Henri Jean François Joseph Verne (21 September 1880,

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

– 11 February 1949,

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) was a French museum director and curator.

Biography

He held degrees in literature and law. In 1906, he became a document editor at the Ministry of Trade and Industry. From 1911 to 1939, he worked for the

Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who is the ninth winne ...

at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, originally as an editor then, from 1915, as head of the Secretariat. He was named a Knight in the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in 1921.Documentation
@ the

Base Léonore ''Base Léonore'', or the Léonore database, is a French database that lists the records of the members of the National Order of the Legion of Honor. The database lists the records of those inducted into the Legion of Honor The National Ord ...

In 1925, he was appointed Director of the Musées Nationaux (

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

Musée du Luxembourg The Musée du Luxembourg () is a museum at 19 rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. Established in 1750, it was initially an art museum located in the east wing of the Luxembourg Palace (the matching west wing housed the Marie de' M ...

Musée des Antiquités Nationales The National Archaeological Museum (French: Musée d'Archéologie nationale) is a major French archaeology museum, covering pre-historic times to the Merovingian period (450–750 CE). It is housed in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the ' ...

, and the

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). The following year, he drafted a plan for reorganizing the collections at the Louvre, and modernizing the museum; known as "Le plan Verne". It primarily involved categorizing and displaying the collection by styles and periods. This included sending the Louvre's Far Eastern art to the

Musée Guimet The Guimet Museum (full name in french: Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet; MNAAG; ) is an art museum located at 6, place d'Iéna in the XVIe arrondissement, 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Literally translated into English, its ful ...

, in exchange for their Egyptian art. He also requested that the Ministry of Finance vacate spaces they had occupied since the 1870s. The modernization program began by replacing the museum's oil lamps with electric lighting. In 1927, he ordered the

Conservatoire national des arts et métiers A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

to make an analysis of the paints. Shortly after, thanks to a contribution from two wealthy Argentinians, the Louvre established its own laboratory; now known as the

Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France The National Centre for Research and Restoration in French Museums (C2RMF, ''Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France'') is the national research centre in France responsible for the documentation, conservation and restoration ...

. In 1937, he was elected to the

Académie des Beaux-Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

, where he took Seat #8 in the "Unattached" section. The following year, anticipating the war, he helped to devise a plan for transferring some of the museum's most vulnerable and valuable pieces to the relative safety of the

Château de Chambord The Château de Chambord () in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with cla ...

. Many of his original proposals were not fully carried out until well after the war.

References

Sources

* Pierre Rosenberg, ''Dictionnaire amoureux du Louvre'', pg.869, Plon, Paris, 2007
Biographical data and references
@ AGORHA
Biographical data
from the Committee of Historical and Scientific Works @ La France Savante
"D’un Louvre moderne : le projet d’Henri Verne"
by Agnès Callu, from ''Autopsie du Musée'' @ OpenEdition.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Verne, Henri 1880 births 1949 deaths Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Museum directors French art curators People from Cannes Recipients of the Legion of Honour