national ttreasuree THE LOUVRE Uniform with this volume THE NATIONAL GALLERY BY J. E. CKAWFORD FLITCH Other books are in preparation LA DANSE Jean Baptist e Carpeaux THE LOUVRE BY E. E. RICHARDS BOSTON SMALL, MAYNARD AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS PRINTED P.Y THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED EDINBURGH IQI2 CONTENTS PAGE I. THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE . . 11 II. THE MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE . . 6l III. THE PAINTINGS ..... 74 IV. THE GREEK AND ROMAN SCULPTURES . 110 V. MEDIAEVAL, RENAISSANCE AND MODERN SCULPTURE . . . . .132 VI. THE EGYPTIAN AND ASIATIC ANTIQUITIES 140 VII. THE ANTIQUE PAINTINGS, POTTERIES, BRONZES AND ORNAMENTS . . 149 VIII. THE IVORIES, ENAMELS, FURNITURE AND FAIENCE . . . . . .156 IX. THE MUSEE DE MARINE, THE MUSEE CHINOISE, THE COLLECTION GRAN- DIDIER, AND THE CHALCOGRAPHIE . 1 69 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LA DANCE .... (Carpeaux) Frontispiece Photograph : Alinari TO FACE PAGE THE LOUVRE OF THE XV. CENTURY . . 32 THE GRANDE . . . (Galerie) . 33 THE LOUVRE FROM THE RIVER ... 48 6 PERRAULT'S COLONNADE ' . . .49 ELIZABETH D'AUTRICHE . (Clouet] . . 56 REPAS DBS PAYSANS . . (Lenain] . 57 Photograph'. Alinari GlLLES . . . . ( Watteau} . 64 Photograph'. Alinari LE CHATEAU DE CARTES . (Chardin) . 6.5 Photograph '. Alinari MADAME RECAMIER . . (David] . .72 L'lMPERATRICE JOSEPHINE . (Prud ' hon] . 73 Photog>-aph\ Alinari PAYSAGE .... (Corot} , . 80 Photograph'. Alinari L'ANGELUS .... (Millet} . .81 OLYMPIA . . . . (Mamt} . . 88 Photograph '. Giraudon PORTRAIT D'UN VIEILLARD ET DE SON PETITS- FILS .... (Ghirlandaio} . 89 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO FACE PAGE ( Correggio) ANTIOPE Photograph'. Alinari ALPHONSE DE FERRARA ET LAURA DE DlANTI . . . (Titian) . Photograph'. Alinari CONCERT CHAMPETRE . . (Giorgione) FERDINARD D'ARPAGON . (Theotocopuli) Photograph '. Alinari LE PiED-BoT . . . (Kiberd) . L' INFANTE MARIE MARGUERITE ( Velasquez) LA VlERGE AU DONATEUR Photograph '. Alinari LE BANQUIER ET SA FEMME Photograph '. A linari VENUS DE MILO . Photograph'. Alinari NIKE DE SAMOTRACE Photograph'. Alinari DIANE Photograph : A linari LOUISE BRONGNIART Photograph : Giraudon FRISE DES ARCHERS .... Photograph '. Giraudon SCRIBE ACCROUPI .... LA BOHEMIENNE . . . (Frans Hals) Photograph '. Alinari CHARLES I ER . . . ( Van Dyck) 96 97 104 105 112 113 (Jean Van Eye k) 120 ( Quentm Matsys) 121 . 128 . 129 (Jean Goujon) . 136 (HoudonJ . 137 145 152 153 10 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE So bewildering is the Louvre,, so overpowering by its size alone, even without the vast collections which are housed in it, that few visitors realise its charm as a building, its profoundly interesting story as a royal palace. The great picture gallery takes up all the attention of the sightseer ; the other collections are hardly appreciated at their proper value ; the building and its history are alike neglected. And yet the Palace of the Louvre is a living witness of French history, built for the glorifica- tion of the ancient monarchy ; though by some drollery of Fate it was reserved for Louis Napoleon to complete the work begun by the French kings. If the greatest art collections of the world seem housed in the Louvre, the palace now of Madame La Republique, how much do they not owe to their setting in what is the largest palace in the world ; a palace covering nearly forty-five acres, ii THE LOUVRE divided into two parts the Vieux Louvre, or the Cour du Louvre, and the Nouveau Louvre, those great wings which extend to the west. The curious history of the Louvre, the out- bursts of enthusiasm with which great kings began to increase the buildings, determined that this symbol of their state should outshine the chateaux of their feudatories and, later, the palaces of their contemporaries ; the chill waves of indifference which, like mist, blotted out the Louvre from their eyes when perhaps a fourth of the work they planned was finished, all combine to make the present pile what it is. And when one reflects on the number of different ambitious brains, working too at different periods, who wrought their will on the Louvre, its harmony now is an amazing thing. The beginnings of the Louvre as we know it, though not as we see it, date from Philippe Auguste (1180-1223), who built the Grosse Tour to be a symbol of his power. Perhaps he built on the site of a royal hunting box; more probably the Louvre was already a small fortified place ; but as an important building of the king the Louvre dates only from his reign. Strange though it is, the origin of the Louvre is wrapped 12 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE in more uncertainty than that which reveals the origin of many a building of an antiquity as immensely greater as that of Egypt. Even the origin of its name is matter for conjecture. Per- haps it is derived from the name of some forgotten man bearing the then common name of Lupus or Loup, who dwelt on the site of the Louvre, perhaps from the word Louveterie, meaning a den of wolves, or from Leouar or Lower, a fortress. No one can say with authority. At the end of the twelfth century, Philippe Auguste determined to enlarge the wall surround- ing Paris, the wall built by Louis le Gros ; and to complete the defence of his town on the river side the side by which the Norman invaders generally appeared, ready to slay and burn until bought off by the unhappy Parisians. He built the strong fortress of the Louvre, destined to be in turn fortress, chateau, palace and emblem of the people's sovereign power. In the Cour du Louvre, on the pavement, are white lines which trace in part the outlines of this Louvre of Philippe Auguste and Charles V. ; and deep down below the Louvre, yet curiously dry and warm, are still to be seen the great substructures of the fortress, immense supporting 13 THE LOUVRE walls which hardly show the disintegrating influence of time, and which form the substruc- ture of part of the later Louvre of Lescot. 1 The Grosse Tour, built about 1204, and dominating the fortress, lay, surrounded by a moat, in the centre of a courtyard about a quarter of the size of the present court. Great and sullen stood the tower, its huge walls, thirteen feet thick, rose to a height of sixteen fathoms from the ground, and then began the spring of the high-pitched roof. Eight barred windows admitted the light, and the tower, in which was a well, a chapel, and several rooms, formed the innermost fortress; a fortress under separate command, which might yet hope to stand when the fortress encircling it fell. The courtyard round it was itself protected by its heavy walls and the round towers at the angles, while between it and the river lay a smaller fortified court with a gate on the river, which washed its very walls. The Grosse Tour was indeed the last safehold of the king, in which he kept those things which 1 Permission to see these substructures is given on ap- plication by letter, enclosing stamp, to the Secretariat des Musees Nationaux, Cour du Louvre. The visit can only be made between one and three o'clock on Mondays. 14 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE were of supreme importance to him great prisoners, jewels, furniture, hangings, all of the rarest ; here were those tapestries and ornaments used in turn to adorn the king's rooms, here in fact everything which the king most valued lay, under the care of a trusted captain : but every- thing in the structure showed that the Louvre was a strong box for the king, rather than a dwelling. Ferrand, comte de Flandre, taken prisoner at the battle of Bou vines, was the first of a long series of illustrious prisoners kept here, the last being Jean II., due d'Alei^on, imprisoned by Louis XI. (1461-1483). There is a curious picture still existing of the unfortunate comte de Flandre being conveyed to the Louvre in a cart, while in the foreground an excited populace gesticulate wildly; from the Louvre come pacing slowly a group of churchmen, apparently to welcome the prisoner, on whose angular countenance is pictured the liveliest dismay. All or most of these prisoners were important feudatories ; who learnt to acknowledge the supremacy of the king as head of all the fiefs immediately depending on the French Crown, by an enforced sojourn in his tower. Indeed the 15 THE LOUVRE Louvre ' came by degrees to be the home of the monarchy in its feudal character/ The kings who followed Philippe Auguste, while they kept up the strength of the Louvre as a fortress, lived there but rarely ; their palace was on the Cite. Louis IX. (Saint Louis, 1226-1270) built a great hall where the Salle des Cariatides now is ; and in 1 303 this hall was used for what was, in effect, the first etats glneraux\ for Philippe le Bel (1285-1314) convoked a meeting of the barons, clergy and lawyers, similar to a meeting held the same year in Notre Dame. It is claimed therefore that, with Notre Dame, the Louvre is f the cradle of representative government in France/ a claim to distinction which will be unequally appreciated ! In 1313 the same hall was used for the splen- did fetes given by Philippe le Bel in honour of his three sons. Edward of England, with his wife Isabelle, attended by a gorgeous retinue, were present at the festivities, at the jousting, and at the splendid banquet which followed it, what time the herald Montjoie distributed largess to the crowd. But for all its fame as a fortress, a fortress believed impregnable, Etienne Marcel, prevot des 16 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE marchandsj champion of the people, found no difficulty in taking it when, during the reign of John le Bon (1350-1364), he wished to obtain possession of the arms stored therein. Marcel took advantage too of his temporary control of the Louvre to close the river gate, and open one on the side facing St Germain 1'Auxerrois. A prudent man, doubtless, who judged it well to have his king under his hand ! From that time onwards the character of the Louvre changed : it became less the fortress, more the palace ; as a fortress it had proved itself lamentably deficient when the struggle came. Charles V. (1364-1380), warned by his struggle with Etienne Marcel, realised the advant- age of a palace less in the centre of his turbulent Parisians than his palace on the Cite ; a palace in fact, like the Louvre, on the edge of Paris, from which he could escape more easily. Charles V., ( se demonstra vray architecteur, deviseur certain et prudent ordeneur,' according to Christine de Pisan, and enlarged and beautified the Louvre ; letting in light and air on the inner sides of his courtyard, while the outer side was left to stare grimly over Paris. There is extant a miniature from the ' Grandes Heures du due de Berry ' which shows B 17 THE LOUVRE the Louvre of Charles V. By the river rose a high battlemented wall with circular towers, within which was a marvellous square pile, a mass of walls and towers with small windows and high chimney-stacks. From the centre sprang the Grosse Tour, threatened not yet. High steep- pitched roofs, crowned with huge gilded weather- cocks, clove the sky. In the courtyard Raymond du Temple built for the king a magnificent staircase, and the king's library was installed in the Louvre, that library which was the origin of the present Bibliotheque Nationale. Three rooms in the Tour de la Fauconnerie, which then became known as the Tour de la Librarie, were given up to it, and the books collected by this enlightened king were one of the glories of the Louvre. But indeed Tostel' of the king, during this reign was a magnificent place, where in a week one hundred and twenty sheep, ten oxen, sixteen calves, six hundred fowls, and other birds innumerable were needed to feed the court. True these figures include all his palaces, but by far the greater part were for the Louvre. But so fine a court meant a great service, and servants' quarters began to spread out round the Louvre. Space was needed for his guard, and there were 18 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE other departments to be housed, la patisserie, la sausserie, I'epicerie, la fruiterie, la distillerie, la lavanderie, la charbonnerie, and many others. All this world lay surrounded by great gardens, spreading out especially on the side farthest from the river. But with the death of Charles V. the Louvre ceased for a time to enjoy the royal favour. Charles VI. (1380-1422) left it for the Hotel St Pol. Indeed always the Louvre was only one of many residences, the earlier kings were oftener away from Paris than in it, while later kings built for themselves other palaces in Paris itself, which shared their presence with the Louvre. During the struggle between the Armagnacs and Bourguignons the Dauphin, afterwards Charles VII. (1422-1461), threw himself for refuge into the Louvre, still a fortress at heart, despite the work of Charles V. ; but again it proved useless against an attack, and Jean-sans-Peur seized the citadel, the Dauphin only owing his escape to Tanneguy du Chatel. The English, too, when they occupied Paris in 1421, found their way easily enough into the Louvre, and Henry V. feasted in the great hall of St Louis. In 1422 he celebrated Pentecote 19 THE LOUVRE there, and presided with his queen, Catherine de France, at a great banquet. The Grosse Tour still held the chief jewels of the Crown, but later the regent, the Duke of Bedford, removed them to the Hotel St Pol, that they might be more under his control. The great library too of Charles V., already lessened by neglect, was further reduced by the Duke of Bedford, until from the collection of twelve hundred volumes but fifty remained. And so with the rich furnishings of the Louvre, all were removed ; its glory was departing. From this time onwards the Louvre enjoyed no royal favour; Charles VIII. (1483-1498) neglected it utterly, Louis XII. (1498-1515) only repaired it, and collected arms and powder therein, making a strong arsenal. But under Fra^ois I er (1515-1547) the Louvre began its second life. Like Charles V. he appre- ciated its position, saw its vast possibilities, and decided to make of it such a palace as those of Italy ; a palace worthy of his importance, more in harmony with his taste and that of the age. Not yet was a king of France prepared to tear down the defences which stood between him and his faithful subjects, but the Grosse Tour might go. It had not proved itself capable of resistance 20 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE when the outer fortress fell, and the king's Italian bent, showing itself in his love of light and beauty, determined him to demolish this great tower, and also the walls by the river. To him they seemed to throw gloom and depression over what he designed to make a great palace. So in 1 527 the Grosse Tour began to fall, a fall which took five months to complete and cost 2500. Its end marked an epoch in French history. No longer was this symbol of the king's suzerain power needed, all men were to be subject to the king, who was to stand far above his nobles, instead of being the first among his peers. The feudal system was falling, and so also began to fall the oldest Louvre. That great mass of Gothic buildings which huddled under the shelter of the tower began to vanish before the Renaissance spirit which was rising round the doomed Gothic edifices of mediae- val Paris. By the river, in place of the heavy walls, were open spaces, arranged for tilting ; and here in 1531 was held a tournament in honour of Elenore d'Autriche. Then, to honour Charles- Quint, Fran9ois I er decided to hold another fete which should surpass everything yet seen. Thousands of workmen were employed to paint 21 THE LOUVRE frescoes,, to cover the walls with rich tapestry, and to gild profusely to the very weathercocks. The Louvre of Charles V. disappeared under a wealth of ornament. Rooms hung with silk, and glittering with gilt, formed the setting for a court scene of unparalleled magnificence. All night in the centre of the courtyard blazed a great torch, held aloft by a gilded Vulcan. This was the last fete the mediaeval Louvre was to see, for Fra^ois I er realised that the palace, to meet his wishes, must be rebuilt. To this end, on the 2nd August 1546, he commissioned Pierre Lescot to superintend the work of building the new Louvre, beginning in the south-west corner of the Cour du Louvre. The moment was ripe for the making of a new palace of the first im- portance : the Renaissance was at its zenith ; Gothic tendencies were lost in the full flood of Renaissance work. The sad work of pulling down the Grande Salle of St Louis began, and that work on the Cour du Louvre was started which was only completed under Louis XIV. The plans of Lescot provided for a court much the size of the original court, a quarter of its present size, resting on the foundations of Philippe Auguste. That 22 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE part of the Cour du Louvre which we owe to Lescot is the most gracious and charming part of the whole building, and that which shows best the spirit of the French Renaissance, of which it is a veritable triumph. It extends between the Pavilion de 1'Horloge and the Pavilion des Arts, being the south-west corner. After the death of Fran9ois I er , Lescot continued his work under Henri II. (1547-1559). The west portion of his work was finished in 1548, that on the south side only in 1566. Lescot's idea was to make the interior of the courtyard full of life and gaiety, while his exterior walls, now masked, carried on the old French tradition of external strength and severity. The harmony of the whole effect, and the skill with which any monotony of the lines is avoided, make it a perfect fa9ade ; the south side has unhappily suffered from the addition of an extra story. The beautiful decorations and sculptures of the faade were entrusted to Jean Goujon and Paul Ponce. In Lescot's building as originally planned there was a pavilion in the south-west corner, called the Pavilion Henri II., which was unhappily pulled down in the seventeenth century. The superb woodwork of the king's rooms, which were THE LOUVRE in this pavilion, have been put up on the first floor of the Cour du Louvre, on the east side ; and this ' Chambre de Paradis,' with the two rooms next it, give one some idea of what the Louvre of Lescot looked like internally. 'La Chambre de Paradis/ dated 1559, is as magnificent and beautiful an example of a carved room as perhaps exists ; the H. and D., standing for Henri II. and Diane de Poictiers, is noteworthy, often repeated in the intricate and beautiful wood-carving. The next room, which dates from 1603, is a room almost equally fine, with woodwork from the rooms of Henri II., and also of the period Louis XIV. The curtains of the alcove, in which is placed a Venetian state bed of the sixteenth century, are upheld by charming cupids by Gilles Guerin, while the slaves and trophies of the ceiling are the work of Girardon. The third room, which bears the date 1654, also owes its panelling in part to the apartments of the king, in part to panelling from the rooms of Anne d' Autriche at Vincennes. The ceiling bears her initials, A. D., enclosed in elaborate and delicate tracery, with cupids, birds and flowers delicately touched with gilding, a perfect ceiling. On the first floor of the Pavilion Henri II. was 24 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE the king's bedroom. An antechamber lay between it and the Salle d'Attente, now the Salle La Caze. The Staircase Henri II., leading to the Salle Le Caze, is almost entirely, as to its decora- tion, the work of Jean Goujon. The Salle des Cariatides, named after the statues by Jean Goujon which form part of its internal structure, was built on the site of the great hall of St Louis. Under Henri II. it was used for the great court functions, the first festivity held there being the marriage of Claude, the king's daughter, to the due de Lorraine in 1558. The fetes attending the marriage of the Dauphin Fra^ois and Marie Stuart followed, for which the hall was most gorgeously decorated. In 1559 the betrothal of Elizabeth de France, also a daughter of Henri II., took place with that gloomy widower Philippe II. of Spain ; who was represented by the Duke of Alba, gorgeous in cloth of gold. But in the tournament which followed the betrothal Henri II. was mortally wounded, jousting with Montgomery of the Scottish Guard, at the Hotel des Tournelles, another of his palaces in Paris. How curious a building the Louvre of Henri II. was can be realised when one reflects that the 25 THE LOUVRE Renaissance work of Lescot on the south and west faced the Gothic work of the older Louvre, which still formed the further side of the court ; this Gothic work, with its round towers and pointed roofs, being in strong contrast to the low regular lines of the Renaissance work, with its classical outline. After the death of Henri II. his widow, Catherine de Medicis, installed herself in the Louvre ; where however she cared little to continue the work of Henri II., or even to com- plete it thoroughly. The work on the Escalier Henri II. was never finished. Indeed, instead of completing the court on the plans of Lescot, she began to build away from the south-west corner of the Louvre to the river, employing, according to one authority, a nameless Italian as architect, while another authority has it that one Pierre Cambiges built for her. This Petite Galerie, at first of only one story, more a portico of marble than a closed-in building, is now the ground floor of the Galerie d'Apollon. Whoever her architect was, he kept the building in harmony with Lescot's work. Catherine built also the Palace of the Tuileries, and turned at right angles from her Petite Galerie along the 26 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE river, having the ambitious idea of connecting the two. To her is due the Salles des Antiques, under the Salon Carre, and the ground floor of the Grande Galerie as far as the Pavilion de Lesdiquieres. The Palace of the Tuileries, of which only the south wing remains, now forming part of the Louvre, lay between the Pavilion de Flore and the Pavilion de Marsan. Philibert Delorme and Bullant were the architects of this palace. When the work of Lescot on the Cour du Louvre was finished, Charles IX. (1560-1574) took up his abode there for the winter months, on the first floor; while on the ground floor the queen- mother, Catherine de Medicis, was installed, in the rooms now given over to antique sculpture. Italian comedy, ballets, every kind of amusement took place in the Louvre, which was again the central scene in which the monarchy played its part. But then came the Massacre of St Bartholomew, which cast over the building a gloom from which Charles IX. strove in vain to escape. At the river end of the Petite Galerie is shown a window from which Charles IX. is said to have fired on the doomed Huguenots as they swam the 27 THE LOUVRE Seine a piece of picturesque history disputed by those who say the window was not then made. Under Henri III. (1574-1589) the building hardly progressed, but the Louvre formed a centre for the fetes and gaieties dear to this fantastic king, whose balls and entertainments were celebrated throughout Europe. But amid all the gaiety of the court, treason and trouble walked abroad : Catherine de Medicis caused all the entrances to the Louvre to be closed, except the principal one on the east, as if she would again prepare it for its old role of fortress. But even so Henri III. could not face the due de Guise and the Parisians when Paris rose in 1588 ; and after preparing for defence he abandoned the Louvre suddenly, and took refuge in flight ; never to return to Paris, leaving the Louvre to the power of the soldiers of the Ligue. It was in the Louvre that the due de Mayenne called a council, and had four of the most guilty of the * Seize' hung in December 1591, for the murder of President Brisson and other magistrates. The Salle des Cariatides was the scene of their exe- cution, the four corpses swinging from the joists of the ceiling. In the Louvre, too, Mayenne convoked the etats generaux in 1593, when an 28 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE attempt was made to choose a Catholic king, Henri III. having been assassinated in 1589. But the deliberations of the etats generaux ended in smoke ; the conversion of Henri IV. (1589-1610) paved the way for his return, and on the 22nd of March 1594 he entered Paris, to take up his abode at the Louvre. When Henri IV. entered Paris one of his first aims was to carry forward the building of the Louvre, which war and trouble had so stopped. He conceived the idea of enlarging the Cour du Louvre so that the work of Lescot should form only half of each side, thereby making the court four times as large. He also decided to join the Louvre and the Tuileries, though his death prevented the conclusion of all these plans. He placed in the hands of Metezeau and Androuet du Cerceau the task of completing the work left unfinished by Catherine de Medicis. They built a second story over the portico called the Petite Galerie, a story now the Galerie d'Apollon, but first called the Galerie des Rois. This part is however sometimes ascribed to Isa'ie Fournier, and an Englishman Moryson, while another account ascribes it to Fournier and Coing. The figures in the arcades formed by the ground- 29 THE LOUVRE floor windows, on the east side of the Petite Galerie, are probably the work of Barthelemy Prieur, and represent Fame and the Genii. The Salle des Antiques, the block between the Galerie d'Apollon and the Grande Galerie, also received an extra story. Almost certainly to Metezeau and Androuet du Cerceau we owe the beautiful section of the Grande Galerie which extends to the Pavilion des Lesdiquieres, of which Catherine de Medicis had only built the ground floor ; though the name of Etienne Duperac is a possible one as architect. This part of the Grande Galerie is formed of two orders, separated by an entresol, which enabled the architects to get their work and that of Catherine de Medicis into harmony. This low entresol, so Florentine in character, and bearing the initial of Henri IV., cannot be too highly praised, and the facade is justly considered as hardly second in beauty to the west side of the Cour du Louvre. The decorative work is unusually fine, clearly that of masters of the sixteenth century, almost certainly Pierre and Francois Lheureux, aided perhaps by Barthelemy Prieur. To attribute the splendid Porte Jean Goujon to the sculptor Jean Goujon is clearly wrong, as 30 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE it is so much later than his time. This magnificent gateway, restored by Duban, with its gilded balcony, bears the crown and the initial H., which is indeed cunningly worked into all the decora- tion on this part of the building. But as a generalisation nothing is more misleading in the Louvre than the initials which are employed on the stonework of the building. Later kings have cut out the initials of their predecessors to sub- stitute their own ; the Revolution further increased the trouble, and now the result is very bewilder- ing. The western section of the Grande Galerie, which lies between the Pavilion de La Tremoille and the Pavilion de Flore, and also the latter, which with the extreme western end of the Grande Galerie are really part of the Tuileries, was also built under Henri IV. by Androuet du Cerceau. It is in one style of architecture, correct and frigid, showing the new tendency in French architecture towards a style more grandiose and ceremonious, but far less attractive, than that of the eastern section. It was remodelled by Lefuel from 1863-1868, but many of the original features remain. The entresol of the eastern half of the Grande THE LOUVRE Galerie was the home of that band of brilliant artists and craftsmen whom Henri IV. collected round him, to form a school of artists valuable to the Crown and to France. Workers in precious stones, tapestry-workers, engravers, wood-carvers, armourers were all granted quarters here, by a king alike generous and politic. But the Louvre has ever been a cradle of art ; few were the kings who did not carry on the tradition of fostering the arts. Henri IV., great as were his plans for the improvement of his palace, cared little for pomp or ceremony, but under his Italian wife, Marie de Medicis, the Louvre became once more a centre of gaiety and ceremonial. But the death of Henri IV. closed with cruel suddenness this page in the Louvre's history ; and the Salle des Cariatides saw, with the clear eyes of inanimate objects, yet another extraordinary scene. For in this salle, the scene of so many brilliant fetes, the wax image 1 of the murdered king lay in state. The effigy was exposed, for eleven days, on a bed covered with cloth of gold, and with candles burning round it. The walls were hung with golden hangings, in the windows were placed altars, where daily a hundred masses 1 Now in the Carnavalet. 32 1 1 r a 3 s < O Q ' ^ < C^ O a H f THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE were said for the soul of the only king who ever died in the Louvre. The effigy was dressed like the living king, a top of satin cramoisy was covered by a tunic of azure satin worked with the fleur-de-lis,, and over all spread a royal mantle of cramoisy-violet velvet, embroidered with the fleur-de-lis,, and lined with ermine. At a table near this bed of state the king's meals were served in such grandeur as he enjoyed living, and the dishes were presented, but in profound silence, to the effigy. At the end of eleven days this waxen figure was moved, and placed under the recessed end of the salle ; and the king's body was shown in a coffin covered with cloth of gold, on which was a cross of white satin, surmounted by a golden crown. The golden hangings on the walls were replaced by black hangings. Paris mourned a great king. Always the old buildings continued to crumble away, as each monarch built and rearranged the Louvre to suit the growing power of the Crown. Under Louis XIII. (1610-1643) little remained but the north and east side of the Cour du Louvre, and these Richelieu pulled down, together with the tower which had held the library of Charles V., and the splendid staircase of c 33 THE LOUVRE Raymond du Temple. The work of reconstruction was entrusted to Jacques Lemercier, and it was definitely decided to make the court four times as large as that planned by Pierre Lescot. The change was rendered necessary by the growing power of the king, and hurried on by the ambition of Richelieu. No longer was the king the first among the seigneurs, needing only a chateau more elegant and powerful than those of his almost peers : he was the sovereign, to be removed high above his nobles, and the supreme magnificence of his palace was as an outward sign. Lernercier built the Pavilion de 1'Horloge, and continued the west wing, of which Lescot's section could now only form half. But he was careful to keep his work in harmony with that of Lescot, making indeed a replica of Lescot's work, but for the Pavilion de 1'Horloge. Sarazin was the sculptor of the fine and dignified cary- atides which appear on the upper story of this domed pavilion. In the north-west corner of the Cour du Louvre, Lemercier built a pavilion to match the Pavilion Henri II. Both have been destroyed. Lemercier began to build also along the north side of the court, and reached the 34 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE Pavilion Marengo before Louis XIII. died, in 1643 ; then the work on the Louvre continued very slowly, until the war of the Fronde brought everything to a standstill. Though Louis XIV. (1643-1715) came with his mother to the Louvre almost immediately after the death of Louis XIII., a king who lived but little in the Louvre, the court was transferred almost at once to the Palais Cardinal, now the Palais Royal, in which Louis XIV. lived during his minority. Again the Louvre seemed given over to neglect from the court, and was occupied by artists and craftsmen. The royal mint was installed, and in 1648 Theophraste Renaudot began to publish the Gazelle from the Louvre, a publication which continued for over a century. Henriette de France, Queen of England, was granted rooms in the Louvre during her exile, occupying the apartments of the Queen-mother on the ground floor, rooms put at her disposal with much ceremony. Despite which, on occasion, during the troubles of the Fronde, such chaos reigned that the hapless queen, unable to get her apartments warmed, had to keep her bed to avoid the piercing cold ! But when Louis XIV. came in triumph to 35 THE LOUVRE Paris the Louvre was itself again : and on the 21st October 1 652 he took up his official residence there. Anne d'Autriche took the apart- ments of the Queen-mother in the south-west half of the south side of the Cour du Louvre, and transferred the Petite Galerie into a suite of five magnificent rooms, ornamented with sculptures and pictures. The fine ceilings, decorated in gold for her, remain ; the marvellous bathroom, which Lemercier arranged for her, has disap- peared a bathroom splendid in marble, gold and enamel, with a floor of scented wood. The great marble bath, the bronze columns with gilded capitals, and the frescoes by Le Sueur made the room a marvel. The king's apartments on the first floor were also enlarged, and a new wing was built, the faade of which is visible from the Cour du Sphinx. It was entered from the king's apart- ments by the room now called the Rotonde d'Apollon. Mazarin also was lodged in the Louvre, the king's brother, and the Princesse Palatine : all lived in state in this great palace. Indeed the youth of Louis XIV. was a pleasant period ; the young king loved to dance, to see ballets, the specta- 36 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE cular was dear to him ; and the Louvre was a centre for that extreme grandeur which already centred round the Roi Soleil. In 1660 Moliere gave his ' Precieuses ridicules/ and 'L'Etourdi,' in the Louvre. On l6th February l66l the Galerie des Rois was arranged for a magnificent ballet, but in the night a fierce fire broke forth and the gallery was burnt out. Human help seemed to avail nothing and the Saint-Sacrement was brought from Saint Germain I'Auxerrois. The king and queen, attended by the court, escorted it to the scene of the fire, the wind changed, and the dreaded danger of the fire spreading was over. In 1666 Anne d'Autriche died in the Louvre, the only queen who ever died in this palace, and the court was plunged into profound mourning. But all these fetes did but increase the distance between the king and his great subjects. The king became absolute. Yet more the Louvre must increase, to impress and to afford room for the great court which surrounded Louis XIV. The gate on the eastern side, which yet remained from the Louvre of Philippe Auguste, fell, and with the last dust of its falling vanished the feudal age. 37 THE LOUVRE The work of Le Vau now appears on the Louvre at several different points. In the Cour du Louvre he continued on the north side the work of Lemercier, like Lemercier following in the footsteps of Lescot. On the south side, where he was also building, to make the eastern end of this south wing, he broke away, however, from the plan of Lescot to build in the centre the Pavilion des Arts ; an imposing domed structure, which no longer exists as to its domed roof. He also broke away from the simplicity of that outer side of the Cour du Louvre which faced the river, to make a front more in accord- ance with the colossal antique style of building now arising, due to Italian influence. But this introduction of his, showing how grandiose the building might become, was the cause of his work on the river face being hidden later behind the yet more grandiose work of Perrault. His work on the north and south side was not yet completed when he began on the eastern side. This side, which was to contain the principal entrance, was, though kept in sympathy with the other three sides, to be rather richer, more decorated as to the external face. Louis XIV. approved the plans, the Petit Bourbon and other 38 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE buildings which clustered round that side of the Louvre were demolished, the foundations were begun, when suddenly Le Vau was ordered to stop the work, which the king found not sufficiently imposing. So to Le Vau is due only that face of the Cour du Louvre on the east which faces inwards. It was decided that, for the external face, the chief approach to the Louvre, something more imposing must be sought for ; architects were invited to submit plans, a public exposition of their work was opened, but no conclusion was arrived at. Rome, then the centre of the arts, was appealed to ; and there all the plans sub- mitted, especially those of Le Vau, were harshly criticised. Colbert, Louis XIV.'s minister, favoured the plans of Claude Perrault, and as they were not sent to Rome they escaped the withering breath of criticism. Finally Louis XIV. decided to obtain an artist from Italy, as France failed, and the king sent an autograph letter to Bernini, making him vast promises if he would leave Italy to come and complete the Louvre. At first he refused, then accepted, and on his arrival was received with great pomp. But naturally the enmity of the 39 THE LOUVRE French architects was roused. Perrault began to agitate,, to cabal, to draw attention again to his own design. Louis XIV. began to be impatient, and Bernini, whose foundations were already dug, to fret under the cold breath of a criticism he resented. Charles Perrault, brother of Claude Perrault, published a scathing pamphlet on the immense design of Bernini ; and the latter took advantage of the excuse offered by the first cold to leave France, entrusting his work to his pupil, Matteo Rossi. But though Bernini retired laden with honours, and pensioned, the cabals and intrigues continued. It is idle to say by what devious channels Louis XIV. and public opinion were influenced, but the result was the shelving of Bernini's structure ; which never rose beyond the foundations. Colbert took advantage of this change of mind to present Claude Perrault to the king, and though Perrault' s design had the same drawbacks as that of Bernini, its grandiose character appealed to the king, and to Perrault the work of completing the exterior of the Cour du Louvre was entrusted. The design of Perrault broke with the national tradition by substituting a single colossal order for the orders which are seen in the interior of the court. 40 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE In place of the gracious lines of Lescot, Perrault substituted the severe lines of an antique monument, without visible roof. And though this colonnade of the Louvre is undoubtedly a fine, even a noble, piece of work, the finest example of the ordre colossal which exists, it is to be deplored, because of the modification it rendered necessary, to make other parts of the building accord with its huge proportions. The interior of the court was affected, as the height of the colonnade prevented it agreeing with the height of the court as planned by Lescot. Le Van and Le Brim were both associated with Perrault in carrying out the latter* s design, as he was not considered a sufficiently practical architect to be entrusted alone with so important a work. Perrault indeed showed himself not desirous of reaping large sums for his work, he continued to receive only 2000 a year ' comme medicin et savant,' and only in 1669 received the sum of l6() e pour le travail el I application quil a donnes mix bailments.' New foundations were dug, and the work was being executed from 1667 to 1674, at a cost of 500,000 francs a year, until 1671, when the facade was structur- ally complete. After that the expense fell con- THE LOUVRE siderably. In 1674 the two immense monolithic stones which form the pediment were raised into place by a complicated arrangement, of which a drawing by Sebastien Leclerc exists. The whole face of the building was covered with a net- work of poles, designed to help raise the two huge blocks. From 1674 to 1676 Caffieri and Lespagnaudel were carving the facade, in particular the fine Corinthian capitals designed by Le Brun; but the colonnade has never been carved and ornamented to the extent originally planned. The Victory distributing Crowns, which appears over the colonnade, was carved in 1809 by Cartellier; the bust of Louis le Grand, dating from 1811, is by Lemot ; Wisdom and Victory are crowning the Roi Soleil in this huge bas-relief. Perrault's colonnade, when finally completed, was found to project towards the river fifteen feet beyond the river face of the Cour du Louvre, the face erected by Le Van : it became therefore necessary to mask this face, ( to bury it alive,' and this was done. The present coldly classical fa9ade of the Cour du Louvre, facing the river, took the place of Le Vau's work buried behind it ; but the roof of the Pavilion Henri II., and 42 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE Le Vau's dome showed above the pediment of the new face, until they were pulled down con- siderably later, the dome in 1759. The colonnade also projected towards the rue de Rivoli, but this projection has never been concealed. The face of the Cour du Louvre looking over the rue de Rivoli, begun under Perrault, carried on by Gabriel and Soufflot, was only finished by Percier and Fontaine. But even while the work was going on the interest of Louis XIV. was slackening, until in 1676 the work stopped. Even the Galerie d'Apollon, which was built on the ruined Galerie des Rois, was left unfinished, with the ceiling paintings of Le Brun half completed. The roofs of some of the buildings were not complete. The reason for this strange change of plan, by which the Louvre was plunged again into that neglect which, varied by outbursts of royal splendour, has ever been its lot, lay in the king. He needed a stage where he could walk less surrounded by people and things which might intercept heaven's limelight, a space where his personality would show up : he withdrew himself to Versailles, the Louvre was obscured, the king cared no longer. The scaffolding rotted away, green creeping plants 43 THE LOUVRE covered the stonework, parasitic buildings were built up against the colonnade, everything was at a standstill, or worse. One thing the king did arrange, carrying out that policy which had ever connected the Louvre with art or learning : the Louvre was to be the home of various learned bodies ; it was put at the disposal of the academies. Their installa- tion was hailed as marking the coming of a new age : the supremacy of intelligence over brute force was established. The Academic francaise was installed at the Louvre in 1672, and there three times a week the members met for discussion and work on the Dictionnaire. The Academic d'architec- ture et de peinture began to show their works in the Louvre, at first capriciously, but then at periods which tended to become more regular. In these exhibitions of pictures lies the origin of the Salon. In 1699 the Grande Galerie was placed at their disposal by Mansart, Directeur des Bdti- ments du lloi. In I70f), however, they held the last exhibition hung in the Louvre until 1725, when they were granted the use of the Salon Carre to show pictures. Colbert induced the king also to collect together in the Louvre some of the fine pictures 44 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE belonging to the Crown, which were placed, closely hung in seven rooms, among them the Salon Carre and the Galerie d'Apollon. Colbert also instituted the Cabinet des Estampes, from which springs the present Chalcographie. A Cabinet des Livres, to which a copy of every book published in the kingdom had to be sent, was also installed ; it was moved later to the present Biblio- theque Nationale. The palace, therefore, though neglected by the court, was used for the encouragement of the arts ; artists too continued to have lodgings granted them in the Louvre ; Jean Berain, Israel Sil- vestre, Coustou, Girardon and Coypel are a few among the most celebrated. Under the regency of the due d' Orleans, during the minority of Louis XV. (1715-1774), this privilege was shame- lessly abused : inferior artists people who were not even artists installed themselves with their families. And these amazing people did not hesitate to divide the great rooms to suit them- selves, to make fresh chimneys, to drive iron pipes to carry off smoke through the walls. The place was used barbarously. The exterior lay smothered under temporary buildings : even the colonnade was walled up to make rooms. The finest palace of the 45 THE LOUVRE world was indeed fallen on bad times. Ruin, decay and squalor had their way with the Louvre to an unthinkable extent. True, agitations were not infrequently heard about this condition of things existing in a king's palace, in his own capital, but no attempt was made to cleanse the Augean stable. The king cared no longer for the Louvre, that was enough. But a change came with the election of M. de Marigny to be Surintendant des Bailments de la Couronne, for in 1775 he obtained leave from the king to restore the palace, to save it from its parlous state. His first care was to remove the temporary structures, endangering the building, and masking it under a sordid huddle of wooden buildings, which he found everywhere. He tore down the sheds and ruins, removed the stables which were built up against the colonnade, and began to set the king's house in order. Huge was the ire of the inhabitants who enjoyed free lodging in the Louvre ; vast the difficulty in re- moving them. Van Loo, who had installed himself in the Galerie d'Apollon, refused to move ! But Marigny attended to the ravages of neglect, and commissioned the architect Gabriel to continue the work so carelessly abandoned. The colonnade was THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE restored, but money failed for anything beyond repairs, no decorations could be finished. After Marigny followed M. d'Angiviller, who also, for lack of money, could do little, though great was his enthusiasm. Under Louis XVI. (1774-1793) again money failed to finish the Louvre ; the most that could be done was to get it relatively into the same state as under Louis XIV. ; but considering to what it had fallen in the interval, how abandoned and decayed, that was much gained. The neglect of the court continued, but the Louvre began to be put to many official uses which foreshadowed its later purpose as a museum and as public offices. But what was cleared would not remain clear : the Louvre began again to be overrun with persons who considered themselves entitled to a lodging therein. When, in 1789, Louis XVI. was brought from Versailles to the Tuileries, it seemed that the Louvre might regain its old place. Projects for its completion and for the establish- ment of the king therein were mooted : all of course to come to nothing. The Revolution saw the Louvre emptied again ; in 1792 all the occupants were turned out, while 47 THE LOUVRE 011 the request of David all the goods of the Academies were seized. But the Louvre had before it bad days. The Convention having decided to devote the Louvre to a museum of art, everyone who was in favour with the Government felt them- selves entitled to lodge there. Again they installed themselves where they could, and this palace of the people became a dirty, foul place, where the great rooms were cut up to form several apart- ments : iron pipes poured forth smoke in every corner ; chaos reigned. Napoleon came to end for ever this horrible condition. He ordered out the occupants. They knew a strong man, and went. For the artists of real merit a home was found in the Sorbonne, the learned societies returned to the Louvre. Then Napoleon arranged for the rooms of Anne d' Autriche, and part of the Grande Galerie, to be utilised to show the artistic treasures he had gathered in Italy on the field of battle. And in the Louvre was solemnised the marriage of the Emperor Napoleon and Marie Louise ; the emperor and his bride walking down the Grande Galerie from his Palace of the Tuileries to the Salon Carre, where the ceremony took place. Napoleon returned again to the old dream of ( w s fc z o 1-3 o O THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE uniting the Louvre and the Tuileries on the north as well as south, and he employed Percier and Fontaine as architects. Their first work had to be to cover in the wing by the water, never thoroughly finished, and to complete the fa9ades in the Cour du Louvre. But here the old difficulty appeared : how bring into harmony the work of Perrault and Lescot? All the old discussions broke out, and finally the emperor nominated a commission to deal with this matter. This commission decided to keep the heavy story, forming a third order, which was necessary to mask Perrault's colonnade from the interior of the court, on the east side, but to leave the beautiful attics of Lescot's design on the other three sides, finishing the necessary work on the north and south. Then Napoleon, much impressed with the beauty of straight lines, unhappily decided to ignore the finding of the commission, and to con- tinue the third order round the north, south and east fa9ades. Fortunately he has spared the beauti- ful upper story of Lescot on the west side. But the attics of the north and south side have dis- appeared, with the sculptures of Paul Ponce, which were sawn from their places. D 49 THE LOUVRE The Cour du Louvre has now only on the west side the proportions as Lescot planned them, with his elegant and beautiful upper story. The three other sides have a second story, which is almost a replica of the first, crowned with a balustrade, and with no visible roof, whereas the west side permits the steep grey roof to be seen. On the west side is the domed Pavilion de 1'Horloge, the other three pavilions only rise above the court by their pediments. The pediment on the east side was carved by Coustou about 1757, but the Gallic cock has taken the place of the arms of France. For this pediment he re- ceived ,7000. The pediments of the north and south pavilions illustrate the encouragement given by France to art and science, and are the work of Le Sueur and Ramey. Moitte, Chaudet, and Roland were employed during the First Empire on the decorations rendered necessary by Napoleon's decision. The plan of Percier and Fontaine for the union of the Louvre and Tuileries included a cross gallery, which would have made three courts, but when the Empire fell hardly anything had been done; it was reserved for Napoleon III. to complete the work. 50 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE The governments of the Restoration and the Second Republic only continued the gallery going east from the Pavilion de Marsan, joining it to a section built under Napoleon I. There is an ugly corner where the two meet, a corner not gracious in so fine a building. Under the Restora- tion the Louvre began to be used again for purposes of state. The Salle des Gardes, now the Salle Louis La Caze, was used for the two Chambers when the king opened Parliament. A neighbour- ing salon on the north side of the Pavilion de THorloge served for the Conseil d'Etat. Exhibitions of the products of various industries were held in the Louvre, the Salon also returned, the modern pictures being hung over the old ones ! And after the Salon the king distributed awards in the Salon Carre. But the king lived, as every king since Louis XIV., in the Tuileries. During the Revolution of 1830 the Louvre attempted resistance against the invading mob, a thing the mediaeval fortress had never done, and from the colonnade the Swiss Guard drew on the people. The mob, however, forced a way in and marched through the galleries and salons. But the efforts of M. de Cailleux, the Secretary of the Museum, preserved the pictures from harm. THE LOUVRE In the Revolution of 1848 the collections were in greater danger, but were saved by the painter Jeanron, who harangued the mob and induced them to retire. On his advice they contented themselves by establishing the national work- shops in the Louvre, and suppressing in a burst of democratic fervour the jury of the Salon. Five hundred pictures were hung in the Salon Carre and Grande Galerie in that year's Salon, the last held in the Louvre. The Emperor Louis Napoleon ordered the completion of the Louvre, trusting the work to the architects Visconti and Lefuel. An immense effort to finish the work so often projected but never carried through was made, 3600 workmen being employed. All the houses, the sheds, and structures of every kind which encumbered the place du Carrousel were torn down, among them the Hotel de Nantes. The architects gave up the idea of hiding the want of parallelism between the Louvre and the Tuileries by cross courts. They contented themselves by building between the long wings of the Louvre two buildings with porticoes on the ground floor, which drew together the place du Carrousel, making its east end 52 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE smaller. Visconti, to whom was due this brilliant idea, died in 1854. Lefuel continued his work, which is rightly considered a brilliant example of the fusion of old and new, since it is kept in harmony with the old Cour du Louvre. These new wings are decorated with statues of cele- brated Frenchmen, statues of a pleasant medio- crity. Between these wings, at the west end, is the great monument to Gambetta, whose tumultuous figure seems to be in motion against the back- ground of trees behind. The monument is by Boileau ; the sculptures are by Aube. One of the little gardens contains the bronze ' Lafayette,' by P. W. Bartlett. The work of finishing the Louvre was celebrated on 14th August 1857, when the emperor went to the ceremony in great pomp. He gave a discourse in which he said: e L? achievement du Louvre rietait pas le caprice d'un moment, mats la realisation d y un grand dessein soutenu par I' instinct du pays pendant plus de trois cents ans.' The discourse was followed by a banquet in the Pavilion Denon. Naturally the completion of the work was received with great enthusiasm. The work of Visconti and Lefuel completed the north wing, where a gap had existed between 53 THE LOUVRE the Pavilion de Rohan, erected during the reign of Louis XVIII., and the small section east of the Pavilion Colbert, which was built under Napoleon I. Visconti and Lefuel also remodelled the work done at the west end of the south wing under Henri IV., and pierced an entrance between the Pavilion de Lesdiquieres and de la Tremoille. Over the central arch of this gateway was a statue of Napoleon III., replaced after his fall by Mercie's ' Genius of Art.' But though the statue of Napoleon III. has been removed, his initial and crown remain on the summit of the gateway, with an inscription relating to him. Under Napoleon III. also the Galerie d'Apol- lon was completed. Delacroix painted the central panel of the ceiling, left unfinished by Le Brun. Now the Galerie d'Apollon is gorgeous in sombre colour, with a ceiling of the last mag- nificence and with walls bearing tapestry pictures of the great men of France. The contents of the gallery, a wealth of crystal and gold, gleaming enamel and jewellery, are worthy of the setting. The Salon Carre and the Grande Galerie were also redecorated, and reinaugurated on 5th June 1851. For a time this great palace was secure in its 54 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE pride of completion. In 1859 Napoleon III. held a great banquet in honour of the generals who returned victorious from the Italian campaign. The emperor received his guests in the Grande Galerie, and passed to a banquet in the Salle d'Etats. Here on a raised dais dined the emperor and the princes of his family, overlooking the tables at which were seated his guests. The choir of the opera sang, and the banquet was a royal rejoicing of considerable splendour. The Louvre was indeed more palace than museum, so much of it was devoted to the service of the emperor. In 1870 the Grande Galerie, scene of so many events, saw the tragic figure of the Empress Eugenie, followed only by Mademoiselle le Breton, Prince Metternich and M. Nigra, hurry through it, escaping from the Tuileries, which was invested by the insurgents on the 4th of September. She passed round the south and east side of the Cour du Louvre, and escaped from the palace by the gate in the Pavilion Saint Germain 1'Auxerrois. During the siege of Paris, earthworks were thrown up in front of the windows to protect the antique sculpture on the ground floor from shells ; and the more precious objects of the collections were packed up, to be despatched to 55 THE LOUVRE Brest. Six hundred pictures were placed on board a ship ready to sail for America. After the fall of Napoleon and the siege of Paris followed the Commune. The Communards suspended the Conservators of the Museum, entrusting their duties to Hereau, a painter, Dalou, the sculptor, and Henriot, an architect. But fortunately these three men abstained from actually expelling from the Louvre M. Barbet de Jouy, Conservator of the French Sculpture, M. Heron de Villefosse, whose work lay in the de- partment of antique sculpture, and M. Morand, the Secretaire Comptable of the Museum; and to these men the guardians of the Louvre continued to look. The long-planned work of the French monarchy was complete, but, like Aladdin's palace, the Louvre should have been left unfinished : it is not well to interfere with the will of the gods. That Fate which did not intend the Louvre and the Tuileries to be blended into one harmoni- ous whole, and had for so long successfully prevented the completion of the work, used the Commune as a weapon to strike and shatter once and for all this plan of upstart man. The Louvre was complete ; the Tuileries was doomed. 56 ELISABETH D' AUTRICHE Franfois Clouet THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE About midnight on the 23rd of May 1871, the Communards fired the Tuileries. Flames of every colour, fed by the petrol and chemicals placed in the palace by Bergeret, burst out. At three o'clock in the morning the Palais Royal was ablaze, and an hour later the frightened watchers in the museum of the Louvre saw it also alight. The Pavilion Richelieu caught fire. The fate of the Louvre hung in the balance. Then the old Conservators of the Louvre saw that on them its safety depended : they sent guardians into the cellars to search for explosives, and hastily closing every possible entrance prepared to resist the mob, if they attempted to force a way into the Louvre before the army of Thiers could enter Paris. Then began a grim fight against the flames, which were licking the roofs ; and if by daybreak most of the danger was over it was chiefly owing to the devotion and bravery of Barbet de Jouy and Heron de Villefosse. The three delegates of the Communards, who were encountered wandering through the galleries, offered their services to help in saving the building, of which they were nominally in charge. De Jouy however refused their help, probably uncertain of their intentions, and they were 57 THE LOUVRE carefully watched while the struggle went on. De Jouy also gave them an asylum when the troops entered the Louvre, even aiding them to escape. Troops under the command of Sigoyer, who was stationed in the Tuileries Gardens, helped to clear the mob from the place du Carrousel, and to aid in beating out the fires on the roof. On the following day, when the chief danger was over, the windows of the Galerie d'Apollon were occupied by troops firing on the Communards who were installed on the Pont Neuf. The return fire destroyed part of the external decorations of the gallery, though there are now no signs of damage. The tricolor flag, floating from the Pavilion de FHorloge after the troops occupied the Louvre, drew down, until Barbet de Jouy and Villefosse lowered the flag, on the building fire from the Communards' guns mounted on Pere Lachaise. The Louvre was saved, but the Tuileries Palace lay a mass of smoking ruins, and the wings of the Louvre, all its westward growth, was shorn of their purpose. But, deeply regrettable from an artistic and historical point of view as the burning of the Tuileries was, it is to be doubted if any second enclosed court could be as fine as 58 THE PALACE OF THE LOUVRE the present Louvre, with the Gardens of the Tuileries stretching away towards the Arc de Triomphe de 1'fitoile. If the Cour du Louvre and the river face of the Grande Galerie are fine, so also are the interior faces of the Nouveau Louvre, the west ends of which really form part of the Tuileries. A great space gave a great opportunity, and on the whole most people will acknowledge that this part of the building also has been well planned and well executed. The long grey grandiose lines are worthy of the Louvre the kings planned. The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, designed to commemorate the victories of 1 805 and to form an approach to the Tuileries, supports its unexpected isolation magnificently. It is the work of Percier and Fontaine. One of the best points from which to see the Nouveau Louvre is the steps of the Salle Mastaba, before which the whole western Louvre lies outspread the finest palace of the world, yet only worthy of Paris. During the Third Republic the dangers, especi- ally of fire, attendant on the occupation of the Louvre have ceased, as it now contains only art collections and the offices of some public services ; 59 THE LOUVRE these latter are being gradually ousted by the growing museum, to the end that ultimately the whole Louvre will be consecrated to art. The only remaining public offices are those of the Ministere des Finances in the north wing. A strong castle in the Middle Ages, a mansion under Charles V., an elegant chateau under the Valois, a grandiose palace under Louis XIV., a palace of the sovereign people now, the Louvre has probably seen its last change of purpose, whatever the future has in store for the French nation. 1 1 k Le Musee du Louvre,' by M. Paul Gaultier, and * Le Louvre et son Histoire,' by M. Albert Babeau, are both very interesting. II THE MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE THE creation of the Musee du Louvre is officially a work of the Revolution. It was opened in 1793. But its origins go further back. Always the kings of France, from the time when Philippe Auguste stored his chief valuables in the Grosse Tour, have tended to use the Louvre as a storehouse of artistic treasures ; and finally the collections of the king were shown to certain privileged persons on certain days. In 1 750 one hundred and sixty pictures Italian, Flemish, French were brought from the rooms of the Suriniendance de Versailles to Paris, to be hung in the Luxembourg Palace, the Marquis de Marigny being then Directeur des Bailments du Roi. And at this moment the feeling, which had long been in the air, that the public were entitled to some enjoyment of the art treasures of the Crown, seems first to have taken official form. Twice a week the public were allowed to see the 61 THE LOUVRE pictures, and also the Rubens Gallery, not then moved to the Louvre. In 1775 the corate de la Billanderie d'Angiviller was Directeur des Bailments du Roi, and what had so long been voiced as a pious wish by outsiders he essayed to bring about. He decided that the finest pictures and sculptures belonging to the king should be collected in the Louvre, in a part to be called the museum. Versailles contains a picture of Angiviller, holding in his hand a plan of the Louvre arranged for this purpose. His idea was received with great enthusiasm in Paris, where Angiviller pressed forw r ard his project with keen vigour. But his wise plan was not to be realised. In 1783 the Parisians lost even what they already had, for the king ordered the pictures, including all the great Rubens, to be removed to Versailles. This was done with little ceremony, or even care. The Revolution was destined to carry out Angiviller's dream. On 26'th May 1791, on the suggestion of Barere, the Constituante decided to make the Louvre a depot des sciences ct des arts. The 26th August 17.91 saw the same project reaffirmed, and a year later a commission, nominated by the Assemblee Legislative, on the 62 THE MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE recommendation of Roland, was appointed. Among the duties of the commission was to be the gathering together in the Louvre of all the art treasures now scattered about in the royal palaces the " Maisons ci-devant Royales" in the Cabinet du Roi, in the "Maisons dcs Petit Augiistins" and other Church property, convents and so forth ; and also the treasures taken from the chateaux of the emigres. A decree of the Convention, dated the 17th July 1793, ordered that the museum should be opened on the following 10th of August, in the Grande Galerie. To the Minister of the Interior the carrying out of this decree was entrusted ; and 100,000 yearly were to be put at his disposal to buy works of art ' quit importe a la Republique de ne pas laisser passer dans des pays etr angers? The members of the first commission were the painters Jean Rene Jollain and Francis Andre Vincent, who had previously been charged with the care of the pictures in the Cabinet du Roi, Jean Baptist e Regnault, an historical painter, Charles Bossut, a member of Academic des Sciences, Pierre Pasquier, a miniaturest, and Pierre Cossart, a miniaturest and First Com- missioner. These unfortunate men have been 63 THE LOUVRE variously spoken of as e des artistes et des experts recommandables , and as worse than incapable. Le Brim and David were among their most violent detractors. David called them ' les viles creatures de Roland,' and Courajod says: 'This grotesque group of incapable men worked tranquilly in the museum from the end of 1792 until the 16th of January 1794. Then the ridicule they drew down on themselves, and the danger to which they exposed the rare objects they found worthy of a place in the museum, led to their being driven ignominiously from it by David.' The official date given for the opening of the museum, the date carved over the entrance to the Galerie d'Apollon, is the 10th August 1793, and this date is that accepted by Renouvier. But the evidence is conflicting : it is uncertain if the public were really admitted before the 8th of November. At first the museum was only open for three days in every ten, and, as was unavoid- able, the collection was in disorder, though there was a catalogue, and a serious attempt was being made to get everything into shape. Many of the objects had not arrived ; it was impossible for an arrangement to be anything but tentative, though the museum was rich already : it contained GlLLES Antoine IVatteau LE CHATEAU DE CARTES lean Baptiste Char din THE MUSEUM OP THE LOUVRE live hundred and thirty-seven pictures and one hundred and twenty-four pieces of sculpture, besides other objects. It is amazing during the Revolution, how well, how discreetly, the idea of the museum was managed, how excellently it was planned. In fact the lines laid down by the Constituante and the Convention are those on which work has been organised ever since. One accusation brought by David against the unfortunate commissioners was that they caused pictures to be restored, to their lasting injury : he maintained that Correggio's ( Antiope ' especially suffered. But doubtless some of his violence was due to personal interest. For the opening of the museum, and its care afterwards, a guard of sixty-five men, with a cap- tain and two lieutenants, were judged necessary. The unfortunate inhabitants of Versailles, who saw in the downfall of the king their ruin, as a town which had simply lived by the court, petitioned that the art treasures of the Trianons and Versailles should be left, else were they deprived of everything which could attract ; and the decree of July 1763, therefore, arranged that this should be so. But in 1794 the pictures, antiques, and E 65 THE LOUVRE bronze copies of antiques, were brought from Versailles, which was thus stripped of its chiefest treasures. The ridicule and the attacks made on the first commission led to it being abolished by a decree of the 16th January 1794; the control of the museum was then entrusted to a ' Conservatoire du Musee des Arts,' the members of which were Fragonard, Bonvoisin, Lesueur, and Picault for painting, Dardel and Dupasquier for sculpture, and David Leroi and Launoi for architecture. Wicar and Varon were also members, charged with the care of the antiques. On the 27th of July 1798 Paris was stirring with the magnetic movement which precedes a great event. For Paris was to see the visible signs of victory ; the first-fruits were to be gathered in. The pictures and sculptures, manuscripts and valuable books, ceded to France by virtue of the treaties of Tolentino and Campo-Formio, were to cross Paris in solemn state, conveyed in forty- five cars. The procession of cars, escorted by a band of savants, artists and employees from the Bibliotheque Nationale, the Louvre, and the Musee des Monuments Fran9ais, crossed the town from the place de la Bastille to the champ de 66 THE MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE Mars, where, close to the autel de la pairic, the Minister of the Interior was waiting, surrounded by members of the Institute. Some of the cars contained objects for the Musee d'Histoire Naturelle and Jardin des Plantes, but twenty-nine of them contained pictures and marbles for the Louvre, then called the Musee Central des Arts. The cars were decorated with garlands and flags, and bore the names of their principal contents, among which were the ' Apollo Belvedere,' 'The Dying Gaul/ 'The Virgin of Foligno,' and 'The Transfiguration/ The car con- taining the antique marbles bore the ominously triumphant inscription : * La Grece les ceda : Rome les a perdtis. Leur sort changed deux fois ; Us ne changer out plus* At first the Louvre could not afford space to show all these marvels, but the work was pressed hurriedly on, and soon all Paris was pour- ing through the galleries of the Louvre, to enjoy a first sight of the spoils the Goddess of War had delivered over to them. After the campaigns of 1806 and 1807, Flemish, Dutch and German pictures came to swell the collections, with further sculptures and bronzes. THE LOUVRE Never before had so many masterpieces been gathered together, for a continual stream of new treasures were continually pouring in to enrich Napoleon's city. The Salon Carre, arranged to show them, could only hold them temporarily ; then they were passed on to the Grande Galerie, and their place was taken by the newest arrivals. But unhappily for France the spoils had to be given up- in 1815, and it is curious, and rather illuminating, to find that Frenchmen fiercely objected to their removal and return to their orig- inal countries, crying out on what they genuinely considered an unjust act. But much escaped from the eyes of the Allies, much had been sent to local museums, whence no one claimed it. Some vagueness existed as to the origin of many of the treasures in the Louvre. Naturally the officials did not press forward with information as to the objects Napoleon had gained for them, and something was left when the Allies had completed their work. The administrators, especially Vivant Denon, the Directeur, and Louis Antoine Lavallee, Secretaire General du Musee, displayed a tact and ability over this difficult matter of stripping the Louvre of her prizes of war which ended in many permanent gains for France. 68 THE MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE But the collections that remained were splendid ; no attempt was made by the Allies to follow the example set by France and strip from her some of her own treasures. These have since been added to by valuable donations and legacies, and by extensive purchases, the French Government comparing favourably with the English Government in its encouragement of art. The internal administration of the Louvre has been checkered ; from these first commissions, so fiercely accused of destroying pictures by restoring them, and from later days when the same error was practised, from periods when method was everything and the Louvre \vas tied up in red tape, to the present condition of things, the museum has seen many changes. During the Restoration, and under Louis Philippe, objects were recklessly taken for the king's palaces, where, badly catalogued, or even not catalogued at all, they deteriorated, and in some cases disappeared. The Musee du Louvre is now the chief of the four ( Musees Nationaux,' of which the other three are the Musee du Luxembourg, the Musee du Versailles and the Musee des Antiquites Nationales THE LOUVRE de St Germain-en-Laye. The other museums belonging to France should be more correctly called Musees de 1'Etat : they are on a different footing. The administration of the Musees Nationaux is, by a decree of the 5th September 1888, modified somewhat by later decrees, con- fided to a Directeur, appointed by the President of the Republic on the advice of his ministry. The Directeur, who lives in the Louvre, acts under the authority of the Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts. He has under him a Chef du Secretariat des Musees Nationaux, or Secretariat Agent Comptable, a conservateur for each department, of which in the Louvre there are seven, conservateurs adjoints, attaches payes and attaches fibres. There is also on the staff of the Louvre a librarian and keeper of the records (a bibliothecaire archiviste), clerks, chefs gardiens, sous-chefs, gardiens of the first, second, third and fourth class, and various extra workers. The Chef du Secretariat, conservateurs, and con- servateurs adjoints are nominated by the President of the Republic, acting on the advice of the Minister of Fine Arts. The other members of the staff are chosen directly by this ministry. The gardiens are all old sous-officiers 9 though 70 THE MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE private soldiers are eligible for the posts if there are no sous-officiers to fill them. The salaries drop from that of the Directeur, who gets a salary of 12,000 francs yearly, to that of the first-class gardien getting a salary of 1800 francs. But beside all these visible organisers and workers at the Louvre there are the workshops. There is a framer and letterer, a department for engravings, an atelier for preserving the antiques, a restorer for the antique vases and small antiquities, an atelier for making casts of antiques, and a workshop in connection with the Musee de Marine. The Directeur, conservateurs, and conservateurs adjoint* meet as a committee twice a month, or oftener if necessary, to consult as to the acquisi- tion of works of art, and on other points which arise. During the Third Republic the budget of the Musees Nationaux ('personal et materiel compris') in 1870 was 331,083 francs, rising by 1880 to 783,780 francs, by 1890 to 937,375 francs, by 1900 to 962,905 francs. The credit given for the purchase of works of art has varied since 1870 between 54,000 and 185,000 francs yearly. Since 1896 this credit is entered under a separate heading as ( Subvention de FEtat pour THE LOUVRE acquisition dobjets ay ant mi caractcre artistique, archeologique ou historiqiie.' The grants had to be spent in the year or lapse, an arrangement which made buying difficult, the sale of works of art being very fluctuating, but extraordinary grants were occasionally made. This arrange- ment was altered in 1895, when M. Georges Leygues, Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, and M. Poincare, Minister of Finance, carried a law amending this difficulty, a law which was incorporated in the e loi de finances ' of that year. The chief revenues of the Musees Nationaux are drawn from this yearly grant from the state, gifts and legacies, objects subscribed for, revenue coming from the Caisse des Musees and revenue derived from the sale of casts and engravings from the museums. The Caisse des Musees was established in 1 896, when most of the Crown jewels were sold. Half the proceeds were allocated to the Musees Nationaux. In 1903 the income from this source was 168,516 francs, from the sale of engravings and casts 60,000 francs. In 1897 the Societe des Amis du Louvre was started, to aid in buying works of art for the nation. In connection with the Musee du Louvre is 72 : s 1! L' IMPERATRICE JOSEPHINE Pierre Prudhon THE MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE the Ecole du Louvre, instituted in 1882, and having for its object the study of art and archaeology. This useful and important school, the annual budget of which is about 28,000 francs, is open to students of over sixteen. 73 Ill THE PAINTINGS IT is in the paintings in the Louvre that its chief glory as a museum lies. The wise culture of her kings, and the no less wise policy of her republics, have given to France a collection of paintings which is of the greatest distinction, full of pieces of the very first importance. Long ago in the Italian campaigns of Frai^ois I er (1515-1547), the star of the Musee du Louvre began to rise, for during those campaigns the king acquired his love of art : by his later policy he laid down that tradition of culture, of encouragement of painting, which his successors followed. Francois I er began to form a collection of easel paintings ; while among the artists who visited his court were Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, and Benvenuto Cellini. Among his purchases, which now hang in the Louvre, some of its chiefest treasures, are Raphael's ' La Belle Jardiniere/ da Vinci's ' Vierge aux Rochers/ 74 THE PAINTINGS the 'Sainte Famille de Frar^ois I er / Raphael's f St Margaret/