From the Library of 
 Frank Simpson 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/artinprovincialf00carr_0 
 
ART IN 
 
 PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 LETTERS WRITTEN, DURING THE SUMMER OF 1882, 
 TO THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN, 
 
 J. COMYNS CARR. 
 
 aontrott ; 
 
 REMINGTON AND CO., 
 New Bond Street, W. 
 
 1883. 
 
 [All Rights Reserved.'} 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Towards the end of July I was invited by the 
 editor of the Manchester Guardian to visit some of 
 the principal museums of provincial France. At 
 a time when the subject of art administration was 
 attracting renewed attention at home, and when 
 the Corporation of Manchester was itself preparing 
 to undertake the charge of an art gallery, it was felt 
 that some better knowledge than was commonly 
 possessed of the art institutions of the great cities 
 of France could not fail to be useful and sugges- 
 tive. The museums and schools of art, scattered in 
 such numbers throughout the departments, are the 
 fruit of an organisation that has no counterpart 
 in our own country, and for this reason alone 
 they seemed to deserve closer study than they 
 had hitherto received. That these museums have 
 attracted but little notice from English visitors 
 
4 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is not indeed surprising. The towns in which they 
 may be seen to the best advantage do not come 
 within the ordinary compass of a Continental tour, 
 and even in places which lie upon the beaten track 
 of foreign travel, the museum rarely arrests the 
 attention of the visitor, who is perhaps rightly more 
 eager to examine the older monuments of art than 
 to concern himself with modern institutions of 
 artistic culture. 
 
 In reprinting the following letters, which record 
 the impressions of my journey, I am very sensible 
 of their shortcomings both of matter and method. 
 Within the time at my disposal it was impossible 
 to attempt an exhaustive survey of the museums 
 of France, nor was it always easy in a single 
 article to do justice to some of the larger and 
 more varied collections. Moreover, in treating of 
 the organisation, as well as of the contents, of the 
 different museums, it was sometimes difficult to 
 arrange the material I had collected in a logical 
 and orderly fashion. As I passed from city 
 to city the general system out of which 
 these institutions have grown up revealed itself 
 under new and shifting aspects. Arrangements 
 that worked well enough in one town seemed to 
 produce under different conditions of local manage- 
 ment results that tended to modify the first im- 
 pression, and just as often it would be found that 
 the energy and enterprise of the citizens them- 
 selves had served to exhibit in a more favourable 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 5 
 
 light some element in the general scheme of organ- 
 isation that had elsewhere proved comparatively 
 ineffective. 
 
 And yet although the measure of prosperity 
 achieved in every case must he held to 
 depend upon the intelligence and earnestness 
 displayed by the municipality, it would be a mistake 
 to ignore the advantages which the inhabitants of 
 these great provincial cities have derived from the 
 existence during a long period of a settled tradition 
 of administrative procedure. Since the beginning 
 of the century the museums of the provinces have 
 had a recognised status. Their relations towards 
 the central government on the one hand and 
 towards the municipality on the other have been 
 defined with sufficient clearness to render their 
 establishment in any particular instance a matter 
 which involved no disputable principle and but 
 little practical difficulty. Certain general concep- 
 tions of organisation and control are common to 
 them all, and have supplied a framework which, as 
 the occasion offered, each city has been able to 
 adapt to its own requirements. And this is a 
 point that deserves attention, for it represents the 
 general acceptance of certain ideas of municipal 
 responsibility which are not yet acknowledged in 
 our own country. Long before the decree of the 
 First Consul had affirmed the right of the great 
 provincial centres to a share in the enjoyment of 
 the national art treasures the promotion of artistic 
 
0 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 culture was recognised as one of the functions of 
 municipal government. Nor can it be doubted that 
 the acceptance of this principle has proved of im- 
 mense service to the cause of art. Leaving out of 
 sight for the moment the influence it has exercised 
 in the formation of public collections of art, it is 
 impossible not to be struck by the advantages 
 enjoyed by the inhabitants of French towns 
 in the existence of a widespread system 
 of art education. The schools of the provinces in 
 which a regular course of instruction is gratuitously 
 supplied were in the first instance the fruit of local 
 effort depending upon local support. State inter- 
 vention in this matter has come as an afterthought, 
 and even now the amount of material assistance 
 rendered by the State is small enough in comparison 
 with the large annual outlay made by the towns 
 themselves. But it is no part of my present purpose 
 to treat at length of the art schools of France. If 
 I refer to the circumstances of their origin, or to 
 the means of their support, it is mainly in order to 
 emphasise the fact that since the subject has 
 attracted serious notice in France there has never 
 been any hesitation in the public mind as to the 
 propriety of using the machinery and resources of 
 local government in advancing the interests of 
 art. 
 
 And to this liberal conception of municipal duty 
 is also due the successful development of the pro- 
 vincial museums of France. The decree of Napoleon 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 7 
 
 authorising the distribution of upwards of a 
 thousand pictures among the great towns of the 
 departments would not have achieved the object 
 with which it was made unless the different 
 municipalities had been prepared to second the 
 initiative of the State. In some instances the 
 nucleus of a public collection of works of art already 
 existed, and nowhere was there any uncertainty as 
 to the expediency of corporate action. The 
 museum passed at once into the category of 
 public institutions. Its recognised connection with 
 the city was established once and for all, 
 and has never since seemed open to argument or 
 dispute. And this explains in a great degree not 
 merely the success of these institutions, but their 
 number. In a city of any pretensions the museum 
 comes as a matter of course with other municipal 
 developments. It is created without difficulty, for 
 the simple reason that its establishment has long 
 been counted among the recognised aims of local 
 enterprise, and because the principles which deter- 
 mine its organisation and control form an integral 
 part of the machinery of municipal government. 
 The influence which this settled conception of 
 public duty has exercised in advancing the cause of 
 artistic culture can scarcely be exaggerated. There 
 exist in France at the present time more than a 
 hundred museums, claiming an official connection 
 with the towns in which they are situated. It is 
 true that in many instances they fall far short of 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the public requirements, and in some cases are 
 wholly unworthy of their dignified title. But even 
 where failure is most conspicuous, and where for 
 lack of enterprise the museum is little more than a 
 name, its establishment nevertheless serves to 
 assert a principle which in England is still strug- 
 gling for acceptance. Nor at the worst is this 
 barren result the only advantage derived from the 
 system. In nearly every town of Erance the 
 process of modern improvement is constantly dis- 
 lodging from their ancient settlements objects of 
 historical association or of genuine artistic interest, 
 and for such things the museums provide an 
 appropriate receptacle. Fragments of architec- 
 tural ornament and decoration and characteristic 
 examples of furniture which but for the museum 
 would be lost altogether or swept away into private 
 collections are thus preserved to the citizens as a 
 permanent record of local art and history. In like 
 manner also the museum serves as the storehouse 
 for the fruits of local archaeological research, and 
 to the long existence of such institutions must be 
 ascribed the extraordinary worth of many of the 
 provincial collections of Gallo-Roman remains. And 
 there is yet a further benefit which provincial 
 France has derived from the enlightened policy 
 that has been in force since the beginning of the 
 century. The presence of the museum, though it 
 may not have inspired the enterprise of the citizens 
 themselves, has often served to attract the muni- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 9 
 
 licence of private collectors, and tlie artistic treasure 
 acquired in this way, and which is now permanently 
 secured for public enjoyment, is certainly of extra- 
 ordinary extent and value. The local patriotism of 
 a single collector has sometimes most effectively 
 supplemented, and sometimes entirely replaced, 
 the efforts of the municipality, nor can it be 
 doubted that the existence in every considerable 
 city of a recognised channel for such liberality has 
 been a powerful factor in promoting its exercise. 
 
 But these museums of provincial France are not 
 merely municipal. From the circumstances of 
 their origin they also enjoy the advantages of State 
 assistance and control. As I have pointed out in 
 the course of my letters, the action of the central 
 authorities in the matter of inspection and control 
 is now the subject of a considerable amount of 
 criticism. It is felt, and with justice, that the care 
 of the valuable works of ancient art deposited in 
 these museums has been left too long to the discre- 
 tion of individual curators, and it is undeniable that 
 this neglect and indifference on the part of the 
 Government has in some cases resulted in serious 
 damage. But the merits of a system are not to be 
 measured by the apathy of those who are entrusted 
 with the duty of carrying it into effect. The 
 energetic efforts that are now being made in France 
 to repair the acknowledged defects in the present 
 mode of organisation would afford sufficient proof 
 if such were needed that the principle which con- 
 
10 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 neets the museums of the great cities of the de- 
 partments with the central machinery of govern- 
 ment is deemed essential to the progress 
 and development of art. And it is this prin- 
 ciple, as we must remember, that still needs to 
 be enforced among ourselves. The right of the 
 large centres of industry to a share in the 
 enjoyment of the national art treasures has hitherto 
 been urged with but little effect. What has been 
 accomplished in this direction is due rather to the 
 earnest goodwill of those who have charge of the 
 national collections than to the initiative of the 
 Government. The authorities at South Kensington 
 are permitted to circulate objects of art throughout 
 the country, and within the last two years a small 
 vote has been added to the estimates for the pro- 
 duction of casts and copies of original works of 
 value. But as yet no organized demand has been 
 made by the representatives of the great towns for 
 an annual grant to be devoted to the purchase of 
 works of art for the local museums, and until such a 
 demand has been preferred and admitted we cannot 
 be said even to have accepted the principle which 
 has so long prevailed in France. 
 
 Nor is it likely that any real progress will be 
 made in the matter until there exists in England 
 some recognised authority to whom the representa- 
 tives of the great towns can make their appeal 
 With no accredited representatives in the councils 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 11 
 
 of the nation art lies at the mercy of the Treasury, 
 and sometimes of the Treasury clerk. Even the 
 national institutions of art whose claims upon the 
 public purse are acknowledged have to struggle 
 against a dogged resistance on the part of the 
 Government whenever any effort is made to secure 
 a special grant of money, or when the moment has 
 arrived to establish a permanent title to a more 
 liberal subsidy. The great spending departments 
 of the country have their spokesmen in the Cabinet 
 charged with the duty of defending their interests 
 and of justifying every item of expenditure deemed 
 necessary to efficiency ; but the cause of art, both in 
 and out of Parliament, has to depend upon amateur 
 championship, which struggles ineffectually against 
 the simple non possumus of those who hold the 
 national purse-strings. And so it happens that 
 unless the claims of the national institutions of art 
 are made the subject of organised agitation even the 
 most reasonable measures of development or reform 
 are deliberately neglected and delayed. There is no 
 need to quote instances of the evil results which 
 are attributable to this clumsy and incoherent 
 system. The lamentable lack of enterprise and 
 initiative in all matters connected with the public 
 patronage of art is too well known and too widely 
 acknowledged. But I may point to the recent loss 
 of the manuscripts belonging to the Duke of 
 Plamilton as affording conclusive evidence that 
 under existing conditions we cannot hope to com- 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 pete with the representatives of foreign Govern- 
 ments in their efforts to advance the cause of 
 artistic culture. While we have been laboriously 
 striving to set our cumbersome machinery in 
 motion Germany has quietly appropriated the 
 whole of this magnificent collection, and our own 
 museums are left out in the cold. 
 
 And if our present system has dwarfed the de- 
 velopment of the national collections, it has, at the 
 same time, proved equally hostile to the establish- 
 ment of any comprehensive scheme for the encour- 
 agement of art in the great provincial towns. Even 
 if the claim put forward on their behalf were re- 
 cognised by Parliament, it could only be effectively 
 satisfied by means of an organisation which does not 
 at present exist. Until such an organisation has 
 been created the legitimate aspirations of the great 
 centres of industry will be apt to take a form that 
 is calculated rather to excite opposition than to win 
 encouragement and sympathy. For it must be con- 
 fessed that the demands of those who espouse the 
 cause of the provincial museums have sometimes 
 assumed extravagant proportions. The idea that 
 the contents of the British Museum or the 
 National Gallery are to be scattered broadcast 
 over the country is obviously untenable. These 
 central depositories of art must always remain as 
 the prime objects of national liberality, and to rob 
 them of any essential part of their resources would 
 be a signal blunder which students in all parts of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 13 
 
 the country would soon find reason to deplore. In 
 this particular, therefore, the process which had 
 enriched the French museums is not applicable to 
 our own case. The National Gallery is of only 
 recent creation; the treasures it possesses do no 
 more than suffice for the illustration of the different 
 phases of ancient and modern art. It is not, like 
 the Louvre, the heir of a vast inheritance of artistic 
 treasure, and therefore it cannot, like the Louvre 
 endow other institutions and yet retain uninjured 
 its own supremacy. But in this inability of the 
 central museum to satisfy the needs of the pro- 
 vinces is to be found, I think, the strongest reason for 
 asserting the principle which has so long been recog- 
 nised in France. There the State gives both in 
 money and in kind; and in money, at least, 
 we need not show ourselves unable to compete with 
 our neighbours. Nor does it follow because the 
 British Museum and the National Gallery have now 
 but little to offer that they will as a matter of course 
 be always in the same plight. The resources of both 
 institutions are constantly increasing by purchase 
 and bequest, and it would be strange indeed if in 
 progress of time the accumulation of treasure did 
 not yield a proportion of work that might be ap- 
 propriately distributed among the museums of the 
 country. Even now the British Museum could 
 render effective aid in this way. It is notorious 
 that in the Print Boom are stored a large number 
 of duplicate impressions of valuable engravings, 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 many of which would form a welcome feature in the 
 art gallery of a city like Manchester. 
 
 But there is another advantage which would 
 surely follow from the acceptance of the principle 
 upon which I have been insisting. If the claims of 
 the provincial museums were admitted, the purchase 
 of works of art out of the national funds could be 
 effected upon terms that are now wholly im- 
 possible. The authorities in Bloomsbury and 
 Trafalgar Square cannot afford to buy what 
 they do not need for the purposes of their 
 own institutions, and thus it often happens 
 that a single work in a large and varied collection 
 is acquired at a figure which is out of all proportion 
 to the value of the whole. Under au organised 
 system of art administration this would not occur, 
 for the remainder of the collection could always be 
 utilised to advantage even if it were not required 
 for the central museum. The duty of effecting 
 purchases of works of arts would be entrusted to a 
 properly constituted body representing the interests 
 of art in the provinces as well as in London. The 
 recommendations of such a body could not readily 
 be ignored. They would carry weight with the 
 public and with the Government, for they would 
 command the support of expert opinion in every 
 department. But the accomplishment of a reform 
 like this cannot be brought about without 
 a radical change in our present system, In order 
 to awaken such a measure of public interest 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 15 
 
 in the cause of art as would react upon the 
 Government it is indispensable that our forces 
 should be united and combined. It is indispensable. 
 I mean, that the great institutions devoted to the 
 service of art which are now under the control of 
 separate and independent bodies of trustees should 
 consent to be placed in some sort of harmonious 
 relation to a central authority, and that such an 
 authority should also have in its keeping the 
 interests of the local art centres throughout the 
 country. Until we resolutely set ourselves to the 
 accomplishment of this preliminary labour it is 
 vain to hope for any efficient aid from Government, 
 however great may be the desire of the guardians 
 of the national collections to do what lies in their 
 power towards the encouragement of local museums. 
 With the forces of art scattered and divided either 
 political party can safely ignore their existence, 
 but once establish an intelligent union between the 
 metropolis and the provinces in this matter and the 
 interests of both will be permanently secured. 
 
 With regard to the form that should be given to 
 the museums of the provinces, there is one con- 
 clusion which a survey of the existing institutions 
 of France would seem to establish beyond dispute. 
 No museum can be held to deserve the support of 
 the government, or to warrant the intervention of 
 municipal authority, which does not accept the 
 largest and most liberal interpretation of its func- 
 tions. If the cause of art is to be served by such 
 
16 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 establishments, it must be by showing in what way 
 the spirit of art can be made to enter into the life 
 of the people, and by marking the enduring relation 
 which exists between art and industry. In this 
 way alone can the museum justify its existence. 
 There is sometimes a danger, as I have taken occasion 
 to point out in the course of these letters, of sinking 
 the museum in the picture gallery and of thus 
 dwarfing the conception of art to suit a merely 
 popular taste. But this is not an expedient that 
 could recommend itself to a public body anxious to 
 promote the serious study of art. The picture 
 gallery has its legitimate place in the scheme of 
 the museum, but it represents only one of many 
 varied forms in which the artistic spirit expresses 
 itself, and the taste to which it appeals stands least 
 in need of encouragement. 
 
ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE 
 
 I.— O ELEANS, 
 
 The great cities whose walls are washed by the 
 impetuous and shifting waters of the Loire are rich 
 in monuments of art and in the records of history. 
 From Orleans to Nantes the river runs through a 
 fruitful country that was once the chosen seat of 
 kings, and of kings who pressed into their service 
 the most accomplished and gifted artists of their 
 time. Blois, Chambord, Amboise, Chenonceau, 
 Loches, and Dampiere have each in turn some 
 dark or brilliant page in the troubled life of the 
 past enshrined within their walls, and to all in like 
 manner there belongs the happier and more lasting 
 association that is given by the magic of art. The 
 workmen who laboured to carve in stone the royal 
 emblems of their employers could scarcely have 
 looked forward to a time when the thought and 
 care so lavishly bestowed upon their task would 
 outlive the glory which such things were designed 
 to perpetuate. We are apt to think of art as a 
 
18 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 product which of necessity shares all the human 
 frailties of its epoch, and in a larger view of the 
 intellectual movement of the world this cannot but 
 be true. And yet it is no less true that the art of 
 the past often escapes the stain of history, serving 
 to remind us by its survival that in these seasons of 
 dark crime and fiery ambition there was a happier 
 life even for those who dwelt within the shadow of 
 a court. For it is impossible to believe that the 
 artists whose excellent invention and delightful skill 
 are shown in the delicate ornament of such a build- 
 ing as the old Hotel de Ville at Orleans can have 
 cared for much else besides their work. “ Ces 
 messieurs n’etaient pas plus betes que nous ” was ti e 
 pregnant remark of my driver, as I stood examining 
 the exquisite carving upon the capitals of the 
 pilasters that flank the doorway in the Hue Sainte 
 Catherine, and this no doubt is a truth worth con- 
 stant remembrance. With a reticence and brevity 
 that verged closely upon epigram, my companion 
 had recalled the standard by which such art should 
 be judged. We are all of us rather apt perhaps in 
 estimating the great achievements of the past to 
 spend too much time in wonder and too little in 
 respect. Our breasts swell with the proud con- 
 sciousness of the steam engine and the electric tele- 
 graph, and from the heights of a superior civilisa- 
 tion we condescend to be surprised at the skill of 
 earlier and less fortunate ages. Whereas in a juster 
 \ iew of the matter there is indeed no room for 
 
ORLEANS. 
 
 19 
 
 wonder at all. Rather it would be wonderful, one 
 might say, if, after such long and patient seeking 
 for beauty in Italy and the North, the artists of 
 France who caught the spirit of the Renaissance 
 before Gothic tradition was dead had failed to leave 
 behind them some achievement of peculiar char- 
 acter and fascination. But although their work 
 was doubtless wrought with greater ease than we 
 can guess, and with an exuberance and freedom of 
 invention never perhaps to be granted again to the 
 artists of any future age, yet in virtue of these 
 very qualities it must have served as the all- 
 absorbing occupation of a lifetime. Theirs cer- 
 tainly was not the existence that is mirrored for us 
 in the story of royal intrigue and crime; and in 
 their art we have the best assurance that for those 
 who were not within the immediate influence of 
 princely ambition there were seasons of tranquil 
 study and quiet labour. 
 
 This ancient Hotel de Ville is now the home of 
 the Orleans Museum of Painting and Sculpture. 
 It was originally constructed for a rich bourgeois 
 of Orleans, and the facade of which I have spoken 
 was the work of the architect Vi art, and dates from 
 the early years of the IGth century. The present 
 Conservator of the Museum, in his preface to an 
 excellent catalogue of the collection, puts forward 
 a plea for the restoration of the building. The 
 word has come to stink in the nostrils of all who 
 care for art, and the movement which it represents 
 
20 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL PRANCE. 
 
 has already made havoc along the banks of the 
 Loire. Let us hope that the picturesque 
 Hotel de Ville at Orleans will be left a 
 little longer in its unregenerate state. Cer- 
 tainly before the modern artist is allowed to 
 tamper with the facade, castings should be taken of 
 some of the more delicate designs in relief. It is 
 only lately that the French Government has shown 
 a just appreciation of the value of the architectural 
 remains of the Renaissance which are scattered 
 through the country, and the work of reproduction 
 which is now being undertaken is due in a great 
 measure to the intelligent initiative of the late M. 
 Viollet-le-Duc, who started the project of a histori- 
 cal museum of sculpture to be opened in the Tro- 
 eadero Palace. But no collection of casts, however 
 complete, can save for us the beauty of an old 
 building, and even if the Hotel de Ville should 
 escape unharmed such is not likely to be the fate of 
 the house that once belonged to Agnes Sorel, and 
 which has lately been purchased by the munici- 
 pality. Thither in due season it is proposed to 
 remove the collection now installed in the Rue 
 ISainte Catherine, and a sum of 40,000 francs has 
 already been promised by the Government towards 
 the work of restoration. This is an earlier and 
 in some respects even more interesting specimen 
 of French domestic architecture than the old Hotel 
 de Ville. But. in truth, the streets of Orleans are 
 richly furnished with monuments of art, and its 
 
ORLEANS. 
 
 21 
 
 citizens might perhaps have been forgiven if they 
 had rested satisfied with their historical inheritance, 
 as furnishing in itself sufficient material for study 
 and instruction. In common, however, with all 
 the important provincial towns of France, Orleans 
 has its school of art, its museum, and its public 
 library. These are the standing institutions of 
 every considerable city of the Republic, and the 
 machinery which determines their organisation dates 
 in many instances from the days of the Consulate. 
 Between the years 1803 and 1805 22 provincial 
 museums were created, and amongst them were 
 distributed a certain number of works of art, drawn 
 from the Royal collection, or acquired by conquest 
 from different parts of Europe. The museum of 
 Orleans has a more recent origin. It was estab- 
 lished by the municipal council in the year 1823, 
 when the task of its formation was entrusted to the 
 Comte de Bizemont, by whom it was enriched with 
 an important collection of pictures. At a later 
 date the museum made further acquisitions from M. 
 Piltet-Grenet, who had purchased the Chateau de 
 Richelieu, and who was thus enabled to contribute 
 several very interesting examples of the early 
 French school. Besides its pictures and engravings 
 the museum already possessed some valuable speci- 
 mens of decorative art, and to this section was 
 added, in 1855, the archaeological collection belong- 
 ing to the department, and the treasures accumu- 
 lated by the Archaeological Society of the town. 
 
22 AIIT IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 This led to the separate establishment of the 
 Historical Museum, which in the year 1862 was 
 transferred to the beautiful building known as the 
 house of Diane de Poitiers, a delightful example of 
 the art of the French Renaissance attributed to 
 Androuet du Cerceau. 
 
 Orleans thus possesses at the present day two 
 distinct collections of art, both fortunately located 
 in houses that are in themselves admirable samples 
 of artistic design. As regards the character of the 
 works with which they are furnished, there is nothing 
 to denote a special purpose in their formation. They 
 are in no way connected with the industrial manu- 
 factures of the town, and save for the presence of 
 certain memorials of Jeanne d’Arc their contents 
 have only a general artistic interest. This, at least, 
 may be said of the Museum of Faintings; for the 
 historical collection, which includes an admirable 
 series of Grallo-Roman remains as well as a number 
 of decorative objects of value, has so far a local 
 significance that the various items have for the most 
 part been found in the department. The impor- 
 tance of such a gallery of paintings as Orleans pos- 
 sesses must not, however, be underrated. To its exist- 
 ence during a long series of years must be ascribed 
 the fact that we have here presented for public 
 study and general enjoyment works which have in 
 many instances an important bearing ondhe history 
 of art, and which would otherwise have passed out 
 of knowledge into the hands of private individuals. 
 
ORLEANS. 
 
 23 
 
 The service rendered by these provincial museums 
 in supplementing the resources of the national 
 collections is by no means trifling. An analysis of 
 the catalogue shows that since the date of its forma- 
 tion no less than 387 works have been presented 
 to the municipality, without counting gifts made 
 from time to time by the Central Government. 
 Amongst this number are four very curious pic- 
 tures by Derue t, — a painter of the early years of the 
 17th century, who but for these interesting exam- 
 ples of his art would scarcely be known at all,— 
 and a series of historical portraits of considerate 
 value and importance. Another function which 
 such a museum as that of Orleans discharges is 
 that of encouraging the struggling ambition of 
 local artistic talent. Every school of art in the 
 provinces sends in due course certain of its more 
 promising pupils to receive a higher course of 
 instruction in Paris, and those who ultimately 
 acquire fame are not left without honour in their 
 native town. The municipality takes care to 
 possess itself of some specimen of the artist’s work 
 which finds its way into the museum of the town ? 
 or where it is a sculptor whose talent calls for re- 
 cognition his energies are still further employed in 
 the adornment of the public places of the city. The 
 career of the gifted young sculptor Eoguet is a case 
 in point. He lies buried in the cemetery of St. 
 Vincent at Orleans, the town in which his first 
 artistic efforts had been made, and in the museum 
 
24 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 is contained a display of liis work which serves to 
 keep his memory fresh in the hearts of his fellow- 
 citizens. It was the dying request of Roguet that 
 his statue of the Republic should be given to Orleans, 
 and the State generously carried his last wishes into 
 effect. 
 
 II.— BLOIS. 
 
 The Museum of Blois is of comparatively recent 
 origin. It dates only from the year 1850, and its 
 interest to the visitor, and even to the citizens of 
 Blois, is overshadowed by the attractions of the 
 building in which it is placed. It is not therefore 
 to be taken as a type of the French provincial 
 museum, but for this very reason it is worth a little 
 notice as showing how widely spread and how 
 firmly established is the political organisation by 
 which these municipal institutions are nourished 
 in France. I do not mean to say that the arrange- 
 ments are in all cases ideal, or that the framework 
 is not in some instances out of proportion to the 
 result. Frenchmen themselves are not, indeed, 
 very enthusiastic over the present condition of their 
 museums. The past year was a period of renewed 
 activity in regard to all matters connected with art 
 education in France, and the museums of the 
 provinces came in for a full share of scrutiny and 
 criticism. It is felt, and perhaps with justice, that 
 local effort has not been sufficiently encouraged, 
 
BLOIS. 
 
 25 
 
 and that enough has not been done by the State 
 to circulate works of art throughout the depart- 
 ments. Added to this there is a further im- 
 pression that the municipalities themselves have 
 in many instances neglected their duties in 
 regard to the museums under their control — 
 a feeling which has taken practical form in 
 a circular addressed by the Minister of Arts 
 to the various prefects throughout the country 
 asking for a report upon the state of the museums 
 in their several departments. It is not our present 
 concern to follow the course of this inquiry. Every 
 country does well to keep a keen eye upon the 
 merits of other institutions and the defects of its 
 own, and the belief that we are rapidly gaining 
 upon them in certain forms of artistic manufacture 
 will doubtless urge the French people to greater 
 activity and enterprise. From the English point 
 of view, however, it is more instructive to examine 
 the system as it stands. Its essential characteristics 
 will not be touched by any of the proposed reforms, 
 and although the success of South Kensington has a 
 little fluttered the French spirit we need not blind 
 our eyes to the patent fact that we possess as yet 
 no organisation such as that which has produced 
 the museums of provincial France. And with the 
 museums must also be classed the schools of art 
 and the public libraries. Every French city of 
 consequence possesses all of these establishments, 
 and in a large number of instances there exists 
 
28 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 besides a historical and archaeological museum, 
 which generally includes some interesting remains 
 of antiquity as well as local records of the Middle 
 Ages and the Kenaissance. It sometimes happens 
 that this historical section is under the same control 
 and in the same building as the museum of paint- 
 ings. Such, in fact, is the case with Blois. But in 
 most of the larger towns it has been found convenient 
 to separate the gallery of pictures and sculpture from 
 the historical collection, and to constitute two dis- 
 tinct establishments with a separate director for 
 each. As this separation has nearly always come 
 as the natural result of experiment, it is worthy of 
 remark as showing that the growth and develop- 
 ment of both departments are more readily fostered 
 where they are kept apart. 
 
 The Museum of Blois, therefore, although of recent 
 growth, may be said to represent the primitive type 
 of the French provincial museum. It is at the pre- 
 sent time one and undivided, and its control is in 
 the hands of M. Ulysse Besnard, a gentleman whose 
 intelligent interest in the Museum has not hindered 
 him from perfecting the manufacture of a very 
 beautiful species of artistic ware known as the 
 u faience de Blois.” The general appearance of 
 the city would scarcely lead the stranger to suspect 
 the existence of any museum at all. In common 
 with the other great towns of the Loire, it has 
 successfully declared its prosperity by knocking 
 many of its old houses to pieces and substituting 
 
I5L0LS. 
 
 27 
 
 handsome and imposing buildings in the approved 
 Parisian style. But these innovations are not ob- 
 trusively thrust in view of the spectator, and from 
 a distance at least Blois yields an impression of 
 tranquillity and repose, as though under the watch- 
 ful shadow of its castle it had been lulled to sleep 
 by the swift movement of the stream. And in 
 truth, when all is said, it is not to be compared 
 either in size or busy importance with such places 
 as Orleans, Tours, Angers, or Nantes. But this 
 sleepy city, which still retains in many 
 of its streets some delightful specimens of 
 the domestic architecture of the past, has 
 been so far alive to its municipal duties as to 
 have brought together for the enjoyment of its 
 citizens some three hundred pictures, besides nume- 
 rous drawings and engravings, and the various 
 objects included in the historical section. The 
 greater number of these pictures are, it is true, of 
 modern date, and many of them are not of the 
 highest educational value. But they are fair speci- 
 mens of the contemporary school of France, such as 
 a Blesois unable to make his way to Paris would 
 naturally be glad to see. A municipal museum is, 
 after all, not merely an affair of education, and 
 there are in Blois as elsewhere many worthy 
 citizens whom a well-executed picture of modern 
 sentiment wili more readily attract than an 
 authentic and priceless masterpiece of a past 
 age. Moreover, it is, as we must remem- 
 
28 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 ber, a part of the theory of these provincial 
 museums that they should keep pace with the age, 
 and, as I have already explained in the case of 
 Orleans, one of their special functions is to honour 
 the successful achievements of native artists. Here, 
 for instance, we find an admirable relief in plaster 
 of a mother and child by Daniel Dupuis, an artist 
 of Blois, while among the works of an earlier time 
 having something of a kindred interest must be 
 ranked a series of portraits in terra-cotta by Nini, 
 an artist who sojourned in the neighbouring 
 chateau of Chaumont. I have not sought to 
 rate the collection of the Blois Museum too 
 highly; it can, indeed, lay no claim to excep- 
 tional interest or importance. It is rather to be 
 reckoned as a normal product of the system out 
 of which it has grown into existence ; but, on the 
 other hand, it is not to be thought that the scant 
 references already made to individual items in the 
 catalogue conveys a fair impression of its resources. 
 Still in the range of modern art are to be noticed 
 characteristic examples of Ary Scheffer, Ingres, and 
 other painters of a past generation. Historically 
 the collection has been greatly enriched during the 
 past year by a donation of upwards of sixty pic- 
 tures, including a valuable series of portraits, many 
 of them highly interesting in their bearing upon 
 the history of the chateau itself. This series, the 
 acquisition of which is due in great measure to the 
 devotion and energy of the director, serves to sup- 
 
BLOIS. 
 
 29 
 
 plement the resources previously in the possession of 
 the Museum. One of the curiosities of old French 
 art which belong to Blois is a remarkable wood- 
 cut of the time of Francis I. supposed to be unique, 
 and there is also a quaint picture of manners 
 representing a fete at the Court of Henri III. A 
 genuine Clouet, a spirited head of Bonsard, and 
 portraits of Marie de Meclicis, Louis XIII., and 
 Charles Martin are among other interesting speci- 
 mens of the early French school. 
 
 In the architectural and archaeological section of 
 the Museum the director has accomplished a work 
 deserving of all praise, and which should be fol- 
 lowed as an example elsewhere. It is unfortun- 
 ately not possible to speak of any of these cities of 
 the Loire without recurring again and again to 
 the vexed question of restoration. It is imminent, 
 as we have seen, at Orleans; it is already in full 
 swing at Blois. The interior of this magnificent 
 building was entirely restored in 1845 by M. Duban, 
 “ with excellent taste,” as the guide-books say, and 
 seeing that the whole fabric had been previously 
 allowed to fall into ruin some such work was 
 perhaps necessary, or at least inevitable. The 
 exterior, hitherto almost untouched, is now under- 
 going a similar process. The Commission on His- 
 torical Monuments has approved the plans, and the 
 work is rapidly progressing under the care of M. 
 de Baudot. That, however careful and reverent the 
 architect may be, some things must occur which 
 
.30 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 lovers of art will regret, our own experience proves 
 only too clearly, and we may therefore be thankful 
 to the curator of the Museum for having secured 
 casts of some of the most interesting passages of 
 decorative sculpture before they w^ere touched by 
 the restorer’s improving hand. There is some talk, 
 as I learned, of entirely reconstructing one portion 
 of the facade looking on to the court, in order to 
 bring it into accord with the beautiful work of the 
 time of Francis I. I3ut there is really no excuse 
 for a design of this sort in the case of a castle like 
 Blois. One of its main sources of artistic interest 
 lies in the panorama of historic styles which in its 
 different parts it now presents to the spectator. 
 As a complete embodiment of a single architectural 
 idea Blois cannot rank either with Chambord or 
 with Chenonceau, although it contains passages of 
 finer workmanship than either of them can boast. 
 It is, in truth, a richly-furnished museum of archi- 
 tectural science during the successive epochs to 
 which it belongs. Especially instructive is the 
 illustration it offers of the ease and ingenuity with 
 which the builders of the Renaissance imposed the 
 newly-acquired features of Classic style upon Gothic 
 tradition. Between the eastern facade, erected on 
 the east side of the court during the reign of Louis 
 XII., and the more imposing structure of Francis I. 
 there is no sense of violent conflict or opposition, 
 although in essential principle and method the two 
 examples are absolutely distinct. There is scarcely 
 
BLOIS. 
 
 .‘31 
 
 a moulding wliicli could be transferred from one 
 side of the court to the other without pro- 
 ducing discord in the result, and yet 
 
 even in the earlier portion classic sentiment 
 is already intruding itself, showing its influence 
 in the graceful treatment of the surfaces of 
 the columns and in the increasing emphasis given 
 to the lateral lines of the structure. In the later 
 facade, on the contrary, where every structural and 
 organic feature has confessedly a classical origin, 
 the ornamentation is so free and picturesque, there 
 is so much liberty everywhere for the unrestrained 
 assertion of the architect’s individuality, that the 
 result scarcely appeals to the eye as a work of 
 classical design. To realise the undefinable charm 
 of this architecture of the French Renaissance we 
 have only to compare with it again the still later 
 facade erected from the designs of Mansard, where 
 classic sentiment has become rigid without securing 
 any semblance of antique severity. These three 
 wings of the castle are typical in their juxtaposition. 
 Nothing can exceed the wealth and ingenuity of 
 invention in ornament which the builders of the 
 time of Francis I. brought to their task. The 
 splendid staircase rising in a succession of open 
 galleries to the full height of the roof is wrought 
 with the sumptuous elaboration that a jeweller 
 might bestow in the setting of a precious stone, 
 and yet its richness does nor weary the sense, for it 
 leaves no suspicion of weariness on the part of the 
 workmen. 
 
32 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 III.— TOURS. 
 
 The Museum of Tours i.3 one of the most ancient 
 institutions of the kind existing in France. The 
 first national movement in favour of establishing 
 such collections dates from the year 1798, and was 
 due to the initiative of Heurteaut Laneauville, who 
 urged the claims of the great provincial towns in 
 the Council of the Five Hundred. This motion 
 took effect two years later when, upon the report 
 of the Minister Chaptal, a law was passed accord- 
 ing an official status to a large number of pro- 
 vincial museums. Tours, strange to say, does not 
 figure in this first list, but it was fortunate enough, 
 nevertheless, to come in for its full share of 
 the artistic treasure which between the years 
 1803 and 1806 was divided among the principal 
 cities of France. Whatever may now be thought 
 of the policy of thus scattering valuable works of 
 ancient art over the country — a policy be it observed 
 which could scarcely have its counterpart in a 
 country whose national collections were less richly 
 endowed than those of France — it undoubtedly had 
 the effect of giving a powerful stimulus to local 
 enterprise and organisation. The example of 
 liberality set by the Government has in many 
 instances been followed by private donations of ex- 
 traordinary interest and value. But on the other 
 hand, it must not be forgotten that here and there 
 the cities themselves had already given sufficient 
 
TOURS. 
 
 33 
 
 evidence of their interest in artistic culture to 
 encourage and justify the benevolent action of the 
 central authority. Tours may be cited as a case in 
 point; for, long before the movement to which I 
 have referred, it had conceived the idea of a muni- 
 cipal museum in connection with a local school of 
 art. The moving spirit in the matter was a certain 
 M. Rougeot, by whom such a school had been 
 founded in the year 1760, and to whose intelligent 
 efforts, seconded by those of his son-in-law and 
 heir, M. Raverot, is due the formation of the present 
 museum. The works of various kinds which they 
 were enabled to save from the wreck of the Revo- 
 lution, and which had been carefully collected from 
 the neighbouring castles and monasteries, were at 
 first deposited in the cloisters of St. Martin. In 
 1793 they were removed to the Archiepiscopal 
 Palace, and finally, having in the meantime been 
 again transported to the building since occupied by 
 the Prefecture, the collection found an abiding 
 home in a handsome structure designed for its re- 
 ception in the year 1825. Here, doubtless, it will 
 remain, and at the present moment an adjoining 
 site is being utilised for a new school of art. Up 
 to now the School and the Museum have occupied 
 the same building, under the undivided control of 
 M. Laurent. Rut the classes begin to overflow the 
 limited accommodation assigned to them. More- 
 over, it is thought that it will prove more con- 
 venient^ to separate the special classes designed 
 
34 
 
 ART IN' PROVINCIAL PRANCE. 
 
 for the practical instruction of artisans from 
 those which are devoted to the general course 
 of art teaching. Not that any social distinction is 
 observed in the organisation of the school. All the 
 public classes are held in the evening, between the 
 hours of seven and nine, and are available without 
 charge to all who may present themselves for 
 instruction. But apart from the general curri- 
 culum there is a special course of study for those 
 who wish to perfect themselves in the principles of 
 a particular craft; and as the making of models by 
 intending masons and carpenters involves a certain 
 amount of disturbance to students otherwise em- 
 ployed, it has been decided that when the new 
 building is finished this practical section shall be 
 kept apart, and be continued in the present class- 
 rooms. 
 
 It may be worth while to state briefly what is 
 the nature and scope of the instruction gratui- 
 tously offered to the citizens of Tours. Of course 
 it is comparatively easy to multiply classes and 
 professors in the prospectus of an art school without 
 producing any significant result ; and I may there- 
 fore begin by saying that the director kindly gave 
 me an opportunity of inspecting the drawings of 
 the students from the antique and from life. 
 These drawings seemed to me in some essential 
 respects to be superior to the average contribu- 
 tions from the schools in connection with South 
 Kensington. They were very much less finished in 
 
TOURS. 
 
 35 
 
 the manner of execution, and, therefore, perhaps 
 less attractive to the fond relatives and friends of 
 the student. But this very absence of elaborate 
 finish implies, I think, the existence of a better 
 system. With masses of light and shade sharply 
 defined and simply disposed, there is no room for 
 incompetence to hide itself. The work must be 
 mainly right, or it will leave its blunders openly 
 confessed ; whereas a highly stippled chalk drawing 
 may be so worked as to confuse essential qualities 
 of tone or draughtsmanship with mere aimless and 
 insignificant detail. I do not mean that the expert 
 professor will be deceived by such laboured incom- 
 petence, but the pupil perhaps deceives himself in the 
 process and loses power to distinguish between the 
 true and the false in his work — a result much more 
 important and deplorable. Well, the drawings I 
 examined at Tours were certainly free from these 
 defects. Their execution had no pretension either 
 of (t masterly,” slightness or of searching knowledge. 
 It was restrained within such limits as might fairly 
 be assumed to correspond with the pupil's limited 
 command of his subject, and was thus eminently 
 fitted to its purpose. It must be understood, of 
 course, that such a school as this at Tours does not 
 undertake to supply the world with a race of 
 accomplished painters and sculptors. Its efforts 
 are more definitely directed to furnishing such a 
 knowledge of art as shall be applicable to the 
 various forms of skilled industry. When a student 
 
36 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 manifests decided promise for a career of pure art, 
 he is sent at the expense of the city to the Ecole 
 des Beaux Arts at Paris. But, although its aim is 
 strictly limited and defined, the course of instruc- 
 tion supplied by the school is ample and compre- 
 hensive. Those who are responsible for its con- 
 duct do not commit the blunder of supposing that the 
 secrets of decorative art can be acquired without 
 some acquaintance with the higher problems of 
 draughtsmanship and design — problems which can- 
 not be solved, cannot even be rightly apprehended, 
 without some methodical study of the human 
 figure. The living model poses once a fortnight for 
 the public classes. And there are besides in every 
 week special classes for anatomy and architecture. 
 The school possesses a fair collection of casts from 
 the antique and a few specimens of Renaissance 
 ornament. Its resources in the latter kind will ere 
 long be greatly strengthened by the action of the 
 Government, which is busy in taking moulds from 
 the more important monuments of French archi- 
 tecture and decoration, the casts from which will be 
 distributed gratuitously among provincial art 
 schools. 
 
 But it is time to leave the Art Schools, which 
 occupy the ground floor of the building, and to 
 make our way to the handsome galleries overhead, 
 where the pictures and works of sculpture are 
 tastefully arranged. The general artistic level of 
 the paintings in the Tours Museum must be 
 
TOURS. 
 
 37 
 
 accounted exceptionally high. It is fortunate in 
 the possession of three or four pictures of the very 
 first importance, such as any national gallery might 
 be proud to claim, and it presents besides a full and 
 instructive record of the growth and progress of 
 the French school. Chief among the gems of the 
 collection are the two exquisitely finished panels by 
 Andrea Mantegna, which once formed part of the 
 predeila of the altar piece painted for the Church 
 of San Zenone at Verona. It seems a strange fate 
 that these delightful examples of the great Paduan 
 painter’s genius should have been carried off from 
 their appropriate place in Italy to find a permanent 
 home in a French provincial town. They are part 
 of the rich gift that Tours received from the State 
 in the year 1806, and, although perhaps they will 
 be less seen and enjoyed than if they had remained 
 in Verona, we must be thankful that they have been 
 preserved at all, and in such admirable condition. 
 Those who are familiar with the work to which they 
 belong will be prepared for the delicate beauty of 
 the workmanship bestowed upon them. The first of 
 the two, representing Christ in the Garden of Olives, 
 is cut and finished like a jewel. The quality of 
 patient and minute elaboration that belongs to it 
 makes one marvel that a genius so austere, who 
 could when so minded stamp his invention upon the 
 few abstract lines of an engraving, could also at will 
 pass to the opposite limit of method and expression,, 
 and spend his whole strength in the affectionate 
 
38 ART IN PROVINCIAL PRANCE. 
 
 study of every minute detail of the scene, and yet 
 without sacrifice of simplicity* and with no loss of 
 dignity in the result. Every building in the dis- 
 tant view of the city is drawn and defined with 
 the precision of portraiture, and in the troop 
 of little figures that descend the winding road 
 each individual form has its appropriate gesture 
 and character. The general composition of the 
 central group resembles the picture of the same 
 subject by Bellini in the National Gallery, but the 
 foreground is infinitely richer in fulness of design. 
 I may note especially the varied growth of weed and 
 fruit and flowers, from the bulrushes that overhang 
 the little rivulet to the left to the bunches of grapes 
 pendant from the bare boughs of a stricken tree in 
 the centre of the picture, and the irises that grow 
 beside the rock at the feet of Christ. As an 
 example of the delicacy of finish everywhere 
 employed upon the painting, it may be ob- 
 served that the bees that swarm around the 
 mouth of the hive set in the midst of the gar- 
 den are picked out in pure gold. The companion 
 design represents the Resurrection, and while 
 marked by the same qualities of delicate manipula- 
 tion, it is interesting besides for the characteristic 
 strength of the invention. This is not at all such 
 a version of the subject as is familiar to us in the 
 paintings or designs of Giovanni Santi, Perugino, 
 and Raphael. It has a touch of rougher realism 
 in the gestures and bearing of the terrified 
 
ANGERS. 
 
 39 
 
 soldiers — a suggestion of that direct reference to 
 simple nature which serves to connect the art of 
 Mantegna with that of Durer and the North. 
 Between these two pictures hangs a large and 
 grandiose composition by Rubens, representing 
 Mars crowned by Victory, remarkable especially 
 for a splendid passage of colour in the paint- 
 ing of a confused mass of different pieces 
 of armour. Here, too, is Boucher in perfection, 
 represented by three spirited works from the 
 Chateau of Chanteloup, and on the same wall is a 
 fine Guercino, full and deep in colour, and of higher 
 sentiment than is common with the painter. Here 
 and there throughout the different rooms are to be 
 found other examples of the Italian schools, including 
 a little angel of the Annunciation by some unknown 
 artist of Sienna, and a Holy Family by one of the 
 school of Perugino. In this brief review I have, of 
 course, only chosen the more remarkable of the 
 earlier works. There is much else worthy of notice, 
 and there are, besides, many French pictures of 
 historical as well as artistic interest. I may add by 
 way of postscript that M. Laurent has promised to 
 have the Mantegnas photographed without delay. 
 
 IV.— ANGERS. 
 
 The day I arrived at Angers the town presented 
 an appearance of unwonted animation. The prin- 
 cipal hotels were full to overflowing, and during 
 the afternoon and evening carriages poured into 
 
40 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 the city bearing a number of well-dressed visitors 
 from the country lying round about. The occasion 
 of this unwonted movement was the appearance for 
 “ one night only ” of Madame Sarah Bernhardt. 
 As I watched the crowd pressing into the doors of 
 the handsome new theatre I was reminded of 
 the statue of the great actor Talma, by David, 
 of Angers, which I had just seen in the 
 museum, and I wondered how many of these his 
 fellow-countrymen in their eager admiration of 
 the reigning favourite had any thought left for the 
 great artist of a past generation, There is always 
 a certain pathos in this constant process of oblivion, 
 and yet it is in the nature of things inevitable. 
 The art of our own day speaks to the world with a 
 familiar and persuasive accent such as even the 
 highest authority of an earlier time cannot hope to 
 command ; and though this is a truth to which the 
 fleeting triumphs of the theatre would seem to 
 give a keener emphasis, in the main it holds good 
 of the other arts as well. Leaving the theatre I 
 took a stroll through some of the principal streets 
 of Angers, and at every turn there seemed to come 
 some fresh illustration of the same well-worn theme. 
 Groups of the townsfolk who had not been fortunate 
 enough to secure places for the play were gazing with 
 admiration at the handsome new buildings that are 
 rapidly transforming the appearance of this pros- 
 perous city. The old houses of the 15th and 16th 
 centuries, with gabled roof and richly-carved timber 
 
ANGERS. 
 
 41 
 
 framing, are everywhere making way for imposing 
 stone structures in the lastest fashion of Parisian 
 architecture, and it is the new and not the old, as 
 one may see, that strikes the popular imagination 
 with wonder and respect. The town is still richly 
 furnished with the quaint and picturesque structures 
 of the past, but it is easy to perceive that the ideal 
 of its citizens is to thrust them as much as possible 
 into the background in order to make room for the 
 more ambitious efforts of the modern architect. 
 Nor could it well be otherwise with a growing and 
 prosperous community such as this. Art of some 
 kind every generation will have of its own — bad 
 art if it cannot get good, — but whether bad or good 
 such art will always exercise a more direct and 
 powerful influence in the life of a people than the 
 most precious treasure saved from the wreck of the 
 past. No collection of ancient masterpieces, how- 
 ever richly endowed, can take the place of the 
 artistic product, however poor it may be, which 
 expresses the living spirit of its own time. 
 
 At the first blush this thought might seem 
 discouraging to the modern enthusiasm for public 
 galleries and museums, but in reality it proves 
 the strongest argument in their favour. The 
 true use of such places is not so much to 
 preserve a record of the past as to inform the 
 taste and talent of the present, to give to the artist 
 a higher ambition than mere splendour and dis- 
 play, and so to influence those in whose service 
 
42 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 he has to labour that they may leave him free to 
 give them the best that is in liim. And this he 
 can never do until the knowledge of what is great 
 and true in art has reached the great body of the 
 people who are neither patrons nor artists. It is 
 they who in the last resort are the real arbiters of 
 public taste in matters affecting the life of great 
 cities, for it is to impress the popular imagination 
 that money is most lavishly spent in public monu- 
 ments and in private buildings; and if the work 
 that is now produced in this kind is too often pre- 
 tentious and intrinsically poor, it is because there is 
 not sufficient knowledge in the mass of the people 
 to correct the vulgar taste of those who have sought 
 to win their admiration. 
 
 If these public galleries and museums, therefore, 
 are really to serve the purpose for which they are 
 established they must be ruled by no pedantic 
 theory of exclusiveness. They must not be managed 
 on the assumption that they exist for the benefit of 
 professed students when in reality their main 
 function is to create and encourage studentship in 
 the public. From this point of view it must 
 always be reckoned a fortunate thing when 
 there happens to be some strong link of 
 association between the museum and the town 
 which will serve to awaken a more than common 
 interest in its fortunes. Such a feature is supplied 
 in the case of Angers by the remarkable collection 
 of the works its native sculptor David, an artist of 
 
ANGERS. 
 
 43 
 
 rare power and of determined originality, exercised 
 at a time when the sculptor’s art in Europe was 
 oppressed by a pedantic and paralysing tradition of 
 style. The seated figure of Talma, of which I have 
 already made mention, is one of a series of nearl} 1, 
 two hundred examples, in relief and in the round, 
 deposited in the museum, besides some four hundred 
 medallions and a considerable number of original 
 drawings. This valuable collection, presented to 
 the town for the most part by the artist himself, is 
 admirably displayed in the two lower galleries of the 
 museum. Angers, in common with so many French 
 cities, is fortunate in having found a home for its 
 art treasures in a building which in itself presents 
 features of high artistic interest. Built by Oliver 
 Barrault in the last years of the 15th century, it 
 exhibits that picturesque mingling of late Gothic 
 and early Kenaissance styles which gives such a 
 strong fascination to much of the architecture of 
 the Loire. Within its spacious walls room is found 
 for the public library and a valuable museum of 
 natural history as well as for the gallery of paint- 
 ings belonging to the Municipality. Nearly the 
 whole of the ground floor is occupied by the David 
 collection, and amongst the more important works 
 of the son are displayed some specimens of wood- 
 carving executed by his father. They afford evidence 
 to prove that the sculptor’s gift was partly in- 
 herited, but it is remarkable that although he was 
 himself a genuine artist, the eider David did all in 
 
44 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 his power to discourage the strongly-marked artistic 
 disposition of his child. But the boy’s firm insist- 
 ance prevailed, and after having commenced his 
 studies in the art school at Angers he made his way 
 on foot to Paris in the year 1808. He was then 20 
 years of age. At Paris he studied with unceasing 
 and extraordinary activity, eking out a small sub- 
 sistence by executing some ornamental designs for 
 the decoration of the Arc de Carrousel. His grow- 
 ing talent, however, attracted notice, and on the 
 urgent recommendation of Menagest and Pajou the 
 town of Angers came to the youth’s aid with an 
 annual grant of 600 francs. For this act of 
 liberality Angers has reaped a rich reward. In 
 1811, having gained the Grand Prix, David went to 
 Rome, where he came into contact with Canova; 
 but his intimacy with the eminent exponent of a 
 smooth and enervated classicism did not in any way 
 affect the exercise of his own individuality. He 
 had already chosen for himself a different ideal in 
 sculpture, in which there should be room for the 
 free expression of modern sentiment and the 
 vigorous rendering of strongly-defined character 
 and personality. In regard to the works of dramatic 
 invention which he produced there will be, as there 
 always must be, some ground for difference of 
 opinion, but there can be no question that he amply 
 vindicated the merits of his system by the power 
 which he displayed in the realm of portraiture. 
 Few artists have better understood the conditions 
 
ANGERS. 
 
 45 
 
 of portrait sculpture, or have more skilfully com- 
 bined the qualities of energy and vivacity in ex- 
 pression with the needful admixture of severe and 
 dignified design. A certain admirable simplicity 
 belongs to most even of his most youthful achieve- 
 ments, to the prize compositions executed during 
 his stay in Rome, and to many of the bas-reliefs, 
 notably the graceful design for the tomb of the 
 Comte du Bourclie. With advancing power this 
 direct simplicity in the mode of approaching his 
 subject was greatly enriched by a finer and fuller 
 treatment of detail, by greater resource in the 
 grasp and delineation of individual traits of charac- 
 ter, and by greater freedom in the manner of pre- 
 sentment. It is no part of my present task to 
 attempt a full or just appreciation of these works of 
 David, but it may be said generally that the inex- 
 haustible gallery of portraits exhibited in the series 
 of medallions and busts possesses the strongest his- 
 torical as well as artistic interest. They include 
 nearly all the most remarkable personages of the 
 artist’s generation, some of whom are still surviv- 
 ing, I may particularly mention the several busts 
 of Victor Hugo, not the Victor Hugo of later years, 
 with bearded chin, but with face clean shaven and 
 with features sharply cut. 
 
 The paintings belonging to the town of Angers 
 are arranged in handsome galleries on the upper 
 floor. They number some 400 examples of various 
 sorts, the greater part belonging to artists of the 
 
46 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 French school. Since M. Clement de Ris published 
 his interesting work on the provincial collections of 
 France the Museum has been sensibly enriched by 
 two munificent bequests of pictures and other works 
 of art. In 1864 M. Jean Robin, who had begun 
 life as a painter, and who, having afterwards in- 
 herited a considerable fortune, was enabled to exer- 
 cise his artistic taste as a collector, bequeathed to 
 the town of Angers a legacy of twelve paintings. 
 One of the number, all of which are interesting and 
 valuable, is a small but very beautiful picture by 
 Raphael, now rightly reckoned as the gem of the 
 municipal collection. It belongs to the earlier 
 manner of the painter, according in sentiment and 
 style as well as in delicacy of workmanship with 
 the little composition of “ The Knight’s Dream” in 
 the National Gallery. The subject here is “ The 
 Holy Family;” the infant Christ, held by his 
 mother’s hand, sits upon the back of a lamb, while 
 St. Joseph, standing beside the Virgin, gazes fondly 
 upon the child. It is exquisitely graceful in 
 composition and brilliant in colour, and, despite 
 the existence of another version of the same sub- 
 ject in the gallery at Madrid, the intrinsic beauty 
 of the picture would seem to argue strongly in 
 favour of its authenticity. That it has been in 
 places cleverly restored is a fact that forms part of 
 its curious History, for it once belonged to the col- 
 lection of Prince Anatole Demidoff, and was in- 
 jured while in his possession during the course of a 
 
ANGERS. 
 
 47 
 
 journey to Florence. It was owing to this accident 
 that it was subsequently acquired by M. Robin, and 
 is now permanently enshrined in the Museum at 
 Angers. The second and more recent bequest is 
 due to the liberality of M. de Crissey. It comprises 
 a number of pictures of various schools, including 
 two highly finished water colours by Ingres, and 
 some valuable specimens of majolica and other 
 objects of virtu. 
 
 Besides the little Raphael already mentioned, the 
 Museum possesses several interesting examples of 
 Italian art, and one or two good early copies of 
 well-known masterpieces. I may mention in the 
 latter class a reduced version of the “Charity” of 
 Andrea del Sarto now in the Louvre. The original 
 paintings include examples by Luca Giordano and 
 a design for the decoration of a ceiling by 
 Givoanni Battista Tiepolo. It is, however, in the 
 art of Flanders and in the French painters 
 of the last century that the Museum is most 
 richly endowed. There is a superb study of 
 a wounded dog by Snyders, a large but not very 
 attractive picture of Christ disputing with the 
 Doctors, by Philippe de Champagne, and one or 
 two genuine examples by Rubens and Jordaens. 
 Watteau is represented by a delightful “Fete de 
 Campagne ” marked by all the delicacy and finesse 
 of his art, by his skill in rendering graceful and un- 
 conscious attitude and gesture, and by his feeling 
 for rich harmonious colour. Of the two works 
 
48 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 attributed to Pater that of “ The Bathers” is, if my 
 memory serves me, only an inferior version of a 
 picture in Lord Lonsdale’s collection. Lancret, the 
 pupil of Watteau, is represented by four character- 
 istic designs, and Greuze by a really delightful 
 portrait of a lady with a dog. The more recent 
 developments of French art are amply exhibited, 
 and there are special collections of two individual 
 artists of Angers — Bodinier and Lenepveu. 
 
 But there remains yet another museum at 
 Angers, the Musee de St. Jean. On the opposite 
 side of the river, in the great hall of the ancient 
 Hospice of St. Jean, founded by Henry II., King of 
 England and Count of Anjou, the Municipality has 
 brought together an interesting collection of 
 archaeological remains and decorative objects, 
 chiefly relating to the history of the city 
 and the department. The Director of this 
 Museum is doing excellent work, according to 
 the means at his command. lie is saving and 
 carefully arranging in their chronological order 
 interesting specimens illustrating the earlier archi- 
 tecture of the town ; and as painting on glass forms 
 one of the industries of Angers, he has collected a 
 number of fragments of old glass of various epochs. 
 The Musee de St. Jean promises to become in the 
 highest degree useful and interesting, and it already 
 bears witness to the energy of its Director as well 
 as to the intelligent initiative of the Municipality. 
 There is much, I think, to be said in favour of the 
 
ANGERS. 
 
 49 
 
 particular organisation by which this and the other 
 museums of Angers are related to the Municipal 
 Council. Nearly every city has its own peculiar 
 method of dealing with these institutions, and that 
 which Angers has adopted has certainly much 
 in its favour* By a resolution of the Council passed 
 in the summer of 1880, it was decided to elect 
 separate committees for the permanent control of 
 the four public institutions of art and science 
 possessed by the town. These institutions are — 
 1, the Museum of Fine Arts; 2, the Museum of 
 Archaeology; 3, the Museum of Natural History; 
 and 4, the Botanical Gardens. Each of these estab- 
 lishments has its own director, elected by the Mayor, 
 and it is the Mayor also who nominates for a period 
 of three years the members of the different com- 
 mittees. The practical government of each museum 
 is divided between the Director and the Committee. 
 The Director submits to the Committee every year 
 the proposed budget of expenses, and when it has 
 been duly discussed and approved it is passed for- 
 ward to the Mayor. To the Mayor also is for- 
 warded a copy of the minutes of the monthly 
 meetings of the Committee and an annual report 
 upon the state of the public collections. As regards 
 the composition of these different committees, the 
 Mayor has complete liberty of choice. He is not 
 bound to nominate any members of the Municipal 
 Council, and indeed the present Mayor has made 
 the Committee in each case entirely independent 
 
50 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 of the Council. It may be added the Committee 
 in each case consists of not less than five and not 
 more than seven members. 
 
 V.— NANTES. 
 
 The city of Nantes is rich in institutions devoted 
 to the service of art. Besides its admirable Museum 
 of Painting, founded in 1803, it possesses a Museum 
 of Archaeology under the intelligent control of M. 
 Parenteau, where, in a stately edifice carefully and 
 judiciously restored, are collected valuable records 
 of antiquity and interesting monuments of the 
 more modern history of the town and the depart- 
 ment. It boasts, besides a School of Art under the 
 control of the municipality, a special school directed 
 to the encouragement of painting on porcelain, and 
 a Society of Fine i^rts under the presidency of M. 
 Guillet. The Museum is a spacious and handsome 
 building in the centre of the city, which is never- 
 theless inadequate for the complete display of its 
 artistic possessions. Nantes offers a pre-eminent 
 illustration of a phenomenon which constantly 
 strikes the visitor to these great provincial centres, 
 viz., the extraordinary munificence of private 
 collectors whose fortunes have been in some way 
 connected with the growth and progress of the 
 town. The Museum had already been established 
 some seven years when, in 1810, it acquired the 
 vast and varied collection of M. Frangois Cacault, 
 
NANTES. 
 
 51 
 
 who, in virtue of his official position at Rome, had 
 enjoyed rare opportunities for the gradual accumu- 
 lation of examples of Italian art. When it is said 
 that this gift comprised a total of 1,155 pic- 
 tures, G4 works of sculpture, and nearly 11,000 
 engravings, it will be readily understood that 
 it is not composed entirely of indisputable 
 masterpieces. There are many indifferent paint- 
 ings in the gallery at Nantes, some of which are 
 due to the not always unimpeachable judgment of 
 M. Cacault ; but, after all deductions made on this 
 score, it must be allowed that we have here a num- 
 ber of works such as even the most liberal collector 
 would now find it hard to discover amid the ran- 
 sacked resources of Italy. The gift of M. Cacault 
 was mainly, though not exclusively, composed of 
 paintings illustrating the history of Italian art. 
 By reason of its very richness in this direction it 
 left the Museum comparatively poorly furnished 
 with examples of native and modern talent ; but in 
 1852, through the generosity of the Due de Feltre, 
 an important addition was made to the gallery, and, 
 as if it had been specially designed to supply the 
 existing deficiency, the pictures which it comprised 
 were for the most part notable achievements of the 
 French school. To the same section of the Museum 
 there came also in the year 1854 a handsome gift 
 of thirty pictures, made by M. Urvoy de Saint 
 Redan. 
 
 Nantes, it must be further remembered, had 
 
52 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 during the earlier years of the century already 
 shared in the distribution of works of art made by 
 the Government. It was one of the fifteen towns 
 specially designated in the decree issued under 
 the Consulate as a provincial centre for the 
 reception of pictures drawn from the national 
 resources. I have already referred to this 
 decree as marking, in fact, the origin of 
 the provincial museums of France, but in 
 order clearly to understand the conditions under 
 which such a liberal grant was made it is right to 
 remember that the national collection at Paris did 
 not then possess the settled character and status 
 which now belong to it. The withdrawal of a certain 
 number of pictures from Trafalgar Square would 
 not, that is to say, be precisely analogous to the 
 process of decentralisation sanctioned by Napoleon 
 in 1800. The museum of the Louvre as a national 
 institution had then only recently been founded out 
 of the abundant royal treasures gradually 
 accumulated since the time of Francis I. The 
 number of works of which it should be per- 
 manently composed can hardly be said to 
 have been as yet definitively determined; nor, 
 on the other hand, was it only from the collections 
 in the Louvre that the grant to the provinces was 
 to be taken. There were other sources besides 
 almost equally important, notably the series of 
 pictures confiscated from the churches and convents 
 of Paris, and the still larger and more valuable 
 
NANTES. 
 
 53 
 
 collection borne from Italy by the victorious 
 armies of the Republic. Nevertheless it is certainly 
 true that the general policy of allowing the great 
 provincial centres to share with the capital in the 
 enjoyment of the national treasures was distinctly 
 entertained by those to whom the measure is due ; 
 and as the matter has a present interest in view of 
 recent discussions among ourselves it may be worth 
 while to quote the following passage contained in 
 Ohaptal’s report to Napoleon. " Without doubt/’ 
 he writes, “ Paris ought to retain the great master- 
 pieces in every department ; in the national collection 
 at Paris ought to reside those works which have the 
 most important bearing on the history of art, which 
 mark its development, characterise its different 
 modes of expression, and enable the student to read 
 upon the face of the pictures themselves the signs 
 of successive revolutions and epochs in painting. 
 Paris from every point of view deserves this 
 honourable distinction, but the dwellers in the 
 provinces have also a clear right to share in the 
 fruit of our conquests and in the inheritance of 
 works by native artists.” It may be added that 
 this policy, initiated by Napoleon, has never been 
 reversed in France, and that the museums of the 
 provinces still from time to time receive some in- 
 teresting contributions from the mass of un- 
 exhibited works belonging to the Louvre, apart 
 from special gifts of contemporary achievements in 
 painting and sculpture. 
 
54 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 Many of the pictures at Nantes are of a kind 
 that have an obvious fitness and value in a pro- 
 vincial museum. I refer to the ancient and in 
 many instances contemporary copies of famous 
 masterpieces, copies executed in the spirit, and 
 often, as it must have been, under the eyes, of the 
 artists whose work they present to us. Chief among 
 these is a version of the u Vierge aux Rochers” 
 of Leonardo da Vinci, which takes rank in the cata- 
 logue as an original. It differs in several details of 
 design and colour alike from the picture in the 
 Louvre and from the still nobler rendering of the 
 same subject recently acquired for our National 
 Gallery. In subtlety of expression in the faces, in 
 depth and delicacy of tone, and in the slighter treat- 
 ment of the landscape background it is manifestly 
 inferior to both, and is hardly, therefore, to be 
 accepted as an authentic example of the rarest and 
 most fastidious of all the great masters of the past. 
 It is extraordinary how even in the hands of the 
 most skilful of his followers the chosen type of 
 Leonardo loses something of its strange witchery 
 and approaches more nearly to common life. Such 
 a transformation is noticeable here, though the 
 work is full of beauty and commends itself as a 
 genuine product of the school. The version of 
 Andrea del Sarto’s “ Charity” which bangs in the 
 same gallery is not quite so interesting a per- 
 formance. Either it is a later copy than the cata- 
 logue would have us believe or it has undergone 
 
NANTES. 
 
 55 
 
 some painful process of restoration. In any case, it 
 now only imperfectly presents to us the soft and 
 delicate surface characteristic of the painter’s style, 
 though the graceful composition of course remains 
 intact. Another of the series of copies in which 
 the Nantes Museum is so rich is a reduced version of 
 Veronese’s u Marriage of Cana.” Among the works 
 received in the original endowment made by the 
 State are figures of the prophets Isaiah and 
 Jeremiah, belonging to the series of works executed 
 by Perugino at Perugia. The provincial cities of 
 Prance are rich in the paintings of this master, and 
 these two circular compositions are not the most 
 interesting of the number. More important in 
 every way in its bearing upon the history 
 of Italian art is the unfinished group of 
 the Holy Family here ascribed to Domenico 
 Ghirlandajo. Technically, and even in regard to 
 certain qualities of style, the picture bears a curious 
 and puzzling resemblance to the unfinished group 
 by Michael Angelo in the National Gallery. The 
 resemblance is puzzling, because, though in many 
 respects close enough, the Nantes picture shows 
 an inferior power of draughtsmanship and a less 
 distinct feeling for beauty. On the other hand, it 
 is marked by deeper sentiment and a more 
 passionate intention in the rendering of character. 
 This is especially noticeable in the treatment of 
 the Virgin’s face, and is in itself sufficient evidence, 
 I think, that Ghirlandajo, the least passionate of 
 
56 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 Florentine painters, had no hand in its execution. 
 But, leaving the question of authorship on one side, 
 it is undoubtedly a work of great charm 
 and of curious interest, which the Museum 
 is fortunate in having acquired amid the miscel- 
 laneous collection of M. Cacault. Another beauti- 
 ful little example of Florentine art, from the same 
 source, is rightly ascribed to Pesellino. It repre- 
 sents different trials in the life of one of the saints, 
 and is executed with a perfection of finish that is 
 happily undestroyed either by time or restoration. 
 The Venetian school is represented by a great 
 variety of work, not all of which, however, can be 
 considered acceptable. Perhaps the most interest- 
 ing specimen, despite the presence of a number of 
 reputed Giorgiones, is an unfinished design of 
 “ Christ Bearing the Cross/ 7 modestly described in 
 the catalogue as after Titian. The finished picture 
 exists in the Church of San Rocco at Venice, and it 
 is therefore reasonable to assume that we have here 
 only a copy, begun by one of the master’s pupils. 
 And yet the execution is so admirable that it would 
 certainly not disgrace the master himself. Of the 
 Butch and Flemish school there are altogether 
 some 250 examples of very unequal quality. A 
 large “ Triumph” by Rubens is an example in the 
 same manner as the “ Victory and Mars” at Tours, 
 but is far inferior in brilliancy and strength of 
 colour. Rembrandt figures with a single but solid 
 specimen of his earlier method, careful and exact 
 
LIMOGES. 
 
 57 
 
 in detail, and smooth in surface. The subject is a 
 portrait bust of a young woman, and the picture 
 is one of the most noteworthy additions made to the 
 gallery by M. TJrvoy de Saint Bedan. Another 
 remarkable portrait in the same gallery is the full- 
 length of a little girl which the catalogue doubt- 
 fully ascribes to Cuyp. It is difficult to conceive by 
 whom else it could be. Cuyp may be said to have 
 anticipated Reynolds in a certain rare sympathy 
 with childish character admirably exercised in the 
 work under notice, which possesses besides excellent 
 qualities of painting. 
 
 The illustration of the growth of the 
 modern French school supplied by the museums 
 of France is apt to become monotonous to the 
 visitor who passes rapidly from one town to another. 
 To those for whom it is specially presented it does 
 not, however, lie open to the same reproach. And 
 it must, moreover, be admitted that even here nearly 
 every city has some special feature peculiar to 
 itself. Nantes is particularly strong in the works 
 of Paul Delaroche, of whom it possesses no less 
 than thirteen examples, and in the pictures of 
 the animal painter, Bracassat, an artist of very 
 remarkable talent, whose life has been written by 
 M. Charles Marionneau. 
 
 VI.— LIMOGES. 
 
 In the autumn of last year there died at Jarnac, 
 on the Charente, a wealthy brandy merchant, who 
 
58 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 had been some time Mayor of Limoges. Adrien 
 Dubouche belonged to a family whose name had 
 long been honourably connected with the commerce 
 of the department. By his own energy and enter- 
 prise he had himself greatly increased the fortune 
 inherited from his father, but to a capacity for 
 affairs he joined a genuine and generous enthusiasm 
 for art, and when the occasion offered itself he 
 proved that he could put his resources both of wealth 
 and connoisseurship to a noble use. The career of 
 M. Dubouche presents, indeed, a singular instance of 
 what may be done for the artistic development of 
 a great industrial centre by a man who has the 
 means at his disposal, and, what is no less essential, 
 has faith in the task that he has set himself to 
 accomplish. Until he had inspired his fellow- 
 citizens with something of his own enlightened 
 zeal, Limoges can scarcely be said to have shown 
 any special concern for the cause of art. Its 
 municipal collection of pictures and works 
 of art was small and insignificant, nor did 
 the town then boast of any school deserving 
 the name. Such indifference and neglect are 
 somewhat surprising, for Limoges inherited from 
 the past a noble tradition. During the period 
 of the .Renaissance in France it was one of the 
 centres of artistic enterprise, and the production 
 of the enamels of Limoges engaged the services of 
 a goodly company of painters, with Leonard 
 Limousin at their head. The special direction of 
 
LIMOGES. 
 
 59 
 
 its modern industry seemed equally to demand the 
 presence and support of a certain degree of artistic 
 culture, and yet it was not till 1867, and on the 
 initiative of M. Dubouche, that a matter of so much 
 moment was seriously taken in hand. In that year 
 M. Dubouche founded the Museum of Ceramic 
 Art which now bears his name, and in 1868 
 the townspeople, acting in concert with 
 
 the Corporation, established a school of 
 
 painting and design specially devoted to the 
 study of decorative art. Both these institutions 
 were the objects of M. Dubouche’s watchful and 
 generous solicitude up till the date of his death. 
 In October, 1875, Albert Jacquemart died, leaving 
 behind him a magnificent collection of faience and 
 porcelain, a collection particularly rich in chosen 
 specimens of Oriental ware. The treasures which 
 Jacquemart had accumulated were the fruit of years 
 of patient and earnest research in the history of a 
 branch of art to which he was passionately attached. 
 Nearly every piece included in the series has 
 some special value and significance in relation 
 to the development of the craft which it illustrates. 
 It was therefore emphatically a collection to serve 
 the purposes of serious studentship. Had it been 
 broken up and distributed among competing col- 
 lectors its almost unique importance would have been 
 destroyed. It was M. Dubouche who averted this 
 threatened misfortune. He perceived at once the 
 great interest of Jacquemart’s labours to a city 
 
(JO ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 actively associated in the manufacture of porce- 
 lain, and at an outlay of 70,000 francs he trans- 
 ferred the collection intact to his newly-founded 
 museum. Five years later another opportunity 
 presented itself, and was seized with equal readiness 
 and generosity. The collection of M. Paul Gasnault 
 in a manner supplemented that of Jacquemart. It 
 comprised a rich and varied assortment of works of 
 European manufacture. It included also admirable 
 specimens of majolica, of the sculptured faience of 
 Luca della Robbia, and an interesting series of 
 Limoges enamels. In point of money value it far 
 surpassed the Jacquemart acquisition, but this fact 
 had no influence upon M. Dubouche, whose heart 
 was with the fortunes of his museum, and at a cost 
 of 200,000 francs the Gasnault collection was also 
 secured for Limoges. 
 
 Here in outline we have the brief and yet 
 brilliant history of the museum of Limoges. If the 
 constant study of the masterpieces of the past 
 is of any service to the cause of art it cannot be 
 without its influence upon the industry of the town, 
 for as a representative display of the successive 
 achievements in the history of faience and porcelain 
 it is almost unequalled. And what increases its 
 practical importance and usefulness is the fact that 
 it is no mere show-place designed to awaken the 
 admiration of the tourist’pr to glorify the name of 
 a wealthy citizen. In close association with the 
 museum and under the same roof is the school of 
 
LIMOGES. 
 
 61 
 
 decorative art, 'which also owes much to the 
 fostering care of M. Dubouche. The two establish- 
 ments belong to one intelligent and comprehensive 
 scheme of art education, and the manner in which 
 they are appreciated by the classes for whose 
 benefit they were specially designed is sufficient 
 evidence of their solid and substantial worth. 
 Nor have the generous labours of the late 
 Mayor of Limoges been allowed to pass without 
 official recognition. The museum and school which 
 M. Dubouche so carefully tended now occupy a 
 unique position among the artistic institutions of 
 the provinces. In virtue of a decree issued shortly 
 after the death of their founder, they have been 
 dignified with a national character and status. The 
 museums I have hitherto described, as well as the 
 various schools of art, have been the property of 
 the several municipalities and have been held under 
 municipal control. The relation of such institu- 
 tions to the State is uncertain and undefined, con- 
 sisting for the most part in periodical gifts 
 of pictures and other works of art. But 
 in Limoges an exceptional state of things has been 
 created in view of the exceptional importance of 
 its artistic development. The museum and the 
 school have been ceded by the city to the State, 
 and all questions of organisation and control are 
 now directly within the jurisdiction of the Minister 
 of Fine Arts. The different officers of the museum 
 and the professors of the school are the servants of 
 
62 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 the Government, and are wholly independent of 
 the Corporation. As regards the annual budget 
 for the support of the establishment, the State and 
 the town contribute in equal proportions, and now 
 that it has been decided to reconstruct the present 
 buildings in order to provide increased space both 
 for the classes and for the museum a vote of 
 1,600,000 francs has been passed by the Chamber 
 for this purpose, to which the municipality has 
 added a further sum of 200,000 francs. It will be 
 understood from what has been said that this inter- 
 vention of the State in the artistic affairs of 
 Limoges is proffered and accepted as a mark of 
 special distinction and honour. The work of the 
 municipality had been carried to a point where it 
 was felt to merit national recognition, and the 
 service which M. Dubouche had rendered to his 
 native city is thus placed upon a basis of perman- 
 ence and stability. The fact, however, that such a 
 measure could be promptly and effectively carried 
 out affords significant and striking proof of the 
 readiness with which the machinery of art 
 administration in France moves to accomplish its 
 ends. Limoges is not one of the largest cities of 
 the Kepublic, It only counts some 60,000 
 inhabitants, and one cannot but reflect upon the 
 obstacles and hindrances that a city similarly 
 situated in our own country would have to encounter 
 in order to attain a position of equal pre-eminence. 
 
LIMOGES. 
 
 63 
 
 It must be conceded, on the olEher hand, that 
 private enterprise had already done much to antici- 
 pate the action of the State. Private enterprise is 
 a quality which we are apt to regard as being of 
 peculiarly British growth, and it may therefore be 
 worth while to state precisely what is being done 
 by the School of Decorative Art in Limoges. And 
 as it is now scarcely more than a year since it has 
 been reconstitued under the Government, it will 
 be fair to assume that the foundations of its present 
 prosperity were already firmly established in the 
 summer of 1881. Having regard to the very large 
 number of pupils enrolled in the different classes, it 
 is not surprising that the professors are eagerly 
 looking forward to the increased space which the 
 new building will place at their command. Limoges 
 counts in all upwards of 1,250 art students. Of 
 this total there are about 600 youths or men and 400 
 girls who are following out the full course of 
 study; the remaining 250 are made up of pupil 
 teachers of both sexes, who are studying in order 
 to qualify themselves to give the necessary in- 
 struction in drawing required for the national 
 schools. The social status and employment of the 
 students is even more significant of the practical 
 usefulness of the school. By far the larger 
 proportion of the attendants of the male classes 
 are actually employed in the porcelain manu- 
 factories of the town, and that they are acquiring 
 from their study a knowledge and skill that will be 
 
64 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 serviceable to them in their craft is proved by 
 the fact that the school arouses a sentiment of 
 pronounced hostility among the older artisans who 
 have not enjoyed the advantages which it offers. 
 They view with considerable jealousy the entry into 
 the factories of a race of workmen highly trained 
 both in the principles and the practice of their art. 
 
 What, it may be asked, is the secret by which 
 the School of Decorative Art at Limoges has been 
 enabled so speedily to establish these intimate 
 relations with the industry of the town? Some- 
 thing, no doubt, is due to the energy and zeal with 
 which the scheme was started; something, also, to 
 the eclat which now belongs to the establishment 
 since it has been taken over by the State. But 
 the true source of its success lies deeper, and 
 is to be sought, I think, in the quality of the 
 teaching that is provided and in the conditions 
 under which it is offered to the students. It 
 must never be forgotten that the teaching in these 
 provincial art schools is wholly gratuitous, and when 
 this teaching assumes the special and technical 
 character which belongs to it at Limoges the fact 
 has an obvious importance and influence. Perhaps 
 on no other terms would the hard-worked artisans 
 in the factories flock in such numbers to the classes 
 held every evening from eight to ten. This, it may 
 be, is the original condition of success, but even this 
 alone would not account for the singular prosperity 
 of the school, which is only to be explained by refer- 
 
LIMOGES. 
 
 65 
 
 ence to the practical and at the same time compre- 
 hensive character of the course of study offered to the 
 students. The School of Decorative Art at Limoges 
 has never lost sight of the object for which it was 
 originated, viz., to educate artists and artisans in 
 branches of industry connected with art. Its pro- 
 fessors are not specially concerned to create a race 
 of picture painters; when a student shows an 
 aptitude and preference for the exclusive practice 
 of ideal design in painting or sculpture he is sent, 
 when the opportunity offers, to the Ecole des 
 Beaux Arts in Paris. The forces and resources of 
 the school are directed rather to the study of art 
 as a means of decoration, and more especially in 
 its relation to the manufacture of porcelain. But 
 there is no neglect of the fundamental principles 
 of design. I had an opportunity of carefully 
 examining a vast number of studies executed by 
 the pupils of the different classes, and it was 
 certainly a pleasure to observe the scientific 
 method and order with which the course of 
 instruction is gradually developed by the teachers. 
 There is, for instance, a special class for the study 
 of flowers, but the pupils are not left merely to pro- 
 duce a pictorial representation of the subject set 
 before them. Each flower is also carefully analysed 
 with a view to its service for the purposes of com- 
 position, the anatomy of its structure is clearly 
 explained by the professor and is carefully noted 
 by the pupil, and when a certain degree of pro- 
 
66 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL PRANCE. 
 
 ficiency has been attained experiments are made in 
 the invention of floral ornament and design, and in 
 the application of such ornament to cups, vases, 
 and plates. I have dealt with a course of study 
 that is special to the school of Limoges, but 
 it is not to be supposed that the student 
 is pitchforked into the practice of decorative 
 design without having acquired the first principles 
 of his art. The drawings from the figure which 
 were shown to me prove that the specialist character 
 of the school has not been allowed to dwarf the 
 course of general study. And I may note also the 
 important place assigned to modelling and orna- 
 mental sculpture. The practice of modelling gives 
 a cunning and subtlety to his hand that can scarcely 
 be acquired in any other way. It adds craftsman- 
 ship to art, and it is therefore of the first import- 
 ance to a school which is specially devoted to the 
 education of artisans. At Limoges the forms of 
 flowers are treated in the clay, and the artist is 
 enabled to attempt such designs in relief 
 as are specially adapted to reproduction in 
 porcelain. There are besides special classes 
 for the consideration of the technical conditions 
 of painting on china with regard to tbe chemical 
 action on colour of the different kinds of furnaces 
 emnloyed. In short, the student in the school at 
 Limoges is enabled to follow the process of manu- 
 facture from the commencement to its conclusion, 
 lie can model the form of a vase or plate and 
 
LIMOGES. 
 
 67 
 
 decorate it with ornament in relief. He can then 
 add the design in colour, using the experience that 
 he has gained from the study of flowers, and lastly 
 he can follow the work to completion by subjecting 
 it to the final process of firing. 
 
 I should add a word as to the machinery pro- 
 vided by the State for the conduct and control of 
 the National School of Decorative Art at Limoges. 
 The director and the administrative officers of the 
 school, consisting of a secretary, an accountant, and 
 male and female overseers of the different classes, 
 are, as I have already explained, nominated by the 
 Minister of Fine Arts. The director in turn 
 submits to the Minister the names of those 
 who are to fill the professorial chairs. These 
 professors are five in number, and they con- 
 stitute, with the director as their president, 
 a permanent council charged with the practical 
 organisation of the classes. They meet regularly 
 once a month, and in the month of July in each 
 year they draw up a prospectus of the classes for 
 the ensuing twelve months. In ail essential matters, 
 therefore, the intermediary between the school and 
 the central authority is the director, who, besides 
 being the president of the council of professors, is 
 ex officio president of all juries appointed to adjudi- 
 cate upon the annual competitions for the prizes 
 offered to the students. It is the director who re- 
 ports to the Minister upon all matters affecting the 
 discipline and organisation of the school, and it 
 
68 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 is he also who controls the expenses and who 
 urges upon the attention of the Government any 
 proposition of reform which may seem necessary 
 or advisable. But there is besides a superior 
 council, which is constituted to watch over the 
 fortunes of the school, and which is convened on 
 special occasions by the Minister of Fine Avis, by 
 whom its members are nominated for a period of 
 three years. Besides the Minister himself, who 
 acts as president of the council, it consists of the 
 prefect of the department and the mayor of 
 Limoges, vice presidents; the inspector of schools 
 for the department, two members of the Municipal 
 Council of Limoges, the President of the Chamber 
 of Commerce of Limoges, the architect and the 
 director of the school, and of five members chosen 
 by the Minister from amongst tlie manufacturers 
 or other eligible inhabitants of the district. 
 
 YU.— BORDEAUX. 
 
 “ Our pictures,” says a native writer of Bordeaux, 
 u are still housed in ill-lighted and inconvenient 
 apartments, where they await the erection, so long 
 and so often promised, of an appropriate gallery, 
 such as the continued growth of our collections and 
 the care that is due to their preservation render 
 every day more urgent and necessary.” This is 
 the complaint of M. Delpit, the learned historian 
 of the artistic institutions of the city, uttered some 
 
BORDEAUX. 
 
 69 
 
 thirty years ago, and the vicissitudes which have 
 since overtaken the Bordeaux art treasures prove 
 that the warning which he uttered was not without 
 warrant. At that date the pictures and sculptures 
 belonging to the city were lodged in the audience 
 chambers on the ground floor of the Hotel de 
 Yille. In 1862 a portion of the building was 
 destroyed by fire, and this led to the removal of a 
 certain number of the pictures to a temporary asylum 
 in the gardens of the Mairie. With the German 
 invasion a new danger threatened the city. It was 
 thought that valuable works of art would be im- 
 perfectly protected in the temporary building in 
 which they were placed, and they were accordingly 
 taken back to an isolated wing of the municipal 
 building. But during all this time some of the 
 larger and more important canvases still remained in 
 the rooms on the ground floor of the Hotel de Ville, 
 which were now occupied by officers of the National 
 Guard; and here, through the careless overheating 
 of a stove, a second fire occurred, which unhappily 
 resulted in serious and irreparable loss. The cele- 
 brated picture by Eugene Delacroix, the “ Chasse 
 aux Lions,’ 7 was entirely destroyed. Nothing now 
 remains but a charred and blackened fragment of 
 the upper portion of the design; and when I 
 was at Bordeaux, a native artist, who had fortunately 
 made a sketch of the entire composition when it 
 was intact, was engaged upon the melancholy task 
 of executing a full-size copy of the great painter’s 
 
70 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 ruined work. The pictures were then removed to 
 a gallery adjoining the Museum of Natural History 
 in the public gardens of the town, and it was not 
 until the year 1874 that the plans for the present 
 buildings were finally accepted by the Corporation. 
 Bordeaux has suffered by this long delay, but it has 
 gained in the end a public monument worthy of the 
 city and admirably adapted to its purpose. There 
 is something very original and attractive in the 
 extreme simplicity of the new galleries. The space 
 at the disposal of the architect was the garden of 
 the Hotel de Ville, but he has not striven, as might 
 perhaps have been expected, to rival the older 
 building by a grand and imposing modern struc- 
 ture, nor has he destroyed the charm and beauty 
 of the gardens themselves. His work takes its 
 place unobtrusively amid the earlier surround- 
 ings of the place. Having to design a building for 
 the display of painting and sculpture, he has kept 
 himself strictly to his task, and by this means has 
 produced a work that is entirely unpretentious, but 
 is nevertheless graceful and elegant and convincingly 
 appropriate. I have spoken of it as one building, 
 but in fact there are two distinct galleries separated 
 by an intervening space of open garden. EacJi of 
 these galleries is built upon the ground level, so 
 that the visitor enters without the fatigue of 
 mounting a lofty staircase. From the fact 
 of being only a single storey in height, the}^ 
 have the effect of pavilions, to which the 
 
BORDEAUX. 
 
 71 
 
 ornamental gardens form a fitting setting. 
 They are divided into a series of different 
 apartments, lofty and well lighted, and which even 
 in the intense heat of a southern summer are not 
 uncomfortably warm. The architectural division 
 into two separate wings accords perfectly with the 
 method that has been adopted in the arrangement 
 of the pictures. On one side of the garden are the 
 works of the earlier schools; on the other are found 
 the examples of native and national art. This 
 arrangement has been admirably carried out by M. 
 Vallet, the present director of the museum, to 
 whom has fallen the responsible task of transferring 
 the collections to the new building. In Bordeaux 
 the director’s authority is more complete than in some 
 other of the large cities, and his individual responsi- 
 bility is correspondingly increased. There is here no 
 special committee appointed to the permanent control 
 of the municipal museums, but in place of this 
 arrangement the Mayor nominates one member of 
 the Council as “ adjoint,” with particular functions 
 in regard to the theatres, public gardens, and 
 museums. How far this system is found to work 
 well in other matters I do not pretend to say, but 
 as a mode of dealing with the interests of art it is 
 not viewed with favour by those whose opinion is 
 most entitled to weight. The u adjoint,” being of 
 necessity a member of the Council, has often to be 
 chosen without special qualifications for the task 
 entrusted to him. He therefore fails to secure the 
 
72 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 entire confidence either of the director on the one 
 hand or of the municipality on the other, and 
 thus the relations between these two authorities 
 are apt to become uncertain and ill-defined' 
 I think that on the whole the system I have 
 described as existing at Angers, where an independ- 
 ent committee of control is appointed by the Cor- 
 poration, is thought to ensure a better and more 
 settled system of organisation ; and it undoubtedly 
 serves at the same time to awaken a keener interest 
 in the fortunes of the museum amongst those 
 citizens who by taste and knowledge are fitted to 
 take an active share in its management. But what- 
 ever may be the defects of the present system, it 
 must at least be conceded that the municipality at 
 Bordeaux evinces a liberal spirit in regard to art. For 
 the support of the museum of painting and sculp- 
 ture it provides an annual grant of 12,*500f., which 
 is independent of the salaries of the director and 
 his subordinates. In addition to this a fund of 
 10,000f. is appropriated every year to the 
 purchase of works of painting and sculpture. 
 These sums are not perhaps very large in them- 
 selves, but it must be remembered that they refer 
 to only one of several institutions which have a 
 claim upon the city purse. There is besides a 
 Museum of Antiquities, to which the Corporation 
 also makes a substantial contribution, not to speak 
 of the School of Art, where the instruction, as 
 everywhere throughout France, is wholly gratuitous, 
 
BORDEAUX. 
 
 73 
 
 and with which in the case of Bordeaux a special 
 school of sculpture is associated. The annual 
 exhibitions of modern art are in the hands of an 
 independent society founded in the year 1851. 
 
 As a representative collection the series of 
 modern pictures forms perhaps the more im- 
 portant section of the museum. Bordeaux 
 possesses capital examples of the past and 
 the present generation of French artists, many 
 of them secured at a time when their authors had 
 not j^et come to be ranked as great masters. From 
 this point of view the destruction of Delacroix’s 
 fine picture is the more deplorable as in the pre- 
 sent galleries it would have served to complete the 
 historical review of the French school. The painter, 
 however, is still represented on the walls by two 
 smaller works, one of which, a study of a crouching 
 lion, is admirably characteristic of his vigorous 
 design and brilliant colouring. But it is in the 
 department of modern French landscape that the 
 gallery is most richly endowed. In the group of 
 gifted men who more than forty years ago effected 
 a revolution in the study of nature there was one 
 whose memory the city has a special right 
 to cherish and honour. Narcisse Diaz was born 
 at Bordeaux in the year 1807. He perhaps never 
 attained the power of Theodore Bousseau, with 
 whose sentiment in art he showed the closest sym- 
 pathy, nor have his landscapes the delicate poetry 
 of Corot, or the dramatic force of representation 
 
74 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 which lay within the command of painters like 
 Daubigny and Dupre. And yet, in virtue of a cer- 
 tain elegance of style combined with rich and 
 luxuriant colouring, he holds an undisputed place 
 beside these greater masters. “ The Forest of Fon- 
 tainebleau, ” says M. Philippe Burty,one of the most 
 intelligent eulogists of the Romantic movement, 
 " loses in Diaz an artist who had the truest 
 perception of its peculiar charm. He did 
 not see it in its sombre " grandeur ; he 
 felt its delight and fascination. No one 
 
 has so successfully caught the spirit of the pleasure 
 parties that crowd its shady alleys in spring time 
 and summer. No one has rendered with such 
 astonishing effect the bright Hashes of slanting 
 sunlight upon the trunks of its beeches and birch 
 trees. No one, again, has translated with such force 
 and brilliancy the velvet surface of its moss-grown 
 rocks or the embrowned gold of its autumn foliage.’ 
 I have quoted these eloquent words of M. Burty 
 because they are strictly appropriate to the admir- 
 able picture by Diaz which hangs in the museum of 
 his native town. The scene is in the Forest of 
 Fontainebleau at the moment when recent rains have 
 left pools of water standing amid the trees, whose 
 leaves here and there are transformed with the 
 first touches of autumn weather. The delicate 
 outlines of the upper branches are forcibly 
 relieved against a tranquil sky, and below 
 the sombre depth of the forest is lightened 
 
BORDEAUX. 
 
 75 
 
 with brilliant passages of colour which shine and 
 sparkle in the humid atmosphere. It is, in truth, a 
 superb example of the master, approaching more 
 nearly than any painting of his that I know to the 
 force and depth of his greater contemporary, 
 Theodore Rousseau. This picture was acquired in 
 1872 from one of the annual exhibitions of modern 
 work held at Bordeaux, and from the same source 
 was also derived the large landscape by Corot, a 
 work of even greater importance, now worth many 
 times the sum for which it was originally purchased. 
 This is one of Corot’s most characteristic designs, 
 wherein his modern feeling for the subtle beauties 
 of light and air is associated with the representation 
 of a theme of classic grace. Corot never yielded 
 to the reproaches of his critics on this score. He 
 (Continued to the close of his career to infuse this 
 element of antique fancy into his studies of nature, 
 and the fairy character that belongs to his work, 
 the magical lightness and grace which he was able 
 to impart to the interpretation of rural beauty, 
 serves to effect the desired harmony between the 
 life of the present and the past. “ Les Bords de 
 l’Oise,” by Daubigny, may be said to complete the 
 representation of the great modern movement of 
 the Romantic school. In certain qualities of real- 
 istic strength Daubigny had no equal in the gifted 
 band of painters with whom he was associated. No 
 one else could so forcibly seize upon the sudden 
 harmonies of earth and sky which a passing effect of 
 
76 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL PRANCE. 
 
 atmosphere grants to a chosen scene. Here he is seen 
 in a more tranquil mood, with masses of sumptuous 
 colour broadly and simply disposed, but the theme, 
 though it lies a little beyond the accustomed range 
 of his art, is treated with perfect mastery and ease. 
 
 I have taken these three pictures as capital 
 specimens of what the Bordeaux Museum contains 
 in its modern section. They do not, of course, 
 exhaust the list even of excellent landscapes, and 
 they leave out of count a great variety of work in 
 other kinds. Moreover it must be added that 
 the earlier phases of French art are by no 
 means neglected. There is a beautiful little 
 portrait belonging to the school of Francois Clouet, 
 scarcely unworthy of the master himself, and 
 there are also respectable examples of Mignard, 
 Claude, and Coypel. But it is time to say a word 
 about the collection of ancient masters lying upon 
 the opposite side of the garden. The Italian pictures, 
 with a few notable exceptions, are not of the highest 
 value. Bordeaux shared in the liberal distribution 
 of works by the State made in the beginning of the 
 century, but it was not so fortunate as some of its 
 rivals in securing works of great interest or im- 
 portance. In 1828, however, the town acquired by 
 purchase the valuable gallery of M. de Lacaze, and 
 this, together with subsequent additions, served 
 greatly to raise the dignity and character of 
 the museum. The capital piece of the collec- 
 tion is a large and graceful composition 
 
BORDEAUX. 
 
 77 
 
 by Perugino originally belonging to the 
 Church of St. Augustin at Perugia. Messrs. 
 Crowe "and Cavalcaselle, who, however, admit that 
 they had not seen the picture, conjecture that it is 
 the work described by Constantine as being by a 
 pupil of the master. Its intrinsic merits would 
 seem by no means to warrant this suggestion. It is 
 in every way worthy of Perugino himself, and 
 although it is said to have undergone some restora- 
 tion at the beginning of the century, its condition 
 compares favourably with works by the same hand 
 in other museums of the provinces. I cannot speak 
 with the same confidence of the little sketch of the 
 u Triumph of Galatea n formerly in the Lacaze col- 
 lection, and ascribed to Titian, or of the Magdalen 
 set L down to Guido Beni. Two canvases bearing 
 the name of Paul Veronese have a better claim to 
 authenticity, and there is a graceful composition by 
 Tiepolo which is indisputably genuine. Perhaps 
 the most important picture in this section is a 
 portrait of Don Luis de Haro ascribed to Murillo. 
 Without precisely suggesting the style of this par- 
 ticular master, it is a work which is certainly 
 worthy of his or even of a greater hand. It is 
 marked by artistic qualities of the very highest 
 order, and is equally admirable for the strength of 
 its characterisation and the beauty and force of 
 its workmanship. 
 
78 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 VIII. — TOULOUSE. 
 
 Toulouse is a veritable city of the south. Even 
 the short journey from Bordeaux marks a distinct 
 change of character and life, and seems to carry the 
 traveller suddenly into a new and different atmo- 
 sphere. The capital of the ancient province of 
 Languedoc, one reminds oneself, is still the home of 
 the 61 Gai S^avoir.” Here every May time the 
 Societe des Jeux Floreaux, which holds its title 
 from the Troubadours, meets to listen to the verses 
 of local poets, and to crown with flowers the essays 
 of successful competitors. But even without the 
 survival of these legendary rites, the city would 
 impress the visitor with its strongly-marked indi- 
 viduality and with the sentiment of a southern civi- 
 lisation. The wide open market-place, laden with 
 peaches and melons, which come like a fairy mush- 
 room growth at daybreak, and vanish, as if by 
 magic, before mid-day, strikes upon the sense as a 
 foretaste of Italy, recalling memories of Mantua 
 and Verona. And if the spirit of the south still 
 dwells in the life of the present, it breathes even 
 more strongly in the remaining records of the past. 
 All that is interesting in the art of Toulouse speaks 
 to us of the art of Borne. Here it is not the work 
 of the Benaissance, when men w T ere striving to 
 revive and to renew a forgotten ideal of beauty, 
 that appeals to the imagination, but the exquisite 
 monuments of an earlier age that yet held unbroken 
 
TOULOUSE. 
 
 79 
 
 the tradition of classic style, refreshed but not 
 effaced by the touch of that new and tender feeling 
 for nature which was destined to give a lasting 
 charm to the creations of Gothic art. At Toulouse 
 it is possible to appreciate at its full 
 value the Romanesque architecture of Southern 
 France. In the presence of a building like 
 the Church of Saint Sernin, the word acquires 
 definite and intelligible meaning, and a glance 
 at the contents of the museum of Toulouse helps us 
 also to understand the influences under which such 
 a style grew to perfection. There, in the mass of 
 interesting remains collected from the town and the 
 province, it may be seen how deeply implanted was 
 the spirit of Roman civilisation and Roman art. In 
 this respect no museum of the Republic is more 
 richly endowed, although the present is not a 
 favourable moment for the careful study of these 
 treasures. The Museum of Toulouse is in course of 
 reconstruction. The building which it now occu- 
 pies, the ancient church and monastery of the 
 Augustins, is not altogether suitable to the purpose 
 to which it has been applied. The gallery of paint- 
 ings, the least remarkable section of the museum, 
 is placed in the church itself, which in spite of altera- 
 tions which have gone far to ruin its architectural 
 character is very ill adapted for the exhibition of 
 works of art. In the chapter-house are arranged 
 an excellent series of casts from the antique for the 
 use of the students of the school of art, and in the 
 
80 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 elegant cloisters, one of the most beautiful examples 
 of Gothic art to be found in this part of France, are 
 displayed the series of antiquities to which I have 
 already referred. But these several departments of 
 the museum are now thrown into disorder by reason 
 of the work of restoration and reconstruction which 
 has lately been begun. The cloisters are being 
 newly roofed in, and when this operation is com- 
 plete the collection of Gallo-Boman remains will be 
 re-arranged in their former order. For the more 
 modern works possessed by the museum, including 
 the gallery of paintings, an entirely new building is 
 to be erected on the site adjoining the cloisters 
 and facing the public street. Some con- 
 siderable time must elapse before these important 
 changes can be carried into effect, and in the mean- 
 time many of the pictures are stored away, and a 
 large portion of the collection of antique vases 
 and jewellery is practically inaccessible. It would be 
 obviously unjust, therefore, to dwell too hardly on 
 the apparently neglected condition of the pictures, 
 which have, perhaps, suffered from influences 
 beyond the control of the authorities. It must, 
 however, be admitted that the Museum of Toulouse 
 lacks the impress of vitality and progress which 
 belongs especially to the artistic institution of towns 
 like Bordeaux and Marseilles. In the intrinsic 
 value of its possessions it can bear comparison with 
 either, but there is about the whole establishment a 
 sense of depression and neglect which would seem 
 
TOULOUSE. 
 
 81 
 
 to betoken that the institution is only remotely 
 related to the life and movement of the modern 
 town. Such a state of things serves to give 
 especial force to a reflection that applies in som e 
 measure to the administration of nearly all the 
 provincial museums of France. The artistic wealth 
 of these great towns is nearly everywhere remark- 
 able and surprising, but the collections of original 
 work are not arranged in such a way as to form a 
 connected history of art. From an educational 
 point of view the result is often disappointing and 
 incomplete, for the reason that no pains have been 
 taken to supplement the original records by such a 
 series of reproductions as would form a compre- 
 hensive survey of the successive epochs in art to 
 which they belong. It is possible to conceive that 
 to the average citizen these museums must 
 often prove dull and uninstructive. Fie lacks 
 the knowledge that would serve to bind the 
 different objects of interest into a connected whole, 
 and give to each isolated example its appropriate 
 place in the general development of art. No pro- 
 vincial city^ however fortunate, can hope to vie 
 with the capital in the extent of its artistic posses- 
 sions, and it is therefore indispensable that these 
 different local centres, if they are to serve a higher 
 purpose than that of mere storehouses for frag- 
 mentary and incomplete collections, should add 
 to their original resources such a series of 
 casts or copies, executed according to the nature 
 
82 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 of the material, as would serve to illustrate, 
 at least in outline, the wider movement of artistic 
 invention and style. It is only by such means 
 that the unlearned visitor can possess himself of a 
 true standard by Avhich to appreciate and enjoy the 
 original work in these local museums. A collection 
 of copies alone, however comprehensive, would no 
 doubt prove lifeless and uninspiring. There is a 
 superior magic in the influence of an original 
 masterpiece that is not to be disputed, but at the 
 same time this influence is sorely weakened when 
 a beautiful object, in whatever department of art, 
 has to make its appeal without the help of any 
 illustrative surroundings. There is a talk at the 
 present time of establishing a closer relation 
 between these municipal museums and the central 
 government, and one of the good results that might 
 be expected from such a measure would be an 
 increase in the educational value of these estab- 
 lishments. 
 
 The antiquities located in the Museum of 
 Toulouse are largely derived from excavations 
 made near the small town of Martres, on the banks 
 of the Garonne. They include a very interesting 
 series of portrait busts of Eoman . emperors, 
 besides smaller works in bronze, together -with carv- 
 ings in relief, altars and inscriptions, and frag- 
 ments of architectural ornament. There is also a 
 really magnificent collection of antique jewellery 
 discovered during the- making of the canal at 
 
TOULOUSE. 
 
 83 
 
 Fenouillet, and to these treasures of purely local 
 origin must be added the Greek and Etruscan vases 
 from the cabinet of the Comte de Clarac, and from 
 the collection brought from Civita Vecchia by M. 
 Barry. It is by a natural transition that we pass 
 from these records of Roman supremacy in France 
 to the architectural and sculptured remains of the 
 Middle Ages, where the impress of Roman art is 
 still deeply marked, and upon which the representa- 
 tion of Pagan legends sometimes mingles with the 
 images of Christian symbolism. Many of the most 
 interesting of these carvings come from the ancient 
 .cemetery of St. Sernin, and help to emphasise and 
 to illustrate the uninterrupted continuance of the 
 sentiment of classic art which prevailed from the 
 time of the Roman occupation to the twelfth cen- 
 tury. The Romanesque building of the South of 
 France is indeed in a two-fold sense the product of 
 classical tradition, for the principles of construction 
 at first derived from Rome were subsequently 
 modified by Greek artists of the Lower Empire. 
 u L’Fglise de Saint Sernin / 7 writes M. Viollet-le- 
 l)uc, “est nn des monuments de nos provinces 
 meridionales qui donne la plus vive empreinte de 
 ces influences Romane-Grecques et des principes de 
 proportion qui avaient ete appliques a la structure 
 Romaine par les Grecs du Bas Empire . 77 It is note- 
 worthy that this wonderful building also supplies 
 an interesting illustration of the oriental influence 
 that is characteristic of the architecture of 
 
84 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 the epoch. The Venetian traders with the 
 East already in the tenth century had their agents 
 in Southern and Central France who dealt in 
 Oriental stuffs and objects of art; and in the choir 
 of the Church of St. Semin are some archaic figures 
 in relief clearly of Oriental origin, which M. Viollet- 
 le-Duc believes to have been enlarged and clumsy 
 copies of Byzantine ivories. Elere, then, we have 
 the crude expression of a sentiment that enters 
 with greater subtlety into nearly all the decorative 
 sculpture of Romanesque building, and which may 
 be plainly traced in the wonderfully carved corbels 
 and capitals of St. Sernin. It would be easy to 
 linger too long over the study of this beautiful 
 church, which, from an artistic point of view, is the 
 most interesting feature of Toulouse. In unity and 
 elegance of design it is certainly superior to the 
 Kom&nesque churches of Auvergne, and in the 
 measured grace and severity of its style it holds its 
 own even with the most sumptuous examples of the 
 Gothic building of a later century. 
 
 But I must not quit Toulouse without a word as 
 to the collection of pictures, which numbers one or 
 two works of first-rate quality. Prominent in this 
 category is the group of two figures of St. John and 
 St. Augustine by Perugino, part of a tryptich 
 the pendant to which is found at Lyons. The 
 surface of the painting has manifestly suffered 
 by restoration, and perhaps also from the damp 
 atmosphere of the building, but tliese injuries 
 
TOULOUSE. 
 
 85 
 
 liave left intact the beautiful design and the 
 graceful sentiment expressed in the faces. This is 
 almost the only Italian picture of any mark in the 
 collection now exhibited. There are however one 
 or two interesting specimens of early Florentine 
 art lately acquired by the Museum which await the 
 completion of the new building before they can be 
 shown to the public. The Flemish and German 
 schools do not fare much better, although there is 
 of course a Rubens in the catalogue, and a much 
 injured painting of the master on the wall. More 
 interesting, because in a more genuine state of pre- 
 servation, is the fine composition by Lucas Fran- 
 cois, who though an older contemporary of Rubens, 
 was obviously affected by his style. The French 
 school, both in its earlier and late developments, is 
 more worthily represented. There are excellent 
 examples of Delacroix, Henner, Gerome, and Lau- 
 rens, and among the works illustrating the earlier 
 phases of French painting are some notable por- 
 traits by native artists of Toulouse. 
 
 The art schools of Toulouse, founded as early as 
 the middle of the 17th century, exhibit in com- 
 parison with the Museum a higher degree of pros- 
 perity. I have already noticed the excellent collec- 
 tion of casts provided for the use of the pupils, and 
 in the chapter-house where they are disposed I had 
 an opportunity of examining some of the competi- 
 tive designs recently executed in the school. I was 
 struck especially by a fact that can never fail to 
 
86 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 impress the English visitor to these schools, 
 offering as it does so strange a con- 
 trast with our own artistic development. I 
 refer to the important place assigned to the study 
 of sculpture and to the unquestioned excellence of 
 many of the models executed by the students. 
 There is no town of the provinces where metho- 
 dical instruction in the art of modelling does not 
 form an integral part of the regular curriculum, 
 but the attention given to this branch of art in 
 Toulouse demands special remark. The city, it is 
 true, enjoys a long-established tradition of pro- 
 ficiency in this department carrying us back to the 
 artists of the 12th century. And the portal which 
 stands before the southern door of St. Sernin re- 
 minds us also that a Toulousian sculptor figured 
 among the workmen of the Renaissance connecting 
 the fame of his native city with the name of 
 Michael Angelo. Bachelier, the author of this 
 work, was one of the pupils of the great Florentine, 
 and he shows in his delicate carving in relief the 
 influence of Italian invention and style. I may 
 add that in point of numbers the school at Toulouse 
 is in a flourishing condition. There are altogether 
 upwards of 800 pupils, and every three years the 
 town gives three grand prizes of 1,800 francs a year 
 to enable successful competitors to proceed to Paris. 
 
MONTPELLIER. 
 
 87 
 
 IX.— MONTPELLIER. 
 
 Montpellier enjoys an enviable distinction among’ 
 the cities of the Republic. In regard to the paintings 
 of the great schools of the past, the schools of Italy, 
 of Holland, and of Flanders, its museum is beyond 
 comparison the richest and the most interesting in 
 the whole of Provincial France ; and even in the 
 records of contemporary art, in the work of men 
 still living or but lately dead, it can compete on 
 equal terms with the most fortunate of its rivals. 
 The circumstances which have raised Montpellier to 
 this proud position deserve remembrance, for they 
 bear witness to that extraordinary munificence on 
 the part of private collectors which I have already 
 remarked as the most striking feature in the history 
 of these local institutions of art. To the favour of the 
 state the town owes little or nothing. In later years 
 it has enjoyed the ordinary measure of oific ; al 
 patronage, receiving from time to time pictures 
 purchased from the annual exhibitions of the Salon, 
 or withdrawn from the inexhaustible stores of the 
 Louvre. But at the date of the origin of the 
 Museum it had to plead piteously even for a few 
 canvases which might serve to inspire the efforts 
 of local students and form the nucleus of a future 
 collection. Montpellier was not in the list of those 
 fortunate places destined to share in the spoils of 
 foreign conquest and to divide the superfluous artistic 
 treasures of the capital. It got nothing from 
 
83 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 the famous decree of the First Consul, by which 
 other towns were so greatly enriched, and in the 
 following year we find the local professor of art 
 begging from the Minister of the Interior the gift 
 of “ a few examples from among those works which 
 had been deemed unworthy to find a place in the 
 Central Museum.” And he adds with due modesty, 
 this worthy professor, that if it were not for the 
 fear of being thought indiscreet he would plead 
 also for plaster casts of the Apollo and the Laocoon. 
 Since those days the fortunes of Montpellier have 
 undergone a magical change. The city that would 
 once have been content with the refuse of the 
 Louvre now possesses a series of works very many 
 of which the Louvre itself might be proud 
 to entertain. By an extraordinary stroke of good 
 luck, the several acquisitions made since the year 
 1825 have combined to form a connected record of 
 nearly all the great epochs of art and of nearly 
 every illustrious school of painting ; and this result 
 has been brought about, as I have said, not by the 
 liberality of the State, or by any exceptional enter- 
 prise on the part of the citizens of Montpellier, but 
 by the unexampled generosity of private individuals, 
 who have chosen thus honourably to connect their 
 names with the history of their native town. 
 
 The name inscribed over the door of the gallery 
 serves to keep fresh the memory of its earliest bene- 
 factor. Francois Fabre, who may, in fact, be regarded 
 as the founder of the Museum as well as of the 
 
MONTPELLIER. 
 
 89 
 
 School of Art, and the Public Library, was a notable 
 figure in the social and artistic life of the beginning 
 of the century. He was himself a painter, and as the 
 pupil of David he had caught something of the cold 
 and uninspired classicism of his master’s style. One 
 of his works finds a place in the catalogue 
 of the Louvre, and there are several important 
 examples in the Museum of Montpellier. But his 
 reputation rests rather on qualifies of taste and 
 connoisseurship than on actual achievements in art. 
 During a long residence in Italy, where he formed 
 the bulk of his collection, he was recognised as a 
 learned authority on all matters pertaining to the 
 history of Italian painting, and on one occasion 
 the Ecole de Beaux Arts formally submitted to liis 
 judgment a question as to the orignality of a disputed 
 portrait by Baphael. At Florence, Fabre enjoyed 
 the friendship of Altieri and of Alfieri’s mistress, 
 the celebrated Duchess of Albany, wife of the 
 English Pretender. After the poet’s death the 
 French painter succeeded to the vacant place in the 
 affections of this accomplished lady, and thus it 
 happens that the valuable libraries of Altieri and 
 the Duchess are now among the municipal posses- 
 sions of Montpellier. 
 
 The greater part of the Fabre collection was made 
 over to the town during his lifetime. It consists 
 altogether of more than 300 pictures, besides 
 bronzes, marbles, and drawings, and the valuable 
 library just mentioned, to which was added a large 
 
90 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 number of books specially relating to the history of 
 art, and accumulated by the painter himself. The 
 most interesting among the works in painting be- 
 long to the Italian schools, and it is an odd coinci- 
 dence that one whose judgment on Raphael was 
 regarded as final and indisputable should have 
 included in his own collection two portraits 
 by the master neither of which has been 
 accepted without question by the criticism of 
 a later time. Passavant sees in the head of 
 Lorenzo de’ Medici a copy by some pupil of the 
 lost original described by Vasari ; nor are the 
 intrinsic merits of the painting such as to warrant 
 a different conclusion. The portrait of a young 
 man with long fair hair stands in a very different 
 category. By whomsoever painted, it is beyond 
 question a superb and noble piece of work, executed 
 by the hand of a master. It has been attributed to 
 Giorgione, to Sebastian del Piombo, and to Francia, 
 and in sentiment and manner it does undoubtedly 
 suggest Francia rather than Raphael. But in the 
 presence of a picture so beautiful, marked by that 
 sweetness and dignity of style which belongs only 
 to the portraiture of Italy, and to the practice of 
 men in whom the study of individual character was 
 constantly sustained by the pursuit of ideal beauty 
 in design, the question of authorship is, after all, 
 of no great consequence. The painting is not un- 
 worthy of Raphael even though it be by Francia, and 
 the director of the Museum perhaps does wisely to 
 
MONTPELLIEin 
 
 91 
 
 retain the greater name, and thus insure for an 
 undoubted masterpiece its due meed of admiration. 
 On the opposite wall hangs another of the gems of the 
 Fabre collection, ^The Marriage of St. Catherine/ 7 
 by Paul Veronese, a work of exquisite colour, and 
 exhibiting a rare degree of precision and complete- 
 ness in the painting of details. M. Clement de 
 Pis finds fault with the design, but a critic who 
 would demand from Venice the severe graces of 
 Florentine style is not in the mood to appreciate 
 the triumphs of a painter like Veronese. The 
 painting that lives by the splendour and glow of 
 its colouring is not to be dissected but to be enjoyed, 
 and certainly there are few pictures by the artist 
 that have on this ground a better right to claim immu- 
 nity from pedantic criticism. The colour through- 
 out is of measured strength and perfect harmony, 
 enriched by deep tints of crimson, and gold, and 
 blue, and refined by passages of silvery quality 
 made up of the most delicate opalescent hues, that 
 are cool, and yet never cold, in effect. These are 
 two picked and chosen examples from the Fabre 
 collection, but they are very far from exhausting 
 its resources. Italian painting in the earlier as in 
 the later phases of its development is illustrated 
 with even greater fulness; and where the Fabre 
 Gallery fails more recent donations have come to 
 fill the blank. I may notice in particular a very 
 beautiful panel ascribed to Bellini, only lately pre- 
 sented to the Gallery by M. Chaber. It is slightly 
 
62 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 embrowned by varnish, but is otherwise intact, and 
 if not the work of Giovanni Bellini himself is at 
 least a genuine and characteristic product of the 
 early Venetian school. In “ The Holy Family” by 
 Fra Bartolommeo and in two portrait heads by 
 Titian and Tintoret we come back to the gift of 
 M. Fabre, to whose generosity is also due a curious 
 panel ascribed to Daniele da Volterra, and a very 
 interesting series of landscapes by Gaspar Poussin. 
 
 After what has been said it will seem almost like 
 exaggeration to say that the Fabre collection forms 
 by no means the most valuable portion of the 
 Museum, and yet the statement is strictly accurate. 
 In the year 1837 M. Valedau, another citizen of 
 Montpellier, bequeathed to his native town a series 
 of works by the great Butch and Flemish masters, 
 among which it would be hard to find a single bad 
 or indifferent picture. Twenty 5 T ears ago the 
 money value of this collection was estimated at 
 £16,000 sterling, and at the present time it would 
 probably be worth nearly double that sum. M. 
 Valedau would seem to have possessed a highly 
 cultivated taste for the works of those masters 
 whom he specially loved. At a time when the 
 principles of a pedantic classicism were in the 
 ascendent, and before the Bomantic movement in 
 French art had as yet gathered strength, he showed 
 an unerring instinct for the qualities of the genre 
 painters of Holland. It would perhaps be too much 
 to say that every work admitted to his collection is a 
 
MONTPELLIER. 
 
 93 
 
 masterpiece, but it is at least true that they are nearly 
 all admirable and genuine examples of the masters 
 to whom they are assigned, and they preserve a 
 freshness and purity of condition that is rare even 
 in the contents of public and national galleries. A 
 student of the Museum of Montpellier, even with- 
 out access to other and more celebrated collec- 
 tions, would still be able to form a just appre- 
 ciation of the aims and the triumphs of the 
 Dutch School. Terburg, the younger Teniers, Cuyp, 
 Metzu, Jan Steen, Adrian van Ostade, Euysdael, 
 Mieris, and Wouvermans are ail illustrated by 
 works of characteristic force and refinement. It 
 would serve no purpose to attempt a lengthened 
 description of these pictures. Each one of the 
 masters 1 have named has his own special and well- 
 defined manner of interpreting nature. It was not 
 within the scope of Dutch art to affect a large or 
 epical treatment of human life. The truth and 
 beauty of such work resides in homely material and 
 is expressed by simple means. It does not strive to 
 present noble types of character or to combine the 
 truths of poetic imagination with the rhythmic 
 grace of ordered and severe design. And vet, 
 despite the lack of these loftier qualities of inven- 
 tion and style, Dutch painting has such a perfection 
 of its own, so much finesse in perception, and 
 such an exquisite technical mastery, that we 
 lose all sense of the limitation of its aim. 
 The genius of art is so large and tolerant 
 
94 
 
 AUT IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 that it can find room for every ideal held with con- 
 viction and worthily pursued. And it is astonish- 
 ing even in the modest range of an art that deals 
 only with simple life how varied is the exercise of 
 individual power. Here, for instance, in two pic- 
 tures by Jan Steen we get that subtle sub-liavour 
 of drama which always distinguishes his treatment 
 of contemporary manners. In one of them a traveller 
 has sat down to refresh himself at the door of a 
 country inn, and in the interchange of glances be- 
 tween the customer and his hostess we get just that 
 suggestion of the dramatic possibilities of the scene 
 which serves to animate and enliven the masterly 
 rendering of detail. Terburg again leaves his mark 
 on every subject that he handles by a largeness and 
 sureness of touch that serves to convert a miniature 
 into a masterpiece ; and his peculiar method could 
 scarcely be shown to better advantage than in the 
 figure of the half-drunken soldier who slumbers with 
 his head resting on the table while the waiting-maid 
 pours out another glass of wine. Another gem of 
 the collection is the little picture of a man writing 
 at a table, by Metzu, and in the same category may 
 be placed a view on the banks of the Meuse by 
 Ouyp, a work of delicately executed detail suffused 
 in golden sunlight. I may add that the town has 
 recently enriched the representation of Hutch art 
 by the purchase of a superb head by Nicholas Maas 
 from the San Donato Palace. 
 
 A special feature of the Valedau bequest, apart 
 
MONTPELLIER. 
 
 95 
 
 from the series of paintings already mentioned, 
 consists of a very remarkable collection of the 
 works of Greuze. Nowhere else, not even at the 
 Louvre, is the talent of this master displayed with 
 such fulness and variety. A visit to Montpellier 
 induces a more liberal estimate of Greuze’s 
 powers than has gained general acceptance 
 through the more familiar products of his pencil. 
 The painter of pretty faces in which an enfeebled 
 sentiment too often takes the place of passion is 
 here seen to have a wider range, and to be capable 
 on occasion of executing work of greater vigour and 
 force. There are altogether twelve canvases bear- 
 ing his name, and with perhaps a single exception 
 they are all of unquestioned authenticity. Most of 
 them, as 1 have said, are in the gift of M. Valedau, 
 but there are one or two of the number formerly 
 belonging to the collection of M, Louis Bruyas, 
 another enlightened citizen of Montpellier, to whose 
 generosity the Museum has been scarcely less in- 
 debted. As M. Fabre’s donation of the works of the 
 Italian masters was worthily seconded by tli9 
 Valedau bequest of representative examples of 
 Butch art, so both these collections are now appro- 
 priately supplemented by the series of French 
 paintings given by M. Bruyas. M. Bruyas had his 
 heart in the Bomantic movement, and the museum 
 is consequently richly endowed with the paintings 
 of men like Courbet, Corot, Barye, Tassaert, Diaz, 
 Gericault, Delacroix, Isabey, and Rousseau. Never, 
 
96 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 surely, was a town so fortunate in its patrons; each 
 one possessing a distinct individual taste, and all 
 animated by a genuine love for art and a common 
 desire to promote the dignity of their native city. M. 
 Bruyas was the personal friend of many of the artists 
 whose talent he sought to appreciate, and on the 
 walls of the Museum are to be found a number of dif- 
 ferent portraits of him executed by various hands, 
 These works in themselves form the material for a 
 comparative study of style. There is nothing which 
 so clearly exhibits the meaning of individuality in 
 art as the contrasted results of different studies of 
 ike same subject. It is interesting, for example, to 
 compare the heads painted by Delacroix and Picard 
 and then to pass from either to the more modern 
 and mere strongly realistic work of a painter like 
 Courbet. 
 
 X. — MARSEILLES. 
 
 A traveller landing at Marseilles, if by any stretch 
 of imagination he could be supposed to be ignorant 
 of the existence of Paris, might readily fancy him- 
 self in the capital of France. There is no city in 
 the provinces which has less of a provincial air. 
 "With a population falling far below that of Lyons, 
 it nevertheless approaches much more nearly to the 
 character and aspect of a metropolis, and perhaps 
 in no way is the splendour and dignity of this 
 great seaport of the Eepublic more clearly marked 
 
MARSEILLES. 
 
 97 
 
 than in the imposing and really magnificent build- 
 ing now appropriated to the uses of the Museum. 
 The Palais de Longchamp is altogether a fortunate 
 example of the resources of modern French archi- 
 tecture. It is planned with that mixture of science 
 and audacity which is so eminently characteristic of 
 the national temperament in matters of art. The 
 superior science and training of a French artist 
 often avail to save him from the reproach of vul- 
 garity even when he is deliberately striving for 
 effect. He finds a way to impress the popular 
 imagination without resort to the common devices 
 of overloaded ornament or ostentatious display of 
 expensive material, and though he may not be in- 
 spired by the highest ideal of beauty, he can 
 nevertheless win the respect and attention of 
 serious students by a certain daring and boldness 
 of design. The late M. Henri Esperandieu, the 
 architect of the Palais de Longchamp, was no doubt 
 greatly assisted in his labours by the natural 
 advantages of a magnificent site. The building 
 & tan Is upon an elevated position commanding the 
 principal streets of the city, which run down to the 
 margin of the old harbour. It would have been 
 difficult, one may say, to have failed altogether in 
 producing a monument of imposing effect, but it 
 would have been easy nevertheless to have missed 
 the very striking success which the artist has 
 achieved. The question of cost must also be taken 
 
 into account in judging of a work of this kind. The 
 
 a 
 
98 -ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 Marseillais have not been grudging in this matter, 
 and yet, considering what they have got for their 
 money, the sum expended upon the building and its 
 adornment cannot be deemed extravagant. Apart 
 from the value of the site the Museum has cost the 
 city, in round figures, £165,000, and for this sum it 
 has become possessed of a building admirably 
 adapted to its purpose, with spacious galleries to 
 contain the municipal treasures of art and the ex- 
 tensive collections of natural history. Nor does 
 the outlay merely cover the execution of the archi- 
 tect’s design. It includes also the important works 
 of decorative sculpture in the gardens and the 
 mural paintings of the interior, both in their kind 
 of the best which the contemporary school of 
 France can produce. The plan of the building is 
 eminently simple and effective. It consists of two 
 separate wings united by an open colonnade, in the 
 centre of which rises an imposing ornamental 
 structure called the Chateau d’Eau, the source of 
 an abundant fountain of water that falls in a series 
 of cascades to a vast basin in the garden below. 
 The two wings, occupied respectively by the picture 
 gallery and the museum of natural history, are each 
 of two storeys in height, and the colonnade con- 
 necting them springs from the upper storey, and 
 thus encircles with the most striking decorative 
 effect the colossal group of sculpture which crowns 
 the summit of the Chateau d’Eau. This group is 
 the work of M. Cavellier, who has also executed the 
 
MARSEILLES. 
 
 99 
 
 frieze of Tritons which serves as a background to 
 the cascade. On the pedestals fixed at the en- 
 trance to the gardens are four spirited groups 
 of animals by Barye, whose genius in this de- 
 partment has had no rival in modern Europe, 
 and whose death was rightly reckoned among 
 the heaviest losses of the French school. But 
 if the Museum has been fortunate in securing the 
 services of eminent sculptors, its possessions in the 
 way of ornamental paintings are scarcely less re- 
 markable. On the great staircase leading to the 
 picture galleries are placed two beautiful designs 
 by the most original and the most gifted of the 
 living painters of France. M. Puvis de Cha- 
 vannes is endowed in the highest degree with 
 those nobler qualities of simplicity and style 
 that are too often lacking even to the most 
 brilliant achievements of his fellows. To a com- 
 mand of colour always remarkable for an extra- 
 ordinary purity and freshness of tone he adds a 
 power of invention which never exaggerates the 
 dramatic significance of a chosen subject, and rarely 
 nlisses its deeper and more lasting elements of 
 beauty. In no merely superficial sense, therefore, he 
 may be credited with the genius of decorative art 
 for he can illustrate a theme in simple fashion, too 
 sure of the strength of his design to need recourse 
 to rhetorical artifices of gesture or expression, and 
 with a taste in the selection of harmonious tints that 
 requires no heavy or exaggerated contrasts of light 
 
100 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 and shade. In these two paintings he has under- 
 taken to illustrate the history and prosperity of the 
 city. The first represents Marseilles as a Greek 
 colony, with the early settlers at work upon the 
 blocks of marble that are to be employed in the 
 building of the new town, and with a group of 
 graceful women in the foreground relieved against 
 the wide expanse of the Mediterranean. The har- 
 mony of colour is of faultless truth and delicacy, 
 the blue sea and the blue sky linked together in a 
 single impression of tone, the heaven above flecked 
 with light clouds, and the water beneath studded 
 with the white sails of passing boats driven onward 
 by a breeze that scarcely ruffles the surface of the sea. 
 In the second design M. Puvis de Chavannes 
 has presented the city in its modern character as 
 the great seaport of Eastern commerce. The tra- 
 veller at Marseilles learns to appreciate the strength 
 of the national feeling about Egypt. There are 
 manifold signs of the country’s intimate relations 
 with Oriental life and civilisation, and it is this 
 aspect of Marseilles which the painter has sought 
 to illustrate in his design. On the deck of a ship 
 steering slowly into the harbour figures in Eastern 
 costume are effectively intermingled with Euro- 
 peans, while beyond the outline of the vessel rises 
 the white buildings of the modern town. These 
 two impressive and admirable paintings stand alone 
 in the Museum of Painting and Sculpture, but the 
 galleries allotted to the use of the natural history 
 
MARSEILLES, 
 
 101 
 
 collections are richly adorned with a series of deco- 
 rative designs illustrating the wonders of the worlds 
 landscape and the marvellous products of the animal 
 and vegetable kingdom. These are the work of 
 M. Ponson and M. Durangel. 
 
 Such is the building wherein the Museum of 
 Marseilles has at last found a permanent home. It 
 was begun in the year 1862, and finished in the 
 month of August, 1869, when it was opened to the 
 public with all due pomp and ceremony. The earlier 
 history of the artistic institutions of the city is the 
 record of a long and persistent struggle against 
 untoward circumstances. The first step towards 
 the creation of any administrative machinery for 
 the care of art was taken in response to a general 
 circular issued by the Minister Poland in regard to 
 the confiscated property of exiled Frenchmen. This 
 was in 1792; but despite the impatience of the cen- 
 tral government it was not until two years later 
 that a commission was appointed at Marseilles 
 charged with the duty of making a regular inven- 
 tory of the artistic resources of the district. The 
 Commission commenced its sittings in the Convent of 
 St. Bernard, where most of the objects of art were 
 collected, and which retained its association with 
 the Museum from that time until nearly 70 years 
 later, when the building I have just described was 
 completed. At first the functions of the Commis- 
 sion were imperfectly defined, and its powers were 
 constantly threatened. Little by little, however, 
 
102 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 it assumed a position of permanent authority, 
 taking under its charge the guardianship of the art 
 treasures of the department and making itself re- 
 sponsible for a course of public instruction in art 
 and in science. But its earnest and self-sacrificing 
 members endured many anxieties before their 
 labours were officially recognised. There were no 
 funds either to defray the necessary expenses con- 
 nected with the maintenance of the building or to 
 pay the salaries of the officials, and it was not till 
 the year 1799 that the Museum received a regular 
 status as a public institution. Even then its newly 
 acquired dignity lasted but a little while. In 1802 
 the Government appropriated the Convent for the 
 purposes of a newly established college, and the 
 Museum for a time disappeared altogether. In 
 1804 an attempt was made to revive its shattered 
 fortunes, and finally the chapel adjoining the con- 
 vent was accepted as a suitable habitation for the 
 picture gallery and the school of art. At that date 
 Marseilles was divided into three distinct munici- 
 palities, and the Museum belonged not to the town 
 but to the department ; but when in 1805 the triple 
 mayoralty was abolished, the art institutions, which 
 had hitherto been controlled by the Prefect, passed 
 under the jurisdiction of the city. Henceforward 
 an annual budget was voted from the city funds 
 in support of the cause of art, and in 1843 the last 
 step was taken in the gradual development of the 
 artistic institutions of Marseilles by a decree in 
 
MARSEILLES. 
 
 103 
 
 virtue of which the Museum and the school were 
 placed under distinct and separate systems of con- 
 trol. The present relation of the Museum to the 
 municipality is much the same as that which pre- 
 vails in many other large towns. The two principal 
 representatives of authority, here as elsewhere, 
 are the Permanent Director of the Gallery on the 
 one side, and the Mayor as the mouthpiece of the 
 Corporation on the other. Sometimes, as we have 
 seen in the case of Bordeaux, the Mayor delegates 
 certain functions of his office to an u adjoint,” who 
 is entrusted with specific duties in regard to the 
 interests of art; but this is not the course adopted 
 in Marseilles, where the place of the “ adjoint ” is 
 supplied by a consulting committee composed of 
 gentlemen of position in the town whose interest in 
 art is generally known and acknowledged. This 
 committee is not endowed with independent author- 
 ity and has no power to enforce its decisions. It can 
 only deliberate and advise, but in practice its recom- 
 mendations are found to have weight and effect, for 
 the reason, doubtless, that the Mayor is glad to be 
 relieved of the entire responsibility of determining 
 questions that demand special knowledge and study. 
 Thus the Committee is always consulted as to the 
 purchase of works of art in regard to which 
 the Director of the Gallery has no vote. It may 
 be taken as evidence of the usefulness of such a 
 committee that an effort is now being made to 
 apply the same machinery to the reorganisation of 
 
104 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 the School of Art. How far this will be rendered 
 unnecessary by the intervention of the State it 
 would be difficult to conjecture. The Department 
 of Fine Arts in Paris has began to bestir itself in 
 regard to the periodical inspection of the schools of 
 the provinces, and it is possible that the movement 
 may ultimately extend to the provincial museums. 
 Two years ago M. Henri Houssaye, writing in the 
 Revue des Deux Moncles , urgently pressed upon the 
 Government the need of action in the matter, and 
 as all these provincial museums directly benefit by 
 annual gifts made on behalf of the State there 
 would be an obvious justification for such inter- 
 vention where it should prove to be necessary, in 
 a city like Marseilles possessed of a full sense of its 
 own importance and of the modern requirements of 
 art, the effect upon the Museum could not be very 
 great, but the organisation of the schools is a 
 different question; and here the control of the 
 central authority would seem to offer greater 
 advantages. In our own country, where the schools 
 of art are in communication with South Kensington, 
 such a system of national control already exists, and 
 when the efforts now being made to establish 
 municipal museums throughout England have 
 taken shape the result will nearly approach the 
 ideal at which the reforming spirits in France are 
 now aiming. If the standard of education in the 
 schools is jealously maintained, which perhaps can 
 only be done by a certain measure of official control* 
 
MARSEILLES. 
 
 105 
 
 the generation which grows up under their influence 
 may be trusted to provide for the students and 
 for the public an adequate machinery for the con- 
 stitution of the local museum. 
 
 Coming to Marseilles immediately after Mont- 
 pellier, the contents of the Museum do not strike 
 the visitor as being specially remarkable. Though 
 sharing with other towns in the original distribu- 
 tion of works of art made at the beginning of 
 the century, Marseilles possesses few important 
 examples of the great Italian painters, nor have its 
 resources been greatly enriched by private muni- 
 ficence. In the lower galleries are placed two in- 
 teresting designs of the Florentine school of the 
 fifteenth century lately received from the Louvre, 
 and in the centre of the larger room on the first 
 floor hangs one of the most beautiful of the many 
 paintings of Perugino which are scattered over the 
 collections of provincial France. It has suffered at 
 the hands of unskilful restorers, who, however, in 
 this case have so clearly left the traces of their bung- 
 ling handiwork that it is possible to distinguish the 
 repainting from the original. A clumsy restorer 
 is perhaps on the whole to be preferred to an 
 expert, for the latter is apt to reduce the whole of 
 the picture upon which he is employed to the level 
 of his own incompetence, while the former is not 
 sensitive enough to be hurt by the contrast of old 
 and new, and is therefore content to leave much of 
 the surface untouched. Though the subject_of the 
 
106 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL PRANCE. 
 
 picture is the Holy Family, the treatment is striking 
 and original. The Virgin, seated upon a throne in 
 the centre of the composition, holds the infant 
 Christ in her arms, while behind her and on a 
 higher throne is the figure of St. Anne. 
 On one side of the principal group stands 
 the father of the Virgin, with one of the Maries 
 holding in her arms the infant form of St. James 
 her son; on the other are St. Joseph and the second 
 Mary with the little St. James the Less; while on 
 the steps of the throne are seated St. John the 
 Evangelist and Joseph of Arimathea. The union 
 of these three groups is contrived with exquisite 
 grace, and the simplicity of the material out of 
 which such a noble and impressive picture has been 
 composed may be taken as typical of the aims and 
 methods of painting, of its triumphs and its re- 
 sources, at a time when the artist was deeply pene- 
 trated with the beauty of a single idea. There is 
 no dramatic motive to impress the spectator or to 
 give an impulse to the artist’s design, no momentary 
 touch of sentiment to give intensity of effect. The 
 beauty of the result is dependent upon the profound 
 study of one enduring human relation — the relation 
 of mother and child. For although Perugino 
 laboured in the service of religion, art even in his 
 hands had already passed beyond the mere expres- 
 sion of devotional fervour, and had reached through 
 a long and persistent study of a holy theme to a 
 deeper foundation in common nature. Another 
 
LYONS. 
 
 107 
 
 interesting specimen of Italian'art is the little por- 
 trait of a Venetian Princess by Paul Veronese, a 
 work which, in the freshness and vigour of its hand- 
 ling and in its direct rendering of character, almost 
 suggests the manner of Velasquez. No name is 
 assigned to a superb study of a Jew’s head executed 
 with a searching precision of design almost worthy 
 of Purer. It was once attributed to Moretto, but 
 in the careful and elaborate execution of every 
 detail, and in the finely modelled surface of the flesh, 
 one may rather detect the hand of a Flemish master. 
 A spirited portrait recalling the features of Moliere 
 by some unknown artist of the French school, and a 
 finely painted head ascribed to Holbein are among 
 the remaining works in the gallery calling for special 
 remark. One large room in the Museum is entirely 
 devoted to the paintings of Provencal artists, and 
 here are to be found interesting examples of Pierre 
 Puget, who combined the practice of painting and 
 sculpture, and who died at Marseilles in the year 
 1694. A modern Marseillais of distinction only 
 poorly represented in the gallery is Gustave Ricard, 
 whose portraits have a curious beauty and fascina- 
 tion. 
 
 XI.— LYONS. 
 
 The artistic institutions of Lyons are more 
 complex and varied than those of any other of the 
 great provincial cities. In point of administrative 
 
108 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 method and system it may he said to offer an 
 epitome of the several distinct schemes of organi- 
 sation which are separately exhibited in towns of 
 smaller size and inferior importance ; and it possesses 
 besides certain individual characteristics of its own 
 that are well deserving of study and consideration. 
 The occasional intervention of the State, which has 
 already been remarked in the case of Limoges, is 
 illustrated in the constitution of the Lyons School 
 of Art. The great industry of the town, demanding 
 as it does the active support of artistic invention 
 and taste, has served to give a special direction to 
 the course of study pursued in the school. But 
 Lyons is not wholly absorbed by its manufactures, 
 nor are its efforts limited to the education of 
 a race of expert designers. In the organisation 
 of the school by the Government, as in the arrange- 
 ment of the municipal museums, the claims of art 
 are interpreted in a larger and more liberal spirit. 
 It is treated not merely as a necessary factor in the 
 prosperity of the city, but as a source of general 
 culture and refinement ; and the success with which 
 its higher forms of expression are studied is wit- 
 nessed by the fact that Lyons is almost the only 
 provincial centre which possesses a distinct school 
 of native painters. I had an opportunity during 
 my stay of examining the drawings and works in 
 colour as well as the sculptured models executed by 
 the pupils for the annual competition. The excel- 
 lence of individual examples was perhaps less 
 
LYONS. 
 
 109 
 
 striking than the high average standard of profi- 
 ciency which marked the exhibition as a whole. 
 This, after all, is the true test of the existence of an 
 intelligent system of instruction. No professors, 
 however earnest they may be, can command the 
 presence of exceptional talent, but they can always 
 impose a sound method of work, and if their teach- 
 ing be well directed, it must surely result in the 
 creation of a body of skilful and capable workmen. 
 It would be difficult to insist too strongly or too 
 often upon the important place assigned in French 
 art schools to the practice of modelling, or upon 
 the immeasurable superiority of the work produced 
 in this kind to anything of which our own schools 
 can boast. The study of sculpture is the surest 
 safeguard against imperfect science and clumsy 
 craftsmanship, and its recognised place in the 
 scheme of instruction implies a degree of thorough- 
 ness which can scarcely be insured by any other 
 means. The clay models of ornament and of 
 figures in the round were certainly among the most 
 remarkable performances of the art students of 
 Lyons, and next in interest are to be reckoned the 
 original designs which had been executed with 
 special reference to the manufacture of silk 
 brocade. 
 
 Apart from what is done in the School of Art, 
 which is a national institution, organised and con- 
 trolled by the central Government, Lyons has found 
 a means of its own of maintaining the artistic cha- 
 
110 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 racter of its manufactures. It has established a 
 museum specially devoted to the interests of indus- 
 trial art, and containing a rich collection of woven 
 fabrics, both ancient and modern. This is not to be 
 confused with the Municipal Museum of the town, 
 of the contents of which I shall have occasion to 
 speak later on. The Musee d’Art et d’lndustrie 
 is, in fact, not a municipal institution at all. It 
 was founded in 1864 by the Lyons Chamber 
 of Commerce, and it is now installed in 
 galleries occupying the upper storey of the 
 building appropriated to the uses of the Bourse, 
 It thus holds a unique position among the artistic 
 establishments of Provincial France, and its exist- 
 ence proves on the part of the Lyons merchants 
 and manufacturers a rare degree of enterprise and 
 intelligence. The desire to give a higher artistic 
 character to the processes and products of manufac- 
 ture more often takes the form of a protest from 
 without than of a spontaneous movement from 
 within, and in our own country it is still too much 
 the fashion to rely upon foreign invention for our 
 designs, and thus practically to abandon altogether 
 the effort to produce a race of native designers. This, 
 at least, was the case until within recent years. So 
 much so, indeed, that the successful endeavour on 
 the part of Mr. Morris to depart from esta- 
 blished custom, and to introduce an original spirit 
 into the industry with which he was specially 
 associated, has already produced something like a 
 
LYONS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 revolution in taste and style. Much, however, still 
 remains to be done in other branches of manufac- 
 ture, and the success achieved by the Chamber of 
 Commerce at Lyons may still in many ways serve 
 as a useful example to ourselves. As might be 
 expected from the particular condition under which 
 it has been established, the Museum of Art and 
 Industry at Lyons exhibits a practical spirit in all 
 the details of its organisation and management. 
 The special purpose of the Institution governs the 
 choice and arrangement of the different objects 
 collected for exhibition, and while the contents of 
 the several rooms are sufficiently interesting to the 
 public, they are even more obviously suited 
 to the purposes of study. For the support and 
 development of the Museum the Chamber of 
 Commere votes annually a sum of 30,000 
 francs, and this display of public spirit 
 has already met with response from private indi- 
 viduals in the shape of donations both in money 
 and in kind. The director of the Museum acts under 
 the control of a permanent committee formed partly 
 of members of the Chamber of Commerce and 
 partly of known amateurs of the city, who have 
 shown a special interest in the history and progress 
 of decorative art. A principal feature of the es- 
 tablishment is a large library stocked with art 
 books of reference, which are constantly used by 
 the designers employed in the different factories. 
 Next to the library is a large gallery furnished 
 
112 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 with drawings of ornament and decoration by the 
 old masters. Many of these drawings are originals 
 belonging to the Museum, others are photographs 
 from examples in the different collections of 
 Europe, and in an adjoining gallery the same idea 
 of presenting an historical survey of the principles 
 of ornamental art is further illustrated by means 
 of a valuable series of engravings. The third 
 gallery contains specimens of the raw material, and 
 in the fourth gallery are arranged model looms of 
 various sorts, together with large working drawings 
 of patterns for silk brocades. The contents of these 
 several apartments serve to give a full measure of 
 interest to the extensive collection of fabrics of all 
 ages and countries, which occupies the central 
 saloon. Considering the comparatively short time 
 during which the Museum has been in existence, 
 this collection is already wonderfully comprehensive. 
 
 Besides the Musee d’Art et dTndustrie, Lyons 
 possesses the usual collections of works of 
 art belonging to the municipality. These are 
 divided into three distinct sections, all of 
 which, however, are arranged in the spacious 
 galleries of the Palais des Arts, where they are 
 placed under the control of a single director. This 
 last point deserves notice, for it marks a more 
 logical and coherent system of organisation than 
 is to be found elsewhere. In the other towns I 
 have described the institutions of art are split up 
 into several separate establishments, each with its 
 
LYONS. 
 
 113 
 
 own building and its own director The disadvan- 
 tages of such a system are obvious: It is incon- 
 
 venient to the public, and therefore tends inevitably 
 to the neglect of all but the most popular forms of 
 art. Everywhere it is the picture gallery which 
 most powerfully attracts the curiosity and admira- 
 tion of the citizens, and in most cases the museum of 
 antiquities and the museum of decorative art are 
 almost deserted, and this neglect on the part of the 
 public encourages and excuses a corresponding 
 neglect on the part of the authorities. Many of 
 these smaller museums are ill-kept and indifferently 
 cared for. Funds do not always suffice for the 
 appointment of a highly qualified director, and with- 
 out this indispensable condition of success no great 
 development of the collection can be expected. 
 Lyons has therefore done wisely in grouping the 
 different museums under one head. The director 
 of the museums is responsible to the town not 
 merely for the care of the paintings and sculpture ; 
 he has also under his charge the Musee des Antiques, 
 which contains a series of Gallo-Roman remains of 
 the highest interest, besides valuable examples of 
 ancient jewellery, bronzes, and pottery, and the 
 Musee du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance, which 
 is particularly rich in armour, faience, and furniture. 
 Of course each one of these separate sections 
 has its own curator, to whom the practical 
 conduct of the department is entrusted, and who 
 has full scope for the display of energy and enter- 
 
 H 
 
114 art in provincial prance. 
 
 prise. It is, for example, largely owing to the 
 intelligent enthusiasm of M. Giraud, the curator of 
 the collections illustrating the art of the Middle 
 Ages and the Renaissance, that this particular branch 
 of the Lyons Museum has assumed a position of 
 such importance. 
 
 A special feature of the picture gallery is the 
 separate collection of works by native painters of 
 Lyons, which are hung in a room by themselves. 
 Among living artists of note whose birth connects 
 them with the city are Yollon, Flandrin, and Puvis 
 de Chavannes, all of whom are represented by 
 important and characteristic works. In the larger 
 gallery, devoted to the great schools of Europe, the 
 series of Italian pictures claims the first attention. 
 If the Ascension of Jesus Christ were in a perfect 
 state of preservation it would undoubtedly 
 rank among the most perfect of Perugino’s 
 inventions, and although much re-painted the 
 original beauty of the design remains to 
 attest the nobility of the artist’s conception. 
 Christ, poised in mid-air and surrounded by angels, 
 mounts towards heaven in the presence of the Virgin 
 and the Apostles. The action of several of the 
 figures is more energetic than is usual with Peru- 
 gino, but the sentiment of the faces reveals the ac- 
 customed sweetness and delicacy of expression. The 
 picture was painted in the year 1495, and is thus 
 described by Vasari, a writer who, from his strong 
 preference for the party of Michael Angelo, was cer- 
 
LYONS. 
 
 115 
 
 tainly not disposed to overrate Perugino’s merits : — 
 “And in the church of St. Peter, the abbey of the 
 Black Friars at Perugia, he painted over the high 
 altar, upon a large panel, the subject of the 
 Ascension, with the Apostles gazing into the sky. 
 On the predelia of this picture are three subjects 
 of sacred history represented with much ability — 
 that is to say, the Adoration of the Magi, the 
 Baptism of Christ, and the Resurrection. This work 
 displays in every detail so much beauty and skill 
 that it is to be reckoned the best of all the pictures 
 which Perugino executed in oil at Perugia.” 
 In 179 7 , in virtue of the provisions of the Treaty 
 of Tolentino, the “Ascension” was transported 
 from Perugia to Paris, where it remained till 1811, 
 when in the second distribution of works of art 
 among the cities of the provinces it found its way 
 to Lyons. But it would have been restored to 
 Italy in 1815, when the Allies insisted upon the 
 return of nearly all the artistic treasure acquired 
 by the victories of Napoleon, if it had not been that 
 Pope Pius VII. made a special exception in favour 
 of Lyons, and allowed Perugino’s masterpiece to 
 remain as a permanent possession of the town. 
 
 On the same wall hangs a beautiful example of 
 the art of Veronese, which has fortunately almost 
 completely escaped the cruel attentions of the 
 restorer. The subject is Bathsheba at the bath 
 surprised by King David, and the treatment ex- 
 hibits all the painter’s facile grace of composition 
 
116 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCP. 
 
 and exquisite charm of colour. The blue robe 
 thrown over the nude form of Bathsheba and 
 the rich red tones of the King’s raiment make a 
 brilliant harmony admirably relieved against the 
 sober background of a palace garden, with dark 
 cypress trees. Two other works ascribed to Vero- 
 nese were perhaps at one time genuine and beauti- 
 ful expressions of his art, but they have not been 
 so tenderly handled. The treatment of the pictures 
 at Lyons does not, indeed, bear high testimony 
 to the discretion of the Directors. Many of them 
 have been ruthlessly cleaned and others badly re- 
 painted. It does seem desirable, certainly, that the 
 State, having enriched the provincial museums with 
 their most valued examples of ancient art, should 
 retain some sort of authority in regard to the mode 
 of their preservation. It is monstrous that the 
 world should be deprived of the beauty of pictures 
 that cannot be replaced to satisfy the caprice of a 
 local director, and it is high time that rules should 
 be laid down by the Government to protect the 
 great masters of the past from unconsidered and un- 
 skilful restoration. * 
 
 XII.— DIJON AND NANCY. 
 
 The artistic institutions of Dijon are among the 
 earliest establishments of the kind in provincial 
 Trance. Its school which, like those of Lyons and 
 Limoges is now placed under the control of the 
 
DIJON AND NANCY. 
 
 117 
 
 State, was founded in 1765 by the efforts of one 
 Francois Devosge, who, although he was hindered 
 through loss of sight from pursuing the career of 
 a sculptor, retained to the close of his life an un- 
 diminished enthusiasm for the cause of art. S 
 successfully did he labour for the advancement o 
 the town that in 1770 he induced the Government 
 of the Department to provide the necessary funds for 
 the creation of a travelling studentship. At this 
 time Dijon stood alone among the cities of the 
 provinces in offering to its students the covete 
 reward of a sojourn in Rome, and in the list of 
 those who profited by the energy and public spirit of 
 Devosge stands the name of Pierre Prud’hon, one 
 of the most gifted and fascinating artists of the 
 French school. Dijon may well be proud of having 
 recognised Prud’hon’s talent and fostered its develop- 
 ment. During his stay at Rome the young painter 
 executed for the town the painted ceiling which 
 now adorns the sculpture gallery of the Museum ; 
 and although the design was avowedly taken from 
 Pietro di Cortona’s work in the Barberini Palace it 
 is treated with sufficient freedom to permit the 
 exercise of a marked originality of style. 
 
 The Museum itself was not organised till after 
 the Revolution, when it was installed in the apart- 
 ments of the ancient Palace of the Dukes of Bur- 
 gundy. Though it was included in the original list of 
 cities deemed worthy to share in the national treasures 
 of art, Dijon was somewhat unfortunate in the quality 
 
118 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL PRANCE. 
 
 of the pictures which she secured from the State. 
 There is nothing in the gallery to compare with 
 the two Mantegnas of Tours, or with the Peruginos 
 of Bordeaux or Lyons. Indeed, it must be allowed 
 that the representation of the nobler phases of the 
 art of the past is singularly weak and uninteresting, 
 and this in spite of the many dignified names in- 
 scribed in the catalogue. In the new catalogue 
 now in course of preparation it would be very 
 desirable that these ambitious attributions should 
 be carefully revised, for it is surely better in an 
 establishment which assumes both to instruct and 
 to please that the roll of masterpieces should be 
 curtailed than that the name and fame of great 
 masters should be brought into contempt. And if 
 this process of revision is carried out with due 
 courage Dijon, I fear, will have to part with a 
 Mantegna, two Paul Veroneses, and a Perugino, 
 besides a number of works by inferior men. A Virgin 
 and Child bearing the name of Luini,butso injured 
 as to render any decision extremely difficult, an ad- 
 mirable sketch of the assumption of the Virgin, by 
 Tintoret, a work of indisputable authenticity, and 
 a large composition of Adam and Eve, by Guido, 
 will then remain as almost the only Italian paint- 
 ings of interest or importance. Such at least 
 would have been the case a year ago, but the valu- 
 able collection which the Museum has recently 
 acquired adds greatly to its wealth in nearly every 
 department. The circumstances under which the 
 
DIJON AND NANCY. 
 
 119 
 
 Trimole t bequest was made over to Dijon are 
 scarcely less remarkable than the, collection itself. 
 M. Trimolet, who died in the year 1866, was an ex- 
 tremely rich amateur, whose whole life had been spent 
 in accumulating objects of art and curiosity. These 
 were carefully preserved in an old house at Lyons, 
 M. Trimolet’s native town, and to the Museum of 
 Lyons it was supposed they were ultimately to 
 find their way. Such indeed was the owner’s inten- 
 tion, but it so happened that shortly before his 
 death M. Trimolet had a slight difference with the 
 municipal authorities. His house had a certain 
 architectural character of its own, which he was 
 anxious to preserve, and he therefore begged the 
 authorities to exempt him from an order calling 
 upon him to whitewash the exterior of the build- 
 ing. Bumbledom, however, chose to stand upon its 
 rights, M. Trimolet’s prayer was refused, and the 
 result was that when, in 1866, he came to die, his 
 last injunctions to Madame Trimolet were to leave 
 nothing to the town of Lyons. And Madame 
 Trimolet faithfully observed her husband’s 
 wishes. The old house in Lyons was shut up, 
 all the cases being carefully sealed. The widow 
 left Lyons, and took up her abode in the depart- 
 ment of the Saone et Loire, and shortly before her 
 death summoned the notary of the neighbouring 
 country town, and made Dijon the fortunate in- 
 heritor of the treasure which the municipality of 
 Lyons had sacrificed for a little piece of red tape. 
 
120 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL PRANCE, 
 
 The Trimolet collection now forms a distinct fea- 
 ture in the Dijon Museum. It is admirably arranged 
 in a suite of five apartments, to which the various 
 objects of art serve as appropriate and luxurious 
 furniture. In this way it is made to retain much 
 of the charm and fascination that belong to the 
 cabinet of an amateur. The visitor becomes 
 intimate not merely with the collection but with 
 the collector, and is able to appreciate in a manner 
 that a more formal and scientific method of arrange- 
 ment would not allow the experience of a lifetime 
 devoted to the accumulation of works of art. On 
 the walls of these galleries fine pictures mingle 
 with superb specimens of majolica or with chosen 
 examples of ancient armour; while around the 
 sides of the apartment are ranged noble pieces of 
 French and Italian furniture of the Renaissance, in- 
 terspersed with cases containing jewellery, enamels, 
 and carvings in wood and ivory. Many of the pictures 
 far surpass in interest and value the older possessions 
 of the Museum. I may notice in particular a very 
 delightful Holy Family by Fra Bartolommeo, like a 
 Raphael in the tranquillity and sweetness of its sen- 
 timent, but bearing nevertheless the impress of its 
 author’s individuality. An Ascension of the Virgin 
 Mary, by Gaudenzio Ferrari, and a Virgin and 
 Child, by Bellini, are also among the treasures of 
 good things of the collection, although it is to 
 be said in regard to both that they are at present 
 hung too high to admit of close and careful inspec- 
 
DIJON AND NANCY. 
 
 121 
 
 tion. The same remark applies to an early Floren- 
 tine painting, and to a Virgin and Child ascribed 
 to Leonardo, which although it may be more 
 correctly given to one of the followers of the 
 master, is interesting, as embodying a composition 
 for which a design exists in the British Museum. 
 The collection includes several original draw- 
 ings of value, but the most interesting examples 
 of this kind belonging to the Museum are to be 
 found in the gift of M. His de la Salle, and are 
 displayed in a separate apartment. The gem of 
 this series, so far at least as the Italian schools are 
 concerned, is a lovely landscape study, by Titian, 
 executed, as it would seem, in the master’s later 
 time, and marked by that suggestive freedom of 
 execution which distinguishes the great Venetian 
 as the originator of the modern sentiment for the 
 beauties of outward nature. A single example set 
 down to the name of Mantegna is, perhaps, scarcely 
 worthy of so profound a genius in design. The 
 collection exhibits greater strength in the art of 
 those who took their inspiration from Raphael, and 
 is indeed uncommonly rich in ornamental drawings 
 by Perino del Vaga and Giulio Romano. Among the 
 French drawings may be noticed a superb head by 
 Dumoustier, and vigorous studies by Fragonard, 
 Watteau, and Poussin, and in the record of the 
 Dutch school a special note of admiration is due to 
 the life-size head of a child by Nicholas Maas. 
 While on the subject of drawings, I must not 
 
1 22 
 
 AItT IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 omit to mention that Professor Legros, though he 
 is permanently settled in England, has not forgotten 
 or neglected the museum of his native town, to 
 which he has presented several of his powerful 
 studies and etchings, besides an important work in 
 oil. Nor must I quit the collection at Dijon with- 
 out mention of two noble works of sculpture of 
 the 15th century, the monumental tombs of Philippe- 
 le-Hardi and of Jean-sans-Peur, both of which, 
 however, are too well known by all visitors to Dijon 
 to need criticism or description. 
 
 Nancy, like Dijon, has lately been enriched by a 
 munificent bequest. Thanks to the generosity of 
 Madame Poirel, upwards of a hundred additional 
 titles will shortly be inscribed in the catalogue. 
 When I was at Nancy this newly acquired treasure 
 was still in process of arrangement, and it was, 
 therefore, difficult to judge of its worth as a whole. 
 I noticed, however, a superb male portrait by Por- 
 denone, a powerful head by Rembrandt, and a very 
 interesting composition of the Holy Family by 
 Granacci. There were, besides, genuine specimens of 
 Salvator Rosa, Rosa di Tivoli, and the less eminent 
 masters of the northern schools. One of the most 
 remarkable pictures in the older portion of the Nancy 
 Museum is a vigorous sketch by Tintoret for a 
 composition of the entombment. Tintoret’s works 
 outside of Venice are so rare that a study such as 
 this possesses uncommon interest, for it conveys a 
 just sense of the passion and power of the painter’s 
 
DIJON AND NANCY. 
 
 123 
 
 invention, and it allows us at the same time to 
 note the extraordinary simplicity of his technical 
 method. A sketch is in this way sometimes more 
 instructive than a finished picture. It also stands 
 a better chance of escaping from the hands of the 
 restorer, being deemed of insufficient importance 
 to deserve his fatal care. The picture that has 
 suffered most in this respect is the beautiful 
 Perugino of the Infant Christ with the 
 Virgin kneeling by his side. Happily, however, 
 the expression of the faces is still intact, and is of 
 exquisite tenderness and beauty. There are few 
 works of the master which show more 
 
 clearly the source of Eaphaehs inspiration and 
 the amount of the debt that he owed to Perugino. 
 Nancy possesses some valuable specimens of 
 Dutch and Flemish art, some of them by painters 
 whose names are rarely encountered elsewhere. To 
 this class belongs the u Money Changers driven 
 from the Temple,” by Jean van Hemesen, an artist 
 of whom we know little beyond the fact that he 
 lived and worked at Haarlem about the middle 
 of the sixteenth century. Among greater and 
 more famous painters Hobbema and Euysdael are 
 especially well represented. The two landscapes by 
 the latter are indeed of the most admirable quality, 
 careful and minute in execution, and yet sustained 
 by a singleness and unity of impression which con- 
 veys a sense of the spirit as well as the material 
 reality of the scene. In the gallery devoted to the 
 
124 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 French School is a brilliant composition by Delacroix 
 of the Battle of Nancy in 147 7, besides a classical 
 design by Boucher, and a number of pictures by 
 eminent artists of our own day. In addition to the 
 Museum of Painting, Nancy possesses the Musee 
 Lorrain, installed in the ducal palace, where there 
 is an extensive historical collection of various ob- 
 jects of art, as well as a series of Gallo-Roman 
 remains. 
 
 XIII. — LILLE. 
 
 In one respect at least the Museum of Lille is 
 beyond the reach of rivalry. The magnificent col- 
 lection of drawings by the old masters bequeathed 
 to the city in 1834 by the Chevalier Wicar con- 
 stitutes a possession of extraordinary interest, such 
 as even the national museums of the Continent 
 would be glad to claim. It is by a rare piece of 
 good fortune that a provincial town is able to offer 
 to its citizens these precious records of the great 
 art of the past, and it is scarcely possible that in the 
 excellence and variety of its contents the Museum 
 at Lille could now be equalled, with whatever 
 energy and resource the enterprise should be under- 
 taken. Drawings by Raphael are not too common, 
 and such drawings as belong to the Wicar collection 
 are never likely to come into the market again * 
 And yet though the task of bringing together a 
 worthy display of old drawings would be sufficiently 
 
LILLE. 
 
 125 
 
 difficult, tlie directors of a newly established 
 museum might do wisely to give special attention 
 to this particular phase of art. Nor in England at 
 any rate would they have to despair of success. 
 There are several rich collectors in this country 
 who, if they were so minded, might very nobly 
 endow a museum of ancient drawings. And even 
 without private munificence, the task of illustrating 
 the great schools of the past through the medium of 
 original sketches and studies by the great masters 
 would certainly not be so difficult or so 
 hopeless as the attempt to acquire authentic 
 examples of their work in colour. To those who 
 have learnt to care for art at all a sketch by a great 
 hand is scarcely less enjoyable than a finished 
 picture, and it is in certain respects even more 
 suggestive of the artist’s peculiar aims and method. 
 Nor is it by any means true, as some folk would 
 have us believe, that such things have only a mean- 
 ing for professed students, and are as a dead 
 language to the ordinary visitor. The success of 
 the exhibitions held at the Grosvenor Gallery and 
 afterwards at Burlington House finally disposes of 
 this absurd and exclusive prejudice, which has 
 indeed no sort of foundation in reason. Because 
 the superb national collection of drawings has for 
 years been hidden away in the Print Boom of the 
 British Museum it by no means follows that the 
 public would not eagerly welcome the proper 
 display of these treasures. On the contrary, it will 
 
126 
 
 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 often happen, and more especially in regard to the 
 earlier forms of art, that a drawing makes a more 
 direct appeal to the imagination and is more readily 
 appreciated than the more elaborate achievement 
 of the same hand. Such, at least, is the impression 
 which the visitor to the Museum at Lille carries 
 away with him. Take, for example, a genius like 
 Raphael, whose fame in the minds of most persons 
 far outstrips any real knowledge or love of his work. 
 It is possible to be familiar with many of the most 
 celebrated galleries of Europe and yet to remain 
 without any true or heartfelt enthusiasm for his 
 greatness; but it is impossible to preserve this 
 attitude of respectful indifference after an attentive 
 survey of the drawings at Lille. In the presence of 
 40 or 50 studies, many of them relating to his most 
 famous works, and all of them bearing evidence not 
 merely of his extraordinary powers of invention, 
 but of his close and constant dependence upon 
 nature, the feeling for Raphael's art takes a new 
 touch of intimacy and reality. We are admitted 
 to a closer view of the processes of his invention, 
 and we are able to perceive with how little violence 
 to absolute and literal truth he could stamp his 
 completed conceptions with ideal character and 
 beauty. Such studies, in short, are the true bio- 
 graphies of great artists, telling us more of what we 
 need to know, in order to appreciate their great- 
 ness, than all that is left to us in the often meagre 
 a nd apocryphal records of their daily lives, I have 
 
LILLE. 
 
 127 
 
 spoken especially of Raphael, because it is of bis 
 ife and genius that the Wicar collection affords the 
 fullest testimony. The examples of Michael Angelo 
 are, for the most part, comparatively of little value. 
 But in respect of nearly all the earlier and later 
 phases of Italian painting the Museum has many 
 interesting drawings, including a series of finely-, 
 finished designs taken from the sketch-book of an 
 artist unknown to fame, but wherein the genius of 
 Florentine design is very happily illustrated. There 
 are also some admirable studies of German, Flemish, 
 and Dutch art, amongst which I may mention a 
 superb drawing by Durer. The possession of this 
 almost matchless collection has happily inspired 
 the authorities of the Museum to add some valuable 
 examples in the same kind illustrating the more 
 modern phases of art. Nor do the sketches of such 
 men as Millet and Gericault suffer by juxtaposi- 
 tion with the more famous names of the past. 
 
 It is not, however, to be assumed that the im- 
 portant place assigned to this particular department 
 has led to the neglect of the picture gallery. With 
 the single exception of Montpellier, there is no city 
 of France more richly furnished than Lille with 
 important and authentic examples of the great 
 schools of painting. In Dutch and Flemish art the 
 Museum is indeed exceptionally rich. There are 
 no less than eight works by Rubens, many of 
 which have been preserved in the city since the 
 date of their execution, They were originally com- 
 
128 
 
 AUT IN PHOVINCIAL FBANCE. 
 
 missioned from the painter for the decoration of the 
 monastery of the Capucins, and in regard to the 
 large composition of “ The Descent of the Cross / 7 
 there exists a curious document, showing how 
 Louis XVI. made a determined effort to secure the 
 picture for his own gallery, offering to give some 
 other work of art in exchange. But the monks 
 seem very wisely to have held fast to their posses- 
 sion, and the painting has thus been saved for the 
 Museum at Lille. From the same source proceed 
 also the smaller design of “ St. Francis and the 
 Virgin / 7 and the two single figures of Saints, which 
 formerly hung in the entrance to the choir in the 
 chapel attached to the monastery. Bubens 7 great 
 pupil, Van Dyck, is also well represented at Lille. 
 The large picture of “ Christ on the Cross / 7 a very 
 noble specimen of the painter’s powers, originally 
 served as an altarpiece in another religious estab- 
 lishment in the city, for which Van Dyck also 
 painted “ The Miracle of St. Anthony at Toulouse . 77 
 An admirable portrait of a lady by the same hand 
 is interesting, as exhibiting an earlier and less 
 familiar phase of the artist’s style before 
 he had caught from Bubens a freer and 
 more sumptuous manner of execution. On 
 his way to England Van Dyck visited the 
 studio of Frans Hals, the painter who was destined 
 to give the most extreme illustration to the prin- 
 ciples of realistic portraiture. The manner of Van 
 Dyck, even in moments of greatest freedom, must 
 
LILLE. 
 
 129 
 
 have seemed pedantic and formal to a painter in 
 whose hands facility of execution sometimes 
 bordered on impertinence. The portrait of Hille 
 Bobbe, the fishwife of Haarlem, which hangs at Lille, 
 shows us Frans Hals in his most audacious mood. 
 The workmanship, though it shows an astounding 
 certainty and resource, is defiant and contemptuous 
 rather than masterly : it leaves the suspicion that 
 the painter has thought rather of the impression 
 upon the spectator than of satisfying his own taste 
 and judgment. Of Frans Hals’s more careful and 
 laborious contemporary, Van der Heist, the Museum 
 possesses an interesting example in a somewhat un- 
 usual style. The subject is the goddess Venus, and 
 the treatment illustrates the overmastering 
 tendency of the Hutch school towards portraiture 
 and its corresponding inability to embody any ideal 
 conception either of face or form. Something 
 more than mere ambition to emulate the achieve- 
 ments of Italian painting is shown in the works of 
 Zustris, an artist of Amsterdam who journeyed to 
 Italy and studied under Titian. Lille possesses 
 two examples of this rare master, whose style reveals 
 a curious mingling of diverse influences, the in- 
 dividual types and the general mode of composition 
 being obviously derived from Venice, and the 
 colouring at the same time falling far short of the 
 Venetian warmth and richness of tone. Lastly, 
 among works of the Hutch school in its prime may be 
 mentioned two superb portraits of J an van Baven- 
 
130 ART IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE. 
 
 stein, an artist of the details of whose life but little is 
 known, but who enjoyed in his own day a reputation 
 scarcely inferior to that of Frans Hals, or Van der 
 Heist, Of the primitive art of Holland the Museum 
 also possesses several valuable examples, chief 
 amongst which stands “ La T ontaine Symbolique ” 
 of Thierry Stuerbout, a painter of Haarlem of the 
 first half of the fifteenth century. Early Italian 
 art is not very fully represented, although such 
 works as the Museum can boast in this section are 
 of more than common interest. The “ Vierge a 
 l’Eglantine,” by Ghirlandajo, is widely known 
 through the engraving published some years ago in 
 the Gazette cles Beaux Arts . In the room in which 
 it forms a central attraction hangs also a Saint 
 Sebastian ascribed to Mantegna, and at least worthy 
 of the master’s teaching and influence. This is a 
 recent acquisition obtained since the Museum of 
 Paintings passed from the control of M. Pegnart 
 into the hands of its intelligent and zealous director, 
 M. Auguste Herlin, to whom I am indebted for 
 much interesting information concerning the 
 pictures under his care. M. Herlin’s stewardship 
 has also witnessed the acquisition of a very inter- 
 esting “ Charity ” by Holbein, a repetition of which 
 exists in the museum at Bale, and a Virgin and 
 Child by Baldovinetti, together with other unnamed 
 but authentic examples of the earlier art of Florence 
 and Siena. The works of the Venetian school 
 include no genuine specimen of the art of Titian, 
 
LILLE. 
 
 131 
 
 though both Tintoret and Veronese are worthily 
 represented. The two circular canvases by the 
 last-named artist formerly decorated the Barberigo 
 Palace at Venice, and illustrate his graceful and 
 facile treatment of allegorical subjects. Tintoret 
 contributes a portrait of a monk and the head of 
 an old man, of which a replica is to be found in the 
 gallery of the Pitti Palace. 
 
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