CORRESPONDENCE.
THE PARIS EXHIBITION.—II.
LE PETIT PALAIS—THE HANDICRAFTS OF FRANCE. [TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] Sut,—The taste which makes the Exhibition a garden of delight is the glory of modern France; the glory of ancient France shines most brilliantly within the walls of the Petit Palais. For there are gathered together the treasures of more than a thousand years,—treasures in all materials and of diverse workmanship, yet all fashioned within the boundaries of France. Nor, if we except the prehistoric and Grmco- Roman collections, which after all have but an interest of curiosity, shall we detect any sign of decadence, any break in the continuous achievement. Another point to note is the absence of egoism : here are thousands of masterpieces, yet how many are signed P It seems as though the old artificers were satisfied with the perfection of their work, and cared not to court the favour of the people, so that, while we know that each smallest object represents the brain and fancy of. one man, the suppression of names yields the honour to the whole country.
The richest treasure is contributed by the churches of France. Images of gold and ivory, resplendent tapestries, reliquaries of rare design and dainty workmanship, statuettes cunningly carved in wood, 'prove the wealth and ingenuity of France. And though these masterpieces are the fruit of luxury, they were made to play their part in the service or adornment of the church. While the chalice and patine, fashioned in filigree, and enriched with rude gems and strange enamels, touched the ceremonial with splendour, the gorgeous hangings relieved the solemnity of many a sombre nave. And as the ecclesiastical handicrafts are the oldest, so they appear more barbarous .to-day than the arts which enriched the palace. Yet it is wrong to speak of barbarity, for, if the design is sometimes superior to the workmanship, the images and reliquaries here exhibited derive a splendour from their very simplicity ; and the rough-cut gems are (in a sense) more dignified than the later triumphs of the jeweller's skill. Look at the Sainte Foy, for instance, which comes from the Treasure of Conques. It belongs to the tenth century, to that period of supposed fog and imagined ignorance, when the world slept the sleep of sloth. Yet it is exquisite as well as magnificent. The gold face is set with eyes of white and blue enamel, the crown and the robe shine with simple stones and finely chiselled intaglios ; nor do the later centuries furnish anything of nobler effect and larger style. But whatever their material be, whatever their purpose, the objects conform always to the style of their time. In France, as in Greece, the arts obey a law of unity. Gothic yields to the Renaissance, Louis XIII. gives way to Louis XIV., and the change is seen as easily in a chair or in an ettei as in a cathedral or a castle. Thus it is not by accident that France has bestowed the nomenclature of her styles upon Europe ; the nomenclature corresponds to a sincerity and inventiveness which have always been hers. Wherever you look, you will find masterpieces appropriate to their time and use. The siilendid hangings from Angers, the delicate portraits of Chardin, the grandiose conwnodes of Louis XV., all display the same mark of style and epoch.
In the older masterpieces, then, the design sometimes appears superior to the workmanship. As the centuries pass the handicrafts are pursued with so fine an efficiency that design and workmanship go hand in hand. The little boxes, the tabatieree, the 714cessaires of the eighteenth century, are the perfection of dainty handling; they might have been made by the deft fingers of a Liliputian, while their gaiety of colour, their whimsicality of design, are precisely apt to a trivial purpose. While the church plate represents an austere magnificence, the bijouterie suggests the exquisite delicacy of a Court where Watteau was still remembered, and where grandeur was still symbolised by the elegances of a courtly life. So French art follows a line of progress which the history of Europe renders intelligible to us. After the Renaissance, which for France was but the recovery of her own genius, there was no going back; and since the classical spirit still breathed in the sculptors of Chartres and Reims, perhaps her genius hardly needed recovery. But when once the classical style was practised with knowledge, one epoch grew naturally out of another. France, at any rate, was never perplexed by a Preraphaelite movement. Her craftsmen never rose in sudden insolence and declared that the work of two or four centuries was contemptible, and that salvation lay only in the blotting out of history. In truth, until Napoleon's Empire, at which period the collection of the Petit Palms ends, the history of French handicraft is unbroken, and nowhere has the history beeii so eloquently written as in the wonderful treasure-house which is the real clou of the Exhibition.
With the arts of France we are sure of the perio4 and certain of the style. But when we turn to the Japanese pavilion, in its fashion no less beautiful, a readjustment is necessary. The centuries of Europe do not run in far Cathay, and the time that was primitive in France bad come to full fruition in Japan. Nothing is mere astonishing than to find finished masterpieces Of lacquer or metal work labelled "the seventh century." Yet that astonishment awaits you in the pavilion of the Mikado. The collection is small, yet chosen with fine scrupulousness. The few specimens that are displayed come from the palace of Tokyo, or from the cabinets of great connoisseurs, and even those who know the Museum of South Kensington will be surprised at the masterpieces now exhibited in Paris. Above all, there is a chest in lacquer and mother-of-pearl whose noble design and rich colour will surprise enthasiasts, and everywhere may be observed the same mastery of material, the same miraculous finish. The arts of Europe are mellowed by time; the accident of years gives a mellowness to the masterpieces of France, for instance, which is incon; testable. An undying freshness characterises the marvels of Japan; they at least owe nothing to accident ; the intention of the artist has never been interfered with ; the aspect of a lacquer-box or a sword-hilt betrays not its age. Yet the art of Japan did not follow a constant line of progress. It knew its periods of antiquarian rage, and under a sudden influence of China, darted back through many cen- turies. If we might judge by the eye, we might pronounce this or that box as indubitably primitive. But probably it belongs to the seventeenth century, was the result, no doubt, of Chinese influence, and looks unspeakably ancient beside a. little box a thousand years its senior.
And what of to-day? While ancient France and ancient Japan show us what was achieved in the past, what do they promise in our own time ? Little enough. France seems to, have snapped the chain of tradition, and to be content with • the manufacture of innumerable "specimens." The last real style that flourished in France flourished under the Empire, and now we have mixtures of all the others, or impudent travesties of each and several. The workmanship, alas! is well enough; it is the design which is at fault, and while we cannot imagine that a craftsman under Louis XVI. mimicked the style of Louis we should be surprised if the workmen of to-day offered us a single object that was not a mimicry of the past. In the last century it was no disgrace to be modern; in the present it is the single disgrace which the artisan fears, Every booth displays to your notice the styles of all the Louises ; does a single booth tempt you with the style of the Third Republic? No; it seems as though the handicrafts were dead. The so-called "fine" arts—a base distinction—Will doubtless survive to give the millionaire another extravagance. But the delicate arts enshrined in the Petit Palais will never be practised with the sincerity anl perfection of here- tofore. And the vast Exhibition, which has gathered to itself all the industries of the modern world, tells us with too persuasive an eloquence that in the handicrafts at any rate ingenuity has made an easy conquest of beauty.—I am,
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