LOUVRE 



3525 



LOVEMAN 



However, by means of its industries, including 

 :he manufacture of lace, starch and chemicals, 

 it. recovered again, and flourished until the 



HOTEL DE VILLE, OR TOWN HALL 

 Passed safely through the German bombard- 

 ment of August, 1914. The building was com- 

 pleted about the year 1450. 



?reat war of 1914 left to its thrifty people only 

 their determined spirit to rise once more, per- 

 haps greater than ever, amid their city's ruins. 



LOUVRE, loo'vr', PALACE OF THE, a group of 

 magnificent buildings in Paris, containing the 

 largest, and perhaps the most famous, collection 

 of paintings in the world. The palace is an 

 enduring memorial of French history, for the 

 original building served as a strong castle in 

 the Middle Ages, a mansion under Charles V 

 and an elegant chateau under Louis XIV. To- 

 day the Louvre is the great art palace of the 

 people of France. Its beginnings date from 

 Philippe Auguste (1180-1223). Francis I, after 

 1541, erected that part of the palace which is 

 now called the Old Louvre, and the buildings 

 have been enlarged and adorned by successive 

 kings, until little trace of the original structures 

 remains. 



The Museum of the Louvre bears testimony 

 to the creative spirit of the French Revolution. 

 It was opened in 1793, but its origin goes 



further back, as the kings of France were wont 

 to use the Louvre as a storehouse for artistic 

 treasures. When Napoleon came into power 

 the pictures taken as the plunder of war from 

 Italy, Germany and the Netherlands were in- 

 stalled in the Louvre. At one time half the 

 masterpieces of Europe were in Paris, and 

 although most of the works were later returned 

 to their owners, many remained in the Louvre 

 and are there now. Since Napoleon's time 

 great paintings have continually been added to 

 the famous collection, for the Louvre is the 

 great national museum of the French nation. 



Its distinction lies in its masterpieces of fa- 

 mous artists. Every school is represented by a 

 wealth of studies from the brushes of its fore- 

 most representatives in art old masters as well 

 as the best of the modern schools. The Louvre 

 also contains a fine collection of drawings and 

 engravings. It is likewise rich in sculptures, 

 including Greek and Roman, medieval and 

 modern. The two greatest art treasures which 

 have come down from antiquity, the sculptured 

 figures Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory 

 of Samothrace, are in the Louvre. Of nearly 



THE LOUVRE 



equal interest are the Egyptian and Asiatic 

 antiquities and numerous antique paintings, 

 vases, bronzes and ornaments. 



Consult Van Dyke's Paris: Critical Notes on 

 the Louvre; Bicknell's Louvre. 



LOVE 'MAN, ROBERT U869- ), an Ameri- 

 can poet, best known for the little poem be- 

 ginning 



It isn't raining rain to me, 

 It's raining daffodils. 



Breathing, as it does, the very spirit of spring, 

 with its "buccaneering bee" and its "wild flow- 

 ers on the hill," it has lent itself readily to 

 musical setting, and has become very popular 

 as a song. Loveman has published several 

 books of poems, most of them very short 



