34 ARCHAEOLOGY 



census of all French monuments more systematic and 

 complete than any attempted elsewhere. The Com- 

 mission des Monuments Historiques has largely directed 

 it, as well as the restorations, and has issued volumes of 

 folio plates since 1855. The Roman period in Algeria and 

 Tunisia has been illustrated by splendid publications, of 

 which the monograph on Timgad is the most spectacular. 

 In France itself ESPERANDIEU has given a corpus of all 

 the Roman sculptures, and BLANCHET had described 

 the Gallo-Roman cities. LE BLANT has collected all the 

 early Christian sarcophagi, second in importance only to 

 those of Italy. To VERNEILH is due the first collective 

 study of Byzantine architecture. For the Romanesque 

 period, just preceding the Gothic, the field was covered 

 in the South by REVOIL and in the North by RUPRICH- 

 ROBERT. The scientific basis for the understanding of 

 Gothic art, not only in France, where it originated, but 

 everywhere, was laid by QUICHERAT, and expanded by 

 his brilliant successors, DE LASTEYRIE ("Origines de 

 T Architecture gothique" and many other works), and 

 ENLART, whose comprehensive "Manuel d'Archeologie 

 francaise" (1902-16), a full history of French art, is the 

 authoritative statement of the modern school. 



Almost contemporary with QUICHERAT, and far more 

 popular, was VIOLLET-LE-DUC, whose studies in the 

 mediaeval architecture and art of France were published 

 in a great series of beautifully written volumes, and who 

 had charge of the restoration of many of the greatest 

 national monuments; the most familiar of his books is 

 his " Dictionnaire raisonne" de P Architecture franchise du 

 xi e au xvi e siecle" (10 vols., 1867-73). Another orig- 

 inal teacher was COURAJOD, whose courses at the ficole 

 du Louvre were revolutionary. The most brilliant 

 illustrator of the art of the Renaissance in France has 

 been PALUSTRE. 



