FRANCE. 
87 
oped themselves still further in the most pompous and theatrical 
manner. Nevertheless, however emphatically we must protest 
against the hollowness and unmeaningness of French art under 
Louis XIV. and Louis XV., with its useless waste of means, 
and however objectionable we maj regard it with respect to taste, 
we cannot deny, that, through the liberal encouragement of art on 
the part of the Courts and the aristocracy, the French artists of 
that time had already attained a technical skill which is truly 
admirable, even in the works of the Baroque style. In art-indus- 
try especially, and in scupltnre, which Stands nearest to it, their 
achievements were most brilliant; and the traditions of these suc- 
cesses have been preserved even to this day. Painting pursued a 
more independent course. With the period of the Revolution, a 
great change began in all departments of art. The first empire 
constituted the period of classicism. What David was for paint 
ing, Canova and Bosio were for sculpture. But painting subse- 
quently veered around into romanticism, and, during the second 
empire, turned completely into realism. Sculpture, however, re- 
tained the forms of the antique, but also, to a great extent, the 
hollow pathos of the Rococo. 
And how were industry and ornamentation affected? Nature, 
pure and simple, was combined with the elements of the Rococo. 
She was copied literally. The Ornament became every thing; 
and, as a necessary consequence, the ground-form of the object 
was totall}' neglected ; the feeling for, and the comprehension of, 
the form in relation to its purpose, was lost, and the materials 
were applied in the most disgustingly false manner. 
Contrary to all this, the aims of the present reformatory move 
ment may briefly be stated to be the following: the artistic con- 
struction of the ornament; its organic development from the forms 
of nature; due regard to practical use in the ground-form of the 
object; and the correct application of the material employed. 
How far, then, has this purification of forms in industry pro- 
gressed in France since the last Exhibition? AVhat means are 
employed in the schools for the purpose of encouraging fur 
ther development in this direction ? And what may possibly be 
the result of such a revolution in instruction on French art proper? 
These are the main points, which the reporter kept in view in 
G