The People’s Gallery
THE LOUVRE: The Many Lives of the World’s Most Famous Museum
BY JAMES GARDNER
Atlantic Monthly Press, 416 pp., $30
IN THE LOUVRE, American architecture critic James Gardner aims to tell the story of this complex Paris building by proceeding along three fronts: architectural, institutional, and historical. Immense culture, a tight grasp of chronology, and a steady hand would have been imperative for success in such a vast project.
Gardner is most at ease when he deals with architecture. He guides the reader through the innumerable additions and alterations that transformed a
