0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:06 > 0:00:07My name's Andrew Hussey
0:00:07 > 0:00:11and I'm the Dean of the University of London Institute in Paris.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20I first came to the city as a teenager
0:00:20 > 0:00:23and I have had a big connection with it ever since.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26Now, I live and work here.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29I still love the place and I'm still fascinated by it.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34But these days, I travel around Paris not just for pleasure,
0:00:34 > 0:00:38but also to explore the places that inspire my writing about the city.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44But there's still one trip in Paris that I always make
0:00:44 > 0:00:46with a fair amount of trepidation.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50And that's here.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52To the Louvre.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03As you can see, the Louvre is big, brooding and vast.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05To be honest, I've always been quite
0:01:05 > 0:01:09intimidated by this most massive of museums.
0:01:09 > 0:01:10But in this film,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13I want to change the way that I, and maybe you, see it too.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15So I want you to come with me
0:01:15 > 0:01:17on a tour of this extraordinary institution,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20and to do a little bit of time-travelling in French history.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25On the way, I am going to try and make sense of a place
0:01:25 > 0:01:28that's jam-packed with over 35,000 pieces of art
0:01:28 > 0:01:33that you'll find in mile after mile after mile of galleries.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40It's a building that's over 800 years old and bursting with history.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46So come with me and see the Louvre transformed
0:01:46 > 0:01:49from a medieval fortress to a royal palace,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51and then to a modern-day museum.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55We will look at the great art of da Vinci,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Rubens,
0:01:58 > 0:01:59David
0:01:59 > 0:02:01and Gericault.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05We will enjoy the glories of antiquity
0:02:05 > 0:02:09and explain why the magnificent artworks that you can see today
0:02:09 > 0:02:11arrived in the museum,
0:02:11 > 0:02:15and what they tell us about both the Louvre and France.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21I want to argue that if you know the secrets of the Louvre,
0:02:21 > 0:02:25know its history, know the glorious art within these walls,
0:02:25 > 0:02:28then I think you can understand France.
0:02:40 > 0:02:41The Louvre.
0:02:41 > 0:02:48Well, there's lots and lots and lots and lots of art here.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52So, where to begin?
0:02:53 > 0:02:58Why not start with one of the oldest paintings in the museum?
0:02:58 > 0:03:02From the 15th century, a work of art with a gruesome subject.
0:03:02 > 0:03:08It will give us our first clue to the Louvre's long history.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Look at this.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14This is a painting called La Crucifixion du Parlement de Paris.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17There's a lot of interesting stuff going on here.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19Here in the foreground, for example,
0:03:19 > 0:03:21this bloke with his head in his hands.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24That's Saint Denis, who was one of the patron saints of Paris.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Saint Denis was martyred in the third century,
0:03:32 > 0:03:34beheaded on the high ground above the city,
0:03:34 > 0:03:36the present-day quartier of Montmartre.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40But his is not the only image of suffering.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46At the centre of the painting is Christ on the cross.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50On one side of him is the grieving Virgin Mother,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54comforted by Mary Magdalene. On the other, St John the Evangelist.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00And this is art with a purpose.
0:04:00 > 0:04:05It was deliberately hung in the main chamber of the Parlement de Paris,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08a reminder to lawmakers to show due humility
0:04:08 > 0:04:10in the face of divine justice.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17But one other detail provides an insight into more earthly
0:04:17 > 0:04:19matters of bricks and mortar.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24This is the best approximation of what the Louvre
0:04:24 > 0:04:27would have looked liked to medieval Parisians.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33What they saw was a fortress, a citadel of military power.
0:04:40 > 0:04:41The medieval Louvre
0:04:41 > 0:04:44was built strategically close to the River Seine,
0:04:44 > 0:04:46along the walls of the medieval city.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53A 30-metre tower looked out to the West and the enemy,
0:04:53 > 0:04:57the English, on a border sometimes only 45 miles away.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02The castle dominated the Parisian skyline,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06a very visible, a very deliberate assertion of French power.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13On the outside of today's museum,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15there are a few clues to what lies underneath.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20The opening of a well and a cesspit.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Below, there are the thick, strong walls and tall palisades
0:05:28 > 0:05:31that defended the Capetian and Valois kings of France
0:05:31 > 0:05:32from their enemies.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38This is the Louvre entresol, the basement of the museum.
0:05:39 > 0:05:4430 years ago, excavations took place which revealed these walls,
0:05:44 > 0:05:47which show just how forbidding the Louvre was
0:05:47 > 0:05:49in its original medieval incarnation.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Now, there's been a lot of debate
0:05:52 > 0:05:54over the meaning of the word "Louvre".
0:05:54 > 0:05:58But I'm going to go with the old French term, "louver",
0:05:58 > 0:06:00which means "fortress" or "stronghold".
0:06:00 > 0:06:04I think that pretty much sums up the place and its history.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16When the Renaissance came to France in the 16th century,
0:06:16 > 0:06:17this military fortress became
0:06:17 > 0:06:20a royal palace of great style and culture.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27In the museum today is the portrait
0:06:27 > 0:06:30of the man who began this transformation.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36This is Francois I, King of France,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39and the first great builder of the Louvre.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43It was painted around 1530 by the artist Jean Clouet.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47It's a portrait of a real Renaissance man. He is a fighter.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51Check out the hand on the sword ever ready. But he is also a lover...
0:06:51 > 0:06:55of culture. And so it's a picture of refinement.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57Check out the tasteful clothes.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01He is every inch, as the French would say, a man "a la mode".
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Francois I began the tradition that French kings should be both
0:07:09 > 0:07:11connoisseurs of art and patrons of artists.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21In 1516, he persuaded an elderly Leonardo da Vinci to leave Italy.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26The painting days of the great genius were over,
0:07:26 > 0:07:30but it is thought that he brought with him...you-know-who.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36This painting that millions come to see today was the first-ever
0:07:36 > 0:07:39work of art to enter the French royal collection.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43# Mona Lisa
0:07:43 > 0:07:46# Mona Lisa, men have named you... #
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Ah, Mona Lisa.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Mona Lisa.
0:07:51 > 0:07:52That smile, that smile.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59Enigmatic, mysterious, tender or mocking?
0:08:02 > 0:08:03"What is it about that smile?"
0:08:03 > 0:08:08I asked the Louvre's curator of Renaissance art, Vincent Delieuvin.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11La probleme que j'ai avec La Joconde, c'est...
0:08:11 > 0:08:14- TRANSLATION:- 'The problem I have got with the Mona Lisa
0:08:14 > 0:08:16'is that she is such a big media star.'
0:08:16 > 0:08:18THEY SPEAK FRENCH
0:08:22 > 0:08:24TRANSLATION: 'What you have to do is
0:08:24 > 0:08:26'to try and forget that she is such a big star
0:08:26 > 0:08:29'and really get into the painting.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31'Get up close and love it for what it is,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34'and she definitely invites us to love her.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41'It's such an incredible ability of the painter to portray that
0:08:41 > 0:08:45'most difficult and subtle of human expressions, the smile.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51'There are 1,000 ways of interpreting a smile, and that was the genius
0:08:51 > 0:08:53'of Leonardo, to be able to capture
0:08:53 > 0:08:55'such a subtle and rich human expression.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02- 'She is such a flirt. - Of course she's a huge flirt.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04'The French like that sort of thing,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07'but hey, you're not completely untouched by her, are you?'
0:09:07 > 0:09:13# Mona Liiiii-saaaa. #
0:09:23 > 0:09:27What else is there left to say about this painting?
0:09:27 > 0:09:30Only that in the 16th century, La Joconde, as it's known
0:09:30 > 0:09:33in France, was something quite new in Western art.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39TRANSLATION: 'The idea of creating a sense of contact between the viewer
0:09:39 > 0:09:42'and the subject had never been done before.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47'Or the open posture with her hands turned towards us.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50'She's greeting us as if we were in her palace, in her room, even.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53'It's even smiling at us.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57'That technique of drawing the viewer directly into the painting
0:09:57 > 0:10:01'was hugely innovative.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08- 'Was all this a new departure for Western art?- Absolutely.'
0:10:08 > 0:10:13'How many politicians' portraits have you seen in the style of La Joconde?
0:10:13 > 0:10:17'Everyone uses Leonardo's style, from the framing to
0:10:17 > 0:10:21'the posture, to the direct approach of the subject to the audience.'
0:10:23 > 0:10:27So how influential was this approach to portraiture at the time?
0:10:27 > 0:10:30Well, let's go back to the portrait of Francois.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Had its creator, Jean Clouet, seen the Mona Lisa?
0:10:36 > 0:10:40We don't actually know. But Francois does look us straight in the eye.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44His body is turned towards the viewer
0:10:44 > 0:10:45and his hands face the same way
0:10:45 > 0:10:48as da Vinci's Florentine lady.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55And as with her, we are drawn towards the personality of the King.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06Francois was not only a patron of the arts but a builder of palaces.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10He'd spent some time in Italy
0:11:10 > 0:11:13and he wanted to emulate the style of the Renaissance palazzi.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18So the medieval tower was pulled down.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23Moats were filled in and a courtyard built, the Cour Carree,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26overlooked by this imposing and ornamented facade.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30And within, the King demanded
0:11:30 > 0:11:33a makeover of gloomy royal apartments.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37This is the Salle des Caryatides.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40I think it's a place that best captures the spirit
0:11:40 > 0:11:43and feeling of the Renaissance Louvre.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46It's a vision of science and nature in harmony,
0:11:46 > 0:11:51and it signals the beginning of the French classical tradition.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54You can see its expression in the four sculptures by Jean Goujon,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57which give the room its name.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59These are the four caryatides.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07They have a function as pillars,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10but they are also works of art in themselves -
0:12:10 > 0:12:14beautifully sculpted forms,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18every curve and fold capturing a fleshy allure.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23And they stand sentinel to an elegant stairway that reveals to us
0:12:23 > 0:12:26yet another treasure of the Louvre.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33If we look around here, we see images also sculpted by Jean Goujon.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37And they give us pointers to the man who commissioned this
0:12:37 > 0:12:40passageway, between the first and second floors of the palace.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45He and his mistress have a love of hunting.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50And here, look at this letter H.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55That's a royal monogram, a kind of graffiti tag chiselled in stone.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59And H stands for Henri II, who succeeded Francois II.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Both within and without, every ruler who wanted to use the Louvre
0:13:06 > 0:13:09as a symbol of their power would leave their mark in this way.
0:13:09 > 0:13:15So, the walls read like an alphabet designed for posterity.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26The Renaissance Louvre was a place of great culture
0:13:26 > 0:13:29but it was also the location for great violence
0:13:29 > 0:13:32during the infamous Saint Bartholomew's Eve massacre.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37When religious war between Catholics
0:13:37 > 0:13:40and Huguenot Protestants threatened to tear France apart,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43the palace was witness to great horror that began with
0:13:43 > 0:13:45that most familiar of sounds from
0:13:45 > 0:13:47the nearby church of Saint Germain L'Auxerrois.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52In the early hours of the 24th of August 1572,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55the sound of monks tolling the bell for Matins could be
0:13:55 > 0:13:57heard as usual throughout the streets of Paris.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59But this particular morning,
0:13:59 > 0:14:05this normally reassuring sound was the cue for slaughter to begin,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07of Protestants by Catholics.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11"Tuez-les tous!" was the battle cry. "Kill them all!"
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Writer on the Louvre, Daniel Soulier, told me about the moment
0:14:32 > 0:14:35the very heart of power in France became a killing field.
0:14:39 > 0:14:40SPEAKS FRENCH
0:14:40 > 0:14:43TRANSLATION: 'These windows were the Queen's rooms.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48'So all the key decisions surrounding the Saint Bartholomew massacre
0:14:48 > 0:14:51'would have taken place just metres above where we are now sat.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05'We know that many people were killed here in the courtyards of the Louvre.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07'They were slightly hesitant to kill people
0:15:07 > 0:15:11'in the actual royal apartments, so we imagine that they
0:15:11 > 0:15:14'dragged a lot of people out here in order to kill them.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21'There is another story that people tell.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24'The King at the time, Charles IX,
0:15:24 > 0:15:27'sat in a balcony window with a crossbow,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31'firing down upon Huguenots who were trying to escape on the River Seine.'
0:15:38 > 0:15:41There was a survivor of this terrible day in the Louvre,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45a Huguenot prince of the blood, Henri of Navarre.
0:15:51 > 0:15:52Days before the massacre,
0:15:52 > 0:15:57Henri had married the sister of Charles IX, Marguerite de Valois.
0:15:58 > 0:16:0120 years later, the couple were King and Queen of France.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08The last Valois king had died childless and Henri,
0:16:08 > 0:16:09next in line to the throne,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12became the first ruler of a new dynasty, the Bourbons.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17But to become Henri IV for all of France,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20and crowned as such in Paris, a deal needed to be struck.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25Henri would have to convert to Catholicism.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29He passed through here, the Rue St Honore,
0:16:29 > 0:16:33which is just opposite the Louvre, heading for Notre Dame to hear Mass,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36and this was the 22nd of March, 1594.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39He did this because, as we know, to give France peace
0:16:39 > 0:16:41and unity, it was worth a Mass.
0:16:41 > 0:16:42"Paris vaut bien une messe."
0:16:46 > 0:16:50A statue of Henri IV is on the Pont Neuf, which was itself completed
0:16:50 > 0:16:54in his reign, to connect the right and left banks of the Seine.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56But the King was also determined
0:16:56 > 0:16:59to make his mark on the royal palace nearby.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08Henri wanted to link the Louvre
0:17:08 > 0:17:12to the recently built palace of the Tuileries nearby.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15So to connect the two palaces, he ordered this built -
0:17:15 > 0:17:16the Grande Galerie.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21A name was now given to this grandiose vision of expansion.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24Le Grand Dessein, the great plan.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32As you can see, it's all conceived on the grandest scale.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35It is half a mile from there to there, for example.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38And the idea was that this is a place of entertainment
0:17:38 > 0:17:40and magnificent spectacle.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42You could come here, for example,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45to watch the water pageants on the Seine.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48But it's also a mystical space, a sacred space.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52It's where Henri IV and the Bourbon kings who came after him,
0:17:52 > 0:17:55literally believed that they had the divine touch.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57They believed, most importantly, that they
0:17:57 > 0:18:01could cure people of the disease of scrofula,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04which is a really nasty kind of tuberculosis of the neck.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07What would happen is that the King would receive people,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10and say "The King touches you. God cures you."
0:18:10 > 0:18:12Either way, I hope it worked.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Now, there is a clue to Henri's life and loves in the Louvre.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31It's a painting that is not in one of the main galleries,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34where thousands gather to look at the usual suspects.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39But if you find this mysterious and striking work of art,
0:18:39 > 0:18:40you won't be disappointed.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48This is Gabrielle d'Estrees and her sister.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52Gabrielle d'Estrees was the mistress of Henri IV.
0:18:53 > 0:18:59As they say, every picture tells a story. Have a look at the gestures.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Gabrielle's sister is holding her nipple between thumb
0:19:02 > 0:19:06and finger, to indicate that she is pregnant with the King's son,
0:19:06 > 0:19:08the future Duc de Vendome.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15Gabrielle is also holding a bejewelled hand of gold.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17It's not worn on her finger to symbolise a marriage,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20but it is thought to be the King's coronation ring,
0:19:20 > 0:19:22a token of his love and his loyalty.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27The two women are sitting in a bath,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31perhaps filled with milk or wine, as was the aristocratic custom.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37Both are beautifully made up to show off their white alabaster faces.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39Women of the time, actually,
0:19:39 > 0:19:41would crush up the innards of swallows
0:19:41 > 0:19:44and mix them with lilies, ground pearls and camphor
0:19:44 > 0:19:48and smear the paste on their faces to get this ghostly look.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52This didn't seem to dampen the ardour of Henri,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54who couldn't resist Gabrielle.
0:19:55 > 0:20:02She bore him three other children before her sudden death in 1599.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05Henri's own life also came to an abrupt end,
0:20:05 > 0:20:09on the streets of Paris on the 14th of May, 1610.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12One of his greatest achievements was to have guaranteed
0:20:12 > 0:20:16the religious liberties of Protestant Huguenots.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19But for such tolerance, he would never be forgiven by those who saw
0:20:19 > 0:20:23themselves as holy warriors for the true faith of Rome.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27The fun-loving Henri came to a gory and violent end.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30It was here, on the Rue de la Ferronerie.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34This was where a religious fanatic called Francois Ravaillac
0:20:34 > 0:20:37pulled back the blinds of the carriage the King was travelling in
0:20:37 > 0:20:40and plunged a long knife, three times, deep into his chest.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47The assassination of Henri left uncertainty
0:20:47 > 0:20:49over who would now rule France.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Here's the story in paint of the woman who did.
0:21:00 > 0:21:01Here in the Louvre
0:21:01 > 0:21:04are 24 canvases devoted to the life of Marie de Medici,
0:21:04 > 0:21:05Henri's second wife.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09As regent, the Queen had many enemies.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13She needed to legitimise her grip on power.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15So she turned to the weapon of art
0:21:15 > 0:21:18and the greatest painter of the day, Peter Paul Rubens.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23I talked to curator Blaise Ducos
0:21:23 > 0:21:27about the biggest painting here showing the Queen's coronation.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33TRANSLATION: 'Here, the first big impression is one of a great movement
0:21:33 > 0:21:37'over towards the main focus of the painting, which is, of course,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40'Marie de Medici in the process of being crowned
0:21:40 > 0:21:41'in the Saint-Denis Basilica
0:21:41 > 0:21:44'the day before the assassination of Henri IV.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50'You can even see him in the background,
0:21:50 > 0:21:54'but very much recognisable, watching the Queen.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58'And in the process, giving her the sense of legitimacy that without,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01'she wouldn't have been able to govern and rule as regent.'
0:22:09 > 0:22:13This is painting on the grandest of scales.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16This the art of the Baroque,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20with its extravagant use of movement and colour
0:22:20 > 0:22:23and its feeling of sensuality.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27And all of this simply leaps out here.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31SPEAKS FRENCH
0:22:33 > 0:22:36TRANSLATOR: 'It's a piece of theatre in many senses,
0:22:36 > 0:22:40'and you have to look at it that way.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43'They're very theatrical paintings, very...Baroque.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47'And, of course, Rubens was the great Baroque painter.'
0:22:53 > 0:22:55And it was the sheer ornamentality of the Baroque
0:22:55 > 0:22:58that fired the imagination of the next ruler Of France
0:22:58 > 0:23:01to mould the Louvre in his own image.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22This is the famous portrait of Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud.
0:23:23 > 0:23:24He was the Sun King,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27the L'Etate C'est Moi - champion of bling.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29He was the Bourbon who brought
0:23:29 > 0:23:32new levels of pomp and grandeur to the Louvre.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35But to my mind there's something over-the-top,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39even desperately camp about this painting.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43Have a look at the big hair, the shoes, the clothes,
0:23:43 > 0:23:45the rich, rich colours.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49All of it seems to be screaming luxury and power,
0:23:49 > 0:23:52but, after all, that was what it was all about.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57During the early years of Louis' reign,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00the Louvre echoed to the sounds of thousands of labourers,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03masons and joiners, working to create new facades -
0:24:03 > 0:24:08stuccos, elaborately carved ceilings and wood panelling.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Work started on an opposing facade on the outside of the Cour Carree.
0:24:13 > 0:24:14This colonnade would look out.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19A Parisian would look up to the palace with due deference and awe.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Here, in the Cour Carree,
0:24:23 > 0:24:27Louis completed the building work begun by his father.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29He quadrupled the size of this courtyard
0:24:29 > 0:24:31to the dimensions you see today.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33And with one express aim -
0:24:33 > 0:24:37to make the Louvre a bigger and more imposing place.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48And inside a royal waiting room was built - the Rotonde d'Apollon -
0:24:48 > 0:24:50to wow impressionable visitors to the palace.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57Just off the Rotonde, a spectacular gallery was built -
0:24:57 > 0:25:02the Galerie d'Apollon, designed by the King's architect, Louis Le Vau.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05I'm looking around because everything here
0:25:05 > 0:25:08has a kind of mystical or allegorical meaning,
0:25:08 > 0:25:12and all of that is literally revolving around the King himself.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14And just look at this place!
0:25:14 > 0:25:17It's splendid, it's glittering with all this gold glory -
0:25:17 > 0:25:23it really is the personification of what it means to be the Sun King.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29Every image here reinforces
0:25:29 > 0:25:33the assertion that the King was god-like -
0:25:33 > 0:25:37the centre of the universe.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41Looking down from high, on a country where he, and he alone,
0:25:41 > 0:25:43had absolute power.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45With a rule over France,
0:25:45 > 0:25:50that could never ever be questioned by mere mortals.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56And like his illustrious predecessor Francois,
0:25:56 > 0:25:57Louis was not only a builder,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00but someone with a huge appetite for collecting art -
0:26:00 > 0:26:03the Charles Saatchi, if you like, of the 17th century.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07During his reign, the size of the royal collection
0:26:07 > 0:26:11expanded from 150 to exactly 2,376 paintings.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16He bought the best French art of his time -
0:26:16 > 0:26:2232 Poussin, 11 Claude, 26 Le Brun and 17 Mignard.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28And foreign masterpieces like this lovely but sombre painting,
0:26:28 > 0:26:30The Death of the Virgin by Caravaggio.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36All now hang here in what was HIS Louvre.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46The Louvre was a luxurious plaything for Louis XIV,
0:26:46 > 0:26:50but there was one big problem - it was in Paris, and he hated Paris.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53But, funny enough, the Parisians also hated him.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58So what happened in 1670 was that Louis XIV left Paris for Versailles
0:26:58 > 0:27:01in a great, big, splendid, royal huff.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04And he hardly ever set foot in the place again.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07But he didn't leave empty-handed -
0:27:07 > 0:27:09he took all of his artworks with him.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15With the exit of Louis XIV to Versailles,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18the Grand Dessein was put on hold.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Much of the building work remained unfinished.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25The colonnade was left without a roof.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30Throughout the 18th century,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33the Louvre had a much more ramshackle feel to it.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37And it echoed to a more plebeian cacophony of sounds and voices.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45The Grande Galerie changed from the preserve of royals and aristocrats,
0:27:45 > 0:27:50and became instead the centre for artistic hustling in Paris.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54This is where you'd find engravers hard at work, furniture-makers,
0:27:54 > 0:27:56makers of the very finest hats -
0:27:56 > 0:28:00it was a place of great energy, bustle and commerce.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02But the most important thing that happened here,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05was that by royal warrant, artists were allowed to come and live here,
0:28:05 > 0:28:10and they copied paintings, and then they made their own art.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13And this was the moment when the Louvre properly became
0:28:13 > 0:28:19a centre of cultural exchange in the endless carnival of Parisian life.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27As the palace began to open its doors to vulgar outsiders,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30the presence of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
0:28:30 > 0:28:32in the King's former apartments,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36still preserved a sense of decorum and gravitas in the Louvre.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45First in the Grande Galerie, and here in the Salle Carree,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49the Academy held an annual, then biennial, exhibition.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Starting on St Louis' day 25th of August,
0:28:53 > 0:28:55the Salon was open to the public.
0:28:55 > 0:29:00The idea of showing art to all who wish to come was novel,
0:29:00 > 0:29:02and proved fantastically popular.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08Events at the Salon were something
0:29:08 > 0:29:10to be argued about in another institution,
0:29:10 > 0:29:12for ever dear to all Parisians.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19This was the first-ever coffee house in Paris,
0:29:19 > 0:29:22opening to customers in 1686.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25From the word go, the Cafe Procope attracted intellectuals.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29In the 18th century, the philosophes of the Enlightenment came here -
0:29:29 > 0:29:32and amongst them was someone very important to our story.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35Behind me here - this is Denis Diderot.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38Now Diderot wrote penetrating critiques of the Salon,
0:29:38 > 0:29:41and in doing so he effectively invented art criticism.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47And he threw down a challenge to artists with an ambition
0:29:47 > 0:29:49to impress him in the Salon -
0:29:49 > 0:29:53"First of all move me, surprise me, rend my heart,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57"make me tremble, weep, shudder, outrage me,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00"and delight my eyes afterwards, if you can."
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Diderot was delighted by one artist, whose wonderful and poignant
0:30:12 > 0:30:15self-portraits you can find in the Louvre.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21And this is the painter, Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Chardin did this pastel drawing of himself when he was 76,
0:30:28 > 0:30:32and the infirmity of old age had stopped him painting in oils.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37In his still lives,
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Chardin was painting on a much smaller scale than a Rubens.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45And the canvases of Chardin have an apparent simplicity about them.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50But this art is not simplistic, and in these paintings
0:30:50 > 0:30:54small, not big, is beautiful.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59The work of Chardin mesmerised Diderot
0:30:59 > 0:31:01who saw something magical at work.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06"Oh, Chardin, it's not white, red and black
0:31:06 > 0:31:08"that you are mixing on your palette,
0:31:08 > 0:31:11"it's the very substance of objects.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15"It's the very air and light that you put on the tip of your brush,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17"and place on the canvas."
0:31:20 > 0:31:23I talked to curator Marie Catherine Sahut about Chardin
0:31:23 > 0:31:25and what he taught Diderot.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31SPEAKS FRENCH
0:31:31 > 0:31:34TRANSLATOR: 'All Chardin's efforts went into the magic
0:31:34 > 0:31:38'of turning inanimate everyday objects into beautiful artwork.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44'And for Diderot, I think, it was all about entering into the paintings
0:31:44 > 0:31:46'and the mind-set of Chardin,
0:31:46 > 0:31:52'and trying to find out what it was that made it so magical.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57'The word "magic" is, in fact, used a number of times by Diderot,
0:31:57 > 0:32:01'and Chardin taught him to go right up to a painting,
0:32:01 > 0:32:03'as, when you get up close to a painting,
0:32:03 > 0:32:07'it ceases to have any significant meaning.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10'It becomes just streaks of paint.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14'And then gradually, as you move away from it,
0:32:14 > 0:32:19'everything slowly creeps into focus.'
0:32:25 > 0:32:27There is one painting of Chardin
0:32:27 > 0:32:30that I especially wanted to look at here -
0:32:30 > 0:32:33the one that is considered his masterpiece - The Ray.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37Yes, it's a still life.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43But with such energy and motion -
0:32:43 > 0:32:46look at the cat about to pounce on the oysters!
0:32:52 > 0:32:54And what really draws the eye,
0:32:54 > 0:32:56is the eviscerated form of the ray fish.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04TRANSLATOR: 'I think Chardin created a true character of the ray,
0:33:04 > 0:33:09'personified in many senses with a seemingly tragic character.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14'He uses the form of the ray, this triangular shape that you see,
0:33:14 > 0:33:17'but also its whiteness to construct his painting.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20'And then there's the semblance of a face,
0:33:20 > 0:33:22'that many people read into the painting.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26'Which is, in fact, neither the mouth, nor the eyes, but the gills.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29'It's a sort of anthropomorphic vision of this ray.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33'Which is, of course, also rather dramatic,
0:33:33 > 0:33:35'with his insides coming out, reddened.'
0:33:39 > 0:33:43Whatever genius we now recognise in the still lives of Chardin,
0:33:43 > 0:33:45this style of art was seen by the Academy as inferior
0:33:45 > 0:33:49to the more high-minded genre of history painting.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59Works inspired by the past can be seen in the Salle Rouge...
0:34:01 > 0:34:04..where hang the creations of one artist from the last 18th century
0:34:04 > 0:34:06who received the acclaim of the Salon
0:34:06 > 0:34:09with paintings that looked back to antiquity
0:34:09 > 0:34:11as a source of moral instruction to the present.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28This is a self-portrait of the artist who features
0:34:28 > 0:34:30in the next part of our story -
0:34:30 > 0:34:31Jacques Louis David -
0:34:31 > 0:34:33and it captures him at a bad moment in his life
0:34:33 > 0:34:36when he was in prison during the French Revolution.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40But the curious thing is the expression on his face.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42Is he angry? Is he frightened?
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Or is this the self-regard of the tormented artist?
0:34:45 > 0:34:49He was certainly vain enough, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57In 1784, David painted this - The Oath of the Horatii.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00And he did it for the man who'd given him a studio and lodgings
0:35:00 > 0:35:02in the Louvre - Louis XVI.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11It tells the story of three brothers sworn to defend Rome.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17Look at the outstretched arms reaching towards the father
0:35:17 > 0:35:20who holds the weapons of war in his hand.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24And look at the way the picture splits in two -
0:35:24 > 0:35:27between its masculine and feminine characters.
0:35:29 > 0:35:34The style is simple, austere with sombre colours.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39The painting took the Salon of 1785 by storm -
0:35:39 > 0:35:42hailed as an instant masterpiece of neoclassical art.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48But what meaning did it have for the monarch who paid for it,
0:35:48 > 0:35:49and the others who saw it?
0:35:51 > 0:35:53Everyone agreed it was a patriotic painting.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56But was there something more subversive going on here,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59addressed to those now seeing themselves as citizens?
0:36:01 > 0:36:04Because this was a painting whose message would change
0:36:04 > 0:36:06during a turbulent decade of French history.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12Just in the ten years after David had painted The Oath of Horatii,
0:36:12 > 0:36:14his patron, the King, was dead.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17He was sent to the guillotine here in the Place de la Concorde.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21This was the most shocking moment yet in the drama of the Revolution
0:36:21 > 0:36:24that had begun with the storming of the Bastille.
0:36:24 > 0:36:29On a windy morning, on January 21st, 1793,
0:36:29 > 0:36:32Louis the XVI mounted the scaffold, watched by thousands.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37There was a roll of drums...
0:36:38 > 0:36:40..and then the 12 inch blade fell.
0:36:42 > 0:36:43CROWD ROAR
0:36:43 > 0:36:48As was the custom, the severed head dripping with blood, was held aloft
0:36:48 > 0:36:51for display to the citizens of the first French Republic.
0:36:56 > 0:36:57As so began the Terror,
0:36:57 > 0:37:02when 18,000 men and women were sent to the guillotine,
0:37:02 > 0:37:06and David, now an elected deputy to the National Convention,
0:37:06 > 0:37:07was up to his neck in it.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11David voted for the killing of the King,
0:37:11 > 0:37:15and eagerly signed arrest warrants so others could go to their deaths.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19When Robespierre's great rival Danton went to his death,
0:37:19 > 0:37:22David was there shouting out mockingly...
0:37:22 > 0:37:26"Le voila, le scelerat ! C'est ce scelerat qui est le Grand-juge !"
0:37:26 > 0:37:30"Here, look at the criminal who thinks he's the big judge."
0:37:32 > 0:37:36David became Robespierre's cultural commissar.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39He demanded that artists be at the service of the people,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42the meaning of their art appropriated for the Revolution.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45David included his own art in this command.
0:37:46 > 0:37:51So, when his masterpiece The Oath of the Horatii was shown again,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54it was interpreted as a work of revolutionary virtue,
0:37:54 > 0:37:58with oaths to La Patrie, much "fraternite",
0:37:58 > 0:38:00and a taste for martyrdom.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06But what paintings like this needed was a public place
0:38:06 > 0:38:08to educate loyal citizens of the Republic.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14So David and fellow revolutionaries, turned to an idea
0:38:14 > 0:38:16proposed by Enlightenment thinkers like Diderot,
0:38:16 > 0:38:21who'd advocated that a permanent exhibition space be created -
0:38:21 > 0:38:24a museum. So, where?
0:38:29 > 0:38:31On the 10th of August, 1793,
0:38:31 > 0:38:34exactly 12 months after the fall of the Ancien Regime,
0:38:34 > 0:38:39the Louvre was declared Musee de la Nation, "the people's museum".
0:38:39 > 0:38:42And the ceremony took place here in the Grande Galerie.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46What actually happened was that all art in France was nationalised,
0:38:46 > 0:38:49all art in fact in the territories that France also had its eye on.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51So what happened really was that
0:38:51 > 0:38:53from the royal collection in Versailles, from churches,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56from aristocrats, from exiles -
0:38:56 > 0:39:00all art now belonged to the people, "la grande patrie".
0:39:00 > 0:39:02This was brutal and necessary,
0:39:02 > 0:39:05argued the likes of David and his fellow revolutionaries.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08But what was really happening was a seismic shift in European history.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10This was the moment when art ceased to be
0:39:10 > 0:39:13the preserve of the rich and the wealthy
0:39:13 > 0:39:15and was really at the service of the people.
0:39:22 > 0:39:27The new museum worked to the revolutionary 10-day week.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30The first six were reserved for artists who were at liberty
0:39:30 > 0:39:32to take paintings off walls to copy,
0:39:32 > 0:39:34free to put chalk marks on the canvases.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39Then the Louvre was open three days for the public.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42With the last day for cleaning and repairs.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51And to add to the galleries of confiscated art,
0:39:51 > 0:39:54the revolutionary army was given the order to seize new treasures
0:39:54 > 0:39:56during the campaigns abroad.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03On the 27th of July, 1798,
0:40:03 > 0:40:05on the anniversary of the fall of Robespierre,
0:40:05 > 0:40:09an extraordinary procession of revolutionary booty from Italy
0:40:09 > 0:40:11made its way across Paris.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14And it ended up here on the Champs des Mars.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18There were 80 wagons stuffed to the gills with books, manuscripts,
0:40:18 > 0:40:20rare plants and exotic animals.
0:40:20 > 0:40:21And there were also lots of paintings
0:40:21 > 0:40:24from church and aristocratic collections -
0:40:24 > 0:40:26including Titian and Raphael -
0:40:26 > 0:40:29whose ultimate destination was the Louvre.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33On a banner proclaimed the slogan of the day -
0:40:33 > 0:40:34"Ils sont enfin sur une terre libre."
0:40:34 > 0:40:37"At last, they're in a free country."
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Today there are works of extraordinary beauty
0:40:46 > 0:40:47for us to enjoy in the Louvre,
0:40:47 > 0:40:50and all because of this revolutionary plundering.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56There are sculptures by Michelangelo -
0:40:56 > 0:40:58The Dying and The Rebellious Slaves.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01They were taken from the Vatican in Rome.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09And from the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice,
0:41:09 > 0:41:11was seized this vast canvas -
0:41:11 > 0:41:14The Wedding Feast at Cana by Veronese.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18Its life-size figures
0:41:18 > 0:41:21had been dominating the refectory for over 200 years.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29The painting was so big it had to be cut into two
0:41:29 > 0:41:31to make the journey by mule across the Alps.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Vincent Delieuvin knows the painting intimately.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44THEY CONVERSE IN FRENCH
0:41:45 > 0:41:49TRANSLATOR: 'When we take step back and get a sense of the perspective,
0:41:49 > 0:41:54'there are the columns reaching out at the back, which give it amplitude,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58'and, of course, there's the colour - the greens, the blues and the reds.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00'All bouncing off and complementing each other.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02'It's extraordinary.
0:42:04 > 0:42:09'Across the painting, it's the little hidden gems that I love.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12'All the little details.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16'There's even a musical performance going here in the foreground.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25'And there's a woman over here that's looking straight at us,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28'as if...flirting with us!
0:42:28 > 0:42:30'Next to the one picking her teeth.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34'All of these amusing little bits and pieces.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38'Even the slightly sterner men - you can see this chap over here,
0:42:38 > 0:42:42'who is holding himself very distant and severe.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44'Those that look like they're about to fall asleep
0:42:44 > 0:42:46'because of the alcohol.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52'It's such a vibrant painting - almost noisy, if you will.
0:42:56 > 0:42:57'But in the end,
0:42:57 > 0:42:59'what I find extraordinary
0:42:59 > 0:43:01'is the figure smack bang in the middle of the painting.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07'This is the haloed figure of Jesus Christ
0:43:07 > 0:43:09'with the Virgin Mary by his side.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14'Staring into space, oblivious to the revelry around him.'
0:43:16 > 0:43:19Perhaps the message here is simple -
0:43:19 > 0:43:23all this pleasure around me is ephemeral,
0:43:23 > 0:43:25what I bring you is eternal.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38By 1798, when this booty reached Paris,
0:43:38 > 0:43:42the revolutionary ardour of David, indeed of France, had cooled.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45After the fall of Robespierre, David was arrested
0:43:45 > 0:43:48and put in prison where this self-portrait was painted.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53So perhaps this gaze shows a certain scepticism
0:43:53 > 0:43:58and distaste for the rough old trade of politics.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02But if David was anything, he was a survivor.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05On his release, the painter was ready to ride
0:44:05 > 0:44:06the next wave of history.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11Time to offer his talents to the next strong man of France.
0:44:13 > 0:44:20TRUMPET FANFARE
0:44:38 > 0:44:41David found himself at the beck and call of a man
0:44:41 > 0:44:44who said that he didn't know much about art and architecture,
0:44:44 > 0:44:46but he did know exactly what it meant
0:44:46 > 0:44:48when it came to buffing up his image.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51This was a man who'd been a military hero during the Revolution.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54Then after the coup d'etat that ended the Directory,
0:44:54 > 0:44:56he was the First Consul.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59He was the despot who crowned himself Emperor.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01Yes, Napoleon Bonaparte.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29If you visit Napoleon's Tomb here at Les Invalides in Paris,
0:45:29 > 0:45:31you can see enshrined in marble
0:45:31 > 0:45:35evidence that the Louvre was important to Napoleon.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45I love this. This is the celebration of Napoleon's public achievements,
0:45:45 > 0:45:50it's, "Look upon my works, ye tourists, and be impressed."
0:45:50 > 0:45:53And either side is a list of everything that he's achieved
0:45:53 > 0:45:55as public works.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58And in the centre of it is the Travaux du Louvre, the Louvre.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04Once Napoleon had absolute power in France, he wasted little time
0:46:04 > 0:46:09in using the Louvre for the purposes of self-promotion.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15The dictator ordered that the Revolutionary Museum
0:46:15 > 0:46:17now be called the Musee Napoleon.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21And he had this mini and first Arc de Triomphe erected here
0:46:21 > 0:46:23in front of the Louvre on the Carrousel
0:46:23 > 0:46:26as a monument to his martial glory.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31On top were beautiful bronze statues of horses
0:46:31 > 0:46:34plundered from St Mark's Square in Venice.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39Friezes celebrated Napoleon's many military campaigns.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43And there's this inscription dedicated to the Austrian Campaign,
0:46:43 > 0:46:46and the decisive French victory at the Battle of Austerlitz.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52Napoleon put his imprint on walls and ceilings with the letter N,
0:46:52 > 0:46:55and his chosen images of bees and eagles.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03And he needed a painter to immortalise the most sacred
0:47:03 > 0:47:06moments of his life in the most sacred spaces.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11On the 18th of December 1803, a proclamation declared,
0:47:11 > 0:47:15"Nous avons nommes M David notre premier peintre."
0:47:15 > 0:47:18Much to the immense self-satisfaction of David,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21he was now "our" first painter,
0:47:21 > 0:47:24and in 1804, "we" had a job for him.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29Napoleon made sure that David, his court painter,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32witnessed the moment that he crowned himself Emperor
0:47:32 > 0:47:36here in Notre Dame on the 2nd of December 1804.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41Originally, David had a ringside view for his sketching,
0:47:41 > 0:47:43but then the master of ceremonies,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46an aristocrat called Louis-Philippe de Segur,
0:47:46 > 0:47:48who was very conscious of class and rank,
0:47:48 > 0:47:50moved David right up into the galleries,
0:47:50 > 0:47:53right high up where he could neither see the procession
0:47:53 > 0:47:56nor, crucially, could he see the crowning.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58When this happened, David exploded, he went mad,
0:47:58 > 0:48:02there was a fight, real fisticuffs, and it was only after this punch-up
0:48:02 > 0:48:04that David got his rightful place back.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07The rest, of course, is art history, but, you know,
0:48:07 > 0:48:09talk about an artistic temperament!
0:48:11 > 0:48:14The finished work's in the Louvre,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18and it's a piece of work on a huge scale.
0:48:19 > 0:48:23It's the detail that's important, and this is what preoccupied
0:48:23 > 0:48:27David and Napoleon when they met to discuss the painting.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34David captured the moment that Napoleon crowned Josephine queen,
0:48:34 > 0:48:36not his own coronation.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38Her kneeling figure was copied
0:48:38 > 0:48:41from Rubens' Coronation of Marie de' Medici.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44By the way, she's had years taken off her
0:48:44 > 0:48:46by David's painterly facelift.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50Originally, David had painted the Pope with his hands
0:48:50 > 0:48:53folded in his lap, until the Emperor explained that he hadn't got
0:48:53 > 0:48:58the Pontiff all the way from the Vatican just to sit and do nothing.
0:48:58 > 0:49:03So, David changed this to Pope Pius VII blessing the coronation.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11And there's mischief here too.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15Look at the wily survivor Talleyrand and his turned up nose.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17This is the man that Bonaparte famously called,
0:49:17 > 0:49:20"a piece of shit in a silk stocking."
0:49:22 > 0:49:24The female figure on the balcony,
0:49:24 > 0:49:27that's Napoleon's mother, who couldn't stand Josephine
0:49:27 > 0:49:30and actually wasn't there on the big day.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33But on instruction, David put her in the picture anyway.
0:49:35 > 0:49:40And there, of course, sketchbook in hand, is the great artist himself.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47Despite the success of this painting,
0:49:47 > 0:49:50there was a prickly relationship between David
0:49:50 > 0:49:52and the courtiers around the Emperor.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54This picture was meant to be
0:49:54 > 0:49:57the first of four celebrating the coronation,
0:49:57 > 0:50:01but the project was never completed after squabbles about money.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06So it's perhaps no coincidence that in 1806, the great general
0:50:06 > 0:50:09gave David and fellow painters their marching orders.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11They had just 24 hours
0:50:11 > 0:50:15to pack up their studios in the Cour Carree and get out.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20And when Napoleon married for the second time in 1810,
0:50:20 > 0:50:23David wasn't asked to record the ceremony
0:50:23 > 0:50:25when it took place in the Louvre.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31The close relationship between painter and despot was over
0:50:31 > 0:50:33as their fortunes declined,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37David to new rivals with new ideas about art,
0:50:37 > 0:50:40Napoleon to the hubris that led to his fall from power
0:50:40 > 0:50:43and the return of the Bourbon monarchy.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50The rule of Napoleon was ended in 1815 with the Battle of Waterloo,
0:50:50 > 0:50:54and the Restoration of the Bourbon dynasty was secured.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57The Louvre was renamed Le Musee Royal,
0:50:57 > 0:51:00and all of the visual propaganda changed too.
0:51:00 > 0:51:01Out went the Napoleonic N
0:51:01 > 0:51:03and the bees and the eagles that had been his symbol,
0:51:03 > 0:51:07and in came the image of the lily and the monogram LL for Louis XVIII,
0:51:07 > 0:51:10and there was other interesting stuff.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13If you look up here, you can see that this is the face of Napoleon.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15What happened was that the new King
0:51:15 > 0:51:17had a wig placed on Bonaparte's head,
0:51:17 > 0:51:21transforming him into the image of his illustrious forebear, Louis XIV.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32The Restoration was a challenging period for the Louvre, forced
0:51:32 > 0:51:37to concede to demands that 5,000 pieces of plundered art be returned.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41The bronze horses on top of the Arc de Triomphe went back to Venice,
0:51:41 > 0:51:44and were replaced by these grey imitations.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49Some treasures did remain.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54The Wedding at Cana was kept, simply too big to be moved again,
0:51:54 > 0:51:55the museum argued.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03An elderly David was now in exile like his former patron Bonaparte,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06but a new generation of painters was emerging
0:52:06 > 0:52:08and producing stunning works of art.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13One is to be found in the Salle Rouge.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23This painting, Le Radeau de la Meduse, The Raft of the Medusa
0:52:23 > 0:52:27by Gericault, is one of the great treasures of the Louvre.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30It was the talk of the Salon when it was first exhibited in 1819,
0:52:30 > 0:52:33and it was very quickly acquired by the then-director of the Louvre,
0:52:33 > 0:52:38the Compte de Forbin. I think it's an extraordinary, complex painting.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41It's realistic but it's not quite real,
0:52:41 > 0:52:45you've got these human bodies constructed as a kind of pyramid.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50It's very romantic, it's about human suffering
0:52:50 > 0:52:52but also about the impossibility of hope.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59But what you really feel is that you're in the painting,
0:52:59 > 0:53:03you're in that pyramid of human suffering.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06And you can see the kind of forensic nature of Gericault's work.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08He was the kind of man who spent hours in mortuaries
0:53:08 > 0:53:10and hospitals sketching out dead bodies
0:53:10 > 0:53:14and he wasn't even afraid to take home the limbs to work out the
0:53:14 > 0:53:19tricky bits, and that's what makes this painting so stark, so powerful.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23There was no bigger scandal
0:53:23 > 0:53:27than the shipwreck of the frigate Meduse off the West African coast,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30captained by the hapless Viscount Chaumareys.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34Of the 147 crew, only 13 survived.
0:53:34 > 0:53:36This was headline news,
0:53:36 > 0:53:40and the public lapped up lurid tales of cannibalism and madness.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47Such a juicy story translated to canvas could only be
0:53:47 > 0:53:51good for the career of the 20-year-old artist.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54I asked curator Sebastien Allard about the painting.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59HE SPEAKS FRENCH
0:53:59 > 0:54:02TRANSLATOR: 'It was, and has been taken as a form of allegory,
0:54:02 > 0:54:06'since Gericault's depicting a ship that was wrecked
0:54:06 > 0:54:10'as a direct result of the incompetence of its captain.
0:54:10 > 0:54:16'Survivors were stranded on a raft without food, water or hope,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19'and people took all this as an allusion to the French State
0:54:19 > 0:54:23'after the fall of the Empire, governed by incompetence.'
0:54:28 > 0:54:32There are more intense, romantic sensibilities at work here.
0:54:36 > 0:54:42TRANSLATOR: 'We can see here a taste for rather dark and sinister painting
0:54:42 > 0:54:46'that's in stark contrast to the relatively clear and bright paintings
0:54:46 > 0:54:48'of David, and which, of course,
0:54:48 > 0:54:51'acts as a tool towards the dramatic effect of the painting.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55'And it's a rather macabre style,
0:54:55 > 0:54:58'with a penchant for death and corpses.'
0:55:07 > 0:55:10As well as bringing the best of contemporary art into the Louvre,
0:55:10 > 0:55:14these decades of the Restoration saw the arrival from Egypt
0:55:14 > 0:55:19of mysterious and magical objects that were old yet very new.
0:55:22 > 0:55:24On the 25th of October 1836,
0:55:24 > 0:55:28the great obelisk behind me here was unveiled.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30It came from a temple in Luxor
0:55:30 > 0:55:32and was the gift of the Khedive of Egypt.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34Its original base featured monkeys
0:55:34 > 0:55:37who had suspiciously large erections,
0:55:37 > 0:55:40and obviously this had to be replaced by something
0:55:40 > 0:55:44much more austere, in granite and fashioned in Brittany.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47But nonetheless, this latest monument was a great success,
0:55:47 > 0:55:49and the most important thing was
0:55:49 > 0:55:53that it announced a new mania in France for all things Oriental.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58The man who arranged the passage of the obelisk to Paris,
0:55:58 > 0:56:01and who brought so much to the story of the Louvre,
0:56:01 > 0:56:03was Jean-Francois Champollion.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11Now Champollion worked here in the Louvre, and he established
0:56:11 > 0:56:15the superb and stunning collection that we see here today.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19But not only that, Champollion was the first person to decipher
0:56:19 > 0:56:24hieroglyphics, and in doing so, he invented the science of Egyptology.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32Inspired by Napoleon's Egyptian Campaigns,
0:56:32 > 0:56:35Champollion devoted his life to understanding this ancient culture.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40By the age of 16, he knew a dozen ancient languages,
0:56:40 > 0:56:42and with this extraordinary facility,
0:56:42 > 0:56:45he began the long task of deciphering hieroglyphs.
0:56:47 > 0:56:52In 1824, in the Precis du systeme hieroglyphique,
0:56:52 > 0:56:56Champollion revealed that he had cracked these hidden codes.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01By this time, Champollion had persuaded the King to buy three
0:57:01 > 0:57:03private collections for the Louvre,
0:57:03 > 0:57:07and these were housed in a dedicated Musee Egyptien.
0:57:10 > 0:57:15When it opened, Champollion wrote an open letter to visitors saying,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18"I'm thrilled just thinking about what I have to show you."
0:57:18 > 0:57:20And he was dead right to be thrilled.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26Along with statues of Egyptian pharaohs,
0:57:26 > 0:57:29there were religious artefacts and everyday objects.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33Today, we take these for granted,
0:57:33 > 0:57:37but in 1826, this was the shock of the new.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44We should pause to reflect on this moment in our story,
0:57:44 > 0:57:47because it signals another important transformation
0:57:47 > 0:57:49for the Louvre.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54Before, it was a palace with paintings.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58Now, it's what we recognise properly as a museum,
0:57:58 > 0:58:01full of works of art from all ages and cultures,
0:58:01 > 0:58:05and a place for scholarly investigation.
0:58:07 > 0:58:11In its way, this was a cultural revolution.
0:58:16 > 0:58:18And speaking of revolution,
0:58:18 > 0:58:20what had happened to the French taste for it?
0:58:20 > 0:58:22MUSIC: "La Marseillaise"
0:58:30 > 0:58:35After 15 years of monarchy, the barricades went up in Paris.
0:58:35 > 0:58:39For three days, between the 27th and 29th of July 1830,
0:58:39 > 0:58:42there was street-fighting across the city to challenge
0:58:42 > 0:58:45the autocratic rule of Charles X.
0:58:45 > 0:58:47"Les Trois Glorieuses",
0:58:47 > 0:58:50as it was known in revolutionary folklore, is naturally commemorated
0:58:50 > 0:58:55here with this fine and thrusting monument at Place de la Bastille.
0:58:56 > 0:58:59But one young French artist wanted to do things his own way
0:58:59 > 0:59:02to commemorate this July Revolution.
0:59:02 > 0:59:05He wanted something more sweeping, more daring,
0:59:05 > 0:59:09something more epic, and what he did is in the Louvre.
0:59:13 > 0:59:1828th of July, Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix,
0:59:18 > 0:59:20is to be found in the Salle Rouge.
0:59:24 > 0:59:27In 1830, Delacroix had written to his brother that he was
0:59:27 > 0:59:30taking on a modern subject, a barricade.
0:59:30 > 0:59:35"If I haven't fought for my country, at least I'll paint for her."
0:59:35 > 0:59:39The painting that emerged from his studio was the hit of the Salon.
0:59:41 > 0:59:42It's realistic.
0:59:42 > 0:59:45Delacroix used real people as models to depict real events,
0:59:45 > 0:59:47but it's also allegorical.
0:59:49 > 0:59:53There's bare-breasted Marianne, bayoneted musket in one hand,
0:59:53 > 0:59:56the Tricolour flag of the Republic in the other,
0:59:56 > 0:59:59the personification of Liberty in revolution.
1:00:00 > 1:00:02This Republican Amazon leads young and old
1:00:02 > 1:00:04and all classes to the barricades.
1:00:06 > 1:00:09Here, the top-hatted figure of some means,
1:00:09 > 1:00:12and here the pistol-packing student.
1:00:14 > 1:00:16At their feet, the dead,
1:00:16 > 1:00:21a Royalist National Guardsman and this semi-naked figure,
1:00:21 > 1:00:24surely copied from Gericault's Raft of the Medusa
1:00:24 > 1:00:26that Delacroix knew so well.
1:00:28 > 1:00:31And it all takes place against the smoking backdrop of Paris,
1:00:31 > 1:00:36the Republican flag hanging from Notre Dame in the distance.
1:00:38 > 1:00:43And the colours used here, red, white and blue of course.
1:00:45 > 1:00:49There is, perhaps, no more iconic image in all of French history.
1:00:54 > 1:00:58And it didn't take long for the street-fighting men and women,
1:00:58 > 1:01:02commemorated by Delacroix, to be at it again.
1:01:02 > 1:01:05As Karl Marx observed, "History was repeating itself."
1:01:07 > 1:01:11Revolution in 1848 was, in that very French way,
1:01:11 > 1:01:12followed by reaction.
1:01:15 > 1:01:17The nephew of Napoleon, Louis Bonaparte,
1:01:17 > 1:01:19came to power by coup d'etat
1:01:19 > 1:01:22that ended the short-lived Second Republic,
1:01:22 > 1:01:27and like his uncle, declared himself Emperor of a Second Empire.
1:01:34 > 1:01:38At the heart of this Empire would be a city of Grands Boulevards
1:01:38 > 1:01:41and buildings built by Baron Haussmann.
1:01:41 > 1:01:47And the Louvre was to become the symbol of a modernised Paris.
1:01:47 > 1:01:51In 1852, a new Louvre Project was announced that would complete
1:01:51 > 1:01:54the Grand Dessein by connecting both sides of the Louvre
1:01:54 > 1:01:56to the Palace of the Tuileries.
1:02:00 > 1:02:02The old tenement buildings and stalls
1:02:02 > 1:02:04that had been part of the site for centuries were
1:02:04 > 1:02:07bulldozed to make way for this vision of the future.
1:02:12 > 1:02:16The Louvre was once more to be a focus for political power.
1:02:16 > 1:02:18The Emperor would rule from here.
1:02:18 > 1:02:21It would be the site of government, with bureaucrats in the new wings
1:02:21 > 1:02:23working away for France,
1:02:23 > 1:02:26and it would be a symbol of French cultural power,
1:02:26 > 1:02:28with its magnificent museum.
1:02:29 > 1:02:32The sheer ambition of this project was explained to me
1:02:32 > 1:02:33by Daniel Soulie.
1:02:34 > 1:02:37HE SPEAKS FRENCH
1:02:37 > 1:02:39TRANSLATOR: 'We say in France
1:02:39 > 1:02:41'that Napoleon really gave "the full packet".
1:02:41 > 1:02:44'It was a full-on Imperial project.
1:02:44 > 1:02:50'He threw limitless money, limitless people and limitless resources at it.
1:02:51 > 1:02:55'The Emperor had a hand in everything that happened in the Louvre,
1:02:55 > 1:02:57'so all possibilities were open.
1:03:00 > 1:03:04'He ordered that where the little town had sprung up here behind us,
1:03:04 > 1:03:07'the Richelieu Wing should be built,
1:03:07 > 1:03:10'and the Denon Wing on the other side over here.
1:03:12 > 1:03:17'With these two new wings, he was able to enclose the space and create
1:03:17 > 1:03:21'a courtyard of vast proportions, right at the centre of the building.'
1:03:27 > 1:03:32Grandeur on the outside was reinforced by opulence within.
1:03:32 > 1:03:35Again, no expense was spared.
1:03:37 > 1:03:39Just look at all this luxury.
1:03:39 > 1:03:42The walls, the fittings, the carpets and the furniture.
1:03:45 > 1:03:47What does it remind you of?
1:03:47 > 1:03:50Yes, Louis XIV, and that was deliberate.
1:03:52 > 1:03:55This Second Empire style was a self-conscious
1:03:55 > 1:03:58and some said vulgar way of aping the Sun King.
1:04:00 > 1:04:04But Louis Bonaparte wanted everybody to know that his Louvre
1:04:04 > 1:04:07was as much a glittering reflection of his Imperial eminence
1:04:07 > 1:04:08as any in the past.
1:04:13 > 1:04:15But the destruction of the old Louvre
1:04:15 > 1:04:17was mourned by one poet and critic.
1:04:19 > 1:04:23Charles Baudelaire was a regular visitor to the museum.
1:04:26 > 1:04:30It was a warm and comfortable place to meet his mother.
1:04:33 > 1:04:37He once took a five franc whore to look at the ancient statues.
1:04:37 > 1:04:40She professed to be scandalised by the nudity.
1:04:45 > 1:04:48Baudelaire was a great admirer and friend of Delacroix,
1:04:48 > 1:04:55who in 1851, had completed this ceiling in the Galerie d'Apollon.
1:04:55 > 1:04:59They were romantic soul brothers.
1:04:59 > 1:05:00Of the painter he wrote,
1:05:00 > 1:05:03"Delacroix was passionately in love with passion
1:05:03 > 1:05:08"but coldly determined to express passion as clearly as possible."
1:05:11 > 1:05:15But while Baudelaire loved the art inside the Louvre with passion,
1:05:15 > 1:05:17he hated what had happened outside.
1:05:20 > 1:05:25In 1857, a collection of his poems was published, The Flowers of Evil.
1:05:28 > 1:05:32In it there's one poem, The Swan, which captures his melancholy
1:05:32 > 1:05:36over what had been lost here and elsewhere in Paris.
1:05:36 > 1:05:41The rickety tenements, the market stalls and the poor in pocket
1:05:41 > 1:05:42but rich in heart.
1:05:43 > 1:05:45HE RECITES IN FRENCH
1:05:49 > 1:05:54- TRANSLATION:- 'Paris changes! But in my melancholy nothing has moved
1:05:54 > 1:05:57'New palaces, blocks, scaffoldings, old neighbourhoods
1:05:57 > 1:05:59'Everything for me is allegory
1:05:59 > 1:06:03'And my dear memories are heavier than stone
1:06:03 > 1:06:07'And so outside the Louvre an image gives me pause
1:06:07 > 1:06:11'I think of my great swan His gestures pained and mad
1:06:11 > 1:06:15'Like other exiles both ridiculous and sublime
1:06:15 > 1:06:17'Gnawed by his endless longing.'
1:06:34 > 1:06:37Baudelaire had lost his beloved Paris, but the city created
1:06:37 > 1:06:42by Haussmann for Louis-Napoleon is one that you can still enjoy today.
1:06:43 > 1:06:47And I for one never fail to be impressed by its scale,
1:06:47 > 1:06:49its straight lines and symmetry.
1:06:51 > 1:06:54But it wouldn't take long for the Emperor to lose the capital,
1:06:54 > 1:06:56and with it, his Louvre.
1:07:00 > 1:07:05In 1870, he entered into a disastrous war with Prussia.
1:07:05 > 1:07:08France was occupied and Paris put under siege.
1:07:09 > 1:07:11After military defeat,
1:07:11 > 1:07:15Louis Bonaparte left the Louvre for the last time and went into exile.
1:07:17 > 1:07:21In Paris, barricades went up for one final time,
1:07:21 > 1:07:23as a Commune was declared.
1:07:25 > 1:07:29The Communards took control of the city in the spring of 1871.
1:07:33 > 1:07:36At first, it was all done in a traditionally festive mood.
1:07:36 > 1:07:37En fete.
1:07:37 > 1:07:41On the 16th of May, the Communards knocked down the mock Roman column,
1:07:41 > 1:07:44here on the Place Vendome that had been erected
1:07:44 > 1:07:48as yet another tribute to Napoleon's military exploits.
1:07:48 > 1:07:52Then, around midnight, the revolutionary fiesta moved on.
1:07:52 > 1:07:55Around 300 Communards broke into the cellars of the grand Hotel du Louvre
1:07:55 > 1:08:00where they helped themselves to the finest wines and smoked...
1:08:00 > 1:08:04the most expensive and hugest cigars they could find.
1:08:09 > 1:08:12But these May days of hope were also accompanied
1:08:12 > 1:08:15by intense fighting around the Louvre,
1:08:15 > 1:08:18as civil war between left and right turned bloody.
1:08:21 > 1:08:26On 23 May, the Palace of the Tuileries was set on fire
1:08:26 > 1:08:29and its dome blown up with explosives.
1:08:29 > 1:08:33The place that had been home to kings, queens and emperors
1:08:33 > 1:08:35burned for 48 hours.
1:08:47 > 1:08:49The destruction of the Tuileries
1:08:49 > 1:08:52left a gaping hole that created this skyline,
1:08:52 > 1:08:56with its clear views all the way to the Arc de Triomphe.
1:08:59 > 1:09:04As for the Louvre, I think that this was a defining moment.
1:09:04 > 1:09:06The residence of royals and emperors, the Tuileries
1:09:06 > 1:09:10had always been the symbol of autocratic rule to Parisians.
1:09:10 > 1:09:13Yet the Louvre was by now a different place
1:09:13 > 1:09:16in the eyes of the people, so it was spared the torch.
1:09:17 > 1:09:20Perhaps the presence of publicly available art
1:09:20 > 1:09:21guaranteed its survival.
1:09:23 > 1:09:26Why destroy the People's Museum?
1:09:26 > 1:09:28That would be vandalism.
1:09:30 > 1:09:33And by the time a Third Republic was established in 1870s,
1:09:33 > 1:09:37there was much more to be enjoyed in the museum.
1:09:37 > 1:09:40There were wonderful new paintings donated by benefactors
1:09:40 > 1:09:42like the generous Dr Lacaze.
1:09:43 > 1:09:47One of these is The Club Foot by Jusepe de Ribera,
1:09:47 > 1:09:51a 17th-century portrait of disability.
1:09:53 > 1:09:56The boy smiles and reveals his broken teeth.
1:09:56 > 1:09:59He looks us straight in the eye, he wants something.
1:09:59 > 1:10:04So look at his hand holding a piece of paper, a begging letter.
1:10:04 > 1:10:08"For the love of God, give me alms," it reads.
1:10:11 > 1:10:15And visitors could marvel at this fabulous marble statue,
1:10:15 > 1:10:17the Winged Victory of Samothrace,
1:10:17 > 1:10:21which had arrived from an excavation in the Aegean.
1:10:23 > 1:10:27Over 2,000 years old, it's a depiction of the Greek goddess Nike,
1:10:27 > 1:10:30thought to be celebrating a naval battle.
1:10:30 > 1:10:33She's got a kind of still beauty and grace,
1:10:33 > 1:10:37but her flowing drapery gives a dynamism and movement.
1:10:38 > 1:10:41I feel as if she could take wing at any time
1:10:41 > 1:10:44and fly through the miles of galleries.
1:10:58 > 1:11:01The Louvre was now established as a democratic space
1:11:01 > 1:11:04open free to the public six days a week.
1:11:06 > 1:11:09And visitors from all over France and beyond
1:11:09 > 1:11:14were eager to visit this must-see part of the Paris experience.
1:11:17 > 1:11:19By the late 19th century,
1:11:19 > 1:11:23there was no question that Paris was the cultural capital of the world.
1:11:23 > 1:11:27And that the Louvre was the most potent symbol of this domination.
1:11:27 > 1:11:29By now, it was well established as a public space
1:11:29 > 1:11:31open to all who wished to visit.
1:11:31 > 1:11:34The artists of the day would congregate in places like this,
1:11:34 > 1:11:36Cafe La Palette.
1:11:36 > 1:11:40And the Impressionists were the most regular visitors to the museum,
1:11:40 > 1:11:44taking their inspiration from the past, to look, learn and copy.
1:11:57 > 1:12:01Here in the Louvre is a pastel drawing by Degas, La Sortie Du Bain.
1:12:05 > 1:12:07Here's a Monet.
1:12:07 > 1:12:11At the time, works like these were considered avant-garde,
1:12:11 > 1:12:13scandalous even,
1:12:13 > 1:12:16and as such, were rejected by the Academy
1:12:16 > 1:12:18that still controlled the Salon.
1:12:20 > 1:12:24So these painters were forced to exhibit in a Salon des Refuses.
1:12:25 > 1:12:27Here's a Pissarro.
1:12:27 > 1:12:32He once said to Cezanne that he'd be glad to see the Louvre burn down.
1:12:32 > 1:12:35But Cezanne himself valued the museum.
1:12:35 > 1:12:38He wrote to a friend, "Keep the best company,
1:12:38 > 1:12:42"spend your days at the Louvre." Which is just what he did.
1:12:44 > 1:12:48Cezanne loved to contemplate the work of Chardin -
1:12:48 > 1:12:51his visual language, his depiction of nature,
1:12:51 > 1:12:53simplicity of his composition.
1:12:54 > 1:12:58And all of this he put into his own work.
1:13:03 > 1:13:06But composers could be similarly inspired.
1:13:06 > 1:13:10Claude Debussy stood in front of this painting,
1:13:10 > 1:13:13Embarkation For Cythera, by Jean-Antoine Watteau.
1:13:16 > 1:13:18Who wouldn't be captivated by
1:13:18 > 1:13:21the playful flirtatiousness of the couples?
1:13:22 > 1:13:25And who wouldn't be mesmerised by its mystery?
1:13:27 > 1:13:31Debussy saw all of this and wrote a piece for piano,
1:13:31 > 1:13:33L'Isle Joyeuse.
1:13:40 > 1:13:43And writers too enjoyed the museum.
1:13:43 > 1:13:47Not only as a place of culture, but also as somewhere to meet friends.
1:13:47 > 1:13:51And even sometimes to meet lovers.
1:13:54 > 1:13:57The Louvre was a place of amorous assignation
1:13:57 > 1:14:00for the American writer Edith Wharton.
1:14:00 > 1:14:01This is where she met her lover,
1:14:01 > 1:14:05the Paris correspondent of The Times, Morton Fullerton.
1:14:05 > 1:14:09They used to send each other secret notes in the Paris postal system.
1:14:09 > 1:14:13It was a kind of early 20th-century form of text messaging.
1:14:14 > 1:14:15One from Edith simply said,
1:14:15 > 1:14:20"At the Louvre, one o'clock, under the shadow of Diana."
1:14:23 > 1:14:25But speaking of mysterious ladies...
1:14:27 > 1:14:31..after all these many years, what had happened to you-know-who?
1:14:33 > 1:14:37The Mona Lisa remained in the royal collection until the Revolution.
1:14:37 > 1:14:40Then, in 1800, Napoleon demanded
1:14:40 > 1:14:44that she join him in his bedroom in the Palace of the Tuileries.
1:14:44 > 1:14:46So, not tonight, Josephine.
1:14:48 > 1:14:52But in the 19th century, La Joconde was back in the Louvre.
1:14:52 > 1:14:55Now scrutinised by tortured aesthetes.
1:14:55 > 1:14:57That smile on her face was surely
1:14:57 > 1:15:01the oh-so cruel and mocking pout of the femme fatale.
1:15:03 > 1:15:07Then, on 21 August 1911, the painting was nicked.
1:15:14 > 1:15:17The heist was both daft and daring.
1:15:17 > 1:15:19What actually happened was that a young Italian workman,
1:15:19 > 1:15:22a painter and decorator called Vincenzo Peruggia,
1:15:22 > 1:15:25just walked out off the building with the Mona Lisa under his coat,
1:15:25 > 1:15:30presumably whistling a cheery aria as Italian workmen are wont to do.
1:15:30 > 1:15:33He took it back to Mama Italia.
1:15:34 > 1:15:37Pandemonium broke out.
1:15:37 > 1:15:40The museum was closed for a week, the director was sacked,
1:15:40 > 1:15:44and two new guard dogs were appointed, Jacques and Milord.
1:15:48 > 1:15:51The whole of Paris had a right good laugh
1:15:51 > 1:15:54at the expense of a red-faced Louvre.
1:15:54 > 1:15:56New lyrics were set to favourite melodies
1:15:56 > 1:15:59which satirised the cheeky abduction.
1:15:59 > 1:16:03And these were sung in musical halls and cabaret clubs across the city.
1:16:03 > 1:16:07One dirty ditty found the Mona Lisa in a place of ill repute.
1:16:07 > 1:16:10"Mon poteau.
1:16:10 > 1:16:13"Embrasses-moi, je suis pas begueule.
1:16:13 > 1:16:15"Mais je m'ennuyais beaucoup dans ce palais.
1:16:15 > 1:16:18"Un soir que le gardian criait,
1:16:18 > 1:16:21"'On ferme!' J'ai repondu, 'Ta gueule!'
1:16:21 > 1:16:23"Et je suis carbatte toute seule."
1:16:24 > 1:16:27Which roughly translates as, "Hey, mate, give us a kiss, I'm not fussy,
1:16:27 > 1:16:31"but I was so bored in that palace. So one night when the guard cried,
1:16:31 > 1:16:34"'Closing time!' I just said, 'Fuck you, mate!' and scarpered."
1:16:44 > 1:16:46The year the painting returned to the Louvre,
1:16:46 > 1:16:50after being found in Italy, was the first of a World War
1:16:50 > 1:16:53when a generation bled to death for France.
1:16:56 > 1:16:58Then, in 1940, a second war erupted,
1:16:58 > 1:17:01bringing humiliation and occupation.
1:17:01 > 1:17:05And after that, there was the loss of empire.
1:17:06 > 1:17:07So after all this,
1:17:07 > 1:17:12how to project the prestige of France in diminished times?
1:17:12 > 1:17:14Why, with art, of course.
1:17:14 > 1:17:19And the Louvre had a role to play in a piece of cultural diplomacy.
1:17:21 > 1:17:24In 1962, General De Gaulle decreed
1:17:24 > 1:17:27that the Mona Lisa should visit the USA.
1:17:27 > 1:17:29So La Joconde left Le Havre
1:17:29 > 1:17:34on the luxury transatlantic liner SS France in a first-class cabin,
1:17:34 > 1:17:38cocooned in a waterproof container that would float if the boat sank.
1:17:39 > 1:17:42On her arrival in New York, she was received by President Kennedy
1:17:42 > 1:17:46like a head of state, before doing her duty for France
1:17:46 > 1:17:49and becoming a massive hit with the American public.
1:17:51 > 1:17:55KENNEDY: Monsier Malraux, I know that the last time the Mona Lisa
1:17:55 > 1:18:00was exhibited outside Paris in Florence,
1:18:00 > 1:18:05a crowd of 30,000 people packed the gallery on a single day,
1:18:05 > 1:18:10while large crowds outside smashed the windows.
1:18:11 > 1:18:17I can assure you that if our own reception is more orderly,
1:18:17 > 1:18:23though perhaps as noisy, it contains no less enthusiasm or gratitude.
1:18:23 > 1:18:25APPLAUSE AND LAUGHTER
1:18:28 > 1:18:31By the 1960s, and despite the treasures within,
1:18:31 > 1:18:34the Louvre was showing its age. It was stuck in the past.
1:18:37 > 1:18:41So perhaps that's why new wave film director Jean-Luc Godard decided
1:18:41 > 1:18:45to shoot a sequence for his 1964 film Bande A Part there
1:18:45 > 1:18:49to show his heroine, Odile, and would-be criminals Arthur and Franz
1:18:49 > 1:18:53attempting to beat the world record for running through the museum.
1:18:56 > 1:18:59Obviously they're up for a bit of fun in the stuffy museum.
1:19:01 > 1:19:04But I also think this is an artful piece of satire by Godard.
1:19:04 > 1:19:08A quick critique of the French cultural establishment.
1:19:14 > 1:19:17So, how could the museum get a new lease of life?
1:19:17 > 1:19:20Well, return to the idea of building again.
1:19:22 > 1:19:26Return to the spirit of the "Grand Dessein".
1:19:28 > 1:19:32In the 1980s, it was the creation of this structure behind me here
1:19:32 > 1:19:35which symbolised the transformation of the Louvre
1:19:35 > 1:19:37into a museum for the modern world.
1:19:37 > 1:19:41This is the glass Pyramid designed by American architect IM Pei.
1:19:45 > 1:19:46Finished in 1989,
1:19:46 > 1:19:50it's the most visible expression of the grand projet
1:19:50 > 1:19:53of the then President of France, Francois Mitterrand.
1:19:53 > 1:19:57And it's now the Pyramid that defines the Louvre to the world.
1:20:01 > 1:20:04The Louvre was perfect for Mitterrand.
1:20:04 > 1:20:07NEWSREADER: 'The inauguration of the new entrance to the Louvre
1:20:07 > 1:20:09'by President Mitterrand this afternoon means the public...'
1:20:09 > 1:20:13Mitterrand was a politician with an acute sense of history.
1:20:13 > 1:20:14And a vanity to match.
1:20:16 > 1:20:19When elected in 1981, he was looking for projects that would be
1:20:19 > 1:20:21lasting testaments to his presidency.
1:20:22 > 1:20:24His culture Minister, Jack Lang,
1:20:24 > 1:20:27suggested radical change for the museum.
1:20:27 > 1:20:30Passant et repassant...
1:20:30 > 1:20:33TRANSLATION: 'I was going past the Louvre every day.
1:20:33 > 1:20:37'And I remember being shocked by the dirtiness of the place
1:20:37 > 1:20:40'and its general state of disrepair,
1:20:40 > 1:20:42'with all the dust covering everything.
1:20:42 > 1:20:46'And I was shocked by the presence of a large car park,
1:20:46 > 1:20:51'right in the middle of the Cours Napoleon, for all the civil servants.
1:20:52 > 1:20:57'So in, I think, July 1981, I added a little note to Mitterrand
1:20:57 > 1:21:00'titled "Le Grand Louvre".
1:21:00 > 1:21:05'I said to him, "What if we totally completed
1:21:05 > 1:21:08'"the transformation from palace the museum?"'
1:21:13 > 1:21:15Before things Egyptian
1:21:15 > 1:21:17were the shock of the new in a previous century,
1:21:17 > 1:21:19plans for a pyramid structure
1:21:19 > 1:21:22reflecting the ambitions of Mitterrand
1:21:22 > 1:21:24as a modern-day pharaoh created a storm.
1:21:26 > 1:21:29Le Monde's critic accused the government of turning
1:21:29 > 1:21:32the courtyard of the Louvre into an annexe of Disneyland.
1:21:32 > 1:21:35"Ooh-la-la! Quelle horreur!"
1:21:37 > 1:21:39But I actually think that the Louvre came out of all this
1:21:39 > 1:21:41smelling of roses.
1:21:41 > 1:21:43This time, the modernists have won.
1:21:48 > 1:21:51When I look at the Pyramid, I feel like I'm looking at
1:21:51 > 1:21:54a great work of modern art in steel and glass.
1:21:56 > 1:21:57Still, I'm curious to know
1:21:57 > 1:22:01what the Louvre's great pioneering Egyptologist, Champollion,
1:22:01 > 1:22:05might have made of this tribute to an ancient culture.
1:22:08 > 1:22:12What strikes me, in this city of most meaningful monuments,
1:22:12 > 1:22:17is that this says we are a modern country, we are go-ahead.
1:22:17 > 1:22:20"Nous sommes la France tres cool."
1:22:22 > 1:22:25But it's not only the outside that impresses.
1:22:28 > 1:22:31The Pyramid illuminates a huge reception area underground.
1:22:31 > 1:22:33And new areas of the Louvre
1:22:33 > 1:22:37have been opened up to the shining light of culture.
1:22:39 > 1:22:42Including the new Richelieu Galleries in the East Wing,
1:22:42 > 1:22:45formerly occupied by the men from the Ministry of Finance.
1:22:48 > 1:22:51The palace would now be all museum.
1:22:54 > 1:22:58I'm in the Cours Marly, and I'm surrounded by statues.
1:22:59 > 1:23:02This courtyard area used to be open to the elements.
1:23:03 > 1:23:05But now it's all glassed over,
1:23:05 > 1:23:08letting the light of the Parisian skies flood in.
1:23:10 > 1:23:12And that makes it a really comfortable
1:23:12 > 1:23:14and airy place to view art.
1:23:20 > 1:23:22Visit today and you understand
1:23:22 > 1:23:26that the Grand Louvre project has been a runaway success.
1:23:28 > 1:23:32Before the '80s, 2 million people visited the Louvre every year.
1:23:32 > 1:23:35Now, the figure is closer to 9 million.
1:23:38 > 1:23:42And this grandest of "grands projets" continues.
1:23:51 > 1:23:54In September 2012, a new gallery opened
1:23:54 > 1:23:58to house the riches of the museum's collection of Islamic art.
1:24:00 > 1:24:05Here are 3,000 works in 3,000 square feet of exhibition space.
1:24:09 > 1:24:13All housed in the most radical piece of architecture
1:24:13 > 1:24:15to grace the museum since the Pyramid.
1:24:16 > 1:24:18There's a wonderful elusiveness
1:24:18 > 1:24:21to the Islamic gallery's roof and ceiling.
1:24:21 > 1:24:25Is it a golden veil? Undulating sand dunes?
1:24:25 > 1:24:28Or perhaps even a flying carpet?
1:24:32 > 1:24:35Under this covering, there are great treasures.
1:24:35 > 1:24:39With Islamic strictures against representations of the human form,
1:24:39 > 1:24:42everyday objects become art.
1:24:44 > 1:24:47A candlestick adorned with ducks.
1:24:50 > 1:24:53A perfume burner in the shape of a cat.
1:24:53 > 1:24:58Both from 11th century central Asia.
1:25:01 > 1:25:05And these calligraphic delights with their messages from the past.
1:25:07 > 1:25:10A lamp that shines the wisdom of Islam.
1:25:12 > 1:25:16A ninth century vase with a love letter written on its side.
1:25:18 > 1:25:23And a plate from Samarkand with an inscription which reads,
1:25:23 > 1:25:26"At first, magnanimity has a bitter taste.
1:25:26 > 1:25:30"But in the end it feels as sweet as honey."
1:25:34 > 1:25:38And in the lower galleries, I'm looking for a special work
1:25:38 > 1:25:43because it gives us one last reminder of the story of the Louvre.
1:25:52 > 1:25:56And here it is - the Baptistere de Saint Louis.
1:25:56 > 1:25:59A masterpiece in brass, inlaid with gold and silver.
1:26:01 > 1:26:05It was made in Syria in the 14th century,
1:26:05 > 1:26:08the work of Mohammed ibn al-Zain.
1:26:08 > 1:26:10It's beautiful in its detail.
1:26:21 > 1:26:26And here, a coat of arms seemingly hammered on at a later date.
1:26:26 > 1:26:30This is the fleur de lys of the Bourbon Kings.
1:26:32 > 1:26:36How this extraordinary object got into their hands is not known,
1:26:36 > 1:26:40but it was used to baptise Louis XIII, son of Henry IV
1:26:40 > 1:26:45and father of the Sun King, those great builders of the Louvre.
1:26:45 > 1:26:48And it made its way to the museum in 1793,
1:26:48 > 1:26:51confiscated from the royal collection
1:26:51 > 1:26:54by David and the revolutionaries.
1:26:58 > 1:27:03But, for this magnificent art, there's also a much bigger picture.
1:27:03 > 1:27:06This shows that the museum is sensitive and aware,
1:27:06 > 1:27:10building a bridge between France and the Muslim world.
1:27:10 > 1:27:13And this fulfils France's historical role as an influence there,
1:27:13 > 1:27:15"une puissance musulmane".
1:27:15 > 1:27:18So, under the canny piece of cultural diplomacy
1:27:18 > 1:27:23to project just the right image of France in today's world.
1:27:28 > 1:27:31But let's end where we started, with the word,
1:27:31 > 1:27:35with a medieval word, "louver", meaning stronghold.
1:27:35 > 1:27:37Because when I began this journey,
1:27:37 > 1:27:40the Louvre did feel very much like a cultural fortress.
1:27:42 > 1:27:44But time-travelling through its art and history,
1:27:44 > 1:27:49what I've tried to do is open it all up, literally to "ouvrir le Louvre".
1:27:49 > 1:27:53And in the process, I've come to realise that there's another word
1:27:53 > 1:27:56which sums the place up much, much better.
1:27:58 > 1:28:00And this is a very French one, very Gallic -
1:28:00 > 1:28:02"la gloire".
1:28:02 > 1:28:03Now, this is a word
1:28:03 > 1:28:07which is a little bit difficult to translate into English.
1:28:07 > 1:28:11But what it's about is power, splendour and beauty.
1:28:11 > 1:28:13And that for me, cher telespectateur,
1:28:13 > 1:28:15is the real treasure of the Louvre,
1:28:15 > 1:28:19buried deep here in the heart of Paris.
1:28:47 > 1:28:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd