Arttrea00huyg PDF

ART TREASURES OF THE
LOUVRE 141 REPRODUCTIONS • 100 PAGES IN FULL COLOR
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As you open this book you virtually step inside the
Louvre," says Rene de Messieres, Cultural Counselor
to the French Embassy. Here is the heart of the fab-
ulous collections of the Louvre, in the 100 paintings
which are newly reproduced in full color with the
greatest fidelity that modern science and artistry can
achieve. Supplementing this breathtaking array is
a large number of monochromes of objects of art-
sculpture, ceramics, enamels, and so on— giving the
illustrations altogether a range of about 4,000 years.

Because of its scope, this book is in effect a kind of
"portable Louvre."
The text chronicles the growth of the Luuvre, from

its thirteenth-century origins as a fortress to its pres-
ent pre-eminence in the world's culture. Then fol-
lows a fascinating and succinct outline history of

European painting, tracing the development of
Western art expression from the Middle Ages to the

present. The separate commentaries on each painting
help to make this volume a rewarding aid to a more

complete understanding and enjoyment of art— all
art, everywhere.
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ART TREASURES OF THE LOUVRE
QUENTIN MATSYS [1465?-1530] The Monct/lcndcr and His Wife • Flemish School
Painted 1514 •
Tempera and oil on panel, 2S" x 26£" • Commentary on page 154
ART TREASURES
OF THE
LOUVRE
RENE HUYGHE
CURATOR-IN-CHIEF OF PAINTING AND DRAWING, THE LOUVRE
COMMENTARY BY MME. RENE HUYGHE
WITH A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LOUVRE BY MILTON S. FOX
HARRY N. ABRAMS ^W5&&w NEW YORK

FIRST EDITION
milton s. fox, Editor
Supervision of Color Plates by Walter neurath • Printing of Color Plates by the conde nast press
Book Design by stefan Salter
Copyright 1951 by Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated. Copyright in the United States and foreign countries under Inter-
national Copyright Convention. All rights reserved under Pan-American Convention. No part of the contents of this book
may be reproduced without the written permission of Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated. Printed in U.S.A.
Published simultaneously in the United States and in England.

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The Louvre of Charles V, about 1400. Detail from the Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry, Conde Museum, Chantilly
CONTENTS
PAGE
The Louvre A Brief History by Milton S. Fox 9
Western Painting translated and adapted from the French of Rene Huyghe
Italian Painting 17
Flemish Painting 74
Dutch Painting 77
English Painting 81
Spanish Painting 83
German Painting 85
French Painting 86
Commentary 154
COLOR PLATES
PLATE
1 (cover) Portrait of Clement Marot CORNEILLE DE LYON

2 (frontispiece) The Moneylender and His Wife QUENTIN MATSYS
3 The Madonna of the Angels ClMABUE
4 Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata Giotto
5 Christ Carrying the Cross Simone Martini
6 The Coronation of the Virgin Fra Angelico
7 A Princess of the Este Family Pisanello
8 The Battle of San Romano UCCELLO
9 Virgin and Child Baldovinetti
10 A Condottiere Antonello da Messina
11 Portrait of a Man Giovanni Bellini
12 Calvary Mantegna
13 A Lady and Four Allegorical Figures Botticelli
14 An Old Man and His Grandson Ghirlandaio
15 Mona Lisa Leonardo da Vinci
16 Pastoral Concert Giorgione
17 The Entombment Titian
18 La Belle Jardiniere Raphael
19 Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt Caravaggio
20 Jupiter and Antiope correggio
21 Calvary Veronese
22 The Rape of Proserpine Niccolo dell' Abbate
23 Paradise Tintoretto
24 Fishing Annibale Carracci
25 The Doge Embarking on the Bucentaur Guardi
26 The Triumph of Religion GlAMBATTISTA TlEPOLO
27 The Virgin and Chancellor Rolin Jan van Eyck
28 The Annunciation ROGIER VAN DER WeYDEN
29 The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catharine Memling
30 The Wedding at Cana Gerard David
31 The Beggars Bruegel
32 Country Fair Rubens
33 The Four Evangelists Jordaens
34 Portrait of Charles I of England Van Dyck
35 The Smoker Brouwer
36 TTie Ship of Fools Hieronymus Bosch
37 Tfte Resurrection of Lazarus Geertgen tot Sint Jans
38 TTie Watermill Hobbema
39 Bathsheba Rembrandt
40 ITie Lacemaker Vermeer
41 La Bohemienne Hals
42 Still Life Heda
43 The White Horse Potter
44 TTie Burs£ o/ Sunlight Ruisdael
45 Celebration in a Tavern Steen
46 TTie Gallant Ter Borch
47 Master Hare Reynolds
48 Helmingham Park Constable
49 Vieu; a£ Versailles Bonington
50 Julius Angerstein and His Wife Lawrence
51 Portrait of Covarrubias El Greco
52 The Funeral of Saint Bonaventure Zurraran
53 The Clubfoot RlBERA
54 Portrait of Queen Mariana Velasquez
55 Woman in Grey Goya
56 Self-Portrait DURER
57 Anne of Cleves Holbein
58 Saint Martin and the Beggar FOUQUET
59 Pietd Malouel (?)
60 Villeneuve-les- Avignon Pietd Unknown Painter
61 Saint Mary Magdalen and a Donor Master of Moulins
62 Portrait of Francis I Jean Clouet
63 Venus and the Goddess of the Waters Unknown Painter
64 The Pilgrims at Emmaus Louis Le Nain
65 The Triumph of Flora Poussin
66 A Seaport at Sunset Claude Lorrain
67 Equestrian Portrait of Chancellor Seguier Le Brun
68 Saint Joseph the Carpenter Georges de La Tour
69 Portrait of Arnauld d'Andilly De Champaigne
70 The Death of Raymond Diocres Le Sueur
71 Portrait of Louis XIV Rigaud
72 Embarkation for Cythera Watteau
73 Reception of the Order of the Holy Spirit Lancret
74 Back from the Market Chardin
75 The Bath of Diana Boucher
76 Portrait of Madame de Pompadour Quentin de La Tour
77 Portrait of Madame de Sorquainville Perronneau
78 The Bathers Fragonard
79 The Battle of the Romans and Sabines David
80 Portrait of the Empress Josephine Prud'hon
81 Odalisque Ingres
82 Portrait of Count Fournier-Sarloveze Gros
83 Officer of the Chasseurs of the Guard Gericault
84 Liberty Leading the People Delacroix
85 Oak Trees Theodore Rousseau
86 Springtime Millet
87 Belfry of Douai Corot
88 Crispin and Scapin Daumier
89 Roe-Deer in a Forest COURBET
90 Luncheon on the Grass Manet
91 Field of Poppies Monet
92 Bay of VEstaque Cezanne
93 Flood at Port-Marly SlSLEY
94 Two Girls at the Piano Renoir
95 Dr. Gachet Van Gogh
96 The Circus Seurat
97 The White Horse Gauguin
98 Dancing Class at the Opera Degas
99 Portrait of Paul Leclercq Toulouse-Lautrec
100 War Henri Rousseau
The Louvre
A BRIEF HISTORY
The Louvre is more than a great museum. It is the succession of monarchs who built, tore down
an epitome of a nation's history and culture. For and rebuilt, in the tremendous expenditures of
over seven hundred and fifty years it has stood for money, and the gifts of private
in the acquisitions
all and all that remains the same in
that changes citizens, we see the forces which shaped its
French life. Each age has helped to shape its growth. French architects, painters, and sculptors
character; every important ruler has left his mark contributed their best efforts, while the rulers of
upon it. Though it has suffered periods of neglect, France were gathering their fabulous treasures
desecration, and mean use, the Louvre has had the and extending generous patronage to workers in
love of a great people, to whom the pursuit of art the arts. The living idea may be seen as an artistic
is a natural activity of life. environment where intelligence, talent, and grace

It is not enough to say that the Louvre is the are joined;where amidst rich associations, the
richest of museums, a vast treasury of all arts and public may come for enjoyment and artists for
all civilizations, magnificently housed. It has a nourishment and inspiration.
deeper meaning. The Louvre is a living idea. In The Louvre was not the first public museum,
9
may still be seen, was huddled in the southwest
quarter of the present Court of the Old Louvre,
and consisted of a large circular tower guarded
by turreted walls and surrounded by deep moats.
The battlements to the west, and along the Seine
on the south, were backed by buildings; to the
north and east stood two thick crenellated facades.
Situated outside the walls of the town, the Louvre
served the double function of protecting Paris
against marauders from the west, and the king
from his own Parisian subjects on the east.
With Philip, Paris became at the beginning of
the thirteenth century the residence of the crown,
but the Louvre was used mainly as a fortress
itself
and arsenal. It was the symbol of the strength of

the king, a "tower of Paris" comparable to the
Tower of London. Indungeons languished the
its
nobles who defied the ascendancy of the crown.

Its rooms held the royal treasures — jewels, re-
ligious objects of art, illuminated manuscripts,
armor. Though it was tiny by comparison with
the present Louvre, which, with the Garden of
the Tuileries covers forty-five acres — Philip's
courtyard measured roughly 160 by 200 feet —
Saint Matthew writing his gospel at the dictation of
it quickly captured popular imagination and was
his symbolic angel. This is a thirteenth-century stone
relief from the choir enclosure of the Cathedral of celebrated by story-tellers and balladists. Its
Chartres. The new naturalism of Gothic sculpture is
legendary career had begun.
allied here with simplicity, breadth, and architectural
form, in a clear harmony. 25% " high. Even then, Philip's Louvre was the continua-
tion of a tradition. Since earliest times, France
had produced an unbroken line of artists. As a
for it was preceded by the Ashmolean at Oxford, people, the French have been among the first
the VaticanMuseum, the British Museum, and, in collectors. Their royal houses had preceded even
America, by the Charleston Museum, which was the secular powers of Italy in acquiring works of
organized in 1773, twenty years before the open- art and patronizing artists. Long before Philip,
ing of the Louvre as a public institution. But the Charlemagne decreed that churches should be
Louvre's destiny was marked out for it centuries decorated with pictures, and had engaged artists
ago, as Paris, of which it is the heart both cultur- to paint miniatures for his books. From the twelfth
ally and geographically, was destined to become century to the Benaissance, France perfected
the artistic capital of the world. one of the most astonishing of all arts — that of
The earliest known structure on the present site stained glass.

was a fortress, begun about 1190 by Philip Augus- The kings who succeeded Philip made only
tus, one of the great Parisian kings. It is likely, minor structural changes in the Louvre. But from
however, that during Clovis' siege of Paris at the Flanders and and nobility drew
Italy, the court
end of the fifth century, a Frankish tower or for- artists and craftsmen to enrich French cultural
tified camp existed here. If that is so, the name life. Art and learning flourished. (The Etude —
"Louvre" may derive from the Saxon word lower: then the name of the University of Paris — had
a fortified chateau; but it may also have come from received a franchise, the first of its kind in the
louveterie ( Low Latin, lupara ) : the headquarters world, from Philip in 1200, and became a model
of the wolf-hunt, or, as some believe, from the to other nations. In 1461, ambassadors from
name of a leper colony. Florence reported 18,000 "scholars" in Paris, not
The Louvre of Philip Augustus, of which traces counting those studying civil law.) The Louvre
JO
now served as a royal retreat and became the through the halls hunting for what was left. A
scene of sumptuous banquets, state occasions, large part of the ancient treasures, greatly en-
and tournaments which lasted for days. Elaborate riched by Charles V, disappeared — reliquaries
gardens were designed — another art in which set with precious stones, enamels, crown jewels,
the French have excelled; an aviary with falcons vessels of crystal, chalices of gold, crucifixes, rare
and exotic birds, and a menagerie of wild animals objects in glass, vases of alabaster, statuary
added to the medieval splendor. Louis IX, the painted and glittering with pearls, sapphires,
sainted king of France, administered justice in an emeralds, rubies — objects such as today the great
enlarged room where the present Gallery of the museums of the world passionately desire. Indeed,
Caryatids is located; he founded the library which, a few of these original Louvre treasures are now
under Charles V, a hundred years later, was to the pride of various European museums, includ-
become the nucleus of the present Bibliotheque ing the Louvre itself, and part of Charles' great
Nationale. library, as already noted, is in the Bibliotheque
The Louvre of the Middle Ages was doomed as Nationale.
a fortress, when, in the 1350's, a powerful group of
rebellious merchants under Etienne Marcel took
possession and reduced its military importance by
extending the city walls beyond Once the it.
master of Paris, the Louvre now became its cap-

tive. Though it was to continue to function as
arsenal and prison through succeeding reigns, it
now, under Charles V, became a part-time habita-

tion of the royal family, filled with courtiers,
artisans, and hangers-on. This king, "sage artiste
et architecteur," as he was called by a contem-
porary lady of letters, provided the Louvre's final
burst of medieval glory. An army of architects,

masons, artists, and decorators was put to work.
The hundred-and-fifty-year-old buildings were
"modernized" and enlarged; two new wings were
erected in place of the north and east walls. The
quadrangle was at last completed, and according
to accounts of the time, it was a marvel to behold:
a forest of towers and turrets — round, square,
conical, brilliant with glazed tiles — with pictur-
esque outbuildings, gardens, trellises, and a

menagerie. The famous contemporary miniature
on the contents page preserves for us the fairy-
tale appearance of this now-vanished Louvre.
Despite its increased size and elegance, Charles

was obliged to sleep in the garret, when, in 1377,
he entertained the Holy Roman Emperor, the

King of Bohemia, and their suites of more than a
hundred princes. It became painfully clear that
the old Louvre could not serve as a royal residence
for the growing nation. Succeeding kings lived and
held court elsewhere.
During the reign of Charles' son, the sixth of
that name, a madman, the English conquered the
Gold scepter with ivory hand, the "main de justice."
French at Agincourt in 1415, and occupied Paris.
A French work of the fourteenth century, of exquisite
They plundered the Louvre. Marauders roamed craftsmanship and delicacy of form.
11
For almost a century and a half, the Louvre rents and became decisive for literature, art,
was neglected. Prison and arsenal again, its out- architecture, fashion, and manners. For genera-
buildings falling into ruin, its walls moldering, it tions, the arts were to take their impulse from the
became a gloomy mockery of its one-time splendor. court and royal palace; Francis cleared the way
With Francis I, who came to the throne in 1515, for his country to assume the cultural leadership
the medieval stronghold was marked for oblitera- of the world.
tion. The Louvre we know today was born. After having lavished huge sums on a futile
By 1527, the old tower, which had stood for rehabilitation of the old Louvre, in 1546 Francis
more than three hundred years, was regarded as put Pierre Lescot, architect, and Jean Goujon,
a grim nuisance, shutting out light and air. It was sculptor, to work building a palace in "the new
torn down in four months. The royal court was style." Eight months later the King died. Under
steadily consolidating its authority; it no longer his son, Henry II, Lescot and Goujon completed
had need of such antiquated reminders of the the new southwest where three hundred
angle,
personal might of the ruler. The palace replaced and fifty years earlier Philip Augustus had erected
the castle. Instead of a fortress, the royal resi- the first Louvre. They built and decorated so
dence must be made to symbolize the wealth and gracefully, with such harmony and balance and
culture of a vigorous nation: resplendent and charm, that their work very exactly conveys what
noble, an object of art and display, adaptable to ismeant by the expression "French taste." Their
luxurious living and vast administration. Louvre was a jewel-case, worthy of the treasures
Still, Parisians lamented the destruction of the it was to hold.
historic tower. "What a pity it is," wrote a citizen Indeed, according to some accounts, Henry's
in his journal, "to pull down the tower, for it was imagination was so inflamed by the work that he
very beautiful, high, and strong, and well suited commanded Lescot to plan a Louvre of unprece-
to imprison men of great renown." dented magnificence and monumental size. They
But Francis, whose portrait is here reproduced talked of quadrupling the size of the original
(plate 62), was a cosmopolitan, "the first gentle- courtyard, and of building a palace at the far west
man of France." Though occupied with intermin- end of the where a tile factory once
Tuileries,
able wars which drained the treasury, he man- stood; the Palace of the Louvre and the Palace of
aged to indulge his love of splendor. During his the Tuileries were to be joined by enormous
campaigning in Italy, he was enchanted by her wings, which would enclose vast gardens. It was
art; he forthwith invited Italian artists to work nearly three hundred and fifty years before the
for his court. Many came: Leonardo da Vinci, whole of such a "grand plan" became actuality;
who lived the rest of his days in France and died, every sovereign after Francis and every adminis-
it is said, in the King's arms; Andrea del Sarto, tration after the Bevolution was to make a fresh
Primaticcio, il Bosso, Niccolo dell' Abbate, and attempt at completion. The Louvre thus became
others. Francis was patron of the school of Fon- not only the palace of the kings, the seat of gov-
tainebleau, encouraging the painting of easel ernment, and the repository of the royal treasures;
pictures; he began a collection which formed the it became also the continuing work-in-progress,
nucleus of a national gallery. As yet, however, at once training-ground and masterpiece, of the
the collection was the private property of the king, greatest talent in France. The creative life-blood
never open to the public. Four of the Louvre's of generations of architects, builders, painters,
Leonardos and seven of its Baphaels are a legacy decorators, gardeners, and artisans in all arts was
of this great monarch. As an indication of the to be poured into it.
severe blows which the museum-idea suffered Yet the Louvre was still a weird melange in the
while taking shape, it is noteworthy that the first sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: new build-
catalogue of the royal art treasures, in 1642, ings in the Benaissance style, finished and un-
showed that much of Francis' collection had mys- finished; ancient buildings standing amidst new
teriously disappeared. construction; old towers, gates, and battlements;
During his reign, Benaissance overwhelmed still stronghold as well as palace. "Zeste!" ex-
Gothic in France. Paris, the great representative claimed one astonished ambassador to the court,
center of the country, drew into herself all cur- "Such a main gate would be better suited for a
12
These stone sculptures from the tomb of Philippe Pot, the grand seneschal of Burgundy (died in 1493),
represent the deceased in armor, in an attitude of prayer, on a slab carried by mourning figures with veiled
faces. It is a work of intense realism, and at the same time architectural in conception and emotional through
the power of the carving of the deeply furrowed, shadowy folds of the costumes. 71" high, 8' 8%" long.
prison than for so great a Prince!" And an English part of the Palace of the Tuileries (destroyed in
visitor remarked, in 1598, that the Louvre had 1871 ) , where she could keep an eye on her sons,
exactly the air of a jail. "unseen but present."
Work had come to an abrupt halt about 1578. These lasttwo structures were outside the
The treasury was emptied. Following the Massacre original quadrangle; the Louvre at last broke free
of Saint Bartholomew, when the halls of the of its medieval confines. The pace now quickened,
Louvre were splattered with the blood of Hugue- as though the Louvre were anxious to hurry its
nots, civil strife exhausted France. The court destiny. Henry IV completed the work begun by
lived in fear: all the entrances to the palace were Catharine; and in one tremendous leap, his archi-
walled up except one heavily guarded gate. The tects, Jacques II Androuet Ducerceau and Louis
Louvre was the scene of intrigue, violence, execu- Metezeau, spanned the distance from the Petite
tions — and lavish entertainment, even including Galerie to the Palace of the Tuileries. Their
such hysterical entertainment as fights between Grande Galerie, paralleling the Seine, and fa-
wild animals. But the "grand plan" was only mo- miliar to millions of visitors to the collections, is
mentarily delayed by the difficult times: the more than a quarter of a mile long. With this
museum-idea was not to be thwarted. Lescot soon structure, the architecture of the Louvre, first
was to complete part of the new south wing on the Gothic, then Renaissance, now turned toward
Seine; and for Catharine de Medicis, the queen- classicism.
mother, was erected the Petite Galerie (the pres- The "grand plan" was becoming actuality; and
ent Gallery of Apollo ) which burned in 1661, and
, under Henry IV the Louvre began its career as the
13
of the Louvre was planned, four times the size
of its predecessor. Louis' architect, Lemercier,
built the enlarged northwest corner, while else-
where an enormous amount of decorating went
forward. Poussin was called from Rome to do a
series of paintings and stuccos, but he soon fled
from the intrigues of the palace.

The Louvre now entered a period of intense
activity in all directions. Colbert, minister of
Louis XIV, spared no expense to glorify the reign
of the Sun-King. The promotion of art became an
affair of government. The royal collection, re-
duced from Francis' large number to about one

hundred paintings, was built up to 2,403, accord-
ing to a catalogue of 1709. Works of art poured
in, from the collection of Charles I, beheaded
King of England; from Italy; from the private
collections of nobles. The Academy of Painting
was founded in 1648. The first official exhibitions
of French art were held, in 1667, 1669, 1671; from
1673 on, these exhibitions were held in the Louvre.
A school for drawing from the nude was estab-
lished — to become later the Ecole des Beaux Arts.
And in 1681, many of Louis' paintings were put
on semi-public view in the Louvre itself. During
this period extensive work on the Louvre was re-
Voltaire (1694-1778) comes to life again, with his
sumed. Le Brun, Le Sueur, and others were called
unique and fascinating intellectual vitality, his great
wit and verve, in this masterly bust by Jean-Antoine in to decorate the rooms, while important changes
Houdon (1741-1828). Houdon's style has the precision were made in the exterior arrangements of the
and lightness necessary for the portrayal of his mobile,
subtle subject. 25" high. Dated 1778.
buildings. New wings were built for the Palace
of the Tuileries,where Louis lived and had his
throne; the Petite Galerie was greatly enlarged;
artistic capital of the world. Despite wars, in- north, east, and south buildings were added to
trigue, religious strife, and financial troubles— and the quadrangle of the old Louvre. The palace
until he was cut down by the assassin, Ravaillac called Le Bourbon was demolished in order
Petit
— this monarch built and planned greatly. The to make room for Le Vau's replica of the wing
arts seldom had, in all history, such loving built by Pierre Lescot. The Gallery of the Kings,
patronage. Hundreds of artists and craftsmen destroyed by fire in 1661, was quickly replaced
lived as his guests on the lower floors of the by Le Brun's masterful Gallery of Apollo.
Grande Galerie — a precedent which was con- The Louvre was at last approaching comple-
tinued by all succeeding reigns until Napoleon I tion. It still lacked an outside facade on the
revoked these privileges. The original tapestry east. To build this, the great Bernini, who had
workshops of the Gobelins were housed here, and designed much of the Rome of the Baroque age,
for Henry's queen, Marie de Medicis, Rubens was invited, but he suffered the same treatment
painted a vast series of pictures — now in the as Poussin.He was received with great pomp, a
Louvre. pretence was made of laying the cornerstone; then
Succeeding Henry, Louis XIII turned his atten- he was sent back Rome. The commission was
to
tion to the old court of the Louvre. The ancient finally given to Le Vau, Le Brun, and Claude
north and east sides, still standing in the midst Perrault; and their colonnade, at once simple and
of Renaissance grandeur, were torn down; almost majestic, was completed in 1670. The work of
all vestiges of Gothic vanished. The present Court decorating the facade stopped abruptly in 1678,
14
not to be resumed until the time of the Empire: In July, 1798, "the triumphal entry of the mem-
the Sun-King had moved to his beloved Versailles. orials of the sciences and fine arts" took place;
The Louvre was taken over by a curiously as- masterpieces such as the Laocoon were driven in
sorted population and fell into a state of disrepair chariots from the Petits-Augustins, to be installed
which aroused the indignation of many Parisians. in the Louvre. With the proclamation of Empire
Its courtyard was littered with rubbish and hovels, in 1804, the museum — now known as the "Musee
its entrances were turned into shops and stalls, Napoleon"— expanded rapidly; antiquities from
and its unfinished buildings were inhabited by Naples, the Borghese collection, the Venus de
the poor. The Louvre began to resemble the ruins Medici, and groups of paintings from Germany
of ancient Rome. Courtiers moved into the apart- and Spain, were acquired by its director, Baron
ments, which they transformed to their own taste Denon, who was exceedingly sharp in ferreting
and at the King's expense. They ripped out the out works of art.
paneling, defaced the ceilings, and opened sky- After Waterloo, the victors took from the
lights in the attic roof. The Academies of Painting
and Architecture now occupied the quarters in

the Grande Galerie which Henry IV had assigned
to the artisans; after 1725 the Academy of Paint-
ing held its exhibitions in the Salon Carre of the
Louvre: thus the name "Salon" for these exhibi-
tions.
Paris attempted to save the Palace by making it

a city hall, but the proposal was rejected by the
King. Toward the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury the idea forcibly presented itself of using the
Louvre as a public museum. The success of a
public exhibition of paintings at the Luxembourg
Palace in 1750 was encouraging, and in 1756 plans
were presented for a showing of the King's pic-
tures in the Grande Galerie of the Louvre.
It was not until after the Revolution, however,
that the idea came to fruition, and on November
18, 1793, the museum was inaugurated. Its guid-
ing concept was frankly educational, reflecting
the democratic ideals of the Revolution. Works
of art were no longer to be assembled for the
delectation of the privileged classes; they were to
be available to all. The painter David was presi-
dent of the commission appointed to administer
the Louvre and its annual purchase fund of
100,000 francs.
The royal collections were supplemented by
numerous paintings and objets dart, previously
confiscated from the Church and the emigres, and
stored in the former convent of the Petits-Augus-
tins. For the next twenty years the collections of
the Louvre reflected the fortunes of Napoleon's
army. In 1794, the pictures looted from Relgium
arrived, and these were followed by works ceded Aphrodite, called the Venus de Milo, after the place
by Italy; in December, 1797, a banquet was held of its Regarded by many
discovery, the island of Melos.
in the Grande Galerie in honor of Napoleon and as the finest example of the Greek ideal of feminine
beauty, it belongs to a late period of Greek art. The
his victorious forces. end of the second century B.C. 6' 6" high.
15
Louvre the greater part of the collections acquired by Percier and Fontaine, during the First Empire.
by conquest or treaty — and much besides, for Construction continued during the Restoration,
good measure. But the French had collected but it was Napoleon III who gave the Louvre its
vastly: soon the walls were covered with the final form. His architects, Visconti and Lefuel,
Rubens paintings transferred from the Luxem- were commissioned to erect two new blocks of
bourg Palace, with additional paintings formerly buildings which join the wings running from the
assigned by the Convention to provincial mu- Louvre to the Tuileries. Logical as this plan was,
seums; the final transfer of works from the Petits- the new buildings, replacing many of the older
Augustins and churches occurred now. Through- facades, suffer from the excessive ornamentation
out the nineteenth century and since, the Louvre of the Second Empire.
has been enormously enriched by gifts from gen- Although the Louvre survived without damage
erous collectors, after many of whom various gal- the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, it was not to be
leries are named. In addition to its paintings and so fortunate during the struggles of the Com-
drawings, the Louvre of today is renowned for mune. In 1871, fanatical Communards set fire to
its collection of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and the Tuileries and the Library of the Louvre. With
Oriental antiquities. Archaeological finds came a battalion of infantry called to the rescue, the
from excavators in Myrrhina, Chaldea, Persia. By firewas checked before it could reach the Grande
its purchases, the Society of Friends of the Louvre Galerie, and the collections were saved.
continues the work of filling the gaps that still The Third Republic took on the work of restor-
remain in the Louvre's vast panorama of civiliza- ing the damaged buildings, but after much de-
tionsand cultural epochs. bate and vacillation, it ordered the complete
During the nineteenth century, work on the demolition of the gutted Palace of the Tuileries.
building of the Louvre was resumed. As new col- It is ironical that at the very time when the goal
lectionswere acquired, new rooms had to be of enclosing the entire area with palatial build-
opened; and a program of renovation of both ings had finally been achieved— at such tremend-
interiors and exteriors was begun by Napoleon. ous expenditures of effort and money— a major
The excrescences of the eighteenth century — element of the scheme should be destroyed. Vio-
the hovels and stalls in the courtyard and en- lent controversy still continues between those
trances — were removed, and the artists who had who believe that the "grand plan" lost its raison
taken up residence in the Palace were evicted, and those who believe that the Louvre has
d'etre,
David and Fragonard amongst them. Napoleon's gained a most magnificent vista, across the Gar-
architects, Percier and Fontaine, made changes dens of the Tuileries, the Place de la Concorde,
in facades and redecorated the Grande Galerie; the Champs Elysees, to the Arc de Triomphe.
they began another wing on the north, along the The Louvre is a glorious monument, unique to
rue de Rivoli, to complete the enclosure of the French culture and sensibility; but because of
entire area between the Louvre and the Palace of the universality of its idea and its treasures, it
the Tuileries. The triumphal Arc du Carrousel, belongs also to mankind: a shrine, to which pil-
which stands in the Gardens of the Tuileries and is grimage must sooner or later be made.
modeled on the Roman Arch of Domitian, is also Milton S. Fox
16
fimmMammmm » m*
An enamel triptych painted about 1500. The left, the mocking and
central panel represents the Crucifixion; the
flagellation of Christ; the right, Christ's descent from the Cross. Done in Limoges, where the older medieval
tradition of enamel painting, with its characteristic deep blue, was revived in the fifteenth century. 7%" high.
Western Painting
ITALIAN PAINTING traditions of Western art, gradually transforming

WITH THE TRIUMPH OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY, them with its own Near-Eastern taste and charac-
Western art was eclipsed. Once given an exalted ter. Byzantium created an art of hieratic images
expression by classical Greece and Rome, it now scintillating with gold, images whose shapes and
fell into was to last for centuries;

a sterility that colors were designed to induce contemplation
not until the Middle Ages did it come to life. and ecstasy, impressing the believer with their
Then, steeped in a new and dynamic religious high religious solemnity rather than with their
sensibility, it burst forth in the glory of the Gothic representation of nature.
cathedral, a creation of glassand sculptured stone. Under the influence of this Byzantine art, Italy
Painting played only a minor role in this revival made her first attempts to create a style of paint-
in the North. It was Byzantium which developed ing.Cimabue's Madonna of the Angels (plate 3),
pictorial art, in the form of the icon, mosaic, and which hangs before the entrance of the Louvre's
fresco. For centuries, after it had split off from the Hall of Italian Primitives, departs only slightly
rest of the Roman Empire in 395 A.D., this East- from the Byzantine model. Yet at the end of the
ern branch of Christendom preserved the great thirteenth century, when Cimabue in Florence
17
it Italian painting began to image the real world.
The first impetus came from Saint Francis, who as-
serted that God should be worshipped in His crea-
tion and His creatures. He extended to birds and
plants, as well as to "our brother the Sun," the
love he had for God; the monk from had Assisi
affirmed a simple faith in nature. No longer was
there need to veil reality with conventional forms,
with a whole abstract liturgy; one could proclaim
and love it as it was, as one saw it.
Instead of combining sumptuously colored sur-

faces on backgrounds of gold, Giotto sought
to make the panel or wall he was decorating speak
the language of vision. Through the understand-
ing of simplified masses, through the play of
modeling and outlines which together created the
illusion of form, he gave relief and depth to his
images, new dimensions to the single plane on
which he painted. And yet, the precepts of Byzan-
tine painting were not to be forgotten: Giotto
knew that although painting must rediscover na-
ture, it must not be nature's slave, minutely re-
cording detail upon detail without meaning. The

human intelligence commanded, it selected what
seemed significant, it simplified, and it extracted
the essential. The spirit, not the eye, was master.
Throughout the fourteenth century, Giotto's
revolutionary approach dominated Florentine
painting. But Florence was not alone; Siena, her
great rival, was not to be outdone. The Sienese
school of painting, different in temperament and
outlook, brought another kind of vitality to art. It
is enough to look at the Christ Carrying the Cross

(plate 5) by Simone Martini, the greatest Sienese
Tliis suit of armor belonged to the French king Henry II
since Duccio, to realize this difference. In Giotto's
(1503-1555). A work of high craftsmanship, it is richly
decorated with ornament and pictorial scenes in low work, truth, strength, and clarity made their ap-
relief illustrating the story of the great Roman general
peal to the mind. In Simone's work, the expres-
Pompey. 72%" high.
siveness of the pictorial conception, the vivacious
color, and extreme grace of line were combined
and his rival Duccio in Siena were painting their to enchant the sensibilities. To the virile genius
great icons, the entirely newand the live-

fidelity of Florence, Siena— over whose wide city gate is
liness of the faces of the Virgin and Child de- the motto "Siena opens her heart still wider to
lighted their contemporaries. Byzantine as they thee"— opposed a genius tender and feminine. By
may seem to our eyes, these icons signaled the ad- the end of the fourteenth century, however, Siena
vance by which the West was to regain awareness had blossomed and faded, and Florence was to
of its true vocation: the mastery of nature, the dominate the fifteenth century and determine its
achievement of a direct sense of reality. direction.
Only a few years after Cimabue, Giotto, also in Florence claimed the heritage of Greece and
Florence, painted his Saint Francis Receiving the Borne, a heritage both realistic and humanistic.
Stigmata (plate 4). What a step forward it records! On the one hand, man's goal was to divine the laws
The fourteenth century was beginning, and with of nature so that he might master and reproduce
18
nature; on the other hand, he sought to mold it to
his needs, to impose on it order and harmony.

This has been the motif of Western civilization,
and Florence took possession of it, absorbed it,
proved herself worthy of it. Then she applied it to
her art.
Early in the fifteenth century, Italian art was

still groping its way in a maze of paths and by-
paths. It began to find direction in the paintings
of Fra Angelico, of whom the Louvre possesses a

work of supreme mastery, the Coronation of the
Virgin (plate 6). In his ardor for his faith, in the
dream that he pursued of an earthly paradise in
which all the mystic graces would flourish, the
Dominican monk prolonged the spirit of the Mid-
dle Ages; but, like the men of the new age, he was
also fervently concerned with the apprehension
of realitv. With all the clarity and rigor of his
Order, whose glory was Saint Thomas Aquinas,
Fra Angelico brought to realism all the spon-
taneous tenderness of heart and eagerness of eye
which Saint Francis had taught the rival Order.
Thus he was ready to reconcile and unite the pic-
turesque and narrative realism of the Sienese
school with the more intellectual realism of the
Florentine school to which he belonged. His
realism, with its simplicity and delight, could revel
in the spectacle of flowers or hills bathed in the

morning light, while initiating the study of the
mathematical laws of perspective. Moreover, he
was receptive to the influence of the Renaissance
revival of antiquity, which was to enable the fif-
teenth and sixteenth centuries to create a secular

art liberated from the Christian obedience of the
Mercury Taking Flight, by Giovanni da Bologna (1524-
Middle Ages. 1608).French by birth— he derives his name from
Renaissance humanism insisted that liberation Boulogne in France— Giovanni setttled in Itah his work
;
shows the influence of both Michelangelo and the

from Byzantium and its abstractions should be ac- classical sculptors. The bronze statue of Mercury, the
companied by liberation from the Middle Ages. messenger of the gods, lightly poised on the breath of a
zephyr, has all of the traditional symbols: the winged
First of all, man had to cease conceiving of na-
feet and helmet and the caduceus.
ture as a symbolic spectacle in which the divine
presence manifested itself. He had to feel an
equality with nature and see that it offered, at esque realism, which had already made its ap-
first, enchantment for his eyes, and later, stimu- pearance in the religious scenes of the Sienese,
lus to his mind. This new orientation was to reflect was emboldened by the court
to frank secularity
the ideal of ancient paganism which had been re- civilization developed in France during and after
vived by the flood of Greek scholars fleeing from the thirteenth century, a civilization whose pic-
the Turks,by the manuscripts they brought with torial gifts became known outside its own fron-
them, and by the researches they undertook. Thus tiers through its ivories, tapestries, and other arts.
from medieval faith, through the intermediary Florence gave this secular trend a deliberately
stage of realism, art was to pass to humanism and humanistic character. Its art became a measure
a revival of paganism. The narrative and pictur- of man and his aspirations, expressing the logic
19
Etruscan sarcophagus, end of the sixth century B.C. Painted terra cotta, 6'4'/4" long, &'8 l6" high. From
Cervetri, in Italy. The figures represent husband and wife, with a mingling of primitive and realistic features
in the carving. The art recalls the ancient Greek, but has its own rude savor.
and clarity of his thought. In the new art, the Battle of San Romano (plate 8) he brought the
world was simply a field for human investigation mind of a geometrician to the task of expressing
and enterprise. Already Masaccio, following forms and their disposition in space, and of com-
Masolino, was taking an interest in human anat- pelling nature to accommodate itself to his simple
omy and, under the pretext of painting Adam and and beautiful combinations of lines and colors.
Eve or the Baptism of Christ, he studied its vol- His junior, the Umbrian Piero della Francesca,
umes and proportions. devoted himself to virtually the same program.
Little concerned with divine matters, the man These artists had a close kinship with the scien-
of the fifteenth century was far from content tists, who, motivated by similar ambitions and
merely to survey nature with an eye eager for methods, were the precursors of the modern era.
amusement and distraction. He scrutinized it Indeed, Leonardo da Vinci, one of the world's
with a firm, cold intelligence, intent upon formu- greatest painters, was also an engineer and in-
lating its laws and triumphantly applying them. ventor, one of the world's greatest pioneers of
Two problems seemed to absorb his intention: science. In order to understand the ambition and
perspective and harmony. By the study of per- will-power that inspired these men of the fifteenth
spective, space and modeling came under a century, we need only look at the Condottiere
system of logical laws; by the study of harmony, (plate 10) whose portrait Antonello da Messina
the elements of pictorial composition came under painted in 1475. With his implacable and piercing
conscious control. eye, sensual yet scornful mouth, and square, in-
A successor to the generation of Fra Angelico, domitable jaw, this soldier of fortune seems to
Paolo Uccello, perhaps even more strongly than personify the Benaissance, its audacities and its
the bitter and sculptural Andrea del Castagno, re- fierce demands.
asserted this spirit of secular humanism. In his Concurrent with these bold innovations, there
20
were more gradual transitions. Many painters still Northern and particularly Venice, had in
Italy,
adhered to the religious ideal of preceding cen- fact long known an art different from that of
turies. Nonetheless, while remaining devout, they Florence. The North was concerned with the con-
yielded little by little to the pervasive spirit of crete, the study of material substance. This, in the
secularism. Filippo Lippi painted Virgins as ro- middle of the fifteenth century, was the dominat-
bust and earthy women. Benozzo Gozzoli, the ing spirit of the Mantuan school, personified by
pupil of Fra Angelico, invested episodes from Mantegna, and of the great painters of the Fer-
Christian historv with solid truthfulness. He did raran school.
not hesitate to include handsome lords mounted Admittedly, Mantegna was more directly in-
on horseback. Such rugged realism was to blos- spired than his contemporaries by classical an-
som out at the end work of
of the century in the tiquity. He painted Parnassus, and he bound his
Ghirlandaio, whose Old Man and His Grandson Saint Sebastian to Corinthian columns, which he
(plate 14) is as notable for the implacable interest studied with the passion of an archaeologist. Ad-
in its subject as for the brilliance of its rendition. mittedly, too, he devoted himself more than any
This carefree vigor, however, was already tend- other painter to the demands of sculptural form.
ing to become refined. The newly revealed graces But all this contributed to his displaying a new
of classical art helped direct it toward secular
subtleties, such subtleties as were to appear in
Baldovinetti's Madonna (plate 9) who stands, tall
and slender, with tapering neck, long, pale hands,

and protuberant, lowered eyelids, in the fore-
ground of a landscape whose background, with

its sinuous rivers, wanders off into davdream.
Here we can foretell the coming of Botticelli, in

whom, at the end of the century, religious and
pagan inspirations were to fuse and create an art
in whieh delicacy sometimes borders on manner-
ism, and sensibility on a sharp and almost morbid

nervousness. Botticelli's A Lady and Four Allego-
rical Figures (plate 13) marks the achievement of
a new mode of vision: painting could now devote

itself entirely to its own researches, to its inter-
play of line and shade through which the person-

ality of the painter would seek to interpret itself
to the point of confession. This intrusion of a new

element— individual sensibility bent upon self-
discovery and self-assertion—brought to a close

the era of exploration.
The triumphant march of the Benaissance be-
gins at 'this point. It is a magnificent procession
advancing in two files. We have already seen how,
since the fourteenth century, Florence, facing and
opposing Siena, preferred the firmness of the in-
tellect to the tenderness of the heart. Thus we

were able to distinguish between the two opposite
but related factions into which Italian art is
divided. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Hera of Samos. Ionian, of the mid-sixth century B.C.
(Dedicated to Hera by Cheramyes.) Oriental in its
Florence, and later Bome, were to continue the rigid, columnar posture, this archaic figure is already
devotion to an inspiration that was primarily in- Greek in its subtly swelling forms, in the strongly
modeled upper body, in the search for varied surfaces
tellectual, while the schools of Northern Italy
and lines, with strong shadows and delicate grooves,
were to direct their appeal to the sensibility. and in the natural proportions. 6'5" high.
21
and passionate interest in the material substance itself not only to the mind but also with great per-
of his pillars and statues, in the stone itself; notice suasiveness to the experience of the senses.
in his Calvary (plate 12), the crucified limbs, the One feels this same quality in the pictures of
cuirasses,and the angular rocks of his landscape. the related Venetian school which was domi-
He is not content to define form by means of its nated, in the second half of the fifteenth century,
outline and relief; he seeks to convey the feeling by Mantegna's brother-in-law, Giovanni Bellini.
of its weight, its firmness, even its hardness to the Through its commercial trading Venice had main-
touch. Form is no longer, as it was in the work of tained contact with the East. Here more than
Giotto or Uccello, mere colored volume, but con- elsewhere in Italy the influence of Byzantium had
sists of bodies or objects
which one perceives to endured, preserving a taste for the visual enjoy-
be smooth, cold, or heavy, as if one were experi- ment of sumptuous and brilliant richness. Lorenzo
encing the sensation of them in one's hands or Veneziano's Madonnas, glittering with gilt, had
fingers. In his obsession with these qualities Man- gradually given way to pictures in which painters
tegna gives his material substance the maximum like Crivelli and the Vivarini had delighted in
of density, whether he is depicting wood, or
flesh, suggesting to the eye the illusion of beautiful ma-
cloth. The "tactile values" of which Berenson has terials—marbles and brocades, fruit and garlands.
spoken acquire here an insistence that addresses Following on these painters, Giovanni Bellini
could skillfully shade the coloring of a pink cloud
against a sunset; everything that affected the
visual sense conveyed to him a message as clear as
that which the Florentines received from the clar-
ity and the harmony imposed by thought.
Partly through Antonello da Messina, the Vene-
tians of the fifteenth century became interested
in the technical discoveries which were being
made by the Flemish artists. These discoveries
enabled painters, by the judicious use of oils, to
create with marvelous accuracy the illusion of
substance— of metal, cloth, wood, or stone— and of
the varied play of light. But where the Flemings
would open their eyes with the docility of a mir-
ror that reproduces whatever is reflected in it,
Mantegna and Bellini, remaining thoroughly

Italian, preferred the idea one has of things to the
passive registering of them. Seeking to reproduce
substance, they thought of its hardness, its solid
texture, and voluntarily accentuated these quali-

ties to the point of giving to whatever they painted
the cold solidity of marble or flint.
V
The sixteenth century developed the funda-
mental program which Western painting had laid
down for itself: to reproduce nature as it appears,

but to compel these appearances to accommodate
themselves to order and to harmony. At the be-
ginning of the new century Leonardo da Vinci
was realizing this program. To the rendition of
The precious rock-crystal body, an older vase, was set
form, which his predecessors had perfected,
in the twelfth century in a rich mount of silver-gilt
and gems of contrasting texture, lumi-
Leonardo added an incomparable resource: light,
with filigree
nosity, and This exotic, hybrid work was offered

color. with its infinitely subtle play of fugitive and vari-
by Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine to King Louis VII ously blended shadows. Ilsfumato, to use the Ital-
who presented it to his adviser, abbot Suger of Saint-
Denis. 13" high. ian word for it, almost interprets life itself; by im-
22
perceptible mutations of brightness it seems to an abiding stability. This ideal has now lost much
give movement to a glance, to a smile on the lip, of its meaning was the essential ideal
for us; but it
or to the trembling of a hand. A painting like the both of humanism and classicism, and by his em-
famous Mona Lisa (plate 15) takes on animation, bodiment of this ideal Raphael attained the high-
creates the illusion of a real existence; and in the est peak of the Renaissance.
mystery of chiaroscuro this existence, by reason In Michelangelo, Raphael's great Roman rival,
of all its suggestions of the indeterminate, the un- Italian painting quickened its advance and en-
fathomable, the fascinating, becomes more com- tered its modem phase. Humanism, ambitious of
pelling than if it had been only real. By going universality, gave way to individualism; dyna-
beyond the fixed and palpable aspects of reality mism supplanted serenity. Already Michelangelo
to the impalpable, the insubstantial, the fleeting was beginning to infuse the human form with the
illusion of life, Leonardo completed the task that obsessions of his own soul, his own tormented
the Renaissance had set for itself. In addition, he and insatiable greatness, his own personal pathos.
taught it new possibilities. He opened art to With him the age of the Baroque begins.
mystery, to what can be suggested but not ex- We must look farther north, to Parma, to find
plained. He consciously exploited that dominion again, in Correggio, the ideal of happiness. But in
which, before him, even the greatest painters had

approached only unconsciously; he was to enable
every artist to interpret his own emotions and

dreams, to make manifest thatunknown world
which is perceptible only to himself and is his
secret.
Beyond doubt, the most representative genius

of the Renaissance is Raphael, whose work is the
culmination and flowering of the researches of his
predecessors. With a sovereign ease he captured
reality "but imprinted upon it all the dreams of
perfection and harmony cherished for more than

a century. He inherited all of Florence's infallible
certainty of order and elegance; but also, as an
Umbrian and added to it
a pupil of Perugino, he
the sweetness and tenderness with which Umbria
— like Siena in the century before— tempered the
occasional severity of the art of the city of the
Medici.
If humanism is first and foremost the perfect
understanding and harmony of mankind with
and with nature— such harmony and under-
itself
standing as had been achieved by Greece-

Raphael may be said to have given humanism
new life. Not that he was incapable of expressing
a personal soul; but his sensibility vibrated in
unison with the spirit of his time. In his La Belle
Jardiniere (plate 18) Christian fervor is blended
with a pagan ardor for beauty: the human form,
the poetry of nature, the composition of the panel A Byzantine ivory carving of the eleventh century,
representing Christ enthroned. Brought to the West, it
—all combine in balance and serenity. Raphael's
was framed in the twelfth century by two panels repre-
spirit is conciliatory. It does not express itself, like senting the symbols of the evangelists, the Holy Spirit,
themodern spirit, by contrast and opposition and the Lamb. The Byzantine carving shows the typical
Greek refinement and clarity in representing Christian
within and between the world and the individual; figures in solemn postures of religious dignity and
it seems to reveal that life has a center of gravity, authority. 6%" high.
23
accord between Raphael's Virgins and their
becomes in Correggio's
fragile vernal landscape
work a complicity between shadowy foliage and

unashamed carnalities. His successor Parmegi-
anino, who took his inspiration from both him
and Raphael, was to incline their art toward the
mannerism which invariably is at first the reju-
venation and then the fatal end of all classicism.
Correggio leads us back to Venice. While pur-
suing the ideal of the Renaissance— the flowering
of mankind in harmony with the universe— Venice
brought to the task her own special emphasis.
Even more deliberately than Correggio she
addressed herself to the sensibility rather than
to the intellect. Venetian art combined all that
stirs the senses— color, its iridescences under light,
its oily gleam in the dusk; the splendors of mate-
rial, of flesh, of tresses. Venice was to disregard
the sculptural beauty of the male body, to which
Roman had devoted itself, and
art to prefer the
sensual charm of the female.
Giorgione, in his Pastoral Concert (plate 16),
assembles all the pictorial magic of Venice: the
richness of foliage and flesh, the evocation of a
life of refined pleasures, and all this amidst the
sumptuous warmth of an autumn sunset. Dying
young, Giorgione was succeeded by his friend
Titian, who with his own sovereign and trium-
phant power, was to use the same evocations, the
same poetical themes. Titian stands in the middle
of that great Venetian triad whose other members
were Veronese and Tintoretto. He represented
the height of the Renaissance for Venice, as
Raphael did for the rest of Italy. Like others be-
fore him he established a majestic balance of all
the resources on which he drew: his intelligence
A late Gothic Madonna and Child from the monastery gave him mastery of large, ordered arrangements,
of the Antonites at Isenheim in the Rhineland. Mary's
robe, richly crinkled and broken, forming a com- while his sensibility gave him mastery of expres-
plicated field of lights and darks, is the chief means sive harmonies of color and substance. In his
of expression. Wood, 68" high.
treatment of the life of the senses he was equally
skilled at animating the pleasures of sensation
Correggio's work this ideal is, so to speak, trans- and at revealing profundity of emotion. And as
posed into a sensuous key. Whereas in Florence shown by his Entombment (plate 17), he com-
Fra Bartolommeo and Andrea del Sarto remained manded the orchestration of all these elements in
obedient to the law of balanced, symmetrical, a supreme harmony.

and pyramidal forms— forms as serene as those of If Titian has the deep and brilliant sumptuous-
architecture — Correggio translated harmony for ness of sunset, Veronese has the bright keenness of
the spirit into pleasure for the senses. He contorts sunrise; if Titian is gold, Veronese is silver. More
the pose of his Jupiter and Antiope (plate 20) to facile, more of a narrator, and also more super-
give more emphasis to her suppleness; he stresses ficial than Titian, Veronese was primarily a
the relief to suggest the warmth of her body. The decorator. But in his inexhaustible fecundity he
(Continued on Page 73)

24
3. CIMABUE [1240P-1 302?] The Madonna of the Angeh • Florentine School
Painted last quarter, 13th Century Tempera on panel, 166%" x 108%" • Commentary on page 154
1
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4. GIOTTO [12669-1337] Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata • Florentine School
Painted about 1320 Tempera on panel, 123%" x 63/-i" • Commentary on page 154
5. SIMONE MARTINI [1285P-1344] Christ Carrying the Cross Siene.se School
Painted about 1340 Tempera on canvas, 1 Hi" x 7"m" •
Commentary on page 155
6. FRA ANGELICO[I.387-i455] The Coronation of the Virgin Florentine School
Painted about 1430 Tempera on panel, 83J»" x 83Js" • Commentary on page 155
7. PISAXELLO [13959-1455?] A Princess of the Este Family •
North Italian School
Painted ahout 1440 Tempera on panel, 16Jb" x ll?.i" • Commentary on page 155
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9. BALDOVINETTI [1425-1499] Virgin and Child Florentine School
Painted mid-15th Century Tempera and oil on canvas, 41" x 29%" Commentary on page 156
10. ANTON ELLO DA MESSINA [1430P-1479] A Condoffiere North Italian School
Painted 1475 Oil on panel, 13K" x 11" •

11. GIOVANNI BELLINI [1430P-1516] Portrait of a Man Venetian School
Painted about 1485 • Tempera and oil on panel, 12&" x 10K" Commentary on page 156
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14. GHIRLANDAIO [1449-1494] An Old Man and His Grandson • Florentine School
Painted about 1480 Tempera and oil on panel, 24%" x 18J4" • Commentary on page 157
15. LEONARDO DA VINCI [1452-1519] Mono Lisa Florentine School
Painted about 1505 • Oil on panel, 30'i" x 20J»" •

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18. RAPHAEL [1483-1520] La Belle Jardiniere Florentine School
Painted 1507 Oil on panel, 48" x 3134" •

19. CARAVAGGIO [1562P-1609] Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt Neapolitan School
Painted 1608 Oil on canvas, 76%" x 52/4" •

20. CORREGGIO [1498-1534] Jupiter and Antiope • North Italian School
Painted about 1525 •

Oil on canvas, 74%" x 48%" Commentary on page 159
21. VERONESE [1528-1588] Calvary • Venetian School
Painted about 1570 Oil on canvas, 40!«" x AQ A"

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26. CIAMBATTISTA TIEPOLO [1696-1770] The Triumph of Religion Venetian School
Painted second half 18th Century • Oil on canvas, 67%" x 59" • Commentary on page 160
27. JAN VAN EYCK L390?- 1 44 1] The
[ Virgin and Chancellor Rolin •
Flemish School
Painted about 1433 " Tempera and oil on panel, 26" x 24%" Commentary on page 160
28. ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN [1399P-1464] The Annunciation •
Flemish School
Painted 1432-1435 • Tempera and oil on panel, 33J»" x 36)4" Commentary on page 161
29. MEMLING [1433P-1494] The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catharine •
Flemish School
Painted about 1475 Tempera and oil on panel, ]()%" x 5J»" Commentary on page 161
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33. JORDAEXS [1593-1678] The Four Evangelists Flemish School
Painted about 1620 Oil on canvas, 52?4" x 46)a" •

34. VAN DYCK [1599-1641] Portrait of Charles I of England • Flemish School

Oil on canvas, 107K" x 83£" Commentary on page 162
35. BROUWER [1605?-1638?] The Smoker • Flemish School

Oil on panel, 1636" x 12S" Commentary on page 162
36. HIERONYMUS BOSCH [1450?-1516P] The Ship of Fools • Dutch School
Painted about 1500 Tempera and oil on panel, 22" x 12'»" Commentary on page 163
37. GEERTGEN TOT SINT JANS [1465P-1493] The Resurrection of Lazarus •
Dutch School
Painted last quarter 15th Century •
Tempera and oil on panel, 50" x 38)»" • Commentary on page 163
38. HOBREMA [1638-1709] The Watermill •
Dutch School
Painted 1664 • Oil on canvas, 3134" x 25&" Commentary on page 163
39. REMBRANDT [7606-7669] Bathsheba Dutch School
Painted 1654 •
Oil on canvas, 55S" x 55J»" •
40. VERMEER [1632-1675] The Lacemaker Dutch School
Painted about 1665 • Oil on canvas, 9¥/' x 8)4" • Commentary on page 164
41. HALS [1580?-1666] La Bohemienne • Dutch School
Painted about 1625 • Oil on panel, 22Js" x 20*2" • Commentary on page 164
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46. TER BORCH [1617-1681] The Gallant Dutch School

Oil on canvas, 26%" x 21%" • Commentary on page 165
47. REYNOLDS [1723-1792] Master Hare • English School
Painted 1788-1789 •
Oil on canvas, 29J4" x 24%" • Commentary on page 165
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50. LAWRENCE [1769-1830] Julius Angerstein and His Wife English School
Painted 1792 •
Oil on canvas, LOO" x 6234" • Commentary on page 166
(Continued from Page 24)
was to find the inspiration to paint the Wedding

at Cana— the largest canvas in the world— teem-
ing with crowds, riches, and colors. In his Calvary
(plate 21) he was also show himself capable
to
of revealing unexpected depths in which color is
no longer a mere visual pleasure but a cry which
pierces to the heart.
In Tintoretto we find repeated the same phe-
nomenon that we observed in Michelangelo: the
transition from humanistic classicism to baroque
individualism. More somber, more tragic than
Titian, and shaken by unknown inward struggles,
Tintoretto was no more capable than Michelan-
gelo of accepting an immobile perfection. He
ventured out upon the life of action and all its
unchained forces.
Venice was the culmination of the Renaissance,

but already she was passing beyond it and creat-
ing the art of modern times. From the Venetian
school, as personified by Titian, were to spring
such men as Velasquez and Rubens, and indeed
the future masters up to Delacroix. By using
colors to stir the spectator's senses and immerse
him in daydreams, gaiety, nostalgia, or desire,
Titian presented this art with fateful new poten-
A ewer from the treasures of the royal monastery of
tialities. The was to seek less and less to
painter
Saint-Denis, donated by its great abbot Suger (died in
reflect the laws of harmony and balance implicit 1152). The main body, of a beautifully mottled dark
sardonyx, is an ancient classic work; the mount, of gilt
in the human mind and more and more to com-
silver and gems, with slender elegant forms, is of the
municate to others all that lay deepest in his heart twelfth century. 14" high.
and was unique to himself. He was to use his
paintings to disclose the private nature of his soul.
Italian painting had reached its heights. By the like to extract from it. Caravaggio perceived that
end of the sixteenth century its decline, although this effort would succumb to academicism, would
gradual, was already apparent. Men like Carracci gradually degenerate into mechanical formulas
and Guido Reni, among others, seemed to think and mechanical methods. He decided to grapple
that there was nothing more to do than to make with reality in order to make it reveal whatever it
an eclectic assembly of the qualities revealed by could of material and brutal fact, of concrete
the masters who had preceded would be them. It weight. For ideal light he substituted violent
unjust, however, to deny the eminent gifts by gleams which, with unexpected shadows and
which several of them were redeemed: the sus- patches of brightness, cut sharply across the ex-
tained and wholesome realism of Annibale pected appearance of forms. He enlisted in his
Carracci (plate 24); the purity of Domenichino; service all the truculence and vulgarity which
or that feeling for pathos, both of drama and of nature had to offer— models from the gutter, men
color, which, as displayed by Guercino, heralded with knotted, muscular limbs and tanned,
the coming of Romanticism. wrinkled skins — in order to save nature from
In Rome, and afterwards in Naples, one man insipidness, to arouse surprise and stir a painter's
refused merely to repeat what had been said vision to life. From this art was to come a revolu-
before him. This was Caravaggio. Italian painting tion in all of European painting: the revolution of
had successfully sought to present an image of naturalism.
the world which would conform both to truth Renaissance painting had come to an end, yet
and to the ideal of beauty which the mind would at the close of the seventeenth and during the
73
play of light upon the city's crowds and buildings
with a sharpness and subtlety which already pre-
saged the art of Impressionism.
FLEMISH PAINTING
FLANDERS CONCERNED ITSELF LITTLE WITH THE
abstractions which obsessed Italian Renaissance
art. It was above all a bourgeois society, a country
of powerful merchants who delighted in their
prosperity. Philosophy and abstract principles
were looked upon as encumbrances; was
reality
the greatest challenge, and this western program
of conquering it had a special appeal in the prac-
tical Flemish culture.
For the French or Italian painter, to master
reality meant to grasp the laws which govern its
appearance; it meant also to improve upon reality
by imposing on it a certain idea of perfection. The
Flemish painter had little patience with theories.
This Romanesque second quarter of the
relief of the For him was what he saw, as he saw it.
reality
twelfth century, from Nevers in Burgundy, represent-
Whatever was tangible and had weight was real.
ing the struggle of Saint Michael and the dragon, is
remarkable for intense activity and dramatic opposi- While an Italian painter depicted his subject with
tions of the lines and the rich play of the varied sur- highly stylized line and modeling, the Fleming,
faces of the stone carving. 33%" high.
with his emphasis on commercial value, was sure
that the character of an object depended less on
eighteenth centuries, Italian art continued to exert its shape than on its substance. A cylinder of wood
an important influence on the rest of Europe. At and a cylinder of gold, identical in volume and
the council of Trent (1545-1563) the Church had shape, were nevertheless profoundly different to
redefined its attitude toward art, again enlisting him. For the Fleming, therefore, to capture reality
painting in the service of religion. By means of on canvas or panel was essentially to depict what
religious subjects treated with vivid pathos, paint- things were made of.
ing was to stir in the spectator emotions corre- Flemish painting did not rise to its true height
sponding to the ecstasy of the saints and the agony of perfection until it abruptly turned its back on
of the martyrs. The result was that in an evolution medieval techniques. The brothers van Eyck pro-
parallel to that of Jesuit architecture, painting was vided the means — a new use of oils. It was the
to let loose the whirlwind of the Baroque — the first time that they had been employed with pre-
style of which Michelangelo and Tintoretto had cision and effectiveness. Oils could represent as
sown the seeds. faithfully as a mirror the texture of wool or silk,
Venice, however, always enamored of its inde- of fur or human hair, the transparency of crystal
pendence, gave this new art its only expression or the glint of gold. Unlike fresco or tempera, with
of value, for only Venice had learned how to play oils color could be laid on either in thick impasto
with the colors of luxury and seductiveness with- or in transparent glazes, could be molded by the
out falling into empty rhetoric. Tiepolo (plate 26), brush either smoothly or in corrugations, so that
with his vertiginous ceiling decorations, whether it became whole play of
possible to imitate the
Christian or mythological, continued the tradition light on an object; there were no longer any limits
of Veronese, but set his compositions awhirl in to representation. Jan van Eyck's prodigious
clouds of dazzling splendor. Other painters con- masterpiece, the Virgin and Chancellor Rolin
centrated more exclusively upon the daily life of (plate 27), shows that the grain of the human
Venice, of which they were the enchanted ob- skin can be as adroitly imitated as the gleam of
servers. Guardi (plate 25), sparkling and poetic, tiles or the rich vistas of space. There is exact
and Canaletto, precise and cold, recorded the rendering of atmosphere and a microscopic atten-
74
tion to detail. Van Eyck combines a mastery of pushed one step further. To him painting had be-
composition with a psychological penetration to come static, forever fixed in its appearance; real-
give his dazzling realism a power which belongs ity, on the other hand, was continually shifting
to both art and poetry. and changing. Just as the Italians had created the
This achievement is the culmination of the illusion of depth, Bruegel, discovering a dimen-
medieval miniature, just as the Italian primitive which had escaped his predecessors,
sion of reality
was the culmination of the Byzantine icon. The created the illusion of movement and life.
spiritual tension and depth of religious feeling of Instead of posing his subject, Bruegel concen-
the Gothic cathedral is still present in van Eyck's trated on its mobility. He sought to capture it in
works and is perhaps even more evident in the its busy and varied action, in the instantaneous-
paintings of his greatest successor, Rogier van der ness with which one attitude gives way to another.
Weyden (plate 28). In his Beggars (plate 31), the wretched cripples
Hans Memling turned this tension into some- move; each figure is in a different phase of the
thing more tender, something closer to the mys- same movement.
ticism of the Rhineland, where he was born. In Thus at the very beginning of the seventeenth
hisMystic Marriage of Saint Catliarine (plate 29) century Flemish painting had returned to its true
angels hover overhead while against the back- vocation. It was to develop in unforseen ways
ground of a hedge of roses Catharine and other under the hand of Rubens, a universal genius.
saints surround the Virgin and Child. While expressing the Flemish genius in all its
During the fifteenth century commercial ex- truth, he also integrated it with the lessons of
changes, so highly developed at this time, could classical Italy; he achieved a mighty synthesis of
not fail to encourage artistic exchanges also; and these two great and different traditions.
the art of the North made inevitable contact with
the art of Italy. Confronted by the elegance and
ease of Italian art, the Flemish painters began to
regard their own highest virtues — their perfect
probity and simplicity — as mere awkwardness
and provincialism. Too many artists applied them-
what could only be an imitation
selves servilely to
of the Italian Renaissance. Its deep spirituality
escaped them, and they could only grasp its most
superficial mannerisms.
Some men, however, remained true to the Flem-
ish tradition. Gerard David's Wedding at Cana
(plate 30), for example, retains the placid sweet-

and betrays no sign of the
ness of the primitives
luxury and fashion of Italy. Because of this he
was regarded as an anachronism, and with him
passed the last of the great painters of Bruges.
In the rising school of Antwerp, which was fully
open to Italian influence, men like Quentin
Matsys also continued the Flemish tradition. His
Moneylender and HisWife (frontispiece) preserves
the realistic magic of the primitives, but is aloof
from the religious fervor which was their glory.
Despite these men, Flemish art seemed in
danger of surrendering itself completely to the
The dark purple body is an Egyptian porphyry vase;
Italian example. The genius of Pieter Bruegel the head, wings, tail, and feet in contrasting silver-gilt
saved the situation and justified the Flemish six- are of the twelfth century, an example of the superb
craftsmanship of the metal workers of Romanesque
teenth century. He felt that the realistic perfec- France. This powerful fantastic eagle was a gift of the
tion of the fifteenth-century primitives could be abbot Suger to the monastery of Saint-Denis. 17" high.
75
seems to sweep across the canvas with all the
colors of the palette. He replaced the cunningly
spread and blended tones of classical Italian
painting with a visible movement of the hand
employing all the various ways of applying paint:
a fluid, rapt, nervous, or swirling movement which
makes the colors splash and surge and come alive.
Rubens completely satisfied the ambition of
Flemish painting to master not only the outward
aspects of reality but also its animating force. He
had too much greatness of spirit not to realize
what he lacked, and this was precisely what Italy
had achieved: style. He could set down his great
lines, balance his masses, and control the elements
of his picture; but even so, in his fidelity to the
Flemish genius, he could not lay out his forms in
cunning symmetries, as the Italians could. He

gave his pictures unity by asserting the command
of his mind over the creative urge. He is the ful-
fillment not only of the aspirations of Flanders,
but also of the program of the Counter Reforma-
tion, which had culminated only in a hol-
in Italy
low over-emphasis. In his work it became a tri-

umphal song of life.
The personality of Rubens crowned the rise of
Flemish art; but like every success that is too
complete, it also exhausted it. He was followed by
men who were little more than imitators. Jordaens,
nevertheless, cut out a place for himself at the
side of Rubens. Heavier, more down-to-earth, in-
fluenced at first by Caravaggio and later carried
away by the example of Rubens, Jordaens is, in a
way, the plebeian offspring of Rubens' princely
fecundity. But what rude and generous sap rises in
Stele of Naram-sin, king of Agade, Chaldea, about his Four Evangelists (plate 33), whose solid truth-
2700 B.C. Red sandstone, 79" high, 41%" wide. The fulness gives them a solemn devotion and com-
stele was set up to commemorate a victory of the king.
It is interesting as an early example of representation
posure!
of landscape in sculpture. As for van Dyck, Rubens' prodigious pupil, his
subtler nature as well as his long stay at the Eng-
lish court gave him an aristocratic quality that
To begin with, Rubens carried the recording gains in dreamy delicacy what it loses in power.
of life to the point of lyricism. His work, like a His portraits — his Charles I (plate 34), for ex-
huge torrent, carries along with it life in all its ample — concentrate less on physical exactitude
forms the: flesh of women or children, fruit, fields than on the expression of the inner life. Rubens
undulating to the horizon, clouds, rainbows. He had belonged to the age of humanism, when the
displayed the forces of life in the joyful dance of artist seemed to be the spokesman and herald of
his Country Fair (plate 32), in hunts and battles, the beliefs of his time; van Dyck, by immersing
in the amplitude of magnificent episodes from himself in inner solitude, in the suggestion of the
pagan myth or the Christian religion. incommunicable at the bottom of every man's
Rubens had been in Italy. In Venice he had soul, marked the transition to a new age. Art was
learned a freedom of execution in which the brush to lose its collective character and to become the
76
Haarlem. This duality is a reminder that the two
schools, despite their deep divergencies, derive
from a common stock.
DUTCH PAINTING
ORIGINALLY THE FLEMISH AND THE DUTCH
schools were indistinguishable. They were two
aspects of the art of the Low Countries. It was not
until the beginning of the seventeenth century
that religious and political conflicts brought about
the split into two distinct regions. The northern
Low Countries became Protestant Holland; the
southern Low Countries, remaining under the
authority of Catholic Spain, formed what was
later to become Belgium.
Until 1572, however, when the struggle for in-
dependence began, the art of the Low Countries
in the North could at best only reflect the particu-
lar spiritual characteristics of a region which was

distant from the great artistic centers of Europe.
The Resurrection of Lazarus (plate 37), painted
by Geertgen tot Sint Jans in the second half of the
fifteenth century, gives us the feeling that the
painter was isolated, little in touch with the re-
The Code of Hammurabi (detail, upper part). Basalt
finements of the urban centers. His figures are
relief, about 2100 B.C., 88%" high. The Babylonian
king is shown standing in prayer before the enthroned somewhat lumpish and clumsily built. But in soli-
sun god, Shamash. Below is inscribed the oldest known tude and isolation, undistracted by worldliness,
code of laws.
man is closer to nature; and in Geertgen's work
there is a direct feeling for the countryside, a
instrument of communicating the private secrets feeling that presages the major concerns of Dutch
of the soul. art.
Other painters uneasily forced themselves to Toward the end of the fifteenth century ap-
imitate Rubens' epic example. Wiser ones, more peared that strange genius, Hieronymus Bosch.
aware of their own stature, were content to re- More than a century in advance of his time he ex-
main, in the line of Bruegel, observers of local ploited the possibilities which Holland was later to
life, with its drinkers and rustic smoking-dens. expand. With a spirit of sarcasm which revels in
All of them, however, benefited by the freedom such subjects as the temptation of Saint Anthony
of pictorial technique that Rubens had revealed. and the mocking of Christ, Bosch brutally called
Teniers, with some monotony but also with an an end to the Middle Ages. There is nothing mys-
amused delicacy of touch and vision, an attention tical about his work; his astonishing and tortured
to the subleties of light, posed his peasants as imagination expressed itself in obscure allegories
were the peasants whom
shriveled gnomes; these which owe to religion almost nothing but its
Louis XIV banned from his sight, disdainfully moral teachings. The sense of the divine, which
describing them as "Barbary apes." Painting with was to be foreign to almost all of the Dutch paint-
the rapt and audacious spirit which bursts forth ers, had already disappeared in Bosch; and the
in his Smoker (plate 35), Adrian Brouwer gave to secular, practical spirit of the bourgeoisie had
similar subjects a decisive crispness of execution begun to break through. But his "morality," as
which often turns his tiny panels into impressive in hisShip of Fools (plate 36), means much more.
paintings. But does Brouwer belong to the Flem- Perhaps, as a point of departure, he takes some
Dutch school? He was a successor
ish or to the to maxim or proverb with the intention of illustrat-
Bruegel, but he was also Frans Hals's pupil in ing it; but very quickly he transcends his theme
77
and thrusts into it, with the same liberty the un-
conscious mind exploits in sleep, the most secret
and inexplicable dreams. He is not content to
paint familiar legends and themes of a common
heritage. As he paints, Bosch holds intimate con-
versation with himself, and gradually he sinks
into the depths of his own unconscious. For him,
to paint is to liberate his own demon. Thus this
amazing inventor launched out upon yet another
exploration of the human personality, an explora-
tion toward which art was more and more to turn
as it approached modern times.
To development no school of painting has
this
contributed more than the Dutch. Their Protes-

tantism encouraged the spirit of free inquiry and
substituted for the Christian sense of the miracu-
lous an emphasis on conscience and morality. By
its practical attitude, its repudiation of myths,
and its confrontation of the individual with him-
self, Protestantism hastened the birth of the mod-
ern world. With this force behind it, art was to
be concerned, on the one hand, with strict reality
and, on the other, with the personality of the

artist. Of
two components the more wide-
these
spread, the more universally evident, was realism.
The greatest Dutch painter at the beginning of
the sixteenth century was Frans Hals. We should
not forget, however, that he was born at Antwerp
and so had links with the Flemish. Like Brouwer,
upon whom he had a profound influence, he was This Egyptian figure of a woman bearing an offering is
distinguished by great elegance and simplicity. It be-

obsessed by the desire to record life in all its
longs to the Middle Empire, at the end of the Xlth
action; and he chose a technique in which the or the beginning of the Xllth dynasty, towards 2000
B.C. 41" high. Stuccoed and painted wood.
movement and even the speed of the brush helped
to make his painting sparkle and glow. Moreover,
he was endowed with an almost frenetic energy; and tobacco shops. We feel this also in the school
he slashed his canvas with sure, quick touches, of Utrecht, to which Gerard Honthorst introduced
touches which— in La Bohemienne (plate 41), for the popular naturalism of Caravaggio, so con-
example— interpret a face in action and capture genial to these men of the North as yet un-
each intense and fugitive expression. More ner- acquainted with Italy.
vous and more prosaic than Bubens, and work- Very soon public taste turned against these
ing on a different level, he helped, as Bubens did, boisterous and rustic spectacles. Protestantism
to subjugate life to painting. He fathered that line banned them as immoral, while the bourgeoisie,
of portrait painters which was to concentrate its striving to raise itself to a more aristocratic level,
art on the individual. preferred not to be reminded of its plebeian

At the beginning of the seventeenth century origins. As a result painting returned to a greater
Protestant Holland was gradually growing strong- gravity and restraint and also acquired a greater
er. Its art was on the way to maturity. We feel degree of worldly pretentiouness. Almost alone Jan
this in Hals and also in the painters he shaped, in Steen persisted in presenting, with an irony which
Brouwer, who vacillates between Flanders and was less noisy but more incisive, the old themes
Holland, and in Adrian van Ostade, another of easy debauch, as in the Celebration in a Tavern
painter of the clowns and rustics of the tavern (plate 45). The generation that followed Hals
78
was more wary of frequenting guardrooms and the light discreetly enters in order to lend bril-
the company of young women of easy virtue. In newly waxed tiles, the furniture, and
liance to the
their work the houses of ill-fame took on an air of the gleaming silks worn by elegant ladies. Here
respectability; and so did their brushwork, which we are in good society, where an obvious effort is
became more studied and scrupulous. being made to ape the aristocracy. Often a spinet
By the middle of the century the bourgeoisie or a violoncello will suggest an atmosphere of
was left in full possession of the field. Painters music in these scenes in which reality, precise,
occasionally pictured a young officer offering a refined, and in meditative composure, will rise to
glass of wine to a young lady, but offering it with the heights of poetry. Such is the nature of the
modesty, even with gallantry; and it would take peaceful and mellow interiors offered for our in-
great courage to challenge the virtue of his fair spection by Gerard Ter Borch, who was the real
partner in Ter Borch's The Gallant (plate 46). To and concerts, by
originator of these conversations
do so, we would have to take note of the act of Gabriel Metsu, and especially by the masters of
offering money. As a rule we are introduced into Delft, Pieter de Hooch and, above all, Vermeer.
comfortable, wealthy, and silent rooms into which In Vermeer we encounter a true poet. Every-
thing he touches seems to acquire a unique and
unforgettable quality. He tells us nothing about
himself; he is silent on that subject, yet he bestows
upon the scene he paints, even if it be the simple
Lacemaker (plate 40) at her work, an accent of
purity, a pious concentration, a modesty com-
bined with emotion, all of which suggest crystal.
Everything in his paintings— from the harmony
of colors dominated by fawn and blue to the tech-
nique by which he applies colors without reveal-
ing any sign of a brush stroke— conveys the same
music, born of the encounter between the outer
world and his heart.
It is at this point that we can confirm how
closely realism and lyricism are united in the work
of the great Dutch painters. In the work of their
lesser colleagues we feel only a faithfulness to
reality. Indeed, from Gerard Dou to Metsu and

Mieris extends a line of scrupulous and pious ob-
servers who are prodigiously adroit, but whose
art is no longer fired either by the emotional faith
of the Flemish primitives or by the personal sensi-
bility of a Vermeer or a Ter Borch.

In confining themselves to realism, or in adding
to it their personal emotion, the Dutch were not
concerned with great mythical, religious, or his-
torical subjects.The humblest objects provided

them with sufficient material. The result was that
they developed the still life to an unprecedented
Stele of King Zet (about 3000 B.C.), called the degree; its immobility was especially well suited
Serpent-King, after the serpent that served as the to that intimate meeting between the object and
hieroglyph of his name. This beautifully precise sculp-
ture, found in the king's tomb at Abydos, was a symbol
the painter's contemplative sensibility. The Still
of royalty. The falcon was the bird of the god Horus, Life of Heda (plate 42), tells us of all the grave
who was the incarnation of Egyptian kingship; the two
ecstasy a Dutch painter could derive in paint-
doors of the palace symbolized an earlier stage of the
kingdom when Egypt was divided between the Pha- ing the transparency of a glass, the yellow curve
raohs of the North and the South. 57" high, limestone. of a lemon peel, or the rich fur of a dead hare.
79
Objects, however, speak only the language of self in boundless horizons and immense forces, he
matter; the voices of nature are innumerable and also withdrew into himself. He discovered in his
universal. Some Dutch painters turned to nature soul new vistas.
in reaction Land-
against bourgeois positivism. Now the art of emotion and of personal poetry
scape painting produced some of the most bril- began to find free scope; two centuries in advance,
liant successes of Dutch realism; but while the it sowed the seeds of Romanticism. Hobbema, for
peaceful Potter may have seen in nature little example, although devoid of lyricism, has such
more than an opportunity to display his White sharpness of perception in his famous Watermill
Horse (plate 43), nature also offered the painter (plate 38) that he conveys to us an excitement
solitude in which he could develop his most pri- which he himself may not have felt because of his
vate emotions. The contemplation of nature great concentration upon his subject. Even more
turned into daydream. While the painter lost him- poetry began to appear in the vast and rainy
horizons, in the monochrome scale of the creators
of Dutch landscape, Jan van Goyen and Salomon
van Ruisdael; and in the work of the latter's
nephew, Jacob van Ruisdael, who ranks with the
great painters of Holland, Vermeer and Rembrandt.
Like Vermeer, Ruisdael converts every object
he paints into a deep emotion and pours out his
secret and taciturn sensibility. Rroken by shallow
reliefs his plain extends beneath the immense void
of the sky; but the driven clouds which cause the
sun to shine upon the ground in flitting patches,
the water endlessly foaming and rushing, the
brightness ceaselessly varying — all these, in his
Burst of Sunlight (plate 44), express the evanes-
cent beauties of nature. From these grave, sub-
dued colors emanates a perpetual, silent melan-
choly. In painting of this kind there is only mood
—no longer a subject, a story, or even an aesthetic
idea or principle.
By detaching the painter from all conventions
and traditional aspirations, absolute realism actu-
ally turned him back on himself, in all his solitude.
If he possessed an inner richness he was compelled

to reveal it and to nourish his art on it. It is not
paradoxical, therefore, that out of the seeming
material flatness of Dutch realism should arise
one of the loftiest geniuses of Western art,
Rembrandt.
Rembrandt was undoubtedly the first painter
to have made the soul and its expression the pur-
pose of his art. He comes at the end of the age of
humanism, in the sense that his subjects are most
often taken from the Old or New Testament.
His work is steeped in the collective conscious-
ness, whose traditional religious themes he inter-
A fineexample of the wooden reliquary statues of the
prets with an unprecedented depth of under-
Virgin and Child common in the twelfth century in
the Auvergne. The head is movable, and in the breast standing. In him Christian inspiration is given
is an opening designed to hold relics. The primitive
perhaps its most sublime expression equal, at the
rigidity of the figures is softened by the rounded model-
ing and the rhythmical lines of the folds. 33" high. very least, to that of the Middle Ages. And
80
whether he paints portraits, nudes, or Biblical they followed van Dyck, the court painter of
scenes — his Bathsheba (plate 39) combines all Charles I, almost to the point of pastiche. Eng-
three — he always glorifies humanity and the love land'smost successful portrait painters were a
and goodness which bind men together. Fleming, Sir Peter Lely, and after him a German,
Nevertheless, while giving eloquent expression Sir Godfrey Kneller. was only in the eighteenth
It
to the age of humanism, he also introduces the century that England produced her first great
age of individualism. From the very start he im- native masters.
bues it with a note of astonishing intensity, for At the same time that the aristocracy of Eng-
it was by exploring himself that he acquired the land was finding expression in Sir Joshua Rey-
power of affecting other men. Love, goodness, nolds' portraits, the middle class was finding its
humanity — he experienced them all within him- voice in the art of William Hogarth. Realistic,
self. To make them manifest it was sufficient for
him to study his own face, which each year grew

more deeply furrowed by cares, unhappiness, and
the increasing incomprehension of his aims by his
contemporaries. He offers us, it may be added, a
revealing symbol of his self-exploration in his

obsession with the mirror; he constantly scruti-
nizes and questions himself in his long series of
He opened the way for those after
self-portraits.
him who would turn their gaze inward, bringing

to light their personal secrets and making of them
the shaping force of their art. Rembrandt's mir-
acle is that even while he immersed himself in his
inner depths, he revealed and stirred the deep

sources of others' sensibility.
He" was also an innovator in technique. Even
more than the Venetians he exploited the special
beauties of oils. He succeeded in making of his
colors an enamel, a blended wash, a substance
either smoothly flowing or expressive of vehe-
mence, according to his inspiration.
Just as the genius of Rubens left Flanders al-
most exhausted for many years, so the genius of

Rembrandt seems to have exhausted the creative
energv of the Dutch school. Until the end of the
nineteenth century and the appearance of van
Gogh, Holland was to produce minor painters
only.
ENGLISH PAINTING
ENGLISH PAINTING WAS THE LAST TO MAKE ITS
appearance. Hesitating to assert itself, for several

centuries it followed in the wake of other schools.
The primitives were influenced by the French, so
deeply, in fact, that a fifteenth-century panel, for Ivory Virgin and Infant Christ. French, early fourteenth
century, I6V2" high. The Virgin's crown is of gold,
a long time thought to be French, has only re-
with filigree, precious stones and pearls; her collar is
cently been given its proper English ascription also gold, the brooch a garnet, the belt of leather.
by the Louvre. English painters in the sixteenth The costume preserves many traces of gilding and
painting. A charming example of the sweet and aristo-
century were disciples of Holbein, court painter cratic conception of the holy figures in French Gothic
to Henry VIII, while in the seventeenth century art, amiable, graceful, and rich.
81
Louvre, which does, however, possess a charming
work by Reynolds, his Master Hare (plate 47). A
man of superior intelligence and skill, Reynolds
had patiently studied the Venetians and van
Dyck. He created a facile and dazzling style, a
style of dependable effects; it enabled him to
arrange human likenesses, in simplified, appetiz-
ing harmonies of white, black, and red, against
settings of autumnal verdure. With this style
Reynolds ushered in the great era of English por-
Those who followed him, Romney,

trait painting.
Hoppner, and, in a more rugged way, the Scots-

man Raeburn, were to govern their work by the
formula he had developed. The double portrait
of Julius Angerstein and His Wife (plate 50)
shows that by the nineteenth century Sir Thomas
Lawrence had brought this formula to its highest
point of dexterity and distinction.
In the eighteenth century, however, Reynolds
had a great rival in Thomas Gainsborough. A more
personal painter and also more of a poet than
Reynolds, Gainsborough had been influenced by
Watteau's visit to London. His Ladij Alston dis-
plays the gentlecharm and the refinement of

technique with which he would enhance the
grace of his models. To Reynolds' virtuosity of
brush he added an indefinable accent of tender-
ness and of reverie steeped in emotion. In his
landscapes Gainsborough looked rather to the
Dutch painters than to Claude Lorrain. He was
the real founder of that line of landscape painters
who were to dominate the English school of the
nineteenth century, just as the portrait painters
had dominated that of the eighteenth.
Constable'sHelmingham Park (plate 48), which
has been recently acquired by the Louvre, helps
The marble Slave of Michelangelo (1475-1564) was
intended as part of his great unfinished project, the us realize how and indeed
large a part this artist,
tomb of Pope Julius II. The meaning of the fettered
all of the great English landscape painters, have
nude figure,powerful yet relapsing in weakness, is
unclear. of a group of such slaves it has been
As one played in the creation of modern painting. Ron-
interpreted as a personification of conquered provinces, ington, delicate and attentive to the most subtle
in awhole that conveys the triumph of Pope Julius; it
may also represent the enslavement of man to his
values, and Constable, nourished by a more gen-
animal nature. 90" high. erous sap: these two revolutionized the vision of
nature. After them Turner, a visionary who was
sometimes bold and sometimes merely artificial,
moralistic,and anecdotal, as befitted the class he ventured upon a series of astonishing anticipations
represented, Hogarth ranks among those pictorial of later developments. With a variegated palette
creators who have discovered the expressive force and a brush heedless of restricting notions of form
of the brush stroke as well as of color and its har- or outline, he painted pictures as brilliant and as
monies. He makes his entry into art as a reflec- dazzling as iridescent mirages.
tion of Hals and Velasquez. Renefiting in turn from the pictorial audacity
Hogarth is unfortunately not represented in the achieved by Venice, exploited by Velasquez and
82
Rubens, and England assimilated by Reynolds,
in
the English landscape painters were interested

only in the interplay and the precise application
of colors; they were free from concern with relief
and volume. They discovered effects equivalent

to light and thus prepared the way for Impres-
sionism.
SPANISH PAINTING
THE LOUVRE OFFERS US A BRIEF, SWEEPING VISTA
of Spanish painting with its main landmarks indi-
cated by a few principal works. A peripheral

school like the German, the Spanish was equally
slow in asserting its independence. Its primitives,
like those of Germany, tried to borrow their style

from the dominating painters of Europe. Spain
looked first toward Gothic France, then fell into
the wake of Italy, and after that, through van der

Weyden, turned toward Flanders. The Renais-
sance found her once more taking sustenance from
Italy, although a few Castilian or Catalonian
primitives which the Louvre possesses show us
that the Spanish painting was beginning to seek
its own path.
A land of passionate intensity, Spain seems to
be drawn in two directions. The implacably bril-
liant sunlight makes all the sights of reality vividly

evident while it seems to encourage men to retire
within themselves and, in that interior darkness,
explore the living sources of mysticism. But
whether naturalistic or inspired, Spain always fills
her creations with the same intense passion.

Remarkably enough Spanish art burst into
flower only after the arrival of a Cretan, El Greco,
who found on the burnt soil of Toledo a reminder
of his native country, but remained uncomforted
by it. In the work of this expatriate, Spanish Winged Victory, from Samothrace, date third or early
second century B.C. It was originally set up on a cliff
painting let loose upon the world the equivalent
facing the sea to commemorate a naval victory. The
of the mystical lightning of Saint Teresa or Saint figure is of marble, the pedestal, in the form of a ship's
prow, is of a stone from Rhodes, the probable home of
John of the Cross.
the sculptor. Height of the figure: 6' 9%".
Perhaps it was his sense of isolation and the
profound tension it developed in him which gave
El Greco the strength to create a wholly personal his portraits — his hallucinatory Covarrubias
vision, disdainful of all the respected conventions (plate 51), for example — seem to be phantoms
and forged in the inward fire of his soul. Three of his imagination.
centuries before the beginning of modern art, he His contribution as a pioneer was immense. In
was the man to dare to disregard appearances
first a century when was still engaged in reproduc-
art
as other men saw them. He invented a reality dis- ing reality, El Greco had the audacity to distort
torted to suit his own needs and vision, trans- in order to express. Furthermore, having been
figured from conventional reality as freely as the trained in Venice, El Greco brought to Spain the
wildest dreams. All of his figures, even those of technique of Titian and Tintoretto. This was pre-
83
eclipsed by Zurbaran, of whom the Louvre has
several powerful masterpieces, among them The
Funeral of Saint Bonaventure (plate 52). Ribera
and Herrera had a fiery strength of realism
which expressed only one aspect of Spain; retain-
ing this strength, Zurbaran combined it with a
spiritual greatness which his two predecessors
lacked. What in them quickly degenerated into

a carefree truculence became in Zurbaran a strict,
concentrated firmness. He uses sharply juxtaposed

contrasts of hard light and black shade to unify
his forms and them in their essential aspect.
fix
In his work strength of outward appearance is not

a mere bravura of the brush. It corresponds in-
stead to an internal strength, to a keen spiritual
tension.
In 1599, one year after Zurbaran's birth, Velas-
quez was born in Seville. One might almost say,
Bust of Dietisalvi Neroni, Florentine patrician and con- with slight exaggeration, that his birth was really
dottiere. Signed and dated, 1464, by Mino da Fiesole the birth of painting as we think of it today: an
(1431-1484). Inspired by Roman art, this marble sculp-
ture represents a Renaissance counterpart of a "classic"
art whose chief merit is not so much its realistic
man confident of his intelligence and will. 23" high. fidelity as its means of expression.
This is not to deny that Velasquez was a realist.
Few painters have been better able to concentrate

cisely the technique in which the artist dares to on the object seen and to create the illusion of its
break away from literal imitation and lays his reality. Faithful to the Spanish tradition, Vel-
emphasis rather on the beauties of paint and color. asquez chose the sights of daily life; and of these,
No less a painter than Velasquez was soon to ex- with a Spanish predilection for the brutal, he
ploit this manner of execution and to find in it selected sick people, dwarfs, blacksmiths, or
unsurpassable resources. drunkards. They remained brutal even though
El Greco's immediate successors, however, were Velasquez feigned a concession to the classical
not so farsighted. Italian influence still dominated, tradition by presenting them in the form of an in-
and the seventeenth-century schools of Valencia vocation to Vulcan or Bacchus.

and Seville were faithful to the example of Cara- The secret of his potent originality lay else-
vaggio. In following him they were not only fol- where than in the subjects he chose: he discovered
lowing an Italian model but also one which did painting, painting for its own sake. It was no
not thwart the Spanish inclination toward a real- longer to be a means of reproducing or idealizing,
ism which approached violence. Moreover, Cara- but it was an end in itself. By his own definition it
vaggio's keen sense of lighting was congenial to was to be the art of combining colored paints on a
dwellers in a country of brilliant and sharply con- white surface for the most delectable pleasures
trasted light. of the eye. His great portrait of Queen Mariana
Like his master Ribalta, Ribera actually visited of Austria (plate 54) shows to what an extent the
Italy, and during his long stay in Naples he spectacle of a woman royally attired can be made
steeped himself in Caravaggio's powerful natural- a source of visual delight by the mere juxtaposi-
ism. He applied it to cruel scenes of martyrdom, tion of a black, a silvery white, and a red, all of
to the wrinkled bodies of old men, and to such these applied with the vivacity of an infallible
deliberately naturalistic subjects as his Clubfoot hand. This was to inspire Rubens, who returned
(plate 53), a shapeless and jovial ragamuffin of from his visit to Madrid dazzled; it was to be the
the Neapolitan gutter. basic inspiration for all that is best in painting up
In Seville, Herrera carried the passion for the to the present time.
real to the point of vehemence. But he was soon Velasquez left Seville early in his career to be-
84
come the court painter at Madrid. Perhaps be-
cause he was much less of an innovator, his com-
patriot Murillo remained faithful to their native
citv. The generations which preceded ours and
were molded by Latin classicism were unreserved
in their admiration for Murillo's idealism; his
heavenly graces, full of the spirit of the Counter
Reformation, a spirit eager to please and seduce,
may now seem rather insipid. But his pink cherubs
and his Virgins with lofty, swooning gazes still
have something lacking in the ecstatic visions of
his Italian contemporaries. Murillo possesses that
prodigious pictorial quality which seems to be the

special gift of Spain; even so his combinations of
blues and pinks appear saccharine to us and we
prefer his paintings of vigorous and popular tvpes.
One might expect that the Spanish school, in
its would be exhausted after its "golden
turn,
century"; but its supreme expression was to come
in the eighteenth century, with Goya. Thrown Marble bust of the Roman emperor, Geta (211-212
A.D.). Distinguished by its power of portraiture,
back upon himself by his deafness, Goya was no
Roman sculpture in the later centuries of the Empire
longer content to be a successor to Velasquez. In became increasingly occupied with the expression of
portraits such as his Woman in Grey (plate 55) the inner man, although it never lost its Greek tradition
of balanced, clear natural forms. Acquired by Napoleon

he had already developed his predecessors' prodi- from the Borghese Palace in Rome. 35)a" high.
gious technique with a more nervous audacity.
But he was not content to apply this technique to
the treatment of realistic subjects in the Spanish tige of the gentle Parisian arabesque, which was
tradition. Instead he used it to depict his own well adapted for the expression of medieval
personal dreams, or rather nightmares, in which religious fervor. But by the fifteenth century it
his passionate and tormented being is stripped was the Flemish primitives who provided models
bare. He led art toward expressing the private whose compact and direct realism was well suited
agonies of the individual; thus while he consum- to the German temperament.
mated and concluded the development of Spanish The few Rhineland primitives the Louvre pos-
art,Goya also made an essential innovation for sesses are not enough to give an idea of the rich-
modern art. ness and complexity of the German school in the
fifteenth century. We must await until the Renais-
GERMAN PAINTING sance and the appearance of Albrecht Diirer, the
THE GERMAN SCHOOL REFLECTS THE NORTHERN Nuremberg master, whose Self-Portrait (plate
spirit and its realism. To these it adds an accent 56), painted in 1493, is an admirable likeness,
of disquiet and bitterness, giving to its painting a tormented and contorted in style, but entirely
graphic, tormented style and violent, crude color- sweetened by the inner dream in the subject's
ing. For a long time Germany sought for a style of eye. Diirer has gathered within himself the whole
her own; her political fragmentation — which en- medieval Germanic soul: the graphic training of
couraged a longing for unity — and her bour- the engraver, with which all the German painters
geoisie, with its materialistic outlook, imposed a were familiar, is combined with an inner disquiet
provincial characterupon her from the beginning, in such a way as to lend to the minutiae of realism
and urged her to seek guidance from her more for- a shaggy, tormented character, with a line that
tunate neighbors. At the end of the fourteenth incessantly writhes and turns upon itself. The
century and at the beginning of the next centurv celebrated etching of Melancholia fully expresses
the Rhineland, that mystical "monks' road," suc- the metaphysical anguish produced when the race
cumbed, like the Northern provinces, to the pres- of Faust is confronted with the intellectual aspi-
85
rations of the Renaissance. But Diirer's philosophi- the art of Venice had left its mark, Holbein shows
cal spirit, like that of Goethe three centuries later, no sign of the Germanic pathos. Although in a
experiences in its quest of the absolute that nos- more manner than Diirer, Holbein
superficial
talgia for perfection which is so typical of the lived and enacted this epoch of humanism, travel-
Mediterranean cultures. Faust dreamed of Helen: ing over Europe from Italy to England, where he
Diirer twice visited Italy and sought to capture painted the portraits of those ephemeral queens,
there the secret of serene harmony and ideal pro- Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves (plate 57), and
portion. Thus he anticipated Rubens in his effort consorted with the greatest minds of his day, of
to achieve a complete
art which would blend the whom he has left unforgettable portraits, such as
two directions of European art: the Northern his Erasmus. A humanist by tradition, he was also
sense of the profundity of life and the sovereign a humanist in the pre-eminence he gives to the
intellectuality of the Latins. This breadth of view, human countenance. He brings to it the exact
this audacity of thought—which was contempo- realism of the Northern primitives, but blended
rary with the spread of Protestantism in Germany into a harmonious breadth that reveals the influ-
—this passionate desire to broaden his understand- ence of the Renaissance.
ing of his art— these characteristics entitle Diirer A year younger than Diirer, Lucas Cranach
to be ranked with the great humanists. perceived and reflected the diversity of elements
His illustrious junior, Holbein, had one stage that Diirer succeeded in fusing together. In bor-
him the inner struggle that gave
less to travel; in rowing from antiquity the subject for his Effects
Diirer his greatness had subsided. Born at Augs- of Jealousy, Cranach sees Hesiod's Age of Silver
berg, to which the Italian influence had already as populated by savages in the heart of the primi-
penetrated, and a pupil of his father, upon whom tive forest. In his numerous paintings of Venus
he gives her the dainty graces of the wife of a
Saxon bourgeois and sacrifices the study of forms
to a complication of petty details. But it is in por-
moving sincerity
traiture that he, too, discovers a
and achieves both perspicacity and depth.
No mention has been made of Altdorfer, Griine-
wald, and Baldung Grim, among others, but the
few masterpieces we have considered should be
sufficient to acquaint us with the chief problems
which have presented themselves to German
painting since the age of its flowering.
FRENCH PAINTING
FRANCE OCCUPIES A VERY SPECIAL POSITION IN THE
development of European painting. Thanks to her
central situation, to the numerous frontiers which
connect her, by land or sea, with all of the major
European countries and with England, France is
open to the most diverse influences. Encouraged
by a fertile soil and a gentle climate, she asserts
her genius by developing a spirit of harmony and
conciliation,by merging foreign influences with
the tender and tranquil sensibility of her people.
French art is allied to the art of the North by its
Seated Gudea. Sumerian, twenty-fourth century B.C. innate realism, a realism, however, which can
The ruler Gudea is represented with his hands folded
in a ritual gesture. The inscription on his robe tells
temper the severity of strict observation by blend-
us that the statue is dedicated to the temple of the ing it with emotion. It shares the respect of the
god Nin-Gizzida. The simplification of form relates
Mediterranean peoples for the supremacy of the
this ancient masterpiece to the sculpture of our own
times. 17%" high. organizing intellect; while it also accepts their
86
classicism, it avoids the aridity of abstraction by
trust in its own senses. From all this derives an
art of fine shades, open-minded, and possessing
the almost unique quality of constant self-re-
newal. Scarcely has it exhausted one tendency
when it turns with unexpected vigor in a new
direction.
It is only within the last half-century that
the French primitives have been given attention
in art histories. This long neglect is partly ex-
plained by their rarity and mistaken attribution
to other schools. As a result of a stubborn reaction
against the art of the Middle Ages, a reaction
which persisted into the nineteenth century, the
majority of primitive works, panels as well as
murals, were despised and destroyed. Yet France
had been the undisputed center of medieval civili-
The Crouching Scribe. Painted limestone, from a tomb
zation. The Flemish painters of the fifteenth cen- of the Vth dynasty at Saqqara, between 2750 and 2625
tury were the natural development of France's B.C. This Old Kingdom figure represents a governor of
a province. The eyes of opaque white, with quartz
art of the miniature; and it was from this art also
cornea, rock crystal iris, and ebony pupil, are set in
that fifteenth-century Italy originally derived its bronze. 21" high.
secular and courtly inspiration.

In feudal society a school was formed in almost
every important provincial court, but Paris, the with a very subtle naturalistic truth which is con-
seat of royal power, constituted the principal spicuous in his miniatures and in the Parisian
school. The Portrait of John the Good, painted scene which he uses as a setting for his Saint
toward the end of the fourteenth century, is per- Martin (plate 58). He creates a typically French
haps the oldest French painting in existence. It balance of two opposite tendencies: the realistic
immediatelv confronts us with the essential and tendency of the North and the abstract, intellec-
unchanging element of France's art: a deep-seated tual tendency of the Mediterranean countries.
realismmarked by an intimate understanding be- This same balance and harmony mark the work
tween man and nature, between the inner life and of a great, anonymous painter, known as the
the outward appearance, between thought and Master of Moulins, who worked at the court of
feeling. This element is apparent in Jean Malouel's the Duchess of Bourbon. In his Saint Mary
discreetly moving Pietd (plate 59). Magdalen and a Donor (
plate 61 ) , we find a more
The disasters of war, especially the defeat by minute sharpness of observation, reflecting the
the English at Agincourt in 1415, ruined Paris growing prestige of the Flemings.
and encouraged the spread of art to the regional With the outbreak of the Italian wars, however,
centers. At Avignon, in the fifteenth century, France swung into its southern orbit. Dazzled by
there arose a truly great school whose characteris- the refined and luxurious civilization which the
tic masterpiece is the Villeneuve-les- Avignon Pietd Renaissance had developed in the peninsula,
(plate 60), by an unknown painter. In this work France broke off her spiritual alliance with Flan-
the soul of the Middle Ages is given one of its ders and fell under the influence of Italy. Italian
most sublime expressions. Its decisive concentra- masterpieces, and even Italian masters, were
tion of form gives it a plastic intensity which is freely imported. To his court Francis I attracted
almost sculptural. Leonardo da Vinci, who died near Amboise, and
On where Charles VII
the Loire, in Touraine, Andrea del Sarto; these men were followed by
had sought refuge, the dominant influence was il Rosso, Primaticcio, and Niccolo dell' Abbate,
that of Jean Fouquet, whose glory spread past who established themselves at Fontainebleau, the
the borders of France. The highly abstract sim- residence of the royal court. Here a school was to
plification of masses in his pictures is combined flourish throughout the sixteenth century. Fon-
87
tainebleau came
to be known as "the second
Rome," setting a new direction for French art.
Although it now swore only by Italy, French art
quickly assimilated the new
and added
influence
to it its own sensibility. The harmony and pleni-
tude of forms and the plastic mastery which were
so typical of Italian art now acquired a new char-
acter of delicacy and elegance. For the male anat-
omy, in which Italian art had sought an almost
abstract beauty of proportion, France substituted
the grace of the female with its more slender
form, its and more caressing lines, creat-
subtler
ing an art of enchantment, as seen in the Venus
and the Goddess of the Waters (plate 63), by an
unknown master of the school of Fontainebleau.
But even while French painting was inspired
by the ambition to rival Italy, the portrait paint-
ers preserved the strict truthfulness of Northern
art and applied it to the study of the human face.
The connection with the North is confirmed by
the origins of the most famous of these painters.
Jean Clouet, the father of Francois, came from
the Low Countries, while
Corneille de Lyon came
from The Hague. Yet they were as profoundly
transformed and assimilated by France as their
Italian rivals at Fontainebleau.
In the work of these portrait painters (plate 62
and cover) naturalism loses its tension and is ani-
mated by a flame of the spirit; an implicit excite-
ment passes into the model's eyes, lips, and hands. This painted wooden half figure of Eve is a German
work of the end of the fifteenth century, a masterpiece
The phlegmatic, precise objectivity of the Flem- of shy grace, sweetness, and naivete. eS ^" high.
1
ings acquires a more tender, more delicate note.

Thus the French school of the sixteenth century
was far from being exhausted by its twofold Italian Mathieu, of whom Louis is the most profound-
and Northern allegiance. Preserving the realistic depicted the humblest scenes of peasant life, but
vein and at the same time studying to acquire the they did not seek in them either the anecdotal or
lofty style of Italy, France adapted both of these the picturesque. They gave an almost religious
to its temperament and prepared for the advent concentration to those lovely faces chiseled by
of anew and classical art in the next century. the nobility of harsh toil accepted as a high duty;
An art so firmly established in the Gothic now there was no need to transform these faces in
proceeded to adapt itself to the new era of the order to make them serve for the Pilgrims at Em-
Renaissance. Realism, which the great portrait rnaus (plate 64).
painters of the sixteenth century had already Whereas the Le Nain family came from Laon,
charged with humanity, was to be identified with Georges de La Tour was a man from the east,
an intense but restrained poetry, glowing with from Lorraine. The realism of La Tour had rela-
spirituality. The France of the cathedrals was not tively little connection with that of Flanders; he
dead; from this France came the gift of combin- appreciated the lessons of Caravaggio and his
ing the love of the real with the most ardent im- sharp, nocturnal lightings. La Tour's scenes are
pulses of the soul. The new art was characterized quite simple: a new-born child around whom the
by emotion, grave, pious, almost austere. family holds its breath in excitement; sometimes a
The brothers Le Nain — Antoine, Louis, and religious episode, a Magdalen or a Saint Peter, or
88
.
tragedy combined with sobriety. When he turned,

like almost all his contemporaries, to the example
of Italy and to experiments with classicism, he
brought to these the qualities of sweetness and
gentleness.
After the elegant but as yet superficial art of
Fontainebleau, classicism approached maturity
with Simon Vouet, whom his contemporaries
recognized as the great painter of the beginning
of the century. But it was to reach its highest
point with two artists who spent almost all their
lives in Rome: Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lor-

rain.
In Poussin we find a complete svnthesis of

France. Born of Norman peasants, he has that
deep, rustic love of nature characteristic of French
realism. His generous landscapes are rich in earth
and sap, in calm waters and blue skies. He most
appreciated the terrain of Roman art, a terrain
fertilized by the genius of antiquity. Out of the
materials that nature offered him he fashioned the
ordered architecture of his compositions, their
cadences and balance, and he interpreted his love
of the countryside in the Triumph of Flora (plate
65).
Claude Lorrain is richly supplied with the same

qualities. Less cultivated than Poussin, Lorrain
gave free rein, and with greater freshness and
Louise Brogniart, a terra cotta, dated 1777, by Jean-
gushing energy, to his sensibilities. He, too, rigor-
AntoineHoudon(1741-1828),14"high.Arevelationofthe ously controls the composition of the masses of
charm of the child by the most sophisticated of French
his trees and the facades of his palaces, but with an
portrait sculptors, the author of the Voltaire (p. 14).
art that dazzles us with the play of golden and
caressing light. He lets himself glide off into
a child Jesus standing beside Joseph, a rough car- dreams when he beholds the sea, laden with ves-
penter. These religious paintings might be taken sels, stretching to the horizon. These dreams are
to depict ordinary scenes of daily life amongst what we find in his Seaport at Sunset (plate 66)
simple people; indeed, the last-mentioned is some- Poussin's disciples in France— who claimed him
times called The Carpenter's Family (plate 68). as the founder of that classical art which intoxi-
Here realism achieves its highest significance by cated the Academy of Painting established by
its devotion, simplicity, and dignity. Louis XIV— adhered to the most dogmatic ele-
All of the first half of the seventeenth century ments of his teaching. Le Brun, whom the King
was inspired by the austere fervor that blossomed had appointed a sort of regent of the arts, used his
with Pascal and his Jansenist adherents of Port- influence to direct classicism toward a formalistic
Royal. Philippe de Champaigne was their recog- and doctrinaire academism. Yet his great Eques-
nized painter. Entirely Flemish in origin, and trian Portrait of Chancellor Seguier (plate 67), a
closely associated with Poussin, he personifies the youthful work, proves that he was a painter of
spirituality that illuminates the most direct kind vigorous, healthv talents and a wealth of rugged
of truth. It shines out in his lovely portraits, such power of observation, which he later sacrificed to
as his Arnauld d'Andilly (plate 69), which are his official preconceptions.
worthy successors to those of Clouet. Le Sueur, in Under Le Brim's influence, reflecting the taste
his Death of Raymond Diocres (plate 70), achieves of Louis XIV, there developed in France at the
89
Five Archers. Susa, fifth century B.C. A frieze of enameled brick, representing members of the Persian
king's guard of ten thousand men. In this complex art of glazed tile and brick, perfected in the Near-East,
the color, modeling, and imagery of each brick must be exactly calculated for its place. 72" high.
end of the seventeenth century an art of pomp works of color and paint; against virile grandeur,
and grandeur, which aroused amazement and ad- it was to set feminine seductiveness; and against
miration in the decoration of palaces, especially reason, it was to set sensuousness. And, in order
of Versailles. Because sensibility was so stifled, to do all this, it was to take as its guide the paint-
these skilled and conventional artists, Le Brun's ing of the North.
pupils or rivals— men like Mignard— have left us Watteau, generally recognized as the real
almost nothing of value. founder of eighteenth-century painting, passed
Yet at the end of the "great reign," the portrait the important part of his short life under the reign
painters were creating likenesses of incomparable of Louis XIV. But he radically rebelled against
sweep and breadth. Rigaud, for example, with his the spirit which the old King had imposed. Born at
Louis XIV (plate 71), calls to life all the majesty Valenciennes, which had recently been rejoined
of the period. His younger rival, Largilliere, en- to France, he was a man of the North, enamored
lists in the service of a similar theme an entirely of Rubens; yet for a long time he dreamed of go-
different ambition, to glorify color and achieve ing to Italy to perfect his art. For lack of a prix de
emotional impact by technical brilliance— an am- Rome, he attentively studied the Venetians at the
bition that is explained by his training at Antwerp. home of his patron, the banker Crozat. He began
Actually a great struggle had begun and was as a painter of military scenes, which he treated
carried to the heart of the Academy, that bastion with a direct realism that links him with the
of tradition: a struggle between the Poussinistes, brothers Le Nain; but he quickly passed on to
who were pure enamored of the teach-

classicists the poetic evocation of the seductive charms of
ings of Italy, and the Rubenistes, who, invoking women and love— a mode that had been experi-
the Venetians and after them the Flemings, re- mentally practiced in the sixteenth century, and
belled against a discipline that had become steri- had afterwards been developed, under Louis
lizing. A reaction was setting in. The eighteenth XIII, in the literature of pastoral gallantries.
century was dawning and was about to assert the Watteau's particular achievement was to carry art
rights of a sensibility that had been bullied by an a definite step forward. He strove to give sub-
excess of cold reason. Against grave seriousness, stance to the most intimate yearnings, the most
it was to set the lightest of charms; against sober expressive fancies of his being. In a delicate day-
and solid qualities of design and composition, it dream of the isle of love, his imagination created
was to set the most dazzling and unrestrained fire- the Embarkation for Cythera (plate 72). He laid
90
the groundwork for Romanticism by regarding his 1789. At first sight he seems merely to improve
works as the language and confession of his soul, upon the vivacity of his master. He, too, thought
and thus inaugurated not only the art of his cen- only of love, of graceful nudes blossoming in the
tury, but the very spirit of the modern era. brightness. Fragonard carried the virtuosity of
His immediate successors did not attain his the brush to such a point that some of his brilliant
stature: Pater and Lancret adroitly preserve his portraits in the Louvre were painted "within the
gracefulness, but not his deep poetry. In the space of an hour," as he himself recorded in a
middle of the century, Francois Boucher was to manuscript note. He glorifies the joy of living:
bring unity to the French school at a time when it the figures in his Bathers (plate 78) are intoxi-
was split between the heirs to the great official cated by their contact with the water and the
decorators and the heirs of Watteau, who de- delights of the mild, sunny air; they are coquettish
voted themselves to the themes of gallantry. and frisky; and the painter seems to share their
Bringing the light and sensuous inspiration of the pleasure by lending his brush the same playful-
latter into the domain of the former, Boucher ac- ness and vivacity.
complished this unity. Under his alert and easy, all But he surpasses Boucher. Although he seems
too easy, brush, ancient Olympus itself yields to quite as frivolous, Fragonard makes a great con-
the new taste. As in hisBath of Diana (plate 75) tribution to painting. The Venetians and Rubens
Boucher borrows from Greek mythology his had already succeeded in breaking away from lit-
naked goddesses, his Venuses, and his nymphs as eral rendition and producing a transfigured, pic-
chubby as female opera-singers and attended by torial version of nature, whose beauty came less
sprightly Cupids. Thus even the gods of classi- from nature itself than from the language of col-
cism lend themselves, in an atmosphere of blue ors and strokes into which it was translated.
and rose tints, to the universal seductiveness of Fragonard ventured further in this direction. He
love and easy bliss. Within a century French employs painting as a sort of alchemy: he trans-
painting had gone from the most austere serious- mutes substance; he volatilizes whatever is solid
ness to the most delicate gracefulness. and motionless; he causes leafy branches to soar
Boucher's pupil Fragonard dominated the fol- into the air as if they were tumultuous whirls of
lowing generation, which was to fall into the smoke; he compels them to surge and tumble like
chasm opened at its feet by the Revolution of stormy waves; he stirs everything up like a fluid,
Fragment of the Athenian maidens who have woven

frieze of the Parthenon, representing the procession of the
the veil of Athene. Carved between 442 and 438 B.C. under it marks a rare moment in Greek
Phidias' direction,
art in which nobility and naturalness are fresh achievements rather than a tradition. 6'10" long, 2'^" high.
91
Painted bas-relief of King Sethosis (1313-1292 B.C., XlXth dynasty) and the goddess Hathor. 89%" high,
I
41W wide. The king receives from Hathor a necklace, which is the emblem of the goddess and the carrier
of a protective fluid transmitted from the goddess to the king by contact.
or like jets of smoke. He extends the magic dis- of water, or a rustic pot, or to observe a woman
covered by Rubens and Rembrandt; he vitalizes returning from market (plate 74), or teaching her
the universe. children to say grace. Such scenes under his hand
What became of French realism during this in- glowed with the wholesome splendor of the fam-
terlude? Counterpoised to the refinements of the ily hearth and with tenderness for people and
aristocracy, the bourgeosie, full of disapproval of things. If the word goodness has any meaning in
their excesses, maintained the honorable and connection with painting, this is the quality with
sober tradition of truth and seriousness. which Chardin illumines his pictures. Let it not
Chardin, let us not forget, was Boucher's con- be supposed, however, that in so doing he devi-
temporary. In his work the scene changes. Char- ates from what nowadays called "pure
is paint-
din preserved the solid and discreet virtues of ing." On the contrary, never were textures, colors,
the middle class side by side with the luxury of and lights so satisfying in themselves, or blended
elegant society. He brought to fife the realism in in more delectable harmonies.
which and therefore poetry, plays as great
feeling, This, unfortunately, cannot be said of Greuze,
a part as observation. "One paints with the heart," who in the next generation— that of Fragonard—
he said. And for him it was enough to assemble on sustained the bourgeois inspiration. Yet he also
a table a few pieces of fruit, some game, a glass loved to glorify the graces of the eighteenth cen-
92
turv. He was soon led, however, like Hogarth in ing inspiration from it. His friend, Hubert Robert,
England, to tell us stories for our edification, "to with whom he visited Italy, developed the study
compete," as his friend Diderot wrote, "with dra- of nature in nimble and evocative drawings in
matic poetry in moving and in instructing us, in red chalk, some which might be mistaken for
of
amending our faults and inviting us to virtue." Fragonard's work. Hubert Robert's paintings of
Painting became literature, and bad literature at ruins reflected the new interest in antiquity stimu-
that. lated by the excavations at Pompeii; and though
Thus French painting of the eighteenth century his paintings still sparkle with the fluent and
took two main paths: the aristocracy, at its frothy technique of the eighteenth century, some
apogee, gave sparkle to all the graces and seduc-
tive charms; its rival, the bourgeoisie, which was
soon to triumph with the Revolution, took its
stand against frivolity and favored realism.

In portraiture, however, these two opposing
tendencies could be combined. Two rivals, Quen-
tin de La Tour and Perronneau, reflect in their
oppositeness the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie.

Quentin employed the and elegant tech-
fragile
nique of pastel— as for example in his striking

portrait of Madame de Pompadour (plate 76)— so
well suited to catch the animation of a woman's
face, sparkling with wit and lit up with a smile.
But he was just as good at painting soldiers or
philosophers, for he knew how to probe into souls.
"I delve into the natures of the sitters themselves,"
he said, "and I bring them onto the canvas in their

entirety." Perronneau, for his part, lacks this verve;
but his art is more tender, more attentive, with
perhaps less complacency if also with less bril-
liance. In his study of the face of a woman— in his

portrait of Madame de Sorquainville (plate 77), for
example—he discovers exquisite delicacies; yet he
can also express the gravity and conscientiousness
of his male sitters. He was primarily concerned
with serious attention and precision. Such were the
main preoccupations of these painters until Ma-
dame Vigee-Lebrun succeeded in combining a
still more attentive and colder realism with the
ultimate evocation of the delicate, feminine smile
of a society that was about to disappear.
The eighteenth century, now disdainful of ele-
gances, demanded from the painter increasing
probity, later to develop into severity. The wor-
ship of nature, which at this time was being
preached by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, was to result
in an eagerness to submit the landscape to stricter
scrutiny.More and more the fantasies of Frago- The god Amon protecting King Toutankhamon. Grey
granite, Egypt, end of the XVIIIth dynasty, about 1200
nard were replaced by an exactitude that took the B.C. 87" high. It is supposed that the mutilation of the
Dutch school as its model. Fragonard himself had king's figure was due to his successor Horemheb, who
wished to prevent the divine protection of Toutankha-
already taken an interest in this school— in Ruis-
mon by breaking the contact between the god and the
dael, for example— to the point of sometimes seek- former king.
93
of his canvases were harbingers of Romanticism. the whole structure of society was modified.
Western art could now represent and interpret French art was once again to renew itself.
form, substance, and movement, in strict obedi- We have seen how the rise of the bourgeoisie
ence to the will of the painter. Its remaining task brought about the establishment of new tastes
was to capture the hitherto uncapturable, that which inclined toward realism and set a ban upon
aspect of the exterior world which had been too fantasy. In its reaction against the aristocracy,
insubstantial to be caught by the pictorial re- art became serious, grave, severe both in form
sources of earlier artists: light and its shifting and in basic conception. It fulfilled a moral func-
nuances. At the end of the eighteenth century, tion; its business was to glorify virtue; it inter-
Hubert Robert, among others, applied himself to dicted grace and charm, and glorified energy and
this task. One can already glimpse on the horizon grandeur.
the advent of Impressionism. The France of the Revolution felt powerful
The French Revolution inaugurated a new affinities with the stern virtues of republican
world. The rupture was complete on all levels; Rome. Painting turned irresistibly to the example
The Harbaville Triptych. A Byzantine ivory carving of the tenth or eleventh century, representing Christ
enthroned between Mary and John the Evangelist; in the little disks on the upper border are Jeremiah, Elijah,
and Isaiah; below stand James, John, Peter, Paul, and Andrew. On the side leaves are saints of the Greek
church, including four in military dress. By such ivories the classical Greek formula was transmitted to the
European mainland. Central panel, 6%" high, side leaves Vk" high.
94
of ancient classicism, recently brought into new longer concerned with doctrines, retained only his
prominence by the excavations at Pompeii and desire for absolute truth. In this he surpassed him-
Herculaneum. It devoted itself to the imitation of self; he tolerated no adroitness which would en-
this example with so much zeal that it fell into able him to gloss over a difficulty or to dazzle in-
the danger that inevitably threatens all classicism, stead of convince. Rediscovering that sense of
the danger of drying up into academicism. psychology which always gave French portraiture
The man who established himself, with uni- its profundity, he climbed to the summit of his art
versal consent, as the regent of the arts, the Le and succeeded in producing unforgettable like-
Brun was Jacques Louis David.

of the Republic, When confronted by a woman sitter —
nesses.
After having made his first bow under the aegis Madame Recamier, for example— and even in his
of Boucher, David was converted by the revela- scenes of antiquity, as in his Battle of the Romans
tions of his stay in Italy, and from then on swore and Sabines (plate 79), he even rediscovered that
only by the antique, especially its sculptures. From exquisite feeling of grace which was believed to
these he borrowed poses, and he came under the have been abolished.
influence of their sharp outlines and clear-cut David governed the French school with an iron
masses. He transposed these characteristics into hand. A whole generation of painters—men like
the field of painting, and he added to them a col- Guerin, Gerard, and Girodet— carried on his im-
oring that was more than a surface accom-
little petus. Only one isolated painter, Prud'hon,
paniment to line and volume. Sensuousness of escaped the dessication of theories; coming at the
technique disappeared before his precise and im- end of the eighteenth century, Prud'hon was an
placable rendering. His themes, which were taken echo of what Watteau had been at its commence-
from legends extolling sacrifice, expressed the ment. A passionate admirer of Correggio, he
same harsh strength. loved to cast upon flesh a splendor of suave
In his portraits, however, and in immense Na- whiteness beneath a lunar and sweet brilliance
poleonic scenes like the Coronation, David, no emerging from deep shadow. It was thus that he
Copper basin incrusted with gold and silver, called the Baptistery of Saint Louis. It was believed to have
been brought from the East by the crusading king, Louis IX, and was used for the royal infants since the
seventeenth century. Scenes of hunting and feasting decorate the surface. The artist, Mohammed Ibn el-Zain,
has inscribed his name. Probably Mameluk work from Syria or Egypt, fourteenth century. 9" high.
95
*?^
Polychrome faience plate. This extravagant design of sea-life is attributed to the French ceramist Bernard
Palissy ( 1510P-1590), famous for his daring experiments and curiosity. 24" long.
presented Empress Josephine (plate 80).

his personification of the individual who starts from
Heedless of his epoch, he was a poet, expressing in nothing and succeeds in everything, even in domi-
song his dreamy and melancholy soul. He carried nating the world. By the sheer force of his intel-
over from the closing century all that had to be pre- ligence and energy, Napoleon introduced the
served in order to permit the birth of romanticism. theme of the superman. He whipped up the im-
Amidst the time— those both of
disciplines of his agination of the nineteenth century with his epic,
the Revolution and of the Empire— he was an in- astounding adventure, an adventure which was to
dividualist. As such, he was the harbinger of the feed the dreams of several generations. Thus the
nineteenth century. Revolution, by creating the individual conscious
The French Revolution did not, in fact, merely of himself and fired with immeasurable ambition,
put an end to a society exhausted by its own re- laid the foundations of Romanticism.
finement; it founded a new society, based upon David had already forsaken the heroes of an-
the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Man's new tiquity in order to celebrate modern heroes in
status encouraged all the creations of the mind, powerfully inspired canvases like the Coronation,
and first to blossom was art. Here we find revealed already mentioned, almost equal in size to Vero-
the essential characteristic of the nineteenth cen- nese'sWedding at Cana. His favorite pupil, Gros—
tury, and, in particular, of Romanticism. who was to become the leader of the Classical
Another essential characteristic was an insati- school when David was exiled after the fall of the
able ardor for life, feeling, thought, or action. It Emperor—hastened the birth of Romanticism by
was exemplified by Napoleon, an extraordinary inspiring painting with the fire of the epic, the
96 (Continued on Page 147)

51. EL GRECO [loil-1614] Portrait of Covarrubias •
Spanish School
Painted ahout 1600 Oil on canvas, 26J»" x 22)2" • Commentary on page 166
52. ZURBARAN [1598-1664?] The Funeral of Saint Bonaventurc • Spanish School
Painted 1629 Oil on canvas, 98/4" x H6%" •

53. RIBERA [1591F-1652] The Clubfoot •
Spanish School
Painted 1652 • Oil on canvas, 64^" x 36J4" Commentary on page 167
54. VELASQUEZ [1599-1660] Portrait of Queen Mariana Spanish School
Painted 1652-1653 •
Oil on canvas, 83)»" x 49%" Commentary on page 167
55. GOYA [1746-1828] Woman in Grey Spanish School
Painted about 1805 Oil on canvas, 40)2" x 32%" Commentary on page 167
56. DURER [1471-1528] Self -Port rait • German School
Painted 1493 Tempera and oil on parchment, 22K" x 1734" Commentary on page 168
57. HOLBEIN [1497? -1543} Anne of Cleves •
German School
Painted 1539 Tempera and oil on parchment, 25%" x 18%" Commentary on page 168
58. FOUQUET [1420P-1480] Saint Martin and the Beggar • French School
Painted about 1455 • Tempera on vellum, 6)4" x 4%" • Commentary on page 168
59. MALOUEL (?) [end of 14th Century] Pictd •
School of Paris
Painted about 1400 • Tempera on panel, Diameter 25&" •

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61. MASTER OF MOULINS [end of 15th Century] Saint Man/ Magdalen and a Donor •
French School

Tempera and oil on panel, 20Js" x 15Ji" Commentary on page 169
62. JEAN CLOUET [1485?-1540P] Portrait of Francis I French School
Painted about 1524 Tempera and oil on panel, 37%" x 29!»" Commentary on page 169
63. UNKNOWN PAINTER [16th Century] Venus and the Goddess of the Waters ' School of Fontainebleau

Oil on panel, 51%" x 38" • Commentarj on page 169
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GEORGES DE LA TOUR [159.3-1652] Saint Joseph the Carpenter
68.
Oil on canvas, 53K" x 39%" Commentary on page 170

Painted about 1645
69. DE CHAMP AIGNE [1602-1674] Portrait of Arnauld d'Andilly •
French School
Painted 1650 Oil on canvas, 35%" x 28?«" Commentary on page 17]

rO. LE SUEUR [1617-1655] The Death of Raymond Diocres • French School

Oil on canvas, 76" x 5 Us" Commentary on page 171
71. RIGAUD [7659-774.3] Portrait of Louis XIV French School
Painted 170] • Oil on canvas, 1097b" x 74?;" •
Commentary on Daee 171
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74. CHARDIN [1699-1779] Back from the Market French School
Painted 1739 Oil on canvas, 18J»" x 148" Commentary on page 172

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76. QUENTINDELATOUR [1704-1788] Portrait of Madame de Pompadour French School
Painted 1755 •
Pastel on paper, 68%" x 503a" •
77. PERROXXEAU [1715-1783] Portrait of Madame de Sorquainville •
French School
Painted 1749 • Oil on canvas, 39%" x H'/z" Commentary on page 173

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80. PR U I)' HON [1758-1823] Portrait of the Empress Josephine French School
Painted 1805 •
Oil on canvas, 96,'s" x 70S" Commentary on page 173
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82. GROS [1771-1835] Portrait of Count Fournier-Sarhvdze •
French School
Painted 1812 Oil on canvas, 96Ti" x 68)8" •

83. GERICAULT [1791-1824] Officer of the Chasseurs of the Guard French School
Painted 1812 Oil on canvas, 115" x 76>V •
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87. COROT [1796-1875] Belfry of Douai French School
Painted 1871 • Oil on canvas, 188" x 158" •
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94. RENOIR [1841-1919] Two Girls at the Piano French School
Painted 1893 • Oil on canvas, 27)'*" x 23K" • Commentary on page 177

95. VAN GOGH [1853-1890] Dr. Cachet French School
Painted 1890 •
Oil on canvas, 26&" x 22/2" •
96. SEURAT [1859-1891] The Circus • French School
Painted 1891 • Oil on canvas, 70%" x 58J4" • Commentary on page 177

97. GAUGUIN [1848-1903] The White Horse • French School
Painted 1898 ' Oil on canvas, 55&" x Sol's" • Commentary on page 177
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(Continued from page 96)
fire that blazes in the silhouette of his Fournier- brandishing her brilliant flag in his Liberty Lead-
Sarloveze (plate 82). To celebrate Napoleon's vic- ing the People (
plate 84 )
tories and expeditions, Gros, too, painted immense Yet for all his flamboyance and power Dela-
canvases in which, carried away by the intensity croix was justly entitled to claim that he was
of his subject, he throws aside classical discipline, also a Classical painter. He can be so designated
hurls in cavalry charges, and makes his colors by virtue of the balance he preserves between the
stand out as brilliantly as battle flags. Without impetus of his senses and the lucidity and disci-
intending to do so, Gros, who regarded himself as pline of his intelligence. He is the culmination of
a champion of tradition, gave his own definite im- that great trendby which painting was to reveal
petus to Romanticism, the revolution that was the seemingly most inexpressible secrets of the in-
about to discard him. dividual soul. To gain freedom of execution it
Gericault, in turn, swore only by Gros: but he could scorn enslavement to literal reality and
is endowed with power and energy reminiscent
a allow itself the freedom and range of music.
of Michelangelo. He hurls upon his canvas horse- One man took his stand against Delacroix and
men in frantic career, like his cavalry officer condemned his innovations. Considering himself
(plate 83), or panting in the smoke of battle. He, of the line of Raphael, Ingres fought to preserve
too, dares to paint enormous canvases, the largest
of which is the Raft of Medusa with its ship-
wrecked sailors whose magnificent bodies com-
bine the severity of Classicism with the irrepressi-
ble movement of Romanticism. In him we find not
onlv
J
all the fruits of Romanticism but also the
solidity of the realistic school that was to come
after it.
There is no more striking sight than the great

halls at the Louvre which have been hung only
with those gigantic canvases which, from David
to Courbet, testify to an ease and grandeur of
which only the Italian Renaissance could offer an
equally constant example. Between the virile and
massive strength of these paintings and the frivo-
lous graces of the eighteenth century there could
be no stronger contrast.
After Gericault, Delacroix, his friend and his
junior by several years, dominated the nineteenth
centurv. Nervous and feverish, afire with an im-
agination almost unknown in French art, Dela-
croix occupies a position which public opinion is
still slow in recognizing. He is one of the loftiest
geniuses of the French school, a man of the same

stature as Poussin. He dominates Romanticism by
his ability to make of a picture an instrument by
which the soul expresses, as if by means of music,
its tensions, passions, and torments. In his work
there no longer any question of respecting the
is
rigid rules of form and design; all these are swept

away in the rhythm of inspiration. In his colors,
A wardrobe of the period of Louis XIV, by Andre-
especially, he invents tonalities and harmonies as Charles Broulle, furniture maker to the king. The severe
evocative and unexpectedly haunting as the piano lines of the piece are in contrast to the rich ornamenta-
tion. Made of oak, covered with tortoise shell and
it is
nocturnes of his friend Chopin. His art erupts
ormolu inlay which is chased with fine tracery. Fish-
into the century like the fiery symbolic figure ing, hunting, and fanning motifs are on the doors.
147
the classical tradition. Less virile than David, was prodigiously keen and observant of the
whose pupil he was, capable of refinements and of subtlest values of light; and also, like Chardin, his
a subtlety within flexibility, especially conspicuous heart.
in his prodigious drawings, Ingres was the painter Without any intention of being a revolutionary,
of the nineteenth-century bourgeoisie. In his Corot led painting toward an entirely new future.
double program, realism was to be achieved He restored to it the simplicity of the primitives,
through idealism: realism by means of a probitv obscured by so many conflicting doctrines; vet at
that scrupulously refrains from "cheating" in the the same time, when confronted by nature— when
presence of what the eyes behold, in order to cap- contemplating the Belfnj of Douai (plate 87)— he
ture it with the skill of a Flemish primitive; was aware of the last stage that Western painting
idealism that seeks to subject art to the laws of still had to pass through in order to achieve its
beauty, in order to extract from reality its purest conquest of reality: the mastery of light, the ele-
harmonies. Here once again we have the aims of ment which was by definition the most impossible
the classical Renaissance. to master, the most impossible to transpose onto
Like David, Ingres' art was weakened when canvas.
he obeyed his principles and his desire for an The realism to which Corot gave new life was
"ancient" beauty; but in portraiture he was in- encouraged toward the middle of the century by
comparable. He had the same honesty as his two revelations of extraordinary importance. The
master, but he added to it something more volup- first of these was in science. Its unprecedented
tuous, which tells us that the austere "virtue" of successes and the limitless opportunities it offered
the Revolution was by now being softened by a re-
acquired luxury. In his Odalisque (plate 81), for

example, Ingres achieves a feeling of classical
purity mixed with studied elegance. "He is a
Chinaman lost in Athens," the sculptor Preault
said jokinglv.
By the middle of the century French painting
was torn between two trends. The reaction that
had been born with David was becoming more
and more closely confined within lifeless rules
that reduced it to mere conventionalism. Oppos-
ing this was an individualistic tendencv, passion-
ate and romantic in vision and openly flouting
evervthing to which the public had become accus-
tomed.
Meanwhile, however, remote from conflicts and
theories, one man, a contemporary of Ingres and
Delacroix, was instinctively maintaining the most
ancient tradition of French art: poetic realism,
truth steeped in emotion and inspired by love of
nature. This painter was Corot. A descendant of
the eighteenth-century landscape painters, he too
was obsessed by the subtleties of light. At the
same time he was steeped in traditional culture.
Like Poussin he adored Italy; like Poussin, again,
he felt that a landscape was enriched by mytho-

logical presences. He liked to imagine Homer Roman epoch.
Door of a burial chamber. Palestine,
standing by the road he was painting, or to catch This limestone door is symbolically decorated with the
nymphs dancing through the veils candelabrum at upper-left, rose-shaped designs, and
a glimpse of
at the bottom, an arched niche with columns and a
of the morning mist. He set upon his canvas what conch. It is richly varied yet unified in effect, orna-
he saw and what he dreamed: his vision, which mental as well as sanctifying. 35%" high.
148
for man to multiply his power through the strictly
objective stud}' of positive reality gave impetus to

similar ideas in art.
The other revelation was of a social character.
Industrial progress, by increasing the working
class, revealed a new and growing force, the peo-
ple. This force had asserted itself in the revolution
of 1848, and art could not fail to be affected by

the repercussions. Realism, to which art was al-
ready returning, was to incline toward the most

humble and simple truths, in a movement anal-
ogous to Caravaggio's on the threshold of the
seventeenth century. From realism, painters were
ready to make a rapid transition to naturalism.
The taste for nature, studied in solitude with
absolute honestv of method, was revealed in the
Barbizon school, dominated by the loftv figure of
Theodore Rousseau. The last gleams of Roman-
ticism, which now had had its day, gave this scru-
pulous and passionate landscape painter, inspired
by the example of the Dutch, a note of melan-
choly. A pantheist, he felt the presence of God
everywhere: in the proliferation of grass and dust,
in his titantic Oak Trees (plate 85), and in the
horizons fleeing out of sight. Thus he remained
more a disciple of Romanticism than a forerunner
of Impressionism.
Rousseau's friend, Jean Francois Millet, shared
his feeling for nature. In some of his landscapes—
his Springtime (plate 86)—he reveals a massive
and serenelv Ivrical truthfulness. But in Millet's
work, a growing interest in the people is evident.
Primarily concerned with peasants, he lovinglv
A Greek amphora of the end of the fifth century B.C.,
recorded the hereditary nobility of their simplest found at Milo. Of great terseness and animation, the
drawing, executed in red terra cotta against a black
gestures. His Angelus and his Gleaners are today
background, depicts a battle between gods and giants.
regarded with excessive scorn, as if in compensa- The Greeks devised many types of containers for highly
tion for the no less exaggerated praise that was specialized uses; the amphora was designed to hold
oil or wine. 32" high.
once bestowed upon them.
Daumier, involved through his lithographs in
the political and social conflicts of his day, turned he saw were types, collective characters: the actor
more deliberately to the people. Like Millet, he and the lawyer, Crispin and Scapin (plate 88), the
has an amplitude of stroke that transforms reality art collector, or sometimes crowds. The zest that
and imprints on it an urgency, a dumb violence induced him to set his powerful and wilful stamp
that, again like Millet's, is by an inner
traversed upon nature was no longer of a subjective, per-
thrill of lyricism. Both these painters remind us sonal character; it expressed his self-abandon-
that Romanticism was not yet extinct, and that ment to the popular life -force borne by him.
they, too, owed something to it. But already the The hostility that Daumier displayed toward
blaze of individualism, the passionate confession the triumphant middle classes became, in Courbet,
of passion, was beginning to lose its meaning for activeand aggressive. Furthermore, Courbet did
them. Daumier, especially, was no longer inter- not abandon himself to this warfare solely by in-
ested in the peculiarities of the individual. What stinct. He frequented the company of theorists of
149
Socialism, and assimilated— with varying degrees reality or transformed it were to be discarded.
of success, it may be said — their doctrines as The Impressionists felt that realism did not live
applied to painting. The result was an art in which up to this program; under the pretext of painting
realism violently took shape under its double what he saw, the realist was actually only describ-
aspect. On the one hand, he attained total objec- ing forms by their outlines, masses by their relief,
tivity, the obligation to paint only what one saw, surfaces by their color. But all of these elements-
as one saw it; and, on the other hand, resolute forms, masses, colored surfaces— were isolated by
study of the subjects closest to truth— that is to the mind which recognized and defined them.
say, of the people and their simple life. To a rustic The eye, for its part, did not know so much; it
burial or the painting of Roe-Deer in a Forest preceived only light, mere patches of color devoid
(plate 89), Courbet devoted canvases of a size of meaning until the brain intervened.
which at one time had been reserved for what For the Impressionists it therefore seemed to
were held to be more noble subjects. His work be an immense advantage to turn back to the raw
marked the birth of naturalism. material of vision. The intervention of the intel-
Courbet, a master painter, was capable of ob- lect, no matter how spontaneous, could only in-
taining new effects from the pigment which he ap- terpret and denature that vision. However accu-
plied, making it as smooth as enamel or brushing rate a picture might be, it was always inferior to
it on in corrugated streaks. He seems to combine real light. By compelling himself to record side
the vision of Caravaggio with the execution of by side on his canvas all the sensations of color
Velasquez. Never has the conception of painting his eye received, the artist would reawaken those
been more a slave to reality; but never has its same sensations in the person who looked at the
technique been more independent in order to painting. With this object the Impressionist
pursue the painter's own researches. applied touches of color which seen from a dis-
It was began to
at this point that naturalism tance would reconstitute his original perception.
give way to Impressionism. Edouard Manet, an Jarred by the novelty of these paintings, the pub-
admirer of Courbet, strove to develop even fur- lic cried scandal; but at least painting had finally
ther the possibility of simultaneously "represent- succeeded in mastering light just as, four cen-
ing" something while extracting a new savor and turies before, it had succeeded, by means of per-
beauty from the bold play of paint, stroke and spective, in mastering the illusion of depth. Such
color. Even more than Courbet, Manet paid a was the program and the achievement to which
tribute of admiration to the Spaniards, and espe- the Louvre recently devoted an entire museum,
cially to Velasquez, for their exactitude of effect the Jeu de Paume, in which one can follow step by
and boldness of method. His first paintings— his step the development of Impressionism and of the
Luncheon on the Grass (plate 90), for example- movements contemporary with it.
proclaim the Spanish influence. Very few of the Impressionists, however, car-
Less encumbered than Courbet by ideas and ried out their program in all its aspects. The man
social programs, Manet helped to free painting who came closest to doing so was Claude Monet,
from all extraneous concerns. He painted in order the recognized center of the group. Interested only
to paint, in order to paint well. He took an in- in landscape, and there only in its lighting, he
creasing interest in the experiments of those came to disregard the identity of a given object
young artists who were founding Impressionism, —a poplar, a mill, or evenBouen Cathedral— to
and he extended such generous patronage to them such a degree that it appeared different to him
that he was soon recognized as their chief. at each different time of day. He multiplied and
Under the banner of the realism that had de- diversified his image, thus inaugurating what has
cisively triumphed in this second half of the cen- been called the "series" style of painting. Becom-
tury, Impressionism accentuated the tendency to ing more and more powerfully lyrical as he grew
turn painting inward upon itself. What, by defi- older, Monet lost himself in the impalpable clouds
nition, was a painter? A hand capable of repro- of light and the fugitive reflections which dance
ducing upon canvas what the eye perceived. The upon the waters of his pool of waterlilies.
had already enjoined the artist to paint
realists Pissarro, who retained a secret attachment to
nothing but what he saw; theories that idealized Millet, gave his landscapes a more rural character
150
Wooden boat (tomb furniture). Egvpt, Middle Empire, 28" long. This model of a pleasure boat was probably
designed to give the deceased the illusion of a voyage on the Nile. Crouching in the cabin with curtain raised
to admit the breezes of the river, he inhales the perfume of a flower; his servants kneel before him.
and often enlivened them with figures of peasants. leaping pictorial stroke; laid on in vivid ara-
Sisley, an Englishman, devoted himself to the pur- besques, the color itself is compelled to seize the
suit of the soft nuances of light (plate 93). revealing detail in an attitude or a face, and even
"Impressionist" is a designation which includes to develop it to the point of biting irony. This is
a number of painters who actually deviated from evident in his Portrait of Paul Leclercq (plate 99).
theory. Some of them regarded Impressionism Degas and Lautrec broke away from pure Im-
less as an isolation of sensations of light than as a pressionism mainly because they were attached
keen, instantaneous observation of gesture. Manet, to old values— such as draftsmanship — which
in fact, had elements and these painters,
of both, they could not bring themselves to disown. But
the greatest of whom was
Degas, were develop- others of the adherents of the new school began
ing only one of the two possibilities he suggested. to leave it because they felt its deficiencies. They
The son of a prominent bourgeois family, Degas were indebted to Impressionism, as were all sub-
took only a subsidiary interest in nature and de- sequent schools, for having made them aware of
voted much more of his attention to the life of the independence of their art. In the future that
Paris, theworld of the ballet and the opera. A art was to insist on being only painting and not
deep admirer of Ingres, he was reluctant to aban- an instrument for presenting ideas or anecdotes.
don drawing, of which he was clearly a very great But they felt that painting as Impressionism de-
master. Moreover, of the task that Impressionism fined it was still the slave of reality. Though it had
had set for itself to capture the elusive and insub- freed painting from the conventions that were sup-
stantial, the role he reserved for himself had much posed to represent reality, Impressionism believed
more to do with action than with light. But grad- that its only function was to reproduce reality.
ually, as he grew older and his sight began to fail, Why not escape this final slavery? Modern art was
he allowed himself to be seduced by color. In to take this ultimate step.
dazzling pastels, with powdery shades of electric But if the task of painting was not the faithful
intensity, he captured the mirage of his ballerinas representation of nature, then what mission was
with more mobilitv than ever. left to it? To this urgent question the abstract
Degas' work was carried on by an admirer, the school of the twentieth century was to reply that
sickly and short-lived Toulouse-Lautrec. En- painting could, and even should, take the utmost
dowed, like his master, with a gift for incisive advantage of the elements that compose it— that is,
drawing, his characteristic is the crackling and of lines and colors combined upon a surface.
251
Already, at the time when Impressionism ism and Expressionism, there were men who per-
seemed to have triumphed, the seed was sown for ceived that painting could enable them to give
its future downfall. Certain of its disciples were realization to dreams of the spirit, to bestow upon
beginning to use painting to interpret their sensi- outward appearances an order and harmony
bilities, whilst others were to use it to record the which reside in these appearances but can be
order proper to human thought. made manifest only in painting. They were to
Let us turn first to the exponents of sensibility: construct lines and colors in accordance with the
more and more they were to convert painting into architectural laws and rhythms proper to their
an art of expression. Renoir, to start with, seeth- formal qualities. To make use of the distinction
ing with ardor and uplifted by the same joyful drawn by Nietzsche, they are the Apollonians, as
lyricism as Rubens or Fragonard before him, real- opposed to the Dionysians, whom we have just
ized what an astonishing image of life could be encountered.

supplied by color, especially by the color that Im- The first of these was Cezanne. He did not feel
pressionism had intensified with all the brilliance that the power of fervent observation and the in-
of light. He did not break away from reality, since tense luminosity of color revealed by Impression-
the passion for life by which he was animated ism were at all incompatible with the idea of pure
could never be satisfied or find expression except form. The prodigious undertaking which he
in its contemplation. But from reality he took ex- launched, aimed at the conquest of the absolute,
clusively those things that sing the praise of life, no less, and laid the foundation of all modern art.
its sovereignty and its splendor: woman, her flesh Repudiating every convention and artifice, he
in which blood pulses and on which brightness heeded nothing but his amazingly exact sensation
lingers; flowers, which are light's perfume; fruit of color in order to suggest the masses he was
assembled in still lifes; and landscape— the land- painting. Like a classical artist he conceived of
scape of the Midi, saturated with sunshine, riotous these masses in their deepest simplicity and re-
with verdure. Taking his first inspiration from the duced them to elementary and eternal forms.
spectacle of pleasure parties of young people en- With these forms he was master of the task of
joying their ease in suburban parks or boating, he reconstructing the world as a beautiful edifice
began by uniting the Impressionism of light with decked with the brilliance of light and color; he
that of his own acute observation of human be- accomplished what he so well described as "put-
ings. After that he pursued his dream of fleshly ting Poussin into nature." His Mediterranean
forms whose fullness and sanguine splendor he scenes— the Bay of L'Estaque (
plate 92 ) or Mont
continually enhanced. Sainte-Victoire— disclose in their total truthful-
Van Gogh went further in the same direction. ness a structure of perfect balance.
He, too, had been obsessed by life's intensity. But After him, Seurat, whose career was cut short
where Renoir had found only a blossoming splen- by an early death, embarked upon a related ex-
dor, van Gogh found battle and drama. Life, periment to make a science of the analysis of
whose gigantic fermentation he perceived within pure tones. He separated colors as they are sepa-
him and around him, overwhelmed and crushed rated by a prism and then put them side by side
him. It was to leave him broken, to hurl him into on his canvas in regular, circular touches, thus
the vortex of madness, to drive him to suicide. giving them maximum visual intensity. Next, he
This tragic destiny van Gogh transposed into— or, turned this fidelity of the senses into a harmony
rather, realized in—his painting. In it the world by discovering the pure lines whose association
takes on the topsy-turvy, sometimes hallucinated and contrast would satisfy the deepest expecta-
appearance that it had in his nightmares. He him- tion of the mind. His unfinished Circus (plate 96)
self emerges, breaking forth from his canvas like gives us a glimpse of this scrupulous elaboration.
heavy with anguish and violence,
a shout, his gaze Perhaps it was Gauguin who set himself the
against a background that writhes and surges, ex- most challenging task: of unifying these new dis-
cept when, as in his Dr. Gachet (plate 95), the coveries. Perhaps it was he who did most to free
phrenetic style of execution contradicts the ap- painting from the errors into which Impression-
parent nonchalance of the subject. ism might stray and to indicate the directions in
But outside this torrent hurtling toward Fauv- which the new art would find its own truth. Reso-
152
lutely and without confusion Gauguin proclaimed cific. But in the Marquesas Islands, where he died,
the breach with obedience to nature. The purpose he was able to discover his truth, to paint can-
of painting was not to reproduce visible reality, vases like The White Horse (plate 97). He was to
but at the same time this reality was to suggest reveal to the Western world, overwhelmed and
the materials of the painting. It suggested, in fact, paralyzed by a too-heavy and too-glorious past,
lines and colors which the artist would develop that it still had immense possibilities of self -renew-
freely on his canvas without bothering about al. It could replenish itself if it would transcend
realistic exactitude, or even about relief or vol- and consider anew even the most elementary
itself
ume. The artist's aim was to achieve the highest problems, if it would regard the treasure-house
beauty of arabesque in his lines and of harmony of its past not as a fixed and definitive achieve-
in his colors. ment, but as a stage human development.
in
We find a striking confirmation of the oppor- This is one of the many lessons the Louvre has
tunity such a program provided in the spontane- to offer us. All that our predecessors have thought,
ous effort of a "primitive," the Douanier Rousseau. felt, and won does not free us from the obligation
With an infallible simplicity he sought truth in a to think, feel, and win in our turn. Knowledge of
vision of the real which was modified bv the ca- the past is not a weakness, a surrender to age. The
dences of thought and nurtured by authentic emo- Louvre, an immense treasure-house, exists to
tion. His War (plate 100) rediscovers the secret of sharpen and multiply our aims. By concentrating
the great fifteenth-century Italians, of a Paolo our experience upon the loftiest triumphs of the
Uccello (plate 8). mind and the sensibility, it teaches the artists of
To make more certain that he was reaching the our generation to find their own orientation with
purest springs of art, remote from all convention, new assurance. The Louvre stands at the center
Gauguin left Europe, traveling each time a greater from which paths radiate toward as yet unknown
distance, first into the Atlantic, then into the Pa- territories, to be explored by future generations.
Bronze equestrian statue of Giovanni Francesco de Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. By Sperandio, late fifteenth
century. A
small version of the heroic equestrian statues of the Benaissance, which revive a Boman type.
Vigorous and beautiful in craftsmanship, such small bronzes are now highly prized by collectors. 13" high.
J 53
Commentary
COVER reporting of gestures, in the diversity of the still-life objects,
the painting anticipates the two great achievements of the
CORNEILLE DE LYON [1500P-1574?] sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: the depiction of life and
of movement.
Portrait of Clement Marot
dutch by birth, Comeille settled in Lyon, one of the intellec- PLATE 3
tual and artistic capitals of sixteenth-century France. Although
his Dutch origin is evidenced by the minute realism of his CIMABUE [1240P-1302?]
painting, the absence of preliminary drawing, and his use of
color, Corneille is a painter on whom the French tradition has The Madonna of the Angels
definitely left its mark. This is particularly noticeable in the
care he takes to give the utmost expressiveness to the faces of cimabue was one of the first artists to emerge from the
his sitters, usually painted against a light green or blue back- collective anonymity of the Middle Ages. He soon became a
ground. legendary figure, and today it is almost impossible to deter-
It may have been in Lyon, where nearly all the great human- mine what is fact, and what fable, in Vasari's sixteenth-cen-
ists and poets visited, that Corneille made the acquaintance of tury biography. Indeed, some later critics even doubted the
the poet Marot and painted his portrait. It is also possible, how- existence of this artist, whom tradition calls Giotto's master.
ever, that this portrait was copied from a drawing or engraving The only work definitely attributed to Cimabue is a mosaic
which served as frontispiece to one of Marot's numerous executed in 1301-02 for the apse of the Duomo in Pisa. In this
volumes. cosmopolitan city, with its maritime attachments to the Near-

A famous poet of the time of Francis I, Marot led an adven- East, Cimabue must have felt the full impact of the flat, styl-
turer's life. High-spirited, impulsive, malicious, imprudent, he ized art of Byzantium. But the importance of form was revealed
was befriended by both Francis I and his sister Margaret, to him by the sculpture of the Pisan school, and later, in
Queen of Navarre. He provoked the hatred of the clergy and Rome, by the classical works which he saw there.
the Sorbonne by his anti-clerical epigrams, his friendship with The Louvre's Madonna of the Angels is now regarded as a
Calvin, and his sympathy with reform. His translation of the rather late work by Cimabue. The details— the scroll which
psalms was immediately adopted by the Huguenots and he •conveys the Infant's blessing, the drapery, attitudes, and an-
was obliged to flee to Geneva. When Calvinist constraint be- gels' wings— still follow Byzantine iconographical traditions.
came too severe he moved to Turin, where he died. But the new spirit of the fourteenth century is heralded in the
flowing lines of the drawing, the modeling, and in the beauty
of the symmetrical composition, imposing in the simplicity of
FRONTISPIECE its step-like movement which rises from the bottom of the
throne and culminates in the Madonna's head.
QUENTIN MATSYS [1465F-1530]
The Moneylender and His Wife PLATE 4
in his free and leisurely art, Matsys illustrates the transi- GIOTTO [1266P-1337]
tion from fifteenth-century realism, which had religious under-
tones, to the secular realism of the next century. A new interest Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata
in man and his surroundings, in which everything had a ma-
terial and empirical existence, triumphed in the Netherlands legend has it that giotto, son of Tuscan peasants, was dis-
as it had in Italy. covered by Cimabue, who found the boy drawing while tend-
The subject of the moneylender in his shop, which was re- ing his parents' flocks. In any event, it is probable that Giotto
garded as an opportunity to paint still life with jewelry, was was the pupil of this renowned painter, soon surpassing his
originally a religious theme, referring to Saint Eloi, the gold- master. Dante, their contemporary, wrote: "Cimabue thought
smith. Matsys has abandoned any religious pretext: he paints to lord it over painting's field; and now the cry is Giotto's, and
the moneylender as he must have seen him in Antwerp, sur- his name eclipsed."
rounded by goldpieces and jewelry. These objects he paints was formed at the time when Central Italian
Giotto's style
solely for their own material beauty, studying the qualities of painting was freeing itself from Byzantine formalism and turn-
light as reflected from the mirror, the glass, and the stones. ing to the precepts of Roman sculpture; the teachings of Saint
In its luminous atmosphere and beautiful painting of textures Francis stimulated a love of nature and observation of reality.
this panel reminds us of van Eyck (plate 27) . But in its vivid He painted the holy stories with daring pictorial invention and
154
dramatic effect; and in a number of great frescoes, he cele- and apostles kneel in adoration. The exquisite harmony of the
brated the life of Saint Francis, creating at the same time a colors as fresh as when they were painted, the minute atten-
whole Franciscan iconography. tion to detail and ornament, and the presence of the saints'
Panel paintings by Giotto are rare, making this picture the halos, recall Gothic miniature painting. But the perspective, the
more precious to us. (It should be noted, however, that certain interest in volume, the carefully thought-out composition with
historians regard this as a school-piece.) We see Saint Francis its double curve leading to Christ and His Mother isolated in
among the rocks of Yerna, where he has gone into retreat; he their glory, are already the work of a Renaissance master, and
receives the stigmata during a vision of Christ wearing the six show the influence of idealist and Platonic thought.
wings of a seraph. The predella below the central panel repre- In the center panel of the fine predella we see the entombed
sents other scenes from the life of the Saint. At the left, Pope Christ with the Virgin and Saint John. The other panels show
Innocent III has a dream which symbolizes the monk's efforts episodes in the life of Saint Dominic. Proceeding from the
to bolster the Church of Christ; in the middle scene, the Pope, left: Innocent III sees the Saint in a dream, supporting the
convinced, gives the Saint permission to found his Order; and Church of the Lateran (Giotto's, plate 4, is a Franciscan vari-
at the right. Saint Francis teaches the birds to love God. ant); the Saint receives the staff and book from Saints Peter
and Paul; he raises a Cardinal's nephew from the dead; his
books are thrown in the fire by the heretical Albigenses but
PLATE 5
do not burn; the Dominicans are ministered to by angels; and
last, the death of the Saint.
SIMONE MARTINI [1285F-1344]
Christ Carrying the Cross PLATE 7
the early work of this sienese painter is markedly Byzan- PISANELLO [1395P-1455?]
however, by a Gothic grace which he admired
tine, softened,
in the ivories, miniatures, and sculptures brought from France. A Princess of the Este Family
Later, after working in Naples, Simone's style became more
realistic, delighting in picturesque detail. Summoned to Avi- his talent as a medallist and decorator brought Pisanello
gnon in 1339 by Pope Benedict XII, he made the acquaintance a stream of commissions from princely patrons throughout
of the poet Petrarch, for whom he decorated the opening page Italy, though he retained his home in his mother's native city
of a Virgil. Here, until his death in 1344, Simone continued to of Verona. His courtly style, with its taste for narrative detail
develop that alliance between French and Sienese styles which expressed with refined elegance, was deeply imbued with the
was characteristic of his exquisite final work. ideals of the international Gothic tradition, which, originating
The precious little Christ Carrying the Cross— its fresh col- in France, dominated western and central Europe in the
oring and use of gold reminiscent of miniature painting— was late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.
painted during those Avignon years, presumably one of the The flowers and butterflies painted in bright colors against
six panels of a polyptych which was eventually sold and dis- the dark verdure of this portrait rival the work of medieval
persed at Dijon in 1826. manuscript illuminators. Against this background Pisanello has
Soldiers, executioners, and pharisees drag the condemned sensitively traced the sinuous arabesque of bust, neck, and
Christ toward Calvary, accompanied by the Holy Women face, exercising the same virtuosity and precision as when
and Saint John, desolate in their grief. The Magdalen, her chiseling the fine, exact lines of his portraits on medals.
face twisted in anguish, raises her arms in a great tragic ges- The identity of this charming young princess, gowned and
ture, while the Virgin is menaced by a centurion who refuses coifed in what is clearly the latest fashion, is unknown. But
to let her join Simon of Cyrene in helping to carry the cross. the similarity between the flower vase embroidered on her
The exaggerated gestures of despair create an impression of sleeve and a like motif on Pisanello's medal of Lionello d'Este
movement and animation which accentuates the figure of the justifies the supposition that she was a princess of the Este
suffering Christ. family of Ferrara.
PLATE 6 PLATE 8
FRA ANGELICO [1387-1455] UCCELLO [1397-1475]
The Coronation of the Virgin The Battle of San Romano

in fra angelico's painting the mystical purity and emotion friend of many leading artists and scholars of the early
of the artist created an almost perfect expression of the seren- Renaissance, Uccello devoted intensive study to the geometry
ity of faith. This Dominican monk, who became prior of his of forms and the new science of perspective. His striking eques-
convent, was beatified after his death. trian figure of the condottiere John Hawkwood in the Cathe-
The Louvre's panel is from the church of the Convent of San dral of Florence is a tour de force of optical illusion through
Marco in Florence. To the music of an angelic concert, Christ, perspective. Although sometimes confining himself to mono-
seated on a Gothic throne, places the crown of glory on the chrome in order to concentrate more strictly on problems of
head of a young and slender Virgin, while saints, prophets, form and volume, Uccello was also interested in color. From
155
his experience in designing stained glass he retained a feeling was struck by the new possibilities offered by oil painting:
for dark, warm tones that is rare in Florentine painting. thick impastos and superimposed transparent films of paint
His search for effects of volume, knowledge of perspective, could produce infinite variations of tone. Antonello thus en-
and use of simplified geometric forms to produce decorative couraged that richness of color which was later to become the
patterns, are well exemplified in The Battle of San Romano. It glory of Venetian painting.
is one of a series of three battle scenes of equal size painted Perhaps it was also due to Flemish influence that Antonello
Medici to commemorate a victory of the Florentines
for the- became a leading portrait painter.
over the Sienese in 1432. In the center, brandishing his The Condottiere is typical of Antonello's close scrutiny of
sword, the condottiere Micheleto Attendolo da Cottignola expressive physiological and psychological traits, and of his
leads the assault of the second line of knights; the first line, method of posing a sitter against a dark background gazing
with lances down, is already attacking. The placing of crests, forward but with head and shoulders turned towards the left.
banners, the long shafts of vertical and diagonal lances, and the This unknown subject's fierce energy and air of command, his
movement of the horses, produce an almost cinematographic searching glance and cruelly contemptuous expression, accen-
effect of life and movement. tuated by the gash across his upper lip, have led to the sup-
The predilection of the present-day aesthetic for abstract position that he was one of the freebooting captains so well
composition has led to a new appreciation of Uccello's intel- known to Renaissance Italy, as harsh to others as to them-
lectual, mathematical style. selves, not caring who their enemies were.
PLATE 9 PLATE 11
BALDOVINETTI [1425-1499] GIOVANNI BELLINI [1430P-1516]
Virgin and Child Portrait of a Man

contrasted with a panorama rich in picturesque details, trained in the studio of his father Jacopo, who had worked
the pyramid-like silhouette of the Virgin in adoration has a at Florence and Rome, Giovanni Bellini continued his father's
massive grandeur. This painting has been universally admired efforts to liberate Venetian painting from the medieval Byzan-
even though its authorship long remained in doubt. Today, by tine traditions which had kept the city of the Doges outside
analogy with his known works, such as the frescoes of the Por- the new artistic currents emanating from Tuscany. Two events
tuguese Chapel in the church of San Miniato at Florence, it were crucial to his development. The first took place in 1453,
is generally agreed to be by Alessio Baldovinetti. when Andrea Mantegna became his brother-in-law and trans-
Born probably in Florence, Baldovinetti was a pupil and mitted to Bellini the learned and monumental classicism which
collaborator of Fra Angelico. He also, together with Piero della he himself had assimilated, in part directly from antique mod-
Francesca, worked under Domenico Veneziano and acquired els, in part from Donatello. Bellini's paintings of this period
from him a taste for enamel-like colors and vast, deeply re- show a growing mastery of modeling, perspective, and com-
cessed landscape vistas. The technical experiments that Bal- position added to his primary interest in light. The second
dovinetti made in and tempera has caused much of

mixing oil event, in 1475, was the introduction to Venice of the Flemish
his painting in fresco to be ruined by flaking away. technique of oil painting by Antonello da Messina (plate 10).
In this picture, highly characteristic of the work of the sec- Adopting the new technique, Giovanni Bellini in such works
ond generation of Florentine artists of the fifteenth century, as the great altarpiece for the Church of the Frari attained a
the purity and subtlety of line and the graceful modeling are luminosity, delicacy of modeling, and richness of color which
accompanied by a knowing use of light to unify the diverse his famous pupils, Giorgione and Titian, were to bring to
elements of the composition. While this Virgin and Child is perfection.
sincerely religious in feeling, its subordination of sentiment to The Portrait of a Man is one of a group of similar busts
an ideal of formal elegance already foreshadows the spirit of Bellini painted around 1475. Like Antonello, he poses his
the High Renaissance. model quite simply, ignoring decorative accessories and con-
centrating on the essentials of physical appearance and psy-
chology. But while Antonello's sitters are inexorably linked to
PLATE lO the spectator by their imperious frontal gaze, those of Bellini
preserve an enigmatic character through the faraway look he

ANTONELLO DA MESSINA [1430P-1479] has given to their eyes.
A Condottiere
PLATE 12
we do not know precisely how the Sicilian-born Antonello
da Messina came into contact with Flemish painting and be- MANTEGNA [1431P-1506]
came the first Italian to master the technique of oil painting,
perfected by the van Eycks and previously unknown in the Calvary

South. After a period at the court of Rene d'Anjou at Naples,
Antonello went to Venice in 1475. He taught the artists of the renaissance humanists' passion for antiquity is reflected
that city the Flemish techniques; Giovanni Bellini particularly throughout the work of the celebrated and influential North
156
Italian artist, Mantegna, whose master Squarcione, an artist PLATE 14
of little talent but an excellent instructor, made his pupils
copy classical sculpture. Even his early fresco work in Eremi- GHIRLANDAIO [1449-1494]
tani Chapel at Padua— largely destroyed in the last war-
shows Mantegna's characteristic preoccupation with archeo- An Old Man and His Grandson
logical detail and the perfection of his drawing. Through his
connection with the Venetians (he was a son-in-law of the pupil of BALDOviNETTi and master of Michelangelo, Ghirlan-
great painter Jacopo Bellini) Mantegna became a colorist as daio was perhaps the most typical if not the most original artist
well. Under the protection of the Gonzagas, he settled in Man- of the fifteenth century in Florence. Little gifted with imagi-
tua in 1468 and worked there for Isabella d'Este. nation, but a master of picturesque charm, he can lay claim to
The beauty and simplicity of form in this Calvary recall harmonious drawing, orderly composition and fresh, agreeable
classical bas-reliefs, while the drama inherent in its theme color. A keen observer of picturesque details, he often trans-
is intensified by the scientific logic of its composition. Subtle formed his religious paintings, such as the frescoes for Santa
diagonals formed by the hilly slope of Jerusalem at the left, Trinita and the choir of Santa Maria Novella, into scenes of
and the wall of rock at the right, meet in the center, leaving in daily life peopled with well-known Florentine personages.
striking isolation the figure of the dead Christ and the silhou- Ghirlandaio's charm, sensitivity, and restrained realism are
ette of the cross. The stiff outlines of the attendant figures re- all apparent in this double portrait. The disfigured face of the
peat the upright of the cross; its horizontal bar is paralleled unknown old man is transformed by the kindly smile he directs
by the little white clouds which seem to have turned to the towards the young boy, who returns his grandfather's glance
same stone as the prismatic blocks of the rocky landscape. with confident affection. The area of light from the open win-
The poetical intention of the artist is disclosed in the frozen, dow is skillfully used to give depth to the composition, and to
mineral universe; the horror of the scene in this inhuman balance the oblique line formed by the two figures.
world becomes so harsh and tragic as to be almost insupport-
able. PLATE 15
PLATE 13 LEONARDO DA VINCI [1452-1519]
BOTTICELLI [1444P-1510] Mona Lisa
A Lady and Four Allegorical Figures Leonardo is probably history's prime example of a universal
genius. The dazzling creative intellect of this accomplished
originally trained as a goldsmith, Botticelli in the grace humanist made him not only an outstanding artist and aestheti-
and elegance of his early works reveals the influence of his cian, but also a philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, geolo-
first master in painting, Fra Filippo Lippi. Somewhat later he gist, inventor in dynamics and ballistics, engineer, and archi-
acquired from the painter-sculptor-goldsmiths Verrocchio and tect. His notebooks and manuscripts are among the most im-
Antonio Pollaiuolo his fine, nervous precision of fine. portant sources we have for the study of sixteenth-century
A Lady and Four Allegorical Figures is one of a pair of fres- learning and philosophy.
coes discovered in 1873 in the Villa Lemmi, a few miles out Leonardo was born at Vinci, near Florence, and as a young
of Florence. Dr. Lemmi, noticing traces of painting under the man he entered the studio of the painter-sculptor Verrocchio
whitewash in one of the rooms, exposed these frescoes. From under the patronage of Lorenzo de Medicis. In 1483 he went
1459 to 1591 the house had belonged to the Tornabuoni to Milan, to the court of Ludovico il Moro, who commissioned
family, and we know that Botticelli (and Ghirlandaio) had paintings from him, and engineering and architectural works
decorated the Palazzo Tornabuoni about 1485, shortly after as well. Upon the invasion of Milan by the French army
his return from Borne. Though the exact subject of his paint- Leonardo went to Venice and Florence. Summoned by Fran-
ing has not been determined, it probably represents a young cis I, he stayed at the French court to the end of his life.
woman of the Tornabuoni family receiving gifts from the four There is perhaps no painting in the world more celebrated
Cardinal Virtues. Whatever its theme, the poised and rhyth- than Leonardo's Mona Lisa, his most perfect and characteristic
mic grace of the figures and the visual poetry of the draperies work. It is also the finest product of the proud and ambitious
and gestures are completely characteristic of Botticelli. spirit of the Benaissance, which aimed at the re-creation, in
Painter of gracious, charming, and slightly melancholy Ma- art, of the world according to intellectual laws. This is an ideal
donnas, Botticelli was also capable in his portraits of refining which reconciles art and science, and enabled Leonardo to
a likeness so as to concentrate on its essential character. Above write this Promethean formula: "How do we make our-
easily
all, however, under the influence of the learned Florentine selves universal!" The portrait, on which Leonardo worked four
humanists who surrounded Lorenzo and Giulio de' Medici in years, is sometimes called La Gioconda because according to
the third quarter of the fifteenth century, hewas the exquisite tradition it represents the wife of the Florentine Francesco di
poet of pagan antiquity. His Allegory of Spring and Birth of Zanobi del Giocondo.
Venus are delicate, imaginative visions of a golden age where The Louvre is the richest of all galleries in paintings by
mythical beings dance in flower-filled gardens. Towards the Leonardo; there one may study the small Annunciation of his
end of his life, however, he was converted by the preaching youth and the development of his famous sfumato style in Saint
of Savonarola and thereafter painted only religious subjects of John the Baptist, Saint Anne, The Virgin of the Bocks, and
fervent pathos and emotion. above all, in the Mona Lisa.
157
PLATE l6 the king of Spain another version of the same theme, now in
the Prado.
GIORGIONE [1477P-1510]
PLATE 18
Pastoral Concert
RAPHAEL [1483-1520]
bathed in the glow of sunset, two couples engage in conver-
sation and music-making, while a shepherd drives his flock La Belle Jardiniere
homeward through the Venetian countryside. The real subject
of this Concert Champetre, however, is the beauty of the fe- Raphael sanzio was born in Urbino. His father, also a painter,
male body and the beauty of nature in the lingering golden died when he was eleven. At sixteen he was apprenticed to
light. The overtone of gentle melancholy tells us that the music Perugino, whose delicacy of composition and decorative sense
will soon fade, the moment pass; already shadows claim the had a great effect upon him. From 1506-08 Raphael lived in
faces.The awakening of the spectator's sensibility through Florence where the theories of Leonardo and Michelangelo
scenes of evocative charm that elude precise interpretation is helped to form his mature style with its facility of draftsman-
the special gift of Giorgione, a capricious, independent artist ship and supreme mastery of composition. In 1508 Julius II
whose individualism makes him in a sense the first of the called him to Rome to decorate the Stanze in the Vatican. His
moderns. frescoes of the Disputa and The School of Athens rivaled Mi-
Little is known of his life. He was born at Castelfranco near chelangelo's ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. His color, under the
Venice, trained in the studio of Giovanni Bellini and died while influence of Venetian painting or of newly discovered Roman
still in his early thirties. But the few paintings that he produced murals, became increasingly rich. Overwhelmed with com-
in his short life (many known to us only through copies, and missions and official responsibilities he died at thirty-seven,
others of disputed attribution ) exerted a great influence on the universally mourned for his goodness, the beauty of his char-
artists of his generation. Giorgione's lyrical imagination and his acter, and for his genius.
innovations in light and color enabled his friend and disciple This Virgin and Child with Saint John, traditionally called
Titian, and later, Tintoretto and Veronese, to attain harmonies La Belle Jardiniere, is the finest version of a subject for which
unparalleled in Western art. Raphael had, after his stay in Florence, a marked preference;
it enabled him to give expression to his tender sensibility and
religious feeling. The compositional pyramid formed by the
PLATE 17
figures of the Virgin and the two children stands out against
the horizontal line of the landscape. The formal harmony, how-
TITIAN [14779-1576]
ever, is only one of the delights of this masterpiece. The pose of
the Child leaning against the Virgin, his arms forming a con-
The Entombment
tinuous line with hers, while he glances up at her confidingly,
contributes a perfect note of sincere sentiment.
in the whole history of Western painting it is Titian, per-
haps, who has exerted the greatest influence. Not only his fel-
low Venetians, but many artists of various schools and periods PLATE 19
owe much to him. Velasquez, Rubens, Rembrandt, van Dyck,
Poussin, Watteau, Fragonard, and Gainsborough, down to CARAVAGGIO [1562P-1609]
painters as late as Delacroix and the Impressionists, may all be
said to have learned from Titian's technical inventiveness, Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt
passionate brush strokes, and zest for light and color.
Trained in the studio of the Bellinis at Venice, Titian was pro- when caravaggio was born, Italian painting, after a period
foundly influenced by his colleague and master Giorgione, with of enormous productivity, was going through the crisis of Man-
whom he collaborated on the lost frescoes for the facade of the nerist refinement. Once an art form reaches its perfection, fur-
Fondaco dei Tedeschi. Titian was quick to master Giorgione's ther evolution can come only through virtuoso development
discovery of atmospheric perspective, using color not merely of its principal characteristics; this is Mannerism. To this, Cara-
decoratively but as a constructive means, as though the vaggio reacted violently, and his realism had a lasting influ-
very being of his pictures arose from the radiance of color ence throughout Europe, even affecting such great seven-
itself. teenth-century masters as Velasquez, Rubens, Rembrandt, and
Throughout his long life Titian worked on commissions for Vermeer. Trained in northern Italy, Caravaggio went to Rome
a succession of illustrious patrons— the Doges of Venice, the where he soon acquired notoriety and powerful patrons who
Emperors Charles V and Philip II, Pope Paul II, Alfonso d'Este were frequently to shield him from the consequences of his
of Ferrara, the Duke of Urbino, and Federigo Gonzaga of escapades, which climaxed in a murder. Banished from the
Mantua. capital, Caravaggio worked in Naples, Sicily, and Malta, and
About 1525 he painted for Federigo this Entombment — a having at last received his pardon he died on his way back to
tragic dirge resounding with cries of sorrow and rebellion. It is Rome. Many of his religious pictures caused scandal because
believed that in the figure of Joseph of Arimathea, who sup- for his sacred personages he used models from the lower classes,
ports the feet of the dead Christ, the artist represented himself, painting them naturalistically in their own everyday dress.
just as he did when more than thirty years later he painted for Alof de Wignacourt, Grand Master of the Knights of Malta,
158
was a nobleman from Picardy. This state portrait is in Cara- the Fogg Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, suggests a
vaggio's final manner; the background is abolished, the palette date of around 1570 at least for the initial conception, though
restricted; powerful volumes and a sculptural synthesis pro- the picture itself has often been considered a late work.
duced through the handling of the light enhance the forceful
and domineering character of the subject.
PLATE 22
PLATE 20
NICCOLO DELL'ARBATE [1509P-1571]
CORREGGIO [1498-1534]
The Rape of Proserpine
Jupiter and Antiope
though he was a native of Modena, Niccolo dell'Abbate's
after receiving instruction from the aged Mantegna in work reveals a close study of Raphael and Michelangelo, and
Padua, Correggio, by assimilating the flowing draftsmanship the influence of Correggio, who evolved a style of great re-
of Ralphael and the intangibly delicate shading of Leonardo, finement by subtly remolding the achievements of the great
developed a highly original style of extreme grace and soft- masters. Like others of the generation of painters born in the
ness. Perhaps after a trip to Rome, where he would have seen early sixteenth century immediately following the climax of
Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling, he undertook the decorations of the Renaissance, Niccolo dell'Abbate was a Mannerist. Singu-
the domes of San Giovanni Evangelista and of the Cathedral larly interested in landscape, he shows a special liking for
of Parma in which the illusionistic style initiated by Mantegna great panoramas and 1552 he was
fantastic architecture. In
is blended with later conceptions of grandeur and monumen- summoned by Primaticcio to work on the decorations for the
tality. In his religious compositions he displays a tender and Palace of Francis I in Fontainebleau. He remained in France
calm piety. till his death.
For Federigo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Correggio painted Pluto, god of the underworld, abducts Proserpine before
several compositions of a mythological character, mostly hav- the eyes of her terrified companions. On the hill to the right he
ing to do with the loves of Jupiter. In this one the king of the is shown again in his chariot as he drives off with his bride. The
gods under the aspect of a satyr gazes at the reclining Antiope tall elegance of the nymphs follows closely the figure style of
while Cupid nestles at her side. The blue drapery acts as a Primaticcio, but the vast landscape in which strange structures
foil to the nymph's dazzling nakedness which seems to absorb are picked out by a slanting light is the product of a very
all the light of the picture. Slight shadows caress the lovely personal invention.
foreshortened head and soften the contours of the body, subtly
accentuating the sense of relaxation. The whole effect is that of
a limp body which no longer has control over gesture— the very
image of sleep. Correggio's ideal of feminine beauty, so gentle PLATE 23
and irresistibly charming, was particularly admired in the
eighteenth century. TINTORETTO [1518-1594]
Paradise
PLATE 21
nicknamed after his father, who was a dyer in the city of
VERONESE [1528-1588] Venice, Tintoretto entered Titian's studio but did not remain
there long; he completed his training through the study of
Calvary Michelangelo and became acquainted with Roman Mannerism

through Pordenone. His mature work shows technical freedom
in his native verona was exposed to artistic influ-
the artist and the most daring invention. His creative urge was so strong
ences from central Italy, and in Venice, where he settled in that, like Michelangelo, he needed great walls to decorate.
1555, he became acquainted with the work of Giulio Romano Dramatic light, animated shadows, and expressive color serve
and Parmigianino as well as with Titian's splendid color. As a to orchestrate his dynamic Wagnerian visions. Tintoretto is,
result of a trip to Rome he seems to have acquired a taste for with Michelangelo, the greatest painter of the Baroque; in
monumental compositions which led him to produce im- his power of pictorial invention he perhaps surpasses any other
mense canvases such as The Marriage of Carta in the Louvre. artist in the history of painting.
In his later years landscape assumes a very important role in his This is a small sketch for the largest painting in the world
paintings, a powerful means of expression, as in Tintoretto's art. (23 x 72 feet), the Paradise in the Ducal Palace in Venice.
In this Calvary the vast leaden sky takes up half the area Tintoretto was already seventy when, as a result of the death
of the picture; to the left three crosses rise above the holy of Veronese, he was entrusted with this immense undertaking.
women who attend the swooning Virgin. The composition is At the height of his religious fervor he conceived this work in
boldly diagonal though a balance is consciously restored by superhuman terms. As the solar system revolves around the
the wonderful tall figure draped in yellow; the strange, dooms- sun— a fact revealed by Copernicus in 1543— thus the universe
day light, fantastic and tragic as well, unifies the picture fur- of saints, prophets, and the blessed rotates in concentric orbits
ther with its sulphurous brilliance. A preparatory drawing in around Christ as he places the crown on the Virgin's head.
159
PLATE 24 elegance of his technique, he is the most scintillating chronicler
of eighteenth-century Venice.
ANNIBALE CARACCI [1560-1609]
Fishing PLATE 26
in 1585 annibale with his cousin Ludovico and his brother GIAMBATTISTA TIEPOLO [1696-1770]
Agostino opened an academy in Bologna, his birthplace. At
this time, painting in Italy was spending itself in refinements The Triumph of Religion
upon the lessons of the great masters. The Caracci were pro-
fessed eclectics yet their erudition and thorough knowledge the Venetian tiepolo is unquestionably the greatest decora-
of the art of the past did not result in servile imitation, but in tive painter of the eighteenth century. Gifted with immense
the formation of a style which was to exert a healthy influence fantasy as well as amazing physical energy, his brilliant, ca-
in both Italy and France. pricious inventions adorn villas, palaces, and churches in Ven-
No attempt is made to give this picture a religious or allegor- ice, Milan, Verona, Wiirzburg, and Madrid, giving a measure of
ical meaning as was still customary at this time. It is a simple his widespread popularity and fame. Tiepolo's artistic lineage
landscape of a river flowing through the countryside outside can be traced back to the sixteenth-century Venetians Tin-
Bologna. Like Caravaggio, the Caracci refreshed their art toretto and Veronese, though his pervasive, opalescent light,
through the observation of nature, though with a preference bright colors, and agitated line are characteristic of a later
for landscape, as is particularly evidenced by Annibale's draw- period, as well as the result of his own artistic temperament.
ings. Fishing and its counterpart Hunting were painted in This sketch for a ceiling in the Grimaldi palace in Venice
Bologna before the artist attempted to make deliberate ar- is a religious allegory: Faith, crowned with stars and trampling
rangements of his landscapes. Later, in Borne, the countryside the dragon of heresy, glances down at a procession of believers.
with its ruins and clearly defined plains inspired him to more The whole scene receives the blessing of God, encircled
by
formal compositions which were to be carried to their greatest angels. There are more important easel paintings by Tiepolo
perfection by Poussin and Claude Lorrain. in the Louvre, but this sketch was selected in order to give an
idea of his illusionistic decorations in which the ceiling is sup-
posedly broken out into the very sky, affording the beholder
PLATE 25 a glimpse of heavenly events in an ethereal, infinite space.
GUARDI [1712-1793]
PLATE 27
The Doge Embarking on the Bucentaur
JAN VAN EYCK [1390?-1441]
though reared the tradition of Titian and the later
in
Venetians, Guardi soon came to admire the richly inventive, The Virgin and Chancellor Rolin
Baroque fantasy of the Genoese painter Magnasco. The re-
ligious themes of his early work were but a pretext, allowing a native of the meuse country, van Eyck was painter to the
Guardi to create a romantic and fairy-tale atmosphere, with Count of Hainault and Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy,
unreal silhouettes seen against fanciful landscapes. He was who sent him on secret missions of state. At Ghent, before
also a pupil of the great landscape painter Canaletto. But his 1432, van Eyck completed the celebrated altarpiece of The
nervous sensibility, so unlike that of his master, impelled him Adoration of the Lamb, which, with its subtle use of the
to give free rein to his poetic imagination in his Views of medium of oils, is one of the foundations of modern painting.
Venice and Caprices; these were exquisite constructions based Through its impastos, smooth or rough, and its transparent
on drawings whose technique was the notation of light. He glazes, oil painting is a technique which enables the artist to
was above all a subtle analyst of light, the refinement of his imitate the subtlest play of light on objects.
vision, the lightness of his touch, the bright, silvery tones of The Virgin and Chancellor Rolin shows how van Eyck used
his palette making him a precursor of Bonington, Corot, and this medium to carry realism to the point of extreme fidelity.
the Impressionists. He masters the visible world in all its aspects and shows its
This painting is one of twelve representations of Venetian diversity in clear, precise forms. But van Eyck's art is more
festivals, done by Guardi probably in 1763. On Ascension Day than truthful representation. The severe face of the donor of
it was the tradition for the Doge, head of the Venetian Be- this panel, Nicolas Bolin, Chancellor of Burgundy, is vivid not
public, to be rowed out to sea in the famous state barge, the only in the painting of its surface markings, but also in its
Bucentaur. In the presence of the city's nobility and foreign psychological significance. The bottle-glass of the windows
diplomats he would throw a ring into the Adriatic as a symbol seems as precious as the jewels of the crown, and even the
of the marriage of the city and the sea. It was the most famous small garden and its flowers, the town, the mountains, have
of all Venetian ceremonies, attracting large numbers of visitors something of this clear, jewel-like character.
to the city for merrymaking. Through balance and rhythm, through geometrically pre-
Guardi's finest qualities are seen in this lively canvas; the cise perspective and clear spatial intervals, van Eyck imposes
lightwhich pervades the scene with its sparkle also streaks on reality an intellectual discipline which is no less ordered
the forms to give them animation. Thanks to the verve and than that of Italian art.
J 60
PLATE 28 The beauty of color, the calm simplicity of the circular com-
position centering in the vertical figure of the Virgin and
ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN [1399?-1464] echoed by the semicircle of bushes in the background, make
this charming work a perfect example of classical Flemish
The Annunciation painting of the fifteenth century.
this panel was for a long time considered to be the work of

an unknown fifteenth-century master. No picture by Rogier
PLATE 30
has been authenticated by either signature or direct documen-
tary evidence. But there are two paintings in the Escorial, near
GERARD DAVID [1450?-1523]
Madrid, which are attributed to him by reliable traditions, and
it is by comparison with these that a body of work, including The Wedding at Cana
this Annunciation, has been identified as his.
david was one of the last of the traditional Flemish painters
Van del Weyden's realism is not so relentless as van Eyck's
of the fifteenth century. Settling at Bruges, he was influenced
(plate 27) ; his work, Gothic in refinement and more linear in
by Memling (plate 29), at that time the city's most famous
style, is colored by naive emotion and medieval sensibility.
painter. David's predilection for rich, enamel-like colors and
A Latin striving for style through abstraction and elegance
a hieratic rigidity of figures reveals his debt to van Eyck (plate
is one of the most marked characteristics of his painting. This
27), whose work he must have seen. Especially after Mem-
tendency toward idealization was probably strengthened by
ling's death, David occupied an important position in Bruges,
his travels in Italy in 1450, during which he worked in Rome
receiving civic commissions and being elected dean of the
and Ferrara. There is a complementary aspect of his work: a
painters' Guild of Saint Luke.
nervous sensibility which shows itself even in the kind of de-
Although it ostensibly represents a miracle, The Wedding
tail he chooses to depict. Van Mander has justly said that he
at Cana seems really to be a celebration at a prosperous middle-
was a painter of "the soul's changes."
class house in Bruges. A tapestry of various plants hangs in
The Annunciation, which Memling
inspired Bouts and
the background, and a marble colonnade opens on to a city
(plate 29), is the central panel of a triptych which Rogier
square. The bride is at the center of the table; Christ and the
painted in his youth. There are other treatments of the same
Virgin sit to one side among the other guests, who show no
subject by him, but he was never again to achieve the elegance
surprise at the miracle of changing the water into wine.
of this vision of the angel in his sumptuous robe, or of the
The absence of movement in this picture is to be noted:
fragile, resigned grace of the Virgin.
each figure is fixed in its position and appears to be as little
able to take part in the action as the donors, who kneel in

prayer at right and left. This fixity is very characteristic of
PLATE 29
David's work.
MEMLING [1433P-1494]
PLATE 31
The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catharine
BRUEGEL [1525-1569]
born near mainz, Memling visited Cologne in his youth and
probably painted in Rogier van der Weyden's studio in Brus- The Beggars
sels before he acquired the privileges of a citizen of Bruges in
1465. Here he lived in prosperity for the rest of his life, ac- bruegel's originality and perfection of technique make him
complishing his greatest work, the shrine of Saint Ursula at the greatest Flemish painter of the sixteenth century. A man
Saint John's Hospital, a work reminiscent of manuscript of broad culture, he traveled in Italy, and unlike most of his
illumination. compatriots he did not return satisfied with a vision of man
The most important influences on Memling's art were those which was merely an imitation of the classical. In Italy he
of van der Weyden, Dirk Bouts, and Hugo van der Goes. acquired a sense of style, a breadth of composition, and a
He was an eclectic painter, profiting from the work of his purity of draftsmanship characterized by simplification and
predecessors; with his great facility he assimilated the innova- economy. After his return to Flanders he moved toward an
tions of others and brought Flemish technique to its highest art which was more and more concerned with man and his
point of accomplishment. drama: he engraved a series of "Virtues" and "Vices," and his
The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catharine is one panel of a landscapes became backgrounds for peasants at their labors.
diptych— the other half, representing a kneeling donor with The Beggars belongs to the last period of Bruegel's work.
saints, is also in the Louvre— and was painted about 1475. The Nature no longer dominates man as in his earlier work; man
Virgin, holding the Child, who is placing the mystic ring on takes the leading part and is the hero, whether fighting for
Saint Catharine's finger, is seated in a verdant landscape be- existence or shattered by fate. The misery of his Beggars is
fore a hedge of roses, with Saints Agnes, Cecilia, Lucy, Mar- accentuated by the exquisite light of Spring which appears in
garet, and Barbara. This theme of a group of saints was a the background, behind the little wood one sees through the
favorite one with Memling, and he repeats the same female gate. Bruegel's astonishing pictorial virtuosity makes this small
type with evident pleasure: the full oval face, arched eyes panel appear much larger than it is.
slightly raised at the sides— an inscrutable and gracious type. It is possible that as in many of his late paintings there is
J 61
here a political allusion to the rebellion of the Low Countries to represent the four sacred writers. Through his powerful and
against the domination of Spain: the fox brushes which adorn lively technique, through the simplicity of the composition
the costumes of these maimed beggars were used to ridicule which communicates an intensity of religious feeling, Jordaens
the government of Philip II. has given these humble figures a touching grandeur. In doing
so he sums up all that is finest in his art.
PLATE 32
PLATE 34
RUBENS [1577-1640]
VAN DYCK [1599-1641]
Country Fair
Portrait of Charles I of England
a universal genius— scholar, diplomat, collector, as well as
artist— Rubens has been described by Delacroix as "the Homer remarkably precocious, van Dyck was already a celebrity
of painting." Trained in Flanders and Italy, he was appointed when, at about twenty, he became Rubens' chief collaborator.
painter to the Archduke Albert and the Archduchess Isabella Even his early work displays the two qualities which made him
in 1609. He began to free himself from his dependence on so admirable a portrait painter: the precise individualization
Italian masters, affirming his own lyrical and Baroque style. of his subjects, and the pictorial harmony of the elements of
Overwhelmed with commissions, he employed a great many his compositions. A visit to Italy enriched his style; from the
apprentices in his atelier— van Dyck (plate 34) was one of his Venetians, especially Titian and Tintoretto, he learned to em-
collaborators; but the conception of the picture is always ploy rare and exquisite colors. Conversely, he exercised a pro-
Rubens' own. found influence on the Genoese school during this journey.
Toward the end of his life Rubens composed immense land- Wherever he went, commissions and honors were showered
scapes in which he celebrated with an almost unbridled upon him. In 1632 King Charles I invited van Dyck to Eng-
lyricism the generative forces of life in men and nature. His land, where he remained as court painter in a luxurious and
Country Fair, painted in the last period of his fife, presents a easygoing atmosphere. About three years later he painted this
traditionally Flemish scene of peasant joy and drunkenness. portrait, which is probably the summit of his art. His dazzling
Twelve sketches now in the British Museum show how care- technique has captured the majesty, dignity, and authority of
fully Rubens planned this work. his subject, expressed in the attitude of the head, the firm
It is more than a realistic description of a country scene; it gesture of the hand on the cane. At the same time, he conveys
approaches symbolism. The drunken passions of this bacchanal to us the individuality, the inborn elegance and subtle grace
are fast playing out, as peaceful twilight begins to descend which made Charles the paragon of dandies. Van Dyck's
over the small calm stretch of country in the background. The genius, exemplified in this painting, was the inspiration of the
implied symbolism seems to sum up Rubens' art: the exaltation great English portrait school of the eighteenth century.
of life and movement is always accompanied by philosophical How this picture came to France after the King's tragic
and moral overtones. death is not known. But it is an ironical coincidence that this
portrait of a king who was to be beheaded should at one time

have belonged to Louis XVI, who suffered the same fate.
PLATE 33
JORDAENS [1593-1678] PLATE 35
The Four Evangelists BROUWER [1605?-1638?]
we know little of jordaens other than what touches on his The Smoker
art. Born in Antwerp, he was the pupil and son-in-law of Adam
van Noort, one of Rubens' masters. Jordaens never visited in the early part of the seventeenth century the abuse of
Italy, but his early work was shaped by the current Italian in- alcohol, formerly a costly medicine, had begun to spread; and
fluences: he passed through a Mannerist period, and later the civil and church authorities prohibited the use of tobacco,
chiaroscuro realism of Caravaggio (plate 19) matured his which was then smoked unmellowed and strong, often mixed
style. After 1631, when he fell under the influence of Rubens with drugs producing brutal narcotic effects and sometimes
his work began to show a greater understanding of atmosphere, addiction.
a surer approach to composition, and an almost unbridled This picture by Brouwer— who lived a short, chaotic life,
vitality. But, like van Dyck, Jordaens never became a mere himself totally addicted to "tobacco" and gin, according to his
imitator of Rubens; he always exploited his own rich and in- biographer— is a vivid commentary. The smoker relishes the
dividual talent. His robust realism seems drawn from the very fumes from his pipe and clutches his bottle of gin; Brouwer
springs of the Flemish tradition. has caught his subject's grimace with the precision of a carica-
The Four Evangelists shows the growing suppleness of his turist.
style at the same time that it retains the directness of his Although born in Flanders and attracted as a youth to the
Caravaggian period. Like Caravaggio, who had chosen models work of Bruegel Brouwer received his artistic
(plate 31),
from the poor people of Rome and Naples, Jordaens has painted training in Holland. He worked in the studio of Frans Hals
ordinary citizens of Antwerp, posing them in natural attitudes (plate 41), whose influence is obvious in this Smoker, and
162
from whom he acquired his vigorous technique and the crack- school. He discloses a grasp of landscape in which the scene
ling brilliance of his brush strokes. He would not allow him- is spread out in depth instead of appearing as on a backdrop.
self to be influenced by Rubens or van Dyck or Jordaens, but His figures are popular types with rustic faces. It is possible
remained true to his inspiration and to the vernacular tradi- from Geertgen's work to see how the northern provinces, sepa-
tion thathe inherited from Bruegel the Elder. He was a land- rated by local autonomy from the main European influences,
scape painter of great versatility and modernity, exerting a would in the seventeenth century develop into a school of
strong influence on Flemish and Dutch artists. Rubens owned painting which is resolutely faithful in depicting nature and
no less than sixteen of Brouwer's pictures. people.
PLATE 36 PLATE 38
HIERONYMUS BOSCH [1450P-1516?] HOBBEMA [1638-1709]
The Ship of Fools The Watermill
this unique genius seems to have been able to develop his hobbema's first signed work is dated 1658, when he was
originality more freely because of his provincial upbringing. twenty years old; his last authentic work (with the one excep-
Bosch was born and lived at 's-Hertogenbosch ( from which he tion of the celebrated Avenue Middelharnis, dated 1689) was
derives his surname), a commercial center that stood some- painted in 1669. Thus, though he lived past seventy, he prac-
what apart from the great cities in which Flemish art was tically abandoned painting after the age of thirty, when he was
flourishing. His work is so modern in feeling that it is difficult at the height of his power. From the time of his marriage and
to think of it as by an artist who is midway in time between his appointment as customs inspector for the city of Amster-
Memling (plate 29), his elder, and Geertgen tot Sint Jans dam, he seems to have devoted himself entirely to family life
(plate 37), his junior. and to his employment.
Like Bruegel (plate 31), who admired his work, Bosch was After long neglect, he became increasingly well-known from
less interested in the usual subjects of European painting than the end of the eighteenth century onward, and about 1850
themes and familiar proverbs. The Ship of Fools
in satirical his fame outshone that of Ruisdael (plate 44), whom he
was inspired by Sebastian Brant's book of that title (Das equaled in technical ability but who far surpassed him in
NarreoschifJ), published at Basle in 1494. Later editions of poetic feeling.

the work, which was enormously popular, were decorated Hobbema loved the details of his landscape: the broken
with engravings that may have served as the basis for Bosch's ground covered with bushes, sunken roads, and trees with
painting. The book recounts the voyage to the Isle of Folly, complicated branchings and thick foliage, houses, farms, and
Narragonia, of men given to vice and sensual aberrations. The mills— all under skies covered with intricate clouds. Nature did
fervor and mysticism of the Middle Ages had been replaced not arouse powerful emotions in him, as it did in Ruisdael.
by a moralizing attitude concerned with man and his behavior. But he does endow it with an imaginary and compelling exist-
Strange, tormented spirit, Bosch mingles the allegories of ence which makes us wish to explore his roads, to enter his
his time with his own fantasies, abounding in diabolism and thickets, which step by step lead us farther into a picture
extravagant imagery, expressed in haunting symbols which where we seem to feel the humidity of the atmosphere and
modern psychoanalysis has readily turned to its own account. the stir of life.
1 This picture and The Woman in Sunlight, to which it was

a pendant, were in a Belgian collection until 1817, after which
PLATE 37 they went to England. The Watermill came to the Louvre
through a purchase by Napoleon III from the Baron de
GEERTGEN TOT SINT JANS [1465P-1493]
Witzleben.
The Resurrection of Lazarus

PLATE 39
A native of the northern provinces of the Netherlands,
which later became Holland, Geertgen derives his surname REMBRANDT [1606-1669]
from the Knights of the Brothers of Saint John, who housed
him in their monastery during the latter part of his life. There Bathsheba
are two works definitely ascribed to Geertgen in the Vienna
Museum, Julian the Apostate and The Deposition from the Rembrandt's painting brought him early renown and wealth.
Cross; and it is from close similarity to these works that it But after the deaths of his wife, Saskia, and their delicate son,
has been possible to attribute a few other paintings to this Titus, he withdrew more and more into himself as his powerful
artist, among which the Louvre's Resurrection of Lazarus is genius, perhaps the greatest in the whole history of art, ma-
of prime importance. tured. Foregoing the easy successes of his youth, Rembrandt
Before the separation of Flanders from Holland, the Nether- was to know hardship and financial ruin for the rest of his life.
lands had only one school of painting. Geertgen, however, He was ostracized by the Consistory for living with his serv-
shows distinctive regional characteristics which make him, ant, the gentle Hendrickje Stoffels, who first joined his house-
after his master Albert van Ouwater, the originator of a Dutch hold about 1649. After her death, Rembrandt passed the last
163
six years of his life absorbed in his own magnificent visions van Mander, one of the most prominent of the Italianizing
which he put on canvas with a technique both daring and artists.
rich in mystery. His Bohemienne, in its color and brilliance, its opposition of
It is Hendrickje whom he has painted as Bathsheba, the red and white, reveals the influence of Caravaggio on Hals's
wife of Uriah, nude at her bath. Deep in thought, she holds a early career. Brought to Holland by Honthorst, the Caravag-
letter telling her of the passion of her sovereign, King David, gian influence established the model for these half-length
who will take her away and kill her husband. Hendrickje's body paintings of wild and vagabond types.
is heavy and without grace, her features coarse and sad; but But Hals transformed his model through the rapid strokes
her devotion and the depth of her love have transformed her of his unerring brushwork; entirely original is his feeling for
in Rembrandt's eyes. vivid expression captured in the sidelong glance of the eyes
At this time, Rembrandt discovered that light is never so and the mouth twisted with laughter. With Hals, painting lost
radiant as when it emerges from shadow; he discovered also itsancient immobility and seized upon the fleeting and the
that the simplest beings can be raised to the sublime, provided elusive.
that a man of good will, depth of feeling, and reflective spirit
turns his gaze upon them and permeates them with his own
splendor.
PLATE 42
HEDA [1593P-1682?]
PLATE 40
Still Life
VERMEER [1632-1675]
very little is known of Heda's life. A native of Haarlem,
The Lacemaker he painted known and dated picture in 1621 and ten
his first
years later hewas admitted to the artists' Guild of Saint Luke.

we know little of vermeer's life, which was passed en- There are very few religious paintings or portraits from his
tirely in the peaceful city of Delft, celebrated for its ceramics, hand; the larger and indeed more interesting part of his work
its manufacture of luxurious objects, and its distinguished so- consists of still life painting.
ciety. Vermeer was twice president of the artists' Guild of First created by the artists of the North, this form of painting
Saint Luke, but despite this proof of esteem, he seems to have had developed in a particular way by the beginning of the
lived in poverty, engulfed in debts; he was even obliged to seventeenth century: instead of a profusion of objects in cas-
give several paintings as security to his baker. A scrupulous cading and decorative arrangements, the painter now concen-
craftsman, he produced very few works, of which only about trated on the study of a few objects spread out on a table. A
thirty survive. He died young, and after long neglect he was glass, a plate, fruit, fish— objects such as these were given a
saved from oblivion only at the end of the nineteenth century. strange and almost living personality.
Modern criticism ranks him amongst the most illustrious of Heda's contribution to the art of the still life is a personal
painters, where he joins his compatriot, Rembrandt. and very pure perception of volume and structure, and a tech-
Yet Vermeer would seem to be Rembrandt's antithesis, by nique of great subtlety. Against backgrounds well balanced in
virtue of his dispassionateness, his serene, limpid technique. both vertical and horizontal planes are placed a few imper-
These qualities are striking in his Lacemaker, which may manent objects— cracked nuts and half-eaten cakes. Here we
serve as a model of Vermeer's art. Probably painted at the may see one of the major characteristics of the Dutch still life
height of his brief career, it shows how he transforms the which, as the poet Paul Claudel has remarked, "is something
reality of everyday life and humble subjects into a gentle and disintegrating, something that is prey to time."
pervasive poetry. Through the wonderful rightness of his tones,
broadly applied with flowing touches as perfect as they are
economical, Vermeer gives the impression of exactness in this
PLATE 43
small canvas; yet it is the quintessence of his subject, its charm
and its sweetness, that he distills from the visible world
POTTER [1625-1654]
around him.
The White Horse
PLATE 41 potter's realism is not merely a painter's virtuosity, and this

is the secret of his greatness. He is wholly absorbed in his sub-
HALS [1580P-1666] ject for its own sake; while he gives himself up to the minute
rendering of the horse's dappled coat, he also increases the
La Bohemienne stature of the animal to create a heroic silhouette. The horizon,

the vertical lines of the trees, the contrast in tone with the sky,
probably because of religious persecution, Frans Hals's and the small deer grouped around a pond— all these help to
family moved from Flanders to Haarlem, where Hals lived, bring his central figure into greater prominence. The light is
studied, and worked. The sparkling intensity of Me and joy— golden, in the manner of the Italianate artists, but it is always
despite hardship, debt, and physical failings— expressed in the true, for Potter's eye never fails him.
execution of his paintings recalls his Flemish origins; and it is His reputation stood highest a century ago, when the tri-
at first surprising that he should have been the pupil of Karel umph of realism and the taste for nature created a fashion for
1 64
such painters as Troyon and Rosa Bonheur; but their pedes- Steen was a reporter of everyday life, he was a reporter with-
trian truthfulness now seems only to emphasize by contrast out triviality. With his refined and easy technique he shows
the keen and inspired observation of Potter. the joie de vivre of these simple country people eating, drink-
ing, laughing, and dancing to the sound of a rustic band.
PLATE 44
PLATE 46
RUISDAEL [1628F-1682]
TER BORCH [1617-1681]
The Burst of Sunlight
The Gallant
ruisdael was born in haarlem of a family of landscape
painters. He studied with his father Isaak, and he was also more markedly than other painters of his generation, Ter
influenced by the work of his uncle, Salomon Ruisdael. He Borch was influenced by the social change which was to turn
began as a painter of the Dutch plain, with its immense cloudy Holland into a middle class society aiming at elegance and
skies; but after his travels in Holland and Germany his out- refinement. He traveled widely; in Spain he was received at
look began to change, and we find him painting landscapes court where he is supposed to have painted several portraits
which are romantic, often tragic, in feeling. He settled in of Philip IV. Returning to Deventer, his birthplace, he lived in
Amsterdam in 1656, but, curiously enough, he was in France great honor as one of the dignitaries of the town.
in 1676, taking the degree of doctor of medicine at the Uni- Ter Borch is an index of a growing refinement in Dutch art.
versity of Caen. Only the heavily emphasized detail of the offer of money re-
It was during the last period of his life, when the note of lates The Gallant to the tavern and guardroom scenes of early
melancholy reverie became more prominent, that he painted seventeenth-century Dutch genre painting. We are impressed
The Burst of Sunlight. Instead of the realistic exactitude of his by the somber and silent room, the luxurious chimney piece,
early work there are here a broader brush stroke and a bold and by the lady, so discreet and distinguished in appearance.
treatment of lighting which communicate his imaginative Far from the lusty Frans Hals (plate 41), whom he must
vision of a familiar scene. have known in Haarlem, Ter Borch heralds the generation of
Under the vast sky and the shifting patterns of clouds and Vermeer (plate 40), Pieter de Hooch, and Metsu, for whom he
light, a windmill, human dwellings, and a few isolated figures established both subject and treatment: conversation pieces or
are scattered across the scene. Ruisdael combines these ele- concerts, reserved and delicate in spirit, with the attention of
ments as if to emphasize the weakness of man before the blind the painter focused on the technical handling of furs and
forces of nature. The gleam of sunlight bursting through the precious cloths.
shade serves as a unifying and almost supernatural note.
A recent cleaning of the picture, which had hitherto been
gold with varnish, has shown us how the artist's scrupulous PLATE 47
eye has preserved the cold grey light of the North.
REYNOLDS [1723-1792]
PLATE 45 Master Hare
STEEN [1626P-1679] painter of the English aristocracy, Reynolds enjoyed a

career of almost uninterrupted success and popularity; the
Celebration in a Tavern catalogue of his works includes 2400 portraits and 172 paint-
ings on religious, mythological, allegorical, and Shakespearian
born at leyden, Steen was primarily interested in painting themes.
scenes of everyday life, thus escaping the austerity and over- The son
of a clergyman, Reynolds studied in London and
seriousness which were beginning to appear in the work of laterwent on to Italy where he was particularly impressed by
some of his contemporaries. Although he was one of the first the work of Michelangelo, Raphael, and Correggio; during a
members of the painters' Guild of Saint Luke in Leyden he later trip to Flanders and Holland he admired the works of
seems to have had difficulty in supporting himself as a painter. Rembrandt and Rubens. With his rival, Gainsborough, he was
The last ten years of his fife were spent in Leyden where in one of the founders of the Royal Academy, of which he was the
1672 he had taken over the management of an inn. This may first president. His Discourses, delivered as lectures at the
be the setting for his Celebration; at any rate, the pictures Academy, had a considerable influence on the English painters.
displayed at the back of the room prove that the landlord was Painted between 1788 and 1789, just before Reynolds be-
a lover of painting. came blind, Master Hare displays all of the painter's technical
In this energetic and animated scene Steen continues the resources. The healthy, gracious freshness reminds one of
interest of the Northern painters in revels and popular cele- Rubens; and it is in fact from Rubens, by way of van Dyck,
brations. But while Steen's work lacks the Dionysiac, lyrical that Reynolds learned to communicate the free and happy
quality of theRubens Country Fair (plate 32), it has a natural, charm of childhood. But for Reynolds the child seems hardly
healthy gaiety of its own, far removed from the coarseness to be an individual; he is painting childhood rather than a
toward which Flemish painting often tended. And although portrait of Master Hare, lifting a rebellious finger.
165
PLATE 48 PLATE 50
CONSTABLE [1776-1837] LAWRENCE [1769-1830]
Helmingham Park Julius Angerstein and His Wife

while ms family envisaged for him a conventional and re- successor to the generation of Reynolds and Gainsborough,
warding career as a portrait painter, Constable remained true Lawrence was the last of the great English portrait painters.
to his profound and reverent love of nature. Nor did he go far Achieving fame in his early twenties he went on to a career of
afield for his scenes; the Suffolk country or that around Hemp- brilliant success. When Delacroix met him in London in 1825
stead was his inspiration. He seems to have felt no need for a Lawrence was one of the most famous artists of Europe, the
journey to France, where he was admired by the young roman- painter of kings and even of the Pope, knighted and presiding
tics who were tremendously affected by his work, especially over the Royal Academy.
after the Paris Salon of 1824, where his paintings were seen. Lawrence's Julius Angerstein and His Wife was exhibited at
The great Delacroix, for example, impressed by Constable's the Royal Academy work the strong in-
in 1792. In this early
Hay Wain, immediately repainted sections of his own Mas- fluence of Reynolds is evident. The family portrait— two people,
sacre of Scio. The contemporary landscape painter Paul Huet or parents and children seen against the background of a
wrote: "The discovery of Constable's work is an important peaceful landscape— was a typical subject of late eighteenth-
event in the history of modern painting . . . the admiration century English painting. Hogarth and Gainsborough excelled
of the younger school . . . was boundless." in it, and Lawrence continued the tradition. His subjects are
Constable found joy in being "quite alone among the oaks of the middle class— Angerstein was a wealthy merchant and
and solitudes." He worked directly from nature, beginning Lawrence's early patron— but he has given them a harmonious
with a drawing or watercolor which established the principal and natural grace by which this painting rivals the elegance
harmonies; on his return to the studio, he would finish the of Gainsborough's paintings of the aristocracy.
composition.
He loved to oppose light and shadow in his paintings, and PLATE 51
in Helmingham Park he has contrasted the shadowy green
recess by a brook with the summery blue of the sky, giving EL GRECO [1541-1614]
expression to the freshness and richness of the English country-
side. Portrait of Covarrubias
PLATE 49 el greco was born in Crete, which was then in the hands
of the Venetians. He was never to forget his Greek and
BONINGTON [1802-1828] Byzantine antecedents. We know nothing about his artistic
education nor when he went to Venice. A contemporary text
View at Versailles calls him a follower of Titian; il is rather Tintoretto and espe-
cially Bassano who influenced him. In 1570 he went to Rome,
bonington was a master of watercolor and of the small where he came under the influence of Michelangelo. From
painting, executed in light fluid tints which give them their Rome he went to Spain, the Spain of Saint John of the Cross
bright and delicate tonality. "You are a king in your own and Saint Teresa of Avila, the great mystics of the Church.
field," his friend and admirer Delacroix said; and during his He settled in Toledo, where he became the friend of the
brief career Bonington equaled the achievements of Constable city's poets and scholars, and found a spiritual climate refined
and Turner as landscape painters. Although he was English by and hungry for truth. The harmony between the mystical
birth, he was trained and worked in France, and he may be genius of El Greco and the city of Toledo explains the Metro-
said to have rediscovered for French painting the art of land- politan Museum's extraordinary View of Toledo, which is no
scape, proscribed and scorned by the followers of David in longer a landscape but an almost supernatural vision. Greco's
their admiration for the antique. productivity was remarkable; he was a religious painter, a por-
His View at Versailles has often, and mistakenly, been de- trait painter, and a sculptor and architect as well. His art, so
scribed as a sketch. Bonington never gave a detailed and intensely spiritual, is almost without parallel in the history of
smooth finish to his work; he painted rapidly from his impres- art; he is, as Jean Cocteau has written, "a call, a prayer, a cry."
sions and Delacroix said that one could not "fail to admire the Covarrubias, son of the celebrated architect of the Emperor
marvelous harmony of effects, and the facility of his exe- Charles V, was a friend of Greco. His portrait is strikingly
cution." His contemporaries, accustomed to the austere and modern in style and characteristic of those painted in Greco's
coldly executed compositions of David and his school, must last manner. Neglecting the beauty of diversified color, he
have been astonished at the sketchy simplicity, and audacious uses blacks, greys, and whites, barely enlivened by a touch of
mastery of Bonington's work. red, to make even more expressive this mask of an old man
The passers-by, in the View at Versailles, provide touches of on the edge of the grave. Greco's characteristic elongation is
color which bring out the tone values of the great expanse further exaggerated by the pointed beard and the hard white
of sky, covered with storm clouds, and reflected in pools. The collar. The funereal harmony, the long falling lines of the
bronze statues which decorate the borders of the mirroring composition, the soft eyes filled with sadness— these make of
water sound their notes of black metal in this bright symphony. this portrait a dramatic representation of old age.
166
PLATE 52 PLATE 54
ZURBARAN [1598-1664?] VELASQUEZ [1599-1660]
The Funeral of Saint Bonaventure Portrait of Queen Mariana
friend and contemporary of Velasquez, Zurbaran, in con- painter to king philip iv of Spain, Velasquez in his later
trast to the brilliant court painter, is Spain's great painter of years depicted only the court, including even the buffoons and
religious and popular subjects, the painter of monks in their the king's dogs. Primarily a portrait painter, he is the greatest
ample and sculpturesque habits seen against the shadow of artist of the golden age of Spain. He is certainly the most bril-
their cloisters. His simple art, distinguished by power and con- liant of those painters who, through the originality and perfec-
centration, was technically restrained but grandly conceived, tion of their technique, glorified the reality they saw. An in-
sometimes overpowering in its solemnity. scription on Velasquez's statue dedicates it to "the painter of
The Funeral of Saint Bonaventure is not only one of Zur- truth." Painter of truth, yes, but of a truth filled with poetry
baran's finest works but it is also one of the most typical ex- by the magic of the brush.
amples of Spanish art of the seventeenth century. The bold- The Portrait of Queen Mariana has been called his finest
ness of the composition with the great diagonal of the saint's painting of a woman, and it is one of the most typical examples
white corpse, the beauty of the golds and reds, and the purity of his sober and distinguished art. The somber harmony of
and sobriety of the modeling are all overshadowed by the black and white, set off by the gold and silver, is contrasted
harsh grandeur of the composition. The sad meditation of the with an exquisite rose and a touch of vermilion. Velasquez has
Franciscans contrasts with the worldly aplomb of Pope Greg- not flattered the plain features of his subject; he has skillfully
ory X and the Emperor Palaeologus V, as they confront death. transformed her by emphasizing her architectural headdress,
The greenish face of the corpse is the face of death itself, her magnificent costume, and her beautiful and regal hand.
which always has fascinated the Spaniard and haunted him; it Mariana of Austria became the second wife of Philip IV in
is also the face of the Spanish genius, which combines a cruel 1649, and about three years later Velasquez painted this por-
realism with a deep spirituality. trait. At the request of the court of Vienna, Velasquez painted
Saint Bonaventure, whose real name was Giovanni Fidanza a copy of the portrait, but Philip refused to give up either
(1221-1274) acquired his name from his miraculous cure by version. Mariana's portrait came to the Louvre by exchange
Saint Francis when he was a child, crying out "O buona Ven- with the Prado, which owned both of the Velasquez originals.
tura!" Cardinal, and General of the Franciscan order, he was
also important as a theologian. PLATE 55
PLATE 53 GOYA [1746-1828]
RIBERA [1591?-1652] Woman in Grey
The Clubfoot if velasquez' portraiture is aloofly impartial, Goya, in his
paintings, acts as judge. To the refined realism of Velasquez

a close follower of caravaggio, Ribera painted realistic Goya added a psychological penetration. In some paintings,
and passionate pictures of old men, with faces coarsened and for example in his portrait of the Family of Charles IV in the
fined by toil and misery, and other street types. Even more Prado Museum, he even went to the limits of caricature.
than the Italian master, he was drawn to the portrayal of suffer- We do not know the identity of his Woman in Grey with her
ing and death, of scenes of martyrdom. But, like Velasquez, fresh, rosy complexion. Though the Louvre owns two magnifi-
he turned the picaresque faces of his beggars and thieves into cent portraits of men by Goya, it does not possess a better
those of wise men and philosophers. And when he painted example of his refined coloring than this harmonious picture
scenes of antiquity and figures of saints, Ribera, religious as in grey, livened with pale grey-green and rose painted over
well as realistic, gave them almost the sweetness of Correggio. a harsh black. Goya, Andre Malraux has written, "idealizes
He was also an engraver, a solitary example in seventeenth- through color." His flexible and swift technique is entirely
century Spain. modern in its ease; his brush, flicking across the canvas, gives
His Clubfoot is a lowly equivalent of the monsters, dwarfs, to each touch a perfection and an audacity which remind us
and court buffoons who served as models for Velasquez at the of Manet or Degas.
same period. Carrying his rolled capa, with his crutch over his His deafness, the misfortunes of his country, and the war
arms, this strange cripple stands proudly against a background which after 1808 devastated Spain, later turned Goya away
of sky. An inscription, which he holds in his left hand, tells us from portraiture toward painting which was dramatic, bitter,
that he was also dumb. His smile accentuates the cruelty of and often cruel, and etchings of unparalleled ferocity. He dec-
this portrait, one of the last and most bitter of Ribera's works. orated his house in Madrid with strange and savage scenes
The extreme realism and the violent and harsh expression where his art, more and more emancipated, develops an almost
of ugliness are neither exaggerated nor turned into caricature. modern Expressionism. In 1824 he left Spain for France,
Ugliness and misery, depicted with such simplicity and gran- where he died four years later.
deur, with a fierce and wild dignity, here produce a deeply He ranks with Greco and Velasquez as one of the most
moving work of art. astonishing and original of the great Spanish painters.
167
PLATE 56 PLATE 58
DURER [1471-1528] FOUQUET [1420P-1480?]
Self-Portrait Saint Martin and the Beggar

duher was a man of broad training and interests, a true man our picture is one of a series which Fouquet executed for a
of the Renaissance rather than simply a skillful Northern
Book of Hours commissioned by Etienne Chevalier, the treas-
craftsman. Born at Nuremberg, he studied there and in Cologne
urer of Charles VII. The subject is the familiar episode in the
at the studio of Martin Schongauer, where he learned copper- life of Saint Martin: the Saint divides his cloak with his sword
plate engraving. His two trips to Italy brought him under the in order to share it with a shivering beggar. Typically, Fouquet
influence of the work of Mantegna and Bellini, which helped set this legend in an actual landscape, a view of Paris.
form his style. At the same time he pursued scientific studies The self-conscious essays in perspective on the right side of
of perspective and the proportions of the human body, and the picture suggest the effects of Fouquet's travels in Italy
toward the end of his life he wrote three books: on perspective about 1445. Characteristically French, however, is his skillful
(1525), on the construction and fortification of cities (1527), disposition of a dense crowd in a minute space, so that it
and on proportion (1528). His work is enriched by the conflict becomes a dramatic element through its calm simplicity.
between the analyzing, realistic Northern spirit, and the syn- Fouquet broke away from the Gothic linearity and Manner-
thesizing, rational Latin spirit always in search of the funda-
ist elegance of the school of Paris. He was the earliest painter
mentals of art and aesthetics. to record the famous subtle light peculiar to the Ile-de-France
The Self-Portrait is the first of a series which Diirer was to and he used this light, not mechanically, but to fuse his figures
do. He has taken great care over this representation of him- with his landscapes. By the sculptural grandeur of his forms,
self. Its precise realism, its acute, relentless linearity still pre- the austerity of his composition, and his deliberate use of light
serve the essential mystery of the human face, making this Fouquet transformed the miniature into a monumental art.
portrait a striking expression of Germanic painting.
The artist holds a sprig of thistle in his hand, a plant which PLATE 59
in Germany symbolized conjugal fidelity. From this detail some
historians have drawn the conclusion that Diirer intended this

MALOUEL(?) [end of 14th century]
painting for his betrothed, whom he married at Nuremberg
in 1494.
Pieta
PLATE 57 saint john and angels mourn the dead Christ, who is sup-
ported by God the Father and the Virgin; the Dove of the
HOLBEIN [1497P-1 543] Holy Ghost hovers overhead. This theme, according to Emile
Male, was popular around the end of the fourteenth century
Anne of Cleves and was probably inspired by a text of Saint Bonaventure.
This painting, in egg tempera on a gold ground, was un-
in 1526 Holbein left for England, with letters of introduc- doubtedly executed about 1400 for the Dukes of Burgundy,
tion from his friend Erasmus, the great humanist. Within a whose arms appear on the back. by some his-
It is attributed
few years he became court painter to King Henry VIII, and torians to Jean Malouel, a Flemish painter employed by the
after the death of Jane Seymour, whose portrait he had painted,
Dukes of Burgundy, whose Martyrdom of Saint Denis is
he was sent abroad on the mission of finding a new wife for markedly similar to the Pieta. At Dijon the Dukes of Burgundy
the King. had created a center of Franco-Flemish art of which the detail
Itwas on this mission that he painted Anne of Cleves. Her of the gold-wrought crown of one of the angels is characteristic.
portrait shows Holbein's art at its highest level. This is evident Other historians, however, are impressed by the dominant
not only in such refinements as the jeweled details of the Parisian character of the Pieta and deny the attribution to
sumptuous robe and coiffure, but also in the psychological Malouel. Some elements which may indicate the school of
subtleties: the vague, empty look, the sullen, expressionless Paris are the harmonious simplicity of the composition, bal-
features,and the precision of attitude in the rigidly crossed anced if somewhat stilted, the tender calm of the faces, the
hands. But he seems to have been interested primarily in the graceful purity of the drawing of Christ's body, and the beauty
construction of the beautiful robe, so that the unlovely face of of the long, elegant hands.
the Princess appears even more insignificant and unlovely
than it was. PLATE 60
The King was captivated by Holbein's portrait, with its un-
flattering realism, but he was so disillusioned by the living
UNKNOWN PAINTER [15th century]
model that he put up with her for only a few months and then
divorced her. The portrait is proof that a great artist may
Villeneuve-les-Avignon Pieta
create a masterpiece to order, even if this order confronts him
with the most uninteresting subject. The influence of Holbein's everything about this moving work is lost in mystery. We
genius on English painting was not to exhaust itself for a do not know the name of the white-robed donor on the left or
century. the identity of the city whose delicate minarets appear dis-
168
tantly against a gold background. What great artist had the majesty, the first knight of his kingdom. Here is the grand
power to create, in a style both monumental and sober, so har- seigneur, both gallant warrior and patron of the arts and sci-
rowing an image of sorrow? The sublime mystery of the death ences. One of the builders of the Louvre, founder of the Col-
of the Son of Man and the sorrowful love of those closest to lege de France and the school of Fontainebleau, brother of
him are transmitted with audacious simplicity: we are held by the learned Margaret of Navarre, friend and protector of
the great white sweep of Christ's body, toward which are Leonardo da Vinci, Francis was one of the brilliant figures
pulled the symmetrical silhouettes of Saint John and the Mag- of the Renaissance.
dalen, and by the strong vertical of the admirable figure of the Clouet has expressed the brilliance and majesty of his royal
Virgin who dominates the composition. patron in the penetrating look, in the refinement of the head
All that we know is that this panel was at the Charterhouse placed on a strong massive neck, and in the elegance of the
of Villeneuve-les-Avignon probably until the Revolution and long, supple hands. The decorative effect of the sumptuous
that was discovered at the time of the exhibition of "Primi-
it costume does not detract from the importance of the figure
tives" in 1904. Though the Pietd can be dated about 1460 but on the contrary gives it a greater nobility.
attempts to attribute it- to any known master have been incon- This portrait remained at Fontainebleau until the eighteenth
clusive. It is the most beautiful example of Provencal and century when it was transferred to Versailles before coming
Avignon painting whose linear style gives a harsh reality to to the Louvre.
forms and a poignant expression to faces. The solemn pathos
of the scene and the intensity of expression make this painting
PLATE 63
one of the great achievements of French art.
UNKNOWN PAINTER [16th century]

PLATE 6l
Venus and the Goddess of the Waters
MASTER OF MOULINS [end of 15th century]
in 1531, as part of his program of subjecting French art to
Saint Mary Magdalen and a Donor Italian influences, Francis I established il Rosso and Prima-
ticcio— and later Niccolo dell'Abbate— at Fontainebleau; the
because of various similamties, historians have agreed to resultant mixture of French and Italian elements effected a
link a certain number of unascribed paintings with a very radical change in the French tradition.
beautiful triptych in the Cathedral at Moulins. These paint- Venus and the Goddess Waters is typical of the
of the
ings are collectively attributed to an anonymous Master of eclecticism, the preciousness and decorative subtlety of the
Moulins who worked in the Bourbon country at the close of the school of Fontainebleau in its full flowering. The subject, prob-
fifteenth century. ably inspired by an elaborate mythological poem, is difficult
The present painting shows an unidentified praying donor to identify with any certainty; but in the execution French
being presented by her patron, Saint Mary Magdalen; this and Italian elements may be distinguished. The stilted essay
follows the iconographical practice of the time. The painting in elegant gesture, the elongated silhouettes, the delicate
was once part of a triptych, the other two panels of which metallic colors— these suggest Italian Mannerism, a style which
are lost. Primaticcio and his colleagues had brought to France. But
The realism with which the faces are depicted, as well as there is a decorative precision in the painting of the flowers
the coloring, suggests a Flemish influence, particularly that of reminiscent of medieval illuminations; a fragile grace about
Hugo van der Goes. Whoever he was, the Master of Moulins the bodies; and a certain naivete in the composition, all of
approached Fouquet in the breadth of his draftsmanship; like which remain essentially French. Even a Northern influence is
Fouquet he followed a course different from that of the school evident in the realism, almost verging on caricature, with
of Paris. which the little cupids are drawn.
The rounded and gentle modeling, the graceful attitude of
the Saint, the devout bearing of the donor, and the attention
given to the faces— these are typical of French art at the end
PLATE 64
of the fifteenth century: an art of measure and balance, of
which the
LOUIS LE NAIN [1593P-1648]
attention to realistic detail artist must transcend in
order to extract the inner poetry.
The Pilgrims at Emmaus
PLATE 62 the whole art of Louis Le Nain is summed up in this scene:
a simple village meal transformed into a miracle by the appear-
JEAN CLOUET [1485P-1540P] ance of the Savior. Here. are the subjects he loved: the various
old men, the children at play; even the little dog is not out of
Portrait of Francis I place; and the wine and the bread on the table are sacred
food. As the three men begin their sparse meal, the eyes of
in clouet's portrait Francis I is not the handsome man that the two disciples suddenly open as their companion, who has
his admiring contemporaries described, but rather a refined the finely drawn face of an aristocrat, breaks his bread. Le
and elegant person with maliciously ironical and intelligent Nain always discerned the passion latent in humble, everyday
eyes. We see him with his hand on his sword, a king of great gestures. The slow movement, never vulgar, always reverent,
169
with which a peasant holds his glass of wine and breaks his dominates the dust-laden air, flooding the sky, and gilding the
bread touched his sensibility. ships and buildings. The classical palaces, the colonnades, the
The composition is of the utmost simplicity, as is the ar- porticoes by the strand— these are all an architecture of dreams;
rangement of the serious dignified figures. The absence of any the ships are phantom, the figures in the foreground are actors
striving for effect reveals the inner purity of the painter's out of a Chinese shadow-play. Even the light itself seems
Christian devotion. unreal.
Louis Le Nain painted a number of pictures in collabora- The whole composition centers on the heavenly body that
tion with his two brothers. Although he was honored during will die below the horizon. This aspiration to measureless dis-
his lifetime his reputation, like that of Georges de La Tour, tance adds the gravity of poetry to the pictorial enchantment
fell and academic taste of the age of
a victim to the sectarian and makes this picture one of Claude's purest achievements.
Louis XIV. He was rescued from obscurity at the end of the
eighteenth century, but it was not until recently that attempts
were made to distinguish his work from that of his brothers.
PLATE 67
LE BRUN [1619-1690]
PLATE 65
Equestrian Portrait of Chancellor Seguier
POUSSIN [1594-1665]
LE BRUN WAS THE FAVORITE PAINTER of Louis XIV, the founder
The Triumph of Flora and first director of the Academie des Beaux Arts, and conse-
quently the artistic dictator of the age of Louis XIV. Prolific
the highest quaeities of French seventeenth-century art are and erudite, in his powerful and formal decorations of the
epitomized in the work of Poussin who, paradoxically, spent Palace of Versailles he gave perfect expression to the grandiose
the years of his mature artistry in Rome. Here, rather than in aesthetic of the Sun-King.
his native country, he must have sensed an atmosphere indis- The Equestrian Portrait of Chancellor Seguier was painted
pensable to his genius. His profoundly classical temperament- at the beginning of his official career, two years before he was
reasonable, calm, and balanced— was at ease among the monu- appointed Painter to the King. Seguier, Le Brun's patron and
ments of antiquity; the pagan gods were the preferred subjects Chancellor to Louis XIV, wore this magnificent costume when
of his paintings. he rode in the train of the young Queen Maria Theresa at her
The Triumph of Flora is characteristic of Poussin's early solemn entry into Paris in 1660.
style, the rich brassy colors recalling Titian who, with Raphael, The simple processional arrangement, the realism of the
was a major formative influence. The drawing and modeling portraiture, the beauty of the adolescent figures— all of these
of the bodies, which resemble the noble forms of Greek sculp- recall the quiet poetry of Le Nain and de La Tour. But in
ture, testify to the artist's learning and precision; often, as addition to this the painting marked by a sense of grandeur,
is
studies for paintings, he made clay figures which enabled him the quality for which Louis XIV so prized Le Brun, and which
to define both anatomy and shadow. represents the moral and aesthetic ideal of the seventeenth
Flora, the goddess of flowers and of regeneration, domi- century.
nates the composition, advancing in a chariot drawn by cupids This masterpiece, forgotten among the belongings of the
in the manner of an ancient triumphal procession. About her Chancellor's descendants until 1935, was purchased by the
spreads a train of nymphs, symbols of beauty and youth, and Louvre in 1942.
a dancing and running crowd which expresses the joy of Spring.

The composition, accented in the left half of the picture, pro-
ceeds in repeated parallel rhythms which balance one another,
PLATE 68
giving this work a unique perfection.
GEORGES DE LA TOUR [1593-1652]
PLATE 66 Saint Joseph the Carpenter
CLAUDE LORRAIN [1600-1682] it is only recently that the reputation of de La Tour has
been restored. His paintings, at various times mysteriously
A Seaport at Sunset attributed toDutch and Spanish followers of Caravaggio, and

even to Vermeer and Velasquez, have now been reassembled
a native of Lorraine, as his name indicates, a Northerner by as the work of a single master. Once a favorite of Louis XIII,
birth and environment, Claude settled in Rome in 1627. There who asked that no other painting but de La Tour's Saint Sebas-
he spent the rest of his life, painting his fantastic landscapes tian be hung in his bedroom, he is now again considered one
bathed in sunlight and haze— an unreal light, like nothing ever of the great painters of the seventeenth century.
achieved in painting. With Ruisdael he is the greatest land- Saint Joseph the Carpenter is one of the most beautiful and
scape painter of the seventeenth century. most moving of those night scenes which were considered de
The Seaport at Sunset is not a real port; that would not have La Tour's glory in his own time. In contrast to the strong and
interested Claude. Here all is poetic invention, a transforma- realistically painted Joseph stands the exquisite figure of the
tion of the actual. He cared only for the play of the golden Child, heightened by the candlelight. At first the grandeur of
light of sunset, when the sun, already almost invisible, still the gold and violet-tinged red, the simplification of volumes,
170
and the sculptural stylization appeal to the spectator. But soon rigid form of classicism, he took from the realistic style of
the mystery of the shadows begins to convey a stirring of the Caravaggio what he needed to give greater force to his art.
spirit; the piece of wood Joseph is working seems to contain

the shape of a cross.
One critic, P. Jamot, has admirably defined the secret of
PLATE 71
de La Tour's poetry: "although it is sometimes held in the
hand of a little child, a candle has conquered the enormous

RIGAUD [1659-1743]
night."
Portrait of Louis XIV
PLATE 69 a protege of le brun, Rigaud became a fashionable portrait

painter, overwhelmed by commissions. To execute these he
DE CHAMPAIGNE [1602-1674] employed apprentices whom he trained as specialists in paint-

ing the various accoutrements which adorn and set off his
Portrait of Arnauld d'Andilly subjects.

Though Louis XIV was sixty-three when Rigaud painted his
traditionally the subject of this portrait is identified as portrait, he was still the greatest king of Europe. Rigaud has
Robert Arnauld d'Andilly, the elder brother of Antoine Ar- painted him as the image of monarchy by divine right, the
nauld, a leading theologian of the anti-Jesuit Jansenist move- incarnation of kingship. Each detail takes on symbolic gran-
ment and, with Pascal, one of the strongest supporters of the deur: the enormous marble column and the vast sweep of
religious community at Port-Royal. Arnauld d'Andilly retired drapery it supports do not appear to dwarf the majestic and
to Port-Royal where he worked on a translation of the Confes- elegant figure of the Sun-King any more than the heavily
sions of Saint Augustine and on other religious writings. embroidered mantle or the sacramental ornaments.
Like Jansenius, the moving spirit of the Port-Royal move- Although this picture is characteristic of the art of the
ment, Philippe de Champaigne was a Fleming by birth; and Grand Siecle, it already shows the signs of a new develop-
although he was not a Jansenist he was aware of the profoundly ment: there is a delight in the beauty of color, in the exact
Christian spirit which animated the recluses at Port-Royal. rendering of texture, and of the varied play of light. Here we
He had made portraits of several of his Jansenist friends and have the germ of that pictorial sensualism which, in the eight-
in them, as in his Arnauld d'Andilly, he invested his subjects eenth century, was to triumph over the academicism of Le
with an austere dignity, a moral elevation, and a singularly Brun.
severe beauty. De Champaigne does not omit a single wrinkle Though Louis commissioned the portrait as a gift for King
or a swelling vein; he even develops the illusion of Arnauld's Philip V of Spain he was so pleased with it that he retained
hand extending beyond the picture frame; but together with it, and it hung in the throne room at Versailles.
this painterly virtuosity he possesses the secret of expressing

in his subject's face the ardent impulses of the soul.
PLATE 72
PLATE 70 WATTE AU [1684-1721]
LE SUEUR [1617-1655] Embarkation for Cythera
The Death of Raymond Diocres watteau was above all a poet and a magnificent draftsman.
In his notebooks he sketched figures which he would later
this canvas is one of a series of twenty-two scenes from the gather into groups and set in imaginary landscapes and scenes
life of Saint Bruno of Cologne (1030P-1101), founder of the of gallantry; their exquisite color and delicate poetry con-
Carthusian order. Le Sueur was given the commission to exe- tinued to inspire artists throughout the eighteenth century.
cute this important religious cycle by the Charterhouse of A scene of fantasy and imagination, the Embarkation for
Paris. Cythera is in essence a poetic transformation of an eternal
In his youth Saint Bruno had been much swayed by the theme. After hesitating at her lover's pleading, the girl agrees
sermons of Raymond Diocres, a famous preacher. But Diocres to followhim and then, while approaching the boat which will
was an impostor and after his death, when he was being take them to Cythera, the mist-shrouded island of love, looks
mourned as a saint, his body rose in its shroud and announced back on the land she is leaving.
his soul's damnation to the terrified clerics. The Academie des Beaux Arts had been so impressed by
Le Sueur communicates his fervor here with the utmost the genius of the young Watteau that they admitted him in
pictorial economy, which gives an impressive power to the 1712, but it was not until 1717, at the last possible moment,
anguish and astonishment on the individual faces. The com- that he submitted his diploma work, this admirable master-
position is simple, dominated by the vertical of the bishop's piece, composed with the fire of genius upon him. Some years
figure and the horizontal of the figure of Diocres; but the later he wanted to repaint the picture at greater leisure and
most intense drama centers in the eyes and hands of the indi- the second Embarkation, bought by the King of Prussia, may
vidual actors. be more complete, more technically accomplished; but it has
Le Sueur was influenced by both Raphael and Caravaggio. lost the grace of the earlier version, lost the impulse of youth,
Although he was inclined by temperament towards a not too the hope for an inaccessible dream.
171
PLATE 73 Cezanne, or the richness of pictorial substance which trans-
lates reflections with a luminosity that recalls Vermeer.
LANCRET [1690-1743]
PLATE 75
Reception of the Order of the Holy Spirit
BOUCHER [1703-1770]
a pupil of watteau, Lancret seems to have inherited his
master's technique and his subjects, but little of his genius.
The Bath of Diana
Although his work is full of imaginary landscapes, gentle
shadows, fantastic figures, shepherds, and Italian comedians, ACADEMICIAN AND PAINTER TO THE KING, Boucher Worked
he has lost the poetry and the charm and retained little more primarily in the service of Madame de Pompadour, who even
than anecdote. But Lancret's elegant and scintillating art won took drawing lessons from him. An artist of unrivaled facility,
him success and fame among his contemporaries. He was Boucher exercised his versatile talent on all subjects, but above
elected to the Academy in 1719. all on portraits of women. He is the most inventive and re-
This commemorative painting is an exception in the body fined of the French decorators and his work marks the high
of Lancret's work, and together with a companion piece was point of the Bococo style.
probably painted in the hope of a commission from the The Bath of Diana had an immediate success when it was
Gobelins factory to design tapestries; this commission, which exhibited in the Salon of 1742. Diana and one of her followers
he did not receive, would have won for him the coveted title relax after the hunt; their dazzling and shimmering beauty is
of a history painter. a harmony of pale gold playing against a background of blue.
Unfinished though it is, and unappreciated by his con- The dead game, the quivers, the thirsty hounds— all these are
temporaries, this is one of the most pleasing of Lancret's traditional attributes of the goddess. The painting satisfied
works. The scene is set in the chapel of Versailles on June 3, the taste of a fastidious and sophisticated public, sensitive to
1724; the young King Louis XV presents the insignia of this the most subtle relations of color, a public with a liking for
famous Order to two kneeling novices as the court, shimmer- pictures which could be hung against the light wood paneling
ing in satins and velvets, looks on. The work has an extraor- of even the smallest room.
dinary pictorial quality, brought out in a luminous harmony The composition is based on two oblique lines, ascending
of ashen tints lightly touched with black. And in reporting the from left to right; they are adroitly played against a balanced
scene without pomp or grandiloquence, Lancret has created a line which follows the bust and head of Diana and continues
vivid and impressive historical document. upward along the trunk of a tree. In this painting Boucher has
rediscovered the tradition of grace and elegance which be-
longed to the school of Fontainebleau.
PLATE 74
CHARDIN [1699-1779] PLATE 76
Back from the Market QUENTIN DE LA TOUR [1704-1788]
chardin's proper place in that essentially French dynasty

is
Portrait of Madame de Pompadour
of painters that begins with Le Nain and ends with Corot,
those artists who have been called painters of poetic reality. PROTECTED BY THE PORTRAITIST LARGILLIERE, Quentin de La
Chardin painted what he saw: familiar things, intimate scenes Tour soon made a name for himself in Paris as a society painter,
in peaceful household, all that was close to him. Although and was elected to the Academy at the age of thirty-three. He
he was made an Academician in 1728 his work was not in was eccentric, quick-witted and ironical, the friend of aristo-
the main current of his day. In contrast to Boucher, who crats, philosophers and scholars. Most of his portraits are in
painted for the court, Chardin was a bourgeois painter; "You pastel, a medium he preferred for its swiftness and pliability.
can use colors," he said, "but you must paint with your senti- Thanks to it he was able to capture not only the likeness but
ment." the most fleeting expressions of his fashionable sitters.
When a subject pleased Chardin he would paint it many When Madame de Pompadour asked to have her portrait
times with very little change, applying himself to the perfec- done by Quentin, he haughtily replied: "Je ne vais pas peindre
tion of his rendering. This painting repeats the subject of an en ville," meaning that he expected his sitters to come to him.
earlier one, now at Potsdam, painted in 1738. Chardin has However, he finally consented to go out to Versailles, though
looked with great sympathy at the slow, somewhat tired pos- he was incensed when Louis XV walked into the room, inter-
ture of the maid as she rests her arm on the sideboard; under rupting a sitting. In this portrait the artist set out to show that
his brush, the loaves of bread, the bottles, and the kitchen pastels could achieve the same effects as painting proper, and
utensils acquire a massive importance. he succeeded in proving his point. The Marquise, now thirty-
In Chardin's painting we are most conscious today of quali- four, has lost some of the dazzling beauty that made her so
ties other than those of mere representation; and because of famous in her youth; now she has acquired an almost regal
this he has been called the first of the moderns. Indeed, it is grace and elegance. Clothed in sumptuous embroidered satin,
difficult to know what to admire more in his work: the solid, she is shown surrounded by objects and attributes which mark
deliberate composition of still fife which reminds one of her as an artist, a musician and a patroness of the arts— in
172
other words as a woman of culture, taste and sophistication, the French eighteenth century. However, in 1774 he received
the perfect product of eighteenth-century enlightenment. the Prix de Rome and an overwhelming admiration for the art
of ancient Borne altered his ideals. He evolved a rigid, cold,
virile style admirably attuned to his revolutionary beliefs. An

PLATE 77 intimate and admirer of Bobespierre, he became a member of
the Convention, narrowly escaping the guillotine on the 9th
PERRONNEAU [1715-1783] Thermidor. Under Napoleon, to whom he transferred his faith,
he became the official painter of the Empire; after its fall, in

Portrait of Madame de Sorquainville discouragement, he emigrated to Brussels where he died.
This large canvas was painted in 1794 when David, having
although he began as an engraver, Perronneau found his
escaped the fate of his friend Bobespierre, was still held in
vocation when he turned to portraiture. In his own time, his
prison. His wife, a sincere royalist from whom he had become
reputation was overshadowed by that of the pastelist Quentin
estranged, had recently come to visit him and he was deeply
de La Tour, but the greater sensitivity and sincerity of Perron-
moved by this reunion. Woman plays the role of the conciliator
neau's work have now come to be more justly appreciated.
in this painting which is meant as an exhortation to pardon
Madame de Sorquainville is rather unusual in Perronneau's
and peace between enemy brothers. In the center of the com-
work, in that it is a three-quarter-length portrait; generally he
position the Sabine Hersilia, clothed symbolically in white,
confined himself to the head and the intensity of facial expres-
intervenes in the fight between Bomulus and her father Tatius.
sion. The smile which he has rendered here is an eighteenth-
Other Sabine women hurl themselves and their children be-
century smile— one which is friendly, yet plays only on the
tween the struggling contenders. Becent restoration reveals
lips; the eyes are serious, with a discreet touch of melancholy
that David successively altered and harmonized the muted
and tenderness, two sentiments which the century minimized
colors of this enormous canvas with extreme care and deliber-
or suppressed. The emotional subtlety of the portrait comes
ateness.
from its elegance and ease, and from the harmony of the
blue-green and warm beige colors enlivened with black.
PLATE 80
PLATE 78 PRUD'HON [1758-1823]
FRAGONARD [1732-1806] Portrait of the Empress Josephine
The Bathers upon his arrival in Borne at twenty-six Prud'hon, who had
received his training in the French provinces, attached him-
because of the freedom with which he handled his brush self to the Neo-Classic sculptor Canova and came to know and
and pencil, and because of his facility, Fragonard, pupil of love the works of Baphael, Leonardo and, above all, Correg-
both Chardin and Boucher, has been considered superficial.
gio. On his return to Paris he executed decorations for the
But he was, in fact, the greatest lyrical painter of the age,
Chateau of Saint-Cloud, the Louvre, and for private mansions
inspired by a powerful love for all manifestations of life.
as well. He was held in high esteem at Napoleon's court,
The subject of bathers, in its mythological or Biblical vari- although his delicate, sensitive style was far removed from the
ants, offering an opportunity to paint nudes in a landscape, is
official pronouncements of David. Within his own generation
an ancient one in painting. Fragonard handles this theme with he was only a marginal artist, but the young Bomantics, more
his characteristic verve and high spirits. The passion and psychologically aware, were quick to note the melancholy
energy of the brush, the quick, nervous touches betray a kind quality which he introduced into painting at about the same
of drunkenness, a fever of inspiration. He exults in the beauty
time that Chateaubriand was expressing it in literature.
of his models and in the light which transforms their skin and The background of this portrait, executed in 1805, shows
hair into a shimmering haze, and the trees and plants into the park of Malmaison where the charming Creole Empress
indeterminate shapes as light as clouds. Even the water is
was to seek refuge four years later, after her divorce from
changed into foam. Everything is volatile, nothing seems mate- Napoleon. Susceptible to Josephine's charm, Prud'hon did not
rial, or to obey the laws of gravity. paint her as Empress but as an attractivewoman, lovely, ele-
Fragonard here transcends the ideal composure which his gant, indolent— a woman who knows how to make herself
century cherished; he exalts in that pantheistic lyricism which
loved. Prud'hon has heightened her graceful charm by hinting
he shares with Bubens and Benoir. at a meditative sadness.
PLATE 79 PLATE 81
DAVID [1748-1824] INGRES [1 780-1867]
The Battle of the Bomans and Sabines Odalisque
long before the French Bevolution, David was trained under Ingres, david's greatest pupil, lived in Borne for twenty
the auspices of Boucher in the colorful, frivolous tradition of years, ultimately becoming the director of the French Acad-
173
emy there. His classic style was mainly inspired by Raphael, overpowered by Michelangelo. What he learned from these
although for his subject matter he often strayed into the masters found fruition in such masterpieces as the Louvre's
medieval or exotic pastures of the Romantics. He was a flaw- huge canvas, Raft of the Medusa, and in the present painting.
less draftsman. Drawing, indeed, was the foundation of his The model for the Officer was actually the painter's friend,
painting: it was the purification, the culmination of his creative Lieutenant Dieudonne, but the general idea for the picture
thought. Color was only an addition. It was this which made came to Gericault one day in 1812 when on his way to the
him the irreconcilable adversary of Delacroix, whose every fair at Saint-Cloud he saw a fine dapple-grey horse rearing.
brush stroke is glowing and intense with color. It is hard to say which is the more beautiful, the dynamic poise
This Odalisque clearly illustrates Ingres' devices. The orien- of the rider or the admirable spirit of the horse. Dominating
tal accessories, immaculately painted, only furnish an excuse the composition is the twisted figure, against a setting of
for the title; theme is the ever-recurrent one of
actually the tumult and clamor, concentrating its power for a blow.
Venus or the female nude which Ingres, rivaling the masters When confronted by this revolutionary work by the young
of the past, was to carry to new heights of abstract perfection. Gericault, the classicist David exclaimed in astonishment,
He was not interested in anatomy and was only concerned "Where does it come from? I do not know that hand." David
with line and purity of arabesque. He has changed the shape was witnessing the birth of romantic painting, for Gericault in
of the female body, softened and distilled it, re-creating it in this single canvas communicates the message of a new genera-
an idealized form. In this way Ingres, the avowed classicist, is tion: passionate force, a zest for life and violence, exalted by
a precursor of modern abstraction, the forerunner of Modigli- the threat of death.
ani and certain aspects of Picasso.
PLATE 84
PLATE 82
DELACROIX [1798-1863]
GROS [1771-1835]
Liberty Leading the People
Portrait of Count Fournier-Sarloveze a disciple of gericault and Bonington, a frequenter of the
highest social and intellectual circles, Delacroix was a man of
upon the advice of his master David, Gros, who was sus-
many talents and interests. He was quickly adopted as leader
pected of royalist sympathies, left Paris for Italy in 1792. Re-
by the young painters who were banding together in opposi-
lieved of the rigid yoke of his master he felt free to give
tion to the pupils of David; between Delacroix and Ingres,
himself up
to his instinctive preference for Rubens and the
who became the standard-bearer of classicism in painting, a
Venetians. Through Josephine Beauharnais he was introduced
fierce enmity developed. Delacroix, strangely enough, also
to young General Bonaparte in Milan, and like David, he was
thought of himself as a "pure classicist" and he disliked being
swept along by the driving force of this latter-day Alexander,
dubbed "the Victor Hugo of painting."
willingly becoming a glorifier of the new Empire. His art, full
Delacroix was not actively interested in politics, but he was
of energy and verve, attracted pupils and set the stage for the
stirred by the ideal of freedom. The heroic figure of Liberty,
color and excitement of the Romantic school. But Gros, torn
brandishing the flag of the Revolution, leads the people of
by the conflict between his classical training and his ardent
Paris, the bourgeois as well as the street urchin, over the barri-
temperament, became increasingly despondent, finally com-
cades. Through the smoke of battle the towers of Notre Dame
mitting suicide at the age of sixty-four.
are visible to the right. Only a daring genius would attempt
During the Napoleonic campaign in Spain in 1809, Count
to combine the real with the allegorical in this way; by depict-
Fournier-Sarloveze, then a brigadier in the dragoons, was
ing the stiff and livid corpses under the flame-like figure of
holding the town of Lugo against the Galicians. An emissary
Liberty he creates an impassioned vision of men willing to die
came him demanding surrender, but Sarloveze tore up the
to
for her sake. The contrast between modern dress and classical
note declaring that if ever the town were captured, his body
nudes, between familiar scene and epic grandeur, creates the
would be found buried in its ruins. He is shown against a back-
shock which Delacroix intended, the shock which "opens up
ground of fire and battle, his sword planted defiantly in the
the secret paths of the soul."
ground, while the enemy's ultimatum flutters at his feet. A
tense, dramatic being, proud and brave, living dangerously:
this was the hero of the new day. PLATE 85
THEODORE ROUSSEAU [1812-1867]

PLATE 83
Oak Trees
GERICAULT [1791-1824]
success came to rousseau slowly even though his work was
Officer of the Chasseurs of the Guard accepted by the Salon as early as 1832. In 1847 he decided to
quit Paris and move to the village of Barbizon on the edge of
gericault adored horses and sport, romantic poetry, music, the Forest of Fontainebleau. Other painters followed and thus
and fashionable society. Although a dandy, he was also un- the group known as the school of Barbizon came into being.
deniably a serious and gifted painter. He admired Caravaggio, A born landscape painter, Rousseau had for nature the rever-
Rubens, and Rembrandt, and when he went to Italy he was ence of a mystic; he elected to live a permanently solitary
174
existence in order to achieve a more direct contact with God's studies that we prefer today, to the misty woodland scenes
creation. that he began to paint in the last third of his life, under the
The whose shadows cows are

vast trees of this canvas, in spell of Virgil's poetry. Although his previous painting had
grazing, have an impressive solemnity. They are not mere been almost ignored, the silvery landscapes that he produced
accessories to a landscape; rather, they represent forces of with such tenderness and delicate skill from about the middle
nature.The animals, the shepherd, even the background fade of the century on caught the public's fancy and won him wide
away before the grandeur of these royal oaks. The composition popularity.
follows the classic pyramidal arrangement with the axis only He painted the Belfry of Douai in May, 1871, from the
slightly off-center. Each part of the picture has its own subtle window of a house where he was staying; his old friends
color values: the light in the background, soft and touched the Robauts, fearful for his safety in Paris under the Commune,
with gold, contrasts with that of the foreground in which the had taken him away from the capital. Though the artist was
shadows of the oaks show in a bluish light. With his sensitive then seventy-five, he devoted some twenty sessions to this
and reverent vision Rousseau has raised this realistic picture work, which in its mastery of light and bright color tells us
to the level of poetry. that Impressionism is on its way.
PLATE 86 PLATE 88
MILLET [1814-1875] DAUMIER [1808-1879]
Springtime Crispin and Scapin
millet is best known for his two great canvases in the a biting satirist, Daumier made his reputation when quite
Louvre, The Angelus and The Gleaners, both glorifications of young through his lithographs for the newspaper La Carica-
rural life. A peasant himself, with a marked talent for paint- ture. His savage ridicule of King Louis Philippe and the govern-
ing, he came to Paris where he supported himself with diffi- ment brought him a six-month prison sentence; after his release
culty by doing portraits and decorative panels in the eight- and the suppression of the paper he turned his wit to attacks
eenth-century tradition. One of his pictures was accepted by on the bourgeoisie and the law courts.
the Salon in 1840; this gave him hope. Leaving Paris for the Entirely absorbed in his draftsmanship, he took up painting
country he turned his attention to depicting the aspect of life comparatively late in his career, using at first a few dark colors
he knew best and felt most deeply: the life of the peasants in and modeling his figures through effects of light and shadow
all "its dignity. He saw them not coarsened and bowed down in a powerful and sculptural way. Towards his fortieth year
by hard work but ennobled by their simple, nearly biblical his color range began to broaden, and in Crispin and Scapin
existence. Millet's soberand monumental vision harks back to the active blue, red, and white seem to quiver in the bright-
the work of Louis Le Nain in the seventeenth century. ness of the footlights. Gas illumination was still a novelty, and
Encouraged by Theodore Rousseau, Millet settled in Barbi- like Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec, Daumier was fascinated by
zon with his large family. In 1867 his works were exhibited the new light effects it produced on the stage. His gift for
with considerable success, but he continued to five in un- characterization brings to life the dialogue between the two
relieved poverty. In his later years he painted several land- valets in Moliere's play, Les Fourberies De Scapin. No written
scapes in which figures play a minor role. Springtime is one of page could ever convey so pointedly the expression of those
a series on the four seasons; it symbolizes the hopefulness of raised eyebrows, the crooked look and the smile of a cheat
Spring, the promise of fair weather as the sun breaks through and swindler who folds his arms in triumph, with his satisfied
the swollen storm clouds. low cunning. Daumier's art, like that of the theater itself, is
both realistic and expressive to the point of symbolism.
PLATE 87
PLATE 89
COROT [1796-1875]
COURBET [1819-1877]
Belfry of Douai
Roe-Deer in a Forest
it was only with difficulty that the young Corot persuaded
his parents to allow him to take up painting rather than a coubbet's first monumental canvas, the Burial at Ornans,
commercial career. In Rome, instead of frequenting museums was a deeply felt and noble representation of a homely scene
and copying classical works, the usual course of training for in which every face was the face of a friend. It proved to be a
students, he devoted himself to studies from nature, constantly battlecry. The critics of 1850 were outraged: the mourning,
seeking new motifs and light effects. These he painted with a rustic figures were unbearably real, the whole treatment was
wonderful eye for subtle modulations of form and tone. too stark and shocking. A peasant himself, mostly self-taught
"Let our feeling alone be our guide . . . the beautiful in art except for the lessons he gleaned from Hals and Velasquez in
is truth bathed in the impression we have received from look- the Louvre, Courbet persevered, obstinately painting only
ing at nature," he wrote in his notebook. This lyric emotion what he saw. Accepted and successful at last, after twenty
suffuses all his canvases, from the early portraits and nature years of uncompromising sincerity he was accused, in 1871,
175
of having too actively participated in the Commune. He was which was to derive its name "Impressionist" from the title of
sentenced to exile and spent the last six years of his life on one of his paintings, Impression— Sunrise.
the shores of Lake Geneva. Field of Poppies, executed at about the same period, shows
This picture of deer was a great success when it was ex- Monet's relative lack of interest in human figures, and his pri-
hibited in the Salon of 1866. Even his enemies recognized the mary concern with effects of atmosphere and shimmering
beauty of this work into which Courbet had put his whole fight. The red flowers, vibrant stains, blaze out on the bleached
understanding of nature and animal life. It seems to be through grass which extends like a sea to the distant horizon with its
some private communion with nature that Courbet attains his silhouette of trees— the only firm line in the picture. Vast roll-
unique power of suggesting the coolness of water, the texture ing fields with grass waving in the wind were among the Im-
of leaves and grass, the silky coats of the deer. It is entirely a pressionists' favorite themes; Monet himself painted several
work of instinct, which starts from the senses and arrives at compositions similar to this one.
poetry. In his later work Monet abandoned figures almost entirely
and concentrated on single motifs: a mill, a cathedral, a hay-
stack, poplars. These he painted in different lights according
PLATE 90
to the time of day, attempting to introduce the passage of time
into a series of paintings in a manner unique in the history of
MANET [1832-1883]
art.
Luncheon on the Grass

PLATE 92
although based on a composition by Raphael and inspired
by a desire to emulate the transparent atmosphere of Gior- CEZANNE [1839-1906]
gione's Pastoral Concert (plate 16), Manet's large Luncheon
provoked a scandal when was exhibited in 1863 at the Salon
it
Bay of L'Estaque
des Refuses after having been rejected by the official Salon.
The realism of the figures, sketched out of doors, was felt to cezanne was born at where he received his early
Aix, train-
be shocking and improper: recognizable are Manet's brother ing in art and where he was to spend the greater part of his
Eugene at the right; Ferdinand Leenhoff, a Dutch sculptor life, finding inspiration in the Provence he loved so well. An
who became his brother-in-law, in the center; and, on the left, admirer of such masters as Courbet, Delacroix, Michelangelo,
Manet's model Victorine Meurend, who in the same year posed and Tintoretto, he painted in his early period with dark colors
for his famous Olympia. thickly applied to the canvas in an agitated manner. Under the
Manet's unusual, nervous technique and pure colors were influence of the Impressionists, and especially of Pissarro,
as distasteful to official circles as his realism and the modernity Cezanne's palette became purer and brighter, his touch lighter,
of his subjects; but these very qualities attracted the young and he began to apply broken tones to his canvases.
realist painters of the day— Monet, Bazille, Renoir, Sisley, and In contrast to the Impressionists, however, Cezanne believed
Pissarro— the future leaders of Impressionism. This daring can- that a painting must be a work of synthesis and solid construc-
vas exemplified what they were seeking: clear, bright painting tion. His bold determination to build up form and volume by
from nature, giving the feeling of a real, luminous atmosphere exact modeling in color, and his study of planes in relation to
into which actual persons have wandered. space, made him the forerunner of Cubism and probably the
Manet, though greatly admired by the Impressionists and most important single influence on twentieth-century painting.
adopted as their leader, never exhibited with them. He always Cezanne's precepts "to render perspective solely by means
remained slightly aloof, his distinguished personal style a re- of color," and to use color to represent rather than to reproduce
flection of his cultured, fashionable tastes and the independ- light, are successfully illustrated in his views of L'Estaque, a
ence of his temperament. small port near Marseilles. In 1883 he wrote to his childhood
friend, the novelist Zola: "At sunset, mounting the heights,
you see before you the wonderful panorama of the Bay of
PLATE 91
Marseilles and the islands."
MONET [1840-1926]
PLATE 93
Field of Poppies
SISLEY [1839-1899]
monet was initiated into outdoor painting by the landscap-
ist Boudin, whom he met at Le Havre. In Paris he became the Flood at Port-Marly
friend of other artists— Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, and Bazille—
who were seeking, like himself, to solve the problem of render- born in paris of English parents, Sisley studied at the Gleyre
ing the sensation of light in painting. The early effect on his studio, where he met Monet, Renoir, and Bazille. Although he
art of Manet's naturalism was succeeded by other influences first modeled his landscapes on those of the Barbizon school,
when, during the war of 1870, Monet traveled abroad and dis- his love of skies and water naturally attracted him to the
covered in Holland the work of Ruisdael, in England that of greater freedom of Impressionist technique. He responded to
Constable and— still more important for him— of Turner. On light, vaporous, and delicate things like clouds and snow, and
his return to France, Monet became the leader of the group to shimmering colors— pale blues, pinks, or silvery greys. Al-
176
though never winning recognition or success in his lifetime, he attacked his friend Gauguin and cut his own ear, led to
Sisley is now appreciated as the initiator of a style of mellow his confinement in the asylum ofSt. Remy, where he contin-
paintings that recapture the atmosphere of calm retreats in ued to paint.
the Ile-de-France. Returning from Provence, van Gogh spent several months
A village near St. Germain-en-Laye, inundated by the waters in the house of Dr. Gachet at Auvers near Paris. Despite the
of the Seine in 1876, made a great impression on Sisley. In care and affection the doctor devoted to him, van Gogh finally
addition to the Flood at Port-Marly, he painted several other committed suicide in despair at his inability to find a solution
pictures of the scene. Characteristically, he did not conceive to his anguish.
this subject in terms of a terrifying drama nor see in it, as the Dr. Gachet, whom van Gogh represented several times,
Romantics would have done, a tempestuous unleashing of was interested in psychiatry; he was the author of a treatise
great natural forces. Instead, Sisley portrayed a limpid, rain- on melancholy and had made a close study of the madness of
washed sky above houses and trees reflected in the water. the engraver Meryon. A water colorist himself, he was a lover
Without striving to interpret or to indulge in rhetoric, he has of Impressionist painting and a friend of Cezanne. This pow-
conveyed the strange isolation of a village entirely surrounded erful portrait of him, presented to the Louvre by his son, with
by water amid the beauty of indifferent elements. its strident color, unstable composition, and designs that un-
dulate like flames, seems a projection of van Gogh's own men-

tal and spiritual suffering.
PLATE 94
RENOIR [1841-1919] PLATE 96
Two Girls at the Piano SEURAT [1859-1891]
born at limoges, Renoir worked as a decorator of china be- The Circus

fore entering the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Together with
Sisley, Bazille, and Monet, who were to become leaders of seurat was conscious of the impasse which Impressionism
Impressionism, he used to paint outdoors in the Forest of Fon- had reached around 1880-1885: it could not convey more than
tainebleau, which had earlier in the century been the favorite the aspect of a fleeting moment. A picture, he felt, should be
haunt of the Barbizon school painters. He was inspired by an idea, a conception, not an impression; it should present a
Courbet, but it was through Delacroix that he was led to his synthesis, not an analysis. Classical by temperament, he sub-
own researches in color. Striving to render the modulations of mitted himself to the influences of Ingres, Puvis de Chavannes,
daylight falling on faces and figures, he developed a technique Raphael, Holbein— and Delacroix. His precise, methodical mind
of painting with separate brush strokes of pure color. led him to study optics and the physical properties of color.
In quest of more solid form, and following a trip to Italy, Although he did not find the solution of pictorial problems
Renoir entered a period deeply influenced by the pure drafts- in science, his style accorded with his theory that lines and
manship and hard color of Ingres. Still later his work is marked colors should obey the laws of contrast and similarity, and he
by a return to a bolder manner and to richer, more iridescent developed a strict method of painting, using little dots of pure
color, culminating in the lyricism of his landscapes of Provence color and cleverly modifying the distance between these dots
and a series of wonderful nudes. in order to achieve his tones. This method, called Pointillism
Unlike Sisley and Monet, Renoir always delighted in paint- or Neo-Impressionism, won several adherents among his con-
ing the human figure, and in the Two Girls at the Piano he temporaries; but today, though his work may seem cold,
shows his special mastery of subjects which show people in Seurat is admired for his pictorial form, the purity of his archi-
moments of gaiety or relaxation. It is one of a series of works tectural conception of art, and his almost geometric rhythms.
on the same theme which Renoir painted in the last decade The Circus is the last of the six great compositions which
of the century after his Ingresque period. It was the first paint- he achieved in his short life and it was still unfinished when
ing by the artist to be purchased by the state. he died at the age of thirty-one. Characteristic are the bold
structural lines of the painting, the horizontal rigidity of the
tiers of spectators which is contrasted with the curves of the
PLATE 95 circus ring and the performers. The frame of graduated blue
lines was painted by Seurat in accordance with his conviction
VAN GOGH [1853-1890] that the over-all effect of a painting was of supreme importance.
Dr. Gachet
PLATE 97
encouraged to come to Paris by his brother Theo, an art
dealer, van Gogh in 1866 made the acquaintance of the Im- GAUGUIN [1848-1903]
pressionists, from whom he learnt the technique of divided
color. Two years later, he went to Provence; there, dazzled by The White Horse
the Mediterranean light, he created in a frenzy of enthusiasm
a series of beautiful canvases of impassioned lyricism. But un- a bank clerk by profession, a painter at first only by hobby,
der the stress of overstimulation and semi-starvation, his health in 1883 Gauguin abandoned his wife, his children, and his
and stability gave way. Periodic mental lapses, during which job to devote his life to art. After a period of association with
177
the Impressionists, Gauguin joined the Symbolist painters and Ages. When he was about fifteen his legs were broken in two
returned to the use of broad areas of simplified color. To seek successive accidents; his body became deformed, his torso
direct contact with the primitive sources of nature, which he being normal but his legs dwarfed. His frustrated love for
believed held secrets lost to over-civilized communities, he swift, graceful movement found expression in his many paint-
traveled widely: in Martinique he had his first introduction to ings and drawings of horses, dancers, and acrobats. As a youth
primitive art and to the violent colors of the tropics; later he he was an admirer of the equestrian painter John Lewis Brown,
went to Tahiti and to the Marquesas Islands, where he died. and his first works were some fine studies of horsemen, which
"To me," he said, "Barbary means rejuvenation"; and although already show his striking grasp of effects of movement. Under
he failed to find amongst the primitive peoples of the South the influence of Degas and of Japanese prints, he developed a
Seas the untainted paradise he sought, he succeeded in inter- fluid, simple line which he used with dazzling effect. He tried
preting as no one else has the poetry and disquieting beauty to interpret the bitter poetry of what Baudelaire called "mo-
of the tropics. dernity," frequently finding themes sympathetic to his mood
In The White Horse Gauguin tried to express the mystery in music halls and night cafes.
of the exotic forests, of the natives at once hieratic and animal Many of the artist's favorite nocturnal haunts and com-
in appearance, whose religion and customs are incomprehen- panions are described in a book, Autour de Toulouse-Lautrec,
sible to Europeans. This strange horse, whose white flanks are written by his friend Paul Leclercq, the subject of this portrait.
made grey-green by the light which filters through the luxuri- It was painted four years before Lautrec's early death, pre-
ant vegetation, slakes its thirst in a stream mottled with re- maturely brought on by a life of dissipation that ruined his
markable orange lights. With the poet Mallarme, we marvel health. A born portraitist, Lautrec shared with Degas the gift
that it should be possible to "put so much mystery where there for expressing the essential character of a human face or a
is so much brightness." gesture through a broken line or flowing arabesque. Here,
with the quick, light touch of his brush he has captured the
PLATE 98 ironic expression of his friend, a man of the world, chatting
casually but with mordant wit.
DEGAS [1834-1917]
PLATE 100
Dancing Class at the Opera
HENRI ROUSSEAU [1844-1910]
THE FINEST DRAFTSMAN OF DegaS received
HIS GENERATION,
a classical training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under War
a follower of Ingres; in Rome and Naples he studied the Italian
primitives. But under the influence of other young painters called "le douanier" because of his employment at the cus-
and writers, he soon began to develop a more modern and toms house in Paris, Rousseau retired from this occupation at
original technique. He exhibited with the Impressionists in the age of forty to take up painting. He never had any formal
1874 and later broke with them. During his last years, when training, and because his ingenuous paintings were so far re-
he was almost totally blind, he worked in pastels and made moved from accepted conventions of the day, the general
models in clay of his favorite subjects— horses and dancers. public derived only amusement from the works he exhibited
Degas' highstrung, sensitive temperament responded to the at the Salle des Independants and in the Salon d'Automne.
atmosphere of the ballet: the attitudes of the dancers, their But more perceptive critics, such as the poet Guillaume Apol-
diaphanous tulle costumes reflecting the light, and the bril- linaire and the artists Gauguin, Odilon Redon, and the young
liantly illuminated scenes. The Dancing Class is one of the Picasso, realized that in Henri Rousseau they were encounter-
earliest of the astonishing series of subjects he derived from ing the unique phenomenon of a powerful creative imagination
the corridors, stage, or rehearsal rooms at the Paris Opera. exploring painting afresh, completely uninhibited by precon-
With split-second accuracy he could capture fleeting postures ceived notions of style, technique, or subject matter. This
and light effects. It was perhaps under the influence of pho- quest for an entirely new vision, new outlets for expression,
tography that Degas dared to let the lower edge of his painting was the problem that was preoccupying young artists at the
cut off the legs of the chair in the center— a truncation that turn of the century.
must have appeared revolutionary in his day. From time to Although Rousseau's subjects were sometimes the familiar
time his acute and caustic spirit amused itself by catching the suburbs and the people of Paris, he did not hesitate to invent
inelegant expression or attitude of a ballerina in repose. As he exotic scenes of tropical jungles or deserts he had never visited.
wrote in one of his poems on the dance, "Queens are made by In this allegory, War, discord, in hideous guise, sowing death
distance and by greasepaint." by steel and fire, looks down from his apocalyptic horse (inter-
estingly enough, also a psychoanalytical symbol of death)

PLATE 99 upon humanity lying mutilated and bleeding amid the devas-
tation of nature. Daring color contrasts of blacks, blues, pinks,
TOULOUSE-LAUTREC [1864-1901] • and pale yellows accentuate the monumental rhythms of a
composition as highly stylized as a medieval tapestry. It is
Portrait of Paul Leclercq thispower to infuse his naive visions with remarkable poetry
that makes Rosseau by far the greatest of the primitive or
toulouse-lautrec was a descendant of the illustrious Counts "Sunday" painters who have fascinated our times since Apol-
of Toulouse who held sway in Languedoc during the Middle linaire first focused attention on them.
178
TITLES IN THIS SERIES
PRADO
167 REPRODUCTIONS • 81 PAGES IN FULL COLOR
Text by Harry B Wehk
METROPOLITAN
211 REPRODUCTIONS • 130 PAGES IN FULL COLOR
Tfxl by the Curatorial Staff
141
LOUVRE
REPRODUCTIONS • 100 PAGES IN FULL COLOR
Text translated and adapted from the French of Rene' Huyabe

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ART TREASURES OF THE

LOUVRE 141 REPRODUCTIONS • 100 PAGES IN FULL COLOR

As you open this book you virtually step inside the

Louvre," says Rene de Messieres, Cultural Counselor

to the French Embassy. Here is the heart of the fab-

ulous collections of the Louvre, in the 100 paintings

which are newly reproduced in full color with the

greatest fidelity that modern science and artistry can

achieve. Supplementing this breathtaking array is

a large number of monochromes of objects of art-

sculpture, ceramics, enamels, and so on— giving the

illustrations altogether a range of about 4,000 years.

The text chronicles the growth of the Luuvre, from

ent pre-eminence in the world's culture. Then fol-

lows a fascinating and succinct outline history of

Western art expression from the Middle Ages to the

help to make this volume a rewarding aid to a more

SEE BACK FLAP FOR OTHER TITLES IN THIS SERIES

The Hilla von Rebay Foundation

COMMENTARY BY MME. RENE HUYGHE

WITH A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LOUVRE BY MILTON S. FOX

HARRY N. ABRAMS ^W5&&w NEW YORK

milton s. fox, Editor

Book Design by stefan Salter

Published simultaneously in the United States and in England.

The Louvre A Brief History by Milton S. Fox 9

1 (cover) Portrait of Clement Marot CORNEILLE DE LYON

is a natural activity of life. environment where intelligence, talent, and grace

and arsenal. It was the symbol of the strength of

nobles who defied the ascendancy of the crown.

The earliest known structure on the present site stained glass.

master of Paris, the Louvre now became its cap-

arsenal and prison through succeeding reigns, it

now, under Charles V, became a part-time habita-

burst of medieval glory. An army of architects,

esque outbuildings, gardens, trellises, and a

tale appearance of this now-vanished Louvre.

Despite its increased size and elegance, Charles

he entertained the Holy Roman Emperor, the

from the intrigues of the palace.

duced from Francis' large number to about one

and Architecture now occupied the quarters in

Paris attempted to save the Palace by making it

ITALIAN PAINTING traditions of Western art, gradually transforming

fell into was to last for centuries;

Instead of combining sumptuously colored sur-

cording detail upon detail without meaning. The

is enough to look at the Christ Carrying the Cross

great icons, the entirely newand the live-

achievement of a direct sense of reality. direction.

his needs, to impose on it order and harmony.

proved herself worthy of it. Then she applied it to

Early in the fifteenth century, Italian art was

of Fra Angelico, of whom the Louvre possesses a

in the spectacle of flowers or hills bathed in the

revival of antiquity, which was to enable the fif-

teenth and sixteenth centuries to create a secular

shows the influence of both Michelangelo and the

and slender, with tapering neck, long, pale hands,