Engravings from the Louvre
The
Macao Museum, a unit of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R.
Government, is pleased to present the Chalcography collection of the Louvre
Museum. The exhibition From Versailles to the Forbidden City - Engravings
from the Louvre will be held from September 8 to December 2 on the 3rd
floor of the Macao Museum. The exhibition displays over 130 valuable engravings
collected by the Louvre. An opening ceremony will be held tomorrow (September 7)
at the Macao Museum.
The Louvre’s Chalcography was founded on 12 May
1797 and has a huge collection of plates engraved by the greatest French and
foreign artists from the sixteenth century to the present day.
Copper engraving, started to be produced in
Europe in the 15th century, was brought by Jesuit missionaries into
China via Macao. The exhibition will showcase over 130 engravings, including
"The Cabinet du Roi", a Louis XIV collection sent by missionaries of his court
to Emperor Kangxi in 1687; "The Conquests of the Emperor of China" features a
set of 16 engravings ordered by Emperor Qianlong to immortalise his conquest of
the Dzungars and the Muslims.
Other notable prints include Louis XIV's "Fetes
at Versailles", "The Carousel of 1662" held to celebrate the birth of Louis
XIV’s son and "The Maze at Versailles" depicting the design of the fountain at
the maze garden.
The
exhibition also displays prints of the 19th century when the practice
of creating prints from masterpieces held in the Louvre collections was popular.
These include "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci, as well as subjects by Nicolas
Poussin, Jean-August Dominique Ingres and Raphael. Also featured in the
exhibition are the "Turgot map" of the 18th century Paris produced in
twenty sections and the "Coronelli’s Globes".
To increase local residents’ understandings
towards chalcography, the Macao Museum will organize a series of activities
including lecture, workshops and docent service during the exhibition. The
lecture, to be held on September 8 from 3pm to 5pm, will be given in English
with Cantonese and Portuguese simultaneous interpretation. Due to the limited
number of seats, reservations are confirmed on a first come first served basis.
Those who are interested please telephone Ms Wu at 3941210 during office hours.
Workshops,
each with a capacity of 20 students, will be held from September 18 according to
the following schedule: Wednesdays and Fridays at 10:30-11:00am and
11:10-11:40am, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:30-3:00pm and 3:10-3:40pm, and on
Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00-3:30pm and 4:00-4:30pm. Each workshop will be
preceded by a 30-minute docent tour. Bookings by schools and associations are
welcome. For enquiries, please telephone Mr Ho at 3941217 or Ms Lee at 3941231.
Macao Museum opens from 10am to 6pm (last ticket
sold until 5:30pm. Due to the opening ceremony, the Museum will be closed to the
public from 3pm on September 7). Closes on Mondays. For more information, please
visit the Cultural Affairs Bureau’s website
www.icm.gov.mo or the Macao Museum’s website
www.macaumuseum.gov.mo.