The Louvre: All the Paintings

An historic publishing event! Endorsed by the Louvre and for the first time ever, every painting from the world's most popular museum is available in one stunning book. All 3,022 paintings on display in the permanent painting collection of the Louvre are presented in full color in this striking, slipcased book.

The Louvre is the world's most visited art museum, with 8.5 million visitors annually, and houses the most celebrated and important paintings of all time. For the first time ever, The Louvre: All the Paintings collects all 3,022 paintings currently on display in the permanent collection in one beautifully curated volume.Organized and divided into the four main painting collections of the museum— the Italian School, the Northern School, the Spanish School, and the French School— the paintings are then presented chronologically by the artist's date of birth.Four hundred of the most iconic and significant paintings are illuminated with 300-word discussions by art historians Anja Grebe and Vincent Pomarède on the key attributes of the work, what to look for when viewing the painting, the artist's inspirations and techniques, biographical information on the artist, the artist's impact on the history of art, and more.

All 3,022 paintings are fully annotated with the name of the painting and artist, the date of the work, the birth and death dates of the artist, the medium that was used, the size of the painting, the Louvre catalog number, and the room in the Louvre in which the painting is found.

The DVD-ROM is easily browsable by artist, date, school, art historical genre, or location in the Louvre. This last feature allows readers to tour the Louvre and its contents room by room, as if they were actually walking through the building.

DVD-ROM System Requirements: DVD-ROM runs on a PC (Windows 2000/XP or later) and MAC (OSX 10.4.8 or later) running the following browser software Internet Explorer 7 or 8; Firefox 3.6 and above; or Safari 5.0 and above.

Since first opening its doors in 1793, the Louvre has become one of the largest and most famous museums in the world and, with 8.3 million visitors per year, it is also the most visited.

Louvre: 400 Masterpieces showcases a selection of works from this great institution, from the most famous — the Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa — to lesser-known gems. With a foreword by the institution's director, Henri Loyrette, the book is organized according to the museum's eight departments: Near Eastern Antiquities; Egyptian Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculptures; Decorative Arts; Paintings; and Prints and Drawings. The ninth and final chapter tells the history of this one time imperial palace as seen through its architecture.

With its appealing format and carefully selected images, many newly photographed, Louvre: 400 Masterpieces is the perfect book for museum visitors, art lovers, and Francophiles.

Vincent Pomaréde has been the General Curator and Director of the Painting Department at the Louvre since 2003. He was previously the Director of the Musée des Beaux-arts de Lyon and the deputy to the director of conservation at the Inspectorate General of Listed and Controlled Museums. He is also the author of numerous books, including most recently Delacroix: Liberty Leading the People (2004), 1001 Paintings of the Louvre (2005), and Corot: Memory of Mortefontaine (2010).

Erich Lessing has been documenting the culture and fine arts of Europe and the Near East for more than fifty years. He is arguably today's leading independent photographer of the arts in the Western World. He created the Erich Lessing Culture and Fine Arts Archive which is an extensive image library featuring over 40,000 high resolution images from over 500 museums and private collections throughout the world, including a thorough coverage of such institutions as: The Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Uffizi in Florence, the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, the Prado in Madrid, and many more. Having worked as a photographer all over the world for more than six decades, he has published more than 40 books with his art photography. He lives in Vienna and travels regularly to Paris and other art capitals of the world.

Anja Grebe teaches Art History at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg/Germany. She is taking part in numerous international research projects and exhibitions and has published extensively on medieval and modern art history. Her most recent publications include a history of book illumination and a biography of Albrecht Dürer. She lives in Erlangen, Germany.

Henri Loyrette has been the President and Director of the Musée du Louvre since April 2001. Prior to his appointment at the Louvre, Loyrette served as Director of the Musée d'Orsay from 1994 to 2001, and Curator at the Musée d'Orsay from 1978 to 1999. With a master's degree in history, Loyrette was a scholar at the French Academy in Rome from 1975 to 1977. A member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts since 1997, Loyrette is also a trustee of the Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Francais and Cité de la Musique.