in this Room. To reach the Chauchard collection,
provisionally exhibited in the old Colonial office, we descend to the
first floor, traverse the Grande Galerie and the new Rubens Room.
This, _prodigieux accroissement de richesses_, as it is termed by the
official catalogue, contains a large number of masterpieces by the
Barbizon painters and raises the Louvre collections of that school to
supreme importance. No less than eight Millet's are included, the most
famous of which, if not the greatest, The Angelus, 102, is much faded,
but always attracts a crowd of admirers. 103, Woman at the Well, is a
scene at the artist's birthplace; 104, is one of the most inspired of
the master's creations, The Shepherdess watching her Flock. 99, The
Winnower; 105, Girl with a Distaff, and 106, The Sheep Fold--a lovely
pastoral scene by night. Among the twenty-six Corots are many of his
finest works; 6, Goatherd playing the Flute; 8, The Dance of the
Nymphs; 15, Rest beneath the Willows; 16, The Ford; 20, Forest Glade:
Souvenir of Ville Avray; 24, Dance of Shepherdesses; 27, The Mill of
St. Nicholas-les-Arras. Some noble Rousseaus are included: 107, Avenue
in the Forest of d'Isle-Adam; 108, Pond by the Wayside; 112, Road in
the Forest of Fontainebleau. Troyon's score of canvases make a brave
show: 127, The White Cow, painted in 1856, was a favourite of the
artist who kept it by him until his death and bequeathed it to his
mother. By Charles Jacque, the painter of sheep, three works are shown
including 72, The Great Sheepfold. Daubigny, Descamps, Diaz and others
of the school are well represented in the collection. Admirers of "the
little master of little pictures" will find among the twenty-six
Meissonier's, which the Chauchard bequest brings to the Louvre, two of
the most famous of his works: 87, The Napoleonic picture, Campaign of
France, 1814; and 80, Amateurs of Painting. All these examples of the
most successful but least inspired of modern artists exemplify his
patient, concentrated, meticulous style. By an ingenious fiction that
the installation is only provisional, six characteristic Venetian
pictures by the veteran, Ziem, have been retained in the
collection.[220] 136, is, however, wrongly named, and should read
Scene from the Giudecca.

[Footnote 220: Pictures by living artists are excluded from the
Louvre.]

We have completed our rapid survey of the chief paintings in the
Louvre, for the more recent developments of French art