Customer Reviews

Paintings in the Louvre

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After visiting the Louvre on two occassions we wanted a good reference book to place on our coffee table. This book is the best on the market! The profusely detailed colored photos throughout are nothing less than superior quality. The history of each painting is explained and a lot of information about the artist, their life, and style is also discussed in great detail. This is NOT a small book. It has proven to be invaluable in researching various art works. If you cannot make a trip to Paris to visit the Louvre in person, this book is mandated. Unfortunately, I bought the book at the Louvre and paid SIGNIFICANTLY more! Don't make the same mistake I did. I can honestly say, this book is a family favorite and I have several.

Unparalleled in its breadth and scope, and unique in the quality of its sumptuous color reproductions, "Paintings In the Louvre" is THE BEST, the most lavish and comprehensive book ever published on the greatest collection of paintings in the world - in the Louvre Museum, in Paris. If you really like beautiful, fine European art, then this oversized, weighty, hard-back book is the book for you! Crisp, clear, beautiful full-color reproductions of more than 800 of the most important paintings that hang in the Louvre, this book is especially wonderful in that a good portion of this book is some of the most striking Christian art in the world....

BTW, if you visit the Louvre, you will need one entire day just to see all of the magnificent paintings (carry a MEDIUM-SMALL rucksack with food and water and take a break(s) outside - at the refreshing and beautiful huge fountains). To see all of the over 300,000 "objects d' art" at the Louvre (with 12 miles of corridors on four massive floors!), then plan on spending a minimum of one-and-a-half to two days there! Bring lots of film, and if you have an automatic zoom camera, be sure to get the relatively new special "zoom" camera film made by ...

ENJOY!

I ordered this book and the very recent volume 1001 Paintings in the Louvre, and have had a hard time choosing my favorite between the volumes, as both have their advantages: this one has a cleaner layout, with fewer paintings to each page and many more instances of paintings filling an entire page, whereas the other book more often has many pictures on a single page, which can seem cluttered. I also like that this book has the entire Marie de Medici series from Rubens, with descriptions of the subject matter of each painting in the cycle, whereas the 1001 Paintings book has only one or two from that series. And I like that it focuses entirely on European paintings, rather than trying to also cover decorative and ancient arts in a single volume, as does the other book.

One downside of this book is that it omits a painting that I quite fell in love with at the Louvre, Ary Scheffer's - "The Ghosts of Paolo and Francesca Appear to Dante and Virgil." Also, being an American, I find this book's descriptions of image sizes in inches to be more immediate and useable than the descriptions in centimeters in the other book, but that's a minor point.

But my main concern is that this book as it arrived had a publication date of 1987, not 1994 as in the Amazon description, and it seemed the pages were beginning to yellow on the edges. Although most of the Louvre's core collection has not changed of course in the last two decades, there have been acquisitions, and so a more recent volume is more likely to be more representative of the collection. Also the images in this book overall seem to have a yellow cast in many instances, whereas the colors in the 1001 Paintings book seemed brighter and more faithful to the images as I remember seeing them in the Louvre a couple of weeks ago.

But this is a gorgeous volume and if you get it at a good price will be well loved in any art collection.

Context: I'm not an academic or a scholar; I'm a regular guy who likes visiting museums when I travel and I wanted to do a little researach before I left. This book worked well for my daughter and I to determine which parts of the museum deserved the most time (on a short trip) and to get a better understanding of the works. I'm not qualified to evaluate it from an academic perspective, but as a layman it was exactly what we needed.

I love this book. The reproductions in my opinion are really stunning and many fill a full page. Often times you really have to concentrate to follow which painting a caption is eluding to - that is my only criticism of this book. It is a fantastic addition to any art lovers collection, and anyone who has been to or will one day visit the Louvre in person. There is not alot of historical detail so do not buy this book thinking it is an art HISTORY book. It is not that although there is VERY VERY minor detailing of periods in art and a discussion of the history of the Louvre itself. This book is a treasure to be had but not a great instructive work. For the high quality reproductions and the pleasure the reader has of viewing the vast and beautiful painting collection of one of the worlds greatest museums I give it the highest praise of five stars. I should just note that my version is newer than this and has the Mona Lisa on the cover. Cheers!

Fantastic book, naturally laden with fascinating history. The photos of the paintings are outstanding. The text is very clear and describes most of the paintings. This is not your typical (display) coffeetable book, but you actually love reading and enjoying this great book.

As a Parisian-born art lover, I have been to the Louvre many times and skimmed through many catalogues and books about its collections. I can reasonably say that this is the most beautiful sum ever published on its paintings collection. The illustrations do justice not only to the masterpieces, but also to more minor works, which other publications seldom show. The text is minimal but lively. It is a heavy item, not easy to bring back home, but it is worth the effort.

The only regret: over the last ten years the museum has acquired some wonderful works, so maybe it is time this book were updated, since it is more than ten years old.

I admire deeply the work put together in this book. I believe it was compiled with integrity to the purpose of relaying the center of some of the world's most exquisite art. First of all it is a massive volume in deep, rich color and when you receive it no matter what price you paid it feels well worth it. On several pages you will see a whole painting and then on the next page an enlarged version of the painting's focal point, a section of the art to show the rich detail. Of course you will lose some detail with any representation of this work. But if you can't make it to the Louvre or have been to the Louvre and would like to bring some of the soul stilling art home I highly recommend this book.

Wonderful, both in its succinct review/descriptions & it's striking colour plates. It has been with me for over ten years & has accompanied my re-location from Los Angeles to Florida. It must be the first book replaced . . .

This book has good quality images of the art in the Louvre, but it has virtually no commentary on the works of art. I visited the Louvre museum in 2010 but didn't have enough time to shop for a book while I was there because I was with a tour group. I bought this book because of the good reviews, hoping to read expert interpretation and commentary on the works such as techniques used by the artists, and what they were trying to convey. There are no comments on the paintings aside from a very few in the narrative at the beginning of each section. Another reviewer mentioned yellowed page edges, but the copy I received from Amazon (1987 edition) had no yellowing. If the lack of commentary is not important to you, don't let the publication date deter you, because it does not detract from the quality of the images.