THE STYLE OF LOUIS XVI. 409 



tects, and especially the Greeks, had been wholly unconscious of such 

 canons. Instead of handing down to posterity the vivifying principle, 

 which had brought the whole glorious art of antiquity into being, 

 Vitruvius was seen to have nothing to offer but a sort of pemmican, 

 compounded out of a few specimens, and those not all of the first quality. 

 It was nothing short of a revolution, a revolution such as that brought 

 about in theology by the recovery of the Scriptures in the original 

 tongues, or in astronomy by the discoveries of Copernicus. The whole 

 edifice of rules and orders, proportions and modules, so laboriously 

 built up by a long line of writers, stretching from far away Alberti to 

 Briseux in their midst, was seen to be raised on phantom foundations, 

 and down it came about the ears of the architectural world like a house 

 of cards, leaving heretical rococoists and orthodox academicians alike 

 homeless and abashed. 



PROMOTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY. These revelations, far 

 from discouraging the study of antiquity, only convinced men that much 

 more might be learned from ancient monuments than the academic 

 school had supposed. More than this, it was the opinion of many 

 thoughtful persons that the restoration of a simple and noble style 

 could only be attained by such study. An ardent exponent of this 

 view was the Comte de Caylus, scholar, traveller, and collector, who 

 went about preaching it in learned and artistic circles. 



Of great importance, too, owing to her influential position at Court, 

 was the conversion of Madame de Pompadour to classical purism. 

 She sent her brother, afterwards Marquis de Marigny, in company with 

 the engraver Cochin and the architect Soufflot, to study " true beauty " 

 in Italy (1748-51) as a preparation for filling the post of Director- 

 General of the Royal Buildings, Gardens and Works of Art, with the 

 result that during his long tenure of office he constantly exerted his 

 influence in the direction of Classicism. 



RATIONALISTIC ATTACK ON PALLADIANISM. The old academic 

 position was, however, also attacked from another quarter. Appear- 

 ing at this moment, the " Essai sur 1'Architecture " of the Jesuit 

 Abbe Laugier (Paris, 1752), though expressing views not altogether 

 new, struck with special force. His attitude is ruthlessly rationalistic. 

 Nature, and not the practice of the ancients, which is full of sins 

 against common-sense, is the only safe guide. Architectural design 

 must be based on logical principles, and tested by reference to the 

 primitive type of construction, the timber hut. It must admit none 

 but functional elements, and only those which perform their apparent 

 functions, and are best adapted to that purpose. He banishes almost 

 all ornament, almost all curves ; the pediment, except as the termination 

 of a roof of like pitch ; pilasters, giant orders, ressauts, volutes. 



INFLUENCE OF ROUSSEAU. Other influences operating on society at 



