FRENCH ART.
xlix
found them in the history and legend of the middle ages, in the
pages of the poets (Dante, Tasso, Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron),
or in the scenes of the distant Orient. Raphael was the model for
one set, Rubens and Veronese for another.
Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) and Jean Auguste Dominique
Ingres (1780-1867) are not only the two greatest masters of this
period but also represent its opposite poles. For Delacroix every
picture assumed the form of a brilliant symphony of colours, so that
his enemies asserted that he painted with 'an intoxicated broom';
Ingres, on the contrary, considered that the 'integrity of art' depended
upon the drawing. While the former honoured Rubens above all
other masters, the latter saw in the great Fleming 'something of a
butcher' and held it blasphemy to compare Rembrandt with Raphael.
The eternal antithesis between colouring and drawing was, perhaps,
never so forcibly emphasized as now. Our taste has decided the
controversy in favour of Delacroix. We feel keen admiration for the
vigorous colouring of 'Dante's Boat' (1822), the 'Massacre of Chios',
the 'Barricade', and the 'Crusaders', and count the paintings of the
Palais Bourbon and St. Sulpice as among the greatest monumental
works of the century. The 'Apothesis of Homer', on the other hand,
leaves us cold in spite of its admirable drawing; the beautiful figures
of 'QSdipuS' and "The Source' excite but a half-hearted admiration;
and it is only in his portraits that Ingres makes any strong impression
on us. Perhaps, however, the time will come when this master will
be again accorded a more prominent place.
The fame of Horace Vernet (d. 1863), Paul Delaroche (d. 1856),
Deveria (d. 1865), Couture (d. 1879), and the other historical
painters of the period has paled very considerably. The recon¬
struction of a historical scene, such as the 'Death of Elizabeth' or
'Raphael in the Vatican', can satisfy us only when the immediate
effect causes the artificiality of the process to be forgotten; but none
of these masters had the strength to accomplish this. The longest
life will doubtless belong to Vernet's pictures of contemporary history
at Versailles. Among other masters of the period may be men¬
tioned the somewhat sentimental Ary Scheffer (d. 1858); Leopold
Robert (d. 1835), who died prematurely but not before he had
received universal admiration for his cheerful but rather too spick-
and-span scenes of Italian life; Decamps (d. 1860), who painted
glowing pictures of Oriental life and found excellent followers in
Fromentin, Marilhat, and others; and Chenavard (d. 1880), the
author of the philosophical cartoons in the Picture Gallery of Lyons.
A special meed of honour must be paid to Hippolyte Flandrin (d.
1864), a pupil of Ingres and perhaps the only religious painter of
modern times whose works reveal a genuinely pious spirit.
Contemporaneously with this development there arose in France
a new conception of landscape painting, the so-called Paysage In-
time. The aim was to reproduce the play of light and the atmo-
Baedekfk. Paris. 15th Edit. d
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