THOSE who wish to make a thorough, comprehensive, and systematic study of the pictures of the great national collection contained in the Louvre, which extend from the early years of the fourteenth century down to almost the present day, will be well advised to deal with the artists by the countries, schools, and periods to which they belong. That is the scheme which we have followed here.

We do not hesitate to refer to painters, especially those of the Italian schools, under the names by which they are generally known to modern critics, as opposed to those under which they are officially catalogued by the Louvre authorities. Thus, Raphael, Titian, and Giulio Romano, and not Santi, Vecelli, and Pippi, are the names which we shall use in this book. Special attention is drawn to the fact that the official attributions of a certain number of the pictures, mainly of the Italian schools, and notably several by Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Titian, are not accepted by us.

The authors of any critical book on a large national collection which includes several hundred Italian paintings of varying importance must of necessity be under heavy obligations to Mr. Berenson, whose scholarly, scientific, and constructive criticism, following on that of Morelli, has entirely revolutionised the study of Italian art.

It will be noticed that in many instances the dates used in these pages do not coincide with those given in the official Catalogues and repeated in a large number of text-books, while in a few cases it has been thought desirable to draw the attention of the student to the questionable accuracy of some of the titles and “pedigrees.”

The illustrations which have been selected represent, as far as possible, the whole range of the art of each country and school comprised within the limits of the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The Plates are arranged in the order in which reference is made to them in the text, but it has been found impossible to place them opposite the pages on which the critical remarks are given.

In the descriptions of the pictures the terms right and left are used in reference to the right and left of the spectator, unless the text obviously implies the contrary. Moreover, in the titles of pictures containing the Madonna and several Saints, the names of the Saints are given in the order they occupy in the composition regarded from left to right. The titles we have used are descriptive rather than mere translations of those contained in the official Catalogue. The official numbers are those marked in large figures and placed at the top of the frames; the numbers in small figures affixed to the bottom left corner of some of the frames are obsolete.

The surface measures of the pictures are for convenience given in feet and inches as well as in metres, the height preceding the width. The technical conditions as to panel or canvas and tempera or oil are also noted.

Most of the Rooms containing pictures are open:—

1. On Sundays all the year round, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
2. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from April 1 to September 30, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
3. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from October 1 to March 31, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
4. On Thursdays in the Summer Months, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and in the Winter Months, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
5. Rooms IX.–XIII., which contain French pictures and Rooms XIX.–XXXV., which contain Flemish and Dutch pictures are not open before eleven o’clock.
6. The Louvre is closed on Mondays all the year round, and on January 1, July 14, and Ascension Day; it is also closed on the Feast of the Assumption (August 15), All Saints Day (November 1), and Christmas Day, unless these last three days fall on a Sunday.