Our Editor Re-Visits The Musee du Louvre In Paris ~ The Most Visited Art Museum In The World ~ More than 8 Million Visitors Every Year

Written by Claire Rosenbaum Wednesday, 11 April 2012 22:46

The Musee du Louvre has dominated central Paris since the late 12th century. Originally built for Philip II of France as an arsenal in 1190, it formed part of the defences built to ensure that Paris would remain safe while Philip II went to fight in the third Crusade. In the years that followed, Paris expanded and enclosed within the growing city, the Louvre lost its defensive function. In 1364, Raymond du Temple, architect to Charles V, began transforming the old fortress into a splendid royal residence. Contemporary miniatures and paintings show marvelous images of the ornately decorated rooftops that graced the new building. A majestic spiral staircase, the “grande vis,” served the upper floors, and a pleasure garden was created at the north end. The sumptuous interiors were decorated with sculptures, tapestries, and paneling. In 1546, Francis I renovated the site in French Renaissance style. Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvre's holdings, his many acquisitions including Leonardo da Vinci's “Mona Lisa”. Improvement and extension work on the royal palace continued through to the reign of Louis XIV. After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, construction work slowed, but still continued. During this period the Louvre was joined to the nearby Tuileries palace by new wings. In 1791, following the French Revolution, the revolutionary Assemblée Nationale decreed that the “Louvre and the Tuileries together will be a national palace to house the king and for gathering together all the monuments of the sciences and the arts.'' The Louvre first opened its doors to the public on August 10, 1793. Admission was free, with artists given priority over the general public, who were admitted on weekends only. The works, mostly paintings from the collections of the French royal family and aristocrats who had fled abroad, were displayed in the Salon Carré and the Grande Galerie, whilst other parts of the building were used for government offices. Through treaties and the spoils from Napoleon I's conquests, France acquired numerous paintings and antiquities, including major collections from the Vatican and the Venetian republic, all of which went into the newly opened Louvre Museum. The museum was renamed the Musée Napoléon in 1803 and a bust of the emperor by Bartolini was installed over the entrance. Although the collection was diminished by restitutions following Napoleon’s defeat, the Louvre remained a public museum and continued to expand. During the Restoration of the monarchy (1814–30), Louis XVIII and Charles X between them added 135 artworks and created the department of Egyptian antiquities. After the creation of the French Second Republic in 1848, the new government allocated two million francs for repair work and ordered the completion of the Galerie d'Apollon, the Salon Carré, and the Grande Galérie. In 1861, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte bought 11,835 artworks including the 641 paintings of the Campana collection. During the Second French Empire, between 1852 and 1870, the French economy grew and by 1870 the museum had added 20,000 new pieces to its collections, and the Pavillon de Flore and the Grande Galérie had been remodelled under architects Louis Visconti and Hector Lefuel. In May 1871, during the last days of the Paris Commune, as the army was poised to retake the city the Communards raced to destroy the Hôtel de Ville (city hall), the Cour des Comptes (the seat of France's public finance watchdog), and the Tuileries palace, a potent symbol of monarchy. The resulting fire gutted the palace buildings and threatened the Louvre itself. The demolition of the Tuileries in 1882 marked the birth of the modern Louvre. The palace ceased to be the seat of power and was devoted almost entirely to artworks and culture. Slowly but surely, the museum began to take over the whole of the vast complex of palace buildings.

Throughout the twentieth century, the Louvre continued to expand and improve, the French Maritime Museum moved out in 1919, post 1848 artworks moved to the Pompidou Center (modern and contemporary art) and the Musee d’Orsay (impressionist and post-impressionist works) as these opened in 1977 and 1986 respectively. Although the Louvre now specializes in pre-1848 artworks, it has never been afraid to embrace the modern, a prime example of this being the George Braque creation of three ceiling paintings. Commissioned to complement those in the former royal antechamber (produced in 1557 by the wood-carver Scibec de Carpi), the resulting decorative design, The Braque Birds, were inaugurated in 1963. In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed the “Grand Louvre” plan to renovate the building and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building. Pritzker Prize winning architect I. M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a glass pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the main court, the Cour Napoléon. The pyramid and its underground lobby were inaugurated on 15 October 1988. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. As of 2002, attendance had doubled since completion. The Musée du Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 37,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 60,600 square metres (652,000 sq ft) dedicated to the permanent collection. The Louvre exhibits sculptures, objets d'art, paintings, drawings, and archaeological finds. It is the world's most visited museum, averaging more than 8 million visitors per year. Visit the museum’s website at … http://www.louvre.fr

The Greek, Etruscan, and Roman department displays pieces from the Mediterranean Basin dating from the Neolithic to the 6th century. The collection spans from the Cycladic period to the decline of the Roman Empire. This department is one of the museum's oldest; it began with appropriated royal art, some of which was acquired under Francis I. The Louvre holds masterpieces from the Hellenistic and Roman eras, including The Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC) and the Venus de Milo, portraits of Agrippa and Annius Verus and the bronze Greek God Apollo of Piombino. The Islamic art collection, the museum's newest, spans "thirteen centuries and three continents". These exhibits, comprising ceramics, glass, metalware, wood, ivory, carpet, textiles, and miniatures, include more than 5,000 works and 1,000 shards. Among the works are the “Pyxide d'al-Mughira”, a 10th century ivory box from Andalusia; the Baptistery of Saint-Louis, an engraved brass basin from the 13th or 14 century Mamluk period, and the 10th century “Shroud of Josse” from Iran. The collection contains three pages of the “Shahnameh”, an epic book of poems by Ferdowsi in Persian, and a Syrian metalwork named the “Barberini Vase”. The Egyptian department comprises over 50,000 pieces, including artifacts from the Nile civilizations between 4,000 BC and the 4th century. The collection, among the world's largest, overviews Egyptian life spanning Ancient Egypt, the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, Coptic art, and the Roman, Ptolemaic, and Byzantine periods. The department's origins lie in the royal collection, but it was augmented by Napoleon's 1798 expeditionary trip to Egypt. After Jean-François Champollion translated the Rosetta Stone, King Charles X decreed that an Egyptian Antiquities department be created. Champollion advised the purchase of three collections, the ‘Durand’, ‘Salt’ and ‘Drovetti’, which added 7,000 works. Guarded by the Large Sphinx (c. 2000 BC), the collection is housed in more than 20 rooms. Holdings include art, papyrus scrolls, mummies, tools, clothing, jewelry, antique games, musical instruments, and weapons. Near Eastern antiquities, the second newest department, dates from 1881 and presents an overview of early Near Eastern civilization and "first settlements", before the arrival of Islam. The department is divided into three geographic areas: the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Persia (Iran). The museum contains exhibits from Sumer and the city of Akkad, with monuments such as the Prince of Lagash's Stele of the Vultures from 2,450 BC and the stele erected by Naram-Suen, King of Akkad, to celebrate a victory over barbarians in the Zagros Mountains. The 2.25-metre “Code of Hammurabi”, discovered in 1901, displays Babylonian Laws prominently, so that no man could plead their ignorance. The Persian portion of Louvre contains work from the archaic period, like the Funerary Head and the Persian Archers of Darius I. This section is also contains rare objects from Persepolis in Persia.

The sculpture department comprises work created before 1850 that does not belong in the Etruscan, Greek, and Roman department. The Louvre has been a repository of sculpted material since its time as a palace. The collection's overview of French sculpture contains Romanesque works such as the 11th century “Daniel in the Lions' Den” and the 12th century “Virgin of Auvergne”. In the 16th century, Renaissance influence caused French sculpture to become more restrained, as seen in Jean Goujon's bas-reliefs, and Germain Pilon's “Descent from the Cross” and “Resurrection of Christ”. The 17th and 18th centuries are represented by Étienne Maurice Falconet's “Woman Bathing” and “Amour menaçant” and François Anguier's obelisks. Neoclassical works includes Antonio Canova's “Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss”. The collection of sculptures by non-French artists includes Michelangelo's “Dying Slave” and “Rebellious Slave” and Adriaan de Vries’ “Mercury and Psyche”. The Objets d'art collection contains the coronation crown of Louis XIV, Charles V's sceptre, and a 12th century porphyry vase. The Renaissance art holdings include Giambologna's bronze Nessus and Deianira and the tapestry “Maximillian's Hunt”. From later periods, highlights include Madame de Pompadour's Sèvres vase collection and Napoleon III's apartments. The painting collection has more than 6,000 works from the 13th century to 1848. Nearly two-thirds are by French artists, and more than 1,200 are Northern European. The collection began with Francis, who acquired works from Italian masters such as Raphael and Michelangelo, and brought Leonardo da Vinci to his court. Exemplifying the French School are Enguerrand Quarton’s “Avignon Pieta”, an anonymous painting of King Jean le Bon (possibly the oldest independent portrait in Western painting to survive from the postclassical era), Hyacinthe Rigaud's “Louis XIV”, Jacques-Louis David's “The Coronation of Napoleon” and Eugène Delacroix's “Liberty Leading the People”. Northern European works include Johannes Vermeer's “The Lacemaker” and “The Astronomer”, Caspar David Friedrich's “The Tree of Crows”, Rembrandt's “The Supper at Emmaus”, “Bathsheba at Her Bath”, and “The Slaughtered Ox”. The Italian holdings are notable, particularly the Renaissance collection. The works include Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini's “Calvarys”. The High Renaissance collection includes Leonardo da Vinci's “Mona Lisa”, “Virgin and Child with St. Anne”, “St. John the Baptist”, and “Madonna of the Rocks”. Caravaggio is represented by “The Fortune Teller” and “Death of the Virgin”. From 16th century Venice, the Louvre displays Titian's “Le Concert Champetre”, “The Entombment” and “The Crowning with Thorns”. The prints and drawings department encompasses works on paper. The origins of the collection were the 8,600 works in the Royal Collection (Cabinet du Roi), which were increased via state appropriation, purchases such as the 1,200 works from Fillipo Baldinucci's collection in 1806, and donations. The department opened on 5 August 1797, with 415 pieces displayed in the Galerie d'Apollon. The collection is organized into three sections: the core Cabinet du Roi, 14,000 royal copper printing-plates, and the donations of Edmond de Rothschild, which include 48,000 prints, 3,200 drawings, and 5,500 illustrated books. The holdings are displayed in the Pavillon de Flore; due to the fragility of the paper medium, only a portion are displayed at one time.

The Louvre is currently showing 2 comparative exhibitions of sculpture, both of which are showing concurrently until the 25th of April 2011. In the Richelieu wing exhibition gallery is a collection of artworks by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt allowing the visitor to explore the world of this great German sculptor and expert portraitist, whose caustic humor and audacity won the hearts of the contemporary public. Franz Xaver Messerschmidt was active in Vienna and Pressburg (now Bratislava) in the late 18th century. As a court sculptor, he executed portraits of members of the imperial family as well as notable intellectuals of his time, but is most celebrated for his series of violently expressive, bizarre and fascinating "character heads", whose originality and verve still captivate viewers today. Sculpted in metal (using alloys composed largely of tin and/or lead) and in alabaster, these heads convey the expressiveness of a master sculptor keen to depict the torments of the soul in all their extreme emotional variety. As a counterpoint to Franz Xaver Messerschmidt retrospectve, the museum plays host to a group of sculptures by the leading British contemporary artist Tony Cragg, under the title “Tony Cragg - Figure out / Figure in”. In addition to existing works, the exhibition features a monumental sculpture by the artist, commissioned especially for the exhibition and displayed under the pyramid. The visual dialogue across the centuries between Tony Cragg and Messerschmidt's "character heads" is limited to a single bronze sculpture by this major contemporary sculptor, “Untitled” (2010) which, like the masterpieces of his 18th-century predecessor, through its distortions and superimposed layers, depicts a particularly expressive human face, from a very specific viewpoint. The seven other sculptures selected by Cragg to inhabit the space formed by the Cour Marly and the Cour Puget are of varying dimensions, shapes and types, thus reflecting this sculptor's broad use of materials (bronze, marble, fiberglass, wood), colors (white, red, black) and methods (circumvolutions around a central axis, displacement of oblique and overhanging elements along a lateral plane, accumulation of numerous fine layers, puncturing of surfaces). Sculptures conceived on the same themes, but of different sizes, allow visitors to consider the question of scale, and a sculpture in two parts, Runner, resonates with a number of works in the Louvre's collections.