Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria

142
Robert LEFÈVRE
French 1755–1830
Dominique-Vivant, Baron Denon,
known as Vivant Denon (1747–1825),
Director General of the Imperial Museums,
shown holding an album of engravings
by Jean Pesne after the work of
Nicolas Poussin
Dominique-Vivant, baron Denon,
dit Vivant Denon (1747–1825),
Directeur Général des musées Impériaux,
représenté en 1808, feuilletant un album de
gravures de Jean Pesne d’après l’oeuvre de
Nicolas Poussin
1808
oil on canvas
Versailles, musée national du château MV1692
At the Musée Napoléon, Vivant Denon
pioneered many important museological
approaches including hanging the collection
according to a coherent art-historical
construct of stylistic development. At the time
it could be said that the Musée Napoléon
led the world, with visitors relishing the
opportunity to experience in Paris a
‘condensed’ Grand Tour. Napoleon’s defeat
at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 inevitably
meant the demise of the Musée Napoléon,
with the allied powers approving the return
of the majority of its looted works of art to
their countries of origin.
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