Buchanan, William: Memoirs of painting: with a chronological history of the importation of pictures by the great masters into England since the French Revolution (Band 1) (London: Ackermann, 1824)

ORLEANS COLLECTION.

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could be procured in foreign countries; and he
was the first to introduce into France that taste
for objects of sculpture and of painting, which
afterwards so much enriched her collections.
Charles V. encouraged the arts from policy and
from vanity; Francois Premier from a real love
of them.
Generous and brave, and the most courtly
prince of his time, it was a fortunate circumstance
for his country that Francis lived at a period
when his love for the arts and his naturally fine
taste had a wide range for action; he lived in the
golden age of art, when Raphael, Correggio, Mi-
chael Angelo Buonarotti, Leonardo da Vinci, and
Titian, were at the zenith of their glory. He
profited by the rich opportunity which was afforded
him ; and those who could not avail themselves of
invitations to his court received ample com-
missions to execute for him works which were
calculated to add lustre to his reign.
Francis left behind him an example, which it
became a pride and an honour to follow. Amongst
his most successful imitators in France as patrons
of art, may be ranked Philip, Regent Duke of
Orleans.
Henry VIII. was contemporary with Francis I.
and the Emperor Charles V.—His court, like that
of these monarchs, was splendid; and as appertain-
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