Treasures of the Louvre

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This programme contains

some strong language.

My name's Andrew Hussey

and I'm the Dean of the University

of London Institute in Paris.

I first came to

the city as a teenager

and I have had a big connection

with it ever since.

Now, I live and work here.

I still love the place

and I'm still fascinated by it.

But these days, I travel

around Paris not just for pleasure,

but also to explore the places that

inspire my writing about the city.

But there's still one trip in

Paris that I always make

with a fair amount of trepidation.

And that's here.

To the Louvre.

As you can see, the Louvre is big,

brooding and vast.

To be honest, I've always been quite

intimidated by this most

massive of museums.

But in this film,

I want to change the way that I,

and maybe you, see it too.

So I want you to come with me

on a tour of this extraordinary

institution,

and to do a little bit of

time-travelling in French history.

On the way, I am going to try

and make sense of a place

that's jam-packed with over 35,000

pieces of art

that you'll find in mile after

mile after mile of galleries.

It's a building that's over 800

years old and bursting with history.

So come with me and see the Louvre

transformed

from a medieval fortress to a royal

palace,

and then to a modern-day museum.

We will look at the great art

of da Vinci,

Rubens,

David

and Gericault.

We will enjoy

the glories of antiquity

and explain why the magnificent

artworks that you can see today

arrived in the museum,

and what they tell us about both

the Louvre and France.

I want to argue that if you know

the secrets of the Louvre,

know its history, know the

glorious art within these walls,

then I think

you can understand France.

The Louvre.

Well, there's lots and

lots and lots and lots of art here.

So, where to begin?

Why not start with one of the oldest

paintings in the museum?

From the 15th century, a work of art

with a gruesome subject.

It will give us our first clue to

the Louvre's long history.

Look at this.

This is a painting called La

Crucifixion du Parlement de Paris.

There's a lot of interesting

stuff going on here.

Here in the foreground, for example,

this bloke with his head

in his hands.

That's Saint Denis, who was

one of the patron saints of Paris.

Saint Denis was martyred

in the third century,

beheaded on the high ground above

the city,

the present-day quartier

of Montmartre.

But his is not the only

image of suffering.

At the centre of the painting

is Christ on the cross.

On one side of him

is the grieving Virgin Mother,

comforted by Mary Magdalene. On

the other, St John the Evangelist.

And this is art with a purpose.

It was deliberately hung in the main

chamber of the Parlement de Paris,

a reminder to lawmakers

to show due humility

in the face of divine justice.

But one other detail provides

an insight into more earthly

matters of bricks and mortar.

This is the best

approximation of what the Louvre

would have looked liked

to medieval Parisians.

What they saw was a fortress,

a citadel of military power.

The medieval Louvre

was built strategically close

to the River Seine,

along the walls

of the medieval city.

A 30-metre tower looked out

to the West and the enemy,

the English, on a border sometimes

only 45 miles away.

The castle dominated

the Parisian skyline,

a very visible, a very deliberate

assertion of French power.

On the outside of today's museum,

there are a few clues to what

lies underneath.

The opening of a well and a cesspit.

Below, there are the thick,

strong walls and tall palisades

that defended the Capetian

and Valois kings of France

from their enemies.

This is the Louvre entresol,

the basement of the museum.

30 years ago, excavations took place

which revealed these walls,

which show just how

forbidding the Louvre was

in its original medieval

incarnation.

Now, there's been a lot of debate

over the meaning of the word

"Louvre".

But I'm going to go with the

old French term, "louver",

which means "fortress"

or "stronghold".

I think that pretty much sums

up the place and its history.

When the Renaissance came

to France in the 16th century,

this military fortress became

a royal palace of great style

and culture.

In the museum today is the portrait

of the man who began

this transformation.

This is Francois I,

King of France,

and the first great

builder of the Louvre.

It was painted around 1530

by the artist Jean Clouet.

It's a portrait of a real

Renaissance man. He is a fighter.

Check out the hand on the sword ever

ready. But he is also a lover...

of culture. And

so it's a picture of refinement.

Check out the tasteful clothes.

He is every inch, as the French

would say, a man "a la mode".

Francois I began the tradition

that French kings should be both

connoisseurs of art

and patrons of artists.

In 1516, he persuaded an elderly

Leonardo da Vinci to leave Italy.

The painting days of the great

genius were over,

but it is thought that he brought

with him...you-know-who.

This painting that millions come

to see today was the first-ever

work of art to enter the French

royal collection.

# Mona Lisa

# Mona Lisa, men have named you... #

Ah, Mona Lisa.

Mona Lisa.

That smile, that smile.

Enigmatic, mysterious,

tender or mocking?

"What is it about that smile?"

I asked the Louvre's curator of

Renaissance art, Vincent Delieuvin.

La probleme que j'ai avec

La Joconde, c'est...

TRANSLATION:
'The problem I have got

with the Mona Lisa

'is that she is such

a big media star.'

THEY SPEAK FRENCH

TRANSLATION:
'What you have to do is

'to try and forget that she

is such a big star

'and really get into the painting.

'Get up close

and love it for what it is,

'and she definitely invites us

to love her.

'It's such an incredible ability

of the painter to portray that

'most difficult and subtle of human

expressions, the smile.

'There are 1,000 ways of interpreting

a smile, and that was the genius

'of Leonardo, to be able to capture

'such a subtle and rich human

expression.

'She is such a flirt.

Of course she's a huge flirt.

'The French like that sort of thing,

'but hey, you're not completely

untouched by her, are you?'

# Mona Liiiii-saaaa. #

What else is there left to

say about this painting?

Only that in the 16th century,

La Joconde, as it's known

in France, was something quite

new in Western art.

TRANSLATION:
'The idea of creating a

sense of contact between the viewer

'and the subject had never

been done before.

'Or the open posture with her hands

turned towards us.

'She's greeting us as if we were

in her palace, in her room, even.

'It's even smiling at us.

'That technique of drawing the viewer

directly into the painting

'was hugely innovative.

'Was all this a new departure for

Western art? Absolutely.'

'How many politicians' portraits have

you seen in the style of La Joconde?

'Everyone uses Leonardo's style,

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