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When you are in the Richelieu wing on the first floor which shows the decorative arts from the Middle Ages to the 19th c. you must visit the large room 19 of the Renaissance section.
Here are hanging 12 of the most beautiful tapestries in the world called the "Hunts of Maximilian". Archduke Maximilian of Habsbourg, later emperor of Austria was the brother of Emperor Charles V (Charles Quint born in Gent, Belgium) who in that time had his palace in Brussels. He liked to go hunting in the forest of Soignes (still existing) just outside Brussels. The 12 large (about 5 x 7 m) tapestries show scenes of hunting at the 12 months of the year.
The picturesque, realistic and detailed landscapes show, in the back ground, the still existing abbey of Rouge Cloître, the village of La Hulpe and the town hall of Brussels.
The inspiration is from the Italian renaissance, the technical mastery is that of the painter and cartoon designer Bernard van Orley and the weavers from Brussels (ref. my tip on Brussels tapestries at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Cinquantenaire, Brussels).
They were manufactured between 1531 and 1533 probably by Guillaume Dermoyen.
The "lissiers" tapestry weavers used two type of weaving loom: the horizontal loom called "basse lisse" and the vertical one "haute lisse". In both case the weavers worked on the back side. It has been calculated that one "lissier" would weave about 1 square meter in one month!
Although ordered by the Habsbourg, in the 16th c. they belonged to the French Ducs de Guise, then Mazarin and King Louis XIV. These tapestries contain gold wire but fortunately escaped the destructions of the French revolutionaries.
The French Manufacture des Gobelins made a number of copies of the original tapestries around 1700.
These 12 marvellous tapestries are very well presented in the large room 19.
It is sad that so few visitors of the museum stop here to really look at them. Address: Wing Richelieu, 1st floor, room 19Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
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With more than 50.000 objects the Egyptian collection of the Louvre is the second in the world after Cairo. This is not surprising as the collection started with Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt between 1798 and 1801.
It was the talented French linguist Jean-François Champollion who solved the enigma of Pharaonic writing in 1822 and was appointed curator of a new department in the Louvre that was inaugurated in 1827 under King Charles X.
Another famous name was the archaeologist Mariette who became the first director of Egyptian Antiquities.
In 1997, during the Grand Louvre renovation project, this huge collection was distributed on two different floors of Wing Sully. As the heaviest objects had to remain on the ground floor it was impossible to arrange the works by period.
This ground floor with 19 rooms, including the temple room (12) and the sarcophagi room (14), features a thematic installation centred on the major aspects of Egyptian civilization i.e. the daily life in Ancient Egypt.
The 1st floor of wing Sully (rooms 20 to 30) presents a chronological approach, highlighting the different historical periods and the development of Egyptian art from 4000 BC to 400 AD.
Numbers of visitors of Le Louvre are coming here with the sole aim to visit the Egyptian department; for the others it would be a real pity not to spend at least one hour here.
The most famous artefact which always impresses the visitors is "The Seated Scribe" (c. 2620-2500 BC) in room 22 on 1st floor wing Sully. The inlaid eyes are the most striking aspect of this sculpture; furthermore nothing is known about the person portrayed! Address: Wing Sully, Ground floor & 1st floor.Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
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Many amateurs of art estimate that wing Richelieu is the best part of Le Louvre.
I do agree. It starts on the Ground Floor with the French Sculptures in Cour Puget (photo 2) and Cour Marly, the amazing sculptures of Mesopotamia in Cour Khorsabad.
On the First Floor are the Decorative Arts from the Middle Ages, Renaissance (ref. my tip on the tapestries) 17th c. furniture with Charles Boulle (photo 3), 18th and 19th c.
The visit of the Napoleon III apartments (photo 1) and the Restoration and July Monarchy is a must.
On the Second Floor is on display a very good collection of Dutch paintings, with two Vermeer, Flemish (Van Eyck - photo 4) and German painters mainly from the 15th to the 17th c. I will come back on this collection of paintings. Address: Aile Richelieu, Musée du Louvre.Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
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Quite logically the French School has the largest number of works at Le Louvre. The museum's collection of French paintings is very complete including pictures by Fouquet, Poussin, Le Brun, Watteau, Boucher, Chardin, David, Ingres, Géricault and Delacroix
The large format paintings from David, Delacroix and Géricault (ref my tip on "le Radeau de la Méduse") are shown in wing Denon on the First Floor rooms 75, 76 and 77 (close to room 6 with "La Joconde"). The normal and small formats are on display at wing Sully on the 2nd Floor.
It is a long circuit (± 600 m) which starts in wing Richelieu with the 14th - 16th c. French paintings. I do recommend here room 15 with several paintings of Claude Gelée - Le Lorrain (ref my tip about this painter). The collection 17th, 18th and first half 19th c. continues in the buildings around the large Cour Carrée so that one-day visitors will have a problem passing here.
I shall therefore limit my survey to some highlights of this collection. Like I said in my introduction on Le Louvre, a one day visit is for well trained joggers who start at opening and finish at closure time!
Best known are from Jean-Antoine Watteau "Pierrot, formerly known as Gilles"(1719) and from Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres "The Turkish Bath" (1862). I also like from Eugène Delacroix "Jeune orpheline au cimetière" (1824). Well known is also "Gabrielle d'Estrées and One of Her Sisters" (1594) from the School of Fontainebleau. Address: Sully wing - 2nd floorDirections: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
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Paintings by French neo-classical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) are on display both in the Louvre (in the Sully and Denon wings) and across the river in the Musée d'Orsay.
This one from the year 1862 is called Le bain turc (The Turkish Bath) and is in the Louvre in room 60 on the second floor of the Sully wing.
Second photo: Jeune fille en buste by Baron Pierre-Narcisse Guérin (1774-1833), in room 54 on the second floor of the Sully wing. Her short hair style, which wouldn't seem out of place in 21st century Paris, was known in the 19th as "à la Titus". It was inspired by Roman Antiquity and came into fashion in France during and after the French Revolution, in contrast to the elaborate hair styles of the Old Regime.
Third photo: L'odalisque by François Boucher (1703-1770). The label by this painting speaks of "a delicious eroticism of the boudoir" and speculates that the model might have been the artist's wife. It goes on to say that "the immodest spectacle of the body abandoned in the disorder of the sheets confers a deliberately licentious character" to the painting.
Fourth photo: Forget about the Mona Lisa, by the way. She is small and always beleaguered by hundreds of people. (Unless you are a fan of lining up just because everyone else does.) Leave a Comment Phone: +33 (0)1 40 20 51 77Directions: Velib' 1013, 1025 Métro Palais-Royal-Musée du Louvre GPS 48°51'39.60" North; 2°20'8.85" East
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As soon as you reach the Second Floor of Wing Richelieu by the main escalator you will see the large Gallery Medicis with 24 large paintings (1622-1625) by Rubens(photo 5). These paintings ordered by Queen Marie de Medicis glorify this famous Queen of France (wife of Henri IV and mother of Louis XIII).
From here you may visit about 40 smaller rooms with a large collection of Flemish, Dutch and German paintings from the 15th to the 17th century.
The highlights of this collection are from the Flemish School (Flemish Primitives):
Jan Van Eyck "La vierge du Chevalier Rolin" (1434), Rogier van der Weyden "L'Annonciation" (1435). Room 5 shows six paintings of Hans Memling (photo 4) what makes of Le Louvre the second museum outside the town of Brugge to have so many Memling's. From the 16th c. is shown the famous painting "Prêteur et sa femme" (1514) from Quentin Metsys (photo 1) and a small Pieter Bruegel "Les mendiants" (1568).
The Dutch School is very well represented by two Vermeer's "La Dentellière" and "l'Astronome" in room 38 (photo 2). I was pleased to see that tourists, mainly from Asia, have now discovered the existence of these two Vermeer's at the Louvre; on my previous visits I was nearly alone in that section, no more now. Nearly all famous Dutch painters of the 17th c. are on display here: Rembrandt with "Bethsabée au bain" (1654), Frans Hals with the excellent "la Bohémienne" (1666) (photo 3), Pieter de Hooch, Van Ruysdael, Wouverman and many others shown in small cabinets.
The German school is present with great names such as Dürer, Cranach and Holbein with a famous portrait of "Erasmus" (1523).
Even the tourist on a 1 day visit of Le Louvre should not omit to spend some time on this 2nd Floor of Richelieu Wing. Address: Richelieu wing - Second floor.Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
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The longest queues are at the Pyramid main entrance. Not funny when it is raining as you can see from my photos nr.1 and 2. Avoid this entrance.
There are underground entrances by the Galerie du Carousel (99 rue de Rivoli) with a connexion to the Metro station and by the Carousel gardens. There are also queues but at least you will remain dry. In this underground Galerie du Carousel you will find a Tourist Welcome Centre where you can buy your 2, 4 or 6 days museum pass.
As I always buy a Paris Museum Pass, I enter by the Passage Richelieu for groups and visitors with museum pass. Go straight to the security control and don't get mixed up with the groups standing there.
Another point is to get there close to the opening at 9.00 h. The longest queues are between 10 and 12 h. Absolutely avoid the first Sunday of every month; the entrance is free and the queues start well before 9.00 h.
Once you are in you have to buy your ticket and you might well be queuing again!
My photo nr 3 shows the Napoleon Hall with the ticket desks at 17 h. in August 2007 on a Wednesday when the museum is open until 21.30 h.
Of course the length of the queues depend on the season: high season at the museum is spring and summer, less crowded later. In 2007 there were 8,3 millions visitors.
Good luck - bon courage!
NOTE 1°: It is now possible to buy in the main Metro stations and RER A a "Billet Louvre" at 9,70 € which gives priority entry to the museum via the Passage Richelieu and the Carrousel Gallery and so avoiding the queues.
For full info go to www.ratp.fr (the site of Paris public transport) then "discover Paris" and "Louvre".
NOTE 2°: Entry by the PORTE DES LIONS.
I had heard about this entrance located at the end of the Denon wing near the Seine with the Pont Royal and the Quai des Tuileries but I had not tested this entrance (see map n° 4 and photo n°5). On my last visit to the Louvre (July 2008) I went out at 11 h and back in by this entrance at 11.30 h and there was no line and only few visitors entering here. You can buy your entrance ticket here without queuing and reach La Joconde by a short cut (see my new tip).
Another question: how much time does one need to visit Le Louvre?
There are 3 options:
1° The one day program. This is for well trained joggers. They will see it all but look at nothing. (The difference between the French "voir" and "regarder").
2° The program for amateurs of art and history. They need 2 or 3 days to see it all and look at the best art works.
3° Connoisseurs need 2 weeks. I'm following that program over a 20 years period. The problem with me is that on my spaced visits I forget what I saw the years before and I start again the grand tour. I'll never finish with Le Louvre! Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
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At the beginning of the sixties I visited for the first time Le Louvre.
There was no pyramid; the facades of the Louvre were of a dirty grey colour as most of the buildings of Paris. No queue at the entrance of the museum. We were only four visitors in front of Mona Lisa. I returned in the nineties; the pyramid was standing there as well as the queues. We were more than forty to admire Mona Lisa.
In the spring of 2005, I was again in the Louvre where the Joconde had just been installed in a new bigger room (Wing Denon, 1st floor, room 6). By curiosity I went to this new room to find inside and around a crowd of about 400 persons.
In 40 years there had been a hundredfold increase of visitors to Mona Lisa!
I abandoned and went to the Richelieu wing with on the 2nd floor the collections of the Dutch and Flemish painters. I was almost alone and could admire in all quietness (room 38) two Vermeer "The Lace maker" and "The Astronomer" and one painting of Pieter de Hooch.
Shall I add that there are only few museums in the world which have two Vermeer's.
On the first floor I paid a visit to the tapestries of Brussels with the famous "Hunting's of Maximilien".
A bit before the closing time I returned to the room of La Joconde which I could finally approach.
I was amazed at the Mona Lisa's bad look; she showed a greenish complexion; or is it the effect from the thick glass panel which protects her?
I read that the Joconde would need a restoration; the wooden panel bends. But who in France will dare to make the decision to remove Mona Lisa from the Louvre for a restoration?
By her attraction on the world tourism, Mona Lisa represents an important part of the GNP of France!
No mystery anymore.
Experts of the University library of Heidelberg have found a book belonging to Agostino Vespucci, an acquaintance of Da Vinci. A note in this book indicates that Mona Lisa was Lisa del Giocondo wife of Francesco del Giocondo a rich merchant of Florence. Address: Wing Denon, 1st floor, room 6Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
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Congratulations; you followed my tip "Mona Lisa in the crowd" and thanks to your height over 1.90 m, weight of 100 kg and your practice of rugby or football you were able to approach "La Joconde" the goal of your quest for the "Holy Grail".
After the immobility of Mona Lisa you might like to discover the movement of the 19th century with the Romantic school as expressed by Théodore Géricault and his famous large painting (5 x 7 m.) "Le Radeau de la Méduse".
The terrible story of the wreck of the French frigate "La Méduse" is a real one (1816) and Géricault put a lot of realism in his painting.
From the 150 man on the raft only five survived and it was said that there was cannibalism!
No doubt that Géricault expressed a paradox: how to make a strong painting of a hideous motive, how to reconcile the art and the reality? He refused the constraints of the classic standards and looked for a more free way of painting. He used morbid, macabre colours, illustrating the death. Unfortunately, for the conservation of this painting, Géricault used dark pigments based on bitumen which don't dry well and, by passing through the paint layers, cause cracks and a general darkening effect.
The horror of this subject fascinated and divided critics when it was shown at the Salon of 1819 as well as it does now in contrast with the placid Mona Lisa.
For the full story of the "Méduse" I recommend (in French):
www.paranormal-fr.net/dossiers/radeau-de-la-meduse.php Address: Denon wing, 1st floor, room 77.Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
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At wing Denon one will find the most crowded part of Le Louvre with the Joconde room on the First floor but also the least visited part of the Museum with the Arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas on the Ground floor at the entry of the Porte des Lions (ref my tip on this entry).
There are 7 rooms in this department and here the visitor can stand alone in front of some remarkable often surprising works of art.
I must admit I have a weakness for African art which I discovered when I was a kid by visiting the Museum for Central Africa near Brussels.
Le Louvre is showing some excellent sculptures which are coming from the Musée du Quai Branly and the Musée de l'Homme. The advantage over the Quai Branly is that Le Louvre allows taking photos prohibited at Branly. (Did you ever read the 6 pages - 4,2 Mb visitor rules of the quai Branly museum? Surrealistic; only in French).
My first photo shows an overall view. You can see that this is the place if you want to be alone at Le Louvre.
The second pic shows a sculpture of the civilisation of Ifè (Nigeria 13th c.) Photo n°3 is a woman of the Benin kingdom around 1600.
Changing of continent I much liked this frightening "Korwar" sculpture (photo 4) from Indonesia (18th c.). The head of the figure is a skull container.
My wife showed a real enthusiasm for this sculpture (17th c., photo 5) of the Easter Island; the resemblance with me is striking she said! Address: Louvre, Wing Denon, Ground Floor.Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
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on November 29, 2008
on August 25, 2008
