Paintings: Italian school
The Louvre's collections of Italian Paintings rank among the finest in the world outside Italy itself. The 600+ paintings exhibited, including many masterpieces coming from the major Italian artistic centres, recount the different stages of its evolution: the Primitives, still stamped with medieval style, the Renaissance pictural revolution, the mannerist delicateness, the baroque vigour and tumult.
Paintings: Northern European schools
With a good thousand works the Northern European collection takes us in the footsteps of the Flemish Primitives, privileged witnesses of the wealth of the former Burgundian Netherlands, as well as in their Germanic counterparts. The baroque ardour of Antwerp's – often colourful – masters contrasts sharply with the calm and inner character of those of the Dutch Golden Age.