Jacques Jaujard (3 December 1895 - 21 June 1967) was a
senior civil servant of the French
fine art
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...
administration instrumental in the evacuation and protection of the French arts collections during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Evacuation of the Louvre museum art collection during World War II
During the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
in 1938, he supervised the evacuation of the
Museo del Prado
The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...
collections to Switzerland.
Before the German army arrived in Paris, and during the
German occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
, and against the orders of the
Vichy government
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...
, he organized the removal and safe storage, in the provinces (first in 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 ...
, then in the Château de Sourches, Château de Saint-Blancard, etc...) of the
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 ...
art collection, helped by curators
,
ené Michel/nowiki>">ené Michel">Bazin, Germain [René Michel/nowiki>, ''Dictionary of Art ...
, André Chamson, and René Huyghe">André Chamson">ené Michel/nowiki>">ené Michel">Bazin, Germain [René Michel/nowiki>, ''Dictionary of Art ...