494 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



of Les Herbiers in Vendee (1825). A Romanesque Revival was not 

 long in following, and the Classical Tradition, at least as regards 

 church architecture, was effectually broken. 



The ultimate outcome of the Revolution was the collapse of all the 

 classical systems, whether artistic or literary. The attacks, of which 

 the classical school in literature was the object, culminated in 1830 in 

 the triumphant production of Victor Hugo's " Hernani," just when, in 

 painting, the antique Ingres was being eclipsed by the romantics, 

 Gericault and Delacroix, and a bloodless shade of classicism in archi- 

 tecture was being hustled from the stage by mediaeval revivals, or 

 importations from the East. 



Classical ideals had reasserted their influence in architecture with 

 the dawn of the Renaissance, since they were in harmony with the general 

 trend of civilisation and the march of human thought. They lost their 

 supremacy when they ceased to correspond with the dominant current. 

 After 1830 classical design died down to an insignificant glimmer; yet 

 even under the July monarchy, in an age afflicted with a general lack 

 of taste and style, it was not wholly quenched, and the strong Latin 

 element in French culture will probably ever keep it burning. 



The Ecole des Beaux Arts began to assume to some extent the 

 guiding role played by the old Academy. Under its fostering care a 

 new national tradition on a classical basis has been in process of 

 formation, and, with some flickerings, the dimmed light of the Renais- 

 sance has flamed up once more with some promise of its old brilliance. 



465. DESIGN FOR VASE BY PERCIER AND FONTAINE. 



