Part 1
# The Louvre: Fifty Plates in Colour ### By Brockwell, Maurice W.
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THE LOUVRE: FIFTY PLATES IN COLOUR
[Illustration: PLATE IV.—LEONARDO DA VINCI
(1452-1519)
FLORENTINE SCHOOL
No. 1601.—PORTRAIT OF MONA LISA
(La Joconde)
The portrait of Lisa di Anton Maria di Noldo Gherardini, third wife of Francesco di Bartolommeo de Zenobi del Giocondo. She is seated in a chair on which her left arm rests, her right hand superposed on the left. She is turned three-quarters to her right. Her hair, divided in the centre and seen under a transparent veil, falls in curls on her shoulders; her dark almond-shaped eyes look out at the spectator; the mouth is smiling. She wears a dark-green dress with golden-brown sleeves; a dark cloak is draped over her shoulders. The background is formed by a mountainous landscape full of incident.
Painted in tempera on panel, and restored in oil.
2 ft. 6½ in. × 1 ft. 9 in. (0·79 × 0·53.)]
THE LOUVRE: FIFTY PLATES IN COLOUR
by
PAUL G. KONODY and MAURICE W. BROCKWELL
Joint-Authors of “The National Gallery: One Hundred Plates in Colour”
Editor: T. Leman Hare
[Illustration]
New York Dodge Publishing Company 214-220 East 23rd Street
PREFACE
Those who wish to make a thorough, comprehensive, and systematic study of the pictures of the great national collection contained in the Louvre, which extend from the early years of the fourteenth century down to almost the present day, will be well advised to deal with the artists by the countries, schools, and periods to which they belong. That is the scheme which we have followed here.
We do not hesitate to refer to painters, especially those of the Italian schools, under the names by which they are generally known to modern critics, as opposed to those under which they are officially catalogued by the Louvre authorities. Thus, Raphael, Titian, and Giulio Romano, and not Santi, Vecelli, and Pippi, are the names which we shall use in this book. Special attention is drawn to the fact that the official attributions of a certain number of the pictures, mainly of the Italian schools, and notably several by Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Titian, are not accepted by us.
The authors of any critical book on a large national collection which includes several hundred Italian paintings of varying importance must of necessity be under heavy obligations to Mr. Berenson, whose scholarly, scientific, and constructive criticism, following on that of Morelli, has entirely revolutionised the study of Italian art.
It will be noticed that in many instances the dates used in these pages do not coincide with those given in the official Catalogues and repeated in a large number of text-books, while in a few cases it has been thought desirable to draw the attention of the student to the questionable accuracy of some of the titles and “pedigrees.”
The illustrations which have been selected represent, as far as possible, the whole range of the art of each country and school comprised within the limits of the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The Plates are arranged in the order in which reference is made to them in the text, but it has been found impossible to place them opposite the pages on which the critical remarks are given.
In the descriptions of the pictures the terms _right_ and _left_ are used in reference to the right and left of the spectator, unless the text obviously implies the contrary. Moreover, in the titles of pictures containing the Madonna and several Saints, the names of the Saints are given in the order they occupy in the composition regarded from left to right. The titles we have used are descriptive rather than mere translations of those contained in the official Catalogue. The official numbers are those marked in large figures and placed at the top of the frames; the numbers in small figures affixed to the bottom left corner of some of the frames are obsolete.
The surface measures of the pictures are for convenience given in feet and inches as well as in metres, the height preceding the width. The technical conditions as to panel or canvas and tempera or oil are also noted.
Most of the Rooms containing pictures are open:—
1. On Sundays all the year round, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
2. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from April 1 to September 30, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
3. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from October 1 to March 31, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
4. On Thursdays in the Summer Months, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and in the Winter Months, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
5. Rooms IX.-XIII., which contain French pictures and Rooms XIX.-XXXV., which contain Flemish and Dutch pictures are not open before eleven o’clock.
6. The Louvre is closed on Mondays all the year round, and on January 1, July 14, and Ascension Day; it is also closed on the Feast of the Assumption (August 15), All Saints Day (November 1), and Christmas Day, unless these last three days fall on a Sunday.
CONTENTS
PAGE PREFACE v
INTRODUCTION 1
EARLY SIENESE SCHOOL 15 DUCCIO’S FOLLOWERS 16
THE FLORENTINE SCHOOL 19 THE GIOTTESQUES 20 FRA ANGELICO 23 PAOLO UCCELLO 26 THE GOLDSMITH PAINTERS 32 LEONARDO DA VINCI 34 MONA LISA 36 BOTTICELLI 39 ALBERTINELLI 43 ANDREA DEL SARTO 45
THE LATER SIENESE SCHOOL 49
THE UMBRIAN SCHOOL 53 PERUGINO 54 RAPHAEL 56
THE VENETIAN SCHOOL 61 THE BELLINI 62 GIORGIONE 66 TITIAN 68 TITIAN’S FOLLOWERS 72 PAOLO VERONESE 74
THE PADUAN SCHOOL 79 ANDREA MANTEGNA 80
THE SCHOOL OF VERONA 85
THE SCHOOL OF FERRARA 89
THE SCHOOL OF MILAN 93 ANDREA SOLARIO 95 BERNARDINO LUINI 96
THE SCHOOL OF LOMBARDY 99
THE SCHOOL OF FERRARA-BOLOGNA 101
THE SCHOOL OF CREMONA 103
THE SCHOOL OF BRESCIA 105
THE SCHOOL OF MODENA 107
THE SCHOOL OF VICENZA 109
THE SCHOOL OF VERCELLI 111
THE SCHOOL OF PARMA 113
THE SCHOOL OF BOLOGNA 115
THE DECADENT SCHOOLS 117 THE “MANNERISTS” 117 THE “ECLECTICS” 118 THE “NATURALISTS” 120
THE EARLY FLEMISH SCHOOL 123 JAN VAN EYCK 124 THE SCHOOL OF TOURNAI 124 HANS MEMLINC 125 MEMLINC’S “VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH DONORS” 127 GERARD DAVID 128 HIERONYMUS BOSCH 130 THE ANTWERP SCHOOL 131 BAREND VAN ORLEY 133
THE LATE FLEMISH SCHOOL 135 PIETER BRUEGHEL 136 JAN BRUEGHEL 137 THE FRANCK FAMILY 138 PETER PAUL RUBENS 139 RUBENS AT ANTWERP 140 THE MÉDICIS SERIES 142 MÉDICIS PORTRAITS 143 LATE WORKS BY RUBENS 145 ANTHONY VAN DYCK 146 VAN DYCK’S SECOND ANTWERP PERIOD 147 “LE ROI À LA CHASSE” 148 FRANS SNYDERS 149 JACOB JORDAENS 150 FOLLOWERS OF RUBENS 151 ADRIAEN BROUWER 152 DAVID TENIERS 153 PHILIPPE DE CHAMPAIGNE 155 VAN DER MEULEN 156 MINOR FLEMISH PAINTERS 156
THE GERMAN SCHOOL 159 “THE MASTER OF THE BARTHOLOMEW ALTAR” 159 COLOGNE PAINTERS 160 ALBRECHT DÜRER 161 DÜRER’S FOLLOWERS 162 LUCAS CRANACH 162 HANS HOLBEIN 163 THE KRATZER PORTRAIT 164 PORTRAIT OF ANNE OF CLEVES 166 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 167 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 167
THE SPANISH SCHOOL 171 LUIS DE DALMAU 171 LUIS MORALES 172 EL GRECO 173 THE SCHOOL OF SEVILLE 175 ZURBARÁN 176 RIBERA 177 VELAZQUEZ 179 THE INFANTA 181 MARIANA OF AUSTRIA 182 COPIES AND SCHOOL PICTURES 183 THE “MEETING OF THIRTEEN PEOPLE” 184 MURILLO 185 “THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION” 186 “THE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN” 187 “THE ANGELS’ KITCHEN” 188 THE SCHOOL OF MADRID 189 GOYA 191
THE DUTCH SCHOOL 193 GERARD OF HAARLEM 193 SIR ANTONIS MOR 195 SPANISH OPPRESSION 196 HISTORY AND PORTRAIT PAINTERS 197 CORNELIS JANSSEN 198 FRANS HALS 198 DUTCH INDEPENDENCE 201 REMBRANDT 201 THE PUPILS OF REMBRANDT 205 VAN DER HELST 205 GENRE PAINTERS 207 ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE 207 GERARD DOU 208 DOU’S PUPILS 210 GERARD TERBORCH 211 JAN STEEN 212 PIETER DE HOOCH 213 NICOLAS MAES 214 GABRIEL METSU 215 LANDSCAPE PAINTERS 216 AELBERT CUYP 217 JACOB VAN RUISDAEL 218 HOBBEMA 219 PHILIPS WOUWERMAN 219 THE ITALIAN INFLUENCE 220 ARCHITECTURAL PAINTERS 221 MARINE PAINTERS 222 STILL-LIFE PAINTERS 223 THE DECLINE 224
THE EARLY FRENCH SCHOOL 227 THE MAÎTRE DE MOULINS 228 THE DE SOMZÉE “MAGDALEN” 230 JEAN FOUQUET 231 NICOLAS FROMENT 232
THE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH SCHOOL 235 JEAN CLOUET’S DRAWINGS 235 FRANÇOIS CLOUET 237 CORNEILLE DE LYON 238 THE SCHOOL OF FONTAINEBLEAU 239 JEAN COUSIN 240
THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH SCHOOL 243 THE BROTHERS LE NAIN 244 NICOLAS POUSSIN 245 CLAUDE LORRAIN 247 LE SUEUR 248 CHARLES LE BRUN 249 PIERRE MIGNARD 250 LE BRUN’S FOLLOWERS 251 BATTLE PAINTERS 253 JEAN JOUVENET 253 THE PORTRAIT PAINTERS 254 LANDSCAPE PAINTERS 257 DESPORTES 258
THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH SCHOOL 259 GENRE PAINTERS 259 RAOUX AND DE TROY 260 WATTEAU 261 THE WATTEAUS IN THE LA CAZE GALLERY 263 WATTEAU’S FOLLOWERS 263 THE VAN LOO FAMILY 264 FRANÇOIS BOUCHER 265 SIMÉON CHARDIN 267 FRAGONARD 268 GREUZE 269 PORTRAIT PAINTERS 270 TOCQUÉ, VESTIER, AND LÉPICIÉ 270 MME. VIGÉE LE BRUN 272 JOSEPH VERNET 273 HUBERT ROBERT 273 JACQUES LOUIS DAVID 275 THE “CORONATION” PICTURE 276 BARON GÉRARD 277 BARON GROS 278 PIERRE PRUD’HON 278
THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH SCHOOL 279 GÉRICAULT 279 DELACROIX 280 DELACROIX’S ORIENTAL PICTURES 282 INGRES 283 DELAROCHE AND SCHEFFER 285 DECAMPS 286 THE ORIENTALISTS 287 REGNAULT 288 ACADEMIC PAINTERS 288 MICHEL AND HUET 289 THE BARBIZON SCHOOL 290 COROT 290 T. ROUSSEAU 292 C. TROYON 293 J. DUPRÉ 293 DIAZ 294 DAUBIGNY 295 MILLET 296 DAUMIER 298 COURBET 298 MEISSONIER 299 RICARD 300 MANET 301
THE BRITISH SCHOOL 303 CONSTABLE AND HIS IMITATORS 303 BONINGTON 305 RAEBURN 306 SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE 306 OTHER PORTRAIT PAINTERS 307
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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.