Sous la Restauration - four views of the Louvre by Joseph Warlencourt and Étienne Bouhot

 

Vue de la salle de la Paix au Louvre, by Étienne Bouhot, circa 1820.

The cartouche above the doorway is resplendent with Bourbon fleur de lys, surely a hasty "correction" of the intrusive but temporary Napoleonic "N."

Vue de la salle du Tibre au Louvre, by Joseph Warlencourt, circa 1824-30.

Vue de la rotonde de Mars au Louvre, by Joseph Warlencourt, circa 1820s.

Vue de la salle des Saisons au Louvre, anonymous, 1826.

Numerous depictions of the interior of the Louvre were made around this time, the work of various, mostly forgotten, artists. It seems signatures are in short supply, and the attributions frequently appear to be tenuous. When the artists are so obscure, the presentation so similar, how does one know who painted what? While the first three of these paintings are attributed to Bouhot and Warlencourt, respectively, the fourth is still claimed as "anonymous."

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Joseph Warlencourt (16 January 1784, Bruges - 7 November 1845, Bruges), Belgian painter. A pupil of David, he exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1817 to 1841, specializing in interior views.

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Étienne Bouhot (8 August 1780, Bard-lès-Époisses - 17 July 1862, Semur-en-Auxois), French painter and teacher. He was the director of the École de Dessin in Semur-en-Auxois.