Michel Laclotte (1929–2021)

On August 10, 1793, a wondrous building was made open to the public. Exactly one year before, Louis XVI was imprisoned and the monarchy felled. The National Assembly urged that the works of art hoarded by Louis and previous kings be collected and displayed so that they could preserve the national memory. At it’s opening, The Louvre showcased 537 paintings and 184 other objects of art. From there started an interesting and sometimes sordid history. Michel Laclotte and Jean-Pierre Cuzin’s show more The Louvre gives a history of each of the museum’s major collection, but more importantly, displays a wide variety of the museum’s pieces in glorious color plates.

The book is pretty straightforward. There is a cursory history of the collection and the building, and then each collection is given a sizable chunk of the book. Half the book is given over to French painting and other half to other European works of art. The authors discuss how each period’s works started in the collection and then gives a fair amount of detail on how they’ve progressed over the years. One of the more interesting bits of information that the text sometimes glosses over is that people used to pay estate or other taxes by handing over works of art to the museum. While each collection’s history is plenty intriguing, it’s the full color plates of works that make the book worth thumbing through. It will never replace actually going to the museum, but centuries’ worth of art is contained in this book, and that is worth at least the price of admission. show less

very well organized and well written. good photos. perfect art book.

30.5 x 23 cm (12" x 9") ISBN 0896600637 and 0896600378 Artabras 1993, 280 pages, Paperback

Containing work form all areas of the Louvre's collections, this is fully illustrated throughout, in fact there is little else besides the illustrations here with the introduction just a little over a page in length, plus an index to the work illustrated.

The work is divided into sections: Oriental Antiques (pp 9-34); Egyptian Antiques (pp 35-64); Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiques (pp 65-92); show more Decorative Arts (pp 93-114); Sculpture (pp 115-140); European Paintings (pp 141-246); Drawings (pp 247-275).

With the illustrations invariably either half of full-page in size I estimate there are about 400 pieces illustrated (forgive if I don't count them), each with a full caption but nothing more. Many of the three-dimensional pieces are shown as cut-outs so there is nothing to detract from the image. The quality of printing is good with reasonable detail even in the very dark areas of paintings, and the colours appear convincing.

If you are after a good selection of the full range of the Louvre's collections this is a good place to start, but of course if you want any commentary then you 'd best look elsewhere. show less

not my favourite paintings but very good commentary