Great Museums of the World: Louvre Paris.
DESCRIPTION: Hardback with Dust Jacket: 171 pages. Publisher: Newsweek/ Great Museums of the World; (1967). Size: 11¾ x 9¼ x ¾ inch; 2¾ pounds. To tour the Louvre, perhaps the most encyclopedic of museums, is to witness the unfolding of art history from prehistoric times to the twentieth century. And this book, with its 131 great works of art (all newly photographed and all reproduced in full color) opens to the reader the heart of the Louvre. Offered within, in company with the Museum’s directors, a superb guided tour of its great collections of painting and sculpture. In this book is the Louvre itself. Here, together with such renowned symbols as the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory of Samothrace, are scores of masterpieces far less familiar that startle by their freshness as well as their beauty.
Each is accompanied by a historical and interpretive commentary. The works included reflect all the splendor and scope of the collections, from the arts of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, with their basic symbols of life and death, to the statues and friezes of Greek and Roman cultures. From the idols and deities of Biblical Asia and the mosaics of Byzantium, to the masterworks of the great Italian, Flemish, German, and Spanish schools. Here are the breathtaking masterpieces, van der Weyden’s “Annunciation”, Hieronymus Bosch’s “Ship of Fools”, Vermeer’s “Lace Maker”, works of Lucas Cranach, El Greco, Rembrandt, and the great Rubens celebration of Marie de’ Medici’s arrival in France.
Here too Giorgione’s sublime “Concert”, Titian’s “Entombment of Christ”, Veronese’s sumptuous “Wedding at Cana”. All of this before even touching upon the richness of the Louvre’s incomparable French collection, ranging from the exquisite 12th century painted wooden “Christ Descending from the Cross” and the stupendous Avignon “Pieta”, through the erethral landscapes of Claude Lorrain and Watteua, to the romantics of the 19th century (Delacroix, Gericault, Corot, Courbet). Finally to reach the heights of Impressionism; Manet’s “Olmpia”, Monet’s “Rouen Cathedral”, Renoir’s “Moulin de la Galette, Degas, van Gogh, Cezanne, and so many more.
CONDITION: VERY GOOD TO LIKE NEW. Light shelf wear, otherwise in Very Good to Like New condition. Seemingly never read, at worst flipped through a few times. Pages are pristine; clean, unmarked, unmutilated, tightly bound. Satisfaction unconditionally guaranteed. In stock, ready to ship. No disappointments, no excuses. PROMPT SHIPPING! HEAVILY PADDED, DAMAGE-FREE PACKAGING!
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PLEASE SEE PUBLISHER, PROFESSIONAL, AND READER REVIEWS BELOW.
REVIEW: “Louvre, Paris” is part (the first in fact) of an extraordinary series of art books presenting, as if on guided tour, the “Great Museums of the World”. Produced by Newsweek, each presents the museum’s most important and memorable works of art; all especially photographed for this series and all reproduced in superb full color on high quality glossy stock, quality bound, by the finest European printing processes. Each volume possesses an introduction by the Museum’s Director, and a lucid text commenting on the historical and artistic significance of the works and their creators, prepared by a distinguished staff of European art historians.
The Louvre Museum in Paris, France, is one of the largest, oldest, most important and famous art galleries and museums in the world. The Louvre has a long history of artistic and historic conservation, from the Capetian dynasty (987-1328 A.D.) until today. The building was previously a royal palace, and is famous for holding several of the world's most prestigious works of art, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, Madonna of the Rocks and Alexandros of Antioch's Venus de Milo. Located in the center of the city of Paris, the first royal "Castle of the Louvre" was founded in the centre of Paris by Philip Augustus in 1190, as a fortified royal palace to defend Paris on its west against Viking attacks. In the 14th century, Charles V turned it into a palace of the arts, but Francois I and Henri II tore it down to build a real palace; the foundations of the original fortress tower are now under the Salle des Cariatides (Room of the Caryatids). The existing part of the Châteaux du Louvre was begun in 1535. The architect Pierre Lescot introduced to Paris the new design vocabulary of the Renaissance, which had been developed in the châteaux of the Loire. His new wing for the old castle defined its status, as the first among the royal palaces. During his reign (1589-1610), King Henry IV added the Grande Galerie. More than a quarter of a mile long and one hundred feet wide, this huge addition was built along the bank of the River Seine and at the time was the longest edifice of its kind in the world. Louis XIII (1610-1643) completed the Denon Wing, which had been started by Catherine Medici in 1560.
Today it has been renovated, as a part of the Grand Louvre Renovation Programme. The Richelieu Wing was also built by Louis XIII. It was part of the Ministry of Economy of France, which took up most of the north wing of the palace. The Ministry was moved and the wing was renovated and turned into magnificent galleries which were inaugurated in 1993, the 200th anniversary of parts of the building first being opened to the public as a museum on November 8, 1793 during the French Revolution. Napoleon I built the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (Triumph Arch) in 1805 to commemorate his victories and the Jardin du Carrousel. In those times this garden was the entrance to the Palais des Tuileries.
REVIEW: 172 pages including selected bibliography, index of illustrations, index of names and general index. Magnificent color photographs of 131 great works of art, central to the unparalleled collection housed in the Louvre. A stunning visual treat, and an erudite and informative narration!
REVIEW: Absolutely stunning, a visual feast for the senses. One of the most gorgeous “coffee table” size/quality books I have ever seen. More than merely pretty pictures however, this is a wonderfully narrated catalog of some of the world’s greatest treasures of art.
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