Since 1995, Fimalac has made a long-term Sponsorship Agreement
with the Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities in the Louvre Museum.

Reopening of the
"Salle du Manège"
June 2004

On show :

In 2004, Fimalac is carrying on its supporting the re-arrangement of the “Salle du Manège” re-opened to the public on the 25th of june 2004.
(Permanent collections)

© Etienne Revault / Musée du Louvre

The re-arrangement of the “Salle du Manège” is one of the major achievement of the “Grand Louvre”. It exibits, in this historical space built under Napoleon the Third for equestrians shows, a new display of works of art to highlight the taste for antiquity that was prevalent in the French and Italian collectors of the 17th and 18th centuries (Richelieu, Mazarin, Scipion and Marcantonio Borghèse and Alexandre Albani collections).

The sponsorship was extended with the funding of :

The “Porphyry” exhibition, in 2003-2004
((from November 21th, 2003 to February 16th, 2004)

This exhibition was a preview of a thorough re-arrangement of the “Salle du Manège” highlighted through its prestigious purple and hard stone, symbol of the imperial and roman splendours, the collections from several departments of the Louvre from the time under the Greeks ruled Egypt to the end of the XVIIIè century.

"2000 Years of Creation …after Antiquity" exhibition presented by the Louvre and Union of the French National Museums in 2000
(From October 16th, 2000 to January 15th, 2001)

An inexhaustible source of inspiration, classical Antiquity has had a significant influence on much of Western art, from the Middle Ages to the present day. This highly original exhibition brought together ten of the most well-known ancient masterpieces (the Venus de Milo, Man Removing a Thorn, the Borghese Gladiator, etc.) along with later works echoing them in a variety of art forms: sculptures, paintings, drawings, engravings, photos as well as architectural items and furniture.
The restoration of Venus Genitrix in 1999, one of the finest Roman replicas (end of 1st Century AD) of a Greek bronze statue (end of 5th Century BC)

The origin of the Louvre's "Aphrodite" is still shrouded in mystery. The Venus was supposedly found near Naples in around 1520, offered to François I in around 1530, and eventually became part of Louis XIV's extraordinary collection of antiquities. Over the years, and having spent more than century in the gardens of Versailles, its state of preservation had deteriorated. Very well composed and feminine, the sculpture, one of the most delightful examples of "wet drapery", typifies the revolution in the values of Athenian civilisation around the 5th Century BC. A symbol of femininity in full bloom, this sculpture exemplifies the sensuality of the female form in a way which is typical of this period of Greek art and is a first step towards the representation of nudity and the expression of a new concept of divinity.

The restoration of the Borghese Gladiator in 1997 , focal point of the Borghese Collection and one of the principal pieces of Greek statuary in the Louvre.
History
This statue of a nude athlete was unearthed , broken into 17 pieces, in 1609, 100 km South of Rome, in the course of excavations ordered by Cardinal Scipion Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V. In 1611 the work was reconstructed by Nicolas Cordier. Regarded as a perfect example of ancient beauty, it was acquired by Napoleon I in 1807. The work is signed by the 1st Century sculptor Agasias of Ephesus
The identity of the Gladiator is somewhat of an enigma.: it has successively been thought to represent a gladiator, a boxer or a discus thrower. Considered since the end of the 18th century to be a fighting hero, it has always been popular. Nevertheless the Gladiator established its reputation as an aesthetic model. The audacity of its composition and the masterly detail of muscular definition on bone structure made it an anatomical model forever studied, analysed, drawn or copied by artists.
Restoration
Before restoration scientists conducted in-depth research revealing that the statue had been restored in the 17th Century, in an exceptionally moderate manner for that era, and had not been subject to any further intervention after 1611. In its restoration, a balance has been sought between respect for Antiquity and respect for the taste for Antiquity. Far from envisaging a radical purification, restorers have undertaken a mild cleaning, comprising the removal of some surface layers of dirt and oxidisation and the attenuating of marks, and the replacement of some old filling work and repairs with modern materials.
Now, after a year spent restoring it, the Gladiator has regained his splendour and stands as a unique testimony to how modern Rome saw and interpreted one of the most sacred symbols of ancient beauty.

For more information :

www.louvre.fr