Louvre [antikvár]

Preface In memory of Pierre Quoniam The collections in the seven depart-ments of the Louvre museum, each one of which corresponds to a chapter in this book, together make up a compos-ite history of humán artistic creation. The three departements of antiquities show how the great civilisations of The Middle East, Egypt and the Mediterra-nean emerged and blossomed, from the third millennium before the birth of Christ until the first centuries of the Christian era. After this, the museum's four 'modern' departments trace the de-velopment of European art from the high middle ages to the i9th century, with separate emphasis on the evolution of sculpture, the decorative arts, paint-ing and graphic arts. Is the Louvre's version of the history of art complete, and if so, is it entirely im-partial? The answer to both questions is emphatically no. Somé aspects of the subject are exhaustively treated else-where, in other French national mu-seums. The end of the igth century and the twentieth century are properly the province of the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée d'Art Moderne, while Eastern and Far Eastern art belong to the Musée Guimet, and African and Pacific art belong to the Musée National des Arts Africains et Oceaniens. As to the vari-ous schools, cultures and techniques rep-resented in the Louvre's collections, the museum cannot and should not pretend to be a perfect, objective and compre-hensive guide. On the contrary, the Louvre's originality and special charac-ter stems not only from its richness, but alsó from its unevenness, its series of great works and unique masterpieces, its star performers and supporting cast. It would be a pointless exercise to try and pick out the 'best' museum from a üst including (say) the Hermitage, Leningrád and the Metropolitan Museum, New York, not to mention the separate and complementary museums of London, Berlin and the Louvre itself. Whatever these institutions have to offer is linked to the difficulties they have to face and the conditions under which their collections have been assembled. The Louvre's particular good fortune is that it has inherited a royal gallery from France's ancien régime (like those of Vienna, Madrid or Florence), composed of emblematic, often irreplaceable works. These it can display alongside acquired collections (like those of New York, London and Berlin) which have been brought together over the last 200 years through a combination of careful purchasing and providential priváté do-nations, during a period when the history of art-and connoisseurship-underwent its broadest expansion. A priceless amenity distinguishing the Louvre from its peers is the backdrop it provides to its collections. There was al-ways the splendid palatial architecture, with features from the ióth through to the i9th century, and the extraordinary site in the centre of the city. But today, at a single stroke, the Grand Louvre project has vastly enlarged the perspec-tive of the museum, on the one hand in terms of the past, and on the other in terms of the present. The excavation of the Cour Carrée brought to light the monumental moat belonging to the originál chateau of Philippe Auguste and Charles V, which epitomized the power of the monarchy; while the Na-poleon hall and courtyard fronted by I.M. Pei's pyramid, which are the first stages in the grand project to modernize the entire museum, have given the Louvre a secure place in the history of contemporary architecture. Michel Laclotte Director of the Musée du Loi Hubert Róbert Projet for alterations to the Great Gallery of the Louvre in 1796 (central arca)