Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/599

 9* s. vi. DEC. 22, woo.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 499 AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (9th S. vi. 330).— Plus apud me ratio, &c. The true text is " Plus apud me taraen vera ratio valebit quani vulgi opinio " (Cicero,' Paradoxa,' i. 2). ROBERT PIEEPOINT. Three dictionaries of quotations — Macdonnel (1858), Riley in Bonn's series (1856), and one pub- lished by Shaw (1861)—give the words thus, "Plus apud nos vera ratio yaleat quam vulgi opinio," and assign them to Cicero, without more precise reference. C. LAWRENCE FORD, B.A. NOTES ON BOOKS, Ac. French Architects and Sculptors of the Eighteenth Century. By Lady Dilke. (Bell & Sons.) LADY DILKE has constituted herself the champion and interpreter of that eighteenth century which, after a long period of neglect and disparagement, has risen once more to the front of public favour. Her present volume is a companion to ' The French Painters of the Eighteenth Century,' to which we drew attention a little over a year ago (see 9th S. iv. 358). If the task now discharged is more arduous than that previously undertaken, it is not because of any lack of material, but because public opinion on the subject with which she now deals is less well informed and, it may even be said, less recep- tive. With the products of the pencils of Watteau, Lancret, Boucher, Greuze, Chardin, and the rest we have all at least a bowing acquaintance. Few of us, except specialists, can claim an equal fami- liarity with the works of the sculptors of the same period, and still fewer have had time to obtain an elementary knowledge of those of the architects. Ignorance concerning these things is not confinec to England. Until tins closing year of the follow ing century brought to light many obscure master pieces Frenchmen were not much better informec than ourselves. It is pleasant to make, through the introduction of Lady Dilke, the acquaintance of artists of high merit who, up to now, nave been little more than names. Not until 1793 did architects exhibit at the Salon In how little estimation they were held is shown by the small space—rarely extending beyond a few lines —assigned them in the great biographica cyclopaedias. So early as 1671 an Academy o Architecture had been established by Colbert The duties of its members appear during early year to have been onerous rather than profitable. In 1694 they were deprived of all emolument, and i was not without difficulty that they obtained per mission to meet and transact business at their own expense. The small pensions that were allottee were not always paiu. Permission to be absen from the seances nad, however, to be obtainec and we find from the records of Marigny—a younge brother of the Pompadour and Directeur-Genera et Ordonnateur des Bailments Royanx—that a ma BO eminent even as Le Roy had to obtain leave fo an absence of three months. A principal task of the architects of the eighteen! century was to fit to residential requirements, ti then neglected, the huge hotel* of a previous eriod, such as those of De Rohan and Soubise. tructural features were modified by the designing f smaller rooms, with a great gain to ease, com- ort, and elegance. Among those by whom these Iterations were carried out were De Cotte (to •bom is owing the famous Portail de Saint Rock), )e la Mai re, Boffrand, Emanuel Here, and many there. The great " Places," which are a con- licuous feature in French architecture, belong to be period dealt with. Among them Lady Dilke uts highest the famous Place Royale (now Place e la Bourse) of Bordeaux, which is, indeed, suffi- iently noble. The fine " Place" of Nancy is ne of those designs of which are reproduced. )f the latter work it is said that "the startling ovelty of the whole effect blinds us for a rhile to the fact that the work itself is not f a very high order, and we forget, in our dmiration for the unusual marvels of the decora- iion, to demand that scrupulous perfection of finish which alone can give lasting charm such as dis- inguishes the ' Garde Meuble' and the companion wilding created by the admirable genius of Gabriel on the ' Place de la Concorde.'" Among the edifices lue to Jacques Ange Gabriel the Ecole Militaire carries off perhaps the highest praise. As seen rom the Champ de Mars " in isolated dignity, it is mpossible to imagine a more gracious and courtly railding." The Petit Trianon, another of his .riumphs, is said to be " of surprising elegance." designed to provide the king with an escape from the discomforts and inconveniences attending state life at Versailles, the Petit Trianon had neither nobility nor grandeur, but had in their stead " the golden dream of middle-class comfort." An important chapter follows on the pseudo-classic revival to which are owing, among other buildings, the Church of Ste. Genevieve (the Pantheon), that of St. Philippe de Roule, the Ecole de Medecine, and the superb Theatre of Bordeaux. Part II., dealing with French sculptors, opens with a chapter on the school of Coyzevox, compris- ing the three Couston, the master being a Spaniard by descent, and two out of the three Coustou among the most celebrated of French sculptors. A fine and vigorous bust of Nicolas Coustou, by Guillautne Coustou le jeune, from the Louvre, ia the first illustration to this part of the work. Lady Dilke has some pregnant remarks on the character- istic differences between the famous ' Horses of Marly ' of Guillaume Coustou and the ' Renommees' of Coyzevox. With these works are associated ' Les Chevaux du Soleil' of Robert le Lorrain, in high relief, in the old Hotel de Rohan, of which a fine reproduction appears, as does one of Coustou's 1 Venus," now at Potsdam. Though overcrowded with figures, the monument to the Dauphin by Coustou le tils in the Cathedral of Sens is very dramatic and noble, the figure of Time and that of Hymen being alike remarkable. A chapter is devoted to Edme Bouchardon, and a second to Jean Baptiste Pigalle, whose Tomb of Marshal Saxe' is among the illustrations. The picturesque portrait-busts of Lemoyne are regarded as the greatest works of the master, as are those also of Jean Jacques Caffieri. A concluding chapter ia given on Jacques Guay and the medalists. The same qualities of insight, erudition, and thorough- ness which distinguished the previous work are no less evident in the later. Besides possessing a knowledge of French art accorded to few, Lady Dilke bag special opportunities of access to the