The Origin of the Idea of Creating the Louvre Museum : Foundation of the Royal Gallery of the Luxembourg Palace and its Function (1747-1750)

ルーヴル ビジュツカン コウソウ ノ ホウガ : リュクサンブールキュウ ギャラリー ノ カイセツ ト ソノ キノウ １７４７ - １７５０ネン

This paper examines the establishment of the Galerie royale au Palais du Luxembourg (Royal Gallery of the Luxembourg Palace), which foreshadowed the Musee du Louvre (Louvre Museum) planned during the reign of Louis XVI (1774-1792). Opened in October 1750, the Luxembourg Gallery is signifi cant for being the fi rst public exhibition of the royal art collection in France. In this paper, the author begins by examining the background and content of the proposals for the creation of a royal art gallery put forth by the art lovers Bachaumont (1690-1771) and La Font de Saint-Yenne (1688-1771), as well as the impact these proposals had on their contemporaries. Subsequently, this paper traces how these proposals led to the realization of an art gallery in the Luxembourg Palace, and provides an explanation of the works which were displayed there. Furthermore, the paper focuses on analyzing the political signifi cance of the Salle du Trone (Throne Room) of this gallery, in which are hung French paintings mainly from the 17th century, with the purpose of showing the important role which the gallery played in developing royal policies for the arts. By means of these examinations, the author reveals that Lenormand de Tournehem, who served as Director-general of the Royal Buildings from 1745 to 1751, balanced the opinions of art lovers like La Font de Saint-Yenne on the one hand with the revival of the classical tradition of historical paintings on the other, in order to establish the predominance of the "French school" of painting. Although this attempt did not have an immediate effect, Tournehem demonstrated the idea of employing the display of art as a device to communicate to the public the political intentions of the government. These were the very same principles inherited by d’Angiviller, Director-general of the Royal Buildings from 1774 to 1791, who promoted the Louvre Museum project.