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6t Gervais in Paris, are celebrated His oil-painting 

 representing the day of judgment, in the convent of 

 the Miniines, near Vincennes, was the first historical 

 painting of a considerable size. Francis I. encou- 

 raged him and his contemporaries to emulate each 

 other in the production of works of art. which he 

 collected, uniting with them many excellent works of 

 Leonardo, Raphael, and Michael Angelo. This was 

 the beginning of the museum in Paris. At that time, 

 the manufacture of gobelins-tapestry was established. 

 Martin Fre'minet, born in Paris in 1567, formed him- 

 self particularly after Michael Angelo, and was made 

 court painter in the reign of Henry IV. Hardly, 

 however, had French art begun to flourish, when it 

 withered like a hot-house plant, owing principally to 

 the licentiousness which prevailed at the courts of 

 Francis II. and Charles IX. Art was profaned for 

 licentious purposes, and lost its purity and elevation; 

 the design became incorrect, the colouring feeble and 

 void of harmony. In Simon Vouet (born in Paris in 

 1582, died in 1641) France had a distinguished 

 national artist, who established a school, and purified 

 the corrupted taste. He had visited the East, and 

 funned himself in Venice and Rome. His style was 

 noble and animated. He was employed to paint the 

 gallery of distinguished persons, which had been 

 begun by Philip of Champagne. He afterwards fell 

 into an affected manner. Le Brun, Le Sueur, J. B. 

 Mola, Mignard, Du Fresnoy, Chaperon, Dorigny, 

 and his own brothers, Aubin and Claude, were his 

 pupils. His most celebrated contemporaries were 

 Noel Jouvenet, Allemand, Perrier, Quintin, Varin, 

 &c. The last was the master of the great Nicholas 

 Poussin, who is called the French Raphael. He was 

 born at Andely, in 1594, and descended from a 

 noble but reduced family. He received his edu- 

 cation entirely in Rome. His elevated manner, 

 depth of meaning, and noble simplicity, were not 

 understood at the court of Louis XIV., where no- 

 thing' pleased unless it bore the character of pomp 

 and splendour. Poussin was a philosophical painter ; 

 he painted for the understanding rather than to the 

 senses. His works often awaken serious reflection. 

 He was the first painter of landscapes in the heroic 

 style. His disciple, Caspar Dugliet, who adopted 

 the name of Poussin, was particularly distinguished 

 as a landscape painter. The other celebrated artists 

 of this period are, Le Valentin, born at Colomiers in 

 1600, died in 1632. He formed himself after Cara- 

 vaggio, and possessed more boldness and power than 

 his French predecessors. Jacques Blanchard, born 

 in 1600, died in 1638, received the surname of the 

 French Titian, and was the most perfect colourist 

 of the age. Claude Gelee, called Claude Lorraine, 

 born in 1600, and died in 1682, the most eminent 

 landscape painter of any age, formed himself entirely 

 in Italy. Chaveau was distinguished for the strength 

 and vigour of his compositions. The two Mignards 

 of Troyes, in Champagne, were also celebrated the 

 elder brother, Nicholas, called Mignard of Avignon, 

 particularly as a portrait painter ; the younger, 

 Pierre, called Mignard le Remain, for his masterly 

 portraits and his fresco-paintings, one of the finest 

 of which is the cupola of the church of Val de Grace 

 in Paris, which contains more than 200 figures. He 

 was born in 1610, and died in 1695. He also pos- 

 sessed a rare talent of copying old masterpieces. 

 The grace of his style and the charms of his colour- 

 ing are well known : they ren.Ier him one of the first 

 artists whom France has ever produced. Seb. Bour- 

 uon, too, deserves to be mentioned. The first rank, 

 liowever, among the artists of that period, is due to 

 Kustache le Sueur, born in 1617, died in 1655. He 

 formed himself without having ever left Paris. He 

 studied t'.e works of Raphael, with the genius of 



which he made himself familiar by engravings, with 

 the greatest assiduity. H is style is simple, noble, 

 quiet ; his drawing is correct ; his colouring is ten- 

 der, but wants force. His principal work is the life 

 of St Bruno, in twenty-two pictures. His works are 

 little known out of France. Charles le Brun, born 

 hi 1619, and died in 1690, is celebrated. All these 

 artists had obtained their reputation before the acces- 

 sion of Louis XIV., whose love for pomp and mag- 

 nificence was prejudicial to the art. Le Bran was 

 the only painter who reached his greatest celebrity 

 in his reign. His celebrated masterpiece, represent- 

 ing Alexander visiting the captive family of Darius, 

 was painted under the eyes of the king, who had 

 assigned the painter a room near his own apartments 

 at Fontainbleau. His works are very numerous. 

 They all exhibit genius, fire, and ease. They are 

 characterized, however, by the genuine French style, 

 and a tendency to the theatrical. Through his influ- 

 ence, Colbert established the French academies of 

 art in Rome and Paris ; the latter of which served to 

 oppose the despotism of the academy of St Luke in 

 Paris. After Le Brun, the French artists deviated 

 from the right path, and neglected the study of the 

 great Italian masters. Le Brun, being desirous of 

 having his works multiplied, had persuaded many 

 distinguished young artists to become engravers. 

 The most eminent among them are Girard Audran, 

 J. Mariette, and Gabriel le Brun. The artists of the 

 following period of the most note, are Mola, the 

 brothers Courtois, called Bourguignon, distinguished 

 as painters of battle-scenes; Noel Coypel and his 

 son, Antoine, whose inventive imagination and beau- 

 tiful colouring procured them universal applause, but 

 who mistook theatrical exaggeration for natural ex- 

 pression. The family of Boullongne produced many 

 excellent painters. Vivien, Jouvenet, Cheron, Par- 

 rocel, Silvestre, De Largilliere, Rigaud, Andre, La 

 Fage, were industrious and able artists of that period, 

 yet not entirely free from affectation. Watteau, who 

 painted only little sportive pictures, in a very affected 

 style, became the favourite of his time. Under Louis 

 XV., the taste for mirrors, for pastil painting, and 

 for cameos, entirely supplanted true art. Loriot 

 discovered at that time the art of fixing pastil-colours. 

 The family Vanloo first began to arrest the decline 

 of taste ; they, with Ant. Pesne, Pierre Subleyras, 

 and Le Moine, might have succeeded, had not Chris- 

 topher Huet and Francis Boucher effected the total 

 ruin of the art. The latter, who was born in 1704, 

 and died in 1770, devoted himself entirely to subjects 

 of the lowest debauchery and immorality. No painter 

 has ever profaned art like Boucher. Attiret, born 

 at Dole in 1702, went, in 1737, at the invitation of 

 the Christian missionaries, to Pekin, where the em- 

 peror of China and the grandees of the empire were 

 so much pleased with his performances, that he 

 established a school for drawing, and was constantly 

 employed for the emperor, who intended to bestow 

 on him the dignity of a mandarin. He died there in 

 1763. After a long reign of corrupt taste in France, 

 the first appearance of a reform is presented in the 

 works of Jos. Vernet (q. v.), a landscape painter, born 

 in 1714, died in 1789. His representations of the 

 sea, in all its different aspects, and his views of sea- 

 ports, are inimitable. Strong feeling, a rich imagi- 

 nation, and an unremitted study of nature, were the 

 causes of his success. Count Caylus, born in 1692, 

 died in 1765, a zealous antiquary, did much for 

 French art, and founded prizes for the encourage- 

 ment of artists. Greuze, who is often called the 

 painter of the graces, now appeared. He was born 

 at Tournus in 1726, and died in 1805. He may be 

 called the true national painter of the French ; for 

 his pictures, the subjects of which are entirely taken 



