CHAPTER IV

THE CLASSICAL REACTION IN FRANCE

In France also the classical tendency in art was no new thing, but a revival of the antique which was restored to life by the foundation of the French Academy in Rome in 1663.--Influence of archæological studies.--Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun.--The Revolution heightens the enthusiasm for the antique, and once more gives Classicism an appearance of brilliant animation.--Jacques Louis David.--His portraits and his pictures in relation to contemporary history.--David as an archæologist.--Jean Baptiste Regnault.--François André Vincent.--Guérin 98