Art, culture & history images

Prior to 1824, the Louvre's sculpture collection consisted of just 100 works. During the 19th century, the museum initiated a large programme to assemble a world-class collection. By 1900, with the help of an influential curator, Louis Courajod, the Louvre had amassed around 900 pieces. Today, this amazing collection spreads across the Denon and Richelieu wings of the massive 60,000 square foot museum, with many Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities and more still not on public view. Some of the masterpieces in this collection are: Michelangelo's Slaves, the universally admired Greek sculptures, Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Antonio Canova's romantic Psyche Revived by the Kiss of Cupid.

French sculpture from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries is particularly well represented. Mercury Attaching His Wings  by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle and Antoine Coysevox and Guillaume Coustou's equestrian statues known collectively as 'The Marly Horses'  (below) exemplify the French mastery of marble.

Bridgeman represents a beautiful collection of artfully-lit photographs of  Louvre sculptures by B. de Sollier and Paule Muxel. The photographs span the museum's collection from ancient Egypt up to the 19th century, including some works which are not on public view and are housed in the reserve collection in the Pavillon de Flore. If you can't hop on a train to Paris, let Bridgeman take you on a private tour through centuries of Louvre sculpture. 

See the full collection by B. de Sollier and Paule Muxel

More Louvre sculpture in the Bridgeman archive