RELATIONS OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE 627 



and that of modern times. Lastly, it was through his influence 

 that medieval art became closely interwoven with clericalism in the 

 minds of very many people, with two very unfortunate results : the 

 creation of a nondescript neo-Gothic art, exaggerated by mys- 

 ticism (of this, the work of Didron himself furnishes some of the 

 earliest models) and, secondly, a distrust of medieval art on the part 

 of the non-clerical public. 



Along with these influential men Merimee, a delicate litterateur 

 and excellent archaeologist, should have an honorable place. In 

 archaeology, as in literature, he had a keen eye and a refined taste, 

 and that sense of proportion which Didron lacked. He was able to 

 bring to light in the French provinces numberless treasures of art 

 which, upon his recommendation, have been rescued from oblivion 

 by the Commission on Historical Monuments. 



At this time, Revoil, an eminent archaeologist and ardent South- 

 erner, was a distinguished member of this Commission. We owe to 

 him a number of restorations of unequal merit and a sumptuous 

 work upon the Romanesque architecture of the Midi, which contains 

 beautiful illustrations of more permanent value than the text. 



Two other scholars, MM. Vitet and Daniel Ramee, should be men- 

 tioned as among the best of the archaeologists of the middle of the 

 nineteenth century. Vitet was the first to prepare an elaborate and 

 richly illustrated monograph upon a French cathedral. He chose 

 Noyon, and his work is still the only one that contains adequate 

 drawings of this edifice; the text is now no longer up to the stand- 

 ard of our present scientific knowledge, but it has formed a valu- 

 able basis for later researches. The same may be said of Ramee 's 

 archaeological studies and his short essay upon the history of archi- 

 tecture. 



Two conscientious archaeologists of keen insight and skilled as 

 draughtsmen were Leo Drouyn, of Bordeaux, whose Military History 

 of Guicnnc is a complete and accurate monograph, with illustrations 

 which were destined to form the most valuable part of the books of 

 M. de Caumont, and Felix de Yerneilh, of Perigord. known to fame 

 for his theory that Byzantine art came into France in the tenth 

 century from the Venetians, a most ingenious theory, but one which 

 later documentary discoveries have exploded. 



While these masters were making known the history of our archi- 

 tecture, that of our industrial arts was bring defined by such men as 

 Dusommerard, Paul Lacroix, known as " Bibliophile Jacob," Dareel. 

 Ferdinand de Lasteyrie. who wrote on the arts of the goldsmith 

 and the painter upon glass, and, above all. Charles de Linas, whose 

 researches in gold-work and enameling leave nothing more to be done. 

 An immense work on the History of the Industrial Arts by Laharte. 

 written too earlv. unfortunately, is still the only bodv of knowledge 



