Born in Paris in 1936, he became Inspector General of French State Museums in 1988 and was President of the Louvre from 1995 to 2001. A leading expert on French 17th- and 18th-century art, he has written catalogues raisonnés for Electa about the French masters of drawing Ingres, Poussin and Watteau. He is a member of the Académie Française.
