Puvis de Chavannes has been criticized on the ground that in such of his pictures as evoke antiquity, he sacrificed accepted tradition and acquired knowledge. From this to a direct charge of ignorance was an easy step; and it was quickly taken. That the artist attached a mediocre importance to accuracy in decoration or antique costume, there can be no question. Truth, in his eyes, consisted less in the detailed reconstruction of garments than in the faithful representation of that eternally living model, the human soul, over which whole centuries have passed, without availing to modify it. All else is merely accessory and secondary, if not actually negligible. At the same time, no one was ever more truly impregnated with the spirit of antiquity, as he had imbibed it from his readings, from his travels and from his own meditations. Contrary to what has been thought, he was not proud; nor held himself aloof from all other schools of painting except his own. Nothing could be further from the truth. Puvis was acquainted with all the schools; and no one admired more sincerely than he the great masters of each and every country. He had traversed Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, examining, studying, admiring. And here is precisely wherein his great glory consists; that having studied all methods, analyzed all processes, he still remained true to himself,—in other words, that he was a painter of inimitable originality.
Puvis de Chavannes kept abreast of all the ideas that stand for personality and progress. Far from being a recluse, solely concerned with his own painting, he followed the contemporary literary movement, and none of the happenings that took place around him escaped his knowledge.
Nevertheless, his chief preoccupation was his art and his desire to express, with his brush, the greatest possible degree of human nature. This he achieved in his magnificent series of immortal works; but it was only at the cost of a vast amount of conscientious labour. Few masters have had so keen an intuition of beauty, or a higher and more spontaneous inspiration; and no one, perhaps, has been so distrustful of himself, of his inspiration, of his intuition. He did not surrender himself to them until he had submitted them to the test of searching argument and uncompromising common sense. It is due to this careful weighing in the balance, to this wise mingling of youthful enthusiasm and mature severity that the work of Puvis de Chavannes owes that harmonious beauty that insures it an eternal glory.
And so, when in 1898 he passed away, not a dissenting voice was raised amid the concert of eulogies and of regrets which marked his end. For a long time previous, Puvis de Chavannes had ceased to have detractors; admiration had stifled envy. And, from the moment that he crossed beyond the threshold of life, Puvis de Chavannes entered fully into immortality.
[CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS OF PUVIS DE CHAVANNES]
Musée du Luxembourg; The Poor Fisherman.
Panthéon; Saint Genevieve marked with the divine seal.—The Piety of Saint Genevieve.—Saint Genevieve providing for besieged Paris.—Saint Genevieve watching over sleeping Paris.—Two decorative Friezes, including Faith, Hope, and Charity, and a series of Saints.
Hôtel de Ville; Summer, Winter.—Victor Hugo offering his lyre to the city of Paris.
Amphitheatre of the Sorbonne; Letters, Sciences and Arts.
Museum at Amiens; Peace.—War.—Labour.—Repose.—A Standard-Bearer.—A Harvester.—A Woman weeping over the ruins of her house.—A Woman Spinning.—Ave, Picardia Nutrix.—Ludus pro Patria.
Church at Campagnat; Ecce Homo.
Palace of Longchamps (Marseilles): Marseilles, a Greek Colony.—Marseilles, Gateway of the Orient.
Museum at Marseilles: The Return from the Hunt.
Hôtel de Ville, Poitiers: Saint Radegonde gives asylum to the Poets.—Charles Martel re-enters Poitiers after his conquest of the Saracens.
Palace of Fine Arts, Lyons: The Sacred Wood dear to the Arts and the Muses.
Museum at Rouen: Inter Artes et Naturam.
Public Library, Boston: The inspiring Muses acclaim Genius, Messenger of Light.
Museum at Chartres: Summer.
Private Collections: Herodiade.—Autumn.—Sleep.
Transcriber's Notes
Simple typographical errors were corrected.