The Louvre: Fifty Plates in Colour

The Louvre: Fifty Plates in Colour

TO form a just appreciation of the magnificent collection of paintings which the Louvre to-day contains would require an exhaustive study which might be spread over a term of years spent in the famous French capital itself. In the limited space at our disposal we can only touch lightly upon the historical events, the sociological causes, the grandeur of royalty, and the taste of the people, all of which contributed towards bringing about the formation of the great Muse National du Louvre as we now know it. It has been our endeavour to throw into prominent relief the outstanding features in the history of the Gallery and to sketch them in chronological order. The architectural claims of the building, its priceless collections of statuary and of objets dart of every age do not here immediately concern us; it is to the formation of the superb collection of paintings that we primarily desire to call our readers attention. A small part of the building which is to-day known as the Louvre was first occupied as a royal residence by Philippe-Auguste (reigned 11801223), who converted a hunting-seat of the early French kings on this site into a feudal fortress with a strong donjon or keep, the exact plan of which may still be traced by the white line marked since 1868 on the pavement in the southwest corner of the old courtyard. Charles v. (reigned 136480), who may be regarded as the first royal collector of art treasures in France, greatly enlarged the building of the Old Louvre as a residential palace; he is also said to have decorated the building with statues and paintings which have long since disappeared.2 The real foundations of the collection of la maison du Roi were laid by Franois i. (reigned 151547), who during his Italian campaigns acquired a respect for art that proved to be an honour to his taste and a dowry for his country. The sthetic movement had developed rapidly by 1541, when he laid the foundations of the present palace[2] and had already begun to form a collection of easel pictures. Franois i. invited to his court the master-painter Leonardo da Vinci (14521519), who in 1516 left his native land for France, where he did the king little more than the compliment of dying in his realm, although not, as an unveracious tradition recounts, in his arms. Andrea del Sarto (14861531) was also employed at the French court, at which he arrived in 1518. Giovanni Battista Rosso (14941541), a painter of little genius but great ability, was summoned by Franois i. in 1530 to decorate the Chteau at Fontainebleau. Benvenuto Cellini (150071), the Florentine goldsmith, having determined to seek another country and better luck, was yet one more artist who set out for France, where, between 1540 and 1544, he adorned the royal tables with objects precious in workmanship and material. Primaticcio (150470), who is known to have cleaned at Fontainebleau in 1530 four of the large reputed Raphaels now in the Louvre, remained at the French court until his death. The strict authenticity of these four picturesThe Holy Family of Francis I. (No. 1498), the St. Margaret (No. 1501), the large St. Michael (No. 1504), and the Portrait of Joan of Arragon (No. 1507)does not here concern us. Franois i. also possessed at this date, among other notable pictures, Raphaels La Belle Jardinire (No. 1496, Plate VII.), Leonardo 3da Vincis Virgin of the Rocks (No. 1599), and the same artists Mona Lisa or La Joconde (No. 1601, Plate IV.), while the art of Sebastiano del Piombo, Andrea del Sarto, and other painters, Flemish as well as Italian, was well represented in the royal collection during his reign. The example set by Franois i. was followed by his successor, Henri ii. (reigned 154759), for whom Niccol dell Abbate (151571), an artist of secondary importance, was working from 1552 onwards. Henri ii.s queen, Catherine de Mdicis, was also a patron of art, being herself a collector of coins and medals. To her influence was due the decoration of the Chteau of Fontainebleau and the erection of the Palace of the Tuileries,[3] which was subsequently connected with the Louvre by means of the Long Gallery, now Room VI. Her eldest son, Franois ii. (reigned 155960), the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, first converted the new buildings of the Louvre into a royal residence. Henry iv. (reigned 15891610) enlarged the Tuileries, and almost completed the Long Gallery, which now contains such a large proportion of the pictures. Louis xiii. (reigned 15891610), his eldest son, seems to have taken little interest in the royal collection; but his mother, Marie de Mdicis, invited Rubens (15771640) to Paris to decorate the Palace of the Luxembourg with that series of imposing canvases representing her own life-history which are to-day seen to their best advantage in the Salle Rubens (Room XVIII.) of the Louvre. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 63719
Author: Brockwell, Maurice W.
Release Date: Nov 13, 2020
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Contributor (Author): Konody, Paul G. (Paul George), 1872-1933
Editor: Hare, T. Leman (Thomas Leman), 1872-1935