FROMENTIN
309
FROMENTIN
he relates the story of his own life, and "Miiliador", a who was, with Flers, Huet, Corot, and Rousseau, one
poem in imitation of the Round Table cycle, etc. His of the restorers of modern landscape painting. A
chief work is the "C^hroniquesde France, d'Angleterre, short journey to .Algeria, in 1846, showed him more
d'Ecosse, de Bretagne, de Gascogne, de Flandre et clearly the lino lio was I o follow. In 1848 and 18.')2 he
lieux circonvoisins", an account of European wars again visited thai country, to garner material for his
from 1328 till 1400. In the numerous manu.scripts of work. He exhibited at tiie Salon in 1847. In IS.W
the "Chronicles " three recensions of the first book are he sent in eleven paintings, and was awarded a second-
recognizable. The first, written between 1369 and class medal. The only other notable events in his
1379 brings the narrative to 1378 (the beginning is life were a voyage to Egypt, in the autumn of 1869,
borrowed from the "Chronicle" of Jean le Bel, a canon in the company of Napoleon III, at the time of the
of Liege). The tone of this recension is favourable to opening of the Suez Canal; and a short stay of some
the English. The second recension, represented by weeks in Holland, in July, 1875, where he obtained
the Amiens and Valenciennes MSS., was written under matter for his book, "Les Maitres d'autrefois". He
the inspiration of Guy de
Blois and is favourable to the
French. The third recension
(Vatican MS.), written after
1400, is frankly hostile to
England, but the MS. stops
with the year 1340. The
second, third, and fourth
books of the "Chronicles"
were written between 1387
and 1400.
The "Chronicles" contain many errors and are very par- tial, but despite these faults no work conveys so lively an impression of the men and things of the fourteenth cen- tury as this history of Frois- sart. His graceful and naive style and the picturesque turn which he gives to his recollections make him the king of chroniclers. The "Chronicles" were much copied; one of the most beautiful manuscripts of Froissart is at Breslau, copied in 1409 by Aubert de Hesdin,and admirably illus- trated with miniatures (S. Reinach, Gazette des Beaux Arts, May, 1905). Among the modern editions are
those of: Buchon, "Pantheon Utt^raire", 3 vols. (Paris, 1835 and 1846), defective in the first book; Kervyn de Lettenhove, 29 vols. (Brussels, 1867-1877), gives the various recensions of each chapter; Simeon Luce began to publish in 1869 the edition of the So- ci6t6 de I'Histoire de France, 8 vols. (Paris, 1869- 1888) ; G. Raynaud, commissioned to continue this undertaking, published volumes IX to XI, which con
was made chevalier of the
Legion of Honour in 1859,
and officer in 1 869. He mar-
ried in 1851.
In his hfetime, it was as a painter rather than as writer that he became re- nowned. Orientalism was then in vogue. It suited the romantic tastes of tlie age, and satisfied the gen- oral curiosity for exotic customs. Great painters like Decamps, Delacroix, and Marilhat, had already made a specialty of it. Moreover, all thoughts were turned towards Algeria, a new, mysterious country, only half-conquered, which had just been the scene of a long colonial war. The pub- lic were never weary of hearing about it. Since the land has become so well known, this interest has coase<l; and it must be ad- mitted that Fromentin's reputation has suffered in consequence. Such is the penalty of a success partly .)E.\N Froissakt based on the informative
picture in the Arras Library and teaching qualities of the
painter's art. The actuality has ceased to interest us; and the glory of the artist who depended on it must nec- essarily fade. But Fromentin is far from deserving the obscurity into which he is now relegated. His work, as a painter, is that of a charming artist, the work of a landscapist and a painter of customs, who had the secret ambition of becoming an historical painter, and who, vdsely enough, selected in the modern world subjects
tain part of Book II (Paris, 1897-1899). The poem and plan best accommodated to his ambition and his
"MA]ir,,i^y*'> itjnc- afM*r,f] U^r A \ ^^ ^^ ^y, f^w. i^U^ <^^niA* A oIaJU + it Vrr^ivi OTi 1 1* Ti 'c h rf Pl'ftipr hv tho Haturoof hls
des Anciens Textes Frangais (Paris, 1895).
Kervyn de Lettenhove, Froissart, etude litteraire sur le XrV'sUcte, 2 vols. (Brussels, 1857); Darmesteter, Froissart in Coll. des Grands ecrivains francais (Paris, 1894), tr. Poynter (London, 1895); Molinier, Les Sources de I'Histoire de France,
paintings or the dimensions, rarely surpasses the
"genre" properly so called ; and yet there is something
naturally impressive in the beauty of the Arab life and
^_ _^ „ _,„^,^ .._^ , ,^,,^^^ manners, in that nomadic, feudal, warlike existence.
.Les'Vahis, I'vT 5-i8""(Pari8^,T904); SaVn'tsbury^ //'iSion/ the m.ajestic simplicity of the desert spaces, and the
- . i r.- I .,, -_. _^,i^ r^ _^ . _■ _^ immutable tranquillity of the Orient. Finally, one
cannot fail to recognize the distinctive mark of Fro- mentin's art. He is not a faultless painter, but he is one of exquisite delicacy. After 1860, especially, under the influence of Corot, he becomes one of the cleverest modern "harmonists". His blue slate-
of French Literature: Jounes. Me
etc. (London. 1801); see Chevau
extensive bibliography.
I of the Life of i^roissart,
Bio-bibl., s. v., for an
Louis Brehieh.
Fromentin, Eugene, French writer and artist; b.
at La Rochelle, 24 October, 1820 ; d. at Saint-Maurice,
near La Rochelle, 20 August, 1876. His father, a coloured Algerian pictures, with their remarkable distinguished physician and art connoisseur, intended greyish tints, have not been excelled. As a painter him for the bar. After a brilliant course of studies, of the Arab horse, in the "Curi'e" of the Louvre, he has the young man came to Paris, in November, 1839, to no rival. Sometimes he is eloquent, as in the "Si- follow the lectures in law. In 1843 he became asso- moun",the"Soif",orthefamous"Rued'El.\ghouat". elated with Maitre Denormandio, an attornoy-at-law. But the works that show his art at its best are those But his literary and artistic inclinations giailuallv that depict both customs and scenery, as the "Passage rendered his profession insujiiiortablo. Marilhat 's du Guo" (New York), the "Chas.se au Faucon" (Chan- exhibition of 1844 definitely decided him to devote tilly): in these he is a kind of modern Wouverman, himself to painting. He became a pupil of Cabat, more elegant and poetic than the former. And one
