Puvis de Chavannes kept abreast of all the ideas that stand for personality and progress. Far from being a recluse, solely concerned with his own painting, he followed the contemporary literary movement, and none of the happenings that took place around him escaped his knowledge.
Nevertheless, his chief preoccupation was his art and his desire to express, with his brush, the greatest possible degree of human nature. This he achieved in his magnificent series of immortal works; but it was only at the cost of a vast amount of conscientious labour. Few masters have had so keen an intuition of beauty, or a higher and more spontaneous inspiration; and no one, perhaps, has been so distrustful of himself, of his inspiration, of his intuition. He did not surrender himself to them until he had submitted them to the test of searching argument and uncompromising common sense. It is due to this careful weighing in the balance, to this wise mingling of youthful enthusiasm and mature severity that the work of Puvis de Chavannes owes that harmonious beauty that insures it an eternal glory.
And so, when in 1898 he passed away, not a dissenting voice was raised amid the concert of eulogies and of regrets which marked his end. For a long time previous, Puvis de Chavannes had ceased to have detractors; admiration had stifled envy. And, from the moment that he crossed beyond the threshold of life, Puvis de Chavannes entered fully into immortality.
CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS OF PUVIS DE CHAVANNES
Musée du Luxembourg; _The Poor Fisherman_.
Panthéon; _Saint Genevieve marked with the divine seal_.--_The Piety of Saint Genevieve._--_Saint Genevieve providing for besieged Paris._--_Saint Genevieve watching over sleeping Paris._--Two decorative Friezes, including _Faith, Hope, and Charity_, and a series of _Saints_.
Hôtel de Ville; _Summer, Winter_.--_Victor Hugo offering his lyre to the city of Paris._
Amphitheatre of the Sorbonne; _Letters, Sciences and Arts_.
Museum at Amiens; _Peace_.--_War._--_Labour._--_Repose._--_A Standard-Bearer._--_A Harvester._--_A Woman weeping over the ruins of her house._--_A Woman Spinning._--_Ave, Picardia Nutrix._--_Ludus pro Patria._
Palace of Longchamps (Marseilles): _Marseilles, a Greek Colony_.--_Marseilles, Gateway of the Orient._