History
Jean II Le Bon
Jean (John) II (1319 – 1364) painted by Anonymous
We usually visit le Lovure when it opens and join the throng rushing up the stairs into the Demon Wing, past Winged Victory and into the Apollo Salon for a first peek at La Gionconda (aka DaVinci’s Mona Lisa) and the Grand Gallerie of French, Italian and Spanish masterpieces. Before long it is very crowded and congested.
A much overlooked, under-rated and our secret recommendation is on the other side of the courtyard up to the third (3rd) floor of the least crowded Richelieu Wing to the collection of peniture (paintings) which includes Rembrandt, Vermeer and Rubens
At the top of the escalator there, the first painting is of Jean II Le bon (John II the Good)
This is one of the first individual portraits in Europe, one of the oldest in French Art (circa 1350) King John lacks a crown perhaps because he was only the Duke of Normandy at that time.
No King wanted to bear his name they say, because of his difficult reign, defeated by the English, imprisoned in London and forced to renounce his crown
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Kings and Queens
At different venues about Paris we feel inadequate due to our lack of familiarity with French Royalty:
Among the Peiture (Paintings) at Le Louvre, a huge gallery is dedicated to Queen Catherine de Médicis Cycle painted by Peter Paul Rubens
The Scultpures in the Museum of French History at Versailles and the Galerie d’Apollon (Louvre), feature prominent historical figures (most of whom we are unfamiliar with)
At Basillica St. Denis, the Royal Necropolis where French monarchs were traditionally interred, the recumbent tombs poplulate the church with a plethora of figures who we want to know more about.
We have become more familiar with some French Monarchs through their paintings at le Louvre:
400
Pharamond (365 – 430) )
The 1st Frankish King
1200
Philippe Auguste (Philip II) King of France from 1180 to 1223
Built the Louvre Fortress (1200) Middle Ages
Louis IX (1214–70)
or St. Louis
painted by Doménikos Theotokópoulos, dit “El Greco”
1300
Jean (John) II (1319 – 1364)
perhaps the oldest independent portrait painted in France (Anonymous)
Jean le Bon (John II the Good)
House of Valois
Philip VI of France (1293 – 1350) King from 1328 until his death
(called Phillippe VI the Fortunate and Phillippe VI of Valois)
Charles V 1364
Built the Royal Residence of the Louvre 1380
1400
Charles VII (1403 – 1461)
painted by Jean Fouquet
King from 1422 to his death
Charles VII of France was John II of France’s great-grandson.
1500
Francois I (1494-1547)
painted by Jean Clouet
Francis I (reigned 1515–47) Used the Louvre as his Main Residence
Henry II (1519 -1559)
Henry II (reigned 1547–59) Son of Francois
Built the 1st Wing of the Modern Palace
Catherine de’ Medici (1519 -1589)
Catherine de Médici reigned from 1547 until 1559
Built the Tuillerie Garden Palace
Francis II (1544 – 1560)
Francis II (reigned 1559 to 1560)
Charles IX (1550 – 1574)
Charles IX (reigned 1560 to 1574)
Henry III (1551 – 1589)
Henry III (reigned 1574 to 1589)
1600
Henry IV (1572 -1610)
painted as Hercules (vanquishing the Lernaean Hydra) by Toussaint Dubreuil
Henry IV (reigned 1589–1610)
Built the Grande Gallerie (1610) 460 Meters Long
Marie de Medici (1575 -1642)
painted by Peter Paul Rubens
Marie de Médici reigned from 1600 until 1610
Built the Luxenbourg Garden Palace
died of a bout of pleurisy in destitution on 3 July 164
Charles I (of England) (1600 – 1649)
painted by Anthony van Dyck
(we always assumed that this peinture among French kings, was also a king of France)
1700
Louis XIV (1638 -1715) painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud
Developed the Cour Carrie (1715)
During the French Revolution the Louvre was a Seat of Power (Musee Established)
1800
Napoleon I (1769 -1821)
painted by Jacques Louis David
Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814 and again briefly in 1815 during the Hundred Days.
Cour Carousel 1815 and gallery along the northern edge
Napoleon III (1808 -1873) Nephew of Napoleon I
painted by Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin (Versailles, Musée National du Château)
The first President of France (1848 to 1852)
The last French Monarch (1852 to 1870)
Doubled the Size of the Louvre (1870)
1871 Tuilllie Palace Destroyed by Fire
French Heads of State
François Mitterrand (1981-1995)
2019 Paris Itinerary
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