Louvre extended tour

David (1748 — 1825) was a Neoclassical painter, one of the most famous in France during his life. He focused primarily on history paintings, works that sought to realistically (if often a little grandly) capture moments that really happened.

He helped move the prevailing trend in European art away from the Rococo style. Rococo paintings show scenes of aristocrats at play, using overly intricate designs and soft colors. But by the time David began, people were tired of this frivolous style. They wanted something more serious.

When the French Revolution broke out, David became a committed supporter, and he even joined the government of the new French Republic. But the artist was sent to prison after his ally Robespierre lost power. So, David allied with a new politician — Napoleon.

Though this was a great pick for a while, with the politician eventually becoming the all powerful emperor, once Napoleon was exiled, David was forced to flee France and live in Brussels. From there, he continued to paint and teach. 

His life saw many rises and falls, but his commitment to serious, well-balanced paintings that focused on stark detail and impressive realism influenced the course of art forever.

In The Coronation of Napoleon, the Emperor is shown holding up his crown, with Josephine kneeling before him and the enormous crowd fixing their eyes on him.  

Originally, David was going to paint the moment Napoleon placed the crown on his own head, but the artist decided to show the moment just before — in the end, a much more dynamic and dramatic image. In the minds of viewers at the time, they know exactly what was about to happen.  

It is difficult to make such a large scene on such a huge canvas work as a single painting, but David manages it all by creating extraordinary balance. Having rows of spectators disappearing up into the darkness gives great contrast to the bright colors surrounding Napoleon., and really wherever you look, the eye is always drawn back to the Emperor and his crown.  

It is both effective propaganda, showing Napoleon as a heroic, larger than life person and spectacular art, showing the painter as a true master of his craft. And because the subject and the artist were personally connected and both deeply involved with the history of France, the painting brings together many threads all at once. 

Unfortunately, the master sculptor who created this work is unknown. 

But they likely created it on the Greek island of Rhodes sometime around the beginning of the second century BCE. 

They used Parian marble, a semi translucent stone that was a favorite among ancient Greeks.  It is from the Hellenistic period, a moment of artistic and cultural flowering in ancient Greece. 

And while much of the Hellenistic artworks that survive today are actually later copies made by Romans, this is the real deal.  

This sculpture tells us so much about the ancient Greeks and their deep appreciation for beauty. The artist created exquisitely fine details and texture that is still a leading achievement in the form. 

This sculpture has remained so beloved due to the lively detail work and exciting subject matter. 

And this was created not to be shown publicly but as an offering to a goddess, it gives us such an insight into the minds of the ancient Greeks and their perception of Beauty.

While the version in the Louvre is likely the original, the National Gallery in London holds another copy that Leonardo made later. It is believed that the original was made on commission in 1483 for a client in Milan, but the artist actually sold this work privately. 

That forced him to make another version.  

There are some slight differences between the two, and experts believe that Leonardo painted the Louvre version, while he guided assistants in painting the London version.

Why Da Vinci made copies of his paintings?

Like in Science, he made many copies to experiment on them.

Leonardo Da Vinci did not paint as much paintings in his life as his colleagues. He was a curious Polymath, always distracted and absorbed by new experiences, his studio, his travels, and breakthroughs in Science, architecture, engineering and so on. 

He painted about 15 to 20 complete projects that we know of, compared to his rivals, it was not a lot. For example, Raphael, also a famous Renaissance Painter, painted about 180 complete paintings.

Experts from the Louvre and scientists from Paris believe that Da Vinci was an experimental self-taught painter who invented and tried new innovative paints and techniques inspired by other artist painters and sculptors. Few of these tests worked very well, but other experiments failed, but he always take notes of what worked and what failed, making him an extraordinary influencer of the modern world. 

Virgin of the Rocks shows a popular apocryphal story where a young John the Baptist meets a young Jesus who is escaping the Massacre of the Innocents — when Herod the Great ordered all male children around Bethlehem killed.  But it has come to mean much more than that. 

The outrageous talent on display by the painter, the significant influence it had on Renaissance painting, and its somewhat murky history all combine to produce a painting you have to see to believe. 

There are few painters more connected to France than David. 

He played an enormous part in the country’s history (even befriending Napoleon), and many of his paintings are used to show the major moments in history that he immortalized on canvas. 

Oath of the Horatii (1784) is one of his most popular. It is a paragon of the Neoclassical style. The people are arranged in such a clear and tight composition. The lighting is dramatic but not overly sentimental. The big emotions of the scene are handled with a detached stoicism, though that stylistic choice never gets in the way of the viewer’s connection to the work.  

There is a balance between the machismo of combat and the grief over the high cost of war. On a single canvas, we see so much of the human condition at once. 

Let’s go back in time almost 4,000 years. It is then, while the Akkadian Empire flourishes throughout Mesopotamia, that King Naram-Sin rules. He no doubt enjoyed many military victories, but one in particular is memorialized in a stele sitting in the Louvre.  

Steles are stone slabs that commemorate an event or person, often with inscriptions and images. 

On this object, the unknown artist carved King Naram-Sin as he steps over a vanquished enemy. 

The King’s forces are in tight formation, and the enemies are scattered in defeat.  

It is a dramatic scene, and though it is incredibly ancient, it still manages to speak to us. Just standing next to such an old work of art makes you feel more connected to the entire history of humanity. 

The Moneylender and His Wife by Quentin Matsys Flemish and Dutch Renaissance painting is one of the most popular historical styles thanks in large part to its playful and human way of capturing scenes. In this work, finished in 1514, Matsys gives a charming spin on a slice-of-life scene.  

Though centuries separate us from the painting’s creation, this somewhat boring moment in the life of a married couple is still so relatable. The husband looks over jewels and pieces of gold, weighing them out. 

The wife looks over at the piece he handles, taking a break from the book she is browsing.  

It is so real, showing the simple tenderness that makes up much of married life. This painting shows that great art does not always need to be of history scenes or portraits of notable people. It can be made out of normal moments, ones we can see ourselves taking part in any day of the week. This subject matter, treated seriously and with honor, makes our own lives feel ennobled.