Chapter 15

[100]On Hutcheson and Smith, their merits and defects, the part of truth and the part of error, which their philosophy contains, see the detailed lectures which we have devoted to them, 1st Series, vol. iv.[101]See the exposition and refutation of the doctrine of Condillac and Helvetius,Ibid., vol. iii.[102]Seelecture 5, in this vol.[103]If one would make himself acquainted with a simple and piquant refutation, written two thousand years ago, of false theories of beauty, he may read theHippiasof Plato, vol. iv. of our translation. ThePhædrus, vol. vi., contains the veiled exposition of Plato's own theory; but it is in theBanquet(Ibid.), and particularly in the discourse of Diotimus, that we must look for the thought of Plato carried to its highest degree of development, and clothed with all the beauty of human language.[104]See theHippias.[105]FirstEnnead, book vi., in the work of M. B. Saint-Hillaire, on theSchool of Alexandria, the translation of this morsel of Plotinus, p. 197.[106]Winkelmann has twice described the Apollo,History of Art among the Ancients, Paris, 1802, 3 vols., in 4to. Vol. i., book iv., chap. iii.,Art among the Greeks:—"The Apollo of the Vatican offers us that God in a movement of indignation against the serpent Python, which he has just killed with arrow-shots, and in a sentiment of contempt for a victory so little worthy of a divinity. The wise artist, who proposed to represent the most beautiful of the gods, placed the anger in the nose, which, according to the ancients, was its seat; and the disdain on the lips. He expressed the anger by the inflation of the nostrils, and the disdain by the elevation of the under lip, which causes the same movement in the chin."—Ibid., vol. ii., book iv., chap. vi.,Art under the Emperors:—"Of all the antique statues that have escaped the fury of barbarians and the destructive hand of time, the statue of Apollo is, without contradiction, the most sublime. One would say that the artist composed a figure purely ideal, and employed matter only because it was necessary for him to execute and represent his idea. As much as Homer's description of Apollo surpasses the descriptions which other poets have undertaken after him, so much this statue excels all the figures of this god. Its height is above that of man, and its attitude proclaims the divine grandeur with which it is filled. A perennial spring-time, like that which reigns in the happy fields of Elysium, clothes with lovable youth the beautiful body, and shines with sweetness over the noble structure of the limbs. In order to feel the merit of thischef-d'œuvre of art, we must be penetrated with intellectual beauty, and become, if possible, the creatures of a celestial nature; for there is nothing mortal in it, nothing subject to the wants of humanity. That body, whose forms are not interrupted by a vein, which is not agitated by a nerve, seems animated with a celestial spirit, which circulates like a sweet vapor in all the parts of that admirable figure. The god has just been pursuing Python, against which he has bent, for the first time, his formidable bow; in his rapid course, he has overtaken him, and given him a mortal wound. Penetrated with the conviction of his power, and lost in a concentrated joy, his august look penetrates far into the infinite, and is extended far beyond his victory. Disdain sits upon his lips; the indignation that he breathes distends his nostrils, and ascends to his eyebrows; but an unchangeable serenity is painted on his brow, and his eye is full of sweetness, as though the Muses were caressing him. Among all the figures that remain to us of Jupiter, there is none in which the father of the gods approaches the grandeur with which he manifested himself to the intelligence of Homer; but in the traits of the Apollo Belvidere, we find the individual beauties of all the other divinities united, as in that of Pandora. The forehead is the forehead of Jupiter, inclosing the goddess of wisdom; the eyebrows, by their movement, announce his supreme will; the large eyes are those of the queen of the gods, orbed with dignity, and the mouth is an image of that of Bacchus, where breathed voluptuousness. Like the tender branches of the vine, his beautiful locks flow around his head, as if they were lightly agitated by the zephyr's breath. They seem perfumed with the essence of the gods, and are charmingly arranged over his head by the hand of the Graces. At the sight of this marvel of art, I forget every thing else, and my mind takes a supernatural disposition, fitted to judge of it with dignity; from admiration I pass to ecstasy; I feel my breast dilating and rising, like those who are filled with the spirit of prophecy; I am transported to Delos, and the sacred groves of Syria,—places which Apollo honored with his presence:—the statue seems to be animated as it were with the beauty that sprung of old from the hands of Pygmalion. How can I describe thee, O inimitable master-piece? For this it would be necessary that art itself should deign to inspire my pen. The traits that I have just sketched, I lay before thee, as those who came to crown the gods, put their crowns at their feet, not being able to reach their heads."[107]See the last part of theBanquet, the discourse of Alcibiades, p. 326 of vol. vi. of our translation.[108]We here have in mind, and we avow it, the Socrates of David, which appears to us, the theatrical character being admitted, above its reputation. Besides Socrates, it is impossible not to admire Plato listening to his master, as it were from the bottom of his soul, without looking at him, with his back turned upon the scene that is passing, and lost in the contemplation of the intelligible world.[109]We are fortunate in finding this theory, which is so dear to us, confirmed by the authority of one of the severest and most circumspect minds:—it may be seen in Reid, 1st Series, vol. iv., lecture 23. The Scotch philosopher terminates hisEssay on Tastewith these words, which happily remind us of the thought and manner of Plato himself:—"Whether the reasons that I have given to prove that sensible beauty is only the image of moral beauty appear sufficient or not, I hope that my doctrine, in attempting to unite the terrestrial Venus more closely to the celestial Venus, will not seem to have for its object to abase the first, and render her less worthy of the homage that mankind has always paid her."[110]Part iii.,lecture 15.[111]Vol. vi. of our translation, p. 816-818[112]Recherches sur l'Art Statuaire.Paris, 1805.[113]Paris, 1815, in folio, an eminent work that will subsist even when time shall have destroyed some of its details.[114]Since reprinted under the title ofEssais sur l'Ideal dans ses Applications Pratiques. Paris, 1837.[115]Translation of Plato, vol. xii.,Timæus, p. 116.[116]Orator:"Neque enim ille artifex (Phidias) cum faceret Jovis formam aut Minervæ, contemplabatur aliquem a quo similitudinem duceret; sed ipsius in mente insidebat species pulchritudinis eximia quædam, quam intuens, in eaque defixus, ad illius similitudinem artem et manum dirigebat."[117]Raccolta di lett.Sulla pitt., i., p. 83. "Essendo carestia e de' buoni giudici e di belle donne, io mi servo di certa idea che mi viene alla mente."[118]"A picture representing a broken glass over several subjects painted on the canvas, by which the eye is deceived."[119]Vassari,Vie de Raphael.[120]Lecture 6.[121]See theGorgias, with theArgument, vol. iii. of our translation of Plato.[122]There is aProvincialthat for vehemence can be compared only to thePhilipics, and its fragment on the infinite has the grandeur and magnificence of Bossuet. See our work on theThoughts of Pascal, 4th Series,Literature, vol. i.[123]See theJupiter Olympienof M. Quatremère de Quincy.[124]Allusion to theMagdeleineof Canova, which was then to be seen in the gallery of M. de Sommariva.[125]See theTempestof Haydn, among the pianoforte works of this master.[126]Seelecture 6.[127]I have not myself had the good fortune to hear the religious music of the Vatican. Therefore, I shall let a competent judge, M. Quatremère de Quincy, speak,Considérations Morales sur les Destination des Ouvrages de l'Art, Paris, 1815, p. 98: "Let one call to mind those chants so simple and so touching, that terminate at Rome the funeral solemnities of those three days which the Church particularly devotes to the expression of its grief, in the last week of Lent. In that nave where the genius of Michael Angelo has embraced the duration of ages, from the wonders of creation to the last judgment that must destroy its works, are celebrated, in the presence of the Roman pontiff, those nocturnal ceremonies whose rites, symbols, and plaintive liturgies seem to be so many figures of the mystery of grief to which they are consecrated. The light decreasing by degrees, at the termination of each psalm, you would say that a funeral veil is extended little by little over those religious vaults. Soon the doubtful light of the last lamp allows you to perceive nothing but Christ in the distance, in the midst of clouds, pronouncing his judgments, and some angel executors of his behests. Then, at the bottom of a tribune interdicted to the regard of the profane, is heard the psalm of the penitent king, to which three of the greatest masters of the art have added the modulations of a simple and pathetic chant. No instrument is mingled with those accents. Simple harmonies of voice execute that music; but these voices seem to be those of angels, and their effect penetrates the depths of the soul."We have cited this beautiful passage—and we could have cited many others, even superior to it—of a man now forgotten, and almost always misunderstood, but whom posterity will put in his place. Let us indicate, at least, the last pages of the same production, on the necessity of leaving the works of art in the place for which they were made, for example, the portrait of Mlle. de Vallière in theMadeleine aux Carmélites, instead of transferring it to, and exposing it in the apartments of Versailles, "the only place in the world," eloquently says M. Quatremère, "which never should have seen it."[128]One is reminded of the expression of the great Condé: "Where then has Corneille learned politics and war?"[129]It would be a curious and useful study, to compare with the original all the passages of Britannicus imitated from Tacitus; in them Racine would almost always be found below his model. I will give a single example. In the account of the death of Britannicus, Racine thus expresses the different effects of the crime on the spectators:Juez combien ce coup frappe tous les esprits;La moitié s'épouvante et sort avec des cris;Mais ceux qui de la cour ont un plus long usageSur les yeux de César composent leur visage.Certainly the style is excellent; but it pales and seems nothing more than a very feeble sketch in comparison with the rapid and sombre pencil-strokes of the great Roman painter: "Trepidatur a circumsedentibus, diffugiunt imprudentes; at, quibus altior intellectus, resistunt defixi et Neronem intuentes."[130]See the letter to Perrault.[131]En vain contre le Cid ministre se ligue,Tout Paris pour Chimène a les yeux de Rodrique, etc.* * * * *Après qu'un peu de terre, obtenu par prière,Pour jamais dans la tombe eut enfermé Molière, etc.* * * * *[132]Aux pieds de cet autel de structure grossière,Git sans pompe, enfermé dans une vile bière,Le plus savant mortel qui jamais ait écrit;Arnaud, qui sur la grâce instruit par Jésus-Christ,Combattant pour l'Eglise, a, dans l'Eglise même,Souffert plus d'un outrage et plus d'un anathème, etc.* * * * *Errant, pauvre, banni, proscrit, persécuté;Et même par sa mort leur fureur mal éteinteN'aurait jamais laissé ses cendres en repos,Si Dieu lui-même ici de son ouaille sainteA ces loups dévorants n'avait caché les os.[133]These verses did not appear till after the death of Boileau, and they are not well known. Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, in a letter to Brossette, rightly said that these are "the most beautiful verses that M. Despréaux ever made."[134]4th Series of our works,Literature, book i.,Preface, p. 3: "It is in prose, perhaps, that our literary glory is most certain.... What modern nation reckons prose writers that approach those of our nation? The country of Shakspeare and Milton does not possess, since Bacon, a single prose writer of the first order [?]; that of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, and Tasso, is in vain proud of Machiavel, whose sound and manly diction, like the thought that it expresses, is destitute of grandeur. Spain, it is true, has produced Cervantes, an admirable writer, but he is alone.... France can easily show a list of more than twenty prose writers of genius: Froissard, Rabelais, Montaigne, Descartes, Pascal, La Rochefoucauld, Molière, Retz, La Bruyère, Malebranche, Bossuet, Fénelon, Fléchier, Bourdaloue, Massillon, Mme. de Sévigné, Saint-Simon, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Buffon, J. J. Rousseau; without speaking of so many more that would be in the first rank everywhere else,—Amiot, Calvin, Pasquier, D'Aubigné, Charron, Balzac, Vaugelas, Pélisson, Nicole, Fleury, Bussi, Saint-Evremont, Mme. de Lafayette, Mme. de Maintenon, Fontenelle, Vauvenargues, Hamilton, Le Sage, Prévost, Beaumarchais, etc. It may be said with the exactest truth, that French prose is without a rival in modern Europe; and, even in antiquity, superior to the Latin prose, at least in the quantity and variety of models, it has no equal but the Greek prose, in its palmiest days, in the days of Herodotus and Demosthenes. I do not prefer Demosthenes to Pascal, and it would be difficult for me to put Plato himself above Bossuet. Plato and Bossuet, in my opinion, are the two greatest masters of human language, with manifest differences, as well as more than one trait of resemblance; both ordinarily speak like the people, with the last degree of simplicity, and at moments ascending without effort to a poetry as magnificent as that of Homer, ingenious and polished to the most charming delicacy, and by instinct majestic and sublime. Plato, without doubt, has incomparable graces, the supreme serenity, and, as it were, the demi-smile of the divine sage. Bossuet, on his side, has the pathetic, in which he has no rival but the great Corneille. When such writers are possessed, is it not a religion to render them the honor that is their due, that of a regular and profound study?"[135]See theAppendix, at the end of the volume.[136]See theAppendix.[137]This picture had been made for a chapel of the church of St. Gervais. It formed the altar-piece, and in the foreground there was the admirable Bearing of the Cross, which is still seen in the Museum.[138]Such a law was the first act of the first assembly of affranchised Greece, and all the friends of art have applauded it from end to end of civilized Europe.[139]See theAppendix.[140]TheSeven Sacramentsof Poussin are now in the Bridgewater Gallery. See theAppendix.[141]See theAppendix.[142]In the midst of this scene of brutal violence, everybody has remarked this delicate trait—a Roman quite young, almost juvenile, while possessing himself by force of a young girl taking refuge in the arms of her mother, asks her from her mother with an air at once passionate and restrained. In order to appreciate this picture, compare it with that of David in theensembleand in the details.[143]In fact, the St. Joseph is here the important personage. He governs the whole scene; he prays, he is as it were in ecstasy.[144]The pictures of Claude Lorrain, of which we have just spoken, are in the Museum of Paris. In all there are thirteen, whilst the Museum of Madrid alone possesses almost as many, while there are in England more than fifty, and those the most admirable. See theAppendix.[145]The lastNotice of the Pictures exhibited in the Gallery of the National Museum of the Louvre, 1852, although its author, M. Villot, is surely a man of incontestable knowledge and taste, persists in placing Champagne in the Flemish school.En revanche, a learned foreigner, M. Waagen, claims him for the French school.Kunstwerke and Künstler in Paris, Berlin, 1839, p. 651.[146]Well appreciated by Richelieu, he preferred his esteem to his benefits. One day when an envoy of Richelieu said to him that he had only to ask freely what he wished for the advancement of his fortune, Champagne responded that if M. the Cardinal could make him a more skilful painter than he was, it was the only thing that he asked of his Eminence; but that being impossible, he only desired the honor of his good graces. Félibien,Entretiens, 1st edition, 4to., part v., p. 171; and de Piles,Abrégé de la Vie des Peintres, 2d edition, p. 500.—"As he had much love for justice and truth, provided he satisfied what they both demanded, he easily passed over all the rest."—Nécrologe de Port-Royal, p. 336.[147]See theAppendix.[148]The original is in the Museum of Grenoble; but see the engraving of Morin; see also that of Daret, after the beautiful design of Demonstier.[149]In the Museum of the Louvre; see also the engraving of Morin.[150]The original is now in the Château of Sablé, belonging to the Marquis of Rougé; see the engraving of Simonneau in Perrault. The beautiful engraving of Edelinck was made after a different original, attributed to a nephew of Champagne.[151]The original is also in the possession of the Marquis of Rougé; the admirable engraving of Van Schupen may take its place.[152]In the Museum.[153]In the Museum, and engraved by Gérard Edelinck.[154]La Gloire du Val-de-Grâce, in 4to, 1669, with a frontispiece and vignettes. Molière there enters into infinite details on all the parts of the art of painting and the genius of Mignard. He pushes eulogy perhaps to the extent of hyperbole; afterwards, hyperbole gave place to the most shameful indifference. The fresco of the dome of Val-de-grâce is composed of four rows of figures, which rise in a circle from the base to the vertex of the arch. In the upper part is the Trinity, above which is raised a resplendent sky. Below the Trinity are the celestial powers. Descending a degree, we see the Virgin and the holy personages of the Old and New Testament. Finally, at the lower extremity is Anne of Austria, introduced into paradise by St. Anne and St. Louis, and these three figures are accompanied by a multitude of personages pertaining to the history of France, among whom are distinguished Joan of Arc, Charlemagne, etc.[155]Engraved by Gerard Audran under the name of thePlague of David(la Peste de David). What has become of the original?[156]See hisLandscape at Sunset, and theBathers(les Baigneuses), an agreeable scene somewhat blemished by careless drawing.[157]It would be necessary to cite all his compositions. In hisHoly Familythe figure of the Virgin, without being celestial, admirably expresses meditation and reflection. We lost some time ago the most important work of S. Bourdon, theSept Œuvres de Miséricorde. See theAppendix.[158]See especially hisExtreme Unction.[159]The picture that is calledle Silence, which represents the sleep of the infant Jesus, is not unworthy of Poussin. The head of the infant is of superhuman power. TheBattles of Alexander, with their defects, are pages of history of the highest order; and in theAlexander visiting with Ephestion the Mother and the Wife of Darius, one knows not which to admire most, the noble ordering of the whole or the just expression of the figures.[160]It seems that Lesueur sometimes furnished Daret with designs. It is indeed to Lesueur that Daret owes the idea and the design of hischef-d'œuvre, the portrait of Armand de Bourbon, prince de Conti, represented in his earliest youth, and in an abbé, sustained and surrounded by angels of different size, forming a charming composition. The drawing is completely pure, except some imperfect fore-shortenings. The little angels that sport with the emblems of the future cardinal are full of spirit, and, at the same time, sweetness.[161]Edelinck saw only the reign of Louis XIV. Nanteuil was able to engrave very few of the great men of the time of Louis XIII., and the regency, and in the latter part of their life; Mazarin, in his last five or six years; Condé, growing old; Turenne, old; Fouquet and Matthieu Molé, some years before the fall of the one and the death of the other; and he was too often obliged to waste his talent upon a crowd of parliamentarians, ecclesiastics, and obscure financiers.[162]If I wished to make any one acquainted with the greatest and most neglected portion of the seventeenth century, that which Voltaire almost wholly omitted, I would set him to collecting the works of Morin.[163]Mellan not only made portraits after the celebrated painters of his time, he is himself the author of great and charming compositions, many of which serve as frontispieces to books. I willingly call attention to that one which is at the head of a folio edition of theIntroduction à la Vie Dévote, and to the beautiful frontispieces of the writings of Richelieu, from the press of the Louvre.[164]This was the opinion of Winkelmann at the end of the eighteenth century; it is our opinion now, even after all the discoveries that have been made during fifty years, that may be seen in great part retraced and described in theMusio real Barbonico.[165]There was doubtless sculpture in the middle age: the innumerable figures at the portals of our cathedrals, and the statues that are discovered every day sufficiently testify it. Theimagersof that time certainly had much spirit and imagination; but, at least in everything that we have seen, beauty is absent, and taste wanting.[166]Go and see at the Museum of Versailles the statue of Francis I., and say whether any Italian, except the author of theLaurent de Medicis, has made any thing like it. See also in the Museum of the Louvre, the statue of Admiral Chabot.[167]Sarazin died in 1660, Lesueur in 1655, Poussin in 1665, Descartes in 1650, Pascal in 1662, and the genius of Corneille did not extend beyond that epoch.[168]Lenoir,Musée des Monuments Français, vol. v., p. 87-91, and theMusée Royale des Monuments Françaisof 1815, p. 98, 99, 108, 122, and 140. This wonderful monument, erected to Henri de Bourbon, at the expense of his old intendant Perrault, president of theChambre des Comptes, was placed in the Church of the Jesuits, and was wholly in bronze. It must not be confounded with the other monument that the Condés erected to the same prince in their family burial-ground at Vallery, near Montereau, in Yonne. This monument is in marble, and by the hand of Michel Anguier; see the description in Lenoir, vol. v., p. 23-25, and especially in theAnnuaire de l' Yonne pour1842, p. 173, etc.[169]Rue d'Enfer, No. 67.[170]The Museum of the Louvre possesses only a very small number of Sarazin's works, and those of very little importance:—a bust of Pierre Séguier, strikingly true, two statuettes full of grace, and the small funeral monument of Hennequin, Abbé of Bernay, member of Parliament, who died in 1651, which is achef-d'œuvreof elegance.[171]These three statues were united in the Museum desPetits-Augustins, Lenoir,Musée-royal, etc., p. 94; we know not why they have been separated; Jacques-Auguste de Thou has been placed in the Louvre, and his two wives at Versailles.[172]François Anguier had made a marble tomb of Cardinal de Bérulle, which was in the oratory ofRue St. Honoré. It would have been interesting to compare this statue with that of Sarazin, which is still at the Carmelites. François is also the author of the monument of the Longuevilles, which, before the Revolution, was at the Célestins, and was seen in 1815 at the museum desPetits-Augustins, Lenoir,ibid., p. 103; it is now in the Louvre. It is an obelisk, the four sides of which are covered with allegorical bas-reliefs. The pedestal, also ornamented with bas-reliefs, has four female figures in marble, representing the cardinal virtues.[173]Now at Versailles. Lenoir, p. 97 and 100. See his portrait, painted by Champagne, and engraved by Morin.[174]Group in white marble which was at the Célestins, a church near thehôtelof Rohan-Chabot in thePlace Royale; re-collected in the Museumdes Petits-Augustins, Lenoir,ibid., p. 97; it is now at Versailles. We must not pass over that beautiful production, the mausoleum of Jacques de Souvré, Grand Prior of France, the brother of the beautiful Marchioness de Sablé; a mausoleum that came from Saint-Jean de Latran, passed through the Museumdes Petits-Augustins, and is now found in the Louvre. The sculptures of the porte Saint-Denis are also owed to Michel Anguier, as well as the admirable bust of Colbert, which is in the museum.[175]At first at Notre-Dame, the natural place for the tombs of the Gondis, then at the Augustins, now at Versailles.[176]In the Church St. Germain des Prés.[177]At the Capuchins, then at the Augustins, then at Versailles.[178]See, on these monuments, Lenoir, p. 98, 101, 102. That of Mazarin is now at the Louvre; that of Colbert has been restored to the Church of St. Eustache, and that of Lebrun to the Church St. Nicholas du Chardonnet, as well as the mausoleum, so expressive but a little overstrained, of the mother of Lebrun, by Tuby, and the mausoleum of Jerome Bignon, the celebrated Councillor of State, who died in 1656.[179]Quatremère de Quincy,Histoire de la Vie et des Ouvrages de plus Célèbres Architectes, vol. ii., p. 145:—"There could scarcely be found in any country anensembleso grand, which offers with so much unity and regularity an aspect at once more varied and picturesque, especially in the façade of the entrance." Unfortunately this unity has disappeared, thanks to the constructions that have since been added to the primitive work.[180]In order to appreciate the beauty of the Sorbonne, one must stand in the lower part of the great court, and from that point consider the effect of the successive elevation, at first of the other part of the court, then of the different stories of the portico, then of the portico itself, of the church, and, finally, of the dome.[181]Quatremère de Quincy,Ibid., p. 257:—"The cupola of this edifice is one of the finest in Europe."[182]We do not speak of the colonnade of the Louvre by Perrault, because in spite of its grand qualities, it begins the decline and marks the passage from the serious to the academic style, from originality to imitation, from the seventeenth century to the eighteenth.[183]See the engraving of Pérelle. Sauval, vol. ii., p. 66 and p. 131, says that thehôtelof Condé wasmagnificently built, that it wasthe most magnificent of the time.[184]Notice of Guillet de St. Georges, recently published (see theAppendix):—"Nearly at the same time the Princess-dowager de Condé, Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency, mother of the late prince, had an oratory painted by Lesueur in thehôtelof Condé. The altar-piece represents aNativity, that of the ceiling aCelestial Glory. The wainscot is enriched with several figures and with a quantity of ornaments worked with great care."

[101]See the exposition and refutation of the doctrine of Condillac and Helvetius,Ibid., vol. iii.

[102]Seelecture 5, in this vol.

[103]If one would make himself acquainted with a simple and piquant refutation, written two thousand years ago, of false theories of beauty, he may read theHippiasof Plato, vol. iv. of our translation. ThePhædrus, vol. vi., contains the veiled exposition of Plato's own theory; but it is in theBanquet(Ibid.), and particularly in the discourse of Diotimus, that we must look for the thought of Plato carried to its highest degree of development, and clothed with all the beauty of human language.

[104]See theHippias.

[105]FirstEnnead, book vi., in the work of M. B. Saint-Hillaire, on theSchool of Alexandria, the translation of this morsel of Plotinus, p. 197.

[106]Winkelmann has twice described the Apollo,History of Art among the Ancients, Paris, 1802, 3 vols., in 4to. Vol. i., book iv., chap. iii.,Art among the Greeks:—"The Apollo of the Vatican offers us that God in a movement of indignation against the serpent Python, which he has just killed with arrow-shots, and in a sentiment of contempt for a victory so little worthy of a divinity. The wise artist, who proposed to represent the most beautiful of the gods, placed the anger in the nose, which, according to the ancients, was its seat; and the disdain on the lips. He expressed the anger by the inflation of the nostrils, and the disdain by the elevation of the under lip, which causes the same movement in the chin."—Ibid., vol. ii., book iv., chap. vi.,Art under the Emperors:—"Of all the antique statues that have escaped the fury of barbarians and the destructive hand of time, the statue of Apollo is, without contradiction, the most sublime. One would say that the artist composed a figure purely ideal, and employed matter only because it was necessary for him to execute and represent his idea. As much as Homer's description of Apollo surpasses the descriptions which other poets have undertaken after him, so much this statue excels all the figures of this god. Its height is above that of man, and its attitude proclaims the divine grandeur with which it is filled. A perennial spring-time, like that which reigns in the happy fields of Elysium, clothes with lovable youth the beautiful body, and shines with sweetness over the noble structure of the limbs. In order to feel the merit of thischef-d'œuvre of art, we must be penetrated with intellectual beauty, and become, if possible, the creatures of a celestial nature; for there is nothing mortal in it, nothing subject to the wants of humanity. That body, whose forms are not interrupted by a vein, which is not agitated by a nerve, seems animated with a celestial spirit, which circulates like a sweet vapor in all the parts of that admirable figure. The god has just been pursuing Python, against which he has bent, for the first time, his formidable bow; in his rapid course, he has overtaken him, and given him a mortal wound. Penetrated with the conviction of his power, and lost in a concentrated joy, his august look penetrates far into the infinite, and is extended far beyond his victory. Disdain sits upon his lips; the indignation that he breathes distends his nostrils, and ascends to his eyebrows; but an unchangeable serenity is painted on his brow, and his eye is full of sweetness, as though the Muses were caressing him. Among all the figures that remain to us of Jupiter, there is none in which the father of the gods approaches the grandeur with which he manifested himself to the intelligence of Homer; but in the traits of the Apollo Belvidere, we find the individual beauties of all the other divinities united, as in that of Pandora. The forehead is the forehead of Jupiter, inclosing the goddess of wisdom; the eyebrows, by their movement, announce his supreme will; the large eyes are those of the queen of the gods, orbed with dignity, and the mouth is an image of that of Bacchus, where breathed voluptuousness. Like the tender branches of the vine, his beautiful locks flow around his head, as if they were lightly agitated by the zephyr's breath. They seem perfumed with the essence of the gods, and are charmingly arranged over his head by the hand of the Graces. At the sight of this marvel of art, I forget every thing else, and my mind takes a supernatural disposition, fitted to judge of it with dignity; from admiration I pass to ecstasy; I feel my breast dilating and rising, like those who are filled with the spirit of prophecy; I am transported to Delos, and the sacred groves of Syria,—places which Apollo honored with his presence:—the statue seems to be animated as it were with the beauty that sprung of old from the hands of Pygmalion. How can I describe thee, O inimitable master-piece? For this it would be necessary that art itself should deign to inspire my pen. The traits that I have just sketched, I lay before thee, as those who came to crown the gods, put their crowns at their feet, not being able to reach their heads."

[107]See the last part of theBanquet, the discourse of Alcibiades, p. 326 of vol. vi. of our translation.

[108]We here have in mind, and we avow it, the Socrates of David, which appears to us, the theatrical character being admitted, above its reputation. Besides Socrates, it is impossible not to admire Plato listening to his master, as it were from the bottom of his soul, without looking at him, with his back turned upon the scene that is passing, and lost in the contemplation of the intelligible world.

[109]We are fortunate in finding this theory, which is so dear to us, confirmed by the authority of one of the severest and most circumspect minds:—it may be seen in Reid, 1st Series, vol. iv., lecture 23. The Scotch philosopher terminates hisEssay on Tastewith these words, which happily remind us of the thought and manner of Plato himself:—"Whether the reasons that I have given to prove that sensible beauty is only the image of moral beauty appear sufficient or not, I hope that my doctrine, in attempting to unite the terrestrial Venus more closely to the celestial Venus, will not seem to have for its object to abase the first, and render her less worthy of the homage that mankind has always paid her."

[110]Part iii.,lecture 15.

[111]Vol. vi. of our translation, p. 816-818

[112]Recherches sur l'Art Statuaire.Paris, 1805.

[113]Paris, 1815, in folio, an eminent work that will subsist even when time shall have destroyed some of its details.

[114]Since reprinted under the title ofEssais sur l'Ideal dans ses Applications Pratiques. Paris, 1837.

[115]Translation of Plato, vol. xii.,Timæus, p. 116.

[116]Orator:"Neque enim ille artifex (Phidias) cum faceret Jovis formam aut Minervæ, contemplabatur aliquem a quo similitudinem duceret; sed ipsius in mente insidebat species pulchritudinis eximia quædam, quam intuens, in eaque defixus, ad illius similitudinem artem et manum dirigebat."

[117]Raccolta di lett.Sulla pitt., i., p. 83. "Essendo carestia e de' buoni giudici e di belle donne, io mi servo di certa idea che mi viene alla mente."

[118]"A picture representing a broken glass over several subjects painted on the canvas, by which the eye is deceived."

[119]Vassari,Vie de Raphael.

[120]Lecture 6.

[121]See theGorgias, with theArgument, vol. iii. of our translation of Plato.

[122]There is aProvincialthat for vehemence can be compared only to thePhilipics, and its fragment on the infinite has the grandeur and magnificence of Bossuet. See our work on theThoughts of Pascal, 4th Series,Literature, vol. i.

[123]See theJupiter Olympienof M. Quatremère de Quincy.

[124]Allusion to theMagdeleineof Canova, which was then to be seen in the gallery of M. de Sommariva.

[125]See theTempestof Haydn, among the pianoforte works of this master.

[126]Seelecture 6.

[127]I have not myself had the good fortune to hear the religious music of the Vatican. Therefore, I shall let a competent judge, M. Quatremère de Quincy, speak,Considérations Morales sur les Destination des Ouvrages de l'Art, Paris, 1815, p. 98: "Let one call to mind those chants so simple and so touching, that terminate at Rome the funeral solemnities of those three days which the Church particularly devotes to the expression of its grief, in the last week of Lent. In that nave where the genius of Michael Angelo has embraced the duration of ages, from the wonders of creation to the last judgment that must destroy its works, are celebrated, in the presence of the Roman pontiff, those nocturnal ceremonies whose rites, symbols, and plaintive liturgies seem to be so many figures of the mystery of grief to which they are consecrated. The light decreasing by degrees, at the termination of each psalm, you would say that a funeral veil is extended little by little over those religious vaults. Soon the doubtful light of the last lamp allows you to perceive nothing but Christ in the distance, in the midst of clouds, pronouncing his judgments, and some angel executors of his behests. Then, at the bottom of a tribune interdicted to the regard of the profane, is heard the psalm of the penitent king, to which three of the greatest masters of the art have added the modulations of a simple and pathetic chant. No instrument is mingled with those accents. Simple harmonies of voice execute that music; but these voices seem to be those of angels, and their effect penetrates the depths of the soul."We have cited this beautiful passage—and we could have cited many others, even superior to it—of a man now forgotten, and almost always misunderstood, but whom posterity will put in his place. Let us indicate, at least, the last pages of the same production, on the necessity of leaving the works of art in the place for which they were made, for example, the portrait of Mlle. de Vallière in theMadeleine aux Carmélites, instead of transferring it to, and exposing it in the apartments of Versailles, "the only place in the world," eloquently says M. Quatremère, "which never should have seen it."

We have cited this beautiful passage—and we could have cited many others, even superior to it—of a man now forgotten, and almost always misunderstood, but whom posterity will put in his place. Let us indicate, at least, the last pages of the same production, on the necessity of leaving the works of art in the place for which they were made, for example, the portrait of Mlle. de Vallière in theMadeleine aux Carmélites, instead of transferring it to, and exposing it in the apartments of Versailles, "the only place in the world," eloquently says M. Quatremère, "which never should have seen it."

[128]One is reminded of the expression of the great Condé: "Where then has Corneille learned politics and war?"

[129]It would be a curious and useful study, to compare with the original all the passages of Britannicus imitated from Tacitus; in them Racine would almost always be found below his model. I will give a single example. In the account of the death of Britannicus, Racine thus expresses the different effects of the crime on the spectators:Juez combien ce coup frappe tous les esprits;La moitié s'épouvante et sort avec des cris;Mais ceux qui de la cour ont un plus long usageSur les yeux de César composent leur visage.Certainly the style is excellent; but it pales and seems nothing more than a very feeble sketch in comparison with the rapid and sombre pencil-strokes of the great Roman painter: "Trepidatur a circumsedentibus, diffugiunt imprudentes; at, quibus altior intellectus, resistunt defixi et Neronem intuentes."

Juez combien ce coup frappe tous les esprits;La moitié s'épouvante et sort avec des cris;Mais ceux qui de la cour ont un plus long usageSur les yeux de César composent leur visage.

Certainly the style is excellent; but it pales and seems nothing more than a very feeble sketch in comparison with the rapid and sombre pencil-strokes of the great Roman painter: "Trepidatur a circumsedentibus, diffugiunt imprudentes; at, quibus altior intellectus, resistunt defixi et Neronem intuentes."

[130]See the letter to Perrault.

[131]En vain contre le Cid ministre se ligue,Tout Paris pour Chimène a les yeux de Rodrique, etc.* * * * *Après qu'un peu de terre, obtenu par prière,Pour jamais dans la tombe eut enfermé Molière, etc.* * * * *

[131]

En vain contre le Cid ministre se ligue,Tout Paris pour Chimène a les yeux de Rodrique, etc.* * * * *Après qu'un peu de terre, obtenu par prière,Pour jamais dans la tombe eut enfermé Molière, etc.* * * * *

[132]Aux pieds de cet autel de structure grossière,Git sans pompe, enfermé dans une vile bière,Le plus savant mortel qui jamais ait écrit;Arnaud, qui sur la grâce instruit par Jésus-Christ,Combattant pour l'Eglise, a, dans l'Eglise même,Souffert plus d'un outrage et plus d'un anathème, etc.* * * * *Errant, pauvre, banni, proscrit, persécuté;Et même par sa mort leur fureur mal éteinteN'aurait jamais laissé ses cendres en repos,Si Dieu lui-même ici de son ouaille sainteA ces loups dévorants n'avait caché les os.

[132]

Aux pieds de cet autel de structure grossière,Git sans pompe, enfermé dans une vile bière,Le plus savant mortel qui jamais ait écrit;Arnaud, qui sur la grâce instruit par Jésus-Christ,Combattant pour l'Eglise, a, dans l'Eglise même,Souffert plus d'un outrage et plus d'un anathème, etc.* * * * *Errant, pauvre, banni, proscrit, persécuté;Et même par sa mort leur fureur mal éteinteN'aurait jamais laissé ses cendres en repos,Si Dieu lui-même ici de son ouaille sainteA ces loups dévorants n'avait caché les os.

[133]These verses did not appear till after the death of Boileau, and they are not well known. Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, in a letter to Brossette, rightly said that these are "the most beautiful verses that M. Despréaux ever made."

[134]4th Series of our works,Literature, book i.,Preface, p. 3: "It is in prose, perhaps, that our literary glory is most certain.... What modern nation reckons prose writers that approach those of our nation? The country of Shakspeare and Milton does not possess, since Bacon, a single prose writer of the first order [?]; that of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, and Tasso, is in vain proud of Machiavel, whose sound and manly diction, like the thought that it expresses, is destitute of grandeur. Spain, it is true, has produced Cervantes, an admirable writer, but he is alone.... France can easily show a list of more than twenty prose writers of genius: Froissard, Rabelais, Montaigne, Descartes, Pascal, La Rochefoucauld, Molière, Retz, La Bruyère, Malebranche, Bossuet, Fénelon, Fléchier, Bourdaloue, Massillon, Mme. de Sévigné, Saint-Simon, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Buffon, J. J. Rousseau; without speaking of so many more that would be in the first rank everywhere else,—Amiot, Calvin, Pasquier, D'Aubigné, Charron, Balzac, Vaugelas, Pélisson, Nicole, Fleury, Bussi, Saint-Evremont, Mme. de Lafayette, Mme. de Maintenon, Fontenelle, Vauvenargues, Hamilton, Le Sage, Prévost, Beaumarchais, etc. It may be said with the exactest truth, that French prose is without a rival in modern Europe; and, even in antiquity, superior to the Latin prose, at least in the quantity and variety of models, it has no equal but the Greek prose, in its palmiest days, in the days of Herodotus and Demosthenes. I do not prefer Demosthenes to Pascal, and it would be difficult for me to put Plato himself above Bossuet. Plato and Bossuet, in my opinion, are the two greatest masters of human language, with manifest differences, as well as more than one trait of resemblance; both ordinarily speak like the people, with the last degree of simplicity, and at moments ascending without effort to a poetry as magnificent as that of Homer, ingenious and polished to the most charming delicacy, and by instinct majestic and sublime. Plato, without doubt, has incomparable graces, the supreme serenity, and, as it were, the demi-smile of the divine sage. Bossuet, on his side, has the pathetic, in which he has no rival but the great Corneille. When such writers are possessed, is it not a religion to render them the honor that is their due, that of a regular and profound study?"

[135]See theAppendix, at the end of the volume.

[136]See theAppendix.

[137]This picture had been made for a chapel of the church of St. Gervais. It formed the altar-piece, and in the foreground there was the admirable Bearing of the Cross, which is still seen in the Museum.

[138]Such a law was the first act of the first assembly of affranchised Greece, and all the friends of art have applauded it from end to end of civilized Europe.

[139]See theAppendix.

[140]TheSeven Sacramentsof Poussin are now in the Bridgewater Gallery. See theAppendix.

[141]See theAppendix.

[142]In the midst of this scene of brutal violence, everybody has remarked this delicate trait—a Roman quite young, almost juvenile, while possessing himself by force of a young girl taking refuge in the arms of her mother, asks her from her mother with an air at once passionate and restrained. In order to appreciate this picture, compare it with that of David in theensembleand in the details.

[143]In fact, the St. Joseph is here the important personage. He governs the whole scene; he prays, he is as it were in ecstasy.

[144]The pictures of Claude Lorrain, of which we have just spoken, are in the Museum of Paris. In all there are thirteen, whilst the Museum of Madrid alone possesses almost as many, while there are in England more than fifty, and those the most admirable. See theAppendix.

[145]The lastNotice of the Pictures exhibited in the Gallery of the National Museum of the Louvre, 1852, although its author, M. Villot, is surely a man of incontestable knowledge and taste, persists in placing Champagne in the Flemish school.En revanche, a learned foreigner, M. Waagen, claims him for the French school.Kunstwerke and Künstler in Paris, Berlin, 1839, p. 651.

[146]Well appreciated by Richelieu, he preferred his esteem to his benefits. One day when an envoy of Richelieu said to him that he had only to ask freely what he wished for the advancement of his fortune, Champagne responded that if M. the Cardinal could make him a more skilful painter than he was, it was the only thing that he asked of his Eminence; but that being impossible, he only desired the honor of his good graces. Félibien,Entretiens, 1st edition, 4to., part v., p. 171; and de Piles,Abrégé de la Vie des Peintres, 2d edition, p. 500.—"As he had much love for justice and truth, provided he satisfied what they both demanded, he easily passed over all the rest."—Nécrologe de Port-Royal, p. 336.

[147]See theAppendix.

[148]The original is in the Museum of Grenoble; but see the engraving of Morin; see also that of Daret, after the beautiful design of Demonstier.

[149]In the Museum of the Louvre; see also the engraving of Morin.

[150]The original is now in the Château of Sablé, belonging to the Marquis of Rougé; see the engraving of Simonneau in Perrault. The beautiful engraving of Edelinck was made after a different original, attributed to a nephew of Champagne.

[151]The original is also in the possession of the Marquis of Rougé; the admirable engraving of Van Schupen may take its place.

[152]In the Museum.

[153]In the Museum, and engraved by Gérard Edelinck.

[154]La Gloire du Val-de-Grâce, in 4to, 1669, with a frontispiece and vignettes. Molière there enters into infinite details on all the parts of the art of painting and the genius of Mignard. He pushes eulogy perhaps to the extent of hyperbole; afterwards, hyperbole gave place to the most shameful indifference. The fresco of the dome of Val-de-grâce is composed of four rows of figures, which rise in a circle from the base to the vertex of the arch. In the upper part is the Trinity, above which is raised a resplendent sky. Below the Trinity are the celestial powers. Descending a degree, we see the Virgin and the holy personages of the Old and New Testament. Finally, at the lower extremity is Anne of Austria, introduced into paradise by St. Anne and St. Louis, and these three figures are accompanied by a multitude of personages pertaining to the history of France, among whom are distinguished Joan of Arc, Charlemagne, etc.

[155]Engraved by Gerard Audran under the name of thePlague of David(la Peste de David). What has become of the original?

[156]See hisLandscape at Sunset, and theBathers(les Baigneuses), an agreeable scene somewhat blemished by careless drawing.

[157]It would be necessary to cite all his compositions. In hisHoly Familythe figure of the Virgin, without being celestial, admirably expresses meditation and reflection. We lost some time ago the most important work of S. Bourdon, theSept Œuvres de Miséricorde. See theAppendix.

[158]See especially hisExtreme Unction.

[159]The picture that is calledle Silence, which represents the sleep of the infant Jesus, is not unworthy of Poussin. The head of the infant is of superhuman power. TheBattles of Alexander, with their defects, are pages of history of the highest order; and in theAlexander visiting with Ephestion the Mother and the Wife of Darius, one knows not which to admire most, the noble ordering of the whole or the just expression of the figures.

[160]It seems that Lesueur sometimes furnished Daret with designs. It is indeed to Lesueur that Daret owes the idea and the design of hischef-d'œuvre, the portrait of Armand de Bourbon, prince de Conti, represented in his earliest youth, and in an abbé, sustained and surrounded by angels of different size, forming a charming composition. The drawing is completely pure, except some imperfect fore-shortenings. The little angels that sport with the emblems of the future cardinal are full of spirit, and, at the same time, sweetness.

[161]Edelinck saw only the reign of Louis XIV. Nanteuil was able to engrave very few of the great men of the time of Louis XIII., and the regency, and in the latter part of their life; Mazarin, in his last five or six years; Condé, growing old; Turenne, old; Fouquet and Matthieu Molé, some years before the fall of the one and the death of the other; and he was too often obliged to waste his talent upon a crowd of parliamentarians, ecclesiastics, and obscure financiers.

[162]If I wished to make any one acquainted with the greatest and most neglected portion of the seventeenth century, that which Voltaire almost wholly omitted, I would set him to collecting the works of Morin.

[163]Mellan not only made portraits after the celebrated painters of his time, he is himself the author of great and charming compositions, many of which serve as frontispieces to books. I willingly call attention to that one which is at the head of a folio edition of theIntroduction à la Vie Dévote, and to the beautiful frontispieces of the writings of Richelieu, from the press of the Louvre.

[164]This was the opinion of Winkelmann at the end of the eighteenth century; it is our opinion now, even after all the discoveries that have been made during fifty years, that may be seen in great part retraced and described in theMusio real Barbonico.

[165]There was doubtless sculpture in the middle age: the innumerable figures at the portals of our cathedrals, and the statues that are discovered every day sufficiently testify it. Theimagersof that time certainly had much spirit and imagination; but, at least in everything that we have seen, beauty is absent, and taste wanting.

[166]Go and see at the Museum of Versailles the statue of Francis I., and say whether any Italian, except the author of theLaurent de Medicis, has made any thing like it. See also in the Museum of the Louvre, the statue of Admiral Chabot.

[167]Sarazin died in 1660, Lesueur in 1655, Poussin in 1665, Descartes in 1650, Pascal in 1662, and the genius of Corneille did not extend beyond that epoch.

[168]Lenoir,Musée des Monuments Français, vol. v., p. 87-91, and theMusée Royale des Monuments Françaisof 1815, p. 98, 99, 108, 122, and 140. This wonderful monument, erected to Henri de Bourbon, at the expense of his old intendant Perrault, president of theChambre des Comptes, was placed in the Church of the Jesuits, and was wholly in bronze. It must not be confounded with the other monument that the Condés erected to the same prince in their family burial-ground at Vallery, near Montereau, in Yonne. This monument is in marble, and by the hand of Michel Anguier; see the description in Lenoir, vol. v., p. 23-25, and especially in theAnnuaire de l' Yonne pour1842, p. 173, etc.

[169]Rue d'Enfer, No. 67.

[170]The Museum of the Louvre possesses only a very small number of Sarazin's works, and those of very little importance:—a bust of Pierre Séguier, strikingly true, two statuettes full of grace, and the small funeral monument of Hennequin, Abbé of Bernay, member of Parliament, who died in 1651, which is achef-d'œuvreof elegance.

[171]These three statues were united in the Museum desPetits-Augustins, Lenoir,Musée-royal, etc., p. 94; we know not why they have been separated; Jacques-Auguste de Thou has been placed in the Louvre, and his two wives at Versailles.

[172]François Anguier had made a marble tomb of Cardinal de Bérulle, which was in the oratory ofRue St. Honoré. It would have been interesting to compare this statue with that of Sarazin, which is still at the Carmelites. François is also the author of the monument of the Longuevilles, which, before the Revolution, was at the Célestins, and was seen in 1815 at the museum desPetits-Augustins, Lenoir,ibid., p. 103; it is now in the Louvre. It is an obelisk, the four sides of which are covered with allegorical bas-reliefs. The pedestal, also ornamented with bas-reliefs, has four female figures in marble, representing the cardinal virtues.

[173]Now at Versailles. Lenoir, p. 97 and 100. See his portrait, painted by Champagne, and engraved by Morin.

[174]Group in white marble which was at the Célestins, a church near thehôtelof Rohan-Chabot in thePlace Royale; re-collected in the Museumdes Petits-Augustins, Lenoir,ibid., p. 97; it is now at Versailles. We must not pass over that beautiful production, the mausoleum of Jacques de Souvré, Grand Prior of France, the brother of the beautiful Marchioness de Sablé; a mausoleum that came from Saint-Jean de Latran, passed through the Museumdes Petits-Augustins, and is now found in the Louvre. The sculptures of the porte Saint-Denis are also owed to Michel Anguier, as well as the admirable bust of Colbert, which is in the museum.

[175]At first at Notre-Dame, the natural place for the tombs of the Gondis, then at the Augustins, now at Versailles.

[176]In the Church St. Germain des Prés.

[177]At the Capuchins, then at the Augustins, then at Versailles.

[178]See, on these monuments, Lenoir, p. 98, 101, 102. That of Mazarin is now at the Louvre; that of Colbert has been restored to the Church of St. Eustache, and that of Lebrun to the Church St. Nicholas du Chardonnet, as well as the mausoleum, so expressive but a little overstrained, of the mother of Lebrun, by Tuby, and the mausoleum of Jerome Bignon, the celebrated Councillor of State, who died in 1656.

[179]Quatremère de Quincy,Histoire de la Vie et des Ouvrages de plus Célèbres Architectes, vol. ii., p. 145:—"There could scarcely be found in any country anensembleso grand, which offers with so much unity and regularity an aspect at once more varied and picturesque, especially in the façade of the entrance." Unfortunately this unity has disappeared, thanks to the constructions that have since been added to the primitive work.

[180]In order to appreciate the beauty of the Sorbonne, one must stand in the lower part of the great court, and from that point consider the effect of the successive elevation, at first of the other part of the court, then of the different stories of the portico, then of the portico itself, of the church, and, finally, of the dome.

[181]Quatremère de Quincy,Ibid., p. 257:—"The cupola of this edifice is one of the finest in Europe."

[182]We do not speak of the colonnade of the Louvre by Perrault, because in spite of its grand qualities, it begins the decline and marks the passage from the serious to the academic style, from originality to imitation, from the seventeenth century to the eighteenth.

[183]See the engraving of Pérelle. Sauval, vol. ii., p. 66 and p. 131, says that thehôtelof Condé wasmagnificently built, that it wasthe most magnificent of the time.

[184]Notice of Guillet de St. Georges, recently published (see theAppendix):—"Nearly at the same time the Princess-dowager de Condé, Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency, mother of the late prince, had an oratory painted by Lesueur in thehôtelof Condé. The altar-piece represents aNativity, that of the ceiling aCelestial Glory. The wainscot is enriched with several figures and with a quantity of ornaments worked with great care."

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