. Art in France. s he strove to enshrine the imaginative ardour ofRomanticism in the chiselled forms of pure Classicism. He set hisivory figures studded with gems in strange landscapes; learned andartificial, chimercial and fascinating, his painting lays the debris ofancient civilisations before our eyes; goldsmiths work, mosaic, therarest materials of human industry, there is everything in this philo-sophical jewellery save the direct aspects of life. The art of GustaveMoreau was continuedin little sanctuaries whereonly rare initiates entered ;studios secluded like thosemonasteries where theB
. Art in France. s he strove to enshrine the imaginative ardour ofRomanticism in the chiselled forms of pure Classicism. He set hisivory figures studded with gems in strange landscapes; learned andartificial, chimercial and fascinating, his painting lays the debris ofancient civilisations before our eyes; goldsmiths work, mosaic, therarest materials of human industry, there is everything in this philo-sophical jewellery save the direct aspects of life. The art of GustaveMoreau was continuedin little sanctuaries whereonly rare initiates entered ;studios secluded like thosemonasteries where theByzantine monkish artistshad preserved such a richinheritance from theGreeks and the Orientthat they never thoughtof looking at nature itself(Figs. 858-861). Archaeological exca-vation, which was sotruittul at the close of the ,,. ,, 7 , .i v , v y A^ , , (( olleition of the King of England ) nmeteenth century, has (PUoio. ,) A School of French poets, whose tendency is indicated in the above comparison. 404. NATURALISM revolutionised our historical imagination, and increased its re-trospective grasp prodigiouslv. At Pompeii the pickaxe of theexcavator is daily turnmg out accessories for the pamter. Schhe-manns discoveries at Mycenae and Tiryns have modified thetraditional conception of the Homeric warrior. Rochegrosse showsus a strange, primitive, terrific Asia and Greece, with fantasticarmour and tattooed barbarians. Prehistoric themes have alsoentered into the domain of art; Cormon has reconstructed the lifeof cave-dwellers, lacustrians, and bear hunters armed with weapons of flint (Fig. 853). But realistic vision and methods have been more especiallyapplied to reconstructions of the past, and sometimes even to alle-gorical figures. TheDavidians were abstracteven when they werepainting Napoleon andhis soldiers; their hu-manity lacked physicallife and the hght of thereal sun. Now, the per-sonages of history are offlesh and blood. Andeven the variegated pa-lettes of Orien
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishernew, booksubjectart
