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La Victoire de Samothrace (The Winged Victory of Samothrace)
Marble
The Greeks has the fine idea of portraying Victory as a winged woman, messenger of Zeus: the monument of Samothrace represents the greatest example of this image. In 1863, Charles Champoiseau, French Vice-Consul to Andrianople (Turkey), discovered the monument on the island of Samothrace in the north-eastern Aegean Sea. It is composed of three parts: a rectangular pedestal, a base in the shape of the prow of a ship, and the Winged Victory statue. The pedestal and base are of grey marble from the island of Rhodes, while the Winged Victory statue is sculpted from white Parian marble. The left portion of the bust and the right wing were reconstructed in plaster during the 19th century.
The sanctuary of Samothrace was dedicated to the Kabeiroi, gods who were invoked to protect seafarers and grant victory in war. The monument was thus thought to have been dedicated in commemoration of a specific naval victory. The highly spirited style of the Winged Victory, whose sculptor remains unknown, suggests that the event took place in the late 3rd century or during the 2nd century BC. There appears to be a particular connection with the relief sculpture of the Pergamon Altar, built around the 180-160 BC.
In 190 BC, the Rhodians joined forces with Pergamon and Rome to triumph over Antiochus III of Syria during the battles of Side and Myonnisos. The Winged Victory of Samothrace, the base of which is typical of Rhodian creations, might have commemorated these victories and thus date from a slightly later time. This is one of many hypotheses, for we have no literary accounts or inscribed dedications*.
In the Escalier Daru
The Daru staircase is the perfect setting for this extraordinary display. It is one of six grand staircases built during the Second Empire in the 19th century by the architect Hector Lefuel.
During the 1850s and 1860s, major works were underway to expand the Louvre and make it more modern. The former palace had already been partially transformed into a museum. The emperor Napoleon III had a new wing built to make more room to showcase more art. The old staircase built by his uncle Napoleon I was no longer adequate to access all the galleries. The only things left from that time are the ceilings leading to the Italian painting collections and the name Daru, a minister under Napoleon I.
[*Musee du Louvre]
Taken in the Louvre
Decoration around the door; Euterpe, the muse of Lyric Poetry
In the Galerie d'Apollon, in the Petite Galerie
The Petite Galerie itself is an iconic wing of the Louvre. This was created in the second half of the 16th century under the command of Charles IX as a single storey hall. But construction wasn’t completed as internal conflicts locked France up in more important matters. As the century came to a close, the Petite Galerie got its second storey — and this is where the Galerie d’Apollon would eventually go. Before then, however, there was the Galerie des Rois, which showed artwork owned by Henry IV. Anne of Austria enjoyed the bottom floor as a summer apartment, which is why it has been lavishly decorated since the 1650s (some of this still survives today).
[Louvre Guide]
On 6th February 1661, flames ripped through the splendid Petite Galerie dating from the reign of Henri IV. Henri’s grandson, Louis XIV, immediately set about constructing an even more beautiful gallery to replace it and entrusted its design to the architect Louis Le Vau. The young king, aged twenty-three, had recently chosen the sun as his emblem, and so this became the theme of his new gallery, named after Apollo, the Greek god of the sun and the arts.
Charles Le Brun, First Painter to the king, was commissioned to design the decoration. He called on the finest artists to create it. The Galerie d’Apollon – the first royal gallery in France – was a laboratory for aesthetic and architectural experimentation which, twenty years later, served as a model for an icon of French classicism: the Hall of Mirrors at the Château de Versailles.
Le Brun decorated the gallery’s vaulted ceiling with paintings of Apollo driving his chariot across the sky. Those along the central axis show the sun god’s journey, marking the different times of the day from Dawn to Night. These are surrounded by a whole cosmos of images and symbols of everything that is influenced by variations in the sun’s light and heat (the hours, days, months, seasons, signs of the zodiac and continents). The ‘Gallery of Apollo’, with its lavish carved and painted decoration, gave visual form to the sun’s power over the whole universe, magnifying the glory of the Sun King.
However, it was not long before Louis XIV began to leave Paris and the Louvre behind in favour of Versailles, where he and his court eventually settled for good. The gallery’s decoration was not completed until two centuries later, in 1850, under the direction of architect Félix Duban. To decorate the centre of the ceiling, Delacroix was commissioned for a 12-metre wide painting; the result, Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python, is a manifesto of French Romanticism. The wall decoration was also completed, with portrait tapestries of 28 monarchs and artists who had built and embellished the Louvre palace over the centuries.
The royal collection also includes the Crown Jewels. The so-called ‘Côte de Bretagne’ spinel, which once belonged to Anne de Bretagne, is the oldest of the gems to have survived a tumultuous history involving theft, dispersal and sale. Three historical diamonds – the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia – formerly adorned royal crowns or garments. The spectacular 19th-century jewellery sets in the collection include emerald and diamond pieces that once belonged to Empress Marie Louise.
[Musee du Louvre]
Taken in the Louvre
The Musee du Louvre, in Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre)
Built over the Louvre fortress (itself founded by Philip II in 1190), the Louvre Palace was the chief residence of French kings from 1546, under Francis I until 1682, when Louis XIV moved to Versailles. Although Louis moved the household, the royal collection remained in the palace and in 1692 it was joined by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, remaining there for 100 years. The palace became a museum following the French Revolution, at the instruction of the National Assembly, and the Musee du Louvre opened 10 August 1793.
Le triomphe de la Terre, ou de Cybele (The triumph of the Earth, or of Cybele), 1851
Joseph Benoît Guichard
oil on canvas on wood
In the Galerie d'Apollon, in the Petite Galerie
The Petite Galerie itself is an iconic wing of the Louvre. This was created in the second half of the 16th century under the command of Charles IX as a single storey hall. But construction wasn’t completed as internal conflicts locked France up in more important matters. As the century came to a close, the Petite Galerie got its second storey — and this is where the Galerie d’Apollon would eventually go. Before then, however, there was the Galerie des Rois, which showed artwork owned by Henry IV. Anne of Austria enjoyed the bottom floor as a summer apartment, which is why it has been lavishly decorated since the 1650s (some of this still survives today).
[Louvre Guide]
On 6th February 1661, flames ripped through the splendid Petite Galerie dating from the reign of Henri IV. Henri’s grandson, Louis XIV, immediately set about constructing an even more beautiful gallery to replace it and entrusted its design to the architect Louis Le Vau. The young king, aged twenty-three, had recently chosen the sun as his emblem, and so this became the theme of his new gallery, named after Apollo, the Greek god of the sun and the arts.
Charles Le Brun, First Painter to the king, was commissioned to design the decoration. He called on the finest artists to create it. The Galerie d’Apollon – the first royal gallery in France – was a laboratory for aesthetic and architectural experimentation which, twenty years later, served as a model for an icon of French classicism: the Hall of Mirrors at the Château de Versailles.
Le Brun decorated the gallery’s vaulted ceiling with paintings of Apollo driving his chariot across the sky. Those along the central axis show the sun god’s journey, marking the different times of the day from Dawn to Night. These are surrounded by a whole cosmos of images and symbols of everything that is influenced by variations in the sun’s light and heat (the hours, days, months, seasons, signs of the zodiac and continents). The ‘Gallery of Apollo’, with its lavish carved and painted decoration, gave visual form to the sun’s power over the whole universe, magnifying the glory of the Sun King.
However, it was not long before Louis XIV began to leave Paris and the Louvre behind in favour of Versailles, where he and his court eventually settled for good. The gallery’s decoration was not completed until two centuries later, in 1850, under the direction of architect Félix Duban. To decorate the centre of the ceiling, Delacroix was commissioned for a 12-metre wide painting; the result, Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python, is a manifesto of French Romanticism. The wall decoration was also completed, with portrait tapestries of 28 monarchs and artists who had built and embellished the Louvre palace over the centuries.
The royal collection also includes the Crown Jewels. The so-called ‘Côte de Bretagne’ spinel, which once belonged to Anne de Bretagne, is the oldest of the gems to have survived a tumultuous history involving theft, dispersal and sale. Three historical diamonds – the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia – formerly adorned royal crowns or garments. The spectacular 19th-century jewellery sets in the collection include emerald and diamond pieces that once belonged to Empress Marie Louise.
[Musee du Louvre]
Taken in the Louvre
The Musee du Louvre, in Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre)
Built over the Louvre fortress (itself founded by Philip II in 1190), the Louvre Palace was the chief residence of French kings from 1546, under Francis I until 1682, when Louis XIV moved to Versailles. Although Louis moved the household, the royal collection remained in the palace and in 1692 it was joined by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, remaining there for 100 years. The palace became a museum following the French Revolution, at the instruction of the National Assembly, and the Musee du Louvre opened 10 August 1793.
Éléphant blanc de Danemark (White Elephant of Denmark), on display in Room 705 (Galerie d’Apollon) of the Denon Wing, designed by by Jacques-Evrard Bapst (1771–1842), dates to 1822.
This exquisite insignia of the Danish Order of the Elephant features a white enamel elephant adorned with 74 diamonds and 68 rose-cut diamonds, bearing the monogram of King Frederick VI of Denmark. A small mahout and a crenellated tower enriched with rubies and diamonds add to its intricate realism. Crafted by Bapst, Crown Jeweler of France, the piece merges precious materials with symbolic elements—elephants traditionally symbolizing chastity and fidelity. Instituted by Christian I in 1478 and reorganized by Christian V in 1693, the order’s insignias are rare, as they must be returned upon the death of the recipient. This particular example, awarded to King Louis XVIII, remained in France and entered the Louvre’s collection in 1887.
The Louvre is the world’s most visited museum and one of its largest, housing over 35,000 works of art from prehistory to the 19th century. Originally built as a fortress under Philippe Auguste in the late 12th century, it was transformed into a royal palace and later into a public museum during the French Revolution in 1793. Its collections span eight departments, including Egyptian antiquities, Greek and Roman art, Islamic art, sculpture, decorative arts, paintings, prints, and drawings. The museum is organized across three wings—Denon, Sully, and Richelieu—surrounding the Cour Napoléon. The modern glass Pyramid entrance, designed by architect I. M. Pei and inaugurated in 1989, unifies the historic palace complex while serving as a symbol of the museum’s global identity.
Decoration around the door; Musica, 'of a Muse'
In the Galerie d'Apollon, in the Petite Galerie
The Petite Galerie itself is an iconic wing of the Louvre. This was created in the second half of the 16th century under the command of Charles IX as a single storey hall. But construction wasn’t completed as internal conflicts locked France up in more important matters. As the century came to a close, the Petite Galerie got its second storey — and this is where the Galerie d’Apollon would eventually go. Before then, however, there was the Galerie des Rois, which showed artwork owned by Henry IV. Anne of Austria enjoyed the bottom floor as a summer apartment, which is why it has been lavishly decorated since the 1650s (some of this still survives today).
[Louvre Guide]
On 6th February 1661, flames ripped through the splendid Petite Galerie dating from the reign of Henri IV. Henri’s grandson, Louis XIV, immediately set about constructing an even more beautiful gallery to replace it and entrusted its design to the architect Louis Le Vau. The young king, aged twenty-three, had recently chosen the sun as his emblem, and so this became the theme of his new gallery, named after Apollo, the Greek god of the sun and the arts.
Charles Le Brun, First Painter to the king, was commissioned to design the decoration. He called on the finest artists to create it. The Galerie d’Apollon – the first royal gallery in France – was a laboratory for aesthetic and architectural experimentation which, twenty years later, served as a model for an icon of French classicism: the Hall of Mirrors at the Château de Versailles.
Le Brun decorated the gallery’s vaulted ceiling with paintings of Apollo driving his chariot across the sky. Those along the central axis show the sun god’s journey, marking the different times of the day from Dawn to Night. These are surrounded by a whole cosmos of images and symbols of everything that is influenced by variations in the sun’s light and heat (the hours, days, months, seasons, signs of the zodiac and continents). The ‘Gallery of Apollo’, with its lavish carved and painted decoration, gave visual form to the sun’s power over the whole universe, magnifying the glory of the Sun King.
However, it was not long before Louis XIV began to leave Paris and the Louvre behind in favour of Versailles, where he and his court eventually settled for good. The gallery’s decoration was not completed until two centuries later, in 1850, under the direction of architect Félix Duban. To decorate the centre of the ceiling, Delacroix was commissioned for a 12-metre wide painting; the result, Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python, is a manifesto of French Romanticism. The wall decoration was also completed, with portrait tapestries of 28 monarchs and artists who had built and embellished the Louvre palace over the centuries.
The royal collection also includes the Crown Jewels. The so-called ‘Côte de Bretagne’ spinel, which once belonged to Anne de Bretagne, is the oldest of the gems to have survived a tumultuous history involving theft, dispersal and sale. Three historical diamonds – the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia – formerly adorned royal crowns or garments. The spectacular 19th-century jewellery sets in the collection include emerald and diamond pieces that once belonged to Empress Marie Louise.
[Musee du Louvre]
Taken in the Louvre
The Musee du Louvre, in Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre)
Built over the Louvre fortress (itself founded by Philip II in 1190), the Louvre Palace was the chief residence of French kings from 1546, under Francis I until 1682, when Louis XIV moved to Versailles. Although Louis moved the household, the royal collection remained in the palace and in 1692 it was joined by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, remaining there for 100 years. The palace became a museum following the French Revolution, at the instruction of the National Assembly, and the Musee du Louvre opened 10 August 1793.
Le triomphe de la Terre, ou de Cybele (The triumph of the Earth, or of Cybele), 1851
Joseph Benoît Guichard
oil on canvas on wood
In the Galerie d'Apollon, in the Petite Galerie
The Petite Galerie itself is an iconic wing of the Louvre. This was created in the second half of the 16th century under the command of Charles IX as a single storey hall. But construction wasn’t completed as internal conflicts locked France up in more important matters. As the century came to a close, the Petite Galerie got its second storey — and this is where the Galerie d’Apollon would eventually go. Before then, however, there was the Galerie des Rois, which showed artwork owned by Henry IV. Anne of Austria enjoyed the bottom floor as a summer apartment, which is why it has been lavishly decorated since the 1650s (some of this still survives today).
[Louvre Guide]
On 6th February 1661, flames ripped through the splendid Petite Galerie dating from the reign of Henri IV. Henri’s grandson, Louis XIV, immediately set about constructing an even more beautiful gallery to replace it and entrusted its design to the architect Louis Le Vau. The young king, aged twenty-three, had recently chosen the sun as his emblem, and so this became the theme of his new gallery, named after Apollo, the Greek god of the sun and the arts.
Charles Le Brun, First Painter to the king, was commissioned to design the decoration. He called on the finest artists to create it. The Galerie d’Apollon – the first royal gallery in France – was a laboratory for aesthetic and architectural experimentation which, twenty years later, served as a model for an icon of French classicism: the Hall of Mirrors at the Château de Versailles.
Le Brun decorated the gallery’s vaulted ceiling with paintings of Apollo driving his chariot across the sky. Those along the central axis show the sun god’s journey, marking the different times of the day from Dawn to Night. These are surrounded by a whole cosmos of images and symbols of everything that is influenced by variations in the sun’s light and heat (the hours, days, months, seasons, signs of the zodiac and continents). The ‘Gallery of Apollo’, with its lavish carved and painted decoration, gave visual form to the sun’s power over the whole universe, magnifying the glory of the Sun King.
However, it was not long before Louis XIV began to leave Paris and the Louvre behind in favour of Versailles, where he and his court eventually settled for good. The gallery’s decoration was not completed until two centuries later, in 1850, under the direction of architect Félix Duban. To decorate the centre of the ceiling, Delacroix was commissioned for a 12-metre wide painting; the result, Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python, is a manifesto of French Romanticism. The wall decoration was also completed, with portrait tapestries of 28 monarchs and artists who had built and embellished the Louvre palace over the centuries.
The royal collection also includes the Crown Jewels. The so-called ‘Côte de Bretagne’ spinel, which once belonged to Anne de Bretagne, is the oldest of the gems to have survived a tumultuous history involving theft, dispersal and sale. Three historical diamonds – the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia – formerly adorned royal crowns or garments. The spectacular 19th-century jewellery sets in the collection include emerald and diamond pieces that once belonged to Empress Marie Louise.
[Musee du Louvre]
Taken in the Louvre
The Musee du Louvre, in Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre)
Built over the Louvre fortress (itself founded by Philip II in 1190), the Louvre Palace was the chief residence of French kings from 1546, under Francis I until 1682, when Louis XIV moved to Versailles. Although Louis moved the household, the royal collection remained in the palace and in 1692 it was joined by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, remaining there for 100 years. The palace became a museum following the French Revolution, at the instruction of the National Assembly, and the Musee du Louvre opened 10 August 1793.