In the October 26th issue of The Magazine Antiques, Wolf Burchard reviews the the book, writing:
[James Garder] retells and retraces the evolution of one of the world’s most complex architectural palimpsests with elegance, economy, and wit. Gardner’s beautifully written and relatively short book—considering the scope he manages to cover—is a remarkable feat that seeks to be as much a history of the building, of the city and country at the center of which it stands, and of that country’s cultural ambitions. ...Throughout his cheerful and intelligent walk through the Louvre’s history, Gardner balances deep thought with occasional humor. ...Until the very end, Gardner unravels the many lives of the Louvre with composed enthusiasm and coolheadedness, avoiding hagiography. ...His book is a love letter and a real joy.
The Louvre: The Many Lives of the World’s Most Famous Museum by James Gardner is published by Atlantic Monthly Press in North America and Atlantic Books in the UK.
James Gardner is an art critic and literary critic based in New York and Buenos Aires. He is the author of six books, including Buenos Aires: The Biography of a City. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New Republic, and the British Spectator. He was the art critic at the New York Post and wrote architecture criticism for the New York Observer, before serving as the architecture critic at the New York Sun. He is now a contributing editor at The Magazine Antiques.