Top 12 masterpieces of the Louvre
- “Christ at the Pillar,” by Antonello da Messina
Acquired into the Louvre collection (1475-1479)
The acquisition of this painting allowed the Louvre to add to its considerable collection of Italian paintings an extraordinarily stirring work that is attributed to the Sicilian artist’s last period of activity. Antonello Messina was an innovator and an indisputable authority on Renaissance painters.
The small dimensions of the masterpiece (29.8 x 21 cm) do not do justice to the monumental impressiveness of the image of Christ crowned with thorns and looking up to heaven. The iconography is derived from the Gospel text “Behold the man” where, after the scourging and crowning of Christ’s head with a crown of thorns, he is shown to the crowd.
The viewer looks down on the face thrown back with the traces of tears and a drop of blood, the shadow of the rope and the protruding knot resting on the picture frame. All of this creates a sense of volume and real presence, which is incredible for the fifteenth century.
- “Madonna of Victory,” Andrea Mantegna
Purchased into the Louvre collection (1496).
Andrea Mantegna of Padua worked most of his life in the service of the Signors of Mantua, where he moved in 1461. There he found the ideal conditions to develop his crystal clear, drawing inspiration from antiquity painting. The reason for this painting, which has been in the Louvre since 1798.
Three saints intercede for the Marquis.
Two of them, the Archangel Michael with a sword and St. George with a broken pike, were entrusted to support the mantle of the Madonna under which Francesco had taken refuge.
- “Mona Lisa,” Leonardo da Vinci
Painting from the collection of Francis I (1503-1506)
“Mona Lisa,” or “Gioconda,” is not only one of Leonardo’s most famous works, but also the most famous female face in the world, which has stirred the imaginations of scholars, writers, and poets of all times. There is still no definite opinion as to who this young woman was. The basic version is that this priceless Louvre painting depicts Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco Giocondo. The dates are determined “by eye,” based on the artist’s style at the time. According to one version, the model’s husband allegedly refused to pay for the painting. But experts are inclined to believe that Da Vinci himself did not give the work away while he was living in Florence, as he did not finish it.
He completed it only in Rome, commissioned by Giuliano de’ Medici, who wanted to have at least some of the master’s work. When Giuliano died and Leonardo moved to France, the painting was found in his former studio and bought back by Francis I.
- “The Beautiful Gardener,” Raphael
A painting from the collection of Francis I (1507).
One of the Louvre’s most famous masterpieces is called The Beautiful Gardener because of the blooming beauty of the female figure in the middle of a meadow.
It is also one of Raphael’s most famous Madonnas, painted during his first Florentine period (1504-1508), when the budding artist from Urbino was trying hard to move away from the manner of his teacher Perugino and find his own style.
He was inspired by the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Fra Bartolomeo. In this painting in particular, the influence of Leonardo is noticeable (it can be seen in the light sfumato of the color construction).
But the style of Raphael himself can already be clearly traced – the quiet charm and serenity that would later become the “trademark”.
The artist’s main contribution to the Italian Renaissance is naturalness, soulfulness and incredible harmony. This painting, signed and dated by Raphael himself, became one of the models for artists until the nineteenth century.
- “Rural Concert,” by Titian.
A painting from the collection of Louis XIV (1510).
There have been long debates around this painting, with authorship attributed to both Titian and Giorgione. Most experts believe it was the work of Titian, a pupil of Giorgione. Most striking is the atmosphere of the whole scene, the nostalgic evocation of Arcadia and the reference to the Venetian Renaissance.
There seems to be no dialogue or exchange of views between the characters. The whole scene seems to be reserved for a narrow circle of connoisseurs and connoisseurs. From Giorgione there is the charm of the landscape, the fusion of music and the rustling of the crowns and grass. But from Titian the confident mastery of perspective, velvet and silk in contrast with the naked nature.
The “concerto” itself is more of a “duet,” lute and flute.
- “A changeling with his wife,” by Quinten Massais.
Acquired into the Louvre collection (1514)
This work is dated by the artist, and 1514. – is the beginning of a whole milestone in the history of secular painting. A huge number of repetitions of this subject are based on a lost prototype by Jan Van Eyck. The painting by Quinten Masseys depicts a married couple engaged in business.
However, the deep moral meaning is not hard to read. The husband looks intently at the scales. The woman, with her hand on her prayer book, looks at her husband with the trepidation of a man who realizes that there is nothing divine in trading. The cunning of the merchant is juxtaposed with the obedience of faith.
- “Marriage at Cana, Paolo Veronese
Acquired into the Louvre collection (1562-1564).
The sparkling canvas, intended for the refectory of the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, is a figment of the scenic imagination of Paolo Veronese, the creator of decorative painting.
One of the most famous masterpieces of the Louvre was restored at the beginning of the 21st century, but because of its gigantic size (660 x 990 cm) it was done right on the spot, without taking the painting out of the museum hall.
As in his other compositions, Veronese transformed the religious scene into a secular celebration involving a huge number of sixteenth-century Venetians.
Servants, jesters, animals, valuable utensils, and embroidered stone tablecloths are all enclosed in light and open architectural forms against a backdrop of Venetian buildings. Most of these are Andrea Palladio buildings in the classical style.
- “Saint Louis of France and his page,” by El Greco.
Presented to the Louvre by a patron of the arts (1586-1596).
The painting belongs to the most mature period of the artist’s work (Greek by birth), when the pictorial and stylistic mastery he acquired in Italy merged in his painting with the formal, late Gothic techniques with which he was introduced to in Toledo.
By this point El Greco had reached a level in his art that is defined as an “anti-naturalist” concept. In human terms, it is “supernatural,” when in the genre of portraiture the image is given the deepest spiritual significance.
A natural one would never achieve such a result if the laws of geometry and proportion were observed.
But when it comes to kings, breaking the laws of painting and perspective is justified: El Greco moved the center of gravity of the entire figure to the huge shoulder and outstretched arm. The ruler is powerful, while the page against his background is weightless and almost incorporeal. It is easy to guess the impression Louis makes on the viewer.
- “Arrival of Maria de Medici in Marseilles,” by Peter Powell Rubens
A painting from the collection of Louis XIV (1622-1625).
This is one of a series of paintings on historical and allegorical subjects from the life of Maria de Medici (twenty-one in all) commissioned by the queen of France for the Luxembourg palace. During Napoleon’s reign, the canvases were removed from the palace because the Senate was moving there, and they were placed immediately in the Louvre, where an entire room was furnished for them in 1900.
Depicting the arrival of the young queen, Rubens clearly divided the canvas into two zones. The top, offset in depth, is filled with decorative detail, highlighted by a group of court ladies and subjects whose measured gestures make this part of the composition static. Below, in the foreground, is a group of marine deities.
This is a Rubens-esque feast of succulent forms encompassed by a single impulse.
- “Portrait of Dona Rita de Barrenechea, Francisco Goya.
A gift of Carlos de Beistegui (1793).
One of the few works by Goya in the Louvre collection was painted after the artist became ill, as a consequence of which he lost his hearing. Beginning in 1780. Francisco Goya became a fashionable portraitist among the aristocrats of Madrid. When the artist painted this portrait, he used techniques long tried and tested.
But all the more evident is the hand of the Spanish master. The portrayed woman stands in austere attire, the only hint of luxury being a pink bow in her hair. The manner of execution is one of the most elegant in the 18th century.
The painting was painted during the artist’s creative maturity and is considered one of Goya’s best works in the tranquil side of his painting.
We shall leave the other side of his work – the depiction of inhuman suffering, cruelty, misery and injustice of the world – out of the picture for now.
- “The Raft of the Medusa,” Theodore Géricault.
Acquired into the Louvre collection (1819).
In 1816. 25-year-old Theodore Géricault was in Italy, where his encounter with antiquity and the great art of the 16th century took place. By the legendary “Raft of the Medusa”, the emergence of his style, we can see how the young artist was influenced by the best works of Michelangelo and Caravaggio (some of them can also be seen in the Louvre). Exhibited at the Salon of 1819.
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this acclaimed Louvre masterpiece caused much outrage because of its grim realism. Géricault was shaken by the shipwreck of the frigate Medusa and the drama of the 149 men. They fought for life for 12 days away from Congolese shores.
The painting depicts the climactic moment when the 15 surviving sailors saw a ship in the distance that could save them.
Despite the complexity of the figures’ movements, the extraordinary tension of feeling and the angular perspective of the bodies, the composition was very coherent.
- “Liberty Leading the People,” by Eugène Delacroix.
Purchased into the Louvre collection (1830).
The painting “Liberty Leading the People” is famous for being the first departure from the romanticism of antiquity into politics and a reflection of harsh reality. Its subject reflects the events of 1830 that led to the expulsion of Charles X and the emergence of the parliamentary monarchy of Louis-Philippe.
The goal of the Parisian uprising was to restore the republic, but the result was not fully achieved. Delacroix did not take part in another revolution in Paris.