Original or copy? Oil on wood, The Virgin and the Spindle is a small painting in which the Virgin, draped in blue, holds the infant Jesus to her breast, looking up at the cross formed by the end of a spindle. Is the painting, of which there are several versions, including one exhibited in Scotland, by Leonardo da Vinci? Dated to the early 16th century, it was lost for three hundred years, until its reappearance on the art market in the early 19th century. Since then, the work has passed through the hands of several collectors and has long been considered a high quality copy produced in the workshop run by the Renaissance master.

Léonard de Vinci: le chef-d'oeuvre redécouvert

In November 1922, Howard Carter uncovered the tomb of Tutankhamen, an obscure pharaoh of the 18th Egyptian dynasty. The extreme wealth of the tomb reveals the munificence of this young king, who died before his 20th birthday. A century later, specialists are once again looking at the treasure. Combining 3D reconstructions, access to objects and expert insights, this document provides an overview of the discoveries being made.

Toutankhamon, le trésor redécouvert

Enquête sur le Nil : les secrets des pharaons bâtisseurs‬

Almost 100 years after the discovery of King's Tut's Tomb, it is time to tell the story in a new light. Using 2D and 3D imagery to reconstruct the tomb, the mummy, the funerary objects and the topography of the famous valley of the Kings.

The True Story of King Tut's Tomb

The tumultuous history of the Louvre Museum, founded in 1793, and its fabulous art collections, an immortal testimony to the destiny of France and all of Europe.

Louvre Müzesi'nin Diğer Hikayesi

Why did the Roman Empire, which dominated Europe and the Mediterranean for five centuries, inexorably weaken until it disappeared? Archaeologists, specialists in ancient pathologies and climate historians are now accumulating clues converging on the same factors: a powerful cooling and pandemics. A disease, whose symptoms described by the Greek physician Galen are reminiscent of those of smallpox, struck Rome in 167, soon devastating its army. At the same time, a sudden climatic disorder that was underway as far as Eurasia caused agricultural yields to plummet and led to the westward migration of the Huns. Plagued by economic and military difficulties, attacked from all sides by barbarian tribes, the Roman edifice gradually cracked.

What Killed the Roman Empire?

On the mythical site of Saqqara, the Apis bulls were buried for more than a thousand years in the immense underground necropolis of the Serapheum. Discovered in 1850 by the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, this place shelters a treasure of which a part is preserved in the Louvre. The collapse of the ceiling of one of the galleries had however prevented the archaeologist from venturing into the entire necropolis. More than 170 years later, the museum's Egyptologists are continuing the work of their famous predecessor. Investigating the cult of the Apis bull and the mysterious rituals that surrounded it, the team is especially looking for access to the unexplored parts, which have at least eight burial chambers, with the hope of finding intact tombs.

Égypte - Enquête sur la nécropole des taureaux sacrés

In 2015, a Magdalene in Ecstasy was discovered in the modest collection of an Italian family. Was it the original by Caravaggio, who disappeared after his death in 1610, or one of the many copies made subsequently? After an expert appraisal, Mina Gregori, one of the greatest specialists on the artist, was convinced of the authenticity of the work. On her advice, the owners searched their archives and unearthed three documents: two inventories of paintings, dating from 1842 and 1864, as well as an old paper mentioning a "Madeleine inverted by Caravaggio". Starting from these pieces of evidence, an expert in ancient archives and an Italian art historian then launched into a vast investigation to try to retrace the route of the painting.