Joseph Parrocel (1678-1704), who, during a prolonged visit to Rome had benefited by Borgognone’s teaching, could not, after his return to France in 1675, escape the current of thought which dominated his time, and introduced the stage-heroic note into his master’s sham realism. The glorification of his king is the purpose of such pictures as _The Passage of the Rhine by Louis XIV._ (No. 678). The chief interest is centred in the richly apparelled group on their prancing steeds in the foreground. JEAN JOUVENET _The Descent from the Cross_ (No. 437), by Jean Jouvenet (1644-1717), which has been honoured by a position among the masterpieces in the Salon Carré, is certainly one of the most estimable compositions produced in France during this active but uninspired century. Not only in the general disposition of the design, but also in the use of colour as a constructive element, Jouvenet here acknowledges his indebtedness to Rubens, although he could never rival the luminous glow of the great Fleming’s palette. Most of his other pictures suffer from dull heavy shadows and exaggerated expression. His strong and honest painting of the kneeling group in _The Abbé Delaporte officiating at the High Altar of Nôtre-Dame_ (No. 440), makes us regret that he did not devote himself more to subjects taken from the life of his time. An artist who was less tied to the tyranny of the official school, and imbued with a really profound sense of the beautiful, was Jean Baptiste Santerre (1658-1717). The delicate perfection of form of the nude in _Susannah and the Elders_ (No. 835) approaches him to David and Ingres at their best. But this very perfection carries the germ of decay, because it is incapable of progress, and stagnation in art signifies death. As regards his technique, Santerre was extremely careful and conscientious. He reduced his palette to but five colours, and waited ten years after the completion of a picture before putting on the final coat of varnish. THE PORTRAIT PAINTERS