One man did more for the art of France during WWII than any other, Jacques Jaujard. As the deputy director of the National Museums on his own he decided they needed to evacuate the art of the Louvre. He had already done it once before in 1938. As the Spanish Civil War raged in Madrid, the Prado Museum asked Jaujard to assist with saving their art. Seventy one trucks packed with crates of the Prado collection traveled to Switzerland.
When the Germans moved towards Paris he did it once again, this time on a much larger scale. On August 25, 1939 the Louvre “closed” for cleaning but behind the walls the staff was pulling every painting from the wall and statue and packing them away. Three days later they were placed in 203 vehicles and raced to the unoccupied region of France.
While the art was safely away from their grasp, German Count Franz Wolff Metternich, an aristocrat, appointed by Hitler to oversee the art collection of France with a secret motive to handpick what he wanted. Metternich wasn’t a Hitler loyalist and actually sided with Jaujard on the protection of the art. In August 1940 when he first arrived at the Louvre he was relieved to see the art was already gone.
Not only did Jaujard have to fend off the Germans he also had to keep the art out of the hands of the Vichy French government that wanted to hand the art over to the Germans. It wasn’t just the national collection, it was also the private collections of Jewish gallery owners and collectors. Maurice de Rothschild’s works were protected and acquired by the state and saved.
Jaguar worked the rest of his life for the art of France. In 1959 he served as secretary general of the newly formed Ministry of State for Cultural Affairs overseeing the exhibitions of France and beyond. On this date in 1967 at 71 years old, he suddenly died of a pulmonary embolism.
He is remembered at the Louvre at the Porte Jaujard of the École du Louvre, that he worked to revamp. Two of the Cain Linonesses stand guard for the man that protected the art of the Louvre. Jacques died on this day in 1967 and there isn’t a day that I’m in the Louvre that I don’t think and thank him.
To learn more about this amazing story read Gerri Chanel’s book Saving Mona Lisa . it is so great I have read it twice, it is impossible to put down, and you will fall in love with Jaujard, Rose Valland and so many heroes that put their life on the line to save the art of France.