upon the fiery, active Louis with
astonishment, even while catching his energy and ambition. On his return
to Paris he began a history of the 'French Painters of the Nineteenth
Century,' but one volume of which appeared; and the 'Painters of All
Schools,' completed in 1876. Very little was then known of the lives of
the painters. By illustrating each biographical sketch with engravings
of the artists' pictures, Blanc met a long-felt want. As the work was
intended for the general reader, it was not overloaded with erudition:
but numerous anecdotes, combined with vivacity of style, aroused
interest in painting and created a public for the more purely technical
works which followed. Though assisted by others in this undertaking,
Blanc himself planned the method of treatment, and wrote the history of
the Dutch and French schools; and the work justly retains his name.

The Socialists had taken a prominent part in the events of February,
1848, which led to the overthrow of Louis Philippe; and they yielded to
the universal desire by appointing Charles Blanc Director of Fine
Arts--a position which he had prophesied to his friends several years
before that he would one day fill. When he assumed office, the position
of artists was critical; as, owing to social convulsions, government and
private orders had dwindled into insignificance. Thanks to his energy,
work was resumed on public monuments, and the greater part of the sum of
900,000 francs, voted by the National Assembly for the Champs de Mars
festival, was devoted to work which gave employment to a legion of
decorative painters and sculptors. After the Salon of 1848, as the
government coffers were depleted, he obtained 80,000 francs' worth of
Sevres porcelain from the Minister of Commerce, to give as prizes. He
combated a proposition made by the Committee on Finance to suppress the
Louvre studios of molding; he opposed the motion to reduce the corps of
professors at the School of Fine Arts, and defended the School of Rome,
threatened with suppression.

While Director of Fine Arts, Blanc fought his first and only duel, in
defence of his brother, although he had never fired a pistol in his
life. During the political agitation of 1848, Louis was condemned by the
National Assembly, and fled to London. After his departure, he was
abused in very insulting language by one Lacombe, and Charles called the
latter to account. In the duel which followed, Lacombe was hit, but the
ball