The empty room

The empty room

I wouldn’t go so far as to claim this is my favorite room in the Louvre, but I have to admit my steps often lead me here (Denon, room 726). This evening, a Friday, it is closed to the public. I can only take a picture of it through the bars of the gate that blocks the way all the northern side aisles of the Salle des Sessions during this late-night opening (Denon, room 718). Why am I so drawn to it? Probably because it is the only absolutely empty room I know of in the Louvre. Its shape is strange. A false ceiling has been installed, diminishing the usefulness of the picture rails, and the window is set high on the wall, like a cellar window vanishing behind the suspended ceiling. A flight of a half-dozen steps leads up to it. I cannot climb the steps today, but I know that, looking eastwards, the opening allows one to admire the Tuileries and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. I wonder what idea was behind this room’s strange set-up. They could have hung two or three Italian paintings here, since we are between El Greco and Tiepolo, or simply have placed a bench where I would have rested, as on the circular sofa of the Islamic Art collection. This room perplexes me. I do not understand what it was intended for, but from time to time I have sat lost in thought on its steps.