Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Complete Works of Th�ophile Gautier, Vol. 5: The Louvre, And, Constantinople
The Museum of the Louvre, one of the very richest in Europe, was founded by the Convention, but fine collections of paintings, drawings, and other works of art existed in France long before that time. At that marvellous epoch called the Renaissance, Francis I, to whom the modern Louvre owes its existence, began to collect paintings and strove to found a school of artists inspired by Italian ideals. Andrea del Sarto was intrusted by him with large sums for the purchase of masterpieces; del Sarto squandered the money, but Primaticcio, the next to be selected, fulfilled his com mission more honourably. Leonardo da Vinci, Peru gino, Raphael, Titian are now represented by works acquired by the knightly King. Catherine de' Medici and Cardinal Mazarin were both great collectors every one knows the clever way in which the latter managed to procure the Barberini Correggio. Louis XIV, whose love of pomp somewhat narrowed his views on art, added many valuable works. It was his secretary, Colbert, who negotiated the purchase of the famous Jabach collection. Versailles, Fontainebleau, the Tuileries, the Luxembourg, were full of rare and precious works of art.
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