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Technical details
72 color pages, 26.5 x 28 cm
Publication date
2009ISBN French978-2-75480-095-2
French only
Co-publisher(s)
Futuropolis
The publication of this fourth album co-published by the Musée du Louvre and Futuropolis Editions is an event in itself! But in addition to the juxtaposition of two great names, Le Ciel au-dessus du Louvre is essentially a new take on the French Revolution, from the perspective of representations of the movement.
August 1793.
The Louvre-the nation's first museum-has just been inaugurated. Its purpose is to show works relating to the Revolution, and the "official" painters of the period are therefore invited to set up their studios within the museum's walls. Their aim is to develop a bold and innovative technique that will strongly contrast with the art of the Ancien Régime (symbolized by Fragonard). History must be shown to be on the march. Jacques-Louis David, a foremost political figure during the Revolution, would like to head the group, but Girodet has stolen his limelight. The latter is an influential figure who will launch his own, artistic, revolution.
At the request of his friend Robespierre, David endeavors to paint the most challenging work of his entire career: a representation of the Supreme Being-a sort of incarnation of the spiritual aspiration that Robespierre seeks to impose during the Reign of Terror. An impossible task that the painter never fulfills... and the subject of twenty brief tableaux presenting the exchanges between two major players in the Revolution.
A book about an unfinished painting that encompasses all the themes and debates of the French Revolution. A new and original perspective on a historical event, with a touch of angels' wings... plunging readers into Revolutionary issues that still await solutions.