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This book is the product of a remarkable collaboration between historians, art historians, curators, architects, scholars, scientists, and restorers. For the first time, they tell the full tale of the Apollo Gallery in the Louvre from its ambitious design in the seventeenth century to its dazzling restoration today. Featuring texts by forty contributors, illustrated by remarkable photographs of the paintings, sculpture, woodwork, and furnishings, this volume traces the history of a complex decorative scheme and reveals the artistic and technical stakes behind a vast restoration project.
The Apollo Gallery is located at the very heart of what was once a palace - now the world-famous museum - and has always been one of the most glamorous halls in Europe, comparable to the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. It notably serves as a showcase for France's crown jewels.
Its lavish decoration provides a true panorama of the history of French art. The country's greatest artists, from Charles Lebrun in the seventeenth century to Eugène Delacroix in the nineteenth, succeeded one another in adding their personal touch to this stately gallery, now brought back to life by the Musée du Louvre.
