Louvre Museum



The Louvre Museum is at present being rearranged, a work which should be finally completed by the end of 1975. The following visitor's itinerary corresponds to the museum's state at the time of writing, and thus does not take into account possible changes which may have taken place since.

GROUND FLOOR ORIENTAL ANTIQUITIES

Room 1: many of the objects which it contains come from the city of Tello, the ancient Lagash. Stele of King NaramSin and Stele of the Vultures, celebrating a victory won by a king of Lagash. Room II: eleven statues depicting Gudea, standing or seated (3rd millennium). In case no. 10, head of Gudea with turban. Room III: works discovered in the city of Mari (3rd millennium). Panel with prisoners paraded before the king of Mari and his sons. Room IV: law code of Harnmurabi (beginning of 2nd millennium), block of black basalt on which are inscribed the 282 laws. Room V: gold objects found at Susa (4th and 3rd millennium). In the cases, pottery from Susa. Room VI: bronze statue of Napir Asu, queen of Susa. Room VII: enormous capital from the palace of Artaxerxes 11 at Susa, lion of enameled terracotta. Room Vill: bas relief of the Archers, made of enamelled tiles (Achemenidean era) and terracotta, panel with inscription called the Code of Darius. Room IX: enameled panels from Susa, with lions and griffins. Room X: objects discovered in Persia, from the 4th century B.C. and 3rd century A.D. Room XI: bronzes from the 1st millennium B.C. discovered in Luristan. Room XII: earthenware from the Sassanian era, 2nd 6th century A.D. The collections in rooms XIII XVIII come from ancient Phoenicia, what is now Syria and Lebanon. Room XIX: Cretan art (from the 3rd millennium to the 6th century B.C.). Room XX: objects discovered in Anatolia and northern Syria. Room XXI: Assyrian bas relief from the 8th century B.C., depicting the transport of timber for the construction of the palace of Sargon at Khorsabad. Room XXII: three powerful winged bulls from the royal palace of Khorsabad. Room XXIII: sculptures from the palace of Assurbanipal at Nineveh from the 7th century B.C. Room XXIV: this room consists of the crypt of the church of St GermainI'Auxerrois, with Egyptian sarcophagi and a fine wooden statue of Osiris.

EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES

Room 1: various steles. Room II: the small funeral chapel, called a Mastaba, of a dignitary of the 5th Dynasty. Room III: stele of King Uadji and statue of Sepa with his wife. Room IV: bas relief of a girl smelling a flower and three pink granite columns, limestone statues and steles. Room V: in the centre of the room, the famous Seated Scribe (5th Dynasty). Room VI: objects discovered in the Middle East,, including a limestone architrave of the pharaoh Sesostris Ill. Room VII: wooden statue of the Chancellor Nakhti, from the 12th Dynasty, and in one of the cases the wooden statuette of the Girl bearing Offerings. Room VIII: splendid coffin from the sarcophagus of the Chancellor Nakhti. Room IX: colossus of Sethosis. The other rooms are at present closed.

GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES Room 1:

Lady of Auxerre (one of the finest works of ancient Greek sculpture, from the 7th century B.C.), bas relief of the Exaltation of the Flower (5th century B.C.). Room III: Frieze of the Panathenaic Women, brought from the Parthenon of Athens. Rooms III IV: works by Polycletus, Phidias and Praxiteles. Room VII: the Venus de Milo, from the Hellenistic period (end of the 2nd century B.C.). Room VIII: room of Lysippus, with Hermes tying his Sandal. Room IX: portrait of Alexander the Great, ancient copy of an original by Lysippus. Room X: Room of the Caryatids (the four caryatids which support the gallery are by Jean Goujon and the room's architecture was designed by Lescot), with ancient copies of Hellenistic originals, including the Borghese Gladiator. Room XI: Hellenistic and Graeco Roman relief. Room XII: called the Room of the Phoenix, it has frescoes and mosaics. Room XIII: Courtyard of the Sphinx (the facade was designed by Le Vau) with monuments from Asia Minor, including the bas relief from the architrave of the temple of Assos and from the frieze of the temple of Artemis at Magnesia. Room XIV: room of Roman relief, with a fragment of the frieze from the Ara Pacis in Rome (9 B.C.). Room XVII: called the Room of Augustus, with a portrait of Livla in black basalt, a statue depicting Augustus (considered one of the finest portraits of the emperor) and an Octavian depicted as Mercury the Orator. Room XVIII: Room of the Antonine Emperors, with encaustic portrait paintings discovered in the Fayum region in Egypt. Room XVIIIII: Room of Septimius Severus, with portraits of Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, etc., and a portrait of Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus and mother of Caracalla. Room XIX: Room of Peace, with portraits of Julia Paula, first wife of Heliogabalus, and of Julia Mamaea, mother of Alexander Severus. Room XX: Room of the Seasons, with Mithras killing the Bull and a statue of Julian the Apostate. Room XXI: statues in stones of various colors depicting barbarian prisoners.

FIRST FLOOR

Entering the museum by the Denon Gallery and ascending the Daru staircase, we find ourselves before the famous Winged Victory of Samothrace, a Hellenistic original from the 3rd 2nd century B.C., discovered in 1863 on the island of Samothrace.

To the left of the Winged Victory, through a majestic wrought iron gateway, is the entrance to the Apollo Gallery, dating from the time of Henri IV but restored by Le Vau, with the ceiling painted by Le Brun. It contains the Royal Treasury. Outstanding are the crown of St Louis, from the 13th century, the crown of Louis XV and the crown of Napoleon , in the 2nd case; the Crown Jewels, among them the famous Regent diamond of 137 carats and the Hortensia of 20 carats in the 4th case; some pieces from the treasury of St Denis, in the 6th case, and the treasury of the Order of St Esprit, in the 9th and 1 Oth cases.

GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES

From the Rotunda (at the top of the Daru staircase), one reaches the Jewellery Room. In its cases are the celebrated Boscoreale Treasure, with the works of silvdr found in a villa at Boscoreale, destroyed in 79 A.D. by the eruption of Vesuvius. Crossing the Room of the "Sept Cheminees" (here are exhibited great paintings by the Italian masters of the 17th and 18th centuries, such as the Death of the Virgin, by Caravaggio, Hunting and Fishing, by Annibale Carracci, and others by Salvator Rosa, Guercino and Guido Reni), one comes to the Clarac Room and then to the Campania Gallery. The latter includes nine rooms, where examples of Greek pottery are on display. In them the evolution of Greek pottery from the 10th to the 4th century B.C. can be clearly traced.

EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES

The Egyptian rooms are reached from the end of the Campana Gallery on the left. Room A: dedicated to prehistory and protohistory (4000 3200 B.C.) and the Tinite epoch (32002000 B.C.), with various utensils and arms, including the knife of Gebel el Arak with its fine carved ivory hilt. Room IB: Old Empire (2800 2400 B.C.) and first intermediate period (2400 2060 B.C.). Room C: Middle Empire (2060 1785 B.C.), second intermediate period (1785 1580 B.C.) and New Empire (1580 1320 B,C.). Room ID: Rameses epoch, 19th and 20th Dynasty, with funeral statuettes called Chauabatis in the 1 st case. Room E: Amarnian epoch, with bust of Amenophis IV in the middle and small group of the same king and his wife in a case. Room F: Pre Saitic and Saitic epoch, with bronze statue of Queen Karomama and a solid gold jewel called the Triad of Osorkon. Room G: Saitic epoch. Room H: Ptolemaic, Roman and Coptic epochs, with a statue of Horus, the falcon headed god, in the middle. Retracing one's steps through the rooms of Egyptian Antiquities, on the left is the entrance to the Colonnade rooms. Room 1 : the gilded coffer ceiling and part of the decorations come from the council chamber of the Queen's Pavilion in the ChAteau Neuf at Vincennes, near Paris. Room 2: ceiling and alcove from the king's chamber at the Louvre (1654). Room 3: ceiling, decorations and doors from the royal audience chamber at the Louvre. Room 4: Early Christian, Byzantine and Carolingian works of art (Harbaville triptych and reliquary of the arm of Charlemagne in the 1st case). Room 5: ivories from Paris and enamelwork from Limoges. Room 6: Italian bronzes from the 15th and 16th centuries (works by the schools of Donatello, Antico, Giambologna, etc.), Room 7: tapestries, enamelwork and pottery from the 15th and 16th centuries, Italian ceramics and Moorish ceramics from Spain, tapestries of the Hunt of Maximilian (woven in Brussels to a design by Van Orley in 1535). The following rooms (the two wings of the Cour Carr&e) contain furniture, tapestries and furnishings from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Room 8: tapestry with the Martyrdom of St Mames, designed by Jean Cousin and woven by Pierre Masse and Jacques Langlois. Room 9: the three tapestries of the Noble Pastoral (beginning of the 16th century).

Room 10: goldsmiths' wares, ivories, clocks. Room 11 : Renaissance bronzes and tapestries by Simon Vouet. Room 12: Room of the Marshal of Effiat, with Gobelins tapestries depicting Stories of Scipio, by Giulio Romano. Rooms 13 and 14: furniture by the famous cabinetmaker Andre Charles Boulle. Room 16: Regency, with furniture by Boulle and Charles Cressant and tapestries showing Stories of Psyche, by Noel Coypel. Rooms 17 19: Rotunda of the Seasons, ceramics from Rouen. Room 20: porcelain. Room 22: goldsmiths' works. Room 23: Gallery of the Snuff boxes (the Louvre possesses one of the finest collections in the world of snuff boxes, boxes for sweets and other objects and clocks from the 17th and 18th centuries, decorated with chisel work, enamels, miniatures and precious stones). Room 24: dedicated to the era of Louis XV. Room 25: called the Room of Maria Leczinska, it has a dressing case given to Maria Leczinska on the birth of the Dauphin in 1729. Room 26: a small Louis XV room, with Gobelins and Beauvais tapestries. Room 27: called the "Bureau du Roi", or Office of the King, it has Gobelins tapestries made to designs attributed to Luke of Leyda. Room 28: Oeben Room, with the writing desk of the king by the celebrated cabinetmaker J. F. Oeben Room 29: Salon Cond6, with furniture from the dwelling of the Cond6 family. Room 30: Louis XVI, with furniture by Haure and G. Benneman (1787). Room 31 : Lebaudy Room, with Louis XVI style furniture. Room 32: Chinese Room, on its walls a series of Chinese panels of painted paper, from the end of the 18th century. Rooms 33, 34 and 35: MarieAntoinette Rooms, with furniture and objects most of which belonged to the queen (her dressing case for travelling, made in Paris in 1787 1788, should be noted). Room 36: Empire, with the throne of Napoleon , made in 1804 to a design by Percier by Jacob Desmalter, and the great jewel case of the empress Josephine. Room 37: Louis XVIII, with the cradle of the King of Rome, made in cane in 1811 by Jacob Desmalter and Thomire to a design by Prud'hon, and opposite this the monumental bed of Louis XVIII. Room 38: Adolphe de Rothschild collection, with a bas relief by Agostino di Duccio depicting the Virgin and Child with Angels and a reliquary triptych of gilded silver from the Abbey of Floreffe (Flemish art, mid 13th century). Room 39: Camondo collection, consisting mainly of French furniture land works of art from the 18th century. Room 41 : Schlichting collection, with French furniture from the 18th century. Room 42: Thiers collection, with a wealth of 18th century porcelain, small Italian bronzes from the Renaissance, ivories, terracotta, Japanese lacquer work and Chinese jade.

PAINTING COLLECTIONS

The painting collections are reached from the landing of the Daru staircase, to the left of the Winged Victory of Samothrace: on the right hand wall, we can see a fresco from the church of San Marco in Florence, depicting the Crucifixion, by Fra Angelico.

Seven Metre Room, containing Dutch painting of the 17th century; Frans Hals: The Bohemian Woman; Rembrandt: The Pilgrims of Emmaus, Self portrait as an Old Man, Bathsheba Bathing, Seff portrait with Beret and Gold Chain, J. Ruysclael: Ray of Sun, S. Ruysdael: Still Life with Turkey.

Grande Galerie, the eastern part of which contains French painting of the 17th,and 18th centuries; Poussin: The Inspiration of the Poet, Rape of the Sabine Women, Echo and Narcissus; Georges de la Tour: Mary Magdalene, Louis Le Nain: The Cart, Claude Lorrain: Campo Vaccino in Rome, Port at Sunset; Charles Le Brun: Portrait of Chancellor S6guier, Antoine Watteau: Gilles, Embarkation for the Island of Cythera; Boucher: Diana at Rest after Bathing.

The Mollien Wing at present contains a series of French portraits of the 17th and 18th centuries: among these worth noting are the Boy with Top and Young Man with Violin by Chardin, Madame Trudaine by David, the portraits which Ingres painted for the Riviere family, and the Woman with Pearl by Corot.

Mollien Room, dedicated to the great French school of the 19th century; David: Coronation of Napoleon, Oath of the Horatii, Portrait of Madame Recamier; Ingres: Apotheosis of Homer, the Grande Odalisque; Prud'hon: Divine Justice and Vengeance. Denon Room. Ingres: Ruggero and Angellica; G6ricault: Portrait of Artist. Daru Room. Gros: Napoleon Visits the Plague Victims of Jaffa; Gericault: The Raft of the Medusa; Delacroix: Massacre of Scio, Liberty guiding the People, Women of Algiers; Courbet: Funeral at Ornans.

The Salle des Etats contains Italian painting of the 16th century, The smaller room (leading through to the bigger one) has the Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci, the Apollo and Marsyas by Perugino, and a fine series of works by Raphael: Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione, the Belle Jardiniere, St George and the Archangel Michael. Then comes the large room; Leonardo da Vinci: Mona Lisa (painted between 1502 and 1503 and bought by Francois 1, king of France, for 4000 gold ducats), the Virgin of the Rocks, Virgin and Child with St Anne; Correggio: Sleeping Antiope and the Nuptials of St Catherine; Lorenzo Lottoi Holy Family; Palma the Elder: Adoration of the Shepherds; Titian: The Man with the Glove, Woman at her Toilet, Deposition in the Tomb, the Venus of the Leopard, Portrait of Francois / and finally, after long years of being attributed to Giorgione, the Open air Concert; Tintoretto: Suzanna Bathing; Veronese: Wedding at Cana.

Grande Galerie, western part, dedicated to Italian painting from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Cimabue: Virgin enthroned with Angels; Giotto: St Francis receives the Stigmata; Simone Martini Christ carrying the Cross; Pisanello:

Portrait of a Noblewoman of the Este Family; Arnbrogio Lorenzetti: Stories of St Nicholas of Bari; Gentile cla Fabriano: Presentation at the Temple; Balclovinetti: Virgin adoring the Child; Paolo Uccello: Battle of San Romano; Fra Angelico: Coronation of the Virgin; Botticelli: Virgin and Child with Young St John; Mantegna: Calvary, St Sebastian; Antonello cla Messina: Condottiere, Giarnbellino: Portrait of a Man; Ghirlandaio: Old Man with his Grandson; Perugino: Virgin with Saints and Angels; Giovanni Bellini: Sacred Conversation; Carpaccio: Sermon of St Stephen.

century. Rubens: The Kermesse, Portrait of Helen Fourment with two Children; Van Dyck: Portrait of Charles / of England..

The Medici Gallery has 21 majestic canvasses by Rubens on the Life of Maria de' Medici, painted between 1622 and 1625.

The Southern Rooms contain paintings by the Flemish schools from the 14th to the 16th centuries. They include works of outstanding artistic value, such as those by Joos van Cleve, Jan van Eyck (Virgin of Chancellor Rolin), Rogier van der Weyden (Triptych of the Braque Family), Petrus Christus, Jean Fouquet (Portrait of Charles V11), the Master of Moulins (Mary Magdalene), Hans Memling, Bosch, Gerard David and Quentin Metsys (The Banker and his Wife). Also in this section is the celebrated Avignon Piet, painted by an anonymous French artist towards 1460.

The Northern Rooms contain paintings by northern schools of the 16th and 17th centuries. Here too there are important artists: Cranach, DLirer (Self portrait, done in 1493), Holbein the Younger (Portrait of Anne of Cleves), Mabuse, Luke of Leyda, Peter Brueghel the Elder (The Cripples), Jean Clouet (Portrait of Francois /), Vermeer (The Lace vendor), "Velvet" Brueghel, David Teniers the Younger, etc.

In the Flora Wing are exhibited works of Italian painting from the 17th and 18th centuries: Orazio Gentileschi (Repose in Egypt), Caravaggio (The Soothsayer), Domenichino (Flight into Egypt), Carracci, Feti (Melancholy), Salvator Rosa, Guardi, Tiepolo, Magnasco. In part of this section is kept the Beistegui Collection, with works by Fragonard, Rubens, David, Ingres (Portrait of the sculptor Bartolini), Goya (Portrait of the Countess of Carpio).

The Pavilion de Fiore is entirely dedicated to Spanish painting: El Greco (Crucifixion, Portrait of St Louis, King of France), Zurbaran (Exhibition of the Body of St Bonaventura), Ribera (The Cripple), Murillo (Young Beggar), Velasquez (Portrait of the Intante Marguerite), Goya (Woman with Fan).

On the 2nd floor of the same pavilion a series of pastel works is exhibited, dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The collection includes works by Le Brun, Rosalba Carriera, Nattier, cle la Tour, Millet, Manet, Degas, Odilon Reclon, etc.

2nd FLOOR (South wing)

Room 1, called the "Room of the Neoclassical Portraits": Gros (Madeleine Pasteur), David (Portrait of A. Mongez and his Wife), Ingres (Portrait of Talma). Room 11, Ingres Room: Ingres (The Turkish Bath, done in 1862, The Spring), Chasseriau (The Marine Venus), Prud'hon (Venus Bathing). Room III, divided into sections containing various Internists and landscape painters: Valenciennes (24 studies of Rome and the Campagna near Rome),, Corot (View of Tivoli, Ischia, Florence, Trinitb dei Monti, Mill at Etretat). Room IV, Room of the Romantics: works by Gericault (Derby at Epsom, Official of the Chasseurs on Horseback), Delacroix (Assassination of the Bishop of Li6ge, Hamlet and Horatio in the Cemetery). Room V, containing the Moreau N61aton donation: Delacroix (Still Life with Crayfish), Corot (Views of Volterra, Views of Rome, Views of France). Room VI, called the Room of Romantic Painting: works by Delacroix, Chasseriau, Paul Huet (Inundation at Saint Cloud). Room VII, ThomyThi&rry donationi works by Delacroix, Corot, Theodore Rousseau, Charles Daubigny. Room Vill, Chauchard donation: Millet (The Angelus). Room IX, dedicated to the great realist painters: Millet (The Woman Gleaning), Courbet (Bather at the Spring), Daumier (The Emigrants). Room X: Puvis cle Chavannes (The Toilet), James Whistler (Portrait of his Mother), Gustave Moreau (Rape of Europa). Room XI: works by Honthorst, van Goyen, S. Ruysclael. Room XII, Watteau (The Indifferent), Boucher, Fragonard, Chardin. Room XIII, dedicated to the English painters of the 18th and 1 9th centuries: Reynolds, Gainsborough, Turner, Constable, Bonington, Lawrence.

MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE SCULPTURE

The rooms containing the works of sculpture are on the ground floor: they are reached from the vestibule of the Southern Rooms (by a short stairway) or from the outside through the Tremoille door.

Room 1, Romanesque sculpture from the 11th and 12th centuries. Rooms II IV, Gothic sculpture from the 12th to the 14th centuries: works from Chartres, Bourges, Rheims, funeral statue of Marie de Bourbon. Room V, sculpture from the 15th century: tomb of Philippe Pot (attributed to Antoine le Moiturier) and statues of Anne of Burgundy and Philippe de Morvillier. Room VI, sculpture of the 16th century: tomb of Louis de Poncher and his Wife, by G. Regnault and G. Chaleveau. Room VII, dedicated to the French sculptors of the Renaissance: Germain Pilon (The Three Graces), Goujon (Deposition from the Cross and Four Evangelists), Pierre Bontemps (Diana). Rooms IX and X, dedicated to the French, German and Netherlands sculptors from the 13th to the 16th centuries. Room XI: Michelangelo (the two Prisoners, sculpted for the tomb of Pope Julius 11), Giambologna (Mercury), Benvenuto Cellini (The Nymph of Fontainebleau). Lower Gallery, Italian sculpture of the 14th and 15th centuries: works by Nino Pisano, the Della Robbia family, Agostino di Duccio, Benedetto da Maiano (bust ci~ Filippo Strozzi), Laurana, Jacopo della Quercia (Virgin ano Child), Donatello and Desiderio da Settignano. Rooms X11XIV: French sculpture of the 17th and 18th centuries: Puget, Coysevox, G. Coustou, Guillain.

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