The Grand Staircase Of The Louvre, Drawing By Charles Guignery, Royal Staircase By Percier And Fontaine

GUIGNÉRY, Charles. The grand staircase of the Louvre. Indian ink and wash. 46.5 x 31.1cm. Titled lower left: “Escalier du Louvre”. Signed lower right: “Charles Guignery, Atelier Guadet”. Charles Guignery, born in Nantes in 1863, was a pupil of Edmond Andrieu and Henri Duray, before entering the studio of Julien Guadet in 1886. This drawing represents the grand staircase of the Royal Museum, built between 1807 and 1812 by Percier and Fontaine (architects of Napoleon I) and destroyed 40 years later to make way for the Daru staircase (one of the six grand staircases built in the Louvre between 1854 and 1870 by Hector Lefuel, architect of Napoleon III). The Daru staircase was not finished when the Empire fell in 1870, it was completed in 1883 by Edmond Guillaume (and the Winged Victory of Samothrace was installed there) then modified in 1934 by Albert Ferrand (which concealed the mosaics in place by Guillaume).