Not surprisingly, the Louvre has the greatest collection of French painting in the world, displayed on the upper floors of both the Richelieu and Sully wings of the museum.

The Baroque age (1600-1700) is the period in which French painting really came into its own producing masters that were, at last, the equal of the great painters of Italy and the Netherlands. Because of France’s geographical situation and its trade with north and south, French art was greatly influenced by both the Italian and Northern Schools, though the Italian school was considered the superior model, particularly after the founding of the French Royal Academy of Art under Louis XIV.

In our tour we will focus on the key French painters of the “Grand Siècle” and explore the stylistic and thematic richness of the period through a sequence of masterpieces by Simon Vouet, Philippe de Champaigne, Nicolas Poussin, Claude Gelée, Georges de La Tour, the Le Nain brothers, Charles Le Brun and more.