Louvre

Home > Literature and the Arts > Art and Architecture > Art museums

Louvre (Musée du Louvre), Paris. The national museum and art gallery of France. The first building on the site, begun c.1190 by Philip II as a fortress and arsenal, held the royal treasures of jewels, armour, illuminated manuscripts, etc. It was enlarged and beautified by Charles V (reigned 1364–80), and his successor Charles VI used it as a residence for visiting royalty. Francis I began to demolish it in the 1520s and in 1546 he commissioned the architect Pierre Lescot to build a new palace of four wings around a square court, roughly of the same size as the old castle and on the same site. Only the west and half of the south wings were completed by Lescot, but his work forms the heart of the present vast structure, and his elegant and sophisticated classical style set the tone for the additions to the Louvre that were made by virtually every French monarch up to Napoleon III in the mid-19th century (although for much of the early 18th century it was neglected, after Louis XIV had moved the court to Versailles).

In 1699 one of the infrequent exhibitions of the Académie Royale (see academy) was held in the Louvre, and from 1737 the palace's Salon Carré became the venue for more regular exhibitions—hence the term Salon. In 1784 Louis XVI began converting the Grande Galerie into a museum to display the royal collection ( Hubert Robert was in charge), and as a result of the democratic fervour of the Revolution the Louvre was opened as the first national public gallery in 1793 (though as a public museum it was preceded by others, including the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Vatican Museums). It was originally called the Muséum Central des Arts, but in 1803 Napoleon renamed it the Musée Napoléon and exhibited there the works of art he had looted from conquered territories. Most were returned after his fall from power. In 1851 his nephew Napoleon III opened new rooms, housing Rubens's Marie de Médicis cycle (transferred from the Luxembourg Palace) and other works. Subsequently there have been various other additions, including a spectacular glass pyramid (1985–9) in the main courtyard serving as a new entrance to the museum; it was designed by the American architect I. M. Pei.

In addition to one of the world's greatest collections of paintings, the Louvre houses many other treasures, including large holdings of Greek and Roman antiquities. Among the famous ancient statues are the Borghese Warrior, the Venus de Milo, and the Victory of Samothrace. To relieve congestion after the Second World War a special museum for Impressionist art was formed at the Jeu de Paume in the gardens of the Tuileries. The paintings from the Jeu de Paume, together with certain other works from the Louvre, have now been moved to the Musée d'Orsay.

Louvre, Paris. The national museum and art gallery of France. The first building on the site, begun c.1190 by Philip II as a fortress and arsenal, held the royal treasures of jewels, armour, illuminated manuscripts, etc. It was enlarged and beautified by Charles V (reigned 1364–80), and his successor Charles VI used it as a residence for visiting royalty. Francis I began to demolish it in the 1520s and in 1546 he commissioned the architect Pierre Lescot to build a new palace of four wings around a square court, roughly of the same size as the old castle and on the same site. Only the west and half of the south wings were completed by Lescot, but his work forms the heart of the present vast structure, and his elegant and sophisticated classical style set the tone for all the future additions to the Louvre, which were made by virtually every French monarch up to Napoleon III in the mid-19th century (although for much of the early 18th century it was neglected, after Louis XIV had moved the court to Versailles). In 1699 one of the infrequent exhibitions of the Académie Royale (see Academy) was held in the Louvre, and from 1737 the palace's Salon Carré became the venue for more regular exhibitions—hence the term Salon. In 1784 Louis XVI began converting the Grande Galerie into a museum to display the royal collection (Hubert Robert was in charge), and as a result of the democratic fervour of the Revolution the Louvre was opened as the first national public gallery in 1793 (though as a public museum it was preceded by others, including the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Vatican Museums). It was originally called the Muséum Central des Arts, but in 1803 Napoleon renamed it the Musée Napoléon and exhibited there the works of art he had looted from conquered territories. Most were returned after his fall from power. In 1851 his nephew Napoleon III opened new rooms, housing Rubens's Marie de Médicis cycle (transferred from the Luxembourg Palace) and other works. Subsequently there have been various other additions, including a spectacular glass pyramid (1985–9) in the main courtyard serving as a new entrance to the museum; it was designed by the American architect I. M. Pei. In addition to one of the world's greatest collections of paintings, the Louvre houses many other treasures, including large holdings of Greek and Roman antiquities. Among the famous ancient statues are the Borghese Warrior, the Venus de Milo, and the Victory of Samothrace. To relieve congestion after the Second World War a special museum for Impressionist art was formed at the Jeu de Paume in the gardens of the Tuileries. The paintings from the Jeu de Paume, together with certain other works from the Louvre, have now been moved to the Musée d'Orsay.

Louvre , foremost French museum of art, located in Paris. The building was a royal fortress and palace built by Philip II in the late 12th cent. In 1546 Pierre Lescot was commissioned by Francis I to erect a new building on the site of the Louvre. During his reign, several paintings by Leonardo, including the Mona Lisa, and works of other Italian masters came into the royal collections. In 1564, Catherine de' Medici commissioned Philibert Delorme to build a residence at the Tuileries and to connect it to the Louvre by a long gallery. The Grande Galerie was completed in 1606 under Henri IV.

While Cardinal Richelieu collected art with state funds, work on the buildings was continued under Louis XIII. Lescot's architectural designs were expanded by Jacques Lemercier in 1624, and under Louis XIV the magnificent colonnade was brought to completion (1670) by Louis Le Vau and Claude Perrault . In 1750 part of the royal collections was put on view in the Luxembourg palace. The modern museum, made for the use of the French people, was a direct result of the French Revolution; the revolutionary regime passed (1791) a law that brought it into being. In 1793, in the midst of the Reign of Terror, the Musée Central des Arts was created and the Grande Galerie of the Louvre was officially opened. For many years the area beneath the Grande Galerie served as artists' studios and workshops. The museum's first collection consisted largely of works taken from aristocratic émigrés and royal academies as well as possessions of the king and his court.

Baron Dominique-Vivant Denon assumed the directorship of the Louvre in 1802 and his patron, Napoleon I, added vastly to its collections by his conquests, systematically looting the treasures of W Europe and Egypt and shipping them off to the museum. Under Denon's leadership the museum became the first public institution in which works of art and objects taken from other locations were displayed in a systematic and educational fashion to a large public audience. In 1803 the museum was proclaimed the Musée Napoléon, keeping that title until 1814, when Napoleon fell. Many famous works were returned after his downfall, and Denon resigned his directorship, but about half of the works taken by Napoleon's army remained in the museum. The grand architectural scheme of the Louvre that was completed by Napoleon III remained unmodified until the late 20th cent. The museum is famous for its enormous collection of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities, and for its superb old masters, a collection especially rich in works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, and Leonardo. Its most famous sculptures include the Nike, or Victory, of Samothrace and the Venus of Milo. A part of the museum building houses the Museum of Decorative Arts, a private institution.

In 1984 excavations began for the gradual expansion of the Louvre underground; construction was completed in 1993. A glass pyramid, designed by I. M. Pei and opened in 1989, sits atop the entrance to this new space. At first the pyramid caused considerable controversy between critics who considered it a defacement of the museum and those who judged it a continuation of the eclecticism of Parisian architecture; it has since become a nearly universally acclaimed landmark. Pei has also overseen the extensive renovations and expansions of exhibition space that have continued through the 1990s.

Bibliography: See R. Huyghe, ed., Art Treasures of the Louvre (1960); C. Gould, Trophy of Conquest: The Musée Napoléon and the Creation of the Louvre (1965); G. D. Regoli et al., Louvre, Paris (1968); P. Schneider, Louvre Dialogues (tr. 1971); A. McClellan, Inventing the Louvre (1994); G. B. Bauier, The Louvre (1995).

louvre, louver, luffer.
1. Outlet for smoke in a roof.

2. Lantern or femerell over such an outlet with openings at its sides.

3. Structure on a roof for ventilation fitted with horizontal fixed lever-, louvre-, or luffer-boards sloping downwards and outwards, each board lapping over the one below, with a space between to exclude rain but allow the passage of air.

4. Any opening fitted with sloping boards or louvres, especially the belfry-stage of a church-tower.

Louvre France's national museum and art gallery in Paris. It holds a collection of more than 100,000 works, including paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture from all over the world, from the prehistoric period to the late 19th century. Originally a royal palace, the Louvre became a fully fledged museum in the 18th century and opened as the first national public gallery during the Revolution in 1793.

http://www.louvre.fr

Louvre the principal museum and art gallery of France, in Paris, housed in the former royal palace built by Francis I and later extended. ( Philip Augustus had first established a royal residence here in the late 12th century.) The royal collections, from Francis I onwards and greatly increased by Louis XIV, formed the nucleus of the national collection.

louvre •disapprover, hoover, improver, louvre (US louver), manoeuvre (US maneuver), mover, outmanoeuvre (US outmaneuver), reprover, Suva, Tuva, Vancouver •cover, Glover, hardcover, lover, plover, undercover •vulva • triumvir • slipcover • Cordova •baklava • helluva • Ulanova • Genova •Vaishnava • Ostrava • Vltava •fervour (US fervor), Minerva, Nerva, observer, server, swerver •time-server