs of frequent repair and re-
novation shown by the paintings in their neighbourhood.
When we go into the gardens the case is very-
different. Apart from the filthy neglect which disgraces
them, the state of marbles such as the groups at the
Baths of Apollo, the group of Latona by the Marsy, the
Nymph of Coysevox, or Tuby's Chariot of the Sun, could
not be rendered satisfactory by any amount of care.
An arm}' of restorers incessantly on the Avatch for every
trace of injury, could not prevent the certain deteriora-
tion of the surface which leaves them but the idle ghosts
of what they may have been. The low reliefs of the vases
by Tuby and Coysevox, which stand on either hand as we
go down to the Water garden, are still beautiful in spite
of the carelessness which seems to accept wanton injury
as a matter of course. Here and there, too, metal
statues and groups such as Houzeau's spirited Blood-
hound and Stag, preserve some recognisable character-
istics. Worn, even into holes, as are the fine bronzes of
the Kellers, neglected, foul with dirt, corroded by con-
tact with the rubbish thrown on them, it is still possible
to distinguish the different styles of the men who
modelled the groups from which they were cast ; it is
still possible to note that Thomas Regnauldin was stiff
and academic ; that Lehongre, or L'Ongre, as he was
sometimes called, was bent on steering clear of all
violence and affectation, and that in his dignified manner
he must have been revolted by the weakness and man-
nerism of the hands and feet and waving sinewless lines
bestowed by Tuby on several neighbouring nymphs.
Nor can the ridiculously small heads set on the thick
necks of Raon's ladies have pleased the older master
much better than Tuby's empty modelling ; though,
perhaps, he might have joined us in pardoning Legros
SARRAZh\\ PUGET, AND GIRARDOX. 165
the cramp which affects the extremities of all his sub-
jects for the sake of the graceful and animated move-
ment, the life and energy which make his groups, on
the whole, the best of those which surround the two
basins of the famous Water garden.
If the bronzes of the Kellers have suffered deplorably,
what shall be said of the groups and statues cast in
lead ? Already, in 1749, their condition w^as a matter
of remark. Speaking of Regnauldin's group of Ceres
and her children, the Comte de Caylus says : " It would
be WTong to estimate a man's worth by such a work.
Cast in lead and laid down, as are nearly all those of
Versailles, on a flat surface, it cannot be spirited. Be
sides which, if the softness of the lead at first renders all
the delicacy of the mould, it also lends itself the more
readily to effacement." When, however, M. de Caylus
turns from these works to those executed in stone, he
cites Regnauldin's figure of Peace in the marble court
and has no better report to make. " You know," he
cries, " the changes which mere exposure to w^eather
causes, yet the group is fine, and the execution appears
great and free, but in very truth what can one say of
a work of sculpture such as this, done at least sixty
years ago .'' " '
Little enough could then be said ; but what can
be said now.'' In the deserted courts, along the garden
front, on the wings, the countless statues, worn down by
weather, have lost all form and shape. Girardon's
" Hercules Victorious " is in no better stead than
Regnauldin's '* Peace : " whilst the condition of those in
less protected situations — the nymphs, the fauns, the
satyrs and hamadryads of the gardens — justifies the
reproach of a recent writer : "The statues in the North
Garden and in the grove of the Baths of Apollo, look,
' See M. I., vol. i. Life of Regnauldin.
1 66 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
for all the worlds like scarecrows meant to frighten the
birds, if, indeed, they don't terrify any belated loiterer
at set of sun." ^ This is the more to be regretted
because, wherever the work has been under cover, we
find plain evidence of that style and character which
still make the French School of Sculpture the chief in
Europe. For awhile, the sculptors of France, under the
dominant rule of Le Brun, had to accept the post of
assistants in the common work of decoration — archi-
tecture herself had to be content with the mere makings
of the framework — but it cannot be denied that the
French sculptors did all they had to do with unrivalled
intelligence and skill.
Even in dealing with the pictorial motives which
Le Brun and the taste of his age had imposed, the
school continued to preserve its great traditions of
scholarly treatment, and the succeeding century saw the
perfection of Houdon's busts - — the Mercury and the
Diana of Pigalle — exquisite examples of the measure,
tact, and elegance which are proper to all French sculp-
ture. One influence, and one influence alone, had
seemed capable, during the " Grand Siecle," of adding
something to these qualities and of invigorating their
formality by that energy and vigour which can atone
even for faults of taste. That influence was carefully
kept at a distance. The virility and audacity of the great
Provencal master, Pierre Puget, could find no place in the
hierarchical organisation of the arts imposed by Colbert
and Le Brun ; yet, after his death, in more than one direc-
tion traces of his influence have been recognised in the
renewal of energy amongst the members of that Academy
which, during his life, he was not found worthy to enter.
' Figaro, i8th Aug., iSS6.
^ A scholar of Girardon's pupil, Sebastian Slodtz.
CHAPTER VIII.
ENGRAVING.
At first sight it would seem that when the guilds began
to giv^e way under the pressure of the new social order,
engravers were in much the same position as other
artists. They lived, it is true, under the heels of the
printers, and were tyrannised over by them just as
painters and sculptors were tyrannised over by the
guild of the peiiiti'es-ymagiers ; but, like them, they too
could obtain a certain amount of liberty by means of
the brevets du roi. Unfortunately, this brevet could not re-
move the social disabilities by which they were further
handicapped; they might run away from the printers, but
then the painters and sculptors declined to receive them,
and when the doors of the Academy were at last opened
to their knock, they found themselves put in the corner,
strictly forbidden to paint, and regarded generally as an
inferior class. " Excellens graveurs,^' says Art. 15 of
the statutes of 1664, " pourront estre resceus Academiste
sans neanmoins qu'il leur soit permis d'entreprendre
aucun ouvrage de peintres,"i but a strict censorship of
all engravings published by members was maintained
by their brother Academicians. 2
Throughout the great movement of the sixteenth cen-
^ P. v., vol. i. p. 25S. = Ibid.
1 68 ART IX THE MODERN STATE.
tury, engravincj had, indeed, played a very secondary part,
and although men such as Rabel and De Leu showed
ability in the reproduction of portraits, whilst Cousin,
Delaulne, and Duvet engraved important series of their
own designs, by far the larger number were engaged
in work which had not even the semblance of in-
dependence. In the seventeenth century a new era
began, and before its close two groups of engravers
were formed as distinct in the character of their work as
they were in the choice of tools. On the one hand
were the engravers proper_, who continued to devote
themselves to the old task of reproduction, whilst, on
the other, there arose the vast army of etchers, who
for the most part transcribed their own impressions,
and whose ranks were swelled by painters innumerable,
attracted, like Claude, by the adventurous charms of
the newer method. Of course lines of division such as
these must not be drawn absolutely, for occasionally
etchers used the burin, or placed their skill at the service
of others, whilst engravers, in their turn, handled the
needle, or, like Audran, that unrivalled master of
technique, mingled its varied lines with the more regular
curve of their orthodox tools.
In the first of these two groups, amongst the en-
gravers proper, Pierre Daret, Claude Mellan," and Michel
Lasne stood conspicuous : they were, during the first
half of the " Grand Siecle," no unworthy successors to the
men of the school of Fontainebleau, and although they
may be roughly classed with Jacques Perrier and other
engravers of the reign of Louis XIII. as satellites of
Simon Vouet, yet they were not wanting in individuality;
each had his own special method of work, his own
manner of seeing and feeling. Nothing, indeed, more
clearly distinguishes French engravers of this date from
' Eom at Abbeville in 1598 ("Arch, de I'Art Fr\," 1S52, p. 262).
ENGRAVING. 169
those of other nations than the intelh'gence and origi-
nahty which they displayed in the interpretation of
the masters whose works they reproduced. Even
if we group them, as, indeed, \l. Duplessis has done in
his " History of Engraving in France," under the names
of the masters whose designs they were chiefly engaged
in rendering; even if we class them as the engravers of
Vouet, of Poussin, of Mignard, or of Le Brun, we are
still forced to admit the personality of each one of those
who practised what it has pleased some foolish persons
to stigmatise as a purely mechanical art. It is, how-
ever, true that in no other fine art can so high a degree
of manual skill be attained without any corresponding
artistic insight or accomplishment ; so that men may be
cited, such as Masson or Claude Mellan, adroit even to
trickery, yet destitute to a great extent of all those quali-
ties which constitute artistic value. It is none the less
certain that the best engraver will be always he who
is the best draughtsman, and it was in virtue of their
eminence in this respect, even more than by the right of
their intelligent and skilful technique, that Pesne, and
Audran, and (to her honour be it remembered) Claudine
Stella, achieved their unsurpassed reputation, and con-
ferred an unrivalled lustre on the school to which they
belonged.
Whilst, however, Daret, and Mellan, and Lasne
handed on the torch of tradition to those in whose
hands it was destined to shine with undying brilliance,
it was reserved for Jacques Callot to give a new
development to his art. Although he made no scholars,
properly so called, his influence can be traced, telling
with extraordinary force on many of the most able
masters of later days ; and the wonderful impetus
which the use of the etching needle obtained, either
alone or in combination with the burin, was directly
I70 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
due to Callot's initiative. Abraham Bosse, Nicolas
Cochin, and that whole school, in short, whose exquisite
skill has rendered for ever famous the illustration of
French books, must be reckoned as Callot's followers,
and so, too, should Etienne de la Belle, who had pro-
bably studied the master's work at Florence, and also
Sebastian Leclerc, who, born after Callot's death, had
never come within the sphere of his personal influence.
De la Belle had, indeed, studied Callot to such
purpose that, for delicacy of execution, he has been
held to have surpassed his model; it is, however, a mere
exaggeration to put him above Callot. If isolated
passages of his work may be compared with that of his
predecessor, yet even when he treads most closely on the
heels of the master, as, for example^ in his sketch of the
Pont Neufji should you examine in detail the groups by
which it is peopled, you will find the drawing less ex-
pressive — for example, less character of form in the
horses and the movement everywhere less forcibly alive.
Were he not, even in these points, superior to his follower,
Callot's grasp and width of interest would put him into
a far higher rank than any that could be assigned to
De la Belle. There is no phase of human life which he
has left untouched : the vices and sorrows of men, their
peaceful joys, their basest crimes, their most sacred
aspirations, their utmost stretch of cruelty and lust are
alike familiar to his eyes ; and it is on account of this
extraordinary range of thought and feeling that we
should put him in a different category from those by
whom in technical skill he may have been surpassed.
Take the " Fiera dell' Impruneta,"- one of the
masterpieces of Callot's needle, and quite as remark-
able for the delicacy and vivacity of the workmanship
' Print Room, British Museum. ^ Meaumc, 624, etc.
ENGRAVING. 171
as for the immense variety of tlie types rendered :
the terrible beggars who display their sores, the in-
evitable Turk gazing at the waterworks, the mounted
cavalier, the peasant woman who watches the horse-
race, perched between the panniers of her mule — all
ages, all conditions, all occupations, alert, bewildered,
amused or weary, idle dames or busy men, the rich and
his neighbour Lazarus ; all arc characterised by the
same feather-stroke of graceful wit and genius. Or,
take again the equally astonishing variety of incident
and t}'pe in '^ The Siege of Breda. ^^ ^ Look at the
outskirts of the camp, where the despairing and
maddened peasant sees his flocks driven off before
his e}'es ; his hopeless protest met b\- savage blows,
whilst his ears are filled with the prayers of his wife and
the shrieks of his children ; pass within the lines where
dogs devour the fallen horses, and carrion crows flit
round the deadly company of the gallows ; beyond are
the troops exercising, and besieging parties marching
past the walls of the beleaguered town, and everywhere
the beggar and the starving cur, now skulking b\' the
coach of Her Serene Highness Isabella, or flying from
the cottage whose walls reek with lust and blood.
Yet Callot, who reached a terrible intensity of ex-
pression in rendering such things, as for instance the
awful face of the monk preaching to the wretch about
to be hung in '' Miseres et Malheurs de la Guerre, "2
or in delineating the crowd of the Crucifixion, ^ so
that we even seem to hear the yell of the dissipated
youth rejoicing with the jeering mob, touches \\\\\\
' Meaume, 510. Tlic original ('rawing for the "Siege of Rochelle,''
which recorded the position of Riclielieu between the king and his brother,
changed hands at the sale of Andre Charles Boulle's effects. See Mariette,
" Abecedario," vol. i. p. 2S3.
= Paris, 1633. 3 Meaume, 23.
172 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
the tenderest affection commonplace episodes of peace-
ful domestic life. Two women spinning, with their
companion pussy lurking at their side,i are a sufficient
indication for Callot to call before us a vision lovely
with the joys of hearth and home, or, as in the "Vices, "2
he will show exquisite sense of decorative purpose, and
chisel every figure like a jewel till it gleams as if it
were some enamelled bit of goldsmith's work full of
colour and sharply cut ; or, again, the wand of his
"Caprice ^'3 creates for us an endless swarm of beings
full of dance and fun.
It was this broad sweep of Callot's mind, his origi-
nality, his virility and vitality, which lifted him out of the
ordinary category of engravers and gave the place
apart which it would be idle to justify on purely tech-
nical grounds, for whether he had used this tool or that,
whether he had or had not inaugurated that method the
invention of which Sandrarf liberally attributes to
Jacques Bellange, Callot would have been none the less
Callot, he would have been just as great. "When
young," says M. Duplessis, '^ Callot studied with zeal
and sought his path ; as he grew older he created for
himself his own manner and became a master."^ All his
life he was a student ; the leaves of his sketch-book in
the Albertina^ show how ardent an observer he was, not
only of nature, but of the different methods by which
masters of old had interpreted nature; no less than
eight pages are filled by studies from the Danse
Macabre, of which he seems at one time to have in-
tended to produce an independent version.^ But not
^ Meaume, 671. = Ibid. 157-163. 3 Jbid. 76S-S67.
'' " Hist, de la Gravure," p. 174.
5 " Livre d'esquisses de Jacques Callot, public par ]\Icritz Thausing."
'' Sec Drawings in the Uffizi, published 1S75, by Pini.
ENGRAVIXG. 173
alone Holbein ; Lucas van Leyde, Lionardo, and
Diirer, all in turn seem to have occupied Callot's mind.
Nor was Callot only a strong and independent
artist, he was a strong and independent man. His
early experiences in the household of the Grand Duke^
of Tuscany had failed to make a courtier of him ; in
vain Louis XHI., after his triumphal entry into the
capital of Lorraine, invited him to depict the Siege of
Nanc}'. " Sire," he replied, " je suis Lorrain, et je crois ne
devoir rien faire contre I'honneur de mon prince et dc
mon pays."- Yet neither Callot's high character, nor
his honours, nor the immense celebrity which his art
attained, could affect the low esteem in which members
of the profession generally were held, although it is
possible that his distinction and success stimulated
their efforts to improve it.
One of his immediate followers was Abraham Bosse,
of Tours, a talented but mistaken engraver,^ who
deliberately made it a point of honour to use the
etching needle as if it were an engraver's burin. He
was proud and sensitive in character, and, knowing
himself to be a man of high accomplishment in man}-
ways, was little likely to brook any neglect or to put
up with slights, whether personal or professional. On
the foundation of the Royal Academy he instantl\-
seized the opportunity to put himself in connection with
the members, and dedicated to them his book, " Senti-
ments sur la Distinction," two copies of which he
presented to the library .4 The new society was not in
' His name appears on list of Household in 1620. See documents
preserved in the Florence Archives and printed in Appendix IX.
= Felibien, cd. Mariette, vol. ii. p. 171.
3 SeeDuplessis, "Catalogue dero2uvredc Abraham Bossc." Paris, 1S59.
•• P. v., vol. i. p. 23. His " Traite dcs manieres de graver en taille-
douce " appeared in 1645.
174 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
a situation to repudiate help, and they gladly accepted
his adhesion and availed themselves of his services as
a lecturer. For two long years Bosse steadily gave
two sets of lectures on perspective to the students
gratuitously, and at last, as a reward for his services, he
was grudgingly made an honorary Academician. Even
this scanty recognition of his zeal and labours was
rendered ineffectual, for he was assured that he must
not look on this honour as conferred upon him in his
capacity of engraver, " lest it should be regarded as a
precedent by others.^^ He v/as, moreover, desired to
note that even as he was not made chargeable for
expenses, so neither were any of the "^privileges'" of
the Academy communicated to him.'
Naturally Bosse felt aggrieved, but he smothered his
resentment and continued to devote much time to his
labour of love. In 1665, after seven years of weekly
teaching, he added a weekly lecture on geometry to his
course on perspective, and these lectures were so
successful, that in the pride of his heart Bosse prepared
them for publication and offered to bring them out, with
the sanction of the Academy, as the approved result of
their deliberations. At this point, however, difficulties
arose.
The Academicians seem to have been unwilling to
take any responsibility in connection with the publica-
tion, but, anxious not to lose his services as a lecturer,
they tried to soften their refusal by proposing to pro-
mote Bosse to the post of Councillor, an office which
would have admitted him to the privileges of the
thirty chief Academicians, and by offering to accept a
dedication.2 This, however, could not satisfy Bosse.
He felt that his position was ill-defined, and therefore
' P. v., vol. i. p. 58. "- Ibid. p. 103.
ENGRAVING. 175
challenged the terms of his letters of associatioiij de-
manding also a distinct understanding as to what
authority his book was to have. On this, it was decided^
"apres divers reprises et deliberations," that he should
print in his own name, a decision which deeply wounded
his vanity. His irritation smouldered again until
one Le Bicheur, also an Academician, brought out a
treatise on perspective, by which Bosse conceived his
rights of authorship to have been seriously injured. ^
Round this nucleus a disturbance gathered which
soon assumed vast proportions. The company were
slow to redress the grievances under which Bosse be-
lieved himself to suffer ; he became more and more
violent in complaint^ and retaliated by making use, in
a small essay on the proportions of the human figure,
of diagrams which Charles Errard claimed as his pro-
perty. 2 Parties were now formed, and the quarrel grew
to such a head that the Academy were forced to appeal
to their Director, seeing that '^a I'occasion dudit Sieur
Bosse, il est arive combustion entre plusieurs personne
dc la Compagnie,'' but the arrival of the Director made
things no better^ for at the first mention of the matter
Bosse burst out into a torrent of abuse, gave the lie to
his accusers, refused with scandalous oaths to give up
his original letters of association, and left the assembly
breathing fire and fury. Then came vain attempts to
heal the breach, but Bosse continued to send insulting
letters and to circulate a statement to which he obtained
many signatures ; finally, after a conflict in which heated
partisans actually came to blows, he brought about his
own ignominious expulsion, Alay, 1661, from the body
which he had served zealously for many years, and which
had at no time rewarded his services with generosity.
' P. v., vol. i. p. 169. ^ Ibid. p. 171.
176 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
The pages of the reports of these proceedings are
full of indications of the sort of be-littleing which drove
the irascible engraver wild. When the others had
nothing more unpleasant to say they always began to
impertinently question his " calite," ^ until he waxed hot
and left the sitting in bitterness : no wonder that when
at last they made up their minds to admit him amongst
the thirty, and at the same time required him to return
his old letters of association,^ he became suspicious and
refused to deliver them, doubtless believing in some
plot by which his position, instead of being bettered,
would be further cheapened.
Curiously enough, at the very moment when Bosse
forfeited his connection with the Academy, not only
was that body rapidly rising in importance, but the
profession to which he belonged had gained enormously
in public opinion through the edict in favour of engraving
obtained by Nanteuil from Louis XIV. at St. Jean de
Luz. Nanteuil, after various essays, had developed the
manner in which he executed the magnificent series of
life-size portraits which were his great title to favour -.^
that of M. de Bellievre engraved after Le Brun (1657),
his engravings of his own portraits of the Bishop of
St. Brieuc, of Lotin de Charny, of Loret the gazetteer,
of Lomenie de Brienne, of the President de Maisons,
and many other celebrities, had brought him into close
relations with the Court ; and this near association with
all the most distinguished in the world of Paris
probably heightened the irritation which Nanteuil, in
common with the rest of his profession, felt at the
' P. v., vol. i. p. 169. = Ibid. p. 172.
"■ Duplessis' "Hist, de la Gravure en France;" R. Dumesnil, " Le
reintre-Graveur Francais;" and De Laboide, " Le Palais Mazarin,"
note 62.
ENGRA VING. 177
annoyances to which they were subjected in other
directions.! Shortly after his arrival in Paris, he had
witnessed the difficulty experienced by the Academy in
protecting its members from the audacious attempt
made by Francois Mansard, the great architect, to
arrogate to himself, by royal privilege, the control and
censure of all the engravers of Paris, i In 1659, ^i^
had obtained a royal pension, having been nominated
engraver in ordinarj^ to the Crown,^ and whilst Abraham
Bosse was unwisely fighting his battles with the Aca-
demy, Nanteuil skilfully used his opportunities of
approach to Colbert and the king, until in answer to
his solicitations the celebrated edict appeared which
affirmed the "excellence and advantages of the en-
graver's art, distinguished it from the mechanical arts,
and delivered it from the hindrances and restrictions
to which it had been subjected,^^ conferring on it in
official terms "that distinction and freedom due to all
the liberal arts.'^
Shortly after this important step had been taken,
Fouquet, Colbert, and the king himself all gave sittings
to Nanteuil, and amongst his chief masterpieces, most of
which were, as Sandrart says, "effigies viventium mole
efformatae," must be reckoned repeated portraits of
Colbert and his master. Nanteuil, indeed, cared above all
things to have distinguished sitters, not necessarily men
of rank, but men who were either famous or deserved to
be so. After a time, when he had attained such a
height of fashion and favour that he was practically
able to choose his own sitters, Nanteuil did not hesitate
jcven to solicit the interference of the king in order to
gain his ends, if celebrities proved refractory. When
' " Hist, de TAcad,," Montaiglon, vol. i. p. 81.
"- " Arch, de I'Art Fr^," 1855, p. 267.
N
178 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
praises of the spirited defence of Maestricht by the
"brave de Calvo/' in 1676, were on every tongue, we
are not surprised to find Madame de Sevigne relating in
her letters that Nanteuil presented himself at the royal
dinner and requested the king to " order " M. de Calvo
to sit to him. The features of the eccentric daughter
of the great Gustavus — Oueen Christina of Sweden —
naturally aroused the interest which he evidently felt in
every kind of unusual character ; but, as a rule, women
rarely engaged his attention, though his heads of Anne
of Austria, of the Duchesse de Nemours, of the Queen
of Poland, and of Marie de Bragelonne show that this
was from no want of power on his part to render their
softer lines. Even as it stands, cut short in 1678 by his
early death, the work which Nanteuil completed —
aided, perhaps, by his skilful subordinates Pitau,
Regnesson, Simon, and Corneille Vermeulen^ — is a
magnificent record. Richelieu, Mazarin, De Retz ; the
Dukes de Beaufort, de Longueville, and de Bouillon ;
the great Conde, Turenne, Bossuet, Le Tellier,
Perefixe, Fouquet, and Colbert ; Loret, Menage, and
Voiture ; statesmen, soldiers, priests, men of letters, and
men of fashion ; to know them we have only to turn to-
that great gallery which, in the summer of his days,
" Nanteuil ad vivum faciebat.^^
Nanteuil's action in obtaining the edict of St. Jean-
de Luz bore immediate fruit. The intemperate
Bosse had stormed and raged in vain, his scientific
acquirements and his very real claims to recognition
had been held of no account, but Nanteuil, " qui menait
la douce vie^' and loved life and letters better than
either geometry or perspective, had no sooner triumphed
at Court than the doors of the Academy were opened
' R. Dumcsnil, " Le Peintre-Gravcur Francais," vol. iv. p. 39.
ENGRA VING. 179
to his brothers. Hurct, Van Schuppen, Daret. and
Chateau, were received in 1663 ; Vallet and Picart
entered the following year ; next came the turn of
Herrard and Silvestre/ the latter of whom was a
protege of Le Brun ; Sebastian Leclerc^ was admitted
in 1672, and in 1674 came the great Gerard
Audran,3 together with Etienne Baudet of turbulent
memory.4 Lepautre was received in 1677,^ which year
saw also the tardy admission of Edelinck, Nanteuil's
nephew by marriage, who had arrived in Paris from
Flanders as early as 1666.6
At his coming Edelinck had applied for a place on
the list of those to be sent to the Academy of France at
Rome ; but Le Brun had warned the ever-watchful
Colbert how remarkable was the promise shown by the
lad as an engraver. He represented that if Edelinck
were sent to Rome — which was the centre of a vast
commerce in prints — he would certainly be kept there,
whereupon the boy's nomination was revoked ; he was
commissioned to engrave the Holy Family of Raphael,
and Colbert himself did not disdain to negotiate a
marriage for him with the daughter of Nicolas Regnesson,
the wealthy engraver, whose sister had married Nanteuil.
Edelinck found himself doubly happy in the connections
' See "Recherches sur quelques artistes Lorrains," parM. E. Meaume;
also, *' Renseignements sur quelques Peintres et Graveurs du XVII. et
XVIII. Siecles." Paris, 1S69.
- See Sebastian Leclerc, Meaume, Paris, 1SS7.
■* See for this family, " Les Audran, Peintres et Graveurs,"' Edmond
Michel. •* See chap. v. p. 114.
s A man of extraordinarily flexible genius, besides his innumerable de-
corative designs, "propria invcntione in folio ederet historias biblicas et
profanas alias quia et fabulosas exOvidio." — Sandrart. Secal^o Daplessis,
" Hist, de la Gravure en France," p. 279.
^ See Mariette, " Abecedario," vol. ii. p. 217. Edelinck's porlrait of
Graef is dated 1666.
N 2
i8o ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
which this marriage brought him ; he was as fond of
a pleasant hfe as Nanteuil himself, and became famous
for the magnificent way in which he received his friends
and men of mark in Paris ; but this magnificence, whilst
it no doubt contributed to modify the feeling generally
entertained as to the social inferiority of engravers, pre-
vented him from amassing that wealth which his high
prices, his prosperous business, and the fortune he
received with his wife, would have led us to expect, ^ for
his various sources of income did no more than cover
the expenses of his household.
All these great engravers seem to have been
curiously ostentatious, as if the novelty of their credit
and honours had been too much for their good sense,
Gerard Audran, indeed, who was a family connection of
Poussin's brother-in-law, Caspar Dughet, and who
married Mdlle. Lichery,^ seems to have lived, in spite of
his great situation, as simply as his brother Claude, con-
tented always with much the same sort of honourable
professional consideration. But of Michel Lasne
Marietta says "^qu'il aimait excessivement le plaisir ; "
to which Florent le Comte adds " il aimait la douce vie
et faisait son capital de la joie.''^ In fact, his capital was
so completely invested in this security that M. de
Montaiglon recently discovered that Lasne's death was
the signal for the descent of swarms of creditors on his
house in the galleries of the Louvre. ^ As for Nanteuil,
we know that he spent in pleasure the greater part of
the wealth which he so readily amassed ; the remainder
of his fortune went to Edelinck,^ whose lavish expendi-
ture was also to some extent justified by the rank of the
' M. I., vol. ii. p. 56. ' M. I., vol. ii. pp. 12 and 64.
3 "Arch, de I'Art JV.," 1862, p. 219.
'» Mariette, " Abecedario," Nouv. Arch., 1S83, p. 26 ei seg.
ENGRAVING. iSi
visitors whom his high character and the credit which
he enjoyed at Court attracted to him. Foreign am-
bassadors, and even princes of the blood, did not disdain
to seek him out in his lodgings at the Gobelins. There,
in 1699, he completed the plate from Philippe de
Champagne's " Moses/' which Nanteuil had left un-
finished at his death, twenty-one 3.'ears before; and
there Philippe d'Orleans, afterwards Regent, publicly
glorified him by declaring that, with his tools in his
hands, Edelinck Avas better worth seeing than all his
pictures and statues. ^
The creation of the ^' Cabinet d'Estampes," - in 1670,
gave further importance to the profession. The edict
of St. Jean de Luz had broadly defined the legal position,
and the organisation of this collection, which became a
complement of the splendid series of works which
formed the " Cabinet du Roi," effected a corresponding
change in the professional situation. Le Brun had
naturally conceived a strong desire to see his compo-
sitions reproduced by skilled hands ; he had entrusted
his portraits to Nanteuil ; he had interfered to prevent
Edelinck from leaving Paris ; he had suggested his
employment, and that of his fellows, on the engraving
of pictures in the king's possession. The next step was
to secure the preservation of all plates executed at the
royal cost. J As far back as 1667 Colbert had secured
for the king the marvellous collections of the famous
Abbe Michel de Marollcs, in which he had brought
tocrether the works of no fewer than six thousand
masters ; and out of this purchase, which was at first
' M. I., vol. ii. p. 55.
= Sec Duplessis, " Le Cabinet du Roi, Collection d'Estampes commandee
par Louis XIV. ;" also De Laborde, " Le Departement des Estampes."
•■' Duplessis, •' Ilist. de la Gvavure en France," p. 2S2. De Laborde,
ibid. p. 15.
iS2 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
regarded only as an addition to the Royal Library,^
grew that great department which has served as a
model to all other countries. It was easy for Le Brun
to induce Colbert to add to this vast gathering in of the
past by contemporary work, and in a few years the
original collection was increased by that series of over
a tho:;sand plates which, guarded in the Louvre at
La ChalcograpJiie, remains to all time one of the chief
records of" French art.
Each class is here represented — the men who worked
in little, the men who worked in big — the irascible
Abraham Bosse, in whose work we find our most
accurate source of information as to the manners and
customs of half the century ; Sebastian Leclerc, who
faithfully represented the traditions of Callot ; Israel
Silvestre, to whose picturesque needle we owe many
graceful records of the royal palaces and great houses
of France; then, in full contrast to the needle-point of
Jean Morin, come the life-size portraits of Nanteuil ; the
magnificent series in which Gerard Audran reproduced
the grandiose compositions of Le Brun ; Edelinck's
brilliant print of the famous Crucifix aiix A]iges ; and the
faithful translations from Poussin which have rendered
the names of those fine draughtsmen, Pesne and
Claudine Stella, ever memorable.^
All this was carried out at the expense of the nation.
In one year alone (1671) no fewer than eight men of mark
were entered on the royal accounts as " graveurs de
planches.'^ Gerard Audran was reproducing Le Brun's
series of the Battles of Alexander, interchanging the
engraving burin and the etching needle, with a skill
' Marolles was keeper. See C. des B'\, 166S-9. Dc Laborde lit sup.,
p. 12.
' C. des B^, 166S-69-71.
ENGRAVING. 183
which perhaps has never been equalled ; Edelinckj also,
was employing his pure engraving method in the same
service ; Rousselet (whose art dated from the days of
Louis XI 1 1.), I Chateau, and Picart were busy with
paintings by Guido, Domenichino, and the Caracci ;
Claude Mellan, whose foolish pride it was to engrave
subjects of great size — like his famous head of Christ —
by a single line, had been told off to reproduce the
ancient sculptures at the Tuileries, a style of work with
which he was especially familiar, for Sandrart relates
how, during their years of study in Rome, ]\Iellan
engraved many classical statues " mea manu prius
delineatas." At the Tuileries, also, Israel Silvestre was
sketching the garden front ; many others, with Berain
at their head, were at work recording the ornamental
designs which formed a principal feature of the palace
decorations ; others, like Abraham Bosse, Patigny,
Tournier, and Vanderban, were preparing illustrations
for works which owed their publication to royal liberality,
such as Perrault's magnificent Vitruvius, the first edition
of which appeared in 167S.-
Many of these men received yearly salaries from the
Crown, and their names w^ere entered on the books of
the Royal Household. We know that Nanteuil had en-
joyed not only Court favour, but a Court pension as
graveur ordinaire dn roi as early as 1659.3 Claude
Mellan, who was lodged in the Louvre, and Soube}Tan
both held similar posts, in which they were succeeded
at their death by Sebastian Leclercand Etienne Baudet.^
In 1667, Rousselet, Leclcrc, and Gerard Audran all had
' There are many drawings by Rousselet in the Albertina of a purely
academical character.
"- C. des B'\, 166S-73. 3 Arch, de I'Art Fr-., 1S55, p. 267.
•» O.'* 1053, "Arch. Nat." O.' 10S3, ibid.
1 84 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
apartments in the Gobelins/ where Leclerc married the
dyer Van Kerchove^s daughter,^ the year after his re-
ception at the Academy (1672). All three were in
receipt of pensions, and they had probably been lodged
there at a much earlier date, for we find their names on
the royal accounts, under the heading gjmveiirs de
planches, as far back as 1668-9, Edelinck, too, had
joined them there without doubt in 1672, when he
began to engrave the plates of the Histoire d' Alexandre
on which both he and Audran worked under the eye of
Le Brun, and Edelinck's credit as a draughtsman must
in popular estimation have rivalled that of Audran, who,
on the whole, is much the greater artist, for after the
retirement of Louis Lichery from the post, Edelinck was
appointed director and professor of the Academy school,
and received the full salary of fifty crowns from the king.
Yet although, from the moment that engraving
received full official recognition, the art steadily in-
creased in importance, and the position of engravers
themselves was improved, the highest offices in the
Academy were still denied to them. They were
admitted as Associates, but not even the extraordinary
enthusiasm excited by Gerard Audran's masterly inter-
pretation of Poussin's great composition " Tim.e and
Truth ^' — a work in which he showed himself as fine
a draughtsman as he was an engraver — could induce
the jealous Academicians to bestow on him any higher
rank than that of " conseiller," a distinction which they
had been quite willing to pay even to Abraham Bosse.
In spite of the immense popularity of their art, in
spite of the honours which the leading men enjoyed in
spite of intermarriages such as that of Gerard Audran
' Marolles, " Livre des Peintres," p. 92.
- Ibid. p. 92. Nouv. Arch., 1S72, p. 31S.
ENGRAVING. 185
with Louis Lichery's sister, engravers, curiously enough,
continued to be regarded by their brother artists as
constituting a lower grade and class apart. Disputes
within the walls of the Academy perpetually turned on
their assumed inferiority to painters or sculptors. Van
der IMeulen was a very unpopular man with his fellow
workers_, but he had no sooner to open his mouth
against engravers than he had all the world on his
side. In 1686, the whole assembly unanimously
acknowledged that he had grave cause of complaint,
seeing that, in the list of councillors, painters, sculptors,
and engravers were '^confusement mesles,'^ and satis-
faction on this head was at once given to him by a
resolution which enacted that for the future the names
of engravers should all be put together at the bottom.'
A slight such as this naturally encouraged the old
enemies of engravers, the printers, who every now and
again seized an opportunity for annoyance. They saw
in the bad dispositions of the Academy an encourage-
ment to persecution, and shortly became so daring that
Gerard Audran, at the climax of his honours, and in the
very year of his death, had to be protected, together with
Picart le Romain ~ and Giffart, against the interference
of the printers' community with the "ouvrages de leurs
mains." -^ Nor was this lesson sufficient ; they had come
so near success and had given so much trouble that a
few years later they made a dead set against what they
looked on as amateur competition. It was then the
turn of the painters and sculptors to defend themselves,
and another royal decree was registered by the Conseil
d'etat to enable all members of the Academy to engrave
and publish their own works.''-
' P. v., vol. ii. p. 330.
- A Calvinist who hnd had to leave for Amsterdam. Piganiol, vol. ii.
p. 347. ^ O." 1056. ■* O." 1056.
1 86 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
This, be it remembered, was an extension of the
liberty already secured to engravers by profession, so as
to include that great body oi peintres-graveitrs of which
■Claude had been the most distinguished forerunner,
and which soon counted in its ranks almost the whole
profession. Vouet and Le Brun himself had not
disdained the needle ; and their example had been
followed by the whole Academy, and, in some instances,
notably by Francisque Millet, Jacques Rousseau, and
Claude Lefebvre, with a success so brilliant that, should
all their other work have perished, the plates which they
engraved would suffice to preserve their memory.
Yet, day by day, these men showed an invincible
contempt for the professors of the art they themselves
did not disdain to practise, and it is difficult to see
exactly what lay at the root of this persistent disregard
of a profession many members of which were held in
exceptional honour. One thing is certain, and that is
the extreme distaste for any approach to commercial
methods which prevailed in the Academy after its
members took to playing the part of courtiers and men
of the world, and it seems possible that the explanation
of some of their hostility to engravers lies in the
fact that long after painters had closed their shutters
and retired into the comparative seclusion of their
studios, engravers continued to keep shops.
Now, the feeling against keeping shops was very
strong amongst the members of the Academy ; so much
so that acts which we should now consider perfectly
justifiable, were viewed with extreme disfavour. On
one occasion the Academy even went so far as to
strike off the list of Academicians one of their number,
Michel Scrre, the painter of the king's galleys, ^ for the
' "Arch, de I'Art Fr^," 1S52, pp. 333 and 376.
ENGRAVING. 187
simple reason that he had permitted his picture of
the Plague at JMarseilles to be exhibited for money to
the public. Whilst this feeling was very strong in the
Academy, the engravers, on the other hand, were
naturall)- loth to forego the substantial advantages
which they derived from the direct sale of their works,
since they found in the combination of the trade of
print-selling with the art of engraving their most
lucrative source of income. At any rate, it was not
subject to the chances which often rendered work
executed by agreement an intolerable annoyance or
even a serious loss, as in the case of the ever unfortu-
nate Abraham Bosse, who was nearly ruined over the
plates which he engraved for Guy de la Brosse, the
founder of the Botanical Garden.' However anxious,
therefore, the engravers were to obtain that general
social consideration which as artists they felt to be
their due, they of course declined to relinquish the
substance for the shadow.
The situation changed very gradually, but changed
rather through the desire of painters to be associated in
the profits derived from the sale of plates which repro-
duced their most popular works, than from any alteration
on the side of the engravers ; and we learn from the
inimitable paper in which Greuze recorded with un-
paralleled unreserve his complaints against his wife,
how tempting must have been the revenue which the
commerce d'cstampes, skilfully conducted, could bring in.
If, however, the battle which had been so hardly fought
by Nanteuil and his colleagues was nearly won in France,
it was not so in other countries and notably in England,
where a very strong prejudice persistently attached to
the engraver's art,
' " Aich. dc I'Art tV.," 1S52, p. 2S0.
1 88 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Early in the present century John Landseer, in his
discourses at the Royal Institution, renewed the strife,
placing engraving as of equal rank with either painting
or sculpture, and when the Academy (iSo5) offered him
the degree of Associate, his indignant protests, and the
passion w'ith which he demanded an equal place for
engravers in the constitution of the society, recall the
frantic struggles of the angry Abraham Bosse. In vain
he protested, in vain he appealed to the House of
Commons for the redress of his grievance. The House
of Commons was of one mind with the Academy, and
the strictest demarcation was maintained. Although in
Paris an engraver might be a member of the Institute,
in London up to 1876 he took a place apart, as Van
der Meulen would have rejoiced to see, on the bottom
line of every printed list.
CHAPTER IX.
THE GOBELINS — THE SAVONNERIE,
*' II n'est pas etonnant," says Voltaire, " que la peinture,
la sculpture, la poesie, I'eloquence, la philosophie fussent
presque inconnues a une nation qui, ayant des ports
sur I'ocean et la Mediterranee, n'avait pourtant point
de flotte, et qui, aimant le luxe a I'exces, avait a peine
quelques manufactures grossieres." Exaggerated as it
is in some respects, this picture of France in the early
days of Louis XIV. does not go far wrong in respect
of French industry. Most of the manufactures which
had been the pride of Henri IV. failed to survive their
creator. In i6iO the silk, the glass, the soap factories,
which he had established were closed ; the high-warp
looms of Laurent and Dubourg, which in 1603 he had
transferred to the Louvre from the Faubourg St.
Antoine, were as inactive as the carpet factory which,
under Pierre Dupont,i he had also installed there ; niany
workmen were dismissed, and even the Gobelins were
shut. Fifty years later Colbert re-inaugurated the
policy which had been cut short by the knife of Ravaillac,
and succeeded not only in completely reviving those
industries which Henri IV. had been unable to establish,
' Author of " La Stromatourgie," reprinted by Darcel. Paris, 18S2.
190 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
but also in setting up others which became rooted on
their new soil.
Gradually a new division, under the heading " Manu-
factures de France," occupies more and more space in the
royal accounts : the first separate division occurs in 1668,-
but for many years previous the entries respecting these
manufactures had been growing in importance and fre-
quency. Colbert, too, had been actively endeavouring
to foster by legislation the general development of
French industry. Whenever it was possible, he based
his action on the existing guilds,^ and wherever he found
a falling off in the excellence of any manufacture, he
instantly conferred on the corporation connected with
it tremendous powers of exacting fines and penalties
for the slightest deviation from a fixed standard of
perfection.- These enlarged powers were not, however^
an unmixed benefit, and the governing bodies of the
guilds AA'ould often gladly have eluded a responsibility
as odious as it was weighty. Stringent and vexatious
as he was in his dealings with industries already estab-
lished, Colbert counted no privileges too great when
he had to reward those who seconded his efforts to im-
plant new ones. The accounts are full of rewards, in-
demnities, and subventions which all have the same end
in view. Just as the " Compagnie des Indes" received
bounties for taking French cattle rather than "boeufs
d'Irlande" in their bottoms to the "Isles francaises,"
even so glass-workers from Venice were paid to establish
their factories at Paris, ^ and the tapestries of Beauvais ; ^
' I have explained in chap. iv. p. 87, why Colbert preferred the R. A. to
the existing guild.
-' See edict of 1666 respecting " Sarsche d'Aumale," also that of 1669.
The influence of that of 1673 cannot be exaggerated as regards French
industry. ^ O.' 1054, and C. des B'^, 1665. Edicts of 1683, 16SS, 1693.
•* The manufactory at Aubusson was a private enterprise. See " La
Tapisserie d'Aubusson," par Leopold Gravier, Paris, 1S86.
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVONNERIE. 191
the point laces of Auxerrc and Rheiins, the EngHsh
serges of Troyes, and the fine cloths of Abbeville are
but a ^ew of the new industries started by Colbert at a
heavy cost to the yearly budget.
In vigorous pursuance of these schemes, the organi-
sation of the great establishment, called the " Manu-
factures des Meubles de la Couronnc/' was pushed
forward at the Gobelins, nor were the other centres
forgotten which had been dependent of old on the
administration. Amongst these, one of the most im-
portant was the royal carpet factory at the Savonnerie —
an offshoot, under Louis XIII., from the factory which
his father had established under Pierre Dupont in the
Louvre. The importation, in 1647, of two Florentines,
Pierre and Jean Lefevre, to assist in the direction of the
high-warp looms in the Louvre, and the establishment of
Dupont's pupil, Simon Lourdet, at the Savonnerie, stand
out, indeed, like isolated facts which bear witness to the
general neglect of industrial interests under the rule of
Louis XI 1 1. 1 The Savonnerie, where Simon Lourdet
was at work on the carpets {tapis sarrazinois) destined for
the Great Gallery of the Louvre,^ now became, like the
works at the Louvre itself, a dependence of the Gobelins,
and its buildings underwent thorough restoration. As
for the Gobelins, whose name now suggests only a
great manufactory of tapestries, it became, during this
most famous epoch of its existence, even busier in the
making of splendid services of plate, of costly inlaid
' lytli April, 1627. Arret du Conseil d'Etat du roy portant I'etablisse-
ment et reglemens de la manufacture de la Savonnerie. " Arch. Nat.,"0.'
1054. See also " Arch, de I'Art Fr^," 1S52, p. 207.
- From 1665 to 1669 he receives payment on this account yearly, then
he was replace! by his son Philippe, who was succeeded in 1670 by his
wife Jeanne Ilaffray, to whom came in 1671 Louis Uupont, probably one
of the family in the Louvre. See C. des B'^, and Lacordaire, "Notice
Historique sur les Manufactures Imperiales de Tapisseries," ttc, 1SS5,
p. "Jl ct scq.
192 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
cabinets, of carven frames and of gilded coaches^ than in
producing the storied hangings with which the name of
the old hotel is identified ; but the looms were never
more merrily active than when the sculptor's mallet and
the hammer of the smith were resounding under the
same roof; when the weaver wove his costly webs to the
tune of the lapidary's file, whilst the saw and chisel
made constant chorus in his ears. Yet fame persists in
declaring the glories of the Gobelin looms, and takes little
account of its special connection with all the other marvels
of a new luxury which represented " la magnificence
mesuree du gout nouveau, la profusion choisie de I'in-
dustrie nouvelle/' and which became, as M. Taine has
pointed out in his " Essai sur Flechier," a political engine
under Louis XIV.^
The selection by Colbert of the Gobelins^ as the
nucleus round which all the other establishments for the
production of the ineubies de la Conronne should be
grouped, was, however, probably determined by the
reputation which the tapestries already enjoyed.- The
family from whom the old hotel took its name had been,
it is said, dyers from Reims, who, attracted by the purity
of its waters, placed their works on the banks of the
Bievre. To them came the Camaye (who were probably
workers in tapestry), and, at a later date, the looms of
the Comans, who, together with Francois de la Planche,
had been brought from Flanders by Henri IV., were
transferred from Les Tournelles to the Gobelins. 3
Patterns for working were habitually furnished by
some of the miost distinguished men in Paris. La Hire,
' See " Inventaire general du Mobilier de la Couronne." Guiffrey, iS86.
- See letter of 1651 cited by 'SI. Guiffrey, " Nouv. Arch.," 1S80-1,
p. 142.
' See Lacordaire, "Notice Historique sur les Manufactures Imperiales
de Tapisseries, " etc., 1853 and 1885.
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVONNERIE. 193
for example, was the author of designs for a series
destined to be hung in St. Etienne du Mont. Tapestry,
therefore, from the first held its own at the Gobelins, and
continued to do so even after the building became one
vast workshop, where painters, sculptors, goldsmiths,
lapidaries, wood -carvers, cabinet- makers^ workers in
metal, and embroiderers in silk, formed that great
colony which had for its object not only the decoration
of Alarly and Versailles, but also the maintenance of
French taste at the highest possible level in all that
concerned industrial art.
This idea was a familiar one to Colbert ; in }-ears
past he had been accustomed to hear from his old
master Mazarin justifications of extravagant expenditure
on furniture and other masterpieces of Italian art, based
on the ground that they would serve as models for
French industry, and there is no more amusing feature
in Colbert's correspondence with the Cardinal than the
expressions which betray his uneasy amazement at the
sums given for objets d'art.^ It was a grief to him to
send such sums out of the country, and the attempt to
produce similar masterpieces on French soil was a
necessary corollary of his economical theories. For
the concentration of all his workers on one spot, he had
the example of Fouquet, who had brought together at
Maincy, not far from Vaux le Vicomte, all the artists
and artisans engaged in embellishing his marvellous
palace.2 Nor had Colbert anything better to do when
the fall of Fouquet left them unemployed (1662) than to
carry them to Bievrebache.
The Hotel had come into Colbert's hands as early
' " Le Palais Mazarin," note 227, p. 262.
= "Arch. del'ArtFr^,"IS62,p. 15. Gcnevay, "Le Style Louis XIV.,"
p. 42.
O
194 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
as 1662,1 but over and above the most necessary repairs
very little was done there for some years.- In 1665,
alterations and improvements on a large scale were
commenced ; the meadows at the back were enclosed :
in place of the single carpenter who had hitherto slowly
mended looms and patched up falling rafters, an army
of plumbers, masons, glaziers, locksmiths, and their
men, figure in the accounts. Even the long-abandoned
brewery was put in order, and finally in 1667, a royal
decree gave to the establishment its settled organisation,
and a royal visit of encouragement and approbation
bore witness to the interest taken by Louis XIV. in his
" manufactures des meubles de la Couronne."
There is a painting by De Seve at Versailles, in
which this visit is commemorated ; we see at once the
immense extension which the works in the Faubourg
St. Marceau had already acquired. Enormous tubs of
silver and their stands are displayed ready to receive
the orange-trees of the Gallery of Mirrors, and the size
and quantity of goldsmiths' work alone, all of which had
been cast and chiselled on the spot, are sufficient to ex-
plain the expenses reported in the accounts as incurred
by Jans and Tuby in setting up and decorating the
buffet on which it was placed for the king's inspection.
The dateof this visit was in the history of the Gobelins,
as momentous as the date of 1664 in the history of
the Academy ; it marked an epoch of full development
in comparison with Vv'hich the previous period was one
^ It was previously the property of the " Sieur Leleu, conseiller au
parlement." Lacordaire, " Notice Historique sur les Manufactures Im-
periales de Tapisseries," 1853, p. 57.
^ C. des B'^ Accounts of Prou the joiner for 1662-3-4. Prou is
mentioned by the Al)be Marolles amongst " ceux qui font fleurir les beaux
arts dans I'hostel des manufactures royales aux Gobelins." Lacordaire,
" Notice Historique sur les Manufactures Imperiales de Tapisseries," 1853,
P- 75-
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVONNERJE. 195
'of stunted ^rowth. The maGfnificent Le Brun himself
took up his lodgings in the building/ thus identifying
himself with the undertaking, and in time his connection
with the Gobelins was felt to add so much to his im-
portance, that one of the plans devised by his enemies in
1665 for diminishing his influence at Court, was the offer
of a post of honour in another parish, his acceptance of
which would have enabled them to say to the king that
Le Brun was absenting himself from Bievrebache.^
After Le Brun, the Concierge Rochon seems to have
had a good deal of power ; he certainly was the pro-
prietor of part of the buildings, as in 1666 he received
payment for rent due to him for the "maison du
'Gobelins," ^ and in previous years, in addition to what
he receives on account of the " manufactures/' he is
paid for rooms occupied by the artisans employed in
the works. Five apprentices were boarded by him, and
he received a yearly salary, as did also Van Kerchove,
the Dutchman in charge of the dyeing-rooms .4 Baudren
Yvart, who, under Louis Blamard, had been the chief
designer for Fouquet's nineteen tapestry-workers at
Maincy,5 occupied an equally responsible position at
Bievrebache. He was made resident keeper, a post
in which he was afterwards succeeded by his son Joseph ;
•and, probably in order to give him official status, Le
Brun had early secured his reception by the Academy,
his diploma picture on "The Glories of Sculpture,"
having been presented in 1663.6
' M. I., vol. i. p. 23. - //;/,/. p. 58.
3 C. des B'^ Le Brun also had private property there which he sold
the king, in 1668, "pour I'accroissement des Gobelins."
•* C. des B'^ 1665. His daughter married Sebastian Lichery ; his son,
in 16S1, became a pupil of Lacroix. Nouv. Arch., 1872, pp. 2S0 nnd 318.
5 Bonaffc, " Le .Surintendant Fouquet," pp. 25, 46 et seq. Xouv. Arch.
ut supra. " M. L Vie de Prou, vol. ii. p. 31.
O 2
196 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
Yvart, who was also employed on designs for the
Louvre^ factories, was specially engaged in the pro-
duction of large cartoons, and his name is remembered
in connection with those from which the History of
Constantine was worked, 2 with those for the borders of
the Meleager and Atalanta series, with the principal
figures in the set called the " Maisons Royales," and
with several of those in the series called "I'Histoire du
Roi." The figures in the "Baptism of the Dauphin"
were all from his hand, and, at the very day of his death,
he was busy on those for the Entry of the Queen at
Douai.3 Amongst the earliest workers, too, must be
remembered Anthony Mathew, "Antoine Mathieu," an
Englishman famous for his power as a portrait-painter,
who died, Florent le Comte tells us, in 1674, having "beau-
coup travaille aux Gobelins pour les ouvrages du Roy/^4
In addition to Yvart, four salaried designers, each
with his specialty, were attached to the works : Baptiste
Monnoyer, the flower-painter ; Besnard, who had a won-
derful gift for animals ; Francart, the ornamental designer ;
and Abraham Genoels, who devoted himself to landscape.
The conditions, too, of payment by the piece, on which
system Colbert had at first elected to proceed, were later
somewhat modified by his decision to assign salaries also
to the tapestry contractors ; those who were responsible
for the high-warp looms receiving a third more than
those engaged on the looms for the less costly sort.5
These contractors actually discharged the functions
of middlemen, and not the least curious of the regu-
lations under which the establishment was worked are
' Miintz, " La Tapisserie," p. 2S2.
- Begun on Le Brun's designs for Fouquet. See Bonaffc, " Le Sur-
intendant Fouquet," and M. I., vol. i. p. 20.
3 "Deux Pcintres Boulonnais," Vaillant, 1884.
'■ Florent le Comte, vol. iii. p. 130. Received into R. A. in October, l66lv
r. v., vol. i, p. 187. s c. desB'^
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVONXERIE. 197
those which determine their relations to their fellow-
workmen on the one hand, and their obligations to the
Crown on the other. The Crown furnished them with
the cartoons to be worked/ and sold them the raw
materials ; the contractor on his side undertook to
deliver a certain amount of tapestry every year at a fixed
tariff. Haiite-lisse, or high-warp tapestry, cost about
eighty pounds the square metre, but low warp [basse-ljsse)
•could be produced at half this rate, and when we find
that between 1663 and 1690, the Gobelins turned out
nineteen sets of the more costly description, in addition
to thirty-four of the cheaper sort, we realise the great
importance of this particular industry.- Only one
Frenchman, Henry Laurent, figures amongst the con-
tractors in high warp. Jans, whose son appears on the
books in 1695,-^ was a Fleming, who came to Paris from
Oudenarde in 1650,'* whilst Jean Lefebvre, who had been
transferred from the Louvre^ to the Gobelins, was a
Florentine. As for the less important low-warp looms,
they remained under the sole direction of Jean la Croix,
until one named Mosin was called in as fine-drawer and
assistant in 1670.^
From the other workmen should be specially singled
out, as one of the earliest comers, Domenico Cucci, joiner
and carver, a wonderful worker in ebony, and strangely
skilful in the use of bright jewelled incrustations, who
had been at work ever since 16647 on the two vast
•cabinets. Temples of Fame and Virtue, which were
intended to form the principal ornaments of the Galerie
' See later, p. 203. ' Miintz, " La Tapisseric," p. 291.
3 O.' 1083, "Arch. Nat."
* His letlres de provision, date 1654. O.' 1053, " Arch. Xat."
s Lodged in Louvre, and allowed to have a shop in Tuileries Gardens
in 1655. O.' 1057, "Arch. Nat."
^ C. des B'^, and Lacordaire, " Notice Historique sur les .Manufactures
Imperiales de Tapisserie," 1855, p. 59.
7 See Lettre de naiiiralisaiion, "Arch, de I'Art Fr\," 1873, p, 243.
198 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
d'ApoUon. At the same date, too, Gucci's compatriots,.
Tuby and Temporiti, were probably taken on the staff,
for although Temporiti's name first appears in the
royal accounts for 1667, his act of naturalisation
(granted in 1671) sets forth that for many years past
he has been working at the Gobelins/ and the same
phrase is also employed in the letters accorded to Tuby^
in 1672.
The immediate control of men of this class could
not of course be left to the Goncierge Rochon^ and
before long we find a body of inspectors created,,
who lodged in a separate Hotel where they received
several of the younger painters,^ but in addition to
these and the great body of workers, they had the
care of no fewer than sixty children. These childrea
were distributed as apprentices in the different work-
shops, and also had to be housed and taught and fed.
At first Le Brun does not seem to have contemplated
the giving to them any other than a purely professional
training. Experience, however, seems to have con-
vinced him that, as Descartes had first suggested, it was
necessary to supplement the teaching of the workshop.
by the training of the school ; and in this connection it
is extremely interesting to find that in 1667, when the
state formally recognised ^ the settled order which had
been slowly worked out at the Gobelins, some of the
most carefully considered provisions in the Edict are
those devoted to the children. A quite new departure
is made in the seventh clause, which directs that the
children, on their entrance into the establishment^
should be immediately placed in the Scminairc dii
directeitr, who was to appoint as his assistant a master
' Kouv. Arch., 1873, p. 248. =" O.' 10S3, "Arch. Nat."
3 See Appendix X.
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVONNERIE. 199
painter having for his special duty their instruction and
education. This appointment, which afterwards fell to
the great engraver Edelinck, was first held by one
of Le Bran's own pupils, Louis Lichery,^ and it is
noteworthy that this class, intended solely for the
instruction of the little apprentices, was academical.
The teacher's work was daily to pose the model, correct
the drawings, and discharge, in a word, all the functions
of the Academy professor, and for the performance of
these duties he received a salary equal to that assigned
to the other painters attached in different capacities to
the Gobelins.2
Further teaching of a non-professional kind was also
given regularly to the children by the priest who,
besides celebrating mass for the whole body of workers
in accordance with regulations which were also in force
at the Savonnerie, was bound to give certain instruction
to the apprentices.^ By-and-by, as time went on, and
the numbers of the tapestry-workers, chiefly Flemings,
had increased to two hundred and fifty, a second
priest, one of the " religieux flamans de Piquepuce," was
also attached to the establishment, and a surgeon, M.
de la Chambre, was included amongst the officials in
1669. He and his successor, Clement, are regularl}'
borne on the books down to 1698, when Lemargue,
chinirgieii, receives a certificate in a similar capacity.''-
The year after the great settlement of 1667 pre-
parations were made to receive three Florentine lapi-
daries, Mcgliorini, Branchi, and Gachetti, all of whom
were occupied in preparing the stones used by Cucci
and his fellows for their inlaid cabinets and other
' See M. I. Vie dc Louis Lichery, and " Recherches sur Louis Licherie,
membre de I'ancienne Academic Royale, etc." Caen, i860. Bellier de la
Chavignerie. " M, L, vol. ii. p. 62.
3 C. des B'-., 1670. •» O.' 1083, " Arch. Nat."
200 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
articles of costly furniture. These three were after-
wards joined by three French gem-cutters, Jean and
Andre Dubois and Francois Chef-de-ville.i The looms
at the same time were in full activity ; Jans had in
hand sets of the Seasons, the Elements, the Acts of
the Apostles, the History of Alexander, the story of
Meleager,2 and the Life of the King, which Fouquet's
workers at Maincy had begun to execute from Le Brun's
designs. The magnificent series of the Life of the King
is no doubt that in which, as M. Miintz has remarked,
the talent of Le Brun is seen to the best advantage, and
the liberal reward which Jans received on New Year's
Eve, proved the measure of the royal satisfaction. Two
embroiderers, Philibert Balland and Simon Fayette,
were added to the staff in 1670, and to them were
entrusted the working of the wide borders used to frame
the hangings for doors and windows, and of the raised
work on silk brocade, such as the king's famous
"brodeur," Remy, Michel Anguier^s father-in-law, was
used to produce either for state dress or furniture; but of
the fragile result of their labours the only trace remains
in the royal account books. Bailly, too, whose specialty
was " tapisserie de peinture en teinture sur tissu de soie,"^
was shortly after this date attached to the Gobelins.
The numbers of new arrivals continued to increase
at such a rapid rate, that it became necessary to make
a complete revision of the brevets of the lodgings which
had been accorded by the Crown.4 Great confusion
prevailed, owing to the fact that, whereas many workers,
like Jean Lefebvre, had been transferred from the
Louvre to the Gobelins, the privileges granted to the
workers there in 1608 by Henri IV. were still in force.
' C. des Bt=., 1669, 1670.
= /hilt 166S. See Le Brun,C., " Tapisseries du Roi," etc. Paris, 1760.
' Jbid. 1674.
■> O.' 10S4, ''Arch. Xat." See also " Nouv. Arch.," JS73, ji. 40
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVONNERIE. 201
The Gobelins had, indeed, always occupied many more
designers than could be housed on the spot. Van der
Meulen had been requisitioned as early as i666\
Caffieri^ was also, like his compatriots, Tuby, Cucci, and
Temporiti, to be found quite as often at Bievrebache as
at Versailles. Caffieri had as versatile a talent as Le
Brun himself; he would go from making bronze and gilt
trophies or chiselling the doors of state apartments to
the decoration of men-of-war at Le Havre^^ and his
brother Italians shared his extraordinary facility. It is
not, therefore, surprising to find their names connected
with all that concerned the costliest forms of carved and
decorated furniture, and the making, as Guillet de St.
Georges says, of " tout ce qui fait aujourd'hui la magni-
ficence des maisons royales et tout ce qui a servi a regalcr
non-seulement les ambassadeurs des potentats del'Europe
mais ceux des climats les plus eloignes." ^ As he wrote
this Le Brun's biographer was doubtless thinking of that
coach for the Great Mogul which, in accordance with
Colbert's orders, had been made at the Gobelins, on
Le Brun's designs, in the early days of 1665, and which
probably owed its wealth of sculpture and of goldsmiths'
work to the skilful fingers of the master's Italian /r^-
icgcs, who found their only formidable rival in the
Spaniard, Antoine Coysevox, then also lodging in the
Gobelins."^
Towards 1675, a fresh influx of artists took place,
when on the list of salaried painters, instead of the
names of Besnard, Genocils, and Francart, we find those
■of De Seve, Houasse, and Guillaume Anguier ^ in
' See Guiffrey, "Les Caffieri." Paris, 1877. Nouv. Arch., 1876,
pp. 54, 55, etc. C. des B'"^., 1679.
- C. des B'^, 1673. See also Genevay, " Le Style Louis XIV.," p. 2c8.
3 M. L, vol. i. p. 24. See also Inventaire de Menningue cited
Lacordaire. -t O.' 10S3, "Arch. Nat."
5 Brother of Michel, and skilful architectural designer. M. I., vol. i.
p. 445. C. des B'^., 1674, and O.' 10S3, "Arch. Nat."
202 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
addition to Cussac and Le Brun's two pupils, Verdier ^
and Bonnemer. In the same year, too, the engravers^
Rousselet and Gerard Audran, were added to the
permanent staff, Lepautre and Berain, who had received
the appointment of " dessinateur de la chambre," - being
constantly called in as ornamental designers. Berain's
post, which obliged him to direct the mise-en-sccnc of all
Court ceremonies, can have been no sinecure, but his
fertility of invention enabled him to incessantly produce
designs for every sort of decorative work, carved, painted,
or woven ; and the French grace and lightness with
which he adapted arabesque, intermingled with figure
and animal subjects, to the heavy forms in vogue
under Louis XIV., have earned for him well-deserved
renown. 3
Sometimes if any special work were taken in hand,
half the strength of the Academy would be called in, and
a curious account of the way in which this was done
when it was proposed to execute a new set of hangings^
is given by Le Brun's biographer, in relating some of
the intrigues to which he was exposed after the death of
Colbert. His enemies were first successful in stopping
the completion of a set of the celebrated series called
"^I'Histoire du Roi," and next they induced Louvois to
approve, on La Chapelle's suggestion, two series of
drawings — the one set attributed to Raffaelle, the other
composed of drawings by Giulio Romano — all of which
were in the royal collections. Coloured sketches were
prepared from these, and distributed to fourteen
Academicians — one man, one drawing — and on the list
of names we find those of Boulogne the elder, Coypel,
' See Quittances duregne de Louis XIV., "Nouv. Arch.," 1S76, p. 60.
'-' O.* 1053, " Arch. Nat." See " CEuvre de Jean Berain, dessinateur
du Cab. du Kui Louis XIV.," Paris, 1659.
3 Mariette, ".\becedario," alsoGencvay, " Le Style Louis XIV., "p. 221,
7 HE GOBELINS— THE SAVONNERIE. 203
Corncille^ Verdier, Houasse, and the younger De Seve,
who were amongst the ablest and most conspicuous
members of the society.' Le Brun, who was present
when the coloured sketches were distributed, took
occasion to criticise the indecent license taken in the
treatment of some of the subjects — a license to which
Giulio Romano, as in the decorations of the Palazzo del
Te, is frequently inclined — but he only drew on himself
a snub from La Chapelle ; the paintings were at once
put in hand, exhibited, on completion, in the chapel of
the Tuileries, and then, with Louvois' sanction, des-
patched to the Gobelins, about two years having been
occupied in their preparation.
For this system, which gradually led to a mistaken
rivalr)' with the brush on the part of the loom, Le Brun
himself is said to have been responsible ; with him
began the practice of giving to the tapestry-worker a
painted study, instead of a cartoon washed with colour,
which was but a summary of that which the painted study
inevitably represented with more or less realism. The
drawings by La Hire, from which the "MM. Gobelin "
worked the hangings for St. Etienne du Mont, appear to
have been carried out, at any rate in the first instance,
onl}- in black and white — siir papier blanc a la picrrc
noire'^ — completed probably by some general scheme of
colouration. Le Brun went to the opposite extreme,
and did so, according to M. Miintz, with the deliberate
intention of " diminishing the interval " separating
tapestry from painting, and thus inaugurated the
tendency which has recently culminated in the ill-advised
attempt to triumph over the material limitations of this
manufacture, by the production of works of an imitative
rather than a decorative character. Le Brun himself
could not carr}' the change very far, for he was whole-
' M. I., vol. i. pp. 56-7. - Ibid. vol. i. note, p. 112.
204 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
somely restrained by tlie traditions in which those who
had to weave from his designs had been bred, and he was
forced, whether he would or no, to work under certain
restrictions.
It was owing to these restrictions that Le Brun, as
M. Denuelle has noticed,^ never made use of more than
three planes, getting his perspective by the scale of his
details ; but his desire for a full scheme of colour is
betrayed in the foregrounds of all the pieces worked
after his compositions, and he went as far in this direc-
tion as the six shades of colour, which his dyers allowed
him, would permit. The result obtained was indescrib-
ably magnificent. " Ouand ces tentures eblouissantes
s'agitent, on eprouve," says M. Miintz, " comme un
fremissement religieux, on croit voir Alexandre le roi
dieu, et Louis XIV., le roi soleil, descendre de leur char
triomphal ou des marches de trone pour se meler a
nous ! ^' Especially justified is this enthusiasm by those
tapestries in which " le roi soleil " figures, for Le Brun,
always mannered when v/orking on classical subjects,
distinguished himself in giving historical style to the
events of his own day; his power in portraiture, coupled
with this peculiar excellence and consummate knowledge
of the art of decoration, enabled him to produce effects
unrivalled in magnificence even by the famous hangings
of Mortlake, for which Vandyke drew the borders to
Raffaelle's cartoons.
Although the looms of the Gobelins eclipsed all
the rest, those of the Savonnerie were constantly
active, and rich stuffs of gold and silver continued also
to be produced in the Louvre, where Louis Dupont
wove his tapis de Perse, or made brocades on golden
' Rapport de la Commission de la manufacture des Gobelins, p. 27.
Miintz, " La Tapisserie," p. 278, See also Lacordaire, " Notice Historique
sur les Manufactures Imperiales de Tapisseries, etc.," 1S53, p. So.
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVON.YERIE. 205
grounds ; ^ there, too, a Jarge proportion of furniture
was produced. One named Golle was busy on costly
cabinets, marquetry floors were turned out from the
workshops of Jacques Somer,^ near to whom worked
the Guelder Jean Oppenord, whose costly parquet of
coloured woods was destroyed with the little gallery
at Versailles.^ In the Louvre, too, was established
Jean Masse,4 but he was replaced in 1672 by the
celebrated Andre Charles Boulle (in England often
called Buhl), who gave a new impulse and a new
direction to the making of costly furniture, and whose
credit grew with such rapidity, that within seven
years a second lodging had to be granted to him 5 so
that he might house the vast manufactory for all sorts of
furniture in bronze and wood, which employed no fewer
than eighteen sets of cabinet-makers, besides joiners,
and subsidiary groups of filers, mounters, polishers,
workers in bronze and gilt, over whom his sons and
himself exercised a ceaseless supervision. The works of
Boulle were the rage of Paris — clock-cases, tables,
bureaux, marquetry of every description from simple
joiners' work, such as the cs trade de bois de rapport made
for the queen's bed-chamber,^ down to the most costly
incrustations of copper gilt and tortoise-shell, the value
of which was so great that when his workshops were
destroyed by fire in 1720, the loss on the furniture being
made to order was enormous. 7 In spite of his immense
' C. des B'=., 1666 et seq. - Ibid. 1668, succeeded by his widow.
3 See " CEuvres de Gille Marie Oppenord, etc., mis au jour . . . par
Gabriel Huquier." See C. des B'\ , 16S5. He was naturalised in 1679.
Nouv. Arch., 1873, p. 258.
4 See brevet, Arch. I. 222, cited in Nouv. Arch., 1873, p. 74, and O'.*
1053, *' Arch. Nat." See quatrain of Marolles, " Livres des Peintres-
Graveurs," ed. 1S55, p. 88. s Q'.* 1053, "Arch. Nat."
* C. des B'5., 1674. Nouv. Arch., 1876, p. 53.
7 80,000 It. [livres tournois). Arch, de I'Art Fr»., 1856, note, p. 334.
Asselineau,
2o6 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
vogue, nothing went well with Boulle ; he quarrelled
with his workmen and got the worst of it,i and his
affairs, owing partly to his mania for collecting, which
constantly brought him to the verge of bankruptcy, were
so involved that more than once the Crown had to inter-
pose between him and his creditors, lest their just claims
should prevent the fulfilment of royal commissions.-
The forges of the Louvre soon became as active as its
factories and workshops^ although Guillaume Dupre had
his foundry in the Louvre as early as 1603.3 At first, the
smiths seem to have been busiest at Bievrebache, for
the wonderful silver which figures in De Seve's picture
of the visit of Louis XIV. to the Gobelins in 1667^ was
in all probability the work of Jacques Dutel and his
comrades Viaucourt, Cousinet, Merlin, and Alexis Loir 4
(brother of the painter), who were all established on the
spot. At that date Claude De Villers, the great English
smith, who had arrived from London in 1665 with all his
family, had only produced a couple of silver bowls ; it
was not long, however, before the sums paid to him for
grands ouvrages d' argenterie were almost as considerable
as those which went to his French rival Claude Ballin,
who in that same critical year 1667, was constructing
his forges near the Great Gallery of the Louvre.
Thenceforth Ballin stood chief amongst his fellows,
chiselling seats and stands and standards for the Gallery
of Mirrors, on the candelabra for which he had at his
arrival been instantly employed. Like De Villers, Ballin
turned with equal readiness to work of the most
' Nouv. Arch., 1880, p. 316 ; 1SS2, p. 106 ; and Arch, de I'Art Fr\,
1S56, p. 321.
- O.' 1054, "Arch. Nat." 21 Juin, 1701, see order staying execution
for three months repeated in October with extension to six.
3 Nouv. Arch., 1872, p. 178.
■* Conseiller of R. A. received 1678. M. I., vol. i. pp. 15, 29, 49, 70.
See " Nouveaux dessins de gueridons, etc. Gravez par A. Loire. A Paris
chez N. Langlois."
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVONNERIE. 207
enormous size, or to such trifles as an inkstand or
a pounce-box. 1 Many voices celebrate his praises, and
Mariette, a century later, described with enthusiasm the
beauty of certain delicate mountings in silver gilt which
Ballin had executed for a volume in which Le Sueur's
friend Anne de Chambre had collected the compositions
of Denis Gaultier, binding them in costly green shagreen,
and illustrating them by drawings from the hands of
Nanteuil and Abraham Bosse.^ This volume, like the
toilet toys chiselled by De Villers, or the golden ship ^
— nef d'or — of Jean Gravet, or the silver mirrors of
Debonnaire,4 has long since disappeared, and of all the
glories which figure in De Seve's picture none remain :
silver seats and silver candelabra, golden mirrors and
caskets, were all swept into the melting-pot in 16S9,
and then the sacrifice of these priceless works of art,
on which sums unknown had been expended, realised
but a trifle. "The king said to-night" (l2th Dec. 1689),
writes Dangeau, '' that he had thought to get more than
six millions out of the silver which he had sent to the
Mint, but that he would scarcely get as much as three ! "
Claude Ballin was saved by death from the mortifica-
tion of seeing his life's work perish before his eyes,^ for
the destruction was wholesale, and it is almost impossible
to identify the work of any one of these famous smiths :
the few objects which escaped, either on account of their
unimportance or because they were in private hands,
like the silver "flambeaux" in the collection of M. Spit-
zer, are rarely or never signed. The works of Warin,^
' C. des B^, 16S5. - j\r. I., vol. i. p. 171.
^ The ship or nef \\z.s, says Little, a "petite machine en forme de
navire ou I'on enfermait le convert du roi et qui se servait sur im bout de la
table." ■• See C. des B'\ and I. G.
5 Succeeded in 1679 by GirarJon ia his lodgings in the Louvre.
Noviv. Arch., 1S73, p. 75.
•^ Naturalised in 1626. Nouv. Arch., 1S73, p, 236.
2o8 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
the famous medallist and master of the Mint, who like
most medallists had the habit of thus marking his work,
form, therefore, an exception all the more valuable.
" Nous avons," says Voltaire, "egale les anciens dans
les medailles. Varin fut le premier qui tira cet art de la
mediocrite." And though this sweeping statement is a
little unfair to Guillaume Dupre, the able medallist of
Henri IV., whose work generally shows Italian influence,^
there is no doubt that his fame has been eclipsed by
Warin's greater importance and astonishing success.
Warin, who in 1628 had been forced to fly the country
to save his neck from the halter which he had deserved
as a coiner, managed matters so cleverly that in 1663 we
find him " Conseiller du Roy en ses Conseils, Intendant
de ses bastiments et Conducteur general du moulin de la
Monnoye." 2 He owed something probably to family
connection, for although born at Liege, and receiving
letters of naturalisation only in 1650, his son asserts that
the " charge de garde des machines du Louvre" had been
in his family for two hundred years. 3 As early as 1661,
his crimes had been condoned by the Academy, who
showed their opinion of his talent by sending for him to
execute the seal of the company, and four years later they
elected him a member of their body.4 It was the year of
Bernini's visit to Paris, and it is probable that Warin
owed this accession of honour to the satisfaction felt at
his execution of the gold medals which he had modelled
for the foundations of the Louvre. 5 He had had the fore-
' See Catalogue du Louvre. His Marie de Mcdicis is well known ; one
of his best is that of Jacques Boisseau. For further details see Nouv. Arch. ,
1S72, p. 178 ; ibid. 1876, p. 172; and ibid. iSSo, p. 1S2.
- See Fetis, "Les Artistes beiges a I'etranger," and Nouv. Arch.,
1876, pp. 35-6 ; ibid. 1872, p. 50.
3 Ibid. 1876, p. 235. •» P. v., vol. i. pp. 1S6, 291.
s In 166S Warin was paid for other medals, probably those for the
foundations of the Observatoirc and for Versailles. C. des B'^, 1668.
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVONNERIE. 209
sight to acquire property on the very spot required for
the completion of the new plans, and consequently was
bought out, much to his advantage, so that the royal
accounts alternately record the payments made on this
head and those for medals and busts of the king. ^
The last payment is on account of a series of medals of
" riiistoire du Roy," on which he was engaged during
his latter years, and for which, in 1677, long after his
death, his heirs received a sum in "parfait payement ; "
but, nevertheless, the total due was not cleared off in
i693> when Francois Warin appealed for justice in the
name of his father's services and his own misery.^
Warin, who seems to have been a detestable charac-
ter, regardless where money was concerned of his own
honour or the happiness of others, did not neglect to
secure his professional reputation. In most instances
he carefully signed his work, so that we know a great deal
more about it than we do about that of any other of the
minor artists of his day. x'\s one would expect, some of
his earlierworks,3 executed apparently under the influence
of Guillaume Dupre, are amongst the best. His medal
of Richelieu (1631) is good, and that of Anne of Austria —
a magnificent medal executed in the very year of her
widowhood — shows Warin's full strength of hand and
power of delicate finish.
The most distinguishing feature of Warin's art is,
however, one which is equally typical of that of his
fellows. At the exhibition on the Ouai ]\Ialaquais,
during the present summer, all the world has admired
the two "Commodes" made by Boulle for the bcd-
' C. desB'^, 1667. He executed two busts, one in bronze and one in
marble. The statue of Louis XIV., a heavy, poor work, now on the
Escalier des Princes at Versailles, was left by him to the king. .Vrch. de
I'Art Fr\, 1S52, p. 293.
- Nouv. Arch., 18S0, p. 30.
3 Sec his bust of Richelieu in the Bibliotheque Nationale.
2IO ' ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
chamber of Louis XIV. at Versailles^ and which have
been preserved since the Revolution in the Mazarin
Library. The noble arabesques which unfold them-
selves on the inlay of dark shell, the graceful curves and
volutes of the feet, the severe and splendid character of
the winged figures at the sides, combine to make these
perhaps the finest models extant of the art of Boulle
under the influence of Le Brun. The celebrated'
'' bureau de Colbert," lent by the Ministry of Marine,
the bureau en contre pai'tie — inlaid with shell on a ground
of copper — had suffered much from unskilful restoration ;
yet in it also, as in the innumerable other works of the
school which figured at this remarkable exhibition, the
same indelible marks of a great style were to be recog-
nised — dignity, and noble symmetr}^, and a fine taste.
Perfect power, too, of fusing decorative and pic-
torial detail — power which is just as noticeable in the
treatment of a medal as in the design of tapestries for the
Gobelins or of sculptures for Versailles — was also a lead-
ing feature of all the art which bears the name of Louis
XIV. When we come to the purely decorative details,
to the trophies of Coysevox, Tuby, and '•' consors;" to
the rosettes and bands still retaining the glass panels of
the Gallery of Mirrors ; to the bronze and gilt orna-
ments of the Venus and Diana rooms, or the locks and
bolts chiselled by Domenico Cucci in the Hall of Apollo,,
which, like the draperies cast by Pierre le Nerve for the
busts in the Cabinet de Mcdaillcs, have happily escaped
the general destruction, we fin.d a predominant aptness
of judgment, a tact and skill, especially manifest in the
calculated introduction of relief into the flat. By this
extreme skilfulness in gradation of planes even violence
is prevented from becoming vulgar, and it is 110 less
striking than that union of great boldness of general
outline with the utmost delicacy of chiselling, which
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVOXXERIE. 211
distinguishes alike the smallest and largest objects, the
J7ilt button of a shutter, or ironwork on a scale as
imposing as the balconies of the Cour de Marbrc.^
The same admirable treatment of relief, masterly,
strong, and firm, is shown in the smallest bits of stucco
modelling, in the carving of the frames of the two
tables — one in the GEil-de-Boeuf with a granite top, and
one with a mosaic top in the Diana room — which are
almost the sole relics of furniture made at the Gobelins
now at Versailles. The same beautiful quality marks
the sculptured surface of the w^ooden doors, the remains
of which, at the entrance to the rooms of Venus and
Diana, arc now the only record of the pristine glories of
the Ambassadors' Stairs. These doors, carved by
Caffieri in 1678,2 or the even finer pair in the Hall
of Plenty, are of the very best time of Louis XIV., and
even if we take work produced thirty years later — work
done, not by the men whom Le Brun with rare judgment
selected as his assistants, but by those w^iom they
trained — we find that it retains the character, the dis-
tinction, the excellence of execution which were proper
to the work of their masters. The beautiful golden
frieze of children playing with birds and beasts which
runs round the Q^il-de-Boeuf,-^ the wood-carvings of the
same chamber,^ the cornice of the bedroom,^ and the
metal work of both these apartments, (^ were all executed
' Carried out by Delobel (C. des B'^.), 1684.
= C. des JB'^ See also Genevay,"Le Style Louis XIV.," for doors of the
Salon at Marly, p. ilS.
"i Flanien, Van Clivc, Ilurtrclle, Poultier, Poirier-IIarsly. C. des E'*.,
1701-2.
* By Taupin, Dugoulon, Lc Goupii, and Billan. C. des E'^, 1701-2.
See also Piganiol, vol. i. p. 259.
5 Lespingola, who also executed cornices of the Oilil-de-Bceuf. C. des
B*^, 1 701-2.
''Jules Lochon. C. des B'\, 1702. See also Dussieux, "Chateau
de Versailles."
P 2
212 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
in the earliest years of the eighteenth century by a
generation to wliom Le Brun was ahnost unknown.
That the work of these younger men should have
been what it was is in itself a testimony to the sound-
ness of the system under w^hich they had been trained.
Colbert and Le Brun had directed their most strenuous
efforts to the miaintenance of the highest possible
standard of excellence in workmanship, and the result
was that, even after direct pressure was removed,
tradition compelled respect, and the very button of a
window-catch was expected to show the same kind of
merit as the costliest products of an artist's skill.
Even in his own day the influence which Colbert's
stringent system had had on excellence of production
was fully recognised, and we find from inventories of
royal furniture ^ that the note ''^etoffe faite du temps de
Colbert," was held to be a certificate of value. Regu-
lations such as those of his Edict on Commerce, 1673,
or of that famous decree bearing date 1667, in which he
so curiously mapped out the whole internal order of
French industry, had direct results other than those
of a vexatious character. The mere fact, too, of the
enormous attention paid to industrial and commercial
interests by Louis XIV.'s great Minister raised the
status of labour, and brought about a certain respect
for "business" in quarters to which it was unfamiliar,
and this respect had a close connection with the success
of Colbert's educational work.
Le Brun, in his own field, was a no less exacting
taskmaster ; everything that was produced under his
rule bears witness to the perfection of finish which he
demanded, and to the admirable manner in which he
was seconded by those about him. If we examine, for
example, the mosaic marble panelling which lines the
' Cited by Dussieux, "Chateau dc Versailles," vol. i. pp. 441-2.
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVONNERIE. 213
rooms of Venus and Diana, we shall find that the work-
manship of the jointings is as exquisite as in the best
Italian work, so that in all these years not one has
stirred. If we look at the rosettes and bands which
fasten the bevelled mirrors to the walls of the Great
Gallery we find ac^ain the same justness of fitting and
finish, and it is difficult to persuade ourselves that the
gilded trophies and ornaments, wherever they remain,
are not things of yesterday, so fresh are they, so sharp
in line, so keen, so fine of edge.
One thing is certain : if this excellence of per-
formance was in large measure due to the practical
training obtained in the workshops and workrooms
of the Gobelins, the influence of the academical school
and of the lessons there given was equally powerful
in raising and invigorating the tastes of the ornamental
designers bred within the Gobelin walls. For Le Brun,
to Avhose initiative the foundation of this academical
school in the centre of an establishment devoted wholly
to the production of works of decoration was due, had
recognised the fact that the highest and widest possible
artistic training is none too good for your art-workman,
and that you will defeat )'our own ends if you limit his
attention to those forms which may happen to be con-
sidered as the special province of industrial art. It
is said, in Paris of to-day, that the only school which
furnishes no new blood to the ranks of that great army
of ornamental designers who give the law to Europe, is
that school in which ornamental design is expressly
taught — the school in which work the students of archi-
tecture. " Quel plus mauvaisservice,'' says M. Ravaisson.i
"serait-il done possible de rendre au plus grand nombre en
tout pays et dans le notre surtout, que de faire partout pre-
valoir des methodes d'enscignement propres a borner a la
' " L'Enseignement du Dessin," pp. 39-40.
214 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
mesurc de la mcdiocritc le developpement des talents ?"
and in still plainer language he adds, ''Pour I'industrie
frangaise en particulier, si elle est a tant de titres au
premier rang parmi les industries europeennes, a quoi en
est-elleredevable sinonaceque le premier rang appartient
depuis longtemps dejaa nos peintres et anos statuaires?"
It was the close connection of the greatest painters
and statuaries of the day with the schools that gave the
Gobelins their brief splendour in the reign of Louis XIV.,
and the practical utility of the Academy Avas felt to be
so great that it was carried on long after the death of
its founder. Although in 1694 the w^orkshops were
closed and many workmen forced to join the army/
four years later Germain Brice says: "There is
still a sort of Academy at the Gobelins where young
men can study from the model daily posed for them,
but,'"^ he adds, " in spite of all that, things have greatly
changed there, as they say, these last few years."- As
long as it lasted the school was not only powerful for
discipline, but continued to be the connecting link by
which the decorative arts at their very centre were
attached to the great staff of painters and sculptors
who were themselves centralised in the Academv ; it
effected the solidarity of all the arts, and justified the
policy Avhich had led Colbert to injure and cramp the
authority of the guilds.
Under the rule of Mignard,3 wlien Le Brun had
passed away, the Gobelins, as Germain Brice says, were
greatly changed, and when, on the death of Mignard,
the direction of Colbert's great creation passed into the
hands of the Board of Works, it fell to the ground, for
funds vv'ere wanting to support the schools and other
institutions connected with it which he had been unable
' Lacordaire, "Notice Historique sur les Manufactures Imperiales de
Tapi5senes,etc.," ed. 1S53, p. 83. ^ "Description de Paris," vol. ii. p. 23.
3 See Lacordaire, ibid. p. 81.
THE GOBELINS— THE SAVONNERIE. 215
to place on a sound financial footing. It was not until
Charles Antoine Coypel succeeded Boulogne as First
Painter, in 1746, that this part of Colbert's schemes
again received attention. Then, whether Coypel had
misunderstood Colbert's object or was out of sympathy
with it, he certainly gave a totally different direction to
that ^cole des Aleves proteges, which was formed, as it
were, in the very name of the Gobelins. i In place of
■an institution which should give to children living in the
workshop an insight into the noblest forms of art,
Coypel seems to have planned a little seminar}^ in which
twelve boys were nursed for the Academy.
Such a system could not meet the want which had
been created under Le Brun's administration, and in
1766 royal letters patent authorised the position of the
Ecole gnxtiute de dessiii, which had been opened in the
old College d^Auluu by Bachelier during the previous
year. In this school the attempt was once more made
to give " chaque ouvrier la faculte d'executer lui-mcme
et sans secours etranger les differens ouvrages que son
^enie particulier pour son art lui fait imaginer." -
This school was of course swept away by the
Revolution, and other ways and methods less arbitrary
have since been shaped in accordance with the demands
of to-day ; but these later ways and methods defy that
severity of discipline by virtue of which French art
attained its magnificent superiority over that of other
nations ; the training of the workman has gradually
become little more than mere apprenticeship to his
trade, and this tends to encourage those personal
vagaries which are prompted by the selfish desire to
attract the public notice.
•^ Courajod, " L'Ecole des Eleves proteges,'' p. 115 ci scg.
- Lettres Patentes. See Courajod, '• L'Ecole dej Eleves proteges," p. 232.
CHAPTER X.
CONCLUSION.
" Your revenue and your expenditure have passed all
bounds. You have been raised to the skies for having,
it is said, efifaced the greatness of all your predecessors
put together — that is to say, for having impoverished
the whole of France in order that you might introduce
at Court a monstrous and miserable luxury." i In
these words Fenelon addressed the Grand Monarque in
1693. Was it a true indictment }
To some extent doubtless "Yes^'! Pleasure and
superstition had had their will of one who, in spite
of the lines of lust and bigotry which disfigured his
character, was nevertheless a man of mark. Incapable
of love for either God or man — yet grovelling before his
confessor and his mistress — the king, when dealing with
practical affairs, showed conspicuous ability and energy.
His judgment, when the narrow lights of selfishness and
pride were sufficient for its guidance, w'as unerring ; his
natural powers of discernment and apprehension of a
very high order, his capacity for Avork and endurance
' In 1710 the tenth of each mcin's income was demanded, " pour sou-
tenir la guerre" (declared on 14 Oct., 1710). See Vuitry, " De Tabus,
etc." Revtie des Deux Mondes, 1884.
CONCLUSION. 217
far beyond the common ; his understanding sharp
enough to make him a most dangerous master to a
Minister Hke Colbert. The one-sided arguments by
which the latter, eager for success, had backed up his
policy of aggrandisement having once been taken in by
the king were by the king employed with despotic logic,
and Colbert dying, saw his work in large measure
destroyed by the very means on which he had reckoned
to ensure its success. France, instead of being made
the richer and the more prosperous by the activity of
her fostered industries and protected commerce, was
actually bankrupt through the scandalous luxury of a
dissolute Court.
This is the reverse side of the shield, and there is
much to justify the terrible words of Fenelon : the
blood, the anguish and the exile of the Huguenots ; the
hunger and nakedness of the peasantry ; the deaths of
fathers and husbands, who fell in thousands over the
pestilential labours enforced to please a harlot's fancy ;
commerce harassed by arbitrary legislation ; the pro-
ducer now coaxed with bounties, now ground by
taxation to the earth ; the professions sacrificing their
independence for the support and countenance of men
in power ; whilst those nearest to the throne held their
honour cheap at the price of a pension or a place.
Apart from the terrible shadows which blacken its
lustre, nothing can be more joyless than the aspect of
the Great Century. The mystic passion born of
Christian sentiment, which tinctured with fervour the
splendid realism of classic ideals, lifted the problems of
the Renaissance into the highest sphere of intellectual
interest : the social and political problems of the age of
Louis XIV. have no such spiritual fascination. Not less
complicated, not less exciting, not less momentous to
2i8 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
human life and society are they, but of Avholly different
value, and belonging to another order of things.
Out of the crumbling ruins of feudalism, the modern
state had to be created, its administration organised, its
commerce developed, its institutions established, its
officers housed, and the keynote of all this activity was
not the satisfaction of happy energies, but the calculated
considerations of business. Active and far-reaching in
schemes of practical work, great in devotion to the most
arduous tasks of government, noble in sacrifice to popu-
lar interests, splendid in her intelligent zeal to know
and do, France became the foremost amongst nations ;
but the fervid love of beauty haunted her common paths
no more.
Had her people been still in the full heat of that
creative energy which had marked the Renaissance, the
institution of such a system as this, in spite of the
political and social benefits which it conferred, might
have been a matter for regret. But France had "spoiled
the bread and spilled the wine," riot and ruin had been
her heritage, and out of riot and ruin Richelieu and his
successors had to rebuild an imperial state.
The means by which they succeeded in doing this
were for a while abused, but they succeeded, and not
all the vicissitudes of fortune nor the sins and wicked-
ness of after rulers could destroy their work. A spirit
of co-operation, of zeal for the grandeur of the state and
for the national reputation, was called forth in France by
the men of the Grand Siccle, a spirit which is perhaps
not the very noblest spring of energy, but which is an
undoubted element of national strength, and which,
markedly as it has affected the external progress of
France, has had a no less marked influence on every
branch of her internal development.
CONCLUSION. 219
" Tout pour la patric " — all for France — the watchword
Avhich is ever on the lips of her sons, is ever in their
hearts. In this absolute devotion to France lies the
national point of stability : the Bourbon tradition may
die, the Napoleonic legend may die, but France never
dies ; she always claims, no matter who may be the ruler
of the day, the same unquestioning self-sacrifice in her
service. And — by a strange revenge of fate — this spirit
in which the French have found, again and again, the
force necessary to repair the losses entailed by the
follies or the crimes of their fallen rulers, was called forth
in them by the very measures which were employed in
the seventeenth century to secure the foundations of
arbitrary rule.
Not to her fair skies alone nor to the wealth of her
happy soil does France owe her rank in Europe, but
chiefly to the devoted passion with which she is served
by every Frenchman. That zeal for the national
honour which enabled her on the morrow of Sedan to
begin the work of reconstruction v/ith dauntless ardour,
to uphold her commercial credit and to stablish her
future, that same zeal it is \vhich sustains the artist in
his poverty rather than set his hand to work unworthy
one to whom his country has given the highest training
which her school can bestow.
At the present moment, when the bonds of national
life seem somewhat slack amongst us, the means by
which this spirit was called forth are full of interest,
and the more so since the perplexing conditions, social
and political, with which we have to deal may be
referred, in great measure, to that disciplined reaction
against liberty of thought and life which was in part the
work of the seventeenth century. In no country of
Europe was this reaction more plainly defined than in
220 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
France : there, the moral and intellectual revolution
which had in the preceding age been carried out, if but
partially, to a logical conclusion ; there, too, the forces
of the reaction were taken in hand by those in supreme
power, and promptly put to that work of political and
social reorganisation, the effects of which in some shape
or other have endured even to this day. The revolution
which we call the Renaissance was necessarily incom-
plete, seeing that it never affected either political or
social life. Moreover, as soon as the fabric of political
and social life appeared to be menaced and the forces of
the reaction were aroused, the very principle to which
the Renaissance had owed its existence, the principle of
individualism, was turned against itself.
The great class organisations, the industrial guilds,
which had sprung up in the Middle Ages had been
based on the opposite principle — the principle of col-
lectivism ; the legal rights, privileges, and immunities
w'hich had accrued in the course of centuries to these
bodies, formed formidable obstacles to the establish-
ment of a system of arbitrary centralisation. Those in
power, however, found no agent more powerful for the
destruction of those societies than an appeal to that
very principle of individual liberty which they desired
to crush out in other directions. The great guilds had
always represented the common interest of the arts
and trades as distinct from, and sometimes even in-
compatible with, those of the artisan himself; nothing
was easier, therefore, than to encourage the disposition
to revolt, always latent amongst the abler and more
enterprising members, since all who w^ere suffering from
the frequently vexatious restraints imposed by the
combination of their fellow-workers naturally looked to
the Crown for protection.
CONCLUSION. 221
Thus it came to pass that, one by one, the ancient
guilds lost that power and importance which they had
so long enjoyed, and were relegated to a situation of
political insignificance ; thus, too, whilst all those
organisations by which the interests of the individual
or of the family had been subordinated to those of the
class or trade were broken up, class distinctions, bred of
the old order of things, were increased and maintained.
In a certain sense — for class distinctions marked out
individuals as having advantages not belonging to the
common rank — these caste distinctions lent themselves
to the aims of absolutism, and found their parallel in the
titles and privileges granted to those who bore rule in
the new Academies. They ruled, not as representatives
of their brothers, but as delegates of the Crown ; they
aided in the work of decentralisation, completed the
absorption of provincial types, and gave to P^rench art
and French industry that uniform character and style
which it has since maintained throughout all the changes
of fashion down to our time.
In the conflict between the vialtrise and the
Academies was reflected the great struggle of central
absolutism as against a democracy of many centres ;
the struggle between a system based on individualism,
which tends to the building up of absolutism, as against
that collectivism which is its overthrow. The violent
outburst of 1789, with all its frenzied iconoclasm, was
but a protest born of the crimes which stifled the
Renaissance, for the irresistible development of de-
mocracy, which is the keystone of the modern situation,
begun in the moral world by the Renaissance, received
so severe a check politically and socially in France
during the seventeenth century, that 1789 was needed
in order to redress the balance.
222 ART IN THE MODERN STATE.
The moral evolution of the sixteenth century having
failed to obtain social and political expression, the
assertion of the rights of the individual was turned
to the profit of arbitrary government^ and now for the
last hundred years the protest against the suppression
of the Renaissance has been gathering strength. To
fight against it is as irrational as to become its fanatical
apologist ; it requires neither advocacy nor apology, it
is an inevitable transformation — an historical evolution.
When the moral type changes in character, it is of
necessity that the world seeks new courses ; only the
death of the old must be the price of the new birth.
Nam quodcumque suis mutatum finibus exit,
Continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante.
APPENDIX.
This piece, and that following, in which the masters state
their grievances against the Academy, are, I believe, both
unpublished. I give them here, because the case for the
Academy has been fully placed before the world by the docu-
ments printed in the Appendix to M. Vitet's admirable study,
" L' Academic Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture,'"' whilst that
for the masters has been passed over.
" Mcmoire " of the Procureur du Roy au Chatelet (jM. de
Riantz, see Montaiglon, " Histoire de Tx^cademie," vol. ii.
p. 126), on behalf of the Alaitrise against the Academy.
(National Library MSS. Collection Delamare, Fonds
fran^ais, 21791.) Probable date, 1664.
" Le procureur du roy au Chastelet il' le lieutenant du
prevost de Paris pour le faict des arts ^ metiers Auquel seul
appartient (et en possession de tous temps immemorial) de
recevoir les maistres dans la ville de Paris . . . et . . . juger
. . . tous les differents (pi naissent de maistre a maistre pour
le faict des maistrises.
" Entr'autres communaultez II y a celle des peintres et
sculpteurs qui a este erige'e en maistrise II y a plus de quatre
ans, ausquelz a este concedde des statuts & privileges par les
Roys . . . ils ont toujours vescus dans I'obeissance & se sont
perfcctionnes en sorte que Ton pent dire quil y a en cette
communaultc les plus habilles hommes de I'Europe. Neant-
moings en I'annee 1648 le Roy par I'lmportunitc accorda a
224 APPENDIX.
quelques particuliers peintres certains articles soubz le tiltre
de I'Academye Royalle Lesquelz troublerent la communaulte
des peintres & sculpteurs, en sorte que des le procureur du
Roy en recevoit un prejudice considerable, Mais les Acade-
mistes sestans accomodez avec la communaulte des peintres &
sculptures par un concordat passe pardevant notaires au mois
d'Aoust 1651 & ayant reduit leur nombre a trente le procu-
reur du Roy les a soufferts, & lorsquils ont porte pardevant
luy leurs differends centre les maistres de la ditte communaulte'
il leurs a rendu la justice quil leurs debvoit.
" Ces Academistes non voulant pas demeurer la ont obtenus
d'aultres articles de sa majestic par les quelles Ton donne aux
Academistes seuls le droit de travailler et d'enseigner dans
paris I'art de peinture, Ton faict des deffenses a toutes sortes
de personnes de travailler que soubz les ordes de I'Academye
& Ton establist des officiers pour cognoistre & juger de leurs
differents, souverainement soubz I'authorite de gens d'lllustre
condition, Ton estably en tiltre d'office un secretaire qui recoit
le serment des academistes bien quil professe la Religion
pretendue Reforme'e' Lequel exige deux Louis dor en deslivrant
les provisions & enfin Ton donne pouvoir aux deux huissiers
qui balairont le lieu [see Art. XX. of the Statutes of 1664,
P. v., vol. i. p. 255] ou se tiendra I'accademie de travailler dans
paris en qualite de maistres, & ainsi soubz pretexte de
chercher les moyens d'avoir des habilz peintres ce qui est sauf
correction bien Inutil puisquil y a une Academye bien
establye & une maitrise dans Paris remplye d'habilz gens, ou
Ton professe I'art de la peinture autant bien que Ton peult
desirer Ion veult soustraire de la jurisdiction du procureur du
Roy la communaulte des peintres & sculpteurs & dans la
suitte celle des menuisiers parcequils ont droict de faire des
ornements de sculpture, des serruriers, & charpentiers. Sup-
primer les ordonnances que les Roys ont faict de siecle en
siecle depuis que la monarchye est monarchye les statuts con-
ceddees a toutes ses communaulte'z par les Roys successive-
ment Depuis plus de cinq a six cens ans donner pouvoir a un
homme de la Religion pretendue Refformee de faire prester le
serment aux accade'mistes Catholiques soubz le tiltre de Secre-
APPENDIX. 225
-taire de I'Accadcmye dont les inoeurs seront suspects, aux
accadtimistes de faire des assemblees dans Paris qui ont
toujours este estioitement deffendues, de se soustraire de la
police des juges ordinaires pour abuser de leur art soit en
faisant des nuditees soit d'autres figures scandaleuses & enfin
•establir une nouvelle Jurisdiction qui sera composee de Juges
de conseilleurs de grieffier i.^ huissiers & par ce moyen ruyner
la charge du procureur du Roy."
(The spelling in this and the following document has been
■carefully preserved.)
11.
The j\IS. above cited is followed by another, entitled
" Raisonnement desinteressc pour les maistres peintres &
sculpteurs de la ville de Paris touchant I'Academie de S' Luc."
The following extracts contain all the important passages of
this document, which, like the preceding, bears no date :
" Le corps des maistres peintres & sculpteurs subsiste
dans Paris II y a plus de quatre cens ans. . . . Si ce corps
a este plus vigoureux dans ses premieres annees que dans
les suivantes & que Ion ayt eu sujet d'accuser de foiblesse
aucuns de ses membres comme Ton a faict pour pretexter
I'establissement faict en 1648 de I'Academie Royalle des
mesmes arts Ce defiant ne provient que du trop de tranquillite
dont il a jouy-qui par faute d'ennemis ou plustost d'emulateurs
on a laisse engourdir la vigueur. . . . Mais estant pre'sen-
tcment reveille comme il est par la noble emulation de
TAcademie Royalle, il sent encores en soy assez de vigueur
pour maintenir avec justice son droict d'aisnesse soit pour la
conservation de ses privileges <.\: droicts soit pour les ouvrages
de I'art qu'il conviendra faire.
'•L'unique reproche quils veullent advouer qu'on leur a
pu faire avec quelque raison, est d'avoir souffert dans leur
corps pour membres co-egaux &: communs avec eux en
privileges ceux qui n'en exercent que les plus basses & grossieres
fonctions telz que les doreurs, Marbriers & autres estoffeurs
qui par raison doivent etre distinguez «!\: tenus autant au dessous
Q
226 APPENDIX.
des peintres & sculpteurs que I'ouvrage de ceux cy est pardessus
le leur. lis pourroient dire que c'est un abus invetere quilz
ont toUere plustost par habitude que par aprobation. . . .
Neantmoins pour oster a I'advenir tout sujet a I'Academie de
leur objecter ce deffault & profiter en cela de son advis Les
^ts ]y[rs gQjj|. j-ggolus d'apporter parmy eux toulte la reforme &
la distinction que Ton pent desirer sur ce sujet.
" L'establissement de I'Academie Royalle est a la verite
dans le dessein que Ton a eu de relever le lustre de ces
arts. . . . Neantmoins comme ce nouveau corps n'a este
forme qu'aux despends de celuy de la Maitrise, & que par
les articles de son establissement, Sa Majeste par Sa prudence
(Sc justice a expressement reserve que c'est sans quil puisse
nuire n'y prejudicier au corps des Maistres ; les d^ Acade'mistes
n'ont pas de grace de pretendre d'obliger ceux qui se contentent
d'estre Maistres a ce faire Academistes n'y encores moins de
droict de les troubler dans leurs antiens privileges. . . .
Les Maistres veulent bien passer soubz silence le contrat
d'union faict par eux avec les Academistes le 7 Juin 165 1
puisque ces derniers I'ont enfraint et violez de leur part.
Ce contract leur a servi a faire enregistrer au Parlement Les
patentesde I'Establissement de la d^ Academie a I'enregistrement
desquelles les Maistres s'estoient opposes, & il contient cette
clause expresse acceptee respectivement par les parties que
c'est sans aucun dessein de prejudicier au corps des Maistres
ny aux particuliers que les deux corps seront joints avec
voix desliberatives . . . ce qui n'a pas este observe par les
Academistes qui se sont depuis sequestrez des Maitres &
faict bande a part De sorte que ceux cy se contentent de
demeurer dans leur corps separez comme ilz I'estoient avant
le d*" contrat avec leurs antiens droicts & privileges accordez a
leurs Maitrises. . . .
" La senile chose que non seulement les IMaistres mais
encore tous les vertueux ont droit d'improuver avec raison
dans lad" Academie comme une oppression manifeste a la
vertu est la pretention qu'elle a eu (usurpant I'antien droict
des Maistres) d'estre seule dans Paris .... ceux qui s'en
estiment les premiers & principaux membres .... voulant
APPENDIX. 227
par ce moyen esviter silz pouvaient avoir des coegaux en
d'autres academies qui pourroient meriter le niesmc honneur
queiix. L'on ne peut pas desnier que les Maistres n'ayent droict
d'en tenir plusieurs .... cependant lesd"^ Academistes au
pre'judice de cctte liberie & de I'honneur d'une Acade'mie
Royalle ou Ton devroit enseigner gratuitement la jeunesse
puisquelle est entretenu aux despends de Sa Majeste en ont
congedier les filz des Maistres ou pour les souffrir veullent
en exiger de I'argent. ... Si I'instruction de la jeunesse est
comme elle doit estre le principal motif de I'Academie Ton y
doit aussijoindre la commodite des estudians, &: quelle raison
(Sc proportion y a il dune seule academie dans un petit monde
comme Paris ou tant de jeunes gens & pauvres ouvriers logez
aux extremitez de la ville & fauxbourgs perdroicnt plus de
temps a aller & venir avec bien de la peine quilz n'en pourroient
employer a I'estude. II faut done par necessite' & charite
en establir en divers quartiers de la ville. ... A quoy
Maistres voulants de leur part contribuer tout ce quilz
peuvent ont cru estre obligez se servant de leur antien droit
de restablir une academie de S' Luc dans la chambre de
leur communaulte non seulement pour I'instruction quilz
doivent naturellement a leurs enfans mais encores pour faire
connoistre que cest a tort qu'on les a voulu accuser de
n'avoir pas assez de zele pour se donner cette peine & que
d'ailleurs ilz nont pas moins de Capacite' pour enseigner la
Jeunesse que ceux qui ont I'honneur d'estre de I'Academie
Royalle ny moins de passion queux de servir & plaire a Sa
Majeste en tout ce quilz pouront."
Res faciunt non verba fidem.
III.
PROPOSED JUNCTION OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAINTING AND
SCULPTURE WITH THE ACADEMY OF ST. LUKE AT ROME.
The archives of the Academy of St. Luke at Rome contain
a few papers relative to the association of the Royal Academy
of France with that of St. Luke. There is more than a
cj 2
228 APPENDIX.
sheet in French, and one in ItaHan, concerning the ne-
gotiations for the union. That in French is signed by
" Le Brun, premier peintre du Roy, ChanceUer & principal
Recteur de I'Academie, Anguier, Girardon, ]\Iarsy, C. Beaubrun,
M. G. de Seve, Besnard, Ferdinand, Tettehn, Regnaudin,
Paillet, Coypel, De Campagne, P. de Seve, Blanchard, De la
Fosse, Le Hongre, Raon, Houasse, Baptiste Tuby, Migon,
Rousselet, Yvar, Tortebat, Rabon, Silvestre, Friquet."
Annexed to this are the royal letter assenting to the union
of the two Academies ; a letter of Testelin's, in his capacity
of secretary ; the power of attorney, given by the Royal
Academy of Painting and Sculpture of Paris to Charles Errard,
authorising him to conclude the union ; the report of the
discussion of the terms by the Academy of St. Luke, of
which Errard was vice-prince ; the original letters patent of
the King of France, by which he confers nobility on Le
Brun, together with an Italian translation of the same ;
and the heads of the agreement for the union, subscribed
by Colbert for the king.
The archives also contain two letters, written by Le Brun
in acknowledgment of his election to the Academy of St.
Luke, and of his having been made its prince. The first
of these letters has already been published from the copy
preserved, together with the Italian translation, in the Bibl.
Nat. Fonds Se'guier (see "Arch, de I'Art Frangais," 1852,
p. 52), and, as the text preserved in the archives of the
Academy of St. Luke differs from it only verbally, except
that it bears date loth April (corrected into loth February),
1676, it is unnecessary to reproduce it here.
The text of the second letter, a copy of which I owe
to the friendly offices of M. Eugene Miintz, is subjoined.
From it, it would appear that the oftice of prince to which
Le Brun had been elected, carried with it, by grace of the
Academy, special advantages and privileges.
" Messieurs,
II faut avouer que je ne puis penser a vous faire un
remerciment que je n'aye un nouveau sujet de vous en faire
APPENDIX. 229
un autre, La lettre que je viens de recevoir de vostre illustre
& scavante Academic est un nouveau sujet de graces que j'ai
a vous rendre, Cette lettre, Messieurs, est rachevement de
vostre ouvrage, vous avez voulu par elle faire connoistre a
tout le monde I'lionneur que vous m'avez fait en me nommant
Prince de vostre illustre Compagnie, vous avez voulu que
chacun fust informe comme vous m'avez associe a tous les
avantages que vous possedez quy ne sont dus qu'a vos
illustres personnes, Quand je pense a la grandeur du rang
ou vous m'avez eleve, et que je considere combien je
merite peu cet honneur, je ne scay laquellc est plus grande
en moy, ou de la joye que j'en ressens, ou de la confusion
que j'en ay, Et s'il y a quelque chose quy puisse justifier
vostre choix, c'est du moins que je me puis vanter de bien
connoistre le prlx de la grace que vous m'avez faitte, Je scay
que j'entre en societe avec les plus habilles et les plus
scavans hommes de nostre siecle, que je dois tout a leur
generosite, Je scay encore qu'il ne faut pas seulement de
parolles pour vous remercier de tant de faveurs, qu'il faut
s'esforcer par des actions a se rendre digne de la place ou vous
m'avez eleve', C'est, ISIessieurs, ce que j'essayeray de faire
par mes assiduitez et raes services, en cherchant avec ardeur
les occasions de vous tesmoigner ma reconnoissance, et de
vous faire paroistre en tout rencontre que personne ne sera
jamais avec plus de soubmission a tous vos ordres que moy,
quy suis avec une forte passion, et beaucoup de respect pour
vos illustres personnes
Messieurs
Vostre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur
Le Br UN
a Paris le io«^ Avril 1676"'
It is disappointing to find that after an elaborate exchange
of civilities between the chiefs, and after the formal ne-
gotiations had proceeded to the length almost of conclusion,
the proposed union of the two Academies came to nothing
(M. L, vol. i. p. 30).
230 APPENDIX.
IV.
PRIVILEGES OF ACADEMICIANS.
Over and above the small sum (600 l.t. — livres tournois) set
apart for the maintenance of the model, the salaries, promised
by Colbert to the Rectors and Professors in 1662, were
considerably increased in 1664 (P. V., vol. i. p. 248). The
four Rectors, each of whom had to attend every Saturday
evening during his quarter to assist the Professor for the
month in the correction of drawings, and in the direction
of the pupils and their studies, were allotted 300 l.t. apiece ;
whilst the twelve Professors, each bound to attend every day
during his month of oflice, "pour posser le modelle en attitude,
le dessigner, corriger les estudians «S; veiller a toutes les
affaires de I'academie" (vol. i. p. 248), only received 100 l.t.
It must, however, be remembered that the Rector was obliged,
at his weekly visit, to hold a revision of the whole week's work
from the model, on the results of which depended the choice
of those who were to compete for prizes. The lecturers on
Perspective, Geometry, and Anatomy (MM. Migon and
Quatrousse), who each taught on three days a week, received
200 l.t. each.
I learn from my friend, M. Eugene Miintz, that drawings
executed by the Professors in the discharge of their duties in
class, are still preserved in the Ecole des Beaux Arts. After
correcting these proofs I received from him the MS. of part
of a work which he has in progress, in which those who desire
to follow up the subject will find the History of the Aca-
demical School in France treated in the fullest detail.
V.
THE LECTURES ON GEOMETRV, PERSPECTIVE, AND ANATOMY.
These lectures were open to pupils and to the public on
payment of the same fee as that required for the life-class
(vol. i. p. 251, Art. IV.). For at least a year after the quarrel
APPENDIX. 231
'with Abraham Bosse, no lectures on Geometry and Perspective
•were given. Eventually M. Migon presented himself (March,
1662), and, although warned that he could expect no pay till
it should please the king to grant " les panssions," and that
he must always submit to the company "le projet de ses
lecons " before addressing the students, he persisted in taking
the vacant post. In the following December the Academy
decided to grant Migon a seat and vote (except at the
reception of Academicians or election of officials), and to
make him one of the thirty members (then) enjoying special
privileges (P. V., vol. i. p. 203). The position of the lecturer
on Anatomy was greatly inferior to that of the lecturer on
Perspective. M. Quatrousse must have lectured for many
years without pay, since in 165 1 we find him offering "to
continue" his lectures (vol. i. p. 59), when it was decided to
give him a seat without vote at ordinary meetings ; but he
never obtained much consideration, for in September, 1670
(vol. i. p. 351), he is invited to open a public conference, it
being alleged as a reason that " personne de la Compagnie ne
s'y est offert." Yet in 1670 his position was not so bad as at
first, for on 5th July of that year his name appears amongst the
signatures to the draft of the day's proceedings (P. V., vol. i.
p. 350), and continues to recur until 1672, when Quatrousse
resigned his thankless office (P. V., vol. i. pp. 391, 400).
The skeleton which he had lent to the Academy had been
purchased from him in 1671 (P. V., vol. i. p. 364). but no note
of regret or acknowledgment was placed on the register after his
resignation. The "'Compagnie," on November 5, when re-
ceiving, in the place of Quatrousse, Jean Friquet " en la calite
de Professeur en anathomie pour en fair les fonctions & donner
les lecons au Estudians un jour de chaque semaine a savoir le
samedit,'' unkindly remark that " une personne de la profession
se treuvant capable de donner des lemons d'anathomie devoit
toujours estre pre'fere a un chirurgien." Friquet, who was no
other than the unruly student who had headed the revolt of
1663, enjoyed at once all the advantages denied to Quatrousse,
and took rank " en suite de ^P' les Conseiller Professeur
avecq la qualite de Conseiller."
232 APPENDIX.
VI
THE EXHIBITIONS.
The right to a place in the yearly exhibitions was, at first,
regarded rather as a tiresome obligation than as a coveted
advantage. The exhibition lasted " quelques jours seulement,"
and, in order to ensure sufificient contributors, it had to be
enacted that those v;ho did not exhibit could not take part
in the yearly elections to office, which were held on the
opening day, whenever any renewals or changes had to be
made in the governing body. Some trouble was taken to
make the show imposing on the first occasion after the
confirmation of the new statutes, when, on account of the
move to the Palais Royal, the exhibition was postponed until
August. Colbert was expected, and it was decided that "la
salle serait tapissee " (P. V., vol. i. p. 286). Beaubrun,
the treasurer, was directed to buy what was necessary, and a
hanging committee was appointed, on which we find the well-
known names of Sebastian Bourdon, Van Opstal, Philippe de
Champagne, and Nicolas INIignard, commonly called Mignard
d'Avignon in order to distinguish him from Pierre, his able
and refractory younger brother. So much difficulty was,
however, experienced by them {ibid. vol. i. p. 297) in carrying
out these plans that, in the follovving year (1666), it was
decided that the exhibition should be triennial only, opening
always during Holy Week.
VII.
NOTE ON COLONNADE OF THE LOUVRE.
" Le sixieme abus est de faire un grand ordre, comprenant
plusieurs etages, au lieu de donner un ordre a chaque etnge. . . .
Ce n'est pas que cela ne puisse etre permis quelqucfois dans les
APPENDIX. 233
grands palais, mais il faut que Tarchitecte ait I'adresse de
trouver un pretexte \ ce grand ordre, & qu'il paroisse qu'il y
a este oblige par la symetrie qui demande qu'un grand ordre
qui est necessaire h. quelque partie considerable du bastiment.
Cela a este pratiqud avec beaucoup de jugement en plusieurs
edifices, mais principalenient dans le palais du Louvre, lesquel
estant basti sur le bord d'un grand fleuve, qui donne une
espace & un eloignement fort vaste a son aspect avoit besoin
pour ne paroitre pas chetif d'avoir un grand ordre. Celuy
qu'on luy a donne qui comprend deux e'tages, & qui est pose
sur Tetage d'embas qui luy sert comme de Piedestail, & qui est
proprement le rempart du chateau, est ainsi exhausse a cause
de deux grands & magnifiques portiques qui regnent le long
de la piincipale face a i'entrce du Palais, t\; qui estant comme
pour servir de Vestibule a tous les appartements du premier
e'tage, demandoit cette grandeur & cette hauteur extraordinaire
que Ton a donnee h son ordre, qu'il a falu poursuivre & faire
regner ensuite tout au tour du reste de Te'difice : Car cela
autorise ou du moins excuse I'incongruite que Ton aurait pu
objecter a. I'architecte, s'il avait fait sans necessite une chose
qui d'ellememe est sans raison : scavoir ne donner pas a
chaque ^tage qui est proprement un batiment separe son ordre
propre et separe, & de faire servir une meme colonne a
porter deux planchers, supposant qu'elle en soutint un par
maniere de dire sur sa teste, & un autre comme pendu a sa
ceinture." — C. Perrault, Ordoiuiance des Ciiuj Es^cces de
Colojincs, p. 119.
VIII.
EXTRACTS FROM THE REGISTER OF THE ACADEMY OF
ARCHITECTURE (UNPUBLISHED), AND SUMMARY OF CON-
TENTS FROM 1672 10 1694.
Vol. I. — This register is preceded by the following entry :
"Annees de reception. 1672, M. Colbert sur-intendant.
1680, M. Dormoy surintendant.
234 APPENDIX.
" Academiciens, 1672. M. Blondel Directeur & Professeur.
Le Van" (this is the son of F. Le Vau, who died 1670).
" Bruand. Gittard. Le Pautre " (Le Paiiltre in another
hand). " Mignard. Dorbay. Felibien secretaire.
" 1673. Perrault Officier des Bat" du Roy en charge.
1675, Hardouin Mansart surintendant en 1699. 1678, La
motte coquard officier des Bat" en charge de controUeur
general. 1680, Perrault officier en charge. 26 Fev. Daucourt
officier en charge. Gobert, officier en charge d'Intendant
general des Bat'^ 168 1, Le Nautre officier en charge."' (In
another hand Le Nostre, p. 440.)
The " registre des conferences de I'Academie Royale
d'Architecture," which follows the above, is so voluminous
and so same, that, althougli I have taken a copy of the greater
part, it seems needless to do more than print a few extracts
illustrative of the text, which will show the character of the
proceedings. The report of the first sitting is given in cxtenso.
" Du dernier jour de Decembre 1671,
" Le jeudi der° jour de X'"'" 167 1 I'Academie royalle des
Architectes du Roy a este' establie par Monseign"" Colbert sur-
intendant des bastiments dans un des appartements du palais
royal a un des bouts de la raesme gallerie ou de I'Academie
royalle de Peinture. Et en pre"" de Mond'seig' Colbert &
de plus" personnes de qualite M"" Blondel professeur royal
aux mathematiques & en archif^ en a fait I'ouverture par un
discours sur I'excellence de rArchit'". Ensuite duq' il a
declare les intentions de S. M"- sur I'establissement de cette
compagnie composee des M" Le Vau, Bruand, Gittard, le
Pautre, Mignard et Dorbay, architectes choisis par sa M-"-' et
I'ordre que Mondseig' le surintendant veult qu'on garde qui
est que tous les Mardis et Vendredis de la semaine le d'S
Blondel fera legon publique d'Arch'^*^ a tous ceux qui voudront
se trouverdans la sale de I'Academie depuis deux heures . . .
jusques a quatre. Pendant la premiere heure il dictera les
lerons & pendant la seconde il expliquera ou les elements
d'Euclide ou autres connoissances necess'^' aux architectes.
APPENDIX. 235
"Tous les jeudis de la semaine a pareille heure se feront
des assemblees particulicres des personnes nommcs par S. M.
pour conferer sur I'art &: les regies de rArcht'" & dire leur avis
sur les matieres qui auront este proposees selon I'estude & les
observations que chacun aura faites sur les matieres qui
auront este proposees. Ouvrages antiques tS: sur les escrits
de ceux qui en ont Iraite. Chacun y adjoutant ses raisons par
ores selon le sujet qui sera en deliberation. Et pour com-
mancer le d S"" Blondel a dit que dans la premiere assemblee
qui se fera le jeudi prochain Ton dira ce que c'est que le bon
goust dont Ton parle d'ord'" dans les ouvrages d'Arch"''' et
qui marque leur excellence.
(Signed) " Bloxdel. Le Vau.
" GiTTARD. BrUAND.
" Mignard. Dorbay."
" Felibien.
On the said Thursday, 7th January, 1672, it was decided
that, "Toutes les choses faites de bon goust doivent necessaire-
ment plaire mais qu'il y a plus"'^^ choses qui peuvent plaire
qu'on ne peut pas pour cela dire de bon goust." On the
18th February we find them all agreed that, considering the
services of Scamozzi in preserving all that he could find in
classic authors concerning architecture, he should hold second
rank amongst moderns, and be followed, like Palladio, "en
gros."
On the 17th March it is decided that Leon Battista Aiberti
" doit estre considere comme un auteur plustost que come un
ouvrier de bon gout." Viole and Cataneo are next disposed
of, and on March 31st they proceed to their first deliberation on
a practical question : '• Sur la proposition qui a este faict de la
nianiere de disposer les pilastrcs opposcz aux colonnes qui
sont mises en saillie aux pavilions des ailes a I'entre'e de la
grande cour du chasteau de Versailles, scavoir si Ton disposerait
une colonne en saillie de deux tiers pres le mur desd' pavilions
vis a vis des colonnes angulaires de la facade du dehors ou si Ton
continueroit au dedans un rang de mesme colonnes alignees
236 APPENDIX.
sur ces premieres &: repondant a celles du dehors laissant de
chaque coste aux encoigneures du mur des pilastres en maniere
3 d'arrieres corps, ou si laissant un alignem' de pilastres
seulem' allignez sur ceux des encoigneures renforcant le mur
par dedans pour soutenir la poussee des coupes de I'architrave,
4 ou si enfin laissant les pilastres allignez comme dessus Ton
feroit porter depuis le mur jusques aux colonnes angulaires des
poitrails revestus de pierre de taille, ou des barres de fer bien
corroyes pour estre joints ensemble & posees de clamps pour
soutenir I'architrave d'une seule piece & descharge'e par le
hault.
" L'assemblee des architectes nommes par le Roy dans son
Academic d'iVrchitecf^ est d'avis que pour plus grande facilite
du passage des carosses entre le mur & les colonnes pour la
conservation du plus grand jour des logements & pour ajuster
autant qu'il se pent ce qui reste a faire avec ce qui est deja
fait Les colonnes de dedans seront ostees & les pilastres vis a vis
des colonnes doivent estre faites sur I'align' de ceux des en-
coigneures, & pour porter les architraves qui doivent estre de
pierre depuis le mur jusques aux colonnes angulaires il sera
mis trois bandes de fer plat, de trois pouces sur un et demy
chascun posees de clamp, bien corroyes &: joints ensemble
traversees par les bouts d'ancres entrez dans la colonne d'une
part & au deld du mur de Fault" cesd' barres de fer revesteus
d'architraves frise &: corniche de pierre posee en coupe & lie'es
par les bouts par lesd' ancres & tirans.
" Pour ce qui est du dessein de la balustrade qu'on a fait
voir, elle paroisse devoir faire un assez bon effet dans la
hauteur marque'e dans le dessein, mais pour les figures qui
sont de huict pieds de hault dans le dessein Elles sont trop
forts & trop haults & feront un meilleur effet les reduisant
compris le socle a la haulteur de sept pieds et demy."
(For these works see Piganiol, vol. i. pp. 14, 15.)
(Signed)
Blondel. Le Vau.
GiTTARD. BrUAND.
MiGNARD. DORCAY.
Felibien.
APPENDIX. 237
At tlieir next meeting, on the ytli April, the king's architects
discuss the claims of Philibert de I'Orme, speak of his system of
wood-jointing for vaulting (see " Renaissance of Art in France,"
vol. i. pp. 134-5), and give him the highest rank amongst
French architects. On the 3rd May it is the turn of Jean
BuUant, and, in the following month, of La Erosse (Desbrosses),
the builder of the Luxembourg.
In January the architects received the first application, 1673
from outside, for counsel, and examined the designs for the
new hospital at Besan^on submitted to them by a certain
S' le Royer. On the 23rd of the same month, having been
unable to decide the question "de la rencontre des architraves
sur les colonnes accompagnes de pilastres," they agree to read
Vitruvius, but on Feb. 28th, having discovered the " peu de
rapport " that Jean ^NLirtin's translation has with Vitruvius,
they break off and take Palladio, agreeing to wait for Perrault's
translation of Vitruvius. This reading of Palladio serves them
throughout the year (with the single exception of a decision
iaken, 31st July, to the effect that the inscription on the
front of the church of the " College Mazarini " should be not
in two lines but one), and is continued till the 9th of April, •
1674, when they are consulted by the Chapter of Rennes as to 1674
finishing the towers of their cathedral. On April 23rd Gittard
submits to them his drawing for the capitals of the pilasters in
the Church of St. Sulpice ; 31st May, IMignard gives exact
notes on the Maison carrce of Nimes ; nth June, a drawing is
laid before them for the altar of the parish church of Vineuil ;
all the meetings between these different dates having been
steadily occupied by reading Palladio. The first chapter of
Vitruvius is begun with Perrault's notes on the iSth June, and,
with an interlude from 7th Sept. to 19th Oct., during which
Feiibien's " Traite des Principes de I'Architecture " is under
examination, this reading of Vitruvius is continued uninter-
ruptedly till the end of 1674.
During 1675 the attendance became slack, and when 1675
the numbers were scanty, as on February 4th, they took
to reading the " Dictionnaire des Arts." To profit by
Vitruvius they seem to have required the help of Blondel,
238 APPENDIX.
who submitted to them in July his design for the Porte S.
Denis and began to read out his " Livre d' Architecture.'^
In the May previous Perrault submitted to them the difficuUies
arising in a room at Versailles concerning the place of certain
columns which had been fixed without regard to the projection
of their capitals, and in June he brought drawings of arches at
Autun constructed without mortar. The tomb of Mazarin
occupied them on the 29th July and 9th August, when also
Perrault brought them letters from Rome on the use of
" gouttes dans le soffit de la corniche du dorique " in the
Theatre of Marcellus. After this they returned to reading
Felibien's book, which carried them to the end of the year
without other incident than the reception of Hardouin
Mansard on December 23rd.
From the above extracts and summary a clear idea may
be gained as to the course of proceedings in the Academy;
1676 and 1677 were marked by nothing noteworthy, but the
following year, 1678, saw the whole body engaged at Colbert's
instance in visiting the old churches and buildings of Paris
and the environs, with the special object of reporting (see
MS. in fol. 262, Bibl. Nat.) on their condition of preservation,
so as to decide what was the best stone to employ and the
best method of employing it. This portion of the Register
has already been published by M. de Laborde (see " Revue
d' Architecture et de Travaux Publics" de C. Daly, 1852, t. x.
p. 194), and therefore needs no longer mention here. The in-
spection, which included the quarries of Pontoise and Fecamp,
was completed during the summer months, and the report was
finished in December, when they returned to their usual
occupations, arbitrating between employers and employed, as
in the dispute between the Marquis de Bullion and le
S"' Le Brun, "maitre masson " (5th December), and reading
between whiles Alberti, Scamozzi, and Serlio. Thus things went
on till, in 1694, the awful announcement came to them, as to
all the other Academies, that their doors should be closed.
1694 "3 May Le Mercredy 21 avril 1694 Monsieur le Marquis
de Villacerf surintendant des batiments a envoye a M. Felibien
un ordre du roy pour faire cesser les conferences & les legons
APPEi\DIX. 239
de I'Academie d'Architecture aussi tost Ion en a donne avis a
M. Ft'libien afin que chacun cust a obeir ce qui a estc execute
salon la teneur du d ordre. Et sur ce que la Cie a depuis
supplic M. de Villacerf de vouloir bien luy faire la grace
d'obtenir du Roy qu'elle pent continuer les conferances & les
lecons ordinaires sans pour cela avoir autre dessin que de
marquer a Sa Majeste le zele & Tattachement que tous ceux
qui composent la d' Compagnie ont a son service. Monsieur
de Villacerf a eu la bontc d'obtenir du Roy pour la Cie la
grace qu'elle a souhaite ainsy qu'il est porte par la lettre du
30 avril adresse au d' S' Felibien & qui avec la premiere lettre est
insere'e dans le present registre conformement a I'intention de
M. de Villacerf.
" Copie de la premiere lettre :
" 'A Paris le 21 av>-il 1694.
" ' Le roy m'a ordonne de faire cesser I'Academie d'Archi-
tecture je vous prie d'en avertir M. de la Hire affin qu'il
n'enseigne plus & M'^ les Architectes affin qu'ils ne s'y
trouvent plus. Je suis Monsieur vostre &c.'
" ' Signe De Villacerf & sur I'adresse a M. Felibien &c.
" Copie de la seconde lettre mentionnee cy devant :
" ' A Taris Ic 30 avril 1694.
" ' J'ay rendu compte au Roy de la proposition que Mess",
de I'Academie de I'Architecture m'ont fait de s'assembler
gratuitement pour faire des conferances. Sa Majeste I'aprouve,
& vois pouvez avertir ces INlessieurs, qu'ils peuvent conferer
ensemble is: s'assembler les jours ordinaires, mais vous ne
devez point marquer leurs assistances puisqu'ils n'en doivent
pas etre payez presentement. Sa Majeste trouve bon aussi que
M. de la Hire acheve gratuitement son cours d'architecture
ainsi (ju'll I'a propose je vous prie de le luy faire savoir. Je
suis oblige de vous dire qu'il est ne'cessaire que les lettres que
je vous ecrit de la part du Roy, qui concernent I'Academie
d'Architecture, soient registrees dans le Registre de lad'
240 APPENDIX.
Academic, a quoy je vous prie de tenir la main. Je suis
Monsieur vostre &c.
'• ' Signe De Villacerf & plus bas pour adresse a
M. Felibien.'
"Apres la lecture des lettres precedentes Ton a continue
d'examiner le livre des edifices antiques du S' des Godets.
" Bullet. De La Hire. Dorbay. Felibien."
The sentence with which the report of the above sitting
concludes shows that the system, by which the old corporations
had been replaced, was now rooted against the possibility of
overthrow.
IX
Callot's Work at Florence.
The following communication, obtained for me through the
kindness of M. Eugene jAIiintz from the Keeper of the x\rchives
at Florence, gives some valuable details concerning Callot's
early life and stay in that city.
" The subscriber certifies that the following notes concern-
ing Jacques Callot and some of his works are established
by documents preserved in the Medicasan section of the
Archives of Florence :
"On the list of the household, from 1610 to 1620 in-
clusively, Callot appears amongst the members of the same for
the space of a year (probably from July, 1619, to July, 1620),
without salary, but in the enjoyment of all the privileges con-
ceded to those in receipt of salaries (F"" 303).
"In 1618, and in 1619, he is commissioned by the Grand-
Duke to etch thirty-two views of the most noteworthy spots in
Jerusalem, as will be seen by the two facsimiles of accounts
subjoined (F'^ 359, a.q.).
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APPENDIX 241
"In 1619, and in 1620, Callot has a shop in the Galleria
di Corte, and works there on commissions for the above-named
Grand-Duke, as appears from a (quantity of memoranda, ad-
dressed by Callot to Cosimo Latini, the overseer of the gallery,
to obtain weekly payment of the wages of a certain Francesco
di Paolo, who served him as printer, and, from time to time, to
get repaid for expenses incidental to these commissions, amongst
which may be noted some engravings representing scenes from
the tragedy of ' Solimano,' written by Count Prospero Bonarelli
(F" 375)-
"In 1623, the plate by Callot representing the ' Fiera deir
Impruneta ' figures amongst the most valuable works of art
existing in the Pitti Palace (F" 421 to 26).
"In 1713, by order of the Grand-Duke Cosimo III., the
' Cruardaroba di Corte ' lends to the grand-ducal printers,
Jacopo Guiducci and Santi Franchi, 35 plates by Callot, of
various sizes, representing views of the Holy Land ; 15, repre-
senting the deeds of the Grand-Duke Ferdinand I. ; 2, repre-
senting fireworks which took place in Florence, on the river
Arno, in the days of Cosimo II. ; i, representing a ball in the
Pitti Palace, with the arms of Cosimo II., and with those of his
wife, Maria Maddalena of Austria (F'^ 957 to 82)."
(Signed) L'archivista,
Ferdinando Soldi.
The 30th April, 18 78.
Stamped with the seal of the Royal Household, and signed
by the " administrator " Perone.
APPENDIX.
X.
27 NOV'^ 1667. EDIT DU ROY POUR l'eTABLISSEMENT d'uNE
MANUFACTURE DES MEUIiLES DE LA COURONNE AUX
GOBELINS.* (EXTRACT.)
". . . Le roy Henry le Grand notre ayeul, se voyant au milieu
de la paix, estima n'en pouvoir mieux faire gouster les fruits a
ses peuples qu'en retablissant le commerce & les manu-
factures , . . il auroit, par son edit du mois de Janvier 1607
etabli la manufacture de toutes sortes de tapisseries tant dans
notre bonne ville de Paris qu'en toutes les autres villes qui
s'y trouveroient propres, et prepose a I'e'tablissement &
direction d'icelles les sieurs de Comans & de la Planche,
ausquels, par le meme edit, Ton auroit accorde plusieurs
privileges et avantages ... les premiers etablissements qui
furent faits ayant e'te negliges & interrompus pendant la licence
d'une longue guerre . . . pour les retabllr & pour rendre
les etablissements plus immuables en leur fixant un lieu
commode & certain, nous aurions fait acquerir de nos deniers
I'hostel des Gobelins & plusieurs maisons adjacentes, fait
rechercher les peintres de la plus grande reputation, des
tapissiers, des sculpteurs, orphevres, ebenistes & autres ouvriers
plus habiles en toutes sortes d'arts & metiers, que nous y
aurions loges, donne des appartemens a chacun d'eux &
accorde des privileges & avantages ; mais d'autant que ces
ouvriers augmentent chaque jour . . . aussi nous avons
estime qu'il estoit necessaire, pour I'affermissement de ces
etablissements de leur donner une forme constante & per-
petuelle & les pourvoir d'un reglement convenable a cet effet.
A ces causes . . . de I'advis de nostre conseil d'Etat, qui
a vu I'Edit du mois de Janvier 1607 . . . nous avons diet,
statue & ordonne, disons, statuons & ordonnons ainsi qu'il en
suit :
" 1° C'est k scavoir que la manufacture des tapisseries &
autre ouvrages demeurera establie dans Thostel appele des
* Arch. Nat. O.^ 1054. Edits, Lettres patentes, arrets, declarations,
ordonnances du roy. Annees 1573-1731.
APPENDIX. 243
Gobelins maisons & lieux & deppendances a nous appartenanr,
sur la principale porte duquel hostel sera . . . inscript :
Manufacture royallc dcs mcublcs de la Couro7ine.
" 2" Seront les manufactures & deppendances d'icelles regies
& administre'es par les ordres de nostre ame & f^al conseiller
ordinaire en nos conseils, le sieur Colbert, surintendant de nos
bastimens, arts is: manufactures de France & ses successeurs
en ladite charge.
"3° La conduite particulicre des manufactures appartiendra
au sieur Le Brun, nostre premier peintre, soubs le titre de
directeur, suivant les lettres que nous luy avons accordees
le 8 mars 1663, etc., etc. ...
"4° Le surintendant de nos bastimens & le directeur
soubs luy tiendront la manufacture remplie de bons peintres,
maistres tapissiers de haute lisse, orphevres, fondeurs, graveurs,
lapidaires, menuisiers en ebene & en bois, teinturiers & autres
bons ouvriers, en toutes sortes d'arts & mestiers qui sont
t^tablis & que le surintendant de nos bastimens tiendra
necessaire d'y etablir. . . .
" 6° Voulons qu'il soit entretenu, dans les dites manufac-
tures, a nos dcpens, le nombre 0\: quantite de soixante
•enfans. . . .
" 7° Seront les enfans, lors de leur entree en la dite maison,
mis & places dans le Scminaire du Directeur, auquel sera
donne un maistre peintre soubs luy, qui aura soin de leur
education & instruction.
"... 10° lis pourront, apres six annees d'apprentissage
et quatre annees de service, estre receus maistres, tant dans la
bonne ville de Paris que dans toutes les autres du royaume,
sans faire experience ny estre tenus d'autre chose que de se
presenter devant les maistres gardes des dites marchandises,
arts & mestiers. . . . Les dits maitres et gardes seront tenus
de les recevoir, sans aucuns frais, sur le certificat du surin-
tendant des finances.
" 11° Les ouvriers employes dans les dites manufactures
se retireront, dans les maisons les plus proches de I'hostel des
Gobelins ... en toute liberte. . . .
''. . . 17" Nous avons faict c\: faisons trcs-cxpresses
244 APPENDIX.
inhibitions & deffenses a tons marchands et autres personnes-
. . . d'achepter ny faire venir des pays estrangers des tapisseries,
nv vendre ou debiter aucune des manufactures estrans^eres
ou autres que celles qui sont presentement dans notre royaume,.
a peine de confiscations d'icelles & d'amende de la valeur de
]a moitie des tapisseries confisquees. . . .
"... Donnees a Paris, au mois de novembre 1667 «Sc de
notre regne le vingtcinq.
'' (Signe) Louis."
& plus bas, " Par le roy
"De Genegaud.'"
INDEX
Academical Schools, the, loi
Academic des Beaux Esprits, the,
18,23
Academie Fran5aise, the, 18; "Sen-
timents on the Cid," 21 ; the
Dictionary, 23
Academy of Architecture, the, 51-81
Academy of Inscriptions, the, 54
Academy of Painting and Sculpture,
the, 44, 46, 81-123, 141. 176,
184, 1S6
Academy of St. Luke, the, 102, 1 10
Alexander, the Battles of, 182, 184
Anguier, Guillaume, painter, 201
Anguier, Michel, sculptor, 153, 154
Antin, the Due d', surintcndant des
batiments, 72
Antique, study of the, no, 11 1
Apollo Gallery, the, 123, 154
Architecture, the Academy of, 54,
61-75
Aries, Mansard's roof for the town
hall of, 71
Arnauld, Antoine, 17
Arnoul, intendant des galeres, 148
Arsenals, Puget employed in the,
147, 148
Art in the seventeenth century,
French, 2, 44, 46, ico
Assembly of Notables, the, 8
Audran, Claude, painter, 122-130
Audran, Gerard, engraver, 168, 169,
179-185, 202
Auxerre point-lace, 191
Avaux, Felibien des, 66
Bachaumont, quot., 68
Bailly, tapestry worker, 200
Balland, Philibert, embroiderer, 200
Ballin, Claude, silversmith, 162,
206, 207
Balzac, 16
Banville, 94
Bassompierre, 19
Baudet, Etienne, engraver, 114, 130,
I79> 183
Baudoin, 144
Beaubrun, the, court painters, 137
Beaufort, the Duke de, 178
Beauvais, the tapestries of, 190
Bellange, Jacques, engraver, 172
Belle, Etienne de la, engraver, 170
Bellelievre, De, 12
Benedetti, the Abbe, 57
Berain, engraver, 183, 202
Bernini, Italian architect, 56-62
Besan9on, the hospital at, 73
Besnard, animal painter, 96, 158,
196, 201
Bicheur, Le, his treatise on Perspec-
tive, 175
Bievrebache, 45, 47, 118, 193, 201,
206
Blamard, Louis, painter, 195
Blanchard, painter, 125, 129
Blois, 52
Blondel, Franjois, lecturer, 66
Boehm, 125
Boileau, 157
Boisrobcrt, the Abbe, 19, 23
Bomme, expelled from the academi-
cal school, 113
Bonnemer, painter, 202
Bosse, Abraham, engraver, 104 (etc. ,
etc.), 170-187
Bossuet sits to Nanteuil, 178
Boucher, 139, 144
Bouillon, the Duke de, sits to Nan-
teuil, 178
246
INDEX.
Boulle, Andre Charles, 205, 209,
210
Boullogne, Bon, 93
Boulogne, Louis, 123, 125, 202
Bourdon, Sebastian, Huguenot pain-
ter, 96, 114, 126, 128, 150 (etc.,
etc.)
Bourlemont, the Abbe de, 41
Branchi, Florentine lapidary, 199
"Breda, the siege of," etching by
Callot, 171
Brice, Germain, 65
Brosse, Guy de la, founder of the
Botanical Gardens, 187
Bruand, Liberal, architect, 66
Brun, Le, see Le Brun
Bulet, Pierre, architect, 74
Butte des Moidins, the, 75
Buyster, Philippe, sculptor, Iji,
154, 157
"Cabinet d'Estampes," 181
Cabinet of Curiosities, the, 159
Caen, designs for a Jesuit church
at, 73
Caffieri, Genoese wood-carver, 158-
161, 201
Calderon, 124
Callot, Jacques, engraver, 98, 169-
173
Calvo, De, the defender of Maes-
tricht, 178
Camaye, tapestry workers, the, 192
Canal des deitx Me>s, the, 76
"Caprice," etching by Callot, 172
Caracci, engravings of the paintings
of the, 183
Carpet factory, the royal, 189, 191
Cartoons, Yvart's, 196
Caryatides at the Louvre, the, 151
Caylus, Comte de, 165
Cerisy, the Abbe, 21
Chalais, Count de, 10
Chakographic, La, 182
Chambers of Marine Insurance, 39
Chambord, 52
Chambre, De la, surgeon, 199
Champagne, J. B. de, painter, 125,
127, 139
Champagne, Philippe de, portrait
painter, 98, 119, 126, 137
Chantclou, De, steward of the royal
household, 58, 91, 136
Chapelain, poet, 19, 23, 105
Chapelle, La, 202, 203
Chardin, 145
Chateau, engraver, 179, 183
Chateau de Maisons, 79
Chef-de-ville, Fran9ois, French gem -
cutter, 200
Chemin, Catharine du, flower pain-
ter, 162
Cheron, Louis, Huguenot painter,
96
Church patronage, abuse of, 96
Cid, the, 9, 20
Clagny, Mansard builds the palace
of, 70, 76
Claude, 143, 168
Clement, surgeon, 199
Clisson, the Hotel, 102
Cochet, Cristofle, sculptor, 108
Cochin, Nicolas, engraver, 170
Code Louis (1667), the, 48
Code Maritime (1681), the, 48
Code Noir, the, 48
Code of Commerce {1673), the, 48
Colbert, 2, 18, 30-80, 86, 90-98,
104, 107, 121, 122, 133, 147, 177,
178, 189, 193, 212
Comans, the, tapestry workers, 192
Compagnie des Indes Orientales, 39,
190
Comte, Florent le, quot., 134, 180
Conde, 29, 30; sits to Nanteuil, 178
Conditioning houses of Roubaix and
Lyons, the, 43
Conrart, Valentin, poet, 18
" Conseil des batiments," the, 61
Consistory of Montauban, the, 16
Corneille, author of the Cid, 9, 16,
20-22
Corneille, Michel, painter, 107, 108,
127, 137, 203
Courajod, 116
Cousin, engraver, 168
Cousinet, silversmith, 206
Couston, Guillaume and Nicolas,
161
Coypel, Charles Antoine, Spanish
sculptor, 114, 152, 161, 164,201
Coypel, Noel, painter, 93, 122, 125,
127, 202
Crequi, the Due de, 58
Croix, Jean la, tapestry worker,
197
Crucifix aux Anges, the, 182
INDEX.
J47
Cucci, Domenico, joiner and carver,
197. 199, 201
Curiosities, the Cabinet of, 159
Cussac, painter, 201
D'Agard, painter, 96
D'Antin, tlie Due, 72
Daret, Pierre, engraver, 168, 169,
179
D'Argenville, qiiot., 137
De Beaufort, the Duke, 178
De Bellelievre, 12
Debonnaire's silver mirrors, 207
De Bouillon, the Duke, 178
De Bourleniont, the Abbe, 41
De Calvo, defender of Maestricht,
178
De Caylus, Comte, 165
De Chalais, Comte, 10
De Chambre, Anne, 207
De Champagne, J. B., 125, 127,
139
De Champagne, Philippe, 98, 119,
126. 137
De Chantelou, steward of the
royal household, 58, 91, 136
De Crequi, the Due, 58
De Fontenay, Blain, flower painter,
97. 136
De Francine, Pierre, engmeer. 155
De Gissey, Henri, 121
De la Belle, Etienne, engraver, 170
De Laborde, quot., 65
De la Brosse, Guy, the founder of
the Botanical Garden, 187
De la Chambre, surgeon, 199
De la Fosse, painter and decorator,
125-140
De la Hire, professor and lecturer,
De la Blanche, Fran90is, Flemish
tapestry worker, 192
De la Rochefoucauld, the Duke, 19
Delaulne, engraver, 168
De la Valette, the Duke, 1 1
De Leu, engraver, 167
De Longueville, the Duke, 178
Delorme's spiral staircase, 65
De MaroUcs, the Abbe Michel, his
collection, 181
De Mergues, Mathieu, 19
De Montmorency, rebellion of the
Duke, 7, .9
D'Epernon, the Duke, 11
De Pompadour, Madame, 144
De Retz, 30; sits to Nanteuil, 178
De Rohan, the Duke, 16
De Sancy, French Ambassador at
Constantinople, 119
De Sandras, Courtilz, 40
Des Avaux, Felibien, 66
Desbrosses, Jacques, builder of the
Luxembourg, 78
Descartes, 16
De Seve, Gilbert, painter, 127, 137,
194, 201, 203
Desjardins, sculptor, 157-161
De Soubise, the Duke, 9, 16
De Sourdis, the Archbishop, 11, 15
De Troy, portrait painter, 137
De Villacerf, Colbert, surintendant
des batiments, 72, 74
De Villers, Claude, silversmith, 206
" Dictionary," the, 23
Diderot, 51, 137, 139, 144
D'Infreville, 149
Dome des Invalides (1689), 71
Domenichino, engravings of the
paintings of, 183
Dorbay, Fran5ois, architect, 65, 66,
75
Dorigny, Louis, 93
Dubois, Jean and Andre, gem-
cutters, 200
Dubourg, the looms of, 189
Du Chemin, Catharine, flower
painter, 162
Du Fresnoy, 154
Dughet, Caspar, painter, 143, 180
Du Metz, Colbert's chief clerk, 105,
108
Dunkirk, allegorical treatment of
the taking of, 105
Duplessis' " History of Engraving
in France," 169, 172
Dupont, Louis, tapestry worker, 204
Dupont, Pierre, at the Savonncrie,
189, 191
Dupre, Guillaume, silversmith, 206
Diirer, Callot studies, 173
Dutel, Jacques, silversmith, 206
Duvet, engraver, 168
liCoi.E DES Beaux Arts, the, 99
Ecouen, 52
Edelinck, engraver, 179-184, 199
Edict des Eaux et Forets (1669),
the, 48
248
INDEX.
Edict of St. Jean de Liiz in favour
of engraving, the, 1 76-181
Edict on Commerce, Colbert's, 39
Emery, 29
England, the prejudice against en-
graving in, 187
Engraving and etching, 167-188
Epernon, the Duke d', 1 1
Errard, Charles, Ratabon's son, 89;
rector of the school of Erance at
Rome, 109 ; in charge at the
Louvre, etc., 120; his rival Le
Brun, 122, 153; Bosse, 175
I'^spingola, 157
Etchers, 168-188
Fa ED, 124
Fame and Virtue, the temples of,
197
Fame, the fountains of, 157
Faret, Nicolas, 19
Fayette, Simon, embroiderer, 200
Fenelon, 216
Ferdinand, Huguenot painter, 96
"Fiera dell' Impruneta," Callot's,
170
Fildes, 124
Flanders, lacemakers from, 45
Fontaine, La, 157
Fontainebleau, 120, 157
Fontarabia, siege of, 11
Fontenay, B. de, flower painter,
97, 136
Forest, decorator, 143
Fosse, De la, painter, 125-129,
^yi, .140
Fountain of Latona, the, 157
Fountains of Fame, the, 157
Fouquet, 32-39, 48-51, 121, 148,
153, 177, I7«, 193
Fragonard, 144
Francart, ornamental designer, 196,
201
France, school of, at Rome, 127
Francine, Pierre de, engineer, 155
French navy, the, 37
Fresnoy, Du, 154
Friquet, Jean, student at the
academical school, 103
Frith, 124
Fronde, the, 29
Gachetti, Florentinelapidary, 199
Gallery of Mirrors, the, 160, 206
Gaston, Duke of Orleans, 10
Genevay, quot., 13'^, 134
Genoa, Puget's Saint Sebastian at,
147
Genoels, Abraham, landscape
painter, 143, 196, 201
Gervaise, sculptor, 123
Giffart, engraver, 185
Gilbert, 124, 125
"Girar," the model, 103
Girardon, Francois, sculptor, 113,
123, 149-162"
Gissey, Henri de, 121
Gittard, Pierre, sculptor, 66
Glassworkers from Venice, 45, 190
Gobelins, the, 45, 117-123, 142,
184, 1S9-200
Godeau, Bishop of Grasse, 15, 18
Gold medals by Warin, the, 105,
107
Golle, cabinet-maker, 205
Gomb.iult, poet, 18, 21
Goodall, 124
Grand Prix, the, 105, 106
Gravet, Jean, his nef d'or, 207
Greuze, 187
Grotte de Thetis, the, 155-157
Guerin, Gilles, sculptor, 151, 153,
Guido, engravings from the pic-
tures of, 183
Guilds, the, 82, 116, 117, 123, 150,
190, 220
Guillain, Simon, sculptor, 150
Guitard, from Le Brun's design,
does "Le Reveil de la Terre" in
1850, 123
Habert, poet and soldier, 21
Halle, 93
Halls of Peace and War, the, 162
Henri IV., manufactures started by,
189
Hercules, Puget's, 147
Herkomer, 124
Herrard, engraver, 179
Hillerin, Jacques, conseillcr an
pat'le/nejit, 17
Hire, La, 74, 137, 192, 203
Hogarth, loi, 107
Holbein, Callot studies, 173
Hook, 124
Horsley, 124
INDEX.
249
Houasse, painter and decorator, 125,
128, 140, 201, 203
Houdon, sculptor, 166
Houzeau, sculptor, 164
Huguenots, the, 6, 9, 16, 95, 96
Huret, engraver, 179
Hutinot, sculptor, 158
Indes Orientales, the Compag-
nie des, 39
Industrial policy, Colbert's, 40
Industry and art, 45
Ingres on Le Brun, quot., 138
Insurance, the Chambers of Marine,
39
Invalides, the Dome des (1689),
71, 75
Italy, French students in, 107-109
Jaii.lOT, Simon, worker in ivory,
142
Jans, tapestry weaver, 194, 197, 200
"jaquin, student, 114
Jouvenet, painter, 125, 126, 128,
140
Kellers, the, sculptors, 164, 165
Kerchove, Van, dyer, 195
Laborde, De, quot., 65
La Chapelle, 202
La Croix, Jean, tapestry worker,
'97
La Fontaine, 157
Lagrenee, painter, 137, 144
La Hire, 137, 192, 203
Landseer, John, iSS
Languedoc, the "pacification" of,
7, 16
La Pcrdrix, student, 1 14
Lapidaries, Florentine, 199
Largilliere, painter, 137
La Rochelle, 7, 37
Lasne, Michel, engraver, 16S, 169,
I So
Latona, the fountain of, 157, 162
Laurent, Henri, tapestry worker,
189, 197
Le Bicheur, his treatise on per-
spective, 175
Le Brun, 61, 87-92, 98, 99, 105,
109, 116, I19-156, 179, 181, 186,
195, 200, 203
Leclerc, Sebastian, engraver, 170,
179, 182, 183
Le Comte, Florent, qitot., 134, iSo
Lefebvre, Pierreand Jean, Florentine
weavers, 191, 197, 200
Legendre, Nicolas, sculptor, 151-158
Legeret, sculptor, 161
Legrand, sculptor, 158
Legros, sculptor, 151, 158, 159, 164
Lehongre, sculptor, 151, 157-159
Leighton, Sir Frederic, 124
Lemargue, surgeon, 199
Lemercier, architect, 63, 65 >
Lenain, the three brothers, painters,
98, 138
Lepaultre, Antoine, sculptor, 66
Lepautre, engraver, 148, 179, 202
Lerambert, Louis, sculptor, 151,
158
Le Romain, Picart, engraver, 185
Lescot, Pierre, architect, 61
L'Espagnandell, Huguenot painter,
96, 158-161
Le Sueur, Eustache, painter, 113,
120, 137
Le Tellier, 30, 178
Leu, De, engraver, 167
Levasseur, quot., 48
Le Vau, architect, 56-6S, 125
Leyde, Lucas Van, Callot studies,
173
Lichery, Louis, director of the
Academy school, 184, 199
Life classes, 89, 92, 99-105, III,
114
Lionardo, Callot studies, 173
Loir, Alexis, silversmith, 206
Loir, Nicolas, decorator, 125, 1 27
Long, 124
L'Ongre, see Lehongre
Longueville, the Duke de, 178
Lorgues, the Virgin of, 146
Lourdet, Simon, tapestry worker,
191
Louvois, 74, 75, 126, 142, 162, 202
Louvre, the, 53-76, 120, 123, 1S9
Luxembourg, the, 78, 130
Luxury of the French court, 217
Lyons, the art school at, 117
MacLean, 125
Magnier, Laurent, sculptor, 86, 151-
159
:5o
INDEX.
Maincy, the tapestry workers at,
193, 195
Maitrise, the, 83, loi, 103
Malleville, poet, 18
Afansarade, the, 93
Mansard, Fran9ois, architect, 79,
122, 162, 177
Mansard, Jean Hardouin, archi-
tect, 69
Mantagon, student, 113
" Manufactures de France," 190
Marillac, Marshal de, 8, 10
Marly. 70, 76, 130, 136
MaroUes, Abbe Michel de, 181
Marot, student, 113
Marsy, Gaspard and Balthazar, de-
corators, 122, 123, 1 51-159
Masse, Jean, 205
Masson, engraver, 158, 169
Mathew, Antony, 196
Mazarin, Cardinal, 29, 32, 36, 52,
85, 94, 121, 163, 178, 193
Mazeline, sculptor, 158
Megliorini, Florentine lapidary,
199
Mellan, Claude, engraver, i58, 169,
183
Mergues, Mathieu de, 19
Merlin, silversmith, 206
Meulen, Van der, painter of battle-
pieces, 130, 142, 185, 201
Meunier, prize winner at the aca-
demical school, 107
Michelin, Huguenot painter, 96
Mignard, Pierre, portrait painter,
66, 109, 126, 137-139. 154. 214
Millais, Sir John, 124
Millet, Francisque, painter and
engraver, 143, 186
Mirrors, Gallery of, 125, 128, 131,
160, 206
" Miseres et Malheurs de la Guerre,"
etching by Callot, 171
Monnoyer, Baptiste, flower painter,
125, 196
Montagu, the Duke of, 96
Montmorency, the Duke de, 7> 9
Montpellier, 7
Monzon, the Peace of, 7
Morin, Jean, engraver, 182
" Moses," engraving by P. de
Champagne, 181
Mosin, tapestry worker. 197
Mosnier, painter, 136
Nanteuil, engraver, 176-183
National greatness, 4
Navy, the French, 37
Noailles, Hotel des (1679), 71
Nocret, Jean, 120
Notables, the Assembly of, 8
Observatory, the, 64, 75
Octagon Cabinet, the, 159
Oppenard, Guelder Jean, parquetry
maker, 205
Opstal, Van, Flemish sculptor, 152,
157
Orange, the Prince of, 73
Order, the love of, 3
Ordonnance Criminale (1670), the,
48
Paillet, painter, 128
Palais des Toiirnelles, the, 78
Parliament of Paris, intimidation of
the, 12
Patel, painter, 143
Patigny, engraver, 183
Peace and War, the halls of, 127-
133
Pcmtres-ymagiers, the corporation
of, 83
Perdrix, La, student, 114
Perefixe sits to Nanteuil, 178
Pe^rault, Charles, author, Colbert's
clerk, 34, 54-59. 105. 124
Perrault, Claude, architect and
doctor, 56-64, 129
Perrier, Jacques, engraver, 168
Perspective, Bosse lecturer on, 174;
Le Bicheur, 175
Pesne, engraver, 169, 182
Picart, engraver, 179, 183
Pigalle, sculptor, 166
Pitan, engraver, 178
Place Royale, the, 78
Planche, Francois de la, Flemish
weaver, 192
Point-lace of Auxerre and Rheims,
191
Poissant, Thibaut, painter, 151-155
Poll-tax, the, 49
Pompadour, Madame de, 144
Poussin, painter, 98, 1 19-123, 136,
139
Poynter, 124
Protestant Academicians turned out,
the, 95
INDEX.
Puget, rierrc, sculptor, 146-148,
166
Pussort, Colbert's uncle, 48
Pyramid, the, 157
Rabkl, engraver, 167
Racan, author, 21
Raon, sculptor, 158, 164
Raphael, 135
Rapid production, 136, 137
Ratabon, Antoine, chief com-
missioner of works, 88, 94, 109,
121
Ravaillac, 189
Regnauldin, Thomas, sculptor, 123,
151-158
Regnesson, Nicolas, engraver, 178,
179
Reims, Porte de Mars at, 73
Remy, embroiderer, 200
Renaissance, the, 4, 52
Rennes Cathedral, 73
Restout, painter, 145
Retz, De, 30, 178
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 137
Rheims point-lace, 191
Richelieu, Cardinal, 3-28, 120, 155,
178
Rigaud, portrait pamter, 129, 137
Riquet, engineer, 77
Rochefort, the port of, 38
Rochefoucauld, the Duke de la, 19
Rochelle, La, 7, 37
Rochon, the Concierge, 195, 198
Roger, prize winner at the academical
school, 107
Rohan, the Duke de, 16
Romain, Ficart le, engraver, 185
Romano, Giulio, painter, 202, 203
Rome, the school of France at, 46,
109
Roubaix, the conditioning house of,
43
Rousseau, Jacques, Huguenot
painter, 96, 125, 128, 136, 137,
186
Rousselet, engraver, 182, 202
St. Cyr, 76
St. Germains, 123
St. Luke, the Academy of, 102, no
St. Mandc, 153
St. Sebastian, Puget's, 147
Sancy, De, French ambassador at
Constantinople, 119
Sandras, Courtik de, qtiot., 40
Sarrazin, Jacques, sculptor, 102,
121, 150-153
Sassoferato, painter, 120
Saturn, the fountains of, 157
Savonnerie, the, 45, 191-205
Scarron, conseilkr de grand' chambre,
Sceaux, the courts of, 147
School of Architecture, the, 44
School of France at Rome, the, 46,
109, 127
School, the academical, 101-118
Schuppen, Van, engraver, 179
Scuderi, poet, 22
Seguier, Chancellor, 94, 104, 120,
142, 150
Serizay, poet, 19, 21, 22
Serre, Michel, painter, 186
Seve, Gilbert de, painter, 127, 137,
194, 2CI, 203
Sevigne, Madame de, 31
Sevres, 117, 118
" Siege of Breda," Callot's, 171
Silvestre, Israel, engraver, 179-183
Simon, engraver, 17S
Sirmond, pamphleteer, 19, 23 "
Somer, Jacques, maker of mar-
quetry, 205
Sorbonne, the, 17, 65, 155
Soubeyran, court pensioner, 183
Soubise, the Duke de, 9, 16
Sourdis, the Archbishop de, II, 1$
Stella, Claudine, engraver, 169, 182
Sueur, Eustache le, 113, 120, 137
Tapestry, 190-201
Tellier, Le, under secretary of state,
30, 178
Temporiti, sculptor, 158, 159, 198,
201
"Testament Politique," the, 14
Testelin, Henri, 96, 125
Testelin, Louis, 95, 103
Thetis, the Grotto de, 155"' 57
"Time and Truth," Poussin's, 1S4
Toulon, Puget at, I47-I49
Tournier, engraver, 183
Trianon, 70, 76
Troy, De, 137
Troyes, English serges made at,
161
252
INDEX.
Tuby, decorator, 157-164, 194, 198,
201
Tuileries, 76, 120, 125
Turenne sits to Nanteuil, 178
Val de Grace, 154
Valette, the Duke de la, 11
Vallet, engraver, 179
Vanderban, engraver, 183
Vander Meulen, battle painter, 130,
142, 185, 201
Van Kerchove, dyer, 195
Van Leyde, Lucas, 173
Vanloo, painter, 115, 139
"Vanloter," 98
Van Opstal, Flemish sculptor, 152,
157
Van Schuppen, enf^raver, 179
Vau, Le, 56-68, 125
Vaux le Vicomte, 66, 121, 154, 193
Velasquez, 144
Vendome, the Place, 72-75
Venetian glassworkers, 45, 190
Verdier, painter, 125, 128, 202, 203
Vermeulen, Corneille, engraver, 178
Versailles, 52-80, 120-145, 156-164
Viaucourt, silversmith, 206
"Vices," etching by Callot, 172
Vignon, Claude, painter, 125, 128
Villacerf, Colbert de, 72, 74
Villers, Claude de, silversmith, 206
Vincennes, 53
Virgin of Lorgues, Puget's, 146
Vitruvius, Perrault's, 183
Vivien, painter, 137
Vouet, Simon, painter, 102, iig,
127, 139, 150, 168, 186
Vuitry, quot., 49
Wall-painting, 135
Warin, medallist and master of the
Mint, 207-209
Water Garden, the, 157, 164
Watteau, 145
YvART, Baudren, designer of tapes-
tries, 195, 196
THE END.
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