In the middle of the 14th century this Flemish art invaded France whose taste already shared the tendency of Flanders towards realism and decorative elaboration. The serene radiance of the 13th century had disappeared, to be replaced by a gracious and ingenious beauty that is less exalted and less self-contained. An elegance of line, especially in the flowing draperies, a gentle sentiment in the expression of the features, and an amusing dex terity in the rendering of accessories distinguish these French figures which by the middle of the 14th century had renounced altogether their architectural stiffness. The devotional statues of the Virgin and Child, made in large numbers at this time, illus trate most clearly this transformed art. These elegant and tender figures, whose bending forms are clothed with graceful simple draperies, are often informed with a sweet and appealing hu manity. The many portrait statues of the period, such as those of Charles V. and Jeanne de Bourbon, in the Louvre, share these winning qualities. But in the numerous anecdotal scenes, which embellish the sepulchres, the choir stalls and the retablos we see more obviously the influence of Flanders.
A colony of Flemish sculptors had settled in Paris towards the end of the 13th century. Their numbers and influence increased rapidly. The vast population of little carved figures, of genre scenes and narrative panels, the wealth of intricate ornament, the sumptuous colour and gilding that were created with increasing opulence of form in the French cathedrals were due, in part at least, to this Flemish influence which continued into the 15th century.
This Franco-Flemish art found its way into England. The thirty angels in the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral are touched with French coquetry and Flemish pictorialism ; and the apostles in the upper tiers of the Exeter facade are clearly of Flemish descent. In wood carving England rivalled every continental school; her choir-stalls, such as those at Chester, Ely and Gloucester are not equalled for technical excellence and realistic animation except perhaps in the stalls of Amiens and Toledo. Realism, and an extraordinary delight in technical virtuosity, were common to all of northern Europe, and although Flanders was the centre of this art, the schools of England, France and Germany maintained always an independent tradition. Spain, which also yielded to the taste for episode and decorative embroidery formed a wide field for Flemish and French craftsmen, who carved the vast screens around the cathedral coro with a luxury of reliefs that are at once homely and sumptuous.
architecture and even perspective are introduced into the wealth of episodic scenes that fill the retablos, the tombs and the choir stalls and appear in increasing quantity on the panels of secular furniture as well. A pure pictorialism overcomes everywhere what was left of the plastic sense. The groups of figures, ac curately reproduced from life, are arranged in pictorial corn positions which are pervaded by an emotionalism, a violence of gesture, a distortion of features wholly inconsistent with plastic beauty. The postures and types of everyday life are untouched by idealism or even by sentiment in this commercial art which achieves at its best only an illustrative interest and decorative beauty. Wood is the almost universal material. A finish of high colour and gold gave to its intricate surfaces a sumptuousness that is sometimes oriental in quality.
In Burgundy this excessive realism was tempered by a certain dignity, a breadth of handling and at times distinction of treat ment. The pomp and wealth of the court of Dijon, which after the Hundred Years' War eclipsed momentarily that of Paris, demanded an art less bourgeois than that of the commercial towns to the north. Burgundian art, essentially a continuation of the nobler French tradition, yields in many ways to the objectivity of Flanders and still more to the boldness and weight of Germany. In this art realistic attitudes, realistic physiognomies and draperies, are given an emotional power, lacking in most realistic sculptures, by reason of their solid proportions, the vigorous handling of the scale of and weight of their materials, and by breadth of treatment. A great amplitude of drapery, simple in mass and outline, with broad and deep f olds oftentimes gives to the Burgundian figures an almost monumental dignity. The Pedestal built in the Carthusian monastery of Champmol, near Dijon, by Claus Sluter and Claus de Werve is a characteristic example of this solid art.
In France, where much good work was produced in spite of the military calamities, the Flemish style continued to be tempered by a Gallic restraint and charm. French draperies are more fluid and graceful, French groupings less agitated, faces more tender and serene. The relief over the door of the chapel at Amboise, for example, although having all the Flemish accessories of land scape and picture, is yet ennobled by a tender sentiment and a certain dignity of posture and of composition. The Coronation of the Virgin, at the chateau of Ferte-Milon, is another lovely example of late French sculpture, more simple and more sincerely felt than its contemporaries in Antwerp.