Masterpieces of the Renaissance from the Musée du Louvre

The National Art Center, Tokyo · Special Exhibition Gallery 1E · Tokyo · –

The National Art Center’s list numbers 56 works in four chapters, on travel, technique, antiquity and portraiture, with no display changes listed. Ten highlights run from the governor of Damascus receiving Venetian envoys and Dürer’s Rhinoceros, by way of the two portraits called La Belle Ferronnière, to Leonardo’s Portrait of a Woman, shown in Japan for the first time.

In-depth audio guide

Features: Louvre Renaissance: four paths through a world in motion

Plan your visit

Opening hours
10:00–18:00 Until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays; last admission 30 minutes before closing (17:30, or 19:30 on Fridays and Saturdays).
Closed
Tuesdays (open Sep 22, Nov 3 and Dec 8); also closed Wednesday Nov 4.
Closed during the exhibition
, , , , , , , , , ,
Admission
  • Adult ¥2,400
  • University student ¥1,400
  • High-school student ¥1,000
Reservation
Advance sales ended on Sep 8. Advance and same-day tickets are valid until Dec 6; same-day tickets are sold online (asoview! and others) and at the NACT ticket counter. From Dec 7 to 13 a date-and-time ticket is required; details will be announced on the official exhibition website and social media. Free for junior-high students and younger, and for holders of a disability certificate with one companion; free for high-school students with ID Oct 1–14. NACT Campus Members pay JPY 1,200 (students) or JPY 2,200 (faculty and staff). JPY 100 off with a ticket or stub from another current exhibition at NACT, the Suntory Museum of Art or the Mori Art Museum.

Information verified · Check the official site for same-day updates

Works (10)

  1. 1. The Reception of the Venetian Ambassadors in Damascus Venetian painter · Oil on canvas · Circa 1511 · Paris, Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings (INV. 100) — The journey begins with an audience: the governor of Damascus receives the Venetian envoys at his palace gate.
  2. 4. The Rhinoceros Albrecht Dürer (Nuremberg, 1471 – Nuremberg, 1528) · Woodcut · First edition of 1515 · Paris, Musée du Louvre, Department of Prints and Drawings, Edmond de Rothschild collection (inv. 698 LR) — Dürer never saw this rhinoceros, yet for two centuries afterwards many artists drew the animal from his print.
  3. 19. The Judgment of Paris Marcantonio Raimondi (Sant’Andrea, circa 1480 – Bologna, circa 1534), after Raffaello Sanzio, known as Raphael (Urbino, 1483 – Rome, 1520) · Engraving (burin) · Circa 1513–1518 · Paris, Musée du Louvre, Department of Prints and Drawings, Edmond de Rothschild collection (inv. 4167 LR) — Raphael’s own design is lost; this engraving has carried it for five hundred years.
  4. 21. Oval basin decorated with “rustiques figulines” France, probably Paris · Glazed earthenware · 1600–1650 · Paris, Musée du Louvre, Department of Decorative Arts (R 231) — The snake and small creatures on this basin were made by a technique that took moulds from real animals and plants.
  5. 31. The Virgin and Child surrounded by Five Angels Alessandro di Mariano di Sandro Filipepi, known as Sandro Botticelli (Florence, circa 1445 – Florence, 1510) · Tempera on wood (poplar) · Circa 1470 · Paris, Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings (M.I. 478) — The Virgin sits on the ground, and beneath the drapery you can make out the body.
  6. 34. The Three Graces Lucas Cranach the Elder (Kronach, 1472 – Weimar, 1553) · Oil on panel (beech) · 1531 · Paris, Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings (R.F. 2011-1) — The Grace in the middle has turned around, and she is looking at you.
  7. 49. Portrait of Francis I of France Tiziano Vecellio, known as Titian (Pieve di Cadore, 1488/1490 – Venice, 1576) · Oil on canvas · Circa 1538 · Paris, Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings (INV. 753) — Titian never had the king sit for this: the profile is borrowed from a medal.
  8. 51. Portrait of a woman, known as La Belle Ferronnière Lombard painter · Oil on panel (walnut) · Circa 1500–1512 · Paris, Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings (INV. 786) — The first painting to be called La Belle Ferronnière was, in fact, this one.
  9. 52. Beatrice d’Este Gian Cristoforo Ganti, known as Gian Cristoforo Romano (Rome?, circa 1465 – Loreto, 1512) · Marble · Circa 1490–1491 · Paris, Musée du Louvre, Department of Sculptures (ML 10) — A marble portrait of a fifteen-year-old bride; the band across her forehead also appears in Leonardo’s painting.
  10. 56. Portrait of a Woman, incorrectly known as La Belle Ferronnière Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci, 1452 – Amboise, 1519) · Oil on panel (walnut) · Circa 1490–1497 · Paris, Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings (INV. 778) — She seems to be looking at you, and also somewhere behind you.

Official website

Sources for this page

More at this museum

On now and opening soon in Tokyo