Until 12 July
2004
Napoleon
Hall
Paris 1400
The Arts
under Charles VI
During the reign
of Charles VI (1380-1422), when the political and economic situation
in France was increasingly difficult, Paris, the capital of the kingdom,
became a leading artistic and intellectual centre. This exhibition
illustrates
artistic activity in this sombre yet exceptional period.
Three hundred
works, including manuscripts, paintings on wood panels,
stained-glass windows and drawings, testify to the quality
of Parisian production in the 1400s. The remarkably refined work of goldsmiths
are represented by a group of enamelled gold objects. Important
fields such as architecture, interior decoration,
sculpture,
textiles
and ceremonial weapons complete this evocation of the Late
Middle Ages. This exhibition is organised by the Decorative Arts Department
of the Louvre Museum.
Until 5 July
2004
Sully Wing,
salle de la Chapelle
Dante and
Virgil in the Inferno
by Eugène
Delacroix
"No work reveals
the future of a great painter better than that of Mr Delacroix representing
Dante and Virgil in the Inferno," wrote Adolphe Thiers on seeing
the first canvas Eugène Delacroix presented at the Salon,
in 1822. The exhibition, like the catalogue, put Dante and Virgil
in the Inferno, also known as Dante's Boat, in its historical, artistic
and iconographical context, as well as situating it in Eugène Delacroix's
œuvre. Through an unprecedented subject inspired by a little-known episode
in The Divine Comedy, through a sombre, very dramatic use of
the canvas, and through his rapid, dense execution, borrowed from Michelangelo
or Rubens, the 24 year old Delacroix astounded, disconcerted or
excited the public. The terms of the debate on the question of Romanticism
in painting, which would break out in 1824, with the Massacre of Chios,
had just been masterfully laid down. In relation with this exhibition :
- Exhibition
of a selection of Delacroix’s drawings from the Louvre collections
- Exhibition
of the illustrations of Miguel Barcelo for the Divine Comedy by
Dante Alighieri.