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n°24/1 - 2023
Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative
imageandnarrative.be ISSN 1780-678X
Thematic Cluster: The book, the museum and the child (1)
Pauline Kalioujny. Le Petit Chaperon rouge, conte soviétique, linogravure, exem-
Edited by Ivanne Rialland
Dossier thématique : Le livre, le musée, l’enfant (1)
Dirigé par Ivanne Rialland
plaire 1/3, 2015.
The Louvre and its Collections of
Children’s Art Books (1990-2020):
Viewing Pleasure, Imagination,
and Historical Knowledge
by Myriam Metayer
Image [&] Narrative is a bilingual peer-reviewed e-journal on visual narratology and word and image studies in the broadest sense of
the term.
Image [&] Narrative est une revue en ligne, bilingue, à comité de lecture, traitant de narratologie visuelle et d’études texte/image au
sens large. Image [&] Narrative is part of / fait partie de Open Humanities Press et DOAJ.
Chief Editors / Editrices en chef : Anne Reverseau, Anneleen Masschelein & Hilde Van Gelder.
38
Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
Résumé
L’article examine le corpus des livres jeunesse dédiés au Louvre offrant une vision
d’ensemble des collections du musée. Publiés au cours de ces trois dernières décennies, ces
ouvrages procèdent par sélection afin d’offrir une représentation des collections adaptée
aux jeunes publics. Par-delà la diversité de leurs dispositifs éditoriaux, ils obéissent à des
règles de composition communes qui prennent appui sur l’articulation entre des images et
des discours et dont les variations sont déterminées par le point d’ancrage de l’énonciation
: l’enfant. Ainsi, à travers l’analyse du corpus, l’étude montre comment, à partir d’une
approche sensible des œuvres, les dispositifs éditoriaux reconfigurent les cadres normatifs
des savoirs historiques sur l’art.
Mots-clés
Louvre ; Musée ; Savoirs ; Discours sur l’art ; Livres jeunesse sur l’art.
Abstract
This article examines a corpus of children’s books that provide an overview of the
Louvre’s art collections. Published over the last three decades, these books were selected
based on their ability to portray an adapted vision of the museum’s collections to young
readers. Apart from their diverse editorial features, they share compositional standards
based on the link between image and text which varies slightly from book to book,
depending on the rooted point of enunciation—that of the child. Through a careful
examination of the books in this corpus, this article will reveal how editorial features
reconfigure normative frameworks applied to art history knowledge.
Keywords
Louvre; museum; knowledge; art discourse; children’s art books.
To cite this article
Myriam Metayer, « The Louvre and its Collections of Children’s Art Books (1990-2020):
Viewing Pleasure, Imagination, and Historical Knowledge », Image & Narrative n°24/1 -
2023, dir. Ivanne Rialland, 38-51.
39
Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
The Louvre and its Collections of
Children’s Art Books (1990-2020):
Viewing Pleasure, Imagination,
and Historical Knowledge
by Myriam Metayer
In 2013, an article in La Revue des livres pour enfants theorized that the intersection
between children’s books and art “must be analyzed in light of art history” (Dellenbach,
141). The link between children’s art books and art history (considered in the following
pages to be the whole of historical art knowledge) is not, however, apparent. Children’s
books encompass so many characteristics, including their target audience, their playful,
careful, sensory relationship to art, and their formal inventiveness, that they instigate an
entirely separate discourse, in which art history is but one factor. Most of these books
stress the aesthetic dimension of the artwork, or encourage the child to examine them
from the perspective of the depicted subjects. When it comes to children’s books designed
to help children discover a museum and its collections, the connection between these
different levels of viewing art proves all the more interesting, since the museum is the
institution par excellence involved in the making of art history.1
In this respect, children’s books about the Louvre make an exemplary case study, for
two particular reasons. Firstly, the Louvre is renown worldwide. This is not only due to its
status as the largest museum in the world, but also to the range and nature of its collections,
which have been amassed and arranged according to an encyclopedic system capable of
delivering a panoramic view of art across ages and civilizations, ever since its eighteenth-
century founding.2 Since its creation in 1988, the publishing house Louvre Éditions has
played a pioneering role in publishing children’s art books that feature museum artwork.
Today, thanks to collaborations with private publishing houses, books on the Louvre are
published across a wide range of editorial departments.
Alongside fictional stories taking place in and around the Louvre (Supiot; Elschner
1. I would like to thank Violaine Bouvet-Lanselle, department head of the Éditions du musée du
Louvre, for granting me an interview while I was beginning to research an object on which she has
much expertise. To quote Éric de Chassey’s recent definition, “everything hanging in a museum,
even the wall panel, is art history” (Chassey, 12).
2. See Poisson and Pomian.
40
Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
and Klauss...), about twenty children’s art books have been produced by a variety of
publishers over the last thirty years, offering (if we can go by their titles) an overarching,
rather than selective, view of the museum: Le Louvre (“The Louvre”); Mon imagier du
Louvre (“My Illustrated Louvre Dictionary”); Les secrets du Louvre (“Secrets from the
Louvre”); Timoté Visits the Louvre... Iconographic content (provided for the most part
by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, whose children’s department was created in 1990)
strengthens the visual identity of these books. Consequently, the Louvre has a place among
classic nonfiction collections in children’s publishing (such as the Gallimard collection
“Mes Premières Découvertes”). The Louvre is also featured in books produced by more
unexpected publishers, such as the France Loisirs book club, which published Découvre le
Louvre avec Mâ-Tout: Mon premier livre d’art (“Discover the Louvre with Tom-Cat: My
First Art Book”) in 2013. The corpus of children’s art books about the Louvre covers a
wide range of editorial styles, which conform to various educational and instructive literary
models, depending on the age of the target audience. Alphabet books and illustrated
dictionaries—geared towards the youngest readers—exist alongside nonfiction chapter
books. Books designed like a guided tour, ones that create an image-based treasure hunt
via the magnifying glass motif, and even the “puzzle book” all represent different ways of
learning about the museum and its collections.
On the whole, these publications reflect two main approaches to children’s art
books since the 1990s, when children’s books about the Louvre first began to appear. The
first approach attempts to awaken a sense of perception in young children. This is the
model that ABC Musée du Louvre uses, announcing its goal on the back cover, to “create
learning pleasure through viewing pleasure” (Hazan-Brunet, 1990). The other method
involves transmitting knowledge, and is aimed at readers between the ages of 7 and 11.
This is illustrated by Louvre Junior, in which Hubert Comte (1933-2009) recounts the
institution’s history and provides commentary on selected works organized according to
the museum layout.3
Apart from diverse publishing formats and evolving graphic design techniques, these
books share similar compositional standards based on the dialogue that forms between
image and text, which varies depending on the rooted point of enunciation—that of the
child. From one volume to the next, a representation of the Louvre’s collections takes
shape, one that replicates commonly accepted knowledge of art history and its criteria
of hierarchy traditionally based on conceived stylistic movements and historical periods.
What we wish to explore here, rather, is the nuance of various approaches and the way
that delivered knowledge gets configured. The present study will set aside production
conditions and market demands, especially the economics involved in reproducing images
and book distribution, as well as publishing actors. This analysis will allow us to highlight
several salient features within these chosen approaches, according to editorial design and
the age of targeted readers.
3. Louvre Junior is divided into the following eight chapters: Dungeon, Palace, Museum, and
History Book; Egyptian Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Asian Antiquities;
Graphic Art; Paintings; Sculptures; Decorative Arts.
41Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
A Louvre for children
More than 560 works of art and decorative art appear within the twenty-one
publications examined here. While this figure demonstrates the diversity of illustrated
books, it comes with a caveat, for there is a core set of works most often represented.
Fig. 1. Marie Sellier et Violaine Bouvet-Lanselle. Voyage au cœur du Louvre. Paris : Réunion des
Musées Nationaux, 1999. Front cover.
The Mona Lisa is indispensable,4 but The Card Sharp with the Ace of Diamonds is almost
as important. The Winged Victory of Samothrace, The Seated Scribe, the Louvre Pyramid, the
Venus of Milo, the Money Lender and his Wife by Quentin Metsys, and Watteau’s Pierrot
make up the outer circle of museum staples, and are reproduced in at least half of the books
analyzed. Among this common denominator of visual works, we can detect evidence of a
hierarchical redistribution at work in children’s art books.
This is partly due to the role of the reproductions, which oscillate between recognizable
museum symbols and subjects arousing children’s interest. One recurring technique involves
placing an art detail or even a glimpse of the Louvre palace inside a triangle whose contours
evoke the silhouette of I. M. Pei’s Pyramid. Drawing on this technique, the cover of Le
Louvre à la loupe (“The Louvre Magnified,” D’Harcourt, 2001) emphasizes the institutional
importance of Mona Lisa’s face, while the cover of Voyage au cœur du Louvre (“Journey to the
Heart of the Louvre,” Sellier and Bouvet-Lanselle, 1999) features the middle portion of The
Card Sharp with the Ace of Diamonds, drawing attention to card games, stories, and riddles.
4. With one exception: Les Secrets du Louvre (Vingtrinier).
42Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
Title Number / 21
Léonard de Vinci, The Mona Lisa, circa 1503-1519 20
Georges de La Tour, The Card Sharp with the Ace of Diamonds, circa 1635-1638 17
Winged Victory of Samothrace, circa 220-185 BCE 15
The Seated Scribe, circa 3800 - 1710 BCE 15
Ieoh Ming Pei, The Louvre Pyramid, 1989 14
Vénus of Milo, IIIe-Ie century BCE 11
Quentin Metsys, The Money Lender and His Wife, 1514 10
Antoine Watteau, Pierrot, circa 1718-1719 10
Domenico Ghirlandaio, An Old Man and his Grandson, circa 1490 9
Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Louis XIV, 1701 9
«William» hippopotamus statuette, circa 2000 BCE 8
Véronèse, The Wedding at Cana, 1563 8
Fig. 2.
Table of 12 works of art most commonly reproduced in the 21 children’s books studied (1990-2020)
Book designs are organized, for the most part, around targeted themes: animals,
nature, colors, daily life, professions, writing, power, games, money... This nomenclature
has many corollaries. It explains, for example, the recurring presence of The Money Lender
and His Wife, since the painting is associated with the theme of money. Overly-suggestive
nude representations, such as The Turkish Bath (Ingres, 1862), are carefully avoided,
undoubtedly due to regulatory framework regarding children’s publications, constituted
by the law of 16 July 1949.5
Similarly, representations of the Virgin and Child are preferred over representations
of the Descent from the Cross. Furthermore, scenes from daily life of all eras and mediums
win out over historical scenes. These ground rules take a significant turn when it comes
to representations of 17th-century French paintings located in the museum’s Sully wing.
Nicolas Poussin’s and Charles Le Brun’s historical and mythological compositions are
not given much prominence in comparison to Georges de La Tour’s and the Le Nain
brothers’ genre scenes. Yet references to historical events and figures are not absent. Regalia,
portraits of François 1st ( Jean Clouet, circa 1530) and Louis XIV (Hyacinthe Rigaud,
1701), as well as The Coronation of Napoleon ( Jacques-Louis David, 1805-1807) seem to
serve as representatives of school curriculums, especially in nonfiction books aimed at 7
to 11-year-olds, where the majority of these reproductions are found.6 In sum, the books
provide a representation of the Louvre’s collections based on universal subjects thought to
5. Law no. 49-956 of 16 July 1949 on children’s publications, modified by the law no. 2011-525
of 17 May 2011.
6. It is worth noting that this category of artwork is also valued in activity books with a distinctly
playful tone (Dupuis and Garnier; Guibert Brussel and Froissart).
43Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
appeal to children, highlighting above all subjects chosen for what school establishments
often deem their educational worth.
Such careful attention to children’s environment is hardly limited to the corpus in
question; rather, it belongs to a movement which led to the publication of Premier livre
d’art (First Art Book) in 1965. We might linger over this book by Pierre Belvès (1909-
1994), insofar as it contains the foundations of children’s art books:
And so, along familiar paths we’ll rediscover animals, friends, idyllic households,
the pleasure of a flower bouquet or a beautiful table; we’ll notice the little joys of life, its
adventures, its daily and legendary dramas, and we’ll take a step towards understanding
works of Art. (Belvès and Mathey, 4)
According to Pierre Belvès, the first thing one perceives in a work of art is the
represented subject. Consequently, he emphasizes the crucial role that the topic of the
chosen scene plays in the process of helping children discover art. Placing the setting of
a child’s life in the foreground, the narrative told through images in Premier livre d’art
openly dismantles hierarchies of value on which art discourse was historically founded. It
blurs the line between génies et suiveurs,7 (or masters and apprentices), erases any separation
between major and minor art, and even ignores the distinction between movements and
styles. In short, the idea of conceptualizing and classifying art based on formal, aesthetic
and technical appreciation is made futile. It seems important to note here that the titles
of the first three opening sections in the illustrated dictionary are named after themes in
academic paintings.8 These titles—“Familiar Portraits” (Belvès and Mathey, 28), “Idyllic
Household” (38) and “Images from Life” (44)—reverse the classic hierarchy, relegating
“Paintings on History” (67) in particular to a subset of the last category.
Through Premier livre d’art, we can measure the durability of the style of discourse
Pierre Belvès developed, since its principles are still evident more than thirty years later
in publications about the Louvre’s artwork. Through thematic comparisons and, more
broadly, the importance placed on iconography, the Louvre turns into a stage presenting
monumental artwork to young audiences. Despite all that, the reproductions do not simply
function as referential place-holders. On the contrary, editorial formats, page layouts, and
even the nature of the texts accompanying the reproductions all lead us to recognize
images and representations before seeing them as historical artifacts preserved over time.
Becoming intimate with the subject: detail
and fable
Iconographic descriptions help us to identify and observe figures, not in detail, but
through the details. In this sense, the narrative thread encourages the child’s gaze to
7. Indicative signs of outmoded art discourse (Kris and Kurz; Heinich).
8. As a reminder, these are historical paintings, portraiture, genre scenes, landscapes and still life.
44Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
wander over the page:
Oh, this nose! Huge, lumpy, swollen. It looks like a big potato, a mountain budding
with spring flowers. But the little boy doesn’t pay any attention to it. He’s listening to
his grandfather tell stories by the open window. (Bouvet-Lanselle and Sellier, 26)
This description of An Old Man and his Grandson by Domenico Ghirlandaio (circa
1490) anticipates, first of all, the young reader’s instinctive reactions. Next, the text invites
the child, who is the observing subject, to identify with the child in the image. Finally, it
guides the child’s gaze to the landscape in the composition’s background, whose scenery
fits with the fictional story space the child imagines as it is described. The attention given
over to detail activates the reader’s imagination without unpacking all the meaning found
in the subject.9
The child is urged to put a story into words while visually taking in the represented
subject. The Card Sharp with the Ace of Diamonds (Georges de La Tour, circa 1635-1638)
is particularly well-suited to this image-reading process, due to its plot and composition.
Hubert Comte demonstrates this particularly well in his text in Louvre Junior (1990). The
first sentence—“Georges de La Tour will recount an adventure that took place at an inn”
(Comte, 45)—gives a narrative framework to a story being recounted by the painter-turned-
narrator. However, the author does not actually tell the depicted story in the following
sentences. Rather, a concise yet meticulous description of clothing, postures and expressions
invites readers to turn their attention to each character in turn. The text ends with these two
lines: “Enchanting colors, a wealth of fabrics, crossed glances, and a dance of hands; all this
to say, the habit does not make the monk. A painting and a fable” (Count, 45).
Hubert Comte’s approach involves describing an image in a way that speaks as much
as it shows. The commentary evidently belongs outside of the artwork’s conceptualization,
whether it discusses aesthetic qualities, evokes the context surrounding its creation, or
describes the artist. Detached from its historical and artistic context, The Card Sharp with
the Ace of Diamonds is first and foremost a life lesson for the young reader.
This approach is not limited to Louvre Junior, but also characterizes more recent
publications, though the manner of expression continues to vary. One current trend relies
on figures of speech, such as the apostrophe:
Don’t look down, silly goose, look at what these three rascals are saying to each
other with their hands and narrowed eyes! Look closely, and you’ll see that the shrewd
guy is pulling the ace of diamonds from his belt to win! Look at them, you featherhead,
so you don’t get fleeced! (Bouvet-Lanselle and Sellier, 36)
9. Imagination is a recurring theme, emerging when we read about The Seated Scribe: “This scribe
makes you imagine a secretary, reed in hand, attentive to the words about to be dictated to him,”
(Comte, 12), or The Money Lender and His Wife by Quentin Metsys (1514): “And nothing is easier
than imagining a story around this banker and his wife!” (Madeleine-Perdrillat and Rodari, 18).
45Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
Short statements are another trend: “We’re playing cards. Careful there... Who’s
cheating? Who’s making hand signals?” (Fontanel, 60-61). Exclamatory and interrogative
sentences suggest sudden appraisal: “I wouldn’t fancy being the boy in the feathered hat...
He’d be better off looking around the table than down at his hand, or he’ll lose his gold!»
(Chain, 135). These sentences convey predictable childlike reactions. Furthermore, in
many publications,10 these comments correspond to close-ups of eyes and hands, which
are particularly popular subjects in children’s art books. In this way, editorial techniques
transfer a supposedly intimate meeting between the child and the artwork to the pages
of the books, without emphasizing or identifying either the artistic or historical nature.
A Place Rooted in History, Art Untouched
by Time
Although artwork in the Louvre has been removed from its historical setting, it is
nevertheless embedded in the history of that which contains it: the museum. In this respect,
the introductions in nonfiction books play a crucial role, providing a contrasting context
alongside reproductions. These pages describe important periods in the institution and
building’s history, from the construction of the medieval fortress to that of the Pyramid,
reinforcing its prominence. Often written in a factual style, historical facts are inserted
alongside panoramic views of the Cour Napoleon and aerial shots of the Louvre palace
and Tuileries Garden. Nonfiction books open with these photographs, and sometimes
close with them. Short, illustrated books intended for children under 9 years old also
borrow this format. J’observe le Louvre (“I Look at the Louvre,” Delafosse 1988), Le Louvre
(Delafosse 1995) and Timoté visits the Louvre (Massonaud), for example, all use a similar
graphic composition.
On the very first page of Timoté visits the Louvre, the reader “meets” the son of the
night watchman, the rabbit Timoté.
Many intermediary figures welcome him into the Cour Napoleon, a colossal,
uncovered space dominated by the Pyramid. The page layout turns out to be crucial,
guiding children who wonders just how far they can go inside this remarkable place: to
open the book means to step inside the Louvre. It also implies internalizing one’s awe
inspired by the palace’s grandeur.
Several photographs of in situ artwork interspersed among the books’ pages transmit
the admiration that museum-goers often feel. Two emotional scenarios are often staged.
The first one prepares children for the excited crowd of visitors pressing in on the Mona
Lisa.11 The second conveys the visual awe triggered by the surging Winged Victory of
Samothrace overlooking the Daru staircase.12
10. Bouvet-Lanselle; Bouvet-Lanselle and Sellier; Fontanel 2009; Milovanic.
11. Delafosse 1988; Madeleine-Perdrillat and Rodari; Milovanic; Gutman and Hallensleben.
12. Madeleine-Perdrillat and Rodari; Milovanic; Maincent.
46Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
Fig. 3. Emmanuelle Massonaud et Mélanie Combes. Timoté visite le Louvre. Paris : Éditions
Gründ, Louvre éditions, 2018, n. p.
Introductions to the museum rely on capturing emotional and sensorial aspects of
its key exterior and interior spaces. Children’s books on the Louvre make use of this
tactic more than any other type of children’s museum book. These recognizable places
are found throughout the corpus, on pages where reproductions emerge from white and
colored backgrounds. Enlarged, cropped, and cut-out images (depending on the contours
of the decorative objects and figures) attempt to mimic a physicality similar to the real
works displayed in the museum’s galleries. In such a way, the book’s format reproduces the
journey that visitors usually take in the real monumental setting, the main difference being
that the book displays a collection ideal for children. Moreover, chronological data and
institutional history accompanying the reproduced artwork in the books’ margins vaguely
suggest that children’s books by default convey an atemporal vision of the museum. It
is precisely in the contextualized presentation of this architectural setting that the book
reminds us that these images refer to historical artifacts. But what can be said about the
type of knowledge inserted here? Is chronology the only indication of the breadth of
history found in the books’ artifacts, and consequently, in the museum?
From knowing how to look to knowing
history: the challenge of nonfiction books
Prompted by various texts, reproductions, and especially the details laid out on the
page, the reader’s roving gaze will mirror the fundamental visual analysis happening at the
heart of the Louvre: observing, describing, identifying, interpreting... Nonfiction books
geared towards 9 to 11-year-olds interweave different levels of discourse, in which the
visual experience harmonizes with an explanatory register. This category involves a variety
47Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
of editorial projects, with more or less distinct historical approaches, all of which share
similar methods when displaying images and relaying art knowledge. To give an example,
we’ll turn our attention to two works of art.
Published in 2001, Le Louvre à la loupe resembles the organizational structure of
a collection catalogue, an essential text source in the field of art history. Visually, this
children’s book appears to follow the customary approach, beginning with an iconographic
tone in which each entry corresponds to a double-page spread containing one or more
large-format reproductions. The book closes with “artwork commentary” (D’Harcourt, 3)
divided into just as many relevant notes combining descriptive, contextual, and technical
points. Where appropriate, a brief biography of the artist is included. Accordingly, the
“game of hiding hands and peeking eyes” (58) in The Card Sharp with the Ace of Diamonds
is explained in light of its early 17th century historical context (“the Church forbid the
game, cardplayers were threatened with excommunication, and cheaters were sent to the
galleys,” id.), its symbolic value inherent in the subject represented (the biblical prodigal
son) and the artistic context (Caravaggio).
From an editorial standpoint, the main message behind Le Petit ami du Louvre: 10
chefs-d’œuvre du Louvre expliqués aux enfants! (“The Little Louvre Friend: 10 Louvre
Masterpieces explained to children!”, 2013) is based on exploiting resources of art history
methodology. Each work is explained through the lens of its iconography, historical context,
technical design and, where necessary, the artist’s biography. The chapter dedicated to The
Card Sharp with the Ace of Diamonds provides another convincing example of this specific
editorial approach. The wording of the title, “Plot Details,” falls in line with the two major
approaches to children’s books. However, the composition is outlined with dotted lines.
Gestures and glances are explained to cohere with the interpreted iconography in the
painted scene.
Le Louvre à la loupe and Le Petit ami du Louvre thus accomplish a shift in style,
meant to let the young reader consider images as artwork13 and discern the various levels
of analysis that artwork requires. Historical knowledge is delivered through an implicit
adaption of methodological processes pertaining to a twofold analysis of the artwork,
that of iconography and aesthetics. To better grasp the typical features in children’s art
books on museums and their collections, we must first take a detour through children’s
“art history” books. Stepping back in time to 1938, to the first volume of Petite histoire
de l’art et des artistes (“A Brief History of Art and Artists”), we find the first mention of
this sort of book, occurring as a book title written for a young readership. We’re talking
about Georges and Marcelle Huisman’s adapted translation of A Child’s History of Art,
a manual first published in the United States in 1933. In the signed preface, Georges
Huisman (1889-1957), then the Managing Director of Fine Arts, discusses motives that
have become essential for publishing children’s art books: to show off “many beautiful
photographic reproductions,” to awaken “a keen desire to visit museums” and, effectively,
“to mold children’s aesthetic preferences while encouraging them to have an intimate
13. Accordingly, the use of artistic vocabulary becomes critical, such as terms like “artist,” “work,”
and “masterpiece.”
48Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
familiarity with painted masterpieces” (Huisman, 4). Nevertheless, the translated text’s
narrative takes a biographical framework, a founding model of the historical discourse.14
Georges Huisman’s foray into the field of children’s literature remained an isolated
experience, and until the 2008 publication of Ma première histoire de l’art, children’s art
history books rarely piqued the interest of publishers and art historians. We are indebted
to Ma première histoire de l’art, published by Palette, who released Premiers pas au Louvre
the following year. While they share the same author—Béatrice Fontanel—and the same
graphic designer—Loïc Le Gall, the books’ narrative genres remain distinct. In the first
book, the names of movements (baroque, rococo, classical, romanticism...), contextual and
temporal information (conquest, Revolution...) as well as artistic vocabulary (painting,
sculpture, fresco, composition, perspective...) place the numerous reproductions within a
historical spectrum which appears on each page as a chronological frieze. The very nature
of the text gives the images a documentary quality quite different from the contemplative
intention behind the details and full-page reproductions of Premiers pas au Louvre.
It is evident that both books adapt archetypal models of art history discourse to their
young audience, one based on the chronological order of works, the other emphasizing
visual knowledge. Children’s nonfiction books on the Louvre aimed at 9 to 11-year-olds
tend to conform to this second model. Though biographical and chronological facts
provide information about the reproduced artwork’s artistic and historical nature, the
driving force behind the books’ discourse is one of visual awareness.
Fig. 4 : Béatrice Fontanel. Premiers pas au Louvre. Paris : Musée du Louvre éditions, Palette,
2009, p. 6-7.
In conclusion, the study begun here, discussing modes of discourse at work in
children’s books on the Louvre Museum collections, highlights the convergence points
between features that invite children to begin exploring images and the visual methods
of art history. However, the reader’s roving gaze follows a fixed historical timeline.
14. See Perspective, 2006-4.
49Image [&] Narrative - n°24/1 2023
To this extent, the architectural and institutional setting takes a backseat to the body
of reproductions which, while serving as recognizable museum symbols, also work to
make children aware of themselves, at every stage of their development. It is precisely
through the pleasure of examining an image, and the subsequent emotion provoked by
the proximity of the subject, that a visual experience is born. This internalization process
undoubtedly establishes the first steps towards an art consciousness. But from the point
of view of cultural democratization, this de-emphasis of the artwork’s history and cultural
importance raises a question: how do children examine these books? Who really is this
young readership? And how can these books speak to children amidst social and cultural
plurality, to lead them along art journeys?
Bibliography
Corpus
Bouvet-Lanselle, Violaine. Mes plus belles images du Louvre. Paris : Gallimard jeunesse, Musée du
Louvre, 2007.
Bouvet-Lanselle, Violaine et Marie Sellier. Mon petit Louvre. Paris : Réunion des Musées Nationaux,
2001.
Chaine, Sonia. Découvre le Louvre avec Mâ-Tout : Mon premier livre d’art. Paris : France Loisirs, 2006.
Couprie, Katy et Antonin Louchard. Tout un Louvre. Paris : Éditions Thierry Magnier, Louvre Édi-
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Myriam Metayer is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Art History at the Centre de Recherche en
Histoire de l’Art – F.-G. Pariset (UR 538), Bordeaux Montaigne University, France.
Email : myriam.metayer@u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr
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