e insensible to its inspiration.

The old Venetian realism was followed, in the time of the Renaissance, by
startling developments. In the works of Tintoretto and Veronese there is
a combination of gorgeous draperies, splendid and often licentious
costumes, brilliant metal accessories, and every possible device for
enhancing and contrasting colors, until one is bewildered and must adjust
himself to these dazzling spectacles--religious subjects though they may
be--before any serious thought or judgment can be brought to bear upon
their artistic merit; these two great contemporaries lived and worked in
the final decades of the sixteenth century.

We know that many women painted pictures in Venice before the seventeenth
century, although we have accurate knowledge of but few, and of these an
account is given later in this book.

We who go from Paris to London in a few hours, and cross the St. Gothard
in a day, can scarcely realize the distance that separated these capitals
from the centres of Italian art in the time of the Renaissance. We have,
however, abundant proof that the sacred fire of the love of Art and
Letters was smouldering in France, Germany, and England--and when the
inspiring breath of the Renaissance was wafted beyond the Alps a flame
burst forth which has burned clearer and brighter with succeeding
centuries.

From the time of Vincent de Beauvais, who died in 1264, France had not
been wanting in illustrious scholars, but it could not be said that a
French school of art existed. Francois Clouet or Cloet, called Jehannet,
was born in Tours about 1500. His portraits are seen in the Gallery of
the Louvre, and have been likened to those of Holbein; but they lack the
strength and spirit of that artist; in fact, the distinguishing feature
of Clouet's work is the remarkable finish of draperies and accessories,
while the profusion of jewels distracts attention from the heads of his
subjects.

The first great French artists were of the seventeenth century, and
although Clouet was painter to Francis I. and Henry II., the former, like
his predecessors, imported artists from Italy, among whom were Leonardo
da Vinci and Benvenuto Cellini.

In letters, however, there were French women of the sixteenth century who
are still famous. Marguerite de Valois was as cultivated in mind as she
was generous and noble in character. Her love of learning was not easily
satisfied. She was proficient in Hebrew, the classics, and th