Books to Consult—Sir Edmund Head: Handbook of the History of the Spanish and French Schools of Painting. Lady Dilke: French Painters of the Eighteenth Century. Staley: Watteau and His School. Turner and Baker: Stories of the French Artists.
Have a paper on The Influence of the French Revolution on French Art. Before that, that artificial and frivolous spirit characterized the work of the painters as it did the life of the court, for which they largely did their work. Note the many pictures illustrating the life of Napoleon, his battles, and his victories; Versailles is full of them. The enthusiasm of patriotism and the new national sense are shown in this reaction.
VI—FRANCE (PART II)
1. The Romanticists—Followers of Delacroix. Their principles. Dupré, Isabey, Jacque, Corot, Daubigny. Story of Corot's life. Coloration and style. Compare with Constable.
2. The Barbizon School—Description of life in the Forest of Fontainebleau. Millet. Country life. Poverty. Later appreciations. The Angelus. Pictures in the United States. Rousseau. Diaz. Cazin.
3. The Impressionists—Manet, Monet, Degas, Raffaëlli.
4. Pictures of Genre—Describe what is meant. Discuss the relative merits of pictures that tell a story and those that merely give an impression. Meissonier, Cabanel, Baudry, Rosa Bonheur, Ziem, Bouguereau, Constant, Fromentin, Jules Breton. Pictures by these painters in the United States.
5. Painters of the Open Air—The appreciation of atmosphere in French painting. Lepage, Roll, Dagnan-Bouveret.
Books to Consult—Hourticq: Art in France. Theodore Child: Some Modern French Painters. J. C. VanDyke: Modern French Masters. D. Cady Eaton: Handbook of Modern French Painting. C. Sprague Smith: Barbizon Days.
The story of the life of the artist colony and their friends at Barbizon would make a delightful paper. Material of an interesting sort may be found in A Chronicle of Friendships, by Will H. Low. See also R. L. Stevenson. Among the great decorative artists of our time is Puvis de Chavannes. He has one well-known painting in the Boston Public Library. Boutet de Monvel, the painter of children; Bonnat, the portrait-painter; and, among the younger artists, Sisley may be mentioned. Illustrate with photographs of a Corot landscape, Millet's Angelus, Meissonier's 1805, Rosa Bonheur's Horse Fair, Jules Breton's Brittany Pardon, Lepage's Joan of Arc, and Dagnan-Bouveret's Madonna.