Containing the greatest collection of Old Master paintings and antique sculpture ever assembled under one roof, the Louvre, founded in the final years of the Enlightenment, became the model for all state art museums subsequently established. This book chronicles the formation of this great museum, from its origins in the French royal picture collections to its apotheosis during the Revolution and Napoleonic Empire.

More than a narrative history, Andrew McClellan's account explores the ideological underpinnings, pedagogic aims, and aesthetic criteria of the Louvre, as well as its contemporary, the Museum of French Monuments, which in complementary ways laid the foundation for the modern museum. Here, central and abiding questions of museum practice - arrangement of art works, lighting, restoration and conservation, public education and service to the state - were first defined and given visual expression

1. Drawing on much new archival material, this book also casts new light on the art world of eighteenth century Paris and its most colorful characters, from Roger de Piles and La Font de Saint-Yenne to Jacques-Louis David and Alexandre Lenoir.