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 19th Century French Paintings in the Louvre Museum

This 19th-century French painting tour is the last one in our Louvre French painting series. In fact, the tour would be better called "the first half of 19th-century French painting", as for the second half of the 19th century you will have to change museums and follow our Musée d'Orsay private guided tour.

Your Private Tour Guide in the Louvre

What's in the Tour?

The Tour Masterpieces

Psyche Receiving Cupid's First Kiss & Portrait of Empress Marie-Louise by François Gérard; Portrait of Madeleine by Marie-Guillemine Benoist; The Valpinçon Bather by Ingres; Naked Young Man Sitting by the Sea by Hippolyte Flandrin; The Derby at Epsom by Géricault; Orphan Girl at the Cemetery by Delacroix; The Death of Géricault by Ary Scheffer; The Toilette of Esther & Venus of the Sea by Théodore Chassériau; Lost Illusions by Charles Gleyre.

Other carefully selected masterpieces to better explain the historical context and artistic evolution of the first half of the 19th century. 

Warning

We don't go to the crowded Denon Wing, home to the world-famous huge 19th-century French paintings such as "La Liberté guidant le peuple," "The Raft of the Medusa," or "The Coronation of Napoleon," but to the much quieter rooms dedicated to French painting in the Sully Wing.

Why 19th-Century French Painting in the Louvre?

There are a few versions of the odalisque by Ingres. Looking at these masterpieces, one question arises: was Ingres really academic?

Content of the Tour

Le Salon de Peinture

• What it was
• How to be admitted
• Where it was organized
• The Prix de Rome

Oil Sketches and Studies

Such as "The Raft of the Medusa" by Géricault, "The Death of Sardanapalus" & "The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople" by Delacroix, "Aeneas and Dido" by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, etc.

Technical Considerations

How uncontrolled innovations in color pigments badly affected some paintings, and much more.

A Few Glimpses of the Tour

The Nice and Sad Story of Achille Etna Michallon

It is a rare honor for a 19th-century painter to have his works shown in the Louvre, and even fewer have the extraordinary honor of the Salle Mollien in the Denon Wing, home to the most famous paintings of the period. Michallon is one of them: two of his paintings are shown alongside Géricault's "Radeau de la Méduse" and Delacroix's "La Liberté guidant le peuple". Michallon's fame is smaller than it should have been, not because of his lack of talent, but because of his lack of time.

In 1808, a rich Russian prince, Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov, so admired a painting by Michallon in David's studio (Michallon was one of David's pupils) that he called him the « petit Poussin » (in reference to Nicolas Poussin) and decided to pay him a pension. In 1817, Michallon was the first winner of the Prix de Rome for historical landscape painting. He opened his own studio in 1820 and started to take pupils, among them Jean-Baptiste Corot, who was three months older than him. But Michallon died two years later of pneumonia; he was only 25. Corot is considered the founder of the Barbizon School; Michallon is its unlucky precursor.

  Lost Illusions (Le Soir) by Charles Gleyre. Credit: Fonds Françoise Foliot - CC BY-SA 4.0

Don't miss the opportunity to follow our Louvre 19th-Century French Painting Private Tour

Short of Time for the Full Cycle? Try the Crash Course

Just request the date, time, and number of people you want for your Louvre tour on our calendar, then follow the 3 steps below for an easy online process.

Nota bene: Step (1) free pre-booking is lost if no step (2) payment is received after 48 hours.