Conservation and Restoration of Greek Masterpieces at the Louvre

American Friends of the Louvre and the National Arts Club invited members to the second in a three-part series of collaborative programs. The topic was the restoration of Greek masterpieces at the Louvre.

It featured Ludovic Laugier, curator in charge of Greek sculpture in the Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities and Anne Liégey, conservator and sculpture restorer. They presented the challenges of restoring ancient works of art, focusing on two of the Louvre’s most iconic masterpieces, the Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Pallas of Velletri. They also discussed a significant Greek inscription that will be presented in the upcoming exhibition Paris – Athens: Birth of modern Greece 1675 – 1919 opening at the Louvre next fall.

Ludovic Laugier is the national heritage curator in charge of Greek sculpture in the Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities at the Louvre Museum. He specializes in Hellenistic sculpture, history of collections, and restoration of antiquities. He has notably led the restoration of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, organized several exhibitions concerning his field of expertise, and participated in various books covering Louvre collections, including authoring the forthcoming catalog of Greek Sculpture in the Louvre Museum (Spring 2021). Ludovic Laugier participates in the excavation of ancient Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey) and regularly collaborates with the American archaeological mission of Samothrace. He teaches at the Ecole du Louvre and is a member of the French Society of Classical Archaeology and the Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France.

Anne Liégey is a free-lance sculpture conservator. She teaches at the INP-Department of Restaurateurs and is specialized in inorganic porous materials such as stone – marble, limestone, sandstone, plaster, terra cotta and unbaked earth. She mainly works in museums, but has been a member of archaeological excavations in Egypt, Syria and Iraq.  She works for the Musée Rodin, the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée du Louvre where she has been in charge of several marble sculpture conservation projects. For the Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities, she has worked on marble busts, pieces of sarcophagi and recently on the Pallas of Velletri. She also played a central role in the conservation treatment of the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

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