Skip to main content

Power Plays at the Louvre


The Petite Galerie exhibition for 2017–2018 focuses on the connection between art and political power. Governing entails self presentation as a way of affirming authority, legitimacy and prestige. Thus art in the hands of patrons becomes a propaganda tool; but it can also be a vehicle for protest and subverting the established order. 

Spanning the period from antiquity up to our own time, forty works from the Musée du Louvre, the Musée National du Château de Pau, the Château de Versailles and the Musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris illustrate the evolution of the codes behind the representation of political power.
The exhibition is divided into four sections:
  • “Princely Roles”: The first room presents the king’s functions— priest, builder, warrior/protector—as portrayed through different artistic media. Notable examples are Philippe de Champaigne’s Louis XIII, Léonard Limosin’s enamel Crucifixion Altarpiece, and the Triad of Osorkon II from ancient Egypt.
  • “Legitimacy through Persuasion”: The focus in the second room is on the emblematic figure of Henri IV, initially a king in search of legitimacy, then a model for the Bourbon heirs from Louis XVI to the Restoration. Features include sculptures by Barthélémy Prieur and François-Joseph Bosio, and paintings by Frans Pourbus the Younger, Ingres, and others.
  • “The Antique Model”: The theme of the third room is the equestrian statue. The Louvre is home to several remarkable examples, among them the Barberini Ivory leaf, a bronze of Charles the Bald, and François Girardon’s Louis XIV.
  • “The Insignia of Power”: In the fourth room majestic portraits of monarchs, including Antoine-François Callet’s Louis XVI, François Gérard’s Napoleon I and Franz-Xaver Winterhalter’s Louis Philippe, are accompanied by the regalia used during the coronation of the kings of France. This final section also highlights the dramatic historical and representational changes that came with the French Revolution.
“By providing keys to the observation and explanation of different artworks, the Petite Galerie sets out to make the visit to the museum an enjoyable and enlightening experience”, says Jean-Luc Martinez, president-director of the Musée du Louvre. Informative labels and digital touchscreen displays encourage attention to detail and help to establish context. 
In addition, five themed tours of the Louvre’s permanent collection are proposed:
       1) Royal Roles and Representational Codes in the Ancient East,
       2) The Pharaoh,
       3) The Powers of the Roman emperor,
       4) The Islamic Sovereign,
       5) The King as Artist and Patron.

Exhibition curators: Paul Mironneau, Director of the Musée National et Domaine du Château de Pau; Jean-Luc Martinez, President-Director of the Musée du Louvre



  • Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Henri IV recevant l’ambassadeur d’Espagne, 1817, huile sur toile. Paris, Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris © RMN-Grand Palais, Agence Bulloz.
Power in Louvre




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Món ăn làm đẹp da, chống nếp nhăn, trị nám da hiệu quả nhất

Yến sào hầm nước dừa, hạt sen -Công dụng: Nhuận phổi ngưng ho, giảm béo, trắng da, trị nám da hiệu quả. -Nguyên tố vi lượng: Calci, acid amin, chất nhựa. Protein trong yến sào tự nhiên chiếm khoảng 50%, thành phần còn lại là calci, acid amin, sulfor. Vậy làm sao hằng ngày chúng ta có thể hấp thu được lượng sữa uống? Điều quan trọng là, trong yến sào có chứa phân tử sinh trưởng biểu bì và hormon thúc đẩy quá trình phân chia tế bào, thúc đẩy sự tái tạo mới, tăng cường sức đề kháng cho cớ thể, khôi phục nguyên tố, cho bạn một làn da trắng và mịn màng. -Nguyên liệu: Yến sào 30g, nước dừa 200ml, đường phèn, hạt sen 60g. -Cách làm: 1. Yến sào ngâm vào nước khoảng 4 giờ, loại bỏ tạp chất, lông vụn, rửa sạch, để ráo nước, chuẩn bị sẵn. Hạt sen ngâm mềm, loại bỏ tim, để sẵn. 2. Bỏ đường phèn vào 600ml nước để sooim cho đường tan ra, sau đó cho yến sào và hạt sen vào, đậy nắp lại, chưng cách thủy khoảng 1 giờ 30 phút, rồi cho nước dừa vào nấu 15 phút. -Mẹo nhỏ: 1. Yến...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sotheby's IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART 14 November 2017 Updated

IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART EVENING SALE  Auction 14 November 2017  Works from the Mellon Family Collection are led by    Claude Monet’s Champ d’iris à Giverny, painted in 1887 during a period of respite from the artist’s extensive travels in Holland, Brittany and, finally, his newly- established permanent studio at Giverny (estimate $3/5 million) . The idyllic , pastoral subject matter of this work encapsulates the central focus of Monet’s oeuvre toward the end of the 19 th century, when he divorced himself from painting urban scenes of Paris and devoted himself fully to his beloved countryside in Giverny.  The present work was acquired by the Mellons in 1953 and has remained in the family’s collection since .  Jeanne dite Cocotte, et Ludovic Rodolphe Pissarro sur un tapis is one of the remarkable compositions in which Camille Pissarro turns his at ention to his own family as the subject for his art (estimate $800,000/1.2 million...
Post a Comment
Read more

Turner and the Sun

The Gallery, Winchester Discovery Centre 5 August – 15 October 2017, Sainsbury Gallery, Willis Museum, Basingstoke 21 October – 16  December 2017,    In the weeks prior to his death, J.M.W. Turner is said to have declared (to John Ruskin) ‘ The Sun is God’ –  what he meant by this, no-one really knows, but what is not in any doubt is the central role that the sun played in Turner’s lifelong obsession with light and how to paint it. Turner and the Sun , an exhibition curated by Hampshire Cultural Trust, will be the first ever to be devoted solely to the artist’s lifelong obsession with the sun. Whether it is the soft light of dawn, the uncompromising brilliance of midday or the technicolour vibrancy of sunset, his light-drenched landscapes bear testimony to the central role that the sun assumed in Turner’s art. Through twelve generous loans from Tate Britain – the majority of which are rarely on public display – this focused exhibition...
Post a Comment
Read more