As early as 1763, Grimm wrote: "For some years past we are beginning to inquire for antique ornaments and forms. The interior and exterior decorations of houses, furniture, materials of dress, work of the goldsmiths, all bear alike the stamp of the Greeks. The fashion passes from architecture to millinery; our ladies have their hair dressed _a la Grecque_." A French translation of Winckelmann appeared in 1765, and Diderot lent his powerful aid in heralding the dawn of the revival of the antique long before the curtain went up on the events of 1789. Paris in Revolution days assumed the atmosphere of ancient Rome. Children were given Greek and Roman names. Classical things got rather mixed. People called themselves "Romans." Others had Athenian notions. Madame Vigee-Lebrun gave _soupers a la Grecque_. Madame Lebrun was Aspasia, and M. l'Abbe Barthelemy, in a Greek dress with a laurel wreath on his head, recited a Greek poem. [Illustration: DETAIL OF TRIPOD TABLE FOUND AT POMPEII. (_At Naples Museum._)] These, among a thousand other signs of the extraordinary spirit of classicism which possessed France, show how deep rooted had become the idea of a modern Republic that should emulate the fame of Athens and of Rome. The First Consul favoured these ideas, and his portraits represent him with a laurel wreath around his head posing as a Caesar. [Illustration: _By kind permission from the collection of Dr. Sigerson, Dublin._ SERVANTE. Marble top; supported on two ormolu legs elaborately chased with figures of Isis. Panelled at back with glass mirror. FRENCH; LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.] In transition days before the style known as Empire had become fixed there is exhibited in art a feeling which suggests the deliberate search after new forms and new ideas. To this period belongs the _servante_, which, by the kindness of Dr. Sigerson, of Dublin, is reproduced from his collection. The claw-foot, the ram's head, the bay-leaf, and a frequent use of caryatides and animal forms, is a common ornamentation in furniture of the Empire period. In this specimen the two legs of ormolu have these characteristics, and it is noticeable that the shape of the leg and its details of ornament bear a striking resemblance to the leg of the Pompeiian table illustrated (p. 205). But the deities of Egypt have contributed a new feature in the seated figure of the goddess Isis. [Illustration: JEWEL CABINET OF THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE. Made on the occasion of her marriage with the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1810. (_At Fontainebleau._)] Napoleon himself encouraged the classic spirit which killed all memories of an _ancien regime_. He would have been pleased to see all the relics of the former glories of France demolished. He had at one time a project to rebuild Versailles as a classic temple.