In the preceding chapters we have traced the development of painting for five centuries--from the beginning of the fourteenth, that is to say, to the end of the eighteenth--in Italy, in the Netherlands, in Germany, in Spain, and lastly in France and England. In the nineteenth the story is confined to the last two alone, as with one or two minute exceptions the art of painting had by this time entirely ceased to be worth consideration in any of the others. Only in France and England, where it had been most recently established, was it to continue; and besides continuing, reach out with the most astonishing vigour to snatch at and grasp fruits that no one before would have dreamt of being within its reach. Between France and England--if by the latter we may be taken to mean Great Britain, and include within its artists those who have acclimatised themselves within her shores--the honours of the achievement are pretty equally divided, though it will have to be left to individual choice to decide exactly on which side the balance of credit is due. A mere list of the greatest names is not sufficient to apportion the praise, though as a preliminary step it may be of value in clearing the issue. Let us take a dozen on either side, and see how they look. _England._ Lawrence. Constable. Turner. De Wint. Nasmyth. Stevens. Whistler. Cotman. Cox. Watts. Rossetti. Hunt. _France._ David. Gericault. Ingres. Delacroix. Corot. Millet. Daubigny. Courbet. Daumier. Decamps. Manet. Degas. Among these Turner stands out conspicuously from the rest, and he would be included by anyone in a list of twenty, or perhaps a dozen, of the greatest painters in the world. But oddly enough his influence on the art in general has been comparatively small, if we are to judge by its effects on other painters up to the present, while that of Constable has been considerably greater. Manet, again, and Delacroix, have accomplished far more for the history of painting than any other two in our lists--and yet their names are scarcely known outside the circle of those who know anything at all about painting. For the English public at large an entirely different list would probably prove the superiority of their own race to their complete satisfaction--in spite of Meissonier, Dore, and Bouguereau on the other side. But that is only because the British public, owing to the monopoly [Illustration: PLATE XLIV.--JACQUES LOUIS DAVID PORTRAIT OF MME. RECAMIER _Louvre, Paris_]