The Iron Master

The Iron Master

Today, I’ll be in the workshops of the Louvre for The Master Smith.

Who would have thought the Louvre has its own blacksmith? Maybe you. Certainly not I. This was one of the astounding revelations of my wanderings beneath the palace to go round the craftsmen’s workshops. Wood, stone, metal; lighting, framing, transporting works: the trades practiced in the palace basements are befitting of a Wagner opera setting. Hearing the sound of the hammer on the anvil in the gleam of the forge only a few stories beneath the room of Princess Leszczynska summoned to mind the Paris of my childhood, still peopled with all sorts of artisans—perhaps not farriers, but so many other craftsmen vital to the heart of a great city. It is reassuring to know that these trades are still practiced in the belly of the Louvre, unlike in the majority of the world’s museums that have moved out their workers… And if you can’t visit the basements as I did, you should console yourself by going to admire Louis Le Nain’s luminous Forge, exactly three stories overhead (Sully, room 912).