The Galerie du Temps at the Louvre-Lens A unique presentation of ...

Press release
List of works The Galerie du Temps
at the Louvre-Lens
A unique presentation
of 205 works of art
Eugène Delacroix, The 28 th of July: Liberty Leading
the People (July 28, 1830).
Department of Paintings, Musée du Louvre, RF 129
© 2009 Musée du Louvre / Erich Lessing
Discophorus (athlete holding a discus)
1 st –2 nd century A.D., Marble.
Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman
Antiquities, Musée du Louvre, Ma 89
© 2001 RMN / Hervé Lewandowski
Paris, April 17, 2012
Several months in advance of the planned opening of the
Louvre - Lens on December 4, 2012, the Committee for Loans
and Deposits of the Musées de France has approved the initial
selection of 205 works that will be presented in the museum’s
Galerie du Temps, home to a semi-permanent exhibition unlike
any other ever put on public view before.
An unprecedented voyage through the history of art
In contrast to other museums, the Louvre-Lens will not maintain its
own collections. For a period of five years, the Galerie du Temps will
house a selection of masterpieces from the Louvre, arranged
chronologically. All civilizations and techniques will be represented in
this rectangular space, measuring 120 meters in length, from the birth of
writing around 3500 B.C. up to the mid-nineteenth century, thus spanning
the chronological and geographic breadth of the Louvre’s collections.
Masterpieces from the Louvre displayed in the Galerie du Temps
will be divided into three main periods: 70 works from antiquity, 45
works from the Middle Ages, and 90 works from modern times.
A rotating, semi-permanent exhibition
A total of 205 works or groups of works will be displayed in the
Galerie du Temps for five years. The works are to be installed on a semi
-permanent basis, as a majority of them will remain in Lens for the full
five years. On December 4, 2013, the first anniversary of the museum’s
opening, a little less than one-fifth of the works will be replaced, with
further rotations at each subsequent anniversary. The aim of this semipermanent
exhibition is to build loyalty among the museum’s frequent
visitors, who will thus discover an updated selection of works each year.
A cross-disciplinary presentation offering a fresh
perspective on the Louvre’s collections
By purposefully investing a single exhibition space, the presentation
in the Galerie du Temps juxtaposes works produced by different
civilizations and cultures but conceived during the same historical
period. The Louvre-Lens adopts an approach freed of the constraints
of the Louvre in Paris, where collections are displayed by department,
thus not allowing works from the same era but representative of
different techniques and civilizations to resonate with each other.
Taking the fifth century B.C. as an example, visitors to the Lens
museum will be able to directly compare Classical Greek
masterpieces with those of the Persian Empire or Pharaonic Egypt.
The presentation thus encourages new understandings of the history of
both art and humanity. The selection for the Renaissance includes works
Musée du Louvre Musée du Louvre-Lens
Head of communications Press relations Head of communications
Anne-Laure Béatrix Sophie Grange Raphaël Wolff
sophie.grange@louvre.fr raphael.wolff@louvrelens.fr
Tél. 01 40 20 53 14 / 06 72 54 74 53 Tél. 03 21 18 62.10 / 06 16 61 29 05

Georges de La Tour, Mary Magdalene with a Night-
Light,
c. 1640–45. Department of Paintings, Musée du Louvre,
RF 1949 11
© 2007 Musée du Louvre / Angèle Dequier
Statuette of Lady Tuya, matron of the harem of
Min, reign of Amenhotep III. African red ebony,
with shea wood base. Department of Egyptian
Antiquities, Musée du Louvre, E 10655
© 2008 Musée du Louvre / Christian Décamps
by Italian, French, Spanish and northern European artists (Perugino,
Raphaël, El Greco, Maler, and Jean Goujon, among others), thus
offering a novel perspective on the singular achievements of this period.
Complementing this strictly chronological presentation, a series of
theme-based exhibitions will also be offered, allowing visitors to
explore the development over time of artistic approaches to major
areas of interest, such as the art of the portrait, landscapes, the
representation of power, and religious practice. Only the Louvre’s
collections, in all their richness and complexity, could have made
possible this unique presentation, its rotating selection bringing a
fresh outlook on the history of art each year.
Masterpieces on loan from all of the Louvre’s departments
The selection for the Galerie du Temps is comprised of loans from all of
the Louvre’s departments: 25 works from the Department of Near Eastern
Antiquities ; 21 works from the Department of Egyptian Antiquities ; 31
works from the Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities ;
37 works from the Department of Islamic Art ; 31 works from the Department
of Decorative Arts ; 30 works from the Department of Paintings; and 30
works from the Department of Sculptures. Only works on paper, which
require very specific display conditions, will not be presented in this portion
of the museum, but will instead be featured in temporary exhibitions.
When this new satellite museum opens its doors to the public, some
of the Louvre’s greatest masterpieces by the most celebrated artists
represented in its collections will thus be exhibited in Lens:
Botticelli, Perugino, Raphaël, Goujon, El Greco, Rubens, Poussin,
Rembrandt, La Tour, Le Lorrain, Goya, Ingres, and Delacroix with
Liberty Leading the People. Beginning in December 2012, the Louvre
as a cultural institution will be as much in Lens as it is in Paris.
Three main sequences of the Galerie du Temps
Antiquity, 70 works grouped under 12 themes
1. The Birth of Writing in Mesopotamia
2. The Origins of the Egyptian Civilization
3. The Rise of Mediterranean Civilizations
4. The Ancient Near East in the Time of Babylon
5. Egypt of the Great Temples
6. City-States of the Mediterranean Basin
7. The Assyrian Empire
8. The Twilight of Ancient Egypt: Funerary Rites
9. The Persian Empire
10. Classical Greece
11. The World of Alexander the Great
12. The Roman Empire
Middle Ages, 45 works grouped under 7 themes
13. Eastern Christianity: The Byzantine Empire
14. Western Christianity: The First Churches
15. The Emergence of Islamic Civilization
16. Italy, Byzantium and Islam in the West
17. Gothic Europe
18. The Islamic Golden Age in the Near East
19. Encounters between East and West
Modern times, 90 works grouped under 9 themes
20. The Renaissance
21. Three Modern Islamic Empires
22. Arts of the Court
23. Baroque Europe
24. French Classicism
25. The Enlightenment
26. Neoclassical Movements
27. Islamic and Western Art: Assimilation and Resistance
28. Art and Power in France in 1830

Works from the Louvre’s collections
on view at the Louvre-Lens
Images available for the press
Images provided here may be used free of charge only in connection with the promotion of the event.
Please include the photo credit information as supplied and send us a copy of the article once it has been published.
Musée du Louvre, Pavillon Mollien, Direction de la communication, 75058 Paris cedex 01 or sophie.grange@louvre.fr
Musée du Louvre-Lens, B.P. 11 - 62 301, Lens Cedex or raphael.wolff@louvrelens.fr
Antiquity
The Rise of Mediterranean Civilizations
1. Nude femaleidol with folded arms
Cyclades, 2700 - 2300 B.C., marble, H. 62.8 cm.
Musée du Louvre, Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman
Antiquities MA 5009
© RMN-GP (Musée du Louvre) / Hervé Lewandowski
Term of loan for dislay at the Louvre - Lens : 5 years
Marble idols
The Cyclades, an archipelago in the Aegean Sea so named because
the islands form a circle (kyklos in Greek) around the sacred island
of Delos, saw the development of a distinctive civilization in the
third millennium B.C., at the end of the Neolithic, or New Stone
Age. Rich in iron ores and copper, ideally situated at the crossroads
of major sea routes linking the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean,
the Cyclades made a significant contribution to the rise of bronze
metallurgy, which had developed initially in Anatolia and Cyprus.
Thanks to extensive local marble quarries, the archipelago’s workshops quickly mastered the techniques
involved in the carving of this beautiful material. The many marble idols discovered in the region are prime
examples of the level of refinement achieved by these sculptors. The most common statuettes are female nudes,
whether two-dimensional in inspiration, resembling the shape of a violin, or taking on more modeled forms,
occasionally depicting women in late stages of pregnancy.
The Syros group
Between 2700 and 2300 B.C., a specific category of representations emerged, especially on the island of Syros,
thus giving its name to this group of artifacts, which includes this nude elongated figurine with her arms folded
across her chest. The statuette has a lyre-shaped head, with a long and thin nose. The shoulders are only slightly
broader than the hips and the swelling of the breasts is restrained. Incised lines define the pelvic triangle,
positioned very low beneath the abdomen. A wider, flared gash separates the legs. The feet have not survived.
Remnants of painted decoration can be seen on the idol (around the right eye, traces of red pigment on the arms
and chest), with wavy tresses visible in slight relief on the nape of the neck.
Mother or fertility goddesses
Although the discovery of these figurines is most often tied to a funerary context, the examples unearthed in
domestic structures challenge the various hypotheses put forward to explain the use of these idols. Would they
be dolls buried with departed male members of the community to cater to their sexual appetites? Did they serve
as protectors of the souls they accompanied to the next life? Did the intentionally fractured specimens found in
some tombs take the place of the human sacrifices revealed at earlier burial sites? Some have interpreted these
female statuettes shown standing on tiptoe as dancers, spurred into movement by the rare male harp- or fluteplaying
figurines unearthed at the same sites. The sculptors’ determination in giving these idols female
characteristics naturally calls to mind fertility, and prompts them to be assimilated with the mother goddesses
worshiped by Neolithic peoples.
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Egypt great temples
2. Statuette of Tuy, Superior of the Harem of the god Min
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Amenophis III (1391-1353 BC)
Sculpture in the round; African grenadilla wood, shea wood base
H. 33.40 cm; W. 8 cm; D. 17 cm
Musée du Louvre, Department of Egyptian Antiquities, E10655
© 2008 Musée du Louvre / Christian Décamps
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens : 1 year
The statuette of Tuy is carved from two species of wood that the
Egyptians imported from the south - shea wood for the base, and
African grenadilla for the lady herself. There are offering
formulae on the back pillar and the base, dedicated to Osiris, Isis
and "all the Gods who are in the West (necropolis)". In the
afterlife, Tuy was thus expected to enjoy the food and floral
offerings adorning the front of the base.
Chantress of the god Min
Tuy was a chantress of Min, and superior of his harem; she was thus an important person in Akhmim (the god's
cult center) and in Thebes (the capital city, where Min was associated with the dynastic god Amun).
She is portrayed standing, with her left foot forward and her right arm by her side; the perforation in her right
hand suggests that she once held an object, perhaps a floral scepter. With her left hand, she clasps a menat
necklace (a tool of her office) between her breasts.
The dedication to the great gods of the necropolis and the food offerings engraved on the base suggest that this
statuette featured among the grave goods in Tuy's tomb. The text and offerings guaranteed her survival and
protection in the afterlife.
A beauty from the reign of Amenophis III
Tuy's figure typifies the art of the reign of Amenophis III - and is one of its most perfect examples. With her
small round face, almond-shaped eyes, and full lips, she resembles certain portraits of Tiy, Great Wife of
Amenophis III. Her round bosom and high waist emphasize the length and slenderness of her body, with its
narrow hips and slightly protruding belly. The strong curve of her thighs compensates for the extreme slimness
of her legs.
Dress and accessories
These contribute to the elegance of the work as a whole. The way the dress is arranged over the folded arm
creates a radiate pattern of pleats that highlights Tuy's body. A trim, perhaps a ribbon, accentuates the fit of her
floor-length dress. A broad collar with four rows of pendants adorns her breast.
Her most impressive accessory is her heavy wig. Despite its volume, it does not detract from her slender figure
thanks to its delicately-carved details: the slight frizz of each braid, ending in a twist, and the precision of the
three braids at the back of the wig, standing out against the mass of gently waving hair.
2

Assyrian Empire
3. The Assyrian demon Pazuzu
Beginning of the 1 st millenium BC, bronze.
H. 15 cm. ; W. 8.60 cm. ; D. 5.60 cm.
Musée du Louvre, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, MNB 467
© 2007 Musée du Louvre / Thierry Ollivier
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens : 1 year
Pazuzu was one of the demon-gods of the underworld, although
he was sometimes invoked to beneficial ends. This bronze
statuette is one of the finest representations of the figure. The
inscription covering the back of the wings describes the demon's
personality: "I am Pazuzu, son of Hanpa, king of the evil spirits of the
air which issues violently from mountains, causing much havoc."
A hybrid mythological being
Pazuzu first appeared in the 1st millennium BC in hybrid form, with the body of a man and the head of a
scowling dragon-snake which also has both canine and feline features. He is represented as a spirit with two
pairs of wings and talons like those of birds of prey. He also has a scorpion's tail and his body is usually
depicted covered in scales.
A spirit invoked for protection
The inscription on the back of the wings describes the figure's personality: "I am Pazuzu, son of Hanpa, king of
the evil spirits of the air which issues violently from mountains, causing much havoc." The demon Pazuzu was
associated with ill winds, particularly the west wind which brought the plague. His terrifying, scowling face and
his scaly body repel the forces of evil, which meant that in certain circumstances the figure was considered a
protective spirit. Pazuzu, a demon from the hellish underworld, had the power of repelling other demons, and
was thus invoked for beneficial ends, particularly to drive his wife Lamashtu back to the underworld. Lamashtu
was a demoness who attacked men to infect them with various diseases.
A popular image during the Assyrian period
Pazuzu was widely depicted in Assyrian art of the 1st millennium BC in the form of numerous bronze statuettes
and protective amulets, made in a variety of materials ranging from plain terracotta to precious steatite or jasper.
During this period, many beliefs and magical practises were associated with Pazuzu. The ring at the top of the
statuette suggests that this type of object was worn round the neck or hung up in the home, particularly where
invalids were sleeping. Other examples of demon-gods of the underworld, including Bes and Humbaba, are also
attested in the Orient of antiquity.
3

Classical Greece
4. Athena holding a discus, called « The Discophoros »
Roman, Imperial (1st–2nd century AD?), Pentelic marble.
H. 1.67 m.
Musée du Louvre, Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman
Antiquities, MR 159 (usual n° Ma 89)
© 2001 RMN / Hervé Lewandowski
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens : 5 years
This discus thrower is a reproduction of a lost bronze original,
made by the Greek sculptor Naucydes at the beginning of the
fourth century BC. The work adheres to the canon of ideal
beauty proscribed by Polyclitus (fifth century BC) for an athlete
at rest. Here, however, action is imminent, and the work goes
well beyond the example of Polyclitus. Naucydes portrays the
athlete as he is about to throw the disc; the concentration in his
face and the contraction of the toes reveal his tenseness.
Portrayal of an athlete about to stand for the throw
This statue of a discobolus, or discus thrower, was part of the collection of antiquities at the Villa Borghese in
Rome, where it stood with three other athletes around the Gladiator, which entered the Louvre at the same
period - around 1808, when Napoleon Bonaparte purchased the collection from his brother-in-law, Prince
Camillo Borghese. The athlete is portrayed adjusting his position, in the instant prior to hurling himself forward
for the throw. He looks down (the head is a modern addition by the sculptor Pacetti), concentrating on the
accuracy of the coming throw. Tension in his body is shown by the curve of the back, the way the left hand is
held back, the fingers gripping the discus, the contraction of the toes of the right foot, and the energy of his
stance, with both feet firmly on the ground.
A replica of the Naucydes discobolus
This type of representation is attested by several other Roman copies agreed to be replicas of a bronze work,
now lost, attributed to the Greek sculptor Naucydes of Argos. According to Pliny the Elder (Natural History,
XXXIV, 80), Naucydes made a statue representing a discus thrower. The original probably dated from the
beginning of the fourth century BC, when the artist was at the peak of his career. A follower of the school of
Polyclitus of Argos, Naucydes remained faithful to the teaching of his master, as can be seen in this work.
Renewal of the classical heritage
The classical heritage is present here as a series of echoes of works from the fifth century BC, modified by a
new approach to the representation of athletes. The discus thrower preserves many of the features of the work
done in the middle of the fifth century by Polyclitus - the idealized aesthetics and canonical forms, the apparent
calm of athletes at rest. The musculature is treated in thick, clearly defined masses, as in the Doryphorus and the
Diadumenus (a Roman copy of which is in the Louvre); the anatomical aspect is governed by the same quest for
harmony and by an equally skillful calculation of proportions. This goes considerably beyond the model
proscribed by Polycletus. The athlete is now part of real space, suggested by the imminence of movement and
by the attitude of the young man, which goes beyond the "contrapposto" developed by Polycletus.
4

Middle Ages
Italy, Byzantium and Islam in the West
5. Angel’s head
Fragment of a mosaic from a basilica in Torcello (Italy)
Second half or end of the 11 th century
Mosaic, H. 31.6 cm. ; W. 24.6 cm.
Musée du Louvre, Department of Decorative Arts, OA 6460
© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre) / Martine Beck-Coppola
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens : 1 year
This fragment comes from the well-known mosaic at the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello depicting
the Last Judgment, represented on several tiers. The head belongs to one of the angels of the third tier counting
from the top, behind the tribunal of apostles, on either side of the central image of the Deesis. The two circular
arcs seen in the lower portion of the fragment correspond to the halos of the two apostles between whom the
angel was positioned.
This imposing, high-quality mosaic was very likely created by one of the Byzantine workshops active in Venice
and Torcello in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Among the rare surviving texts attesting to the presence of
Byzantine artists in Italy during this period, the mention dating from 1153 of a Greek mosaicist, “Marcus
graecus Indriomeni magister musilei,” provides significant justification for this conclusion.
The Torcello Last Judgment has been viewed as close in style and technique to the mosaics in Monreale and
those representing the Ascension of Christ decorating the central dome at the Basilica of San Marco in Venice,
which would date this work to the second half or end of the twelfth century. Thanks to a careful study of the
Torcello mosaics, researchers have now determined that the angel’s head at the Louvre was completed as early
as the second half or end of the eleventh century.
5

Gothic Europe
6. Saint Francis of Assisi
Second third of the 13 th century
Wood, H. 0.95 m ; W. 0.39 m
Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings, RF 975
© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre) / René-Gabriel Ojéda
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens : 5 years
This is one of the first known representations of Saint Francis of
Assisi (1182–1226), the founder of the Franciscan order of friars,
shown here with a beard, who was canonized in 1228. His hands,
right side and feet show the stigmata received at the mountain retreat
of La Verna following a vision in which he saw the form of a
crucified angel. The saint is dressed in the heavy, coarse sackcloth
tunic he was known to have worn, held in place with a three-knot
cord representing his vow of poverty, chastity and obedience. It has
been suggested that this panel is the work of one of the Roman
painters having decorated the crypt of the Cathedral of Anagni (in
the Lazio region of Italy) around 1235–40. The work is painted in a
rather diagrammatic style: dark lines trace the contours of the face
and its features, while the folds are organized concentrically.
6

Modern Times
The Renaissance
7. Saint Sebastian by Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci, known as Le
Pérugin (1450-1523)
Around 1490-1500.
H. 1.76 m. ; W. 1,16 m.
Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings, RF 957
© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre) / Jean-Gilles Berizzi
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens : 1 year
The theme of Saint Sebastian, whose intercession was commonly invoked against the plague, was taken up
several times by Perugino over the course of his career, whether shown fully clothed in fifteenth-century dress
or, more often, nearly nude, together with another saint, tied to a tree, in a Sacred Conversation, or in
martyrdom. In the Louvre painting, the saint is shown tied to a column, which is also the case for the work on
this theme by Mantegna (also at the Louvre), under a loggia with pilasters overlooking the Umbrian countryside
so dear to the artist. Along the base of the painting, Perugino inscribed a verse from Psalm 37: “Sagittae tuae
infixae sunt mihi” (Thine arrows stick fast in me).
The position of the saint, his arms behind his back, his legs slightly apart, with his ecstatic heavenward gaze and
the pale blue loincloth striped with red unmistakably recall the Saint Sebastian in the same artist’s Madonna
between Saint John the Baptist and Saint Sebastian (1493) held at the Uffizi. Added to the similarity in attitude,
there are striking analogies from the viewpoint of style and, given Perugino’s skill in handling the nude form,
the young saint strangely resembles a classical sculpture. Together with the rigorous symmetry of the
composition, the convincing perspective work in the pavement, the firmness of line, and the golden light
accentuating the sculptural modeling of forms, this painting brings to mind the best works of the 1490s.
Nevertheless, some historians have put forward a later date for this painting, around 1500. A preparatory
drawing for the figure of the saint has survived (Cleveland Museum of Art). There are also two slightly later
versions of this painting, in São Paulo (Museu de Arte) and Rome (Galleria Borghese).
7

8. Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529) by Raffaello Santi,
known as Raphaël (1483-1520)
H. 82 cm. ; W. 67 cm.
Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings, INV 611
© 2007 Musée du Louvre / Angèle Dequier
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens : 1 year
The elegance and discretion of the dress, the intense but simple
and natural presence of the model make this image of
Castiglione, a friend of the artist and author of The Courtier
(published 1528), the prime portrait of the accomplished
gentleman and perfect courtier described in the book. This
painting was probably executed in Rome in 1514–1515, on the
occasion of Castiglione's appointment as ambassador to the pope
by the Duke of Urbino.
Baldassare Castiglione
The portrait's subject is Baldassare Castiglione (1478–1529), poet, humanist, and ambassador, whom Raphael
first met as a young man in Urbino. Famous for writing The Courtier, published in 1528 and dedicated to
describing the ideal man of the court, Castiglione found a friend in Raphael, both men sharing the same ideas
regarding beauty and harmony.
The courtier incarnate
This mutual affinity is perfectly expressed in Raphael's astonishingly simple and natural portrait, painted no
doubt in accordance with the intentions of its model. Castiglione is depicted in a costume of remarkable
elegance and discretion, in line with his concept of the accomplished gentleman. The ambassador's hair is
wrapped in a turban over which sits a beret with a notched edge adorned with a medallion; his sober doublet is
trimmed on the front and upper sleeves in gray squirrel fur laced with black ribbon; under it, a bloused white
shirt. This winter dress suggests that the portrait was painted during the winter of 1514–1515 when Castiglione,
appointed by the Duke of Urbino to Pope Leo X, was in Rome. Raphael had been working there since 1508.
The sober harmony of the costume, limited to shades of black, gray and white, is extended in the painting's
background of a light and warm gray-beige tone, bathed in diffused light into which the model's shadow gently
fades on the right. The composition is bordered, as in the case of Raphael's other paintings, by a narrow black
band, deliberately cutting the image off at the hands and focusing the viewer's attention on the face and the
intense gaze.
A natural portrait
Castiglione is shown in three-quarter profile from the waist up, seated in an armchair merely suggested in the
lower right, hands folded and his gaze fixed on the viewer; this posture, as well as the soft luminescence that
envelopes the portrait, are a subtle homage to the Mona Lisa. It is certain that Raphael saw the painting during
Leonardo's stay in Rome before the latter left for France. But the respective atmospheres of the two works, and
no doubt the ambitions of the men who painted them, are markedly different. Referring to this portrait in a Latin
elegy dedicated to his wife, Castiglione himself made mention of the uncanny resemblance and the feeling of
human presence it emits. Above all, it is the naturalness— the immediacy, freedom of carriage, and expressive
vivacity— which make this life-like portrait so extraordinarily modern.
8

Three Modern Islamic Empires
9. Dish with tulips and carnations
Around 1560-1580. Turquie, Iznik.
Fritware (stonepaste) with painted underglaze on slip and
transparent glaze.
Musée du Louvre, Department of Islamic Art, OA 3927
© 2006 Musée du Louvre / Claire Tabbagh / Collections
numériques
This fritware dish, dating from 1560–80, shows a blue, green and red bouquet of flowers emerging from a clutch
of leaves. The tulips and carnations of this bouquet, among them a few budding blooms, are painted in a very
naturalistic style. This central decoration is paired with a border enlivened by a pattern of waves and rocks
inspired by fifteenth-century Chinese porcelain pieces.
The form is typical of Iznik ceramics: concave with a flattened rim.
The composition used for this type of dish emerged around 1560 and is referred to as the “floral style.” The red
pigment seen here, first used in 1557, was to play a prominent role in the Iznik ceramic tradition..
9

10. Tile panel with Christian scene
and cuera seca (black line) decoration
Iran, 17 th century
Fritware (stonepaste)
Musée du Louvre, Department of Islamic
Art, Ucad 15118.1
© 2005 Musée du Louvre / Claire Tabbagh
A Christian procession
On the left-hand side of the scene, seven bearded figures wearing pointed caps stand out on a deep blue
background. They are holding tall crosses, an incense burner and processional flags. In the foreground, a figure
holding a cross in his left hand leans over a stream represented by gray undulations. On the right, another figure
atop a building rings bells using a hammer. This detail reveals that the edifice is a church rather than a mosque,
as the cupola and squareness of the structure might lead one to suppose. A man is shown entering this building
through the front doors.
The Armenians of Iran
This tile decoration bears witness to the presence of a Christian community in Iran, concentrated in New Julfa,
the Armenian quarter of Isfahan, which was established in 1605. This quarter was populated by wealthy
merchants, refugees from Armenia and Georgia, who specialized in the silk trade and enjoyed many privileges
under the Safavids.
The scene might represent a baptism by immersion, as traditionally practiced by Armenians. The procession
leads one to conclude that a very important baptism is being depicted, perhaps that of the Armenian king
Tiridates III in 314 by Saint Gregory the Illuminator (c. 257–331), who displayed miraculous powers and
converted all of Armenia’s nobles to Christianity. Tiridates III subsequently declared Armenia to be
Christianized, making it the first nation to formally adopt Christianity as its official religion. But another, more
plausible hypothesis suggests that the ceremony represented here is one known as a “baptism of the Cross,” a
tradition involving major processions during which crosses are baptized by immersion. This practice is often
noted in the accounts of seventeenth-century travelers.
A church dedicated to Saint Gregory the Illuminator?
This iconographic composition is very seldom found in Armenian church decoration in Isfahan. A New Julfa
church dedicated to Saint Gregory the Illuminator might very well have included the Louvre panel in its
decoration. Although this place of worship dates from the seventeenth century, later adjustments were made to
its original decoration and prevent the validation of this hypothesis. But it is likely that the church included
decoration on a large scale, showing scenes from everyday life as well as the lives of saints. Indeed, other
similar tile panels with blue backgrounds are held at the Louvre and in Berlin.
10

Baroque Europe
11. Mary Magdalene with a Night Light by Georges de La Tour
(1593-1652)
Around 1640-1645. H. 1,28 m. ; W. 0,94 m.
Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings, RF 1949 11
© 2007 Musée du Louvre / Angèle Dequier
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens : 1 year
Georges de La Tour turned to the theme of the penitent Mary
Magdalene at least four times, as evidenced by this painting
together with those held in the collections of the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, the National Gallery in Washington,
and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Louvre
painting is the latest of these works and is also the most strictly
composed.
The Terff Magdalene
This painting, purchased by Camille Terff in Paris in 1914, entered the Louvre’s collections following a series
of vicissitudes. Terff had instructed an intermediary of questionable moral character to sell the work for him.
Refusing an offer received from the Louvre, which nevertheless exceeded the price set by Terff, the
intermediary entered into negotiations with the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, which resulted in the sale
of the painting. But the swindler pocketed a large portion of the proceeds. After numerous legal proceedings
brought by Terff and his heirs, this work returned to France and the Louvre in 1949, following a stint in German
salt mines, where it had been stored to shield it from bombing raids during the Second World War.
The penitent Magdalene
The young woman is seated before a table strewn with a few books, the scene lit by an oil lamp. Mary
Magdalene is shown deep in thought, her gaze fixed on the large flame lighting up her face. Barefoot, she
supports her chin with her left hand, while her right hand holds a skull turned towards the viewer that glistens
under the light. Healed by Christ of the demons that had plagued her, Mary Magdalene ponders life and its
fragility, suggested by the skull as well as the ephemeral and flickering flame.
Beginning in the seventeenth century, Mary Magdalene often appears, along with Saint Jerome, as the example
of the repentant and sanctified sinner, the most common representation of penitence and the abandonment of
worldly things. This aspect of Mary Magdalene was to be strongly supported and encouraged by the Council of
Trent, which made her the personification of the sacrament of Penance in Christian tradition.
La Tour and Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was a favorite subject of Georges de La Tour. Four original paintings are currently known that
present a similar composition, with variations, held at the National Gallery in Washington, the Louvre, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Louvre painting is
closest in style to the last of these works. Apart from the intensity given to this meditative image, the painter
again demonstrates compelling virtuosity in the representation of light and objects, as evidenced, for example,
by the magnifying effect of the oil in the glass lamp. Other versions of this theme by La Tour are also known
from engravings and copies.
11

The Age of Enlightenment
12. Denis Diderot by Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806)
Around 1769
Oil on canvas. H. 0,82 m. ; W. 0,65 m.
Louvre Museum, Department of Paintings, RF 1972 14
© 2000 RMN / René-Gabriel Ojéda
A student of Chardin and later Boucher, Fragonard was awarded a
Prix de Rome scholarship in 1752, which led him to the French
Academy in Rome in 1756. In Italy, he spent a great deal of time
admiring the works of the Baroque masters and, with his friend
Hubert Robert, made numerous sketches of landscapes around
Rome. After returning to Paris in 1761, he was accepted as an
Academician with the monumental painting The High Priest
Coresus Sacrifices Himself to Save Callirhoë, which was
enthusiastically received at the 1765 Salon. Although he was virtually guaranteed success at the highest
echelons of history painting, Fragonard turned his back on an official career. Instead, he chose to work in
complete independence, for a wealthy clientele of enlightened connoisseurs. His repertoire included light or
delicate genre scenes, landscapes, fantasy figures, and occasionally portraits. His imagination was served by an
astonishing virtuosity. In the 1780s, Fragonard adopted a more Neoclassical style.
The prolific French writer Denis Diderot (1713–84) composed plays, novels (Jacques the Fatalist) and essays,
invented the modern medium of art criticism (Salons), and was the chief editor and contributor to the
Encyclopedia. Espousing an expressly materialistic and atheistic philosophy, he was an ardent proponent of free
will, and a defender of oppressed peoples.
No record exists of a relationship between Fragonard and Diderot. After having applauded the painter of The
High Priest Coresus Sacrifices Himself to Save Callirhoë (Louvre) as the most promising talent of the French
school, Diderot expressed his disappointment two years later, in 1767, criticizing the young artist for falling
back into a style he viewed as too closely related to that of Boucher. Diderot would not have any further
opportunity to write about the artist due to the fact that Fragonard, having abandoned a career as an
Academician, would never again exhibit any of his works at the Salon.
Diderot does not refer to Fragonard’s most celebrated portrait in any of his writings. Some have even challenged
the identification of this Louvre painting, which is not supported by any accounts from the period. Nonetheless,
over time, comparisons with the portrait bust by Houdon and the painted portrait by Van Loo have lent credence
to this hypothesis. Identical features may be noted (chin, mouth, nose, hairstyle), with the exception of the eyes,
which are blue in Fragonard’s portrait while those in Van Loo’s are brown. The robust character of the subject
recalls Diderot’s own comments on his person in 1767: “I had a broad forehead, penetrating eyes, rather large
features, and a head just like that of a Roman orator, with a good-humored nature verging on foolishness, the
rustic simplicity of earlier times.”
Painted in broad strokes, the portrait makes no claim to the precise depiction of features. It aims to spur the
imagination, to symbolize a way of being, a specific character: the forehead is expansive with inspiration, the
smile is philosophical, the open book represents the quest for truth. If the volume leafed through by the sitter
brings to mind the Encyclopedia, of which Diderot was the main driving force, it is without a doubt because this
publication, with more than 16,000 pages and 400 plates, a universal compendium of knowledge, epitomized the
spirit of the Age of Enlightenment.
This painting is part of a series of fourteen canvases known as the Fantasy figures, seven of which are held at the
Louvre. One of these canvases bears the date of 1769 and a tag on the back indicates that it was painted “in the space
of an hour.” Intimate portraits or pure demonstrations of virtuosity, these paintings, whose intended recipients are not
known, belong to a prolific period in the painter’s career (The Swing, Isle of Love and the Progress of Love series). A
master of several styles, here Fragonard chooses to approach the painting in the manner of a sketch, laying on paint in
long, full strokes showing the mark of the brush, using flamboyant colors, with heightened contrasts of light and
shadow to accentuate the subject’s expression. This was a highly original approach for the period.
12

French classicism
13. Bather by Etienne Maurice Falconet (1716-1791)
Marble. H. 80.5 cm. ; W. 25.7 cm. ; D. 29 cm.
Musée du Louvre , Department of Sculptures, MR 1846
© 1994 Musée du Louvre / Pierre Philibert
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens: 5 years
With this sensual yet modest sculpted figure, Falconet captured the
moment when a young girl becomes a woman. The pure lines of the
slender body and the graceful foot, cautiously extended toward the
water, evoke the bather's rather shy innocence. The subtle
modulations of the marble impart a shiver to the flesh.
Sensuality and modesty
The sculptor has portrayed the moment just before the young girl's bath, as she puts her foot tentatively forward
to test the temperature of the water. This graceful gesture was inspired by the Bather, painted in 1725 by
François Lemoyne (author of large decorative works such as the ceiling of the Hercules Salon at Versailles), and
made popular by engravings.
Falconet captures the moment when a young girl becomes a woman, thereby defining a new feminine aesthetic -
long, slender body, narrow hips, sloping shoulders, and small breasts - which was to impregnate his future work
and influence his contemporaries. The girl's head is small and her oval face forms a triangle. Her hairstyle was
inspired by antiquity: smooth on top, with a central parting. It appealed to Mme du Barry, mistress of Louis XV,
who wears the same style in the portrait sculpted by Augustin Pajou in 1772.
The bather is entirely naked, but not immodest. The purity of line, the reserved pose (leaning slightly forward to
extend her foot), the graceful position of the arms, and the candid face with lowered eyelids, avoid all vulgarity
and keep the spectator at a certain distance. Yet the statuette is neither cold nor inert. The slightly jutting hip
counterbalances the sideways swing of the arms in a dancing movement. And above all, Falconet imparted an
impression of living flesh to his sculpture, with the soft shine of the marble suggesting the grain and shiver of
the skin.
A much-reproduced statuette
The Bather was exhibited at the Salon of 1757, at a time when Falconet was nominated director of sculpture at
the Sèvres porcelain manufactory with a view to refining its style. The statuette was so successful that it was
copied by Falconet himself and by other sculptors such as Jean-Pierre Antoine Tassaert, a Paris-trained Flemish
artist who became sculptor to the king of Prussia in 1774. Many casts were made, and from 1758 replicas were
produced in biscuit porcelain.
The statuette in the Louvre is a marble copy by Falconet from the collection of Mme du Barry at Louveciennes,
where it formed an interesting contrast with the Bathing Venus by Christophe-Gabriel Allegrain (in the Louvre).
It was seized during the Revolution, and entered the Louvre prior to 1855.
The sculptor's inner conflict
Falconet's success with this kind of statuette is rather surprising: he was a friend of Diderot, and an austere artist
who ascribed a moral purpose to his art in his writings and reflections. He was torn between his ambitions and
his patrons: he was a protégé of Mme de Pompadour (1721-1764), favorite of Louis XV and sister of the
marquis of Marigny (director of the king's buildings). Falconet therefore adapted his craft to the requirements of
a court that was so fond of decorative elegance.
13

Neoclassicism
14. Master Hare by sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)
H. 77 cm. ; W. 63 cm.
Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings, RF 1580
© 2007 Musée du Louvre / Angèle Dequier
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens: 5 years
This portrait of Francis George Hare is the most famous picture
by Reynolds in France. A young boy with long hair, about two
years old, is shown wearing a very young child's clothes. He is
dressed in a chiffon outfit, as children of his age and class were.
This picture swiftly became famous, and is one of the archetypal
images of British art.
Simple portrait of innocence or a deeper reflection on the world of childhood?
It is rare to see such a natural pose in a portrait, even of a child. It is marvellous how Reynolds encapsulates the
innocence of this very young boy. His ringlets, his rosy cheeks, but above all the entirely free pose of his right
arm conspire to create a lively and spontaneous figure. The almost ethereal background of trees and greenery
only enhances the feelings of natural harmony, authenticity, and spontaneity. Reynolds creates a perfect setting
for this small boy, who looks beyond the frame at something in the distance that no one else can perceive. His
white skin, his bright eyes, and his dynamic pose contrast with the somber colors of the background. In creating
such a setting, Reynolds wished to demonstrate the primacy of a child's world that cares little for external
matters. The subtle echoes between the child's blond hair, the bronze reflections on the tree behind him, and the
material that forms the child's belt enliven the picture, thereby emphasizing the child's sweetness.
Childhood in a frame
Children's portraits are one of the glories of Reynolds's output. Some of them, like that of Penelope Boothby,
evoke the sweetness and poetry of childhood. Others highlight instead the humor or simplicity of childhood.
More elegant, more conventional, and less tender portraits by other artists serve to remind us how important
spontaneity was to Reynolds.
The tradition of the "great portrait" had already been subverted, particularly by Gainsborough, who painted a
famous portrait of a child, the Blue Boy. However, by reducing the size of the frame and abandoning the
necessity to show the person portrayed standing up, Gainsborough managed to allow a natural freshness to shine
through. When Reynolds's picture was engraved by Robert Thew in 1790, the engraving was given the title
Infancy, and it subsequently became the archetypal illustration of the young child type in England.
Reynolds: a major figure in English art
At the start of the eighteenth century, foreign artists dominated painting in England.To change this situation, it
was necessary to establish and promote native artists and to create a British art with unique characteristics. In
1768 the British Academy was founded in London. Its aims were rapidly crowned with success, due mainly to
frequent exhibitions.
Having striven for a long time to have British art recognized, Reynolds became the first president of the Royal
Academy. He promulgated a demanding Classical training, which we know about thanks to the discourses he
delivered to students at awards ceremonies, which were subsequently published. Recognized for his huge talent,
Reynolds was considered one of the greatest English painters at his death in 1792.
14

15. "Athenian" by Martin-Guillaume Biennais
between 1800 and 1804 / Fabrication : Paris
Yew, gilt bronze, vermeil
Musée du Louvre, Department of Decorative Arts, OA 10424
© 1987 RMN / Daniel Arnaudet
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens: 1 year
This "Athenian" was made for the Consul Napoleon Bonaparte
to adorn his chamber in the Palais des Tuileries. Inspired by the
ancient Greek tripod, it was executed by the "tabletier" Martin-
Guillaume Biennais (1764-1843), who had extended his activities
to furniture and gold and silverwork after the abolition of the
guilds in 1792. It reveals the pervasive taste of the early
nineteenth century for antiquity, as well as the personal taste of
Napoleon, who took it with him to Sainte-Hélène.
What is an "Athenian"?
The form of this "Athenian" is derived from the ancient Greek tripod, a small, three-legged stand used in
antiquity to support a basin. Generally made of bronze, it could also be in copper, silver, stone, or gold. Often a
commonplace household item serving as a brazier, it was also used for votive functions, offered in homage to
the divinites. The tripod rapidly became a widespread motif in the classical period. An interest in antiquity
during the middle of the eighteenth century gave a new lease of life to objects of this kind. In 1773, Jean-Henri
Eberts invented a tripod that variously served as pedestal table, incense-burner, chafing dish, or flower stand,
which he named an "Athenian" in reference to Joseph-Marie Vien's picture, The Virtuous Athenian, in which a
Greek woman is to be seen making an offering on a tripod.
A repertoire at once aquatic and antique
The design of this "Athenian", the drawing for which was supplied by Charles Percier (1764-1838), is extremely
elegant. The legs, made of yew, are finely curved and are surmounted by palm leaves where a swan, modelled in
the round, nests in chased gilt bronze. The swans support on their necks and wings a hoop of bronze decorated
with a frieze of Vitruvian scrollwork, on which the basin engraved with reeds and oak leaves rests. The tablette
between the legs is connected to the feet of the stand by small dies decorated with bees and dolphins. Dolphins
and swans belong to a repertoire at once aquatic and antique, thereby illustrating the function of this "Athenian"
as a washstand.
A work characteristic of the early nineteenth century
The theme of the swan was fairly widespread during the Consulate and Empire periods. The architect and
decorator Berthault chose the motif to decorate Madame Récamier's bed. In the early nineteenth century, the
form of the tripod was more than ever in vogue, at a time when taste was steeped in classical culture.
Architectural digests, such as that of Percier and Fontaine, include numerous models of furniture of this type.
The tripod, however, no longer combines several uses, but, like that of Napoleon, serves as a washstand. The
term "Athenian" was restricted at the time to luxurious models intended for sovereigns. Biennais made other
small washstands and bureaus, and we know of two other "Athenians" made by him, now in the Metropolitan
Museum of New York and the château de Fontainebleau.
15

Art and power in France in 1830
16. Louis-François Bertin by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
(1780-1867), 1832.
H. 1.16 m. ; W. 0.95 m.
Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings, RF 1071
© 2010 Musée du Louvre / Angèle Dequier
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens: 1 year
The character and social status of Louis-François Bertin, who
founded the Journal des Débats and backed Louis-Philippe,
come to the fore in this painting. Ingres created the archetype
of the triumphant bourgeoisie of the 1830s. This is the most realistic portrait he ever painted; the messyhaired
sitter looks as though he has just been interrupted while in mid-conservation. This painting is also
striking because of the amazingly sharp details.
A press baron
A stocky, gray-haired man of about 60 sits gazing intensely at the viewer. His facial expression, casual pose,
and hands resting on his knees radiate a barely contained energy; he looks poised to spring into action. This
portrait perfectly reflects the character and social status of Louis-François Bertin (1766-1841), journalist,
businessman, and owner of the Journal des Débats. He backed the idea of a constitutional monarchy, which
landed him in jail under the First Empire, and opposed the regime of Charles X. When Ingres painted this
portrait, during the July Monarchy, Bertin's newspaper, which was read by the liberal bourgeoisie, supported the
government of Louis-Philippe, whom he had helped to put on the throne.
"The Buddha of the bourgeoisie"
Ingres painted this portrait in 1832 during his Paris period, which lasted from 1824 to 1834. The revolutionary
of 1806 was henceforth deemed David's successor, the defender of tradition against Delacroix and the
Romantics. This was when the artist produced his painting manifestos, such as The Apotheosis of Homer
(Louvre), but only a few portraits; he did most of them during other periods in his life. At the Salon of 1833,
Ingres exhibited this picture next to an older portrait, Madame Duvauçay (1807, Chantilly, Musée Condé), to
show how his style had evolved. The sitter's pose drew barbs from some critics, who found it ridiculous and
vulgar. Later, Bertin's daughter wrote, "My father looked like a great lord; Ingres turned him into a fat farmer."
This work, which is the most famous male portrait Ingres painted, is often considered the embodiment of a
social class. Indeed, Édouard Manet described Bertin as "the Buddha of the self-satisfied, well-to-do, triumphant
bourgeoisie."
Photographic truthfulness
This is probably Ingres's most realistic painting. Unlike his other portraits, such as Caroline Rivière (Louvre),
the sitter's pose is not based on older pictures or Raphael's portraits. The artist captured Bertin as he observed
him in mid-conversation at home one day. Ingres achieved painstakingly crisp precision in the details, the
imperfections of the face, and the tousled hair; the reflection of a window on one of the chair's arms recalls the
art of Jan Van Eyck. This work does not have the abstract contours of La Grande Odalisque (Louvre), but the
malleable anatomy that the artist enjoyed depicting is in evidence, and his fondness for curves can be seen in
Bertin's arm and the chair's backrest. Lastly, Ingres compressed the painting's space, as he often did.
16

17. July 28. Liberty Leading the People
(July 28, 1830) by Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)
H. 2.6 m. ; W. 3.25 m.
Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings, RF 129
© 2009 Musée du Louvre / Erich Lessing
Term of loan for display at the Louvre - Lens: 1 year
The Paris uprising of July 27, 28, and 29, 1830, known as the
Trois Glorieuses ("Three Glorious Days"), was initiated by the
liberal republicans for violation of the Constitution by the
Second Restoration government. Charles X, the last Bourbon
king of France, was overthrown and replaced by Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans. Delacroix, who
winessed the uprising, perceived it as a modern subject for a painting; the resulting work reflects the
same romantic fervor he had applied to Massacre at Chios, a painting inspired by the Greek war of
independence.
A patriotic act
Delacroix's imagination was fired by all manner of things—the natural world, a Gothic ribbed vault, a feline, a
journey, a human passion... or an event that changed the course of history and reversed artistic trends. He
translated his deeply felt emotions into painting, constantly renewing his style. His emotional temperament
largely explains the force of his portrayal of the recent explosion of rage on the streets of Paris.
No doubt he felt a personal involvement too, through his friendship with protagonists of the conflict such as
Adolphe Thiers, who wavered between maintenance of the constitutional Monarchy and restoration of the
Republic. Delacroix depended on commissions from institutions and members of the royal family, and his
personal ambiguity probably confined him to the role of simple bystander (noted by Alexandre Dumas), but as a
citizen-artist he helped protect the Louvre's collections from the rioters and, nostalgic for the Napoleonic
Empire, was moved to see the tricolor hoisted to the top of Notre-Dame by the insurgents. The time had come to
fulfill his own patriotic duty. He wrote to his nephew Charles Verninac: "Three days amid gunfire and bullets,
as there was fighting all around. A simple stroller like myself ran the same risk of stopping a bullet as the
impromptu heroes who advanced on the enemy with pieces of iron fixed to broom handles."
Delacroix began his allegorical interpretation of the Parisian epic in September 1830. His painting was
completed between October and December, and exhibited at the Salon in May 1831. As was his habit, he
developed his plan for the painting using preliminary sketches for every element and at every stage. He also
drew from the repertory of motifs that he had compiled on a daily basis from the beginning of his career. He
thus completed the work in three months, focusing on the dramatic and visual impact of the scene: the crowd
breaking through the barricades to make its final assault on the enemy camp. The peak of fervor occasioned by
victory is represented in a pyramidal composition; the base, strewn with corpses, resembles a pedestal
supporting the image of the victors. Delacroix had used a similarly rigorous composition for his painting entitled
Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi, and a comparable structure is apparent in Géricault's Raft of the Medusa.
Here, it serves to contain and balance the painter's vigorous brushwork, and the impetuous rhythm of the scene.
A Parisian revolution
The allegory of Liberty is personified by a young woman of the people wearing the Phrygian cap, her curls
escaping onto her neck. Vibrant, fiery, rebellious, and victorious, she evokes the Revolution of 1789, the sansculotte,
and popular sovereignty. In her raised right hand is the red, white, and blue flag, a symbol of struggle
that unfurls toward the light like a flame.
Liberty wears a yellow dress reminiscent of classical drapery, held in at the waist by a belt whose ends float at
her side. It has slipped below her breasts, revealing the underarm hair considered vulgar by classical artists who
decreed that a goddess's skin should be smooth. The erotic realism of her nudity recalls the ancient winged
victories. Her Greek profile, straight nose, generous mouth, delicate chin, and smoldering gaze are reminiscent
of the woman who posed for the Women of Algiers in their Apartment. She stands noble and resolute, her body
illuminated on the right, cutting a distinct figure among the men as she turns her head to spur them on to final
victory. Her dark left side stands out against a plume of smoke. Her weight is on her bare left foot, visible below
her dress. She may be an allegory, but this is a real battle, and she is caught up in the heat of the moment. The
infantry gun with bayonet (1816 model) in her left hand gives her a contemporary look and a certain credibility.
17

Two Parisian urchins have spontaneously joined the fight: the one on the left clings to the cobblestones, wideeyed
under his light infantry cap; the more famous figure to the right of Liberty is Gavroche, a symbol of
youthful revolt against injustice and sacrifice for a noble cause. He sports the black velvet beret (or faluche)
worn by students, as a symbol of rebellion, and carries an overlarge cartridge pouch slung across his shoulder.
He advances right foot forward, brandishing cavalry pistols with one arm raised, a war cry on his lips as he
exhorts the insurgents to fight. The fighter whose beret bears a white royalist cockade and red liberal ribbon and
who carries an infantry saber (1816 model) or briquet, is recognizably a factory worker with his apron and sailor
trousers. The scarf holding his pistol in place on his belly evokes the Cholet handkerchief—a rallying sign for
Royalist leader Charette and the Vendeans. The kneeling figure with the top hat of a bourgeois or fashionable
urbanite may be Delacroix himself, or one of his friends. He wears loose-fitting trousers and an artisan's red
flannel belt, and carries a double-barreled hunting gun. The wounded man raising himself up at the sight of
Liberty wears a knotted yellowish scarf, echoing the color of the heroine's dress; his peasant's smock and red
flannel belt suggest the temporary workers of Paris. The blue jacket, red belt, and white shirt echo the colors of
the flag.
A modern subject
"I have undertaken a modern subject, a barricade, and although I may not have fought for my country, at least I
shall have painted for her. It has restored my good spirits" (letter of October 28 to his brother). The soldiers
lying on the ground take up the foreground at the base of the pyramidal structure. In addition to the figure of
Liberty, the corpse without trousers on the left, with arms outstretched and tunic turned up, is another mythical
reference, derived from a classical nude model known as Hector—a personification of the Homeric hero. The
Swiss guard lying on his back, to the right of the scene, has contemporary campaign uniform: a gray-blue
greatcoat with a red decoration on the collar, white gaiters, low shoes, and a shako. A cuirassier with a white
epaulette, lying face down next to him, is visible down to the waist. To the left at the back of the triangle are
students (including a student of the Ecole Polytechnique with his Bonapartist cocked hat) and a detachment of
grenadiers in gray greatcoats and campaign uniform. Although the right background of the painting contains
elements of an urban landscape, it seems empty and distant in comparison with the pitched battle that fills the
left side of the scene. The towers of Notre Dame represent liberty and Romanticism—as they did for Victor
Hugo—and situate the action in Paris. Their position on the left bank of the Seine is inexact, and the houses
between the Cathedral and the river are pure products of the painter's imagination. A sunset glow, mingled with
the canon smoke, illuminates the baroque postures of the bodies and shines bright in the right background,
creating an aura around Liberty, the young boy, and the tricolor flag.
As we have already seen, the composition is given unity by the painter's particularly skilful use of color; the
blue, white, and red elements have counterpoints; the white of the parallel straps across the fighters’ shoulders
echoes that of the gaiters and of the shirt on the corpse to the left, while the gray tonality enhances the red of the
flag.
Delacroix was admired by Charles X, who purchased The Massacre at Chios and the Death of Charles the Bold.
The artist's friends included the Duchesse de Berry and the Orléans family. He liked to attract attention in the
circles of power and make his mark on public opinion, but was considered at that time as leader of the Romantic
movement and was impassioned by liberty. His emotion during the Three Glorious Days was sincere, and was
expressed to the glory of the "noble, beautiful, and great" citizens of his country.
Delacroix's historical and political painting—a blend of document and symbol, actuality and fiction, reality and
allegory—bears witness to the death throes of the Ancien Régime. This realistic and innovative work, a symbol
of Liberty and the pictorial revolution, was rejected by the critics, who were used to more classical
representations of reality. Having hailed the accession of Louis-Philippe, the work was hidden from public view
during the king's reign, and only entered the Musée du Luxembourg in 1863 and the Louvre in 1874. It is now
perceived as a universal work—a representation of romantic and revolutionary fervor, heir to the historical
painting of the 18th century and forerunner of Picasso's Guernica in the 20th.
18