The two “salles rouges” that today house the masterpieces of French paining of the Revolutionary and post-revolutionary eras (1785-1840) were built in 1863 under Napoleon III as part of his vast expansion of the museum and the Tuileries palace. Their sumptuous, gilded décor and Napoleonic eagles reflect the pretensions to glory and the decorative taste of the French Second Empire.

The largest and most celebrated French paintings of this transitional era are housed here, in a sequence that provides the visitor of the Louvre with the best visual illustration of French history of the early modern age. Our virtual tour will examine the masterpieces of the Neoclassical and Romantic Schools that dominate the era: Among them are David’s Oath of the Horatii, Coronation of Napoleon and Portrait of Juliette Recamier, Ingres’ Great Odalisque and Girodet’s Deluge. The Romantic school is represented by Gros’ Napoleon in Jaffa, Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa and Delacroix’s Massacres of Scio and Liberty Leading the People, among other great works.

We will see how each of these paintings reveal key aspects of French politics, society and style and how they provide an altogether marvelous voyage though one of the most exciting periods of French history.