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FRANCE. (PAINTING.) 



nasty. The monuments of distant periods are also 

 brought to light by the industry of French scholars, 

 ns is shown by Menu's Roman du Renard, and Guil- 

 laume's Recherches sur les Auteurs dans lesquels 

 Lafontaine a pu trouver les Sujets de sea Fables. 

 Salfi's continuation of Ginguene's Histoire Litteraire 

 de I Italic is a valuable contribution to the history of 

 literature. Scholl's Hist, de la Litter ature Grecque 

 (2d edition, 18mo.), Gaultier's Essai sur la Littera- 

 ture Persanne, the valuable contributions in the 

 Journal Asiatique, and those in the memoirs of 

 learned societies and in the journals (Revue Ency- 

 clop. Bulletin universel, par Ferussac), are well 

 known to the literary public. Barbier's Dictionn. 

 des Ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes, 2d edition, 

 Renouard's Annul, de /' 'Imprimerie des Aides, 2d 

 edit , as also the Catalogue des Livres imprimes sur 

 I'tlin, prove that bibliography is cultivated in France 

 with zeal and ability. See Boucharlat's Cours de 

 Litterature, faisant Suite au Lycee, de la Harpe, 

 1826, 2 vols.) 



French Mathematics in the 19th Century, In 

 mathematics, pure as well as mixed, the French have 

 been so much distinguished in modern times, by the 

 ardour of their researches and the brilliancy of their 

 results, Chat the superiority over all the nations of 

 Europe may perhaps be adjudged to them. Consi- 

 dering the importance of the works, rather than the 

 order of the matter, and confining ourselves to a mere 

 sketch, we may mention among the French mathe- 

 maticians of this period, first, Laplace (q. v.), who in 

 \\isMecanique celeste (Paris, 1823,5 vols. 4to, trans- 

 lated into English by doctor Bowditch, with exten- 

 sive notes,) has given the laws of the most compli- 

 cated motions of the celestial world, and, with the 

 aid of a perfect analysis, has completed the fabric, of 

 which the foundation had been laid by Newton's 

 Philosophies naturalis Principia mathematica. The 

 results of those great calculations are also contained 

 in his Exposition du Systeme du Monde (4th edition, 

 Paris, 1813, 2 vols.), on which Hassenfratz's Cours 

 de physique celeste (Paris, 1803) is a commentary. 

 Francoeur's Traite elementaire de Mecanique (4th 

 edition, Paris, 1807) is a good introduction to the 

 study of celestial mechanics. The means of further 

 investigation may be found in Lagrange's Mecanique 

 analytiyue, Prony's Mecanique philosophique, and 

 Carnot's Principes de VEquilibre et du Mouvement. 

 In the branch of astronomy, Lalande had already 

 published the third edition of his Astronomic, 3 vols., 

 4to (in 1792), when Delambre published his Astro- 

 mie theorique et pratique (Paris, 1814, 3 vols., 4to; 

 Abrege, 1 vol. 8vo), and Biot supplied the wants of 

 a more extensive public, by his Traite elementaire 

 d Astronomic physique (2d edit., Paris, 1811, 3 vols.) 

 Blot's Traite de physique exptrimentale et mathema- 

 tique (Paris, 1816, 4 vols.), of which there is a Precis 

 elementaire, is the most valuable work of the period 

 on the subject which it treats. In the department of 

 geodesy and topography, Puissant, in his Traite de 

 Geodesic (2ded., Paris, 1819, 2 vols., 4to),and Traite 

 de Topographic d'Arpentage et de Nivellement (2d 

 edition, Paris, 1820, 4to), has furnished two classical 

 works. In the branch of hydraulics, Prony's Archi- 

 tecture hydraulique bears a high character ; and, 

 among the recent works on military mathematics, 

 Gay de Vernon's Traite d'Art militaire et de Forti- 

 fication (Paris, 1805, 2 vols., 4to) deserves a favour- 

 able mention. Nor have pure mathematics been less 

 enriched in this period. Lagrange's Theorie des 

 Fonctions analytiques (2d edition, Paris, 1813, 4to), 

 and the same author's Lecons du Calculdes Fonctions, 

 with a commentary, forming a sequel to the preced- 

 ing work, are indispens<:ble as an introduction to the 

 secrets of the higher analysis, which have been 



exposed in their widest extent by Lacroix, in his 

 Traite du Catcul differentiel et du Calcul Integra. 

 (Paris, 3 vols. 4to), which is surpassed by no work 

 on this subject, in comprehensive and profound views. 

 Among the elementary works, Bezout's Cours de 

 Mathematique, 5 vols., has always been esteemed. 

 Analytical geometry has been enriched by Biot, in his 

 Essai de Geometric analytique (5th edition, Paris 

 1813) ; trigonometry by Lacroix in his Traite de 

 Trigonometric rectiligne et spherique (6th edit., Paris, 

 1813), and descriptive geometry by the same, in his 

 Siemens de Geometric descriptive (4th edition, Paris, 

 1812). The recent works on algebra are innumer- 

 able ; the Complement d'Algebre (3d edition, Paris, 

 1804), by Lacroix, deserves to lie mentioned. La- 

 place's analytical and philosophical essay on the doc- 

 trine of chances, Essai philosoph. sur les Probabilities 

 (4th edit., Paris, 1819), and Lacroix's Traite du 

 Calcul des Probabilites (Paris, 1816), may conclude 

 this short survey of the most important works in the 

 mathematical department in France during the last 

 century. 



French School of Painting. The arts which the 

 Romans had introduced into Gaul were swept away 

 by the devastations of the Normans. The first indi- 

 cations of the revival of painting appear in some 

 miniature pieces which are among the treasures of 

 the royal library. Charles the Bald loved the arts, 

 and invited artists from Greece to France. Under 

 William the Conqueror, a great number of fresco 

 paintings were finished. In the reign of Louis VII., 

 the arts began to flourish, particularly painting on 

 glass. The enamel paintings, which afterwards 

 became known under the name of Emaux de Limoges, 

 also attained a higher degree of perfection, at that 

 period. With the reign of Louis IX. commences an 

 epoch for the arts. His adventures and expeditions 

 to the Holy Land furnished the artists with interesting 

 materials, as did the adventures of Joan of Arc at a 

 subsequent period. Rene the Good, the prince of 

 poets, belonged to the celebrated painters of the 

 fifteenth century. His portrait, by himself, is pre- 

 served at Aix, in Provence. But the history of 

 French painting properly begins with the reign of 

 Francis I., when it flourished under the influence of 

 the Italians. Leonardo da Vinci went to France in 

 1515, and died in the arms of the king. Andrea del 

 Sarto was in his service for several years. Rosso de' 

 Rossi, known under the name ofMaitre Eoux, became 

 first court painter in 1530, and director of the deco- 

 rations at Fontainebleau. As painting, at that time, 

 was commonly connected with stucco work, Francis 

 I. invited Primaticcio to Paris, and made him his 

 chamberlain. He was followed by many Italians, 

 who formed a colony of artists, like that of the 

 Greeks, in ancient times in Rome. (For information 

 on this point, see the life of Benvenuto Cellini, by 

 himself.) Engravers multiplied the works in Fon- 

 tainebleau, which constituted a school for the French 

 painters. Francis Clouet, called Janet, and Corneille. 

 of Lyons, were the first native portrait painters of a 

 better cast. The French distinguished themselves 

 particularly in glass, emerald, and miniature painting, 

 and in tapestry. They used art as an instrument of 

 embellishment, rather than as something elevated and 

 sacred; their genius appeared in the technical and 

 academical rather than in the poetic. Bramante, 

 who was employed by pope Julius II. to paint the 

 windows of the Vatican, invited the French artists 

 Claude and Guillaume de Marseille to Rome, to assist 

 him. With Jean Cousin, born at Soucy, near Sens, 

 who was living in 1589, commences the list of cele- 

 brated French painters. He was profoundly versed 

 in the rules of perspective and architecture. His 

 paintings on glass, particularly those in the church of 



