 French thinkers considered their country as the heir to the Greek and Roman empires. Whether they strictly followed ancient models or not, they saw their work as a continuation of the classical tradition. Aristotle, Horace, and Plutarch, to name just a few writers, were major influences on the literature of seventeenth and eighteenth century France. This self-image of the French explains not only their discomfort with artistic innovation, but also their disparagement of other European countries, their anxieties about what to include in their national literary canon, and their efforts to impose a masculine, patriotic aesthetic on the painting of the era.