THE STYLE OF LOUIS XII. 3 



but his armies were finally driven from the Peninsula in 1513, and his 

 reign ended amid universal peace. 



These two reigns were long looked back upon as an age of gold. 

 Stable government and immunity from invasion, internal security and 

 prosperity were the needs most strongly felt, and, obtaining these, the 

 nation acquiesced in the restriction of its liberties and the growing 

 absolutism of the monarchy. 



FORERUNNERS OF THE RENAISSANCE. The Renaissance, at any 

 rate in architecture, is commonly dated from Charles VIII. 's Italian cam- 

 paign. In a general sense this is fairly accurate. Specimens of Classic 

 and Italian art had, however, begun to find their way across the Alps 

 nearly a century before 1495. John, Duke of Berry (1340-1416), 

 brother of Charles V., was one of the earliest Humanists of France ; 

 his interest in antiquity led him to collect Roman coins and cameos, 

 and he probably employed Italian miniaturists. The House of Anjou, 

 which ruled in Provence, followed his example. Francesco Laurana 

 made a series of coins and medals for Duke Rene, titular King of 

 Naples and Jerusalem, and his brother, Charles of Maine (1460-67), 

 and with the co-operation of the sculptors, Thomas of Como and 

 Thomas of Somoelvico, rebuilt the chapel of St Lazarus in the old 

 cathedral at Marseilles (1479-81) (Fig. 6), and at the same time carried 

 out a reredos (now in the church of St Didier at Avignon), in the back- 

 ground of which buildings of Italian design occur. Among other 

 works ascribed to him are the tomb of Charles- of Maine in Le Mans 

 Cathedral (1475), tne so-called "Niche of King Rene," and the tomb 

 of Jean de Cossa (1476) at Tarascon. King Rene also employed 

 Luca della Robbia, a panel by whom, with the king's arms, is in the 

 Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington. 



All these works were purely Italian in character and executed by 

 Italians; but being comparatively small, they could easily be carried 

 out to suit the taste of patrons with a leaning to Italian art without 

 bringing them into conflict with native prejudices or with the guilds, 

 as more important building operations might have done. They had no 

 immediate imitators. 



EFFECTS OF ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS. The work of transformation in 

 the arts, hitherto sporadic, needed a more powerful impetus to bring it 

 into general operation. This was provided by the Neapolitan expedi- 

 tion, which gave an opportunity for large numbers of men of all classes 

 to see with their own eyes the triumphs of an alien culture. Italy 

 received them in her gayest mood and most festal attire. In the first 

 few months the French army passed from fete to fete. Natural beauties 

 and marvels of art were unrolled before them in an ever-shifting pageant 

 as they went. What wonder that eyes accustomed to the narrow and 



