It will suffice here merely to indicate the names and chief works at
the Louvre of the principal artists who carried on, about the middle of
the nineteenth century, the academic tradition,—capable painters all,
but without clearly-marked individuality. Thomas Couture (1815-1879),
a pupil of Gros and of Delaroche, in painting the huge composition,
_Romans of the Decadence_ (No. 156), produced a picture which may be
taken as typical of the ambitions and failings of the whole school—of
their literary tendencies, theatricality, and uninspired dulness. He
was, however, an accomplished master of technique, which is more than
can be said of Joseph Devéria (1805-1865), the painter of _The Birth
of Henri IV._ (No. 250); or of Ingres’s pupil, the dull Hippolyte
Flandrin (1809-1864), who is only represented by two _Portraits_ (Nos.
284 and 285). Nor is it possible to-day to grow enthusiastic over the
historical paintings of Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury (1797-1890), whose
_Conference at Poissy_ (No. 2982), _Galileo before the Inquisition_
(No. 2983), and _Christopher Columbus received by Ferdinand and
Isabella on his Return from America_ (No. 2984), can only be regarded
as unnecessarily large coloured illustrations.