Het Louvre - Eng - Erich Lessing

THE LOUVRE: All The Paintings p r e fa c e b y h e n r i l o y e t t e photography by erich lessing text by vincent pomarède and anja grebe

portrait of an old man and a boy

Domenico Ghirlandaio was not merely an important painter of biblical stories but also an outstanding portrait painter, as demonstrated by this unusual work that occupies a special place in the history of art. The style of representation, with a window in the background, resembles that of a portrait, but the identity of the two figures is unknown. This combination of an old man and a young boy, who could be grandfather and grandson or uncle and nephew, is curious and the only known example of its type.

There is a strong bond between the two that contrasts with the otherwise formal character of the portrait.

The most disturbing feature is the nose of the old man, which is grotesquely disfigured by acne rosacea or rhinophyma, commonly caused by excessive alcohol consumption. This alarming aspect is mitigated, however, by the man’s mild expression and the trustful gaze of the boy. The clothing suggests that the man belongs to the Florentine patrician class. His explicit ugliness, with his nose occupying the very center of the painting, also hints at an allegorical meaning, allowing the work to be seen as a symbolic depiction of human life from youth to decay.

Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1449–1494 Portrait of an Old Man and a Boy, ca. 1490 H: 62 cm, L: 46 cm; Tempera, wood (poplar) Denon, floor 1, room 5; R.F. 266

Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1449–1494 The Virgin and Child, ca. 1475 H: 74 cm, L: 55 cm; Oil on wood Denon, floor 1, room 5; R.F. 1266

T H E I TA L I A N S C H O O L

2 T H E L O U V R E . A L L T H E PA I N T I N G S

3

Domenico Ghirlandaio

4 T H E L O U V R E . A L L T H E PA I N T I N G S

t h e v i s i tat i o n

Carlo Crivelli, ca. 1430–ca. 1494 2. The Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels, ca. 1485 H: 167 cm, L: 120 cm; Oil on wood Denon, floor 1, room 4; M.I. 489

Domenico Ghirlandaio (and workshop)

t h e v i r g i n a n d c h i l d w i t h t h e i n fa n t st. john the baptist and three angels

Cosimo Tura (Cosmè), 1433–1495 3. St. Anthony of Padua, ca. 1475 H: 71 cm, L: 31 cm; Tempera, oil, gold foil, wood (poplar) Denon, floor 1, room 4; M.I. 486

1

2

3

4

Neroccio di Bartolomeo De’Landi, ca. 1445–1500 4. The Virgin and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Anthony, ca. 1480 H: 43 cm, L: 32 cm; Tempera, oil, gold foil, wood (poplar) Denon, floor 1, room 4; R.F. 1939 Luca Signorelli, ca. 1445–1523 5. The Birth of St. John Baptist, ca. 1485 H: 31 cm, L: 70 cm; Tempera, oil, wood (poplar) Denon, floor 1, room 4; INV. 670 Luca Signorelli, workshop of, ca. 1445–1523 6. Group of Fifteen Characters, ca. 1490 H: 109 cm, L: 73 cm; Tempera, oil, wood (poplar) Denon, floor 1, room 4; M.I. 541

5

6

Liberale da Verona, ca. 1445–1527 7. The Abduction of Europa, ca. 1470 H: 39 cm, L: 118 cm; Oil on wood (poplar) Denon, floor 1, room 4; M.I. 585 Francesco Botticini, 1446–1498 8. The Virgin and Child in Glory, with Mary Magdalene, St. Bernard, Angels, Cherubim, and Seraphim, ca. 1485 H: 188 cm, L: 177 cm; Tempera on wood (poplar) Denon, floor 1, room 3; INV. 590 Francesco Botticini, 1446–1498 9. The Virgin Adoring the Christ Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist and Two Angels, ca. 1490 Ø 82 cm, Tempera on wood (poplar) Denon, floor 1, room 5; R.F. 2082

7

8

9

10

Biagio d’Antonio, 1446–1516 10. The Road to Calvary, ca. 1480 H: 191 cm, L: 191 cm; Tempera, Oil, wood Denon, floor 1, room 5; INV. 296

Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1449–1494 The Visitation, 1491 H: 172 cm, L: 167 cm; Tempera, wood Denon, floor 1, room 5; INV. 297

Domenico Ghirlandaio and workshop, 1449–1494 The Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist and Three Angels, ca. 1490 Ø 92 cm; Tempera, oil on wood Denon, floor 1, room 5; M.I. 547

This work depicts an episode from the beginning of Gospel of St. Luke (1:39–45): the visit of the pregnant Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. Shortly after conceiving Christ, Mary sets out joyfully for a town in the Judean hills to visit her cousin, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. In greeting her, Elizabeth acknowledges the divinity of the Virgin’s unborn child and gives her a blessing. Whereas this greeting is normally shown taking place on open ground before the city gates, Domenico Ghirlandaio has set the scene, known as the Visitation, in front of a monumental triumphal arch. In his version the city, in the guise of a Tuscan hilltop town, can be glimpsed in the background through the arch. Moved by the divinity carried by Mary within her, Elizabeth drops reverently to her knees while the delicate and youthful Virgin lays her hand lovingly on her cousin’s shoulder. The main figures are flanked by two female saints whose flowing robes heighten the pathos of the scene. The marble panel on the right bears the date 1491. The painting was commissioned by the wealthy Florentine merchant Lorenzo Tornabuoni for his chapel in the Chiesa di Cestello in Florence.

The Virgin and Child with the young St. John the Baptist and angels was one of the favorite subjects of Ghirlandaio’s workshop, and was painted by the master and his assistants in ever-changing variations. In terms of quality, the Louvre tondo, known for certain to have been painted by the Florentine master himself, is regarded as the best of all. It was executed a few years before Ghirlandaio’s premature death from the plague at 45 years old. Wearing an ample blue mantle, the Virgin is notable for her extremely graceful expression. With her fair, porcelain-like skin and gold-embroidered cloak, the youthful Mother of God is like a celestial apparition. Her behavior, by contrast, is thoroughly human and maternal as she carefully supports the Infant Jesus, who sits on a small ceremonial cushion on her knee. Both mother and child are turned toward the young John the Baptist, holding his cross staff, who has fallen to his knees before the Virgin in adoration. She strokes his chin fondly while at the same time lifting his head. The three angels in bright robes hold lily stems, symbolizing the Virgin’s purity. A port in the mist can be glimpsed through the round-arched window.

T H E I TA L I A N S C H O O L

Domenico Ghirlandaio

5

Bartolomeo Vivarini, ca. 1430–1491 1. St. John of Capistrano, 1459 H: 197 cm, L: 98 cm; Oil on wood (poplar) Denon, floor 1, room 5; M.I. 488

angel holding an olive branch

Hans Memling’s Angel Holding an Olive Branch is one of the most enchanting works of Early Netherlandish painting. Acquired by the Louvre in 1993, the panel was originally substantially bigger and depicted the angel as a full-length figure. The gold background, rare in Early Netherlandish painting, symbolizes the heavenly sphere. The uncommon motif of an olive branch in place of the usual lily stem was borrowed by Memling from Italian Renaissance art. This small picture is most probably a fragment of the left wing panel of a triptych for private devotion that is known to have been in the possession of Margaret of Austria (1480–1530), the daughter of Duchess Mary of Burgundy and Emperor Maximilian I, at the beginning of the 16th century. Margaret, regent of the Netherlands, gave the triptych as a gift to the monastery at Brou. The work was the product of an unusual collaboration between artists of different generations. A historical inventory documents the central panel (now lost) of Christ as a Man of Sorrows in the arms of his mother, Mary, as having been painted by Rogier van der Weyden before being incorporated by Hans Memling into a triptych around 1475–1480. The almost complete right wing panel depicting an angel holding a sword is now in the Wallace Collection in London.

Hans Memling, 1435–1494 Angel Holding an Olive Branch, ca. 1475 H: 16 cm, L: 10 cm; Oil on wood (oak), gold foil Richelieu, floor 2, room 5; R.F. 19931

Hans Memling, 1435–1494 Triptych of the Rest during the Flight into Egypt, ca. 1490 H: 47 cm, L: 26 cm; Oil on wood Richelieu, floor 2, room 5; INV. 1453, INV. 1454, R.F. 1974-30 Hans Memling, 1435–1494 Portrait of an Old Woman, ca. 1470 H: 35 cm, L: 29 cm; Oil on wood Richelieu, floor 2, room 5; R.F. 1723

THE NORTHERN SCHOOLS

6 T H E L O U V R E . A L L T H E PA I N T I N G S

7

Hans Memling

8 T H E L O U V R E . A L L T H E PA I N T I N G S

portrait of anne of cleves

p o r t r a i t o f e r a s m u s o f r o t t e r da m

Anne of Cleves (1515–1557) was the fourth of King Henry VIII of England’s eight wives. Their union lasted only a short while as Henry soon grew tired of his wife. The unusual choice of parchment as a support for an official portrait and the rapid execution suggest that the likeness was painted in 1539 in Düren, Germany, prior to the marriage and brought to England in order to provide the king with an impression of his future bride. Henry’s court painter, Hans Holbein the Younger, from Augsburg, would have been dispatched to the court at Düren for this specific purpose. Holbein was one of the finest portraitists of his day but seems to have considerably enhanced the appearance of the not especially attractive Anne. In contrast to her relatively inexpressive face, Holbein has put all his skill into reproducing her magnificent clothes and pearl bonnet. With this finely detailed and carefully modeled portrait, Holbein was at least able to convince later art collectors, including the earl of Arundel and Louis XIV of France, the Sun King, from whose collection this work passed to the Louvre.

Hans Holbein the Younger trained as a painter with his father, Hans Holbein the Elder, in Augsburg before moving to Basel as a journeyman.

This portrait of Erasmus, the most famous scholar of his day, who at the time of this painting in 1523 was living in Basel, was an early test of the young painter’s skill. By showing the 56-year-old theologian and philosopher at work on his A Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Mark, the portrait follows in the tradition of representations of St. Jerome, the Church father and translator of the Bible, in whose footsteps Erasmus was following. Wearing a heavy black coat and traditional scholar’s cap, the author looks down at his manuscript, which rests on a leather-covered lectern. The background consists of a carpet featuring a woven animal pattern. The viewer becomes an intimate observer of the scene and is afforded an opportunity to look over the scholar’s shoulder while he works. Erasmus may have commissioned the portrait as a gift for his friend the English humanist Thomas More, whom Holbein also painted a few years later (now in the Frick Collection, New York).

Hans Holbein the Younger, 1497–1543 Portrait of Anne of Cleves, 1539 H: 65 cm, L: 48 cm; Oil, vellum, canvas, stuck materials one upon the other Richelieu, floor 2, room 8; INV. 1348

Hans Holbein the Younger, 1497–1543 Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam, ca. 1523 H: 43 cm, L: 33 cm; Oil on wood Richelieu, floor 2, room 8; INV. 1345

Hans Holbein the Younger, 1497–1543 William Warham, 1527 H: 82 cm, L: 66 cm; Oil on wood Richelieu, floor 2, room 8; INV. 1344

Hans Holbein the Younger, 1497–1543 Sir Henry Wyatt, formerly known as Milord Cromwell, then Thomas More, ca. 1525–1540 H: 39 cm, L: 31 cm; Tempera, resinous binder, wood (oak) Richelieu, floor 2, room 8; INV. 1347

THE NORTHERN SCHOOLS

Hans Holbein the Younger

9

Hans Holbein the Younger

Théodore Géricault the raft of the medusa

This enormous painting is regarded as one of the key works of the 19th century. The dramatic scene is based on a real-life event that occupied Théodore Géricault greatly. On July 2, 1816, the Medusa, a French frigate, was shipwrecked off the coast of Senegal. The 150-plus soldiers on board, who had been sent out to colonize Senegal, tried to save themselves by constructing a raft that subsequently drifted at sea for thirteen days.

The fifteen survivors told of massacres and cannibalism. The shipwreck sparked controversy throughout France—the captain responsible for the doomed vessel was himself saved—and the artist decided to depict this contemporary event with the same grandeur given to the most lofty historical, mythological, or religious subjects. Based on the report of the survivors, Géricault painted this somber picture of mankind exposed to the forces of nature and thrown back on its own resources, literally jettisoning every vestige of civilization.

Yet, he also chose to represent a moment of hope, with the rescue boat appearing in the far distance just as the chaos of the preceding few days was taking over. The men are desperately attempting to attract the attention of the ship, which can just be made out on the horizon. For his depiction of the raft, Géricault adhered faithfully to the accounts of two survivors, whom he interviewed exhaustively; in order to portray the dead and dying as realistically as possible, he even visited a number of Paris hospitals. The painter’s detailed realism is combined with a Romantic overall design that is revealed through the relationship between man and nature. Owing as much to Raphael, Caravaggio, and Rubens as to Le Brun, and with a conscious regard for David and Gros, Géricault here attempts to combine, in a single image, all the achievements of the old masters with those of the greatest painters of his own day.

Théodore Géricault, 1791–1824 The Raft of the Medusa, ca. 1819 H: 491 cm, L: 716 cm; Oil on canvas Denon, floor 1, room 77; INV. 4884

THE FRENCH SCHOOL

Théodore Géricault, 1791–1824 The Raft of the Medusa, Sketch, 1818 H: 38 cm, L: 46 cm; Oil on canvas Sully, floor 2, room 61; R.F. 2229

11

Théodore Géricault, 1791–1824 Sketch of The Raft of the Medusa, 1818 H: 65 cm, L: 83 cm; Oil on canvas Sully, floor 2, room 71; R.F. 1667

T H E L O U V R E . A L L T H E PA I N T I N G S

12

Master of Burgo de Osma, early to mid 15th century 1. St. Ambroise, ca. 1430 H: 132 cm, L: 72 cm; Oil painting on wood, Gold sheet Denon, floor 1, room 27; R.F. 1709 Master of Burgo de Osma, early to mid 15th century 2. St. John the Baptist, ca. 1430 H: 170 cm, L: 91 cm; Oil painting on wood, Gold sheet Denon, floor 1, room 27; R.F. 1708 Master of Burgo de Osma, early to mid 15th century 3. The Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels, ca. 1430 H: 230 cm, L: 167 cm; Oil painting on wood Denon, floor 1, room 27; R.F. 1579 Master of Albocacer, ca. 1400–1420 4. The Virgin of Pain, ca. 1430 H: 131 cm, L: 72 cm; Oil painting on wood, Gold sheet Denon, floor 1, room 27, R.F; 1998-31 Spanish School, late 15th century 5. The Lady in Thoughts, ca. 1620 H: 245 cm, L: 183 cm; Oil on canvas Denon, floor 1, room 28; Inv. 9925

1

2

3

Unknown Valencian Painter (workshop of Gonçal Sarria), mid to late 15th century 6. The Christ of Mercy ca. St. Anthony Abbot, St. Lucia, the Virgin, St. John, St. Catherine, and a Holy Bishop, 1654 H: 235 cm, L: 168 cm; Oil on canvas Denon, floor 1, room 27; R.F. 1968-6 Juan de Borgona, ca. 1494–1536 7. The Virgin, St. John, Two Holy Women, and St. Dominic de Guzman, ca. 1515 H: 134 cm, L: 106 cm; Oil Denon, floor 1, room 28; R.F. 1993-19

4

5

6

7