[Illustration: _Baschet._ DELACROIX. HAMLET AND THE GRAVE-DIGGERS.] [Illustration: _L'Art._ DELACROIX. TASSO IN THE MAD-HOUSE.] And indeed it was not till now that the Classicists perceived how great an opponent had arisen against them. Not only did the aged Gros call the "Massacre of Chios" "_le massacre de la peinture_," but all the critics talked about barbarism, and prophesied that on this path French painting would hasten to its destruction. The prize of the Salon was awarded, not to the "Massacre," but to Sigalon's "Locusta," an unimportant work of compromise, though very clever and well studied in draughtsmanship. It was said that Delacroix's picture was lacking in symmetrical arrangement, that he showed too great a contempt for the beautiful, that indeed he appeared systematically to prefer the ugly--that is to say, he was blamed for the very qualities wherein lay his importance as a reformer. Accustomed as they had been for many years to an art in which intellect, correctness, and moderation held sway, not one of the critics was in a position to perceive all at once the value of this fiery spirit. Delécluze, the indefatigable defender of the sacred dogmas of the Classical school, characterised "dramatic expression and composition marked by action" as the reef whereon the grand style of painting must inevitably be wrecked. The modern schools of art, he taught as late as 1824, exist, flourish, and have their being only by the utilisation of what we can learn from the Greeks. Even acknowledging the progress in colour which the work showed, it nevertheless belonged, he said, to an inferior genus, and all its excellences in colouring could not outweigh the ugliness of its form.