5 
- 
1810.) Progress of the French Fine Arts, Ke. since 1789. 161 
recently established. Excéeding the or- 
dimary dimensions of his works, he drew 
the only great. pictures that are still ex- 
tant by him.t - At the same time, Le 
Sueur painted the cloister of the Car+ 
thusians ; Philip de Champagne executed 
his pictures and portraits, so natural and 
so full of truth; the Luxembourg was 
finished; the equestrian statue of Louis 
XIII.. was erected. _Warin struck the 
finest coins used bythe moderns; while 
the gold and silver-smiths' produced ex- 
cellent models.{ Such was the influence 
of Richelicu on the arts at the com- 
mencement of the seventeenth century. 
Bat when hé was no more, they began to 
decline; that profound knowledge of de- 
sign, the taste, the grace, which charac- 
terised the time of Francis I._ and 
Henry Il. disappeared. 
If the Fine Arts had so greatly degene- 
rated since’the time of Louis XIV. it 
was not because their administration had 
experienced any apparently great alter- 
ation. In the ‘state of degradation to 
which we have jast seen them reduced, 
‘their organisation was very nearly the 
saine a3 under Colbert: they had always 
for their administrator the director-ge- 
neral of the king’s buildings, (board of 
works ;) aud their masters had the titles 
of first painter, and first architect. It 
was absolutely necessary to cunciliate 
‘these last, in order to obtain prizes in the 
schools’ employment, or the title of Aca- 
demician, In this artists succeeded by- 
imitating their manner, and adopting 
their tastes, their aversions: or by not 
daring to attempt any thing beyond 
what they knew, and particularly by re- 
Specting their habits. Such was the 
common law. by which all the arts, and 
their academies, were governed. It was 
that which at all times opposed every 
kind of progress; but which was most 
_ absolute with respect to the fine .arts 
under the reign of Louis XV. 
The contrast which then existed be- 
tween the sciences, philosophy, and 
literature, on the one hand, aud the fine 
arts on the other, has something. very 
singular in it; the former boldly attacked 
all their limits for the purpose of extend- 
‘Ing them, whilst the others continued 
‘under the most disgraceful servitude’ 
- which they had eyer submitted to;.under 
the necessity of conforming to the max- | 
ims, and almost to the orders, of two or 
three artists, who could only form ‘dis-— 
ciples of greater, mediccrity than them- 
selves. But they were the distributors 
of employment and honorary utles; they 
Montuty Mas. No. 196. 
formed the standard of opinion, and of 
the favours of the prince: submission 
was compulsory. Accordiigly we Bnd 
in the arts, during the whole age, only 
one name worthy of being inscribed with 
those of Montesquieu, Buffon, J. J. 
Rousseau, and Voltaire: itis that of Vien, 
who put an end to that state of things. 
Let not. the other nations of Europe 
avail themselves of that humiliation ; no 
one of them could enter into competis 
tion, if, instead of considering the general 
causes of the prosperity or decline of 
the fine arts, we made a selection of 
their works, even since the regency, 
Amongst, the painters, the Coypels, 
Restout, Carle-Vanloo; Boucher. him- 
self, whom nature had gifted with ima- 
gination, wit, and facility ;. the statuaries 
Bouchardon, Pigalle, G. Coustou, Fal- 
conet ; would yet form a respectable list, 
which would admit of no rivalship, except 
in architecture ; in which we should have 
to quote only three or four edifices 
worthy of esteem, until the year 1752. *. 
In 1789, painting flourished in the 
French school, because it possessed both 
M. Vien, and his principal pupils. The 
former, is always the object of our ve- 
neration, and the latter execute great 
works, which show that their talents are 
still in their full vigour. We are in- 
debted to them fora new generation of 
painters, in different branches, and in~ 
every one worthy of their masters. - 
From their schoo!s ansually proceed the 
young artists who obtain the great 
prizes, and repair to the imperial school 
at Rome, to complete their instruc. 
tion. 
Painting is therefore not only flourish- 
ing In: France, but it never was more S0« 
_The same may be said. of sculpture, 
with this difference, that the latter has 
yet formed only one géneration since 
the art has been brought back to good 
taste, and. the principles of the beautiful, 
The same statuaries who have thus re- 
stored it, continue to afford examples of 
success. But, as well as in painting, the 
first pupils enjoy a reputation established 
on beautiful works. y 
Of all the arts, sculpture is that which — 
has achieved the greatest conquest 
since 1789, Jt never, appeared with 
more distinction during the whole cen. 
* The portico at the entrance of the an- 
cient Palais Bourbon, (now the palace of the 
Legislative Body); the two buildings in thé 
square of Letis XV. (the Place de’ la Con- 
corde); the great theatre at Versailles; and 
the firse court of the Palais Royal. 
x tury, 
