10.7.13

86 statues


During important restoration and enlargement of the Louvre during the 19th century it was decided to decorate the facades of the « Cour Napoléon » by 86 statues of “hommes illustres” (not a single woman!) Here they are! I don’t know who made the selection. There are a number of statesmen, some religious, very few military, but a large number of authors, painters, sculptors, architects… which of course is normal for a building, dedicated to the arts. 

During my absence, I thought that some of you might wish to learn something related basically to French history and art, so I made links to the biographies. (I learnt a lot while preparing this post!) 













Nicolas de Condorcet, Pierre Corneille, Jean Cousin, Nicolas Coustou, Antoine Coysevox, Henri François d’Aguesseau, Charles de Brosse, Philippe de Champagne





























6 comments:

Jeanie said...

Peter, I think you could print them off into playing cards-- or trading cards! Collect them all! As always, your photography is beautiful -- and I'm so glad you shared these. I'm embarrassed at how many names I don't know!

Amanda said...

I agree with Jeanie! Thank you to always enlightening us Peter!

martinealison said...

Non, non ! Je ne suis pas parmi toutes ces merveilles !...
Gros bisous

Anonymous said...

So glad to see among those statues the ones belonging to two sublime artists: The poet and the architect.
Their masterpieces, La Jeune Captive and the Pavillon du Butard still leave me speechless...
Thanks for this, Peter!
Maria

Shionge said...

OMG!! OMG!!! So neat and cool .....all the names :D Thank you .

ELFI said...

un véritable recensement! beau travail!