This volume was published to accompany the exhibition curated by Marie-Laure de Rochebrune, from the department of Objets d’Art, Musée du Louvre, and it is an important contribution to the study of the twenty-five early years of the history of Neoclassicism in France. The essays by French specialists cover the role of the forerunners of the ‘new’ taste and analyse in detail the different artistic subjects, from architecture to sculpture, from painting to the decorative arts. The relations between Portugal and France during this period are also subject to scrutiny. The exhibits are also studied and fully reproduced in the catalogue. The majority of the pieces belong to the Louvre collection, to which pieces from the Patrimonio Nacional (Spain), and the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection have been added.