Italian Renaissance Painting in the Louvre
Italian Painting in the Louvre? The Louvre owns the biggest Italian Renaissance painting collection outside Italy, including the world's biggest da Vinci painting collection. Our Louvre Italian Renaissance painting tour is an in-depth review of the field, from its origins in ancient Roman and Greek sculpture to its end with the beginning of the Baroque.
💡 Looking for all Louvre tour options? See our complete Louvre Tours guide with highlights tours, themed tours, and evening tours.
Crucifixion by Andrea Mantegna, from the predella of the San Zeno Altarpiece, Verona.
Louvre Italian Renaissance Painting Tour in a Nutshell
From €219 for 1 to 2 people + €30 per extra person.
- Guided tour in English
- Genuine private tour = your party only (up to 6 persons)
- Postgraduate (MPhil) certified French national guide
- Not available on Tuesdays, nor on January 1st, May 1st & December 25th
- Best booked as an evening tour (Wednesday or Friday)
Price does not include Louvre special tour tickets (€ 28 for people over 18, free under 18) and mandatory € 20 "right to speak" Louvre fees.
We will purchase both for you, as you can't buy them yourself.
Tickets you can purchase online yourself are not tour compatible. See our clarification about these misleadingly named skip-the-line tickets.
KNOW MORE / BOOK NOW
Your Private Tour Guide in the Louvre
Certified French national guide
BA, Magna Cum Laude, Heritage Development & Preservation
from Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers (Grande Ecole established in 1794)
Postgraduate from Paris Dauphine-PSL University
Notions of the Tour: Influences
Flanders
Counter-Reformation
Plato
Ancient Rome
Byzantium
Notions of the Tour: Debates
Crafts
Colorito
Arts
Paragone
Disegno
Notions of the Tour: Arts & Techniques
Canvas
Fresco
Realism
Naturalism
Sfumato
Tempera
Oil Painting
Portraits
Wood Panel
Chiaroscuro
Tenebrism
Mannerism
Locus amoenus
Serpentina
Morbidezza
Warning About the Crowded Galleries of the Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance paintings are in the Grande Galerie (the Grand Gallery) and the Salle des États (where the Mona Lisa is); these rooms are the most crowded parts of the Louvre Museum (which is the most visited museum in the world). We therefore strongly advise you against booking this tour during high season or peak hours.
To make the most of your Louvre Italian Renaissance Tour, you had better book it as an evening tour on Wednesday or Friday night, ideally during the low season. You can do so on this page: select the corresponding Wednesday or Friday evening schedule in the booking calendar. Our dedicated page describes the advantages of a private Louvre evening tour in more detail.
Organization & Content of the Tour
The following sections are just to give you an idea of the tour. Its exact content varies each time depending on the circumstances and the public. The works of art which are mentioned are usually shown during the tour but may change.
The tour is organized in eight parts.
- Ancient Rome and Greece sculptures.
- The early stirrings and beginning of the Italian Renaissance.
- Plato and the Return of the Men.
- Renaissance.
- High Renaissance.
- Mannerism and Late Renaissance.
- Baroque.
- Mona Lisa (Salle des États).
Sandro Botticelli - A Young Man Being Introduced to the Seven Liberal Arts. Having their artistic works recognized on the same level as Plato's Seven Liberal Arts was a major claim of Italian Renaissance artists.
1. Ancient Rome and Greece Sculptures
The rediscovery of the ancient Roman and Greek sculptures was one of the main driving forces of the Italian Renaissance.
The tour starts with Polykleitos, who, in Classical-period Greece, defined the rules for idealizing the male body in sculpture, and then continues with Praxiteles, who, at the end of the Classical Period, had a comparable impact on the representation of the female body.
Our route typically also passes two famous Hellenistic masterpieces: the Venus de Milo and the Nike of Samothrace.
Also, see our blog post: Story of the Venus de Milo.
Vénus de Milo. Credit Jean Carlo Emer Unsplash.
2. The Early Stirrings and Beginning of the Italian Renaissance
How Italy, step by step, abandoned the static Italo-Byzantine representations of God on the road toward humanism and naturalism.
Examples of masterpieces
- St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata by Giotto (c. 1295-1300).
- The Maestà by Cimabue (c.1288-1292).
3. Plato and the Return of the Men against Dominican Conservatism
Neoplatonism as a base for the Italian Renaissance
- Madonna and Child with St Fredianus and St Augustine by Fra Filippo Lippi (1438)
- The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello (c. 1435–1460)
Dominican conservatism: painting in the service of faith
- The Coronation of the Virgin by Fra Angelico (c. 1434–1435)
Paolo Uccello, The Battle of San Romano. An amazing work of kinetic art.
The Coronation of the Virgin by Fra Angelico. Despite his conservatism, Fra Angelico is considered one of the first to abandon the gold ground style and develop naturalistic backgrounds.
Madonna and Child by Alesso Baldovinetti, the master of Ghirlandaio.
4. Renaissance
The plenitude of Italian art: how the Quattrocento paves the way for the genius of the High Renaissance.
Examples of masterpieces
- Madonna and Child with the Young St. John the Baptist by Sandro Botticelli (c.1470-1475).
- A Young Man Being Introduced to the Seven Liberal Arts by Sandro Botticelli (c. 1483-1486).
- St. Sebastian by Mantegna (c.1480).
- An Old Man and his Grandson by Domenico Ghirlandaio (c. 1490).
- Portrait of a Man Called Condottiere by Antonello da Messina.
- Christ Blessing by Giovanni Bellini (1465).
- Saint Sebastian by Pietro Perugino (c. 1495).
- Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta by Piero della Francesca.
An Old Man and His Grandson by Domenico Ghirlandaio before its 1996 restoration. According to art historian Bernard Berenson, "There is no more human picture in the entire range of Quattrocento painting, whether in or out of Italy."
Sandro Botticelli - A Young Man Being Introduced to the Seven Liberal Arts, Louvre.
5. High Renaissance
Examples of masterpieces
- The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne by Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1501-1519).
- Saint John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci (1513-1516).
- La Belle Jardinière by Raphael (1505-1508).
- Self-Portrait with a Friend by Raphael (1518-1520).
- The Pastoral Concert attributed to Titian and/or Giorgione (c. 1509).
- Woman with a Mirror by Titian (c. 1515).
- Man with a Glove by Titian (c. 1520).
La Belle Jardinière, oil on panel by Raphael (finished by Ghirlandaio's son Ridolfo).
Saint John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci.
Focus on the "Pastoral Concert"
The painting is famous not only because of the debate about its attribution to Titian or Giorgione (the legendary first High Renaissance Venetian painter) but also because centuries later, Édouard Manet drew on this work to create his very transgressive Luncheon on the Grass painting (Orsay Museum).
Nowadays, the Pastoral Concert is attributed to Titian but was previously attributed to Giorgione. This High Renaissance work is located in the Salle des États, like all the Venetian paintings; the room is worth much more than a long line for a selfie in front of the Mona Lisa (which also hangs in the Salle des États).
Also see our blog post: Discover Da Vinci Paintings in the Louvre: A Renaissance Masterpiece Journey.
Also, see our blog post: Raphael paintings in the Louvre.
6. Mannerism and Late Renaissance
Mannerism: how the successors of the High Renaissance geniuses (Raphael, Michelangelo, da Vinci) tried to find their way.
- Paolo Veronese, The Wedding at Cana (first miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John)
- Daniele da Volterra, David and Goliath (Book of Samuel), (c.1550).
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Four Seasons, (1573).
- Orazio Samacchini, Mercury Orders Aeneas to Abandon Dido, (c. 1570).
- Giorgio Vasari, The Annunciation, (1567).
- Rosso Fiorentino, Pietà, (c.1537-1540).
- Parmigianino, Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, (c.1529).
- Antonio da Correggio, Marriage of Saint Catherine with Saint Sebastian.
Correggio, Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine with Saint Sebastian. Correggio was first a High Renaissance painter before his Mannerism led him to proto-Baroque works.
7. Baroque
A break with Mannerism: The Fortune Teller by Caravaggio, (c. 1594).
The Catholic Counter-Reformation in art: Resurrection by Annibale Carracci (1593).
Naturalism & Tenebrism: The Death of the Virgin by Caravaggio, (1606).
The Roman base of French Baroque: Nicolas Poussin.
Also, see our blog post about Michelangelo Caravaggio in the Louvre.
Also, see our 17th century Louvre Painting Tour.
The Fortune Teller by Caravaggio. This groundbreaking work is a milestone in art history.
8. Mona Lisa (Salle des États)
The Salle des États is the most famous and always the most crowded room in the Louvre, as it is where the Mona Lisa is displayed.
We don't comment on the Mona Lisa, as the Louvre forbids it (too many people). There is often a long, unpleasant line to see the Mona Lisa. But if you want a closer look, you can join the line right after the tour, which ends there.
If you follow the Italian Renaissance tour as an evening tour (Wednesday evening or Friday evening), which is highly recommended, you may be lucky enough to find a shorter or even tiny line.
Mona Lisa, da Vinci.
Things to Know Before Booking
Louvre Museum Tickets Fare
Price does not include Louvre special tour tickets (€ 28 for people over 18, free under 18) and mandatory € 20 "right to speak" Louvre fees.
We will purchase both for you, as you can't buy them yourself.
Louvre tours are not compatible with the tickets you can buy yourself online!
Restrictions
- Private tour means a tour for you & your party only, not that the museum is privatized.
- Tour duration & content are purely indicative; they may vary due to contingencies.
- In case of unexpectedly closed galleries, you accept that a tour content substitution will apply.
- Prices do not include transportation, food, drinks, or any other extra services.
Attention Points for the Louvre
- Check the Louvre's gallery closures schedule before planning your visit.
- Tours are on foot in the Louvre's huge galleries, so good health & comfortable shoes are mandatory.
- Photos are authorized but without flash. Selfie sticks are not allowed.
- WARNING: In case of free ticket, the corresponding proof is mandatory!
Meeting Point
Outside the museum, close to the Louvre Pyramid (detail during booking)
Access: Metro Line 1 or 7 station Palais-Royal - Musée du Louvre
Book your Louvre Private Tour
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.
(1) Receive our OK email (48h free pre-booking)
(2) Pay your tour, via the payment link in our email
(3) Receive our
confirmation (email)
(4) We buy the louvre tickets for you. If we don't get them (very rare case) you are fully refund!
Nota bene: Step (1) free pre-booking is lost if no step (2) payment is received after 48 hours.
Louvre Italian Painting Private Tour (2 hours)
Meeting Point OUTSIDE the Museum- For 1 to 2 people + €30 for any extra person
- A group of up to 6 people, exclusively yours
- Ticket and right-to-speak costs will be added to the price.
Death of the Virgin by Caravaggio.
Unless otherwise noted, images are from The Yorck Project (2002), some with modifications. GFDL