View of the Louvre, with the Grande Galerie and the Pavillon de Flore

This painting, and the one installed to the right, first appeared in a public sale in February 1875 as a “decorative panel.” During the nineteenth century, the term “decoration” described works of the grandest scale and ambition, such as these magnificent views of Paris. Dominating the background of this composition is the Louvre’s Pavillon de Flore, before it was redesigned in the late 1870s. Harpignies captured the Pavillon’s gently waving curtains with heavy swathes of pink paint and the naturalism of the trees and plants in the foreground with loose, free brush strokes.

Image Caption

Henri-Joseph Harpignies, View of the Louvre, with the Grande Galerie and the Pavillon de Flore, c. 1870, Oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, Acquired by the Clark, 2018.10.1