Part 2

NO. | ITALIAN SCHOOLS | PLATE | PAGE | | | 1601 | LEONARDO DA VINCI— | | | _PORTRAIT OF MONA LISA_ (_LA JOCONDE_) | IV |_Frontispiece_ | | | 1383 | SIMONE MARTINI— | | | _CHRIST BEARING HIS CROSS_ | I | 16 | | | 1344 | FRA FILIPPO LIPPI— | | | _MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH ANGELS, AND TWO_ | II | 28 | _ABBOTS_ | | | | | 1322 | DOMENICO GHIRLANDAIO— | | | _PORTRAIT OF AN OLD MAN AND HIS GRANDSON_ | | | (“_THE BOTTLE-NOSED MAN_”) | III | 32 | | | 1297 | BOTTICELLI— | | | _GIOVANNA DEGLI ALBIZZI AND THE THREE GRACES_| V | 40 | | | 1566A| PERUGINO— | | | _ST. SEBASTIAN_ | VI | 56 | | | 1496 | RAPHAEL— | | | _LA BELLE JARDINIÈRE_ | VII | 58 | | | 1505 | RAPHAEL— | | | _PORTRAIT OF BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE_ | VIII | 60 | | | 1134 | ANTONELLO DA MESSINA— | | | _PORTRAIT OF A CONDOTTIERE_ | IX | 64 | | | 1136 | GIORGIONE— | | | _PASTORAL SYMPHONY_ | X | 66 | | | 1399 | PALMA VECCHIO— | | | _THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS, WITH A_ | | | _FEMALE DONOR_ | XI | 68 | | | 1592 | TITIAN— | | | _THE MAN WITH A GLOVE_ | XII | 70 | | | 1584 | TITIAN— | | | _THE ENTOMBMENT_ | XIII | 74 | | | 1375 | ANDREA MANTEGNA— | | | _PARNASSUS_ | XIV | 80 | | | 1117 | CORREGGIO— | | | _THE MYSTIC MARRIAGE OF ST. CATHERINE_ | XV | 112 | | | | | | | FLEMISH SCHOOL | | | | | 1986 | JAN VAN EYCK— | | | _THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, AND THE CHANCELLOR_ | | | _ROLIN_ | XVI | 122 | | | [1] | HANS MEMLINC— | | | _PORTRAIT OF AN OLD LADY_ | XVII | 128 | | | 1957 | GERARD DAVID— | | | _THE MARRIAGE AT CANA_ | XVIII | 130 | | | 2029 | QUENTIN MATSYS- | | | _THE BANKER AND HIS WIFE_ | XIX | 132 | | | 1997 | JAN MABUSE— | | | _PORTRAIT OF JEAN CARONDELET_ | XX | 134 | | | 2093 | RUBENS— | | | _HENRY IV. LEAVES FOR THE WARS_ | XXI | 144 | | | 2113 | RUBENS— | | | _PORTRAIT OF HÉLÈNE FOURMENT AND TWO OF HER_ | | | _CHILDREN_ | XXII | 146 | | | 1967 | VAN DYCK— | | | _PORTRAIT OF CHARLES I. OF ENGLAND_ | XXIII | 148 | | | | | | | GERMAN SCHOOL | | | | | 2715 | HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER— | | | _PORTRAIT OF ERASMUS_ | XXIV | 164 | | | | | | | SPANISH SCHOOL | | | | | 1731 | VELAZQUEZ— | | | _PORTRAIT OF THE INFANTA MARGARITA_ | XXV | 180 | | | 1709 | MURILLO— | | | _THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION_ | XXVI | 186 | | | | | | | DUTCH SCHOOL | | | | | 2384 | FRANS HALS— | | | _THE GIPSY GIRL_ | XXVII | 198 | | | 2385 | FRANS HALS— | | | _PORTRAIT OF A LADY IN BLACK_ |XXVIII | 200 | | | 2539 | REMBRANDT— | | | _THE PILGRIMS AT EMMAUS_ | XXIX | 202 | | | 2547 | REMBRANDT— | | | _PORTRAIT OF HENDRICKJE STOFFELS_ | XXX | 204 | | | 2394 | VAN DER HELST— | | | _THE SHOOTING PRIZE_ | XXXI | 206 | | | 2348 | GERARD DOU— | | | _THE DROPSICAL WOMAN_ | XXXII | 208 | | | 2589 | TERBORCH— | | | _THE CONCERT_ |XXXIII | 210 | | | 2580 | JAN STEEN— | | | _BAD COMPANY_ | XXXIV | 212 | | | 2415 | PIETER DE HOOCH— | | | _DUTCH INTERIOR, WITH A LADY PLAYING CARDS_ | XXXV | 214 | | | 2456 | JAN VER MEER— | | | _THE LACE-MAKER_ | XXXVI | 216 | | | | | | | FRENCH SCHOOL | | | | | 734 | NICOLAS POUSSIN— | | | _THE SHEPHERDS IN ARCADIA_ |XXXVII | 246 | | | 317 | CLAUDE— | | | _VIEW OF A SEAPORT_ |XXXVIII| 248 | | | 982 | WATTEAU— | | | _THE EMBARKATION FOR THE ISLAND OF CYTHERA_ | XXXIX | 262 | | | 36 | BOUCHER— | | | _VULCAN PRESENTING ARMS TO VENUS_ | XL | 266 | | | 92 | CHARDIN— | | | _GRACE BEFORE MEAT_ | XLI | 268 | | | 291 | FRAGONARD— | | | _THE MUSIC LESSON_ | XLII | 270 | | | 372 | GREUZE— | | | _THE BROKEN PITCHER_ | XLIII | 272 | | | 522 | MME. VIGÉE LE BRUN— | | | _PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AND HER DAUGHTER_ | XLIV | 274 | | | 199 | DAVID— | | | _PORTRAIT OF MME. RÉCAMIER_ | XLV | 276 | | | 338 | GÉRICAULT— | | | _THE RAFT OF THE “MEDUSA”_ | XLVI | 280 | | | 207 | DELACROIX— | | | _DANTE AND VIRGIL_ | XLVII | 282 | | | 422 | INGRES— | | | _THE SPRING_ |XLVIII | 284 | | | 2801 | COROT— | | | _THE DELL_ | XLIX | 292 | | | 2867 | DUPRÉ— | | | _THE POND_ | L | 294 | | | 2818 | DAUBIGNY— | | | _THE WEIR GATE AT OPTEVOZ_ | LI | 296 | | | 644 | MILLET— | | | _WOMEN GLEANING_ | LII | 298 | | | 613A| MANET— | | | _OLYMPIA_ | LIII | 302 | | | | | | | ENGLISH SCHOOL | | | | | 1809 | CONSTABLE— | | | _HAMPSTEAD HEATH_ | LIV | 304

[1] This picture has not yet received an official number.

INTRODUCTION

To form a just appreciation of the magnificent collection of paintings which the Louvre to-day contains would require an exhaustive study which might be spread over a term of years spent in the famous French capital itself. In the limited space at our disposal we can only touch lightly upon the historical events, the sociological causes, the grandeur of royalty, and the taste of the people, all of which contributed towards bringing about the formation of the great Musée National du Louvre as we now know it. It has been our endeavour to throw into prominent relief the outstanding features in the history of the Gallery and to sketch them in chronological order. The architectural claims of the building, its priceless collections of statuary and of _objets d’art_ of every age do not here immediately concern us; it is to the formation of the superb collection of paintings that we primarily desire to call our readers’ attention.

A small part of the building which is to-day known as the Louvre was first occupied as a royal residence by Philippe-Auguste (reigned 1180-1223), who converted a hunting-seat of the early French kings on this site into a feudal fortress with a strong _donjon_ or keep, the exact plan of which may still be traced by the white line marked since 1868 on the pavement in the southwest corner of the old courtyard. Charles v. (reigned 1364-80), who may be regarded as the first royal collector of art treasures in France, greatly enlarged the building of the Old Louvre as a residential palace; he is also said to have decorated the building with statues and paintings which have long since disappeared. The real foundations of the collection of _la maison du Roi_ were laid by François I. (reigned 1515-47), who during his Italian campaigns acquired a respect for art that proved to be an honour to his taste and a dowry for his country. The æsthetic movement had developed rapidly by 1541, when he laid the foundations of the present palace[2] and had already begun to form a collection of easel pictures. François I. invited to his court the master-painter Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), who in 1516 left his native land for France, where he did the king little more than the compliment of dying in his realm, although not, as an unveracious tradition recounts, in his arms. Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531) was also employed at the French court, at which he arrived in 1518. Giovanni Battista Rosso (1494-1541), a painter of little genius but great ability, was summoned by François I. in 1530 to decorate the Château at Fontainebleau. Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71), the Florentine goldsmith, having “determined to seek another country and better luck,” was yet one more artist who set out for France, where, between 1540 and 1544, he adorned the royal tables with objects precious in workmanship and material. Primaticcio (1504-70), who is known to have cleaned at Fontainebleau in 1530 four of the large reputed Raphaels now in the Louvre, remained at the French court until his death. The strict authenticity of these four pictures—_The Holy Family of Francis I._ (No. 1498), the _St. Margaret_ (No. 1501), the large _St. Michael_ (No. 1504), and the _Portrait of Joan of Arragon_ (No. 1507)—does not here concern us. François I. also possessed at this date, among other notable pictures, Raphael’s _La Belle Jardinière_ (No. 1496, Plate VII.), Leonardo da Vinci’s _Virgin of the Rocks_ (No. 1599), and the same artist’s _Mona Lisa_ or _La Joconde_ (No. 1601, Plate IV.), while the art of Sebastiano del Piombo, Andrea del Sarto, and other painters, Flemish as well as Italian, was well represented in the royal collection during his reign.

[2] “François I. voulant avoir dans Paris un palais digne de sa magnificence et dédaignant le vieux Louvre et l’hôtel des Tournelles, amas irrégulier de _tournelles_ (tourelles) et de pavillons gothiques, avait fait démolir, dès 1528, la grosse tour du Louvre, ce donjon de Philippe-Auguste duquel relevaient tous les fiefs du royaume. C’était démolir l’histoire elle-même; c’était la monarchie de la renaissance abattant la vieille royauté féodale.”—Martin, _Hist. de France_.

The example set by François I. was followed by his successor, Henri II. (reigned 1547-59), for whom Niccolò dell’ Abbate (1515-71), an artist of secondary importance, was working from 1552 onwards. Henri II.’s queen, Catherine de Médicis, was also a patron of art, being herself a collector of coins and medals. To her influence was due the decoration of the Château of Fontainebleau and the erection of the Palace of the Tuileries,[3] which was subsequently connected with the Louvre by means of the Long Gallery, now Room VI. Her eldest son, François II. (reigned 1559-60), the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, first converted the new buildings of the Louvre into a royal residence. Henry IV. (reigned 1589-1610) enlarged the Tuileries, and almost completed the Long Gallery, which now contains such a large proportion of the pictures. Louis XIII. (reigned 1589-1610), his eldest son, seems to have taken little interest in the royal collection; but his mother, Marie de Médicis, invited Rubens (1577-1640) to Paris to decorate the Palace of the Luxembourg with that series of imposing canvases representing her own life-history which are to-day seen to their best advantage in the Salle Rubens (Room XVIII.) of the Louvre.

[3] An inscription on a tablet placed high up on the left of the Pavillon Sully records that François I. began the Louvre in 1541, and Catherine de Médicis the Tuileries in 1564.

No complete record has been found of the pictures which formed the royal collection previous to the year 1642. To that date belongs a meagre Catalogue of the objects of art which then remained at Fontainebleau, but it is supposed that when Louis XIV. (reigned 1643-1715) succeeded to the throne he inherited about one hundred pictures, the property of the Crown. With his accession a new era in the history of art in France began.

Meanwhile, across the water, a superb royal collection had been formed. Charles I. of England (reigned 1625-49) had begun his career as a patron of art before his accession, with the acquisition of the paintings and statues collected by his deceased brother, Henry. During his matrimonial visit to Madrid in 1623 he was presented by Philip IV. with Titian’s _Venus del Pardo_, now in the Louvre (No. 1587). Soon after his accession he began to collect systematically, employing trusty agents to buy for him in different parts of Europe. His most notable purchase was that of the collection of the Duke of Mantua, for which he paid £18,280 between 1629 and 1632. He is said to have possessed in all 1760 pictures by the date of his execution. Most of them were disposed of at auction by order of Cromwell between 1649 and 1652.

One of the most persistent bidders at the sale of Charles I.’s pictures was Eberhard Jabach, a native of Cologne, who settled in Paris and became a naturalised Frenchman in 1647. He was an enthusiastic buyer of pictures, and his collection soon surpassed that of the French king. It was known to all French connoisseurs, and was visited by all travellers of note. In time, however, Jabach’s energies as a buyer exceeded his financial resources, and when his debts amounted to 278,718 _livres_ he offered his collection to Louis XIV., who was most anxious to distinguish his reign by the formation of a gallery of pictures which should be in all respects worthy of it. To this end he purchased Eberhard Jabach’s collection, paying 220,000 _livres_ for the 5542 drawings and 101 pictures which it contained. The price originally asked by Jabach was 463,425 _livres_. Among the masterpieces thus acquired by the king were Titian’s _Entombment_ (No. 1584, Plate XIII.), which Jabach had had the good fortune to purchase from the English royal collection for the absurdly small sum of £128, and Giorgione’s _Pastoral Symphony_ (No. 1136, Plate X.), which had also been among the treasures of the English Crown.

To Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), who founded the French Academy in 1635, at one time belonged Andrea Mantegna’s _Parnassus_ (No. 1375, Plate XIV.), the same painter’s _Wisdom victorious over the Vices_ (No. 1376), Lorenzo Costa’s _The Court of Isabella d’Este in the Garden of the Muses_ (No. 1261), and the same painter’s _Mythological Scene_ (No. 1262), together with Perugino’s _Combat of Love and Chastity_ (No. 1567).

Another important buyer at the sale of Charles I.’s collection was Cardinal Mazarin (1602-61), who acquired several valuable pictures, besides statuary, tapestries, and other fabrics. Of Mazarin’s pictures the Louvre now possesses Raphael’s small _St. Michael_ (No. 1502) and a _Holy Family_ (No. 1135), which is catalogued under the name of Giorgione, but it is more probably from the hand of Cariani.

It is said that Louis XIV. preferred the pictures of his own court-painter, Charles Le Brun, to those of the Venetian master, Paolo Veronese, whose large canvas, _The Supper at Emmaus_ (No. 1196), was nevertheless acquired during his reign. Eight pictures by Annibale Carracci, all of which are not now publicly exhibited in the Louvre (Nos. 1218, 1220, 1222, 1226, 1231-34), Albani’s _Diana and Actæon_ (No. 1111), nine compositions by Guido Reni (Nos. 1439-55 and 1457), and ten paintings by Domenichino (Nos. 1609-10 and 1612-19), also enriched the royal collection during Louis XIV.’s reign. Nor were the great French painters neglected. The four pictures (Nos. 736-39) of _The Seasons_, by Nicolas Poussin, which had been commissioned in 1660 by the Duc de Richelieu for the decoration of the Château de Meudon, together with four of the largest Claudes now in the Louvre (Nos. 312, 314, 316, 317), were obtained for the royal galleries by the ever-watchful Colbert (1619-83), who had been appointed Minister of Finance on the death of Mazarin (1602-61). Flemish art, as seen in the stately pictures of Van Dyck, was represented by seven examples (Nos. 1961-63, 1970, 1973-75). On the other hand, Louis XIV. is said to have failed altogether to appreciate the work of Teniers and to have exclaimed, when some of that artist’s pictures were brought to his notice, “_Ôtez-moi ces magots-là!_” Only one of the thirty-nine pictures by Teniers now in the Louvre, the _Interior of a Cottage_ (No. 2162), passed into the Gallery at that date. The almost entire absence of Dutch pictures is also to be noticed.

An event of extreme importance in this pompous reign was the institution of the French Academy of Arts, in 1648, with Charles Le Brun (1619-90) as Director, the despotic power which he exercised in art matters bringing about his further appointment as Director of the Gobelins tapestry works in 1660.