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French Art in the seventeenth century was academic and prosaic, lacking the spontaneity, joyousness, and intensely artistic feeling of Italian Art—­a heritage from previous centuries which had not been lost, and in which France had no part.  The works of Poussin, which have been likened to painted reliefs, afford an excellent example of French Art in his time—­1594-1665—­and this in spite of the fact that he worked and studied much in Rome.

The Academie des Beaux-Arts was established by Louis XIV., and there was a rapidly growing interest in art.  As yet, however, the women of France affected literature rather than painting, and in the seventeenth century they were remarkable for their scholarly attainments and their influence in the world of letters.

Madame de Maintenon patronized learning; at the Hotel Rambouillet men and women of genius met the world of rank and fashion on common ground.  Madame Dacier, of whom Voltaire said, “No woman has ever rendered greater services to literature,” made her translations from the classics; Madame de Sevigne wrote her marvellous letters; Mademoiselle de Scudery and Madame Lafayette their novels; Catherine Bernard emulated the manner of Racine in her dramas; while Madame de Guyon interpreted the mystic Song of Solomon.

Of French women artists of this period we can mention several names, but they were so overshadowed by authors as to be unimportant, unless, like Elizabeth Cheron, they won both artistic and literary fame.

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The seventeenth century was an age of excellence in the art of Flanders, Belgium, and Holland, and is known as the second great epoch of painting in the Netherlands, this name including the three countries just mentioned.

After the calamities suffered under Charles V. and Philip II., with returning peace and prosperity an art was developed, both original and rich in artistic power.  The States-General met in 1600, and the greatest artists of the Netherlands did their work in the succeeding fifty years; and before the century closed the appreciation of art and the patronage which had assured its elevation were things of the past.

Rubens was twenty-three years old in 1600, just ready to begin his work which raised the school of Belgium to its highest attainments.  When we remember how essentially his art dominated his own country and was admired elsewhere, we might think—­I had almost said fear—­that his brilliant, vigorous, and voluptuous manner would attract all artists of his day to essay his imitation.  But among women artists Madame O’Connell was the first who could justly be called his imitator, and her work was done in the middle of the nineteenth century.

When we turn to the genre painting of the Flemish and Dutch artists we find that they represented scenes in the lives of coarse, drunken boors and vulgar women—­works which brought these artists enduring fame by reason of their wonderful technique; but we can mention one woman only, Anna Breughel, who seriously attempted the practice of this art.  She is thought to have been of the family of Velvet Breughel, who lived in the early part of the seventeenth century.