title: The Louvre: European Sculpture
author: Jean-Rene Gaborit
description: THE OPENING OF THE GRAND LOUVRE IN 1993 HAS ALLOWED THE DISCOVERY OF THE EXCEPTIONAL RICHES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SCULPTURE OF THE LOUVRE MUSEUM, WHICH POSSESSES PIECES FROM ALL OVER EUROPE, FROM THE EARLY, MIDDLE AGES TO THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, AND WHICH ARE REFLECTED HERE IN THIS BOOK.
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  ##### www.blackmask.com
  
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  Pierre Grassou  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com
  
  
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  # Pierre Grassou
  
  
  ### Honore de Balzac
  
  
  ##### Translated By Katharine Prescott Wormeley
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  DEDICATION
  
  
  
  
  
  To the Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery, Periollas,
  
  
  
  
  
  As a Testimony of the Affectionate Esteem of the Author,
  
  
  
  
  
  De Balzac
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Whenever you have gone to take a serious look at the exhibition of
  
  
  works of sculpture and painting, such as it has been since the
  
  
  revolution of 1830, have you not been seized by a sense of uneasiness,
  
  
  weariness, sadness, at the sight of those long and over-crowded
  
  
  galleries? Since 1830, the true Salon no longer exists. The Louvre has
  
  
  again been taken by assault,--this time by a populace of artists who
  
  
  have maintained themselves in it.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In other days, when the Salon presented only the choicest works of
  
  
  art, it conferred the highest honor on the creations there exhibited.
  
  
  Amon