PRESS KIT Power Plays Exhibition September 27, 2017 - July 2, 2018 Petite Galerie du Louvre Press Contact Marion Benaiteau [email protected] Tél. + 33 (0)1 40 20 67 10 / + 33 (0)6 88 42 52 62 1 SOMMAIRE Press Release page 3 The Exhibition Layout page 5 Press Visuals page 7 2 Press release Art and Cultural Education September 27, 2017 – July 2, 2018 Petite Galerie du Louvre Power Plays The Petite Galerie exhibition for 2017–2018 focuses on the connection between art and political power. Governing entails self- presentation as a way of affirming authority, legitimacy and prestige. Thus art in the hands of patrons becomes a propaganda tool; but it can also be a vehicle for protest and subverting the established order. Spanning the period from antiquity up to our own time, forty works from the Musée du Louvre, the Musée National du Château de Pau, the Château de Versailles and the Musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris illustrate the evolution of the codes behind the representation of political power. The exhibition is divided into four sections: "Princely Roles": The first room presents the king's functions— priest, builder, warrior/protector—as portrayed through different artistic media. Notable examples are Philippe de Champaigne's Louis XIII, Léonard Limosin's enamel Crucifixion Altarpiece, and the Triad of Osorkon II from ancient Egypt. "Legitimacy through Persuasion": The focus in the second Antoine-François Callet, Louis XVI, 1779, oil on canvas, room is on the emblematic figure of Henri IV, initially a king Musée du Château de Versailles © RMN-Grand Palais in search of legitimacy, then a model for the Bourbon heirs (Château de Versailles) / Christophe Fouin from Louis XVI to the Restoration. Features include sculptures The Petite Galerie of the Louvre has received by Barthélémy Prieur and François-Joseph Bosio, and generous support from the PSA Foundation, the paintings by Frans Pourbus the Younger, Ingres, and others. Handicap & Société par Intégrance fund, and "The Antique Model": The theme of the third room is the Krystyna Campbell-Pretty and family. equestrian statue. The Louvre is home to several remarkable examples, among them the Barberini Ivory leaf, a bronze of Charles the Bald, and François Girardon's Louis XIV. "The Insignia of Power": In the fourth room majestic portraits of monarchs, including Antoine-François Callet's Louis XVI, François Gérard's Napoleon I and Franz-Xaver Winterhalter’s Louis Philippe, are accompanied by the regalia used during the Exhibition curators: Paul Mironneau, Director of the Musée coronation of the kings of France. This final section also highlights National et Domaine du Château de Pau; the dramatic historical and representational changes that came with Jean-Luc Martinez, President-Director of the French Revolution. the Musée du Louvre Project Manager: “By providing keys to the observation and explanation of different Florence Dinet, Musée du Louvre artworks, the Petite Galerie sets out to make the visit to the museum an PRACTICAL INFORMATION enjoyable and enlightening experience” says Jean-Luc Martinez, PRACTICAL INFORMATION president-director of the Musée du Louvre. Informative labels and Opening hours: 9 a.m.—6 p.m. (closed on Tuesday).Opening hours: Late-night 9 a.m. openings:—6 p.m. Wednesday (closed on digital touchscreen displays encourage attention to detail and help to andTuesday). Friday, Late-night until 10 p.m. openings: Wednesday and Friday, until 10 p.m. establish context. In addition, five themed tours of the Louvre's Admission: €15. Free for under-18s and EU permanent collection are proposed: 1) Royal Roles and residentsAdmission: under €15. 26Free for under-18s and EU residents under 26 Representational Codes in the Ancient East, 2) The Pharaoh, 3) The Online ticket sales: www.ticketlouvre.fr FurtherOnline ticket information: sales: www.ticketlouvre.fr www.louvre.fr Powers of the Roman emperor, 4) The Islamic Sovereign, and 5) The Further information: www.louvre.fr/en King as Artist and Patron. #PetiteGalerie #PowerPlaysExhibition Musée du Louvre External Relations Department Press Contact Anne-Laure Béatrix, Director Marion Benaiteau Adel Ziane, Head of Communications Subdepartment [email protected] Sophie Grange, Head of Press Division Tel.: + 33 (0)1 40 20 67 10 / + 33 (0)6 88 42 52 62 3 RELATED WORK And also Théâtre du pouvoir Edited by Jean-Luc Martinez and Florence Dinet François I and the Art of the Netherlands October 18, 2017–January 15, 2018 Co-published by Musée du Louvre Éditions and Éditions du Seuil. Hall Napoléon 152 pages, 150 illustrations, 29€ François I’s taste for Italian art is well known, but his reign was equally marked by a vigorous tradition of Dutch artists settling in France. AT THE AUDITORIUM Become a patron! October 2017–January 2018 A great theatre program awaits you at the Auditorium, in To mark the opening of this exhibition, partnership with the Demodocos theatre company. Plus concerts, a the Louvre will be unveiling the artwork filmed opera and a cinema seriestitled "The Tragedy of Power". for the next Tous mécènes ! donation campaign. This exceptional masterpiece that the Louvre intends to acquire is deeply intertwined with François I and his day, and will be showcased in the François I and Dutch Art exhibition. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Henri IV Receiving the Spanish Ambassador, oil on canvas, 1817, Paris, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris © RMN-Grand Palais,/Agence Bulloz 4 THE EXHIBITION LAYOUT Text of the didactic panels of the exhibition INTRODUCTION The relationships between art and political power have always been varied and complex. Beginning in ancient times the prince used images to ensure he was known and recognised. Royal commissioning of artworks was a stimulus to creativity. Comprising some 40 works, mostly from the Louvre, this exhibition analyses these portrayals of power and teaches us how to look at and understand them. Artists thus played their part in shaping images of the prince – as builder, lawmaker, warrior – that became the inspiration for classical theatre. It was natural, then, to make theatre the guest art form of this new Petite Galerie season. At the end of the exhibition, visitors are invited to follow different viewing itineraries in a personal (re)discovery of what the Louvre has to offer. SALLE 1 - REPRESENTATIONS OF THE PRINCE A central authority appeared in Mesopotamia and Egypt during the 4th millennium BC. Dominating a city-state or a kingdom, the 'prince' used a host of images to ensure that he was known and recognised: he had himself portrayed as a 'builder king', the intermediary between the world of men and the divine world; as a 'deified king' to be associated and identified with a divinity; and as a 'warrior king'. Rome saw the coming of the in forma deorum portrait, representing the emperor and his wife as figures from mythology. Later, European artists adapted this antique model to Christianity and showed the prince as a pious king and protector of the Church whose exemplary character could even lead to sainthood. The Europe of the 16th to the 18th century highlighted the 'warrior king' who gave his subjects peace and prosperity. Artists used all the materials and techniques at their disposal to embody the royal presence through the power of images alone. Philippe de Champaigne, Louis XIII, King of France (reigned 1610-1643), crowned by Victory, oil on canvas, 1635 © musée du Louvre dist. RMN-GP M. Beck-Coppola SALLE 2 - LEGITIMACY THROUGH PERSUASION Henri IV became king of France in 1589 after the assassination of Henri III, the last sovereign of the dynasty of the Valois, who had no male heir. Thus he had to convince his subjects of his legitimacy at a time when the kingdom was racked by the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598) between Protestants and Catholics. Bent on bringing peace, he renounced his Protestant beliefs in order to gain acceptance. Full recognition as king came with his coronation in 1594. Throughout his reign (1589–1610) Henri IV pursued the dissemination of his image in every shape and form, appearing in turn as warrior, hero and ancient divinity. And in having himself shown with his family and heir, the future Louis III, he asserted the birth of the new dynasty of the Bourbons. This image of 'good king Henri' – tolerant, magnanimous, loved by all – was co-opted by Louis XVI in the late 18th century, then under the Restoration (1815–1830), when the Bourbons returned to the throne after the Revolutionary years and the Napoleonic Empire (1789–1815). Barthélemy Prieur, Henri IV, King of France (reigned 1589- 1610), as Jupiter, about 1600- 1610, bronze. Paris, musée du Louvre © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre), Daniel Arnaudet 5 SALLE 3 - THE ANTIQUE MODEL: FROM THE GOOD RULER TO THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE With the Renaissance, the antique model of the good and bad emperor, drawn from the Lives of the Twelve Caesars, written by the historian and biographer Suetonius in the 2nd century BC, became the bible for the education of any sovereign. Its message was that immoderation and an excess of power were a danger to the stability of the state. Literature was a source of inspiration for good governance, but the prestige attributed to antiquity and the greatness associated with the Roman Empire found their culmination in the adoption by 'princes' of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (2nd century AD). The original is now to be found in the Musei Capitolini in Rome. The Byzantine emperor Justinian (527–565), Charlemagne, emperor of the West (800–814) and Louis XIV, king of France (1643–1715) are all examples of an antique A serie of busts of « The Twelve Caesars », semipre- model that lived on in time and space, and of an enduring attachment to cious stones and partly gilded silver, Italy, 18th cen- the figure of the imperator, conquering chief of the Roman army.