Construction began on the original Palais du Louvre in 1190 under Philip II and through time the structure became a fortress, prison, and residence. The Louvre first became a depository for art under François I, but was not opened to the public until after the French Revolution. The contemporary Louvre museum was intended to symbolize the progress of Liberty and was thus a destination for spoils brought by Napoleon's victorious armies. The structure has a lengthy history of renovation, the most recent being the Grand Louvre project, which included the Pyramid and La Pyramide Inversée, completed in 1989 and 1993 respectively.

The palais du Louvre in Paris, on the Right Bank of the Seine is a former royal palace, situated between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. Its origins date back to the medieval period and its present structure has evolved in stages since the sixteenth century.

The Louvre—which gets its name from a Frankish word leovar or leower, signifying a fortified place, according to the French historian Henri Sauval (1623-1676)—was the actual seat of power in France until Louis XIV moved to Versailles in 1682, bringing the government perforce with him; the Louvre remained the formal seat of government to the end of the Ancien Régime.

The museum, which contains some of the world's most celebrated artworks, is divided among eight curatorial departments. The exhibits represent nearly every artistic genre and provenance including works of Egyptian, Oriental, and Islamic origin. The collections of French paintings and sculptures are among the world's most notable, as are a large number of other pieces, including Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, and Madonna of the Rocks; Jacques Louis David's Oath of the Horatii; Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People; and Alexandros of Antioch's Venus de Milo.

HISTORY

In 1190 CE, Philip Augustus began construction on a fortress that would become the Louvre, but it is unknown if this was the first building on that spot. The Louvre's etymology is similarly uncertain: some historians contend that the name referred to the structure as the largest in the area (French L'Œuvre, masterpiece), while others argue that the name is based on the building's capacity to act as a castle (Anglo Saxon leouar, castle), or its location in a forest (French rouvre, oak).

The Louvre was renovated and augmented frequently through the Middle Ages. In 1358 Charles V built an encircling wall and converted the Louvre into a residence. In 1546, François I employed architect Pierre Lescot and sculptor Jean Goujon to remove the keep and modernize the structure to conform to Renaissance style. Lescot added a revolutionary ceiling, which departed from the tradional beam-style (the Pavillon de Roi), to King Henry II's royal chamber and installed the Salle des Caryatides. The latter was named for Goujon's caryatids, based on Greek and Roman works.These modifications are prime examples of French Renaissance style and combine classicism and traditional French architecture.

In 1564, Catherine de'Medici directed the building of the Palais des Tuileries, which would face the Louvre. In 1594, King Henry IV began construction on his "Grand Design" to remove remnants of the medieval fortress. The plan included a 460-metre (1,509 ft) Grande Galerie to link the Pavillon de Flore, the Louvre, and the Palais des Tuileries. This was completed by 1610, when the Pavillon de Flore was covered. Henry IV, however, was stabbed that year and his Grand Design lay unfinished.

In 1624, the classical architects Le Vau and Lemercier completed the the Cour Carrée under the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV, quadrupling the size of the old courtyard. The eponymous Le Vau-Le Mercier Wing was finished and remains visible today. In 1659, Louis XIV instigated a phase of construction under Le Vau, Le Nôtre, and painter Charles le Brun. Le Nôtre created the Tuileries garden; Le Vau finished the Tuileries palace; and Le Brun completed the decoration of the Gallerie d'Apollon. Progress slowed after Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence. Although the pace diminished, a colonnade was constructed along the eastern side, and a facade was built on the south. The royal household's move to Versailles allowed the Louvre to be used as residence for many painters and artists, beginning the shift to a museum; however, this transformation was not finished until the French Revolution.

FRENCH REVOLUTION

The Louvre as a showplace for artwork dates from the time of François I, but it was not until after the French Revolution that the "Muséum Central des Arts" became public. On 10 August 1792, the Bourbon monarchy collapsed, and Louis XVI was imprisoned. The royal collection was declared national property and the National Assembly officially turned the palace into a museum. The existing royal collection was combined with appropriated Church property from 1789.

The Richelieu Wing of the Louvre

The museum opened 10 August 1793 with fanfare: public viewing of the ancien régime's collection was seen as a "benefit of Liberty" and thus a byproduct of the revolution. The opening was hectic, artists lived in residence, and works were placed randomly throughout the palace. To expand and organize the collection, the Republic dedicated 100,000 livres per year. In 1794, France's revolutionary armies began bringing pieces from across Europe, such as Laocoön and His Sons and the Apollo Belvedere, to establish the Louvre as a major museum and establish the Louvre as a symbol of revolutionary progress.

NAPOLEON

Under Napoleon, the museum augmented its collection through successful military campaigns. Following the Egyptian campaign of 1798–1801, Napoleon appointed the museum's first director, Dominique Vivant. In tribute, the museum was renamed the "Musée Napoléon" in 1803, and Spanish, Austrian, Dutch, and Italian works were acquired as spoils. These were met by gleeful Parisians, who escorted the works to the museum from the quais of the Seine.

After the French defeat at Waterloo, the former owners of many works sought their return. The Louvre's administrators were loathe to comply and hid many in their private collections. In response, foreign states sent emissaries to London to seek help, and the pieces were returned. The diminished Louvre began adding articles from other Parisian institutions such as the Luxembourg Palace, from which the Rubens collection, the Life of St. Bruno, and works by Vernet were acquired.

Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss was commissioned in 1787, and the first version was donated to the Louvre after the reign of Napoleon I in 1824

19th century after Napoleon

During the Restoration (1814–30), Louis XVIII and Charles X together added 135 pieces at a cost of 720,000 francs. This was less than the amount given for rehabilitation of Versailles, and the Louvre suffered relative to the rest of Paris. After the creation of the French Second Republic in 1848, the new government allocated two million francs for repair work neglected by the monarchy and ordered the completion of the Galerie d'Apollon, the Salon Carré, and the Grande Galerie.

On 2 December 1851, President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte staged a coup d'état, ushering in the Second French Empire. Between 1852 and 1870, the French economy grew; the museum added 20,000 new pieces to its collections, and the Pavillon de Flore was remodeled under Visconti and Hector Lefuel. Thousands of works, including 200 paintings, bronzes, and sculptures, arrived after the acquisition of the Campana museum. These additions included the Sarcophagus of a Married Couple, jewelry, and various maiolicas. Purchases and gifts of 133 works and 256 pieces given to the institution were styled the Collection Lacaze, including Rembrandts such as Bathsheba at Her Bath.This growth period continued into the 20th century, when it became evident the Louvre was too small for the amount of work displayed.

The Venus de Milo was added to the Louvre's collection during the reign of Louis XVIII.

Third Republic to present

The French Third Republic began with France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the Second Empire's fall. During this period, the Louvre acquired new pieces via donations and large gifts, such as those from Baron Devaillier and Madame Boucicaut. The Société des Amis du Louvre donated the Pieta of Villeneuve lès Avignon, and in 1863 the sculpture Winged Victory of Samothrace was uncovered in an expedition to the Aegean Sea. This piece, though heavy damaged, is one of the Louvre's most valuable and has been prominently displayed since 1884.

This growth was disrupted by the World Wars, when valuable pieces were hidden, including the Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa. After the wars, the museum was unable to acquire many significant works, with the exceptions of Georges de la Tour's Saint Thomas and Baron Edmond de Rothschild's (1845–1934) 1935 donation of 40,000 engravings, 3,000 drawings, and 500 illustrated books.

The Louvre today is both a monument and a comprehensive museum. It contains elements of its medieval beginnings, Renaissance additions, neoclassical renovations, and recent modifications, such as elevators. The Louvre is notable in popular culture, having been a point of interest in the book The Da Vinci Code.

The Da Vinci Code


The Da Vinci Code is a controversial mystery/detective novel by US author Dan Brown, published in 2003 by Doubleday. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon as he investigates a murder in the Louvre, and discovers a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to and fathering children with Mary Magdalene.

This novel has provoked a popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and the role of Mary Magdalene in the history of Christianity. The novel has been extensively criticized by Catholics and Christians as a dishonest attack on the church. It has also been criticized for historical inaccuracy.

Dan Brown's novel was a major success in 2004 and at times it was outsold only by the highly popular Harry Potter series.[1] It spawned a number of offspring books and drew glowing reviews from the New York Times, People Magazine and the Washington Post.[2] It also re-ignited interest in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Additionally, The Da Vinci Code, itself preceded by other Grail books such as The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Michael Baigent and others, and Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, has inspired a number of novels very similar to it, including Raymond Khoury's The Last Templar, and The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry.

It is a worldwide bestseller which had 60.5 million copies in print by May 2006 and has been translated into 44 languages. It is thought to be the 19th best-selling book of all time. Combining the detective, thriller and conspiracy fiction genres, the book is the second book by Dan Brown to include the character Robert Langdon, the first being his 2000 novel Angels and Demons. In November 2004 Random House published a "Special Illustrated Edition" with 160 illustrations.

In 2006, a film adaptation, The Da Vinci Code, was released by Columbia Pictures.

Plot summary

The book describes the attempts of Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University, to solve the murder of renowned curator Jacques Saunière (see Bérenger Saunière) of the Louvre Museum in Paris. The title of the novel refers to, among other things, the fact that Saunière's body is found in the Denon Wing of the Louvre, naked and posed like Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, with a cryptic message written beside his body and a Pentacle drawn on his stomach in his own blood.

Vitruvian Man, by Leonardo da Vinci.

The interpretation of hidden messages in Leonardo's famous works, (which relate to the concept of the sacred feminine) including the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, figure prominently in the solution to the mystery.

The novel has several concurrent subplots interweaving the lives of different characters; eventually all the characters are brought together and the subplots resolved in the denouement. The unraveling of the mystery requires the solution to a series of brain-teasers, including anagrams and number puzzles. The ultimate solution is found to be intimately connected with the possible location of the Holy Grail and to a mysterious society called the Priory of Sion, as well as to the Knights Templar. The story also involves the Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei.

The novel is the second book by Brown in which Robert Langdon is the main character. The previous book, Angels & Demons, took place in Rome and concerned the Illuminati. Although Angels & Demons is centred on the same character, the plots are not dependent upon each other. The next book is tentatively scheduled for release in 2008. Its title is The Solomon Key and it is reported to concern Freemasonry

Grand Louvre and the Pyramids

In 1983, President Francois Mitterand proposed his Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building, and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building. Architect I.M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a glass pyramid for the central courtyard that, he argued, created a "strong symbolic element . . . delicate and stable, correctly proportioned so as not to overwhelm the architecture of the Louvre, but rearing its point there. . . . ." The pyramid and its underground lobby, which enclose the entrance area, were inaugurated on 15 October 1988. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993.

Departments and organization

The Musée du Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments. More than 60,600 square metres (652,000 sq ft) of exhibition space is dedicated to the permanent collection. According to the 2005 annual report, the collection's 11,900 Western paintings constitute the second largest after the State Hermitage. 6,000 paintings are on permanent display, and 5,900 are in storage. Besides paintings, the Louvre exhibits sculptures, objets d'art, and archaeological finds. Oversight is carried out by 2,000 employees who are led by Director Henri Loyrette.

Artist/Maker Évrard Bapst, Frédéric Bapst The Diadem of the Duchess of Angoulême contains gold, gilt silver, 40 emeralds and 1,031 diamonds. The crown matches an emerald necklace made by Paul-Nicolas Menière in 1814 and is housed in the Decorative Arts department. Photographer/source Manuel de Corselas ARS SUMMUM, Centro para el Estudio y Difusión Libres de la Historia del Arte (summer 2007)

The decorative art displays span from the Middle Ages to the mid-19th century. The department began as part of the sculpture department, through appropriation of royal property after the revolution and the transfer of work from the Basilique Saint-Denis, the burial ground of French monarchs that held the Coronation Sword of the Kings of France. Among the budding collection's most prized works were pietre dure vases and bronzes. The Durand collection's 1825 acquisition added "ceramics, enamels, and stained glass", and 800 additional pieces were given by Pierre Revoil. The onset of Romanticism rekindled interest in Renaissance and Medieval artwork, and the Sauvageot donation expanded the department's such holdings with 1,500 middle-age and faience works. In 1862, the Campana collection added gold jewelry and maiolicas, mainly from the 15th and 16th centuries.

The works are displayed on the Richelieu Wing's first floor and in the Apollo Gallery, named by painter Charles Le Brun, who was commissioned by Louis XIV, the "Sun King", to decorate the space with his theme. The medieval collection notably contains the coronation crown of Louis XIV, Charles V's sceptre, and the 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 Sevres vase collection and Napoleon III's apartments.

Egyptian antiquities

Egyptian Antiquities attests to 19th century French Egyptology and holds over 50,000 pieces from the Nile civilizations dating from 4,000 BCE to the 4th century CE and spanning Ancient Egypt, the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, Coptic art, and the Roman, Ptolemaic, and Byzantine periods. The department's comprehensiveness allows an overview of Egptian life. Egyptian artifacts from the royal collection predate the department and Napoleon, but European interest in Egypt was augmented by Napoleon's 1798 expeditionary trip in which Dominique Vivant, future director of the Louvre, participated. The department opened in 1826 after a decree by King Charles X, impressed by Rosetta Stone translator Jean-François Champollion. The collection expanded with 2,500 works from Durand's holdings and 4,000 from the "Egyptian Consul to Alexandria".

The Seated Scribe is a piece added to the Louvre's collection from the findings of Auguste Mariette and dates from between 2600 and 2350 BCE. The limestone and alabaster work was found in a tomb near Saqqara. This piece is noted for its "lifelike expression".

The department continued to grow with acquisitions by Auguste Mariette, founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo who, after being dispatched to Egypt, sent back crates of archaeological finds including The Seated Scribe.
Guarded by the Large Sphinx and housed primarily in over 20 rooms throughout the Cour Carée and Denon Wing, the collection includes art, papyrus scrolls, mummies, tools, clothing, jewelry, games, musical instruments, and weapons. Significant holdings from the Ancient period include the Gebel-el Arak knife from 3400 BCE, The Seated Scribe, and the Head of King Djedefre. The Middle Kingdom moved from realism to idealization, exemplified by the sandstone statue of Amenemhatankh and the wooden Offering Bearer. The New Kingdom and Coptic Egyptian sections are profound, but the statue of the goddess Nephthys and the limestone depiction of the goddess Hathor are cited as exemplifying New Kingdom sentiment.

Greek, Etruscan, and Roman

The Greek, Etruscan, and Roman department displays pieces from the Mediterranean Basin dating from the Neolithic to the 6th century CE. The encyclopedic collection compromises the Cycladic period (notably the marble Female Head, which dates to between 2700 and 2400 BCE), to the decline of the Roman Empire and showcases ceramics, marbles, ivories, frescoes, glass work, and precious metal items. As with the Egyptian collection, this department began with appropriated royal art, some of which had been acquired under François I in the Salle des Caryatides. Initially, the collection focused on marble sculptures, such as the Venus de Milo. Works such as the Apollo Belvedere arrived during the Napoleonic Wars, but many of these pieces were returned after Napoleon's fall in 1815. In the 19th century the Louvre acquired vases from the Durand collection, bronzes such as the Borghese Vase from the Bibliothèque nationale, and work in other mediums.

The collection's vastness makes selection of notable works difficult. From the archaic, the limestone Lady of Auxerre and Hera of Samos highlight two trends as the austere Lady contrasts the "cylindrical delicacy" of Hera. After the 4th century BCE, focus on the human form increased, exemplified by the Borghese Gladiator, although the Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BCE) and the Venus de Milo, which "symboliz[es] classical art", are among the most well-known of the Louvre's holdings. In the galleries paralleling the Seine, much of the expansive collection of Roman sculpture is displayed. The Roman portraiture is particularly representative of that genre; examples include the portraits of Agrippa and Annius Verus; among the bronzes is the Greek Apollo of Piombino, which can be contrasted to the later portraits. Also notable are the Greek vases such as Eupronios' Heracles and Antaeus that offer a full perspective on all stylistic schools from the 9th century to the 2nd century BCE.

Paintings

The paintings department is comprised of more than 6,000 works from the 13th century through 1848, with significant numbers of French paintings, more than 1,200 Northern European pieces, and a notable Italian collection. The holdings are perhaps the "most complete" collection of Western pictorial art, although they are not the world's largest. The 12 curators of the paintings department oversee the arrangement and display of the collection, which predates the Louvre as a museum. The use of the museum structure as a depository for painted works began with François I, who envisioned a collection rivaling the Italians', began depositing paintings in the fortress To achieve this, he acquired works from Italian masters such as Raphael and Michelangelo and asked Leonardo Da Vinci to attend to his court.

After the French Revolution, this formed the nucleus of the nascent Louvre. The collection grew through the First French Empire during Napoleon's European Wars, mostly via shipments of wartime spoils. When the d'Orsay train station was converted into the Musée d'Orsay in 1986, the painting collection was split, and the pieces completed after the 1848 Revolution were moved to the new museum. French and Northern European works are in the Richelieu wing and Cour Carrée, while Spanish and Italian paintings are on the first floor of the Denon wing.

Nearly two-thirds are drawn from the French style, and the sheer size makes selecting standouts difficult. Particularly exemplifying the French School are the "grandiose" Avignon Pieta of Enguerrand Quarton; Jean Fouquet's King Jean le Bon, the first known French easel painting; Hyacinthe Rigaud's Louis XIV; Jacques-Louis David's The Coronation of Napoleon; and Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, commemorating the July Revolution. Northern European notables include Johannes Vermeer's The Lacemaker and The Astronomer; Caspar David Friedrich's Tree of Crows; Rembrandt's The Supper at Emmaus, Bathsheba at Her Bath, and The Slaughtered Ox. The Italianate paintings, some drawn from François I's collection, include Andrea Mantegna's Calvary and Saint Sebastian; Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Virgin of the Rocks; and Caravaggio's The Fortune Teller and Death of the Virgin

Prints and drawings

Prints and drawings is dedicated to works upon a paper medium and numbers more than 100,000 items. Originally, most pieces came from the 8,600 held in Royal Collection, the Cabinet du Roi, and were augmented through state appropriation, purchases such as the 1,200 works from Fillipo Baldinucci's collection in 1806, and donations. As with the paintings department, the collection also grew from military campaigns during Napoleon's reign. The first showing was 5 August 1797, when the department was opened for public viewing. The large collection is now organized into three sections: the core Cabinet du Roi with new additions, a grouping of 14,000 royal engraved-copper stamps for printing, and the donations of Edmond de Rothschild, which include 40,000 prints, 3,000 drawings, and 5,000 illustrated books. The vast holdings are now displayed in the Pavillon de Flore, but because of the fragility of the paper medium and the works' sensitivity to light, only a small portion are displayed at one time.

SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre