Parade room of the Hôtel de Chevreuse (Room 622)

The Louvre Museum  houses one of the most prized collections of largely 18^th-century French decorative arts, some drawn from donations from benefactors like Comte Isaac de Camondo, Baronne Salomon James de Rothschild, Basile de Schlichting, René Grog and Marie-Louise Grog-Carven, J. Paul Getty, the Duchess of Windsor and the Kraemer family.

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Room 601 (Louis XIV Room) with a portrait of King Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud (oil on canvas, 1701, 277 cm. × 194 cm.)

A section entitled “From Louis XIV to Louis XVI” (“De Louis XIV à Louis XVI”), presented by the Department of Decorative Arts’ Collections, is a series of rooms, with over two thousand treasures of French art and design, we can walk through.

Room 603 with ceiling fresco “La France victorious at Bouvines” (Merry Joseph Blondel) which commemorate the victory at the Battle of Bouvines

This relatively new (opened last June 17, 2014) setting, designed to shed light on both the technical and stylistic history by introducing the major residences and key figures of the time (artists, craftsmen, and those who commissioned their work), offered a broad panorama of interior design, production from major manufactories, crafts, and the art trade.

The tapestry “Theseus tames the bull of Marathon and offers it as a sacrifice to Apollo” (Room 604)

Primarily French in character, from the reign of Louis XIV up to the French Revolution, this remarkable collection, most originally commissioned for royal or princely residences and formerly the preserve mainly of royalty but now for the enrichment of future generations, consist of wood paneling made of hand carved gilt boiserie and painted decorative elements, lots of gorgeous Sèvres porcelain, some furniture and personal effects of Marie Antoinette‘s, tapestries, fine furniture, decorative bronze work, marble items, gold- and silverware, jewelry, scientific instruments, silks, clocks, European faience, porcelain and sumptuous brocades, all previously hidden away in museum storerooms.

“The Audience given by Loius XIV at Fontainebleau, to Monsignor Cardinal Chigi,” a tapestry at Room 601, made at the Gobelins (Mobilier National, Paris, first version, 1665-1672).

To provide a clearer understanding of this luxurious art of living, particular care had been taken in refurbishing the 33 dedicated galleries which were previously closed for almost a decade. Their approach to exhibition design (masterminded by interior designer and French decorative arts connoisseur Jacques Garcia), adopted by some history museums in the nineteenth century, was to reconstruct the finest inventions of interior decorators and master craftsmen in their natural setting.

Room 631 (Furniture of Royal Residences, 1774-1792)

Through a US$35.4 million (€26 million) major renovation (the museum’s first major project entirely funded by private donors, mainly by the famous watch manufacturer Breguet) and complete revamp of the Louvre’s Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI rooms, these masterpieces by the artists and craftsmen from that bygone era were presented in 2,200 sq. m. of exhibition space in chambers that once housed the Council of State and the entire first floor of the north wing of the Cour Carrée.

The visitor trail is divided into three main chronological and stylistic sequences make up – Louis XIV’s personal reign and the Régence (1660–1725), development of the Rococo style (1725–1755) and return to Classicism and the reign of Louis XVI (1755–1790).

Room 603

A team of artisans, under the supervision of the Louvre’s successive curators of the Department of Decorative Arts under the direction of Marc Bascou, helped the 18^th century galleries regain their original splendor, thereby succeeding in safeguarding uncommon skills – cabinetmaking (Charles Cressent, Jean-Jean Henri Riesener, Jean-Baptiste-Claude Séné and Bernard II van Risenburgh), bronze work, silver- and gold smithing (Thomas Germain, Jacques Roëttiers and Robert-Joseph Auguste), gilding, upholstering, painting and decorating (Charles Le Brun and Charles-Antoine Coypel), parquet work and art restoration.

Room 603.  On the right is a tapestry set of The Vatican Stanze – Parnassus. A transposition, into tapestry, of one of Raphael’s compositions, painted to adorn a wall in the Stanza della Segnatura (Room of the Signatura) at the Vatican: the god Apollo is depicted as guardian of the arts, surrounded by the Muses and the most illustrious poets.

The rooms, adopting a chronological approach, took us through a natural progression of the major stylistic periods, from the flamboyant Louis XIV aesthetic and the Regency style, to the elaborate but lighthearted Rococo art, followed by a return to the antique taste and Neo-Classicism with its pure, geometrical proportions, straight lines and refined colors.

Cabinet woodwork of L’Hôtel Dangé-Villemaré

The master works on display, contributing to the spread of French culture, were done by the greatest artisans of their day, whose workshops served not only the French court, but also its European counterparts.

Room 609 displays a collection of scientific instruments (compass, magnets, perpetual calendar, etc.) donated by Nicolas and Simone Landau (1957 and 2002)

The three sparkly “new” and lavish period rooms (a rarity in French museums), formerly from palatial and fashionable private residences of the period and reconstructed, are the. faithfully reconstructed 1750 drawing room, salons, library and private sitting room of the former L’Hôtel Dangé-Villemaré (built in 1709 and redecorated in 1750, it is one of the most important surviving examples of an interior by a Louis XV-era Parisian workshop) at Place Vendôme, the drawing room of the Château d’Abondant, and the ceremonial bedchamber of the Hôtel de Chevreuse).  They are in the style of Louis XIV and continue through to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

France, in the Midst of the Legislator, Kings and French Jurisconsults, Receives the Constitutional Charter from Louis XVIII (Merry Joseph Blondel, 1827)

All are prime examples of interior design by Parisian workshops under the reign of Louis XV. Brought back to life and put on display, it reconstituted a coherent decorative setting in terms of floors, paneling, doors, windows, cornices and ceilings, thus allowing us to view objects in historic context.

Grand Salon of the Château d’Abondant

A fully restored, reassembled and installed cupola fresco, in a Neo-Classical space at the heart of the new galleries, depicts mythological subjects from The Toilet of Venus painted in 1774 by Antoine-François Callet and Pierre-Hyacinthe Deleuze for Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé.

The Turkish cabinet of the Comte d’Artois, brother of Louis XVI (Room 630)

Some of the exceptional pieces in the exhibit include:

• A top-quality, perfectly-proportioned Louis XVI garden with dolphins vase with a blue background in Sèvres porcelain made for the son of the king, painted by Pierre Joseph Rosset l’Ainé and gilded by Jean-Pierre Boulanger.
• A gold coffer made for Louis XIV by goldsmith Jacob Blanck, with a wooden body covered in blue silk satin, cast, chased and filigreed gold and gilt bronze.
• A Marie-Antoinette’s traveling case in mahogany containing 94 objects in silver, crystal, porcelain, steel, ivory and ebony.
• An amazingly-detailed carved, elegantly painted and gilded wood paneling, originally created for aristocrat Le Bas de Montargis’ residence, which once adorning the Comte d’Artois’ Turkish-designed study in Versailles
• A complete set of nine decorative paintings, in the grotesque style, depicting leisurely country pastimes by Jean-Baptiste Oudry.
• A Louis XVI commode, by Martin Carlin, with a red griotte marble top, ebony and rosewood veneers and chased gilt-bronze mounts which highlights imported Japanese lacquer screen panels featuring Asian landscapes (among the best examples in the world of the cultural exchanges between Asia and France at the time).
• A set of six straight-backed armchairs and a sofa owned by the financier Pierre Crozat in carved, gilded walnut, red and fawn-colored leather, and red-and-white silk braiding
• A roll-top desk by Jean-François Leleu in oak, tulipwood veneer, gilt bronze and marquetry of barberry wood, hollywood, maple burr and boxwood on brown-stained maple, decorated with Sèvres porcelain plaques.
• An armoire, for the royal furniture depository, in oak, softwood, ebony veneer, marquetry of tortoise shell, brass, pewter and stained horn, and gilt-bronze mounts, created by André-Charles Boulle, the first cabinetmaker to use lavish gilt-bronze mounts to enhance the decoration of his furniture. 

Salle Marie-Antoinette (Room 632)

The luxurious art of living was made instantly perceptible and easier to understand via this museological concept, returning the creations of decorators and master artisans to their natural environment.

Marie Antoinette’s cylinder desk (Jean-Henri Riesener, 1784)

From Louis XIV to Louis XVI: First Floor, Sully Wing, Louvre, 75001 Paris, France.  Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

The Louvre has three entrances: the main entrance at the pyramid, an entrance from the Carrousel du Louvre underground shopping mall, and an entrance at the Porte des Lions (near the western end of the Denon wing).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection. The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries.

 How To Get There: the Louvre can be reached via Metro lines 1 and 7, station Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre Métro or the Louvre-Rivoli stations. By bus, take No. 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95 as well as the touristic Paris l’Open Tour. By car, there is an underground parking reachable by Avenue du Général Lemonier, every day from 7 AM – 11 PM.

Near Eastern Antiquities Department

Our visit to the the Near Eastern Antiquities Department, the second newest and one of the most spectacular departments of the Louvre, began at the Ground Floor of the Sully Wing. Here, we spent at least a half hour.

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The author. In the background is one of the heads of the columns of the audience hall (Apadana) of King Darius I. It formed part of the decoration of a 358-foot square room. Room 12-A, First Floor, Sully Wing

The world’s first “Assyrian Museum,” the precursor to today’s department, annexed to the “Department of Antiques,” was opened in 1847 and, in 1881, a “Department of Oriental Antiquities.” When the Louvre expanded with the Richelieu Wing, the department rearranged its collections and the first phase of this transformation, occupying the new wing, was inaugurated in 1993.

The second phase, funded by a generous donation, was inaugurated in 1997. A third phase, in the Denon Wing, was scheduled for the fall of 2012.  It aims to organize joint exhibitions by the three Antiquities Departments, based on Roman objects from the eastern Mediterranean.

The museum’s collection consists of the following:

• The 37 the monumental bas-reliefs discovered during archaeological excavations in Khorsabad, started by Paul-Émile Botta (consul of France in Mosul) from 1843-1854 in the ancient Assyrian city of Dur-Sharrukin.  The excavation showed the existence of a palace built by King Sargon II in 706 BC. During transport on the Tigris River, a large part of the objects were lost in a shipwreck.
• Palestinian and Jewish antiquities from his archaeological expedition of Louis Félicien de Saulcy.
• Sumerian works excavated from the site of Tello (in Lower Mesopotamia) by the French vice-consul at Basra, Ernest de Sarzec.
• The core of the Phoenician collection supplied by Ernest Renan’s excavations in Lebanon.
• The first Cypriot collection established by Melchior de Vogué.
• The first elements of the polychrome brick decoration of the Palace of Darius, discovered by the Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy excavations in 1886.
• The Code of Hammurabi, a basalt stele discovered by the archaeological mission led by Jacques de Morgan in 1901 in Susa, covers family law, slavery, commercial & agricultural law, and even sets prices and salaries.
• Claude Schaeffer’s excavations at Ras Shamra (Ugarit)
• Excavations conducted at Mari, from 1933 to 1974, by André Parrot while pursuing his career as department curator, then as director of the Louvre  (1968-1972).
• Significant collections of Cypriot (Enkomi) and other antiquities, derived from excavations by the Biblical School of Jerusalem at Tell el-Farah (Tirzah) by donations and acquisitions.
• The Anatolian, Punic, and South Arabian collections added with loans from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Institut.
• The large private collection, assembled by Louis de Clercq around 1900, and donated by Henri de Boisgelin in 1967
• The Coiffard collection of Luristan bronzes, acquired in 1958
• Collections extended toward Central Asia thanks to a number of acquisitions made in recent decades.
• A set of objects unearthed during rescue excavations at Meskene (Emar) which entered the Louvre in 1980.
• A rare gypsum statue from Ain Ghazal (dated around 7000 BC, currently the oldest major artwork in the Louvre), discovered in 1985 in a Neolithic site, entered the department in 1997 via a loan agreement with Jordan. Sully Wing, Room D.

The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is a stele (inscribed stone) set up around 840 BCE by King Mesha of Moab (a kingdom located in modern Jordan).

The Near Eastern Antiquities Department presented an overview of the ancient civilizations of the Near East, which extends from nine thousand years ago, and the “first settlements” before the arrival of Islam, and encompasses an area stretching from North Africa to the Indus Valley and Central Asia, and from the Black Sea (Anatolia) to the Arabian peninsula (as far as the Indian Ocean).

The basalt Shihan stele, was the oldest monument from the Holy Land to be found in the Louvre’s collection until the inter-war excavations bore their fruit.

The department, covering 25 rooms, is divided into three major cultural and geographic areas, with the exhibits arranged chronologically – the Mediterranean Levant (the lands west of the Euphrates, including Cyprus, Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, and North Africa), ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq), and Persia (Iran as far as Central Asia).

Statue of Queen Napirasu, wife of King Untash-Napirisha

The scope and diversity of the collections allow for a historical approach. Illustrated in this department are the names of Sumer, Akkad, Ur, Babylon, the Hittites, Assyria and many others.

Votive Steles of Ugarit

The museum contains major sculptures and monuments such as the Prince of Lagash’s Stele of the Vultures (from 2450 BC); the stele erected  by Naram-Sin, King of Akkad, to celebrate a victory over barbarians in the Zagros Mountains; the 18th-century BC mural of the Investiture of Zimrilim; the 25th-century BC Statue of Ebih-Il (found in the ancient city-state of Mari), the 5,52 m. high “Hero Overpowering a Lion,” and the 2.25m. (7.38 ft.) high Code of Hammurabi (the great emblem of Mesopotamian antiquity, it prominently displays Babylonian Laws  so that no man could plead their ignorance) in Room 3, Richelieu wing, Ground Floor.

Rooms 1 to 6, comprising the complete Mesopotamian section, features Sumerian artwork, the Code of Hammurabi and the Khorsabad Court. In Room 2 is the special and well conserved for his age (2100 BC) seated statue of Goudea, prince of Lagash (Sumer).

The Iranian Collection

The ancient Iranian civilizations were essentially represented by works from excavations at Susa (a city founded around 4000 BC), its cultural richness reaching its peak with the works of Darius and Xerxes, the great kings of the Persian Empire.

Frieze of Archers from Darius’ Palace

Rooms 7 to 10 house the first part of the Iranian section while the north wing of the Cour Carrée continues the Iranian section with the Iron Age collection (1st millennium BC), the remains of the palace of Persian king Darius I in Susa, and objects representing the Parthian and Sassanian empires.

Lion Relief from the Palace of Darius I

The Iranian section contains rare objects from Persepolis which were lent to the British Museum for its Ancient Persia exhibition in 2005.The Funerary Head and the Persian Archers of Darius I are both works from the archaic period.

Furniture From a Princely Achaemenid Tomb

In Room 12-B are the friezes of parades of archers (armed with lances and bows on their shoulders) and lions, glazed, colored brick decorations of the palace of Darius at Susa.

Art of the Achaemenid Court

Most visitors always like to have their photos taken in front of the spectacular winged human-headed winged bulls of 4 x 4 m., protective genies placed as guardians at the gates of the city. However, one of them is a copy, the original being in the Oriental Institute of Chicago.

Floor Covering Panel – Satyr Head

Rooms A to D, in the west wing of the Cour Carrée (opened in 1993), is devoted to Cyprus and the Levant, from Prehistory to the Phoenician Period (early first millennium BC).

Sarcophagus Lid

A section of the north wing houses galleries devoted to the Levant (until the conquest of Alexander the Great), with royal sarcophagi from Sidon. The Phoenicians in the West are represented by Carthage and Punic North Africa.

Vase from Amathus

A section dedicated to Cyprus in the 1st millennium BC is structured around the monumental vase from Amathus.

The last rooms are devoted to the civilizations of pre-Islamic Arabia from the 7th century BC to the 3rd century AD (essentially Yemen and Hauran), and to the caravan cities of Syria (Palmyra and Dura Europos).

We weren’t able to visit Cour Khorsabad at the ground floor of the adjoining Richelieu Wing.  This courtyard houses the impressive remains of the palace inaugurated by King Sargon II in Khorsabad (a city in northern Iraq) in 706 BC., its sculpted reliefs displayed in their original configuration, re-creating the monumental architecture of the palace.

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France.  Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

The Louvre has three entrances: the main entrance at the pyramid, an entrance from the Carrousel du Louvre underground shopping mall, and an entrance at the Porte des Lions (near the western end of the Denon wing).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection. The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries. 

How To Get There: the Louvre can be reached via Metro lines 1 and 7, station Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre Métro or the Louvre-Rivoli stations. By bus, take No. 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95 as well as the touristic Paris l’Open Tour. By car, there is an underground parking reachable by Avenue du Général Lemonier, every day from 7 AM – 11 PM.

Egyptian Antiquities Department – crowds gathered around a statue of Horus

After viewing the paintings of Italian and French masters at the Denon Wing, Jandy and I proceeded to the underground level of the Sully Wing to visit the Egyptian Antiquities Department, passing the Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC) statue and the excavated and preserved remains of the medieval fortress and moat of the Louvre.

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Guardian Lion at the Entrance to a Chapel of the Serapeum of Saqqara

A numbers of visitors to the Louvre come with the sole aim of visiting this department and it would be a real pity if we did not to spend at least one hour here.

Set for protection of the mummy

The Egyptian Antiquities collection of the Louvre, the second biggest in the world after the Cairo Museum, comprises over 50,000 pieces, includes artifacts from the Nile civilizations which date from 4,000 BC to the 4th century AD. The collection overviews Egyptian life spanning Ancient Egypt, the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, Coptic art, and the Roman, Ptolemaic, and Byzantine periods. 

Funerary servants

The department’s origins lie in the royal collection, but it was augmented by Napoleon’s 1798 expeditionary trip with Dominique Vivant, the future director of the Louvre. After Jean-François Champollion translated the Rosetta Stone, Charles X decreed that an Egyptian Antiquities department be created.

Fragment of Statue of Ramses II

Champollion advised the purchase of 7,000 works from the three its continued via acquisitions by Auguste Mariette, founder of the Egyptian Museum  in Cairo. Mariette, after excavations at Memphis, sent back crates of archaeological finds including The Seated Scribe.

Magic protection, amulets, steles of Horus

In 1997, during the Grand Louvre renovation project, this huge collection was distributed on two different floors in what is now called the Sully Wing at the east end of the Louvre.

Sphinx of Tanis guarding entrance

Guarded by the Great Sphinx of Tanis (c. 2000 BC), this department now fills 30 large rooms. Holdings include art, papyrus scrolls, mummies, tools, clothing, jewelry, games, musical instruments and weapons.  

Canopes (Vases)

The 19 rooms on the ground floor include two in the basement for particularly heavy exhibits (another reason they are at ground level is that there are pedestrian entrances to the courtyard). As the heaviest objects had to remain on the ground floor, it was impossible to arrange the works by period.

Sarcophagus Room (Room 14)

Instead, they are organized into a “thematic circuit” centered on the major aspects of Egyptian civilization (i.e. the daily life in Ancient Egypt), using authentic relics and artworks to illustrate and explain the topics of agriculture, hunting, fishing, animal husbandry, writing, arts and crafts, domestic life, temples, funeral rites and gods in ancient Egypt. The ground floor includes the Temple Room (Room 12) and the Sarcophagus Room (Room 14).

Room 3

Room 3 has models, found in graves, that show people rowing on the Nile River or poling through shallow water. The models were perhaps intended to provide transportation in the afterlife for the person who had died.

Model of a funeral boat

Room 11 contains a row of six of the sphinxes which were set up, in the 4th or 3rd century BC, along the aisle leading to the temple Sérapéum de Saqqara in Egypt. In 1851, these were discovered and excavated out of the sand by workers under the direction of Auguste Mariette.

A row of 6 sphinxes in Room 11

Later, in 1869, Mariette was asked to suggest a plot for an opera about ancient Egypt, and his idea was accepted as the basis for the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi.

Naos Housing a Statue of Osiris

The large Temple Room (Room 12), divided into 4 sections, shows the remains of sanctuaries from various sites and all epochs of ancient Egyptian history.  It gives us an idea of the structure and function of a temple and the ceremonies that took place there.

The large Temple Room (Room 12)

After visiting the 12 densely packed rooms of the thematic tour of ancient Egypt, we went down a long staircase (there’s also an elevator for people with restricted mobility) that lead down to the basement.

Room 13

Here, Room 13 displays the huge, extremely heavy red granite royal tomb of pharaoh Ramses III, who ruled from 1186–1155 BC. This room is also identified as the crypt of the god Osiris.

The pink granite cartouche-shaped tomb, at Room 13, once contained the nest of coffins of Pharaoh Ramesses III.

Rooms 18 and 19 have an alphabetical guide to the ancient Egyptian gods, including their appearance, their attributes, their roles, all illustrated with authentic figurines made of metal, ceramics or stone. There is also an exhibit of mummified animals.

Statue of Bes, god of matrimony, as a misshapen nude dwarf with overly long arms, bowed legs, and a face combining leonine and human features

Rooms 20 to 30, on the first floor, on the other hand, is organized into a “chronological circuit” showing outstanding examples of Egyptian art, from the earliest to the latest periods of ancient Egypt. present a chronological approach, highlighting the different historical periods and the development of Egyptian art from 4000 BC to 400 AD.

The small wooden stele features an image of Lady Taperet praying to different aspects of the sun: Ra, the sun at its zenith, on one side; and Atum, the setting sun, on the other

Pieces from the ancient period include the Gebel el-Arak Knife from 3400 BC, the Head of King Djedefre and The Seated Scribe, its most famous artifact. Probably the most famous statue in the Egyptian collection of the Louvre, “The Seated Scribe” (c. 2620-2500 BC), in room 22 on the 1st floor, always impresses visitors.  Its inlaid eyes are the most striking aspect of this sculpture.  Nothing is known about the person portrayed

The highly decorated coffin of the Lady of Madja discovered in a cemetery in West Thebes overlooking the valley of Deir el-Medina, behind the hill of Qurnet Mourai

The Middle Kingdom art, known for its gold work and statues, moves from realism to idealization.  This is exemplified by the schist statue of Amenemhatankh and the wooden Offering Bearer. The New Kingdom and Coptic Egyptian sections are deep, but the statue of the goddess Nephthys and the limestone depiction of the goddess Hathor demonstrate New Kingdom sentiment and wealth.

Troop of funerary servant figures

In Room 28 (Musee Charles X), the exhibits are about Egyptian Princes and courtiers in the period from 1295–1069 BC.  However, its ceiling painting, by Horace Vernet (1789-1863), shows something completely different -Pope Julius II ordering Bramante, Michelangelo, and Raphael to build the Vatican and Saint Peter’s in Rome.

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Musee Charles X

In Room 29 (Musee Charles X), the exhibits are about the Third Middle Period of ancient Egypt, from about 1069–404 BC. Here the ceiling painting, L’Egypte sauvée par Joseph (Egypt saved by Joseph) by Alexandre-Denis Abel de Pujol (1785-1861), has to do with Egypt.

Fragment of a Statue of a Nubian

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France.  Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

The Louvre has three entrances: the main entrance at the pyramid, an entrance from the Carrousel du Louvre underground shopping mall, and an entrance at the Porte des Lions (near the western end of the Denon wing).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection.The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries.

How To Get There: the Louvre can be reached via Metro lines 1 and 7, station Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre Métro or the Louvre-Rivoli stations. By bus, take No. 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95 as well as the touristic Paris l’Open Tour. By car, there is an underground parking reachable by Avenue du Général Lemonier, every day from 7 AM – 11 PM.

Salle des Colonnes (Column Room) of Charles X Museum (Musee Charles X)

The Charles X Museum (Musee Charles X), located in a series of 9 inner rooms on the first floor (not the ground floor, but one flight up) of the southeast wing of the Cour Carrée, first housed the apartments of the reigning queen, next to the king’s pavilion. The western part is located in the wing built by Pierre Lescot, while the eastern part was built by Louis Le Vau.

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After the king left for the Palace of Versailles, the Academy of Architecture occupied this wing but, after the Revolution, the entire wing was used as housing and workshops for artists. Under Napoleon I, the development of this space, began by the architect Fontaine, was completed in 1819. It had 4 rooms on each side of the Columns room located in the Arts pavilion. Between 1819 and 1827, these rooms were used for exhibitions of the products of industry and the Salon of living artists.

Room 30

The increase in the collections of the Louvre museum required new exhibition spaces and King Charles X commissioned some of the leading architects (including Fontaine) and painters of his day to redesign and redecorate the suites. Each room turned out to be quite lavish and impressive, with mahogany-veneered glass cabinets (by Jacob Desmalter), a fireplace topped with a mirror and a painted ceiling whose theme recalls the country whose works are exhibited in the room. On December 15, 1827, the museum was inaugurated by King Charles X.

The exhibits have been rearranged several times since then but, today, the first four rooms of the Musée Charles X are still used to display a small part of the Louvre’s huge collection of Egyptian and Greco-Roman antiquities. During our visit to the museum, we admired the ceiling decoration and the showcases which offer a rare testimony of a 19th century museography.

Egyptian Antiquities Department

Room 28, the second room of the Musée Charles X, has the ceiling painting “Pope Iulius II Orders the Works of Vatican and Saint-Peter Basilica” by Horace Vernet (1789-1863) which shows Pope Julius II ordering Bramante, Michelangelo and Raphael to build the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Its exhibits are about Egyptian princes and courtiers in the period from 1295–1069 BC.

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Study and Genius Unveiling Ancient Egypt to Greece (1826, François-Edouard Picot)

In Room 29, the ceiling painting has to do with Egypt – “Egypt saved by Joseph” (L’Egypte sauvée par Joseph) by Alexandre-Denis Abel de Pujol (1785-1861). The exhibits are about the Third Middle Period of ancient Egypt, from about 1069–404 BC..  In Room 30 is Study and Genius Unveil the Antique Egypt to the Greece‎.(by François-Édouard Picot) while in Room 27 is The Genius of France Animates the Arts and Protects Humanity.

The crossing between Greek and Egyptian Antiquities  is the Column Room of the Pavillon des Arts. On the ceiling are The Time raises Truth to the throne of Wisdom and Real Glory is supported by Virtue.

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Cybele protects from Vesuvius the towns of Stabies, Herculanum and Pompei

Rooms 35 – 37 display Greek terracotta figurines. The ceiling paintings found here are The Apotheosis of Homer by Ingres‎ (Room 35), Vesuvius Receiving from Jupiter the Fire Which Will Consume Herculanum, Pompei and Stabies‎ (Room 36) and  Nymphs of Parthenope (Napoli) Bring Far From Home Their Penates to the Banks of Seine River‎ (Room 37). In Room 38 is Cybele protects from the Vesuvius the towns of Stabies, Herculanum and Pompei‎.

Real Glory is Supported by Virtue (Antoine-Jean Gros)

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France.  Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

The Louvre has three entrances: the main entrance at the pyramid, an entrance from the Carrousel du Louvre underground shopping mall, and an entrance at the Porte des Lions (near the western end of the Denon wing).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection.The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries. 

How To Get There: the Louvre can be reached via Metro lines 1 and 7, station Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre Métro or the Louvre-Rivoli stations. By bus, take No. 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95 as well as the touristic Paris l’Open Tour. By car, there is an underground parking reachable by Avenue du Général Lemonier, every day from 7 AM – 11 PM.

The Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, one of the museum’s oldest, is home to a collection of artworks representing the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman civilizations, spanning from the Cycladic Period to the decline of the Roman Empire.

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Crowds gathered in front of the ca. 190 BC Winged Victory of Samothrace, a magnificent Hellenistic statue that may have commemorated a naval victory, possibly by a fleet from Rhodes in the 2nd century BC. Excavations on the island of Samothrace, where it was found in 1863, revealed that it originally stood on the prow of a grey marble ship, at the center of an ornamental fountain. It depicts the winged Hellenistic goddess Nike. During World War II, this masterpiece, along with the Mona Lisa, Slaves by Michelangelo and the Venus de Milo sculpture were shifted to Château de Valençay.

The best artists from the reign of Charles X (Jean-Auguste-Dominique ngres, Vernet, Fragonard, etc.) amazingly combined palace décor from 1827 with antiquities collections to evoke Homer, Pompeii and Herculaneum. The Winged Victory of Samothrace welcomed Jandy and I as well as other visitors, dazzling us with its triumphant silhouette, as we appreciated its size from the top of the steps of the Daru staircase.

The author (right)

The exhibits, housed on the first floor of the Denon Wing (part of it also seen on the mezzanine) and part of the Sully Wing, are themed and chronological, with the Greek works separated from the Roman and Etruscan antiquities. 

Here’s the historical timeline of the museum:

• In 1793, the department was formed around the appropriated former royal art collections (some of which was acquired under Francis I), initially focused on marble sculptures.
• During the French Revolution, it was further enriched by property seized
• During the Napoleonic Wars, works such as the Apollo Belvedere
• In 1800, the museum was installed in the summer apartments of Anne of Austria.
• In the 19th century, works including vases from the Durand collection and bronzes such as the Borghese Vase from the Bibliothèque Nationale, were acquired by the Louvre.
• In 1807, the purchase of over five hundred marble sculptures from the Borghese collection required the refurbishment of the Salle des Cariatides, the ground floor of the Pavillon du Roi, and the queen’s winter apartments.
• In 1815, after the return of the works to Italy (including the Apollo Belvedere), Ennio Quirino Visconti (1751-1818), the Louvre’s first curator of antiquities, adopted an active acquisitions policy.
• In 1818, the Tochon collection was purchased enriching, with archaeological objects, the Louvre’s collection which mostly comprised of marble sculptures. This was followed by that of Durand (1825-1836).
• In 1821, the Venus de Milo (a sculpture of Aphrodite with her arms missing discovered on the Greek island of Milos, in the Cyclades Archipelago) entered the museum. It was first offered to Louis XVIII by the Marquis de Rivière, after which  the monarchy donated it to the Louvre.
• in 1827, the Musée Charles X, on the first floor of the Louvre palace, was opened.
• In 1861, when the Campana collection was acquired, its vases were installed on the first floor of the Cour Carrée’s south wing, in a gallery parallel to the Musée Charles X.
• During the second half of the 19th century, as a result of archaeological expeditions, the museum acquired many objects from North Africa and the Ottoman Empire.
• In 1884, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, discovered by Champoiseau in 1863, was placed at the top of the Daru staircase. Ancient Greek sculpture then came to the fore with the Kore of Samos, the Rampin Head, the Lady of Auxerre, and the Tanagra figurines of Boeotia.
• In the early 20th century, it was decided to renovate the department completely, and this project was carried out in various stages.
• In 1934, the museum of sculpture inaugurated by Napoleon was dismantled, and chronological classification was established. A section devoted to Greek art, centered on the sculptures in the queen’s winter apartments, the Salle de Diane, and the Salle des Cariatides, was opened on the ground floor; and a Roman art section was created around the former summer apartments of Anne of Austria.
• In the postwar period, the first floor was reorganized. Bronzes were displayed in the Salle Lacaze, Etruscan art in the Salle Henri II, and Roman silverware and frescoes in the Salle des Bijoux.
• In 1980, an ambitious reorganization plan was initiated resulting in the present arrangement of the department. The Etruscan collections were displayed on the ground floor (between the Cour du Sphinx and the Petite Galerie), and Roman sculptures moved to the Petite Galerie and the Salle d’Auguste.
• In the 1990s, after the inauguration of the Louvre pyramid, a new organizational project was launched, initially concerning the Greek art collection and the first-floor rooms (1997-2010).
• In 1997, the Pre-Classical Greek gallery opened, supplemented by a gallery dedicated to Greek epigraphy, a room representing the Severe style, and a new room (under the Winged Victory staircase) devoted to the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. As a result, a new entrance to the department was created, combining artworks representing a wide range of materials and techniques.
• The same year saw other changes, with the renovation of the Galerie Daru, and the refurbishment of the first floor: silverware was moved to the Salle Henri II, glassware to the former jewelry room, terracotta figurines and reliefs took over half the former Musée Charles X, and the bronze room and Galerie Campana were fully renovated.
• In 2004, the Salle du Manège was opened That same year, a remarkable life-sized horse’s head, a fragment from an Archaic Greek sculpture dating from the 6th century BC., was acquired.
  In 2006, the Salle de Diane was rearranged to display the Parthenon marbles.
• In July 2010, the renovation of the Greek art section was finalized with the opening of rooms dedicated to classical Greek and Hellenistic art, and a new home for the Venus de Milo.

Salle du Manège

The department illustrates the art of a vast area encompassing Greece, Italy, and the whole of the Mediterranean Basin, and spans the period from Neolithic times (4th millennium BC) to the 6th century.

The Louvre collection counts 2700 vases on display in new and elegant showcases.  It includes a large number of Greek vases of all shapes such as amphora, krater, hydria, long shaped lekythos, cups and some interesting rythons with a head of a donkey. In Room 43 is a unique oenochoe (wine jug) in the form of a head from a black slave.

Niobid Krater. Ca. 470 to 450 BC., it shows the god Apollo and his sister Artemis killing the children of Niobe who were collectively called the Niobids.

Masterpieces from the Hellenistic Era include the Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC) and the Venus de Milo (Room 16 on the ground floor of the Pavillon du Roi, presented to Louis XVIII by the Marquis de Rivière in 1821), symbolic of Classical art. The latter, the highlight of the museum, stands at the staircase linking the Denon and Sully wings.

Jewelry and pieces, such as the limestone Lady of Auxerre (from 640 BC) and the cylindrical Hera of Samos (circa 570–560 BC.), demonstrate the archaic.

Daru Gallery

The Galerie Daru (Room 406), which formed part of Napoleon III’s “New Louvre,” was originally intended as a sculpture gallery for the annual Paris Salon. It now displays Greek and Roman antiquities, notably the celebrated Borghese Gladiator which exemplifies increased focus on the human form after the 4th century BC.

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Borghese Gladiator (Daru Gallery), created at Ephesus about 100 BC, is a life-size, Hellenistic marble sculpture portraying a swordsman.

An outstanding collection of more than one thousand Greek potteries are displayed at the long Galerie Campana.

Roman Art (Julio-Claudian Period I, Between 1655 and 1658), at Room 410, Ground Floor, Denon Wing,  houses the Roman Department.   Louis Le Vau transformed Anne of Austria’s summer apartments. The new decoration featured paintings by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli and stucco work by sculptor Michel Angier. The apartments became a gallery of antiquities in 1799.

Paralleling the Seine River are galleries that display much of the museum’s Roman sculpture.   Roman portraiture, representative of that genre, include the portraits of Agrippa and Annius Verus. Among the bronzes is the Greek  Apollo of Piombino.

Bronze Room (Salles des Bronzes)

The Bronze Room (Salle des Bronzes, Room 32, 1st Floor, Sully Wing), built between 1551 and 1553 by the architect Pierre Lescot, was designed as the centerpiece of the 16th-century additions to the Louvre.

Between 1936 and 1938, it was transformed by Albert Ferran and the gallery now houses the museum’s collection of more than 1,000 pieces of ancient art created from bronze (helmets, Hellenic rings, the crown of laurel in gold, etc.), as well as other precious metals.

The Cy Twombly Ceiling

Standing out is Cy Twombly’s 344 sq. m. (3700 sq. ft.) ceiling mural created in 2010. Alongside German Anselm Kiefer and Frenchman Francois Morellet, Twombly is the third artist and the first American to ever paint a permanent modern decorative work for the Louvre. Along the edges are white strips that contain the names (in Greek) of seven renowned Greek sculptors from the Classic period.

The first-floor Salle des Sept Cheminées, formerly the King’s chamber (above the Venus de Milo room), is devoted to Italic and Etruscan art.

The completely refurbished Rooms 7-17 (open to the public since July 7, 2010), at the Sully Wing, are devoted to the classical Greek and Hellenistic art while Rooms 35 – 37 (Musée Charles X)  displays Greek terracotta figurines arranged chronologically, geographically and thematically.

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Musee Charles X

The terracotta figures (“Tanagra figurines”) date from the Archaic, Pre-Classical Hellenistic and Roman periods. It includes the small and quite elegant “Victory with Wings” (from 190 BC.).

Terra cotta figurines

The Salle des Caryatids, at Room 348, is located on the ground floor of Pierre Lescot’s 16th-century Renaissance wing.  This room takes its name from the four female figures sculpted by Jean Goujon in 1550 to support the musicians’ gallery. Today, it houses Roman copies of Greek originals long since disappeared.

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France.  Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

The Louvre has three entrances: the main entrance at the pyramid, an entrance from the Carrousel du Louvre underground shopping mall, and an entrance at the Porte des Lions (near the western end of the Denon wing).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection.The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries. 

How To Get There: the Louvre can be reached via Metro lines 1 and 7, station Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre Métro or the Louvre-Rivoli stations. By bus, take No. 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95 as well as the touristic Paris l’Open Tour. By car, there is an underground parking reachable by Avenue du Général Lemonier, every day from 7 AM – 11 PM.

Apollo Gallery (Galerie d’Apollon)

The iconic Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo Gallery), home to some of the Louvre’s most precious historical collections, is famous for its high vaulted ceilings with painted decorations. Originally called the ‘Petite Galerie’ of the Louvre, this room was decorated, according to designs by Martin Fréminet for Henri IV of France, by the artists of the Second School of Fontainebleau, most notably Toussaint Dubreuil, Jacob Bunel and his wife Marguerite Bahuche.

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Gallery entrance

Originally designed as a reception hall, this was the first Royal Gallery for Louis XIV and served as a model for the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles. The gallery, left incomplete during the reign of Louis XIV, was filled with paintings by members of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in the 18th century. With a total surface area of 600 sq. m., it is 61.34 m. long, 15 m. high and was built over 350 years ago and decorated over the course of two centuries.

Here is the historical timeline of this room:

• On February 6, 1661, a fire destroyed much of this small gallery and the young Louis XIV ordered the reconstruction of this part of the Louvre as a reception hall, in line with the fashion of palaces and noble houses at that time.
• Between 1661 and 1663, architectural work was entrusted to architect Louis Le Vau who carried out reconstruction activities. The sculptor François Girardon was responsible for the stucco sculptures.
• From 1663–1677, interior decoration was implemented by Charles Le Brun, the first painter to Louis XIV, who was assigned responsibility by Colbert.
• In 1692, the academy of painting and sculpture was installed at the Louvre which encouraged young artists to finish the room with “reception” or “masterpieces.”
• From 1766–1781, the gallery was completed under the supervision of six academics.
• From 1848–1851, complex restoration work was done by architect Félix Duban, with painting The Race of Apollo by Eugène Delacroix, Aurore by Muller and Triumph of the Earth or Cybele by Joseph Guichard.
• From 1999–2004, restoration activities were carried out by the French restoration service of historical monuments.

As part of the Louvre, this unique masterpiece is both a national and World Heritage Site. A witness to 200 years of art history, it showcases 105 artworks (41 paintings, 36 sculpture groups made up of 118 sculptures and 28 tapestries) along the vaulted ceiling and frescoed walls.

The French Crown Jewels

Dozens of French artists contributed to this exceptional interior.  Le Brun authored three large paintings, designing a painted and sculpted decor on the theme of the sun and its movement through space (earth, water and continents) and time (zodiac).

Fall of Icarus (Merry-Joesph Blondel)

The Sun King Louis XIV is glorified by the myth of the sun god Apollo, also evoked by the procession of the Muses. An idyllic vision of the universe in harmony, governed by Apollo, is offered by the overall program. The central section of the ceiling, left blank since Le Brun had worked on the room, was adorned by Eugène Delacroix who thus created the spectacular Apollo Slays the Python.

As of 1663, the stuccoes were made by François Girardon, followed by the Gaspard brothers, Balthasar Marsy, and Thomas Regnaudin, resulting in the majestic, dynamic ensemble we see today.

Since 1861, the gallery has housed Louis XIV’s collection of hardstone vessels in large gilt-wood display tables and vitrines, and those along the walls and under the windows.  In 1887, it was joined by the French Crown Jewels, the legacy of centuries of monarchs who successively owned them and had them remounted to their liking.  The jewels are presented in custom-made display cases created in the 19th century.

Some of the most precious artworks in the Louvre, this inalienable collection of jewels were initially assembled by Françis I in 1532, grew under Louis XIV and reached its peak under Louis XV. During the French Revolution, the items were dispersed but they were brought back together by Napoleon I. In 1887, however, the French State unfortunately decided to sell almost the entire collection.  Luckily, the “Regent,” a white diamond “the size of a Reine Claude plum” (Saint-Simon) was not included in the auction.  Acquired by Louis XV, it is the largest of its kind known to exist in Europe.

Display cases housing the French Crown Jewels

The remaining 23 pieces of  jewels and precious stones held by the Louvre are now displayed in three cases in the center of the gallery and grouped by period: pre-Revolution (including the “Regent” and “Sancy” diamonds, which adorned the crown used at the coronation of King Louis XV in 1722), the First French Empire, the Bourbon Restoration, the July Monarchy and the Second Empire (including what remains of Empress Eugénie’s jewelry sets). Several protective cases designed to hold the items are also presented nearby.

Crown of Louis XV

NOTE:

Following the completion of works that began in March 2019, the Galerie d’Apollon reopened. Improvements were made to both the room itself and the presentation of the artworks held within with three new display cases created for the French Crown Jewels (which are now shown together), offering a complete overview of their history.

Several changes were also made in the presentation of Louis XIV’s collection of hardstone vessels. For informational purposes, further examples have been added along with a centerpiece given to Napoleon I by Charles IV of Spain, part of another artwork of royal origin and made of an equally rich variety of materials.

Conservation work was also carried out on the gallery’s décor, returning the room to its former glory.  The paintings and stuccoes, along with the tapestries (masterpieces commissioned from the Gobelins manufactory by Félix Duban and put in place in 1852), were dusted and new lighting and an improved security system were installed.  A second entrance, making the gallery accessible by both the Rotonde d’Apollon and the Salon Carré, was also opened.

Emerald and Diamond Tiara made for the Duchesse d’Angouleme

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France.  Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

The Louvre has three entrances: the main entrance at the pyramid, an entrance from the Carrousel du Louvre underground shopping mall, and an entrance at the Porte des Lions (near the western end of the Denon wing).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection.The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries. 

How To Get There: the Louvre can be reached via Metro lines 1 and 7, station Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre Métro or the Louvre-Rivoli stations. By bus, take No. 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95 as well as the touristic Paris l’Open Tour. By car, there is an underground parking reachable by Avenue du Général Lemonier, every day from 7 AM – 11 PM.