In the fixing of schools and centres much is owing, of course, to the
residential choice of princes, on whose patronage depends the very
existence of art. This explains the schools of Bruges and Dijon, of
Paris and Tours, for while the earlier dukes of Burgundy and the earlier
kings of France had lived at Bruges and Paris, the later dukes had
preferred Dijon, and Louis XI., Charles VIII., and Louis XII. lived
mostly at Tours. So that while Dijon became the new centre of Burgundian
illumination, Tours became to the new movement from Italy what Paris had
been at the commencement of the Gothic period. Tours, in fact, became
the centre of the Renaissance. The influence of Dijon was on the wane,
Burgundy itself was going down. Michel Coulombe, the great Breton
sculptor, who had been trained at Dijon, left it for Tours, and probably
illuminators and other artists followed his example. As we know from
examples, the Burgundian art of Dijon had the Flemish stamp strongly
marked--the Flemish artists had a way of making strong impressions.
Tours, on the other hand, had had an entirely different training. The
artists of Touraine had no shadow of Flemish influence in their
practice. Their sculptures, enamels, colour-scheme were of another bias.
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