The Salon Carré is an iconic room of the

Louvre Palace The Louvre Palace (french: link=no, Palais du Louvre, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Ga ...

, created in its current dimensions during a reconstruction of that part of the palace following a fire in February 1661. It gave its name to the longstanding tradition of exhibitions of contemporary art in Paris which had its heyday there between 1725 and 1848. Since 1849, it has been permanently used by the

Louvre Museum 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 ...

, which currently uses it to display

Italian Renaissance painting Italian Renaissance painting is the painting of the period beginning in the late 13th century and flourishing from the early 15th to late 16th centuries, occurring in the Italian Peninsula, which was at that time divided into many political stat ...

History

When the

Grande Galerie The Grande Galerie, in the past also known as the Galerie du Bord de l'Eau (Waterside Gallery), is a wing of the Louvre Palace, perhaps more properly referred to as the Aile de la Grande Galerie (Grand Gallery Wing), since it houses the longest ...

was built in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a separate room was created at its eastern end above the lavishly decorated on the ground floor. That upper room was known at the time as or . This room was destroyed together with the nearby by the fire of 6 February 1661.

Louis Le Vau Louis Le Vau (1612 – 11 October 1670) was a French Baroque architect, who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was an architect that helped develop the French Classical style in the 17th Century.''Encyclopedia of World Biography''"Louis Le Vau", ...

rebuilt it on an expanded footprint, including further space to the north that gave it more width and its current name, even though its plan is rectangular and not square. In the 18th century the room was used for the , which led to the construction of successive dedicated staircases to provide it with a dedicated entrance. In the 1780s, its design was debated in the context of early plans to create a permanent museum in the room, leading to the creation in 1789 of a

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...

in its roofing, designed by Charles-Axel Guillaumot and one of the first such examples for art exhibition purposes. On 2 April 1810,

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

and

Marie Louise of Austria french: Marie-Louise-Léopoldine-Françoise-Thérèse-Josèphe-Lucie it, Maria Luigia Leopoldina Francesca Teresa Giuseppa Lucia , house = Habsburg-Lorraine , father = Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Maria Theresa of ...

led a procession from the Tuileries throughout the Grande Galerie on the occasion of their wedding, which was celebrated in the Salon Carré, temporarily converted into a chapel. In 1848, the Louvre's new director

Philippe-Auguste Jeanron Philippe-Auguste Jeanron (10 May 1809 – 8 April 1877) was a French painter, curator and writer. Throughout his life he was a passionate republican. His genre pictures typically depicted common people. He opposed the July Monarchy. After the Feb ...

successfully advocated the relocation of the outside 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 ...

, so that the Salon Carré would be devoted to permanent museum use. The room was subsequently redecorated by architect

Félix Duban Jacques Félix Duban () (14 October 1798, Paris – 8 October 1870, Bordeaux) was a French architect, the contemporary of Jacques Ignace Hittorff and Henri Labrouste. Life and career Duban won the Prix de Rome in 1823, the most prestigious aw ...

, with sculptor

Pierre-Charles Simart Pierre-Charles Simart (born in Troyes on 27 June 1806, died in Paris on 27 May 1857) was a French sculptor. The son of a carpenter from Troyes in Champagne, Simart was the pupil of Antoine Desbœuf, Charles Dupaty, Jean-Pierre Cortot and Ja ...

creating a richly decorated ceiling of gilded stucco celebrating past French artists, still in place. The refurbished room was inaugurated on 5 June 1851, together with the renovated

Galerie d’Apollon The Galerie d'Apollon is a large and iconic room of the Louvre Palace, on the first (upper) floor of a wing known as the Petite Galerie of the Louvre, Petite Galerie. Its current setup was first designed in the 1660s. It has been part of the Louvr ...

, and Salle des Sept-Cheminées. In 1972, the Salon Carré's museography was remade with lighting from a hung tubular case, designed by Louvre architect with assistance from designers ,

Joseph-André Motte Joseph-André Motte (6 January 1925 – 1 June 2013) was a French furniture designer and interior designer and ranks among the most influential and innovative figures of post-war French design. Joseph-André Motte was born in Saint-Bonnet-en-C ...

and

Pierre Paulin Pierre Paulin (9 July 1927 – 13 June 2009) was a French furniture designer and interior designer. His uncle Georges Paulin was a part-time automobile designer and invented the mechanical retractible hardtop, who was later executed by the Nazis i ...

Gallery

File:Gabriel Jacques de Saint-Aubin, Vue du Salon du Louvre en l'année 1753, 1753.jpg, The Salon in 1753, by

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, also Gabriel Jacques de Saint-Aubin, (Paris, 14 April 1724 - Paris, 14 February 1780) was a French draftsman, printmaker, etcher and painter. Biography His brothers Charles Germain de Saint Aubin and Augustin de Saint-A ...

(

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

) File:Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin, Vue du Salon de 1765 (1765).jpg, The Salon in 1753, by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (Louvre) File:Salon 1767.jpg, The Salon in 1767, by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin File:Richard Earlom d’après Charles Brandoin The Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Painting in the year 1771.jpg, The Salon in 1771, engraving after Charles Brandoin File:Gabriel Jacques de Saint-Aubin - The Salon of 1779 - WGA20656.jpg, The Salon in 1779, by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (Louvre) File:Salon du Louvre 1787.jpg, The Salon in 1787, engraving by

Pietro Antonio Martini Pietro Antonio Martini (9 July 1738 – 2 April 1797) was an Italian painter and engraver, active in a late Baroque style. Biography He was born at Trecasali, within the duchy of Parma, a relative of the painter Biagio Martini. Pietro's father w ...

File:Napoleon Marie Louise Marriage1.jpeg, Wedding of Napoleon and Marie-Louise in 1810, by

Georges Rouget Georges Rouget (26 August 1783 – 9 April 1869) was a neoclassical French painter. Life After studying in the École des Beaux-Arts, Rouget entered David's studio in 1797 and rapidly became his favorite student. Rouget began his professional ...

(

Versailles Palace The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

) File:Francois-Joseph Heim 001b.jpg,

Charles X Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Loui ...

at the Salon of 1824, by

François Joseph Heim François Joseph Heim (16 December 1787 - 29 September 1865) was a French painter. Biography He was born at Belfort. He early distinguished himself at the École Centrale of Strassburg, and in 1803 entered the studio of Vincent at Paris. He was ...

(Louvre) File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg, The Salon in 1831 with Géricault's ''

Raft of the Medusa ''The Raft of the Medusa'' (french: Le Radeau de la Méduse ) – originally titled ''Scène de Naufrage'' (''Shipwreck Scene'') – is an oil painting of 1818–19 by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791� ...

'', by (Louvre) File:Louvre Palace Gallery Ceiling.jpg, Detail of the ceiling designed by Duban in 1849-1850 File:Giuseppe Castiglione - View of the Grand Salon Carré in the Louvre - WGA4552.jpg, The Salon Carré in 1861, by Giuseppe Castiglione (Louvre) File:Salon carré du Louvre 1875.jpg, The Salon Carré in 1875, by Lucjan Przepiórski (Louvre) File:Alexandre Brun - View of the Salon Carré at the Louvre.jpg, The Salon Carré around 1880, by

Alexandre Jean-Baptiste Brun Alexandre Jean-Baptiste Brun (Marseille, 3 November 1853, Marseille; 5 November 1941) was a French painter, a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel, Carolus-Duran and Félix Bracquemond. He is especially known for his many marine paintings and a collection ...

(Louvre) File:Musée du Louvre - Mise en place d'un tableau dans le Salon carré, Les noces de Cana - Paris 01 - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APZ0008054.jpg, Re-installation of

Veronese Veronese is the Italian word denoting someone or something from Verona, Italy and may refer to: * Veronese Riddle, a popular riddle in the Middle Ages * ''Veronese'' (moth), a moth genus in the family Crambidae * Monte Veronese, an Italian chees ...

Wedding at Cana The transformation of water into wine at the wedding at Cana (also called the marriage at Cana, wedding feast at Cana or marriage feast at Cana) is the first miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John. In the Gospel account, Jesus Chris ...

in 1918 File:Louvre 1929 - le salon Carré.jpg, The Salon Carré in 1929, in ''

L'Illustration ''L'Illustration'' was a weekly French language, French newspaper published in Paris from 1843 to 1944. It was founded by Édouard Charton with the first issue published on 4 March 1843, it became the first illustrated newspaper in France then, a ...

'' File:Salon Carré D201805 2.jpg, Marc Saltet's 1972 museography with seat designed in 1967 by Pierre Paulin

Notes

Louvre Palace Ancien Régime French architecture {{architecture-stub

History

Gallery

See also

Notes