This exhibition catalog explores the origins of the artistic exchanges between France and the United States from the eighteenth century onward, and sheds a new light on the role played by the museum as a free academy for artists from America. The Musee du Louvre held a special place in the minds of these American Artists and exerted a strong influence on them, especially in the perception of their role in relation to history. This exhibition pays tribute to this first generation of American painters, whose paintings attracted attention in Paris. Works range from the masterpieces of Benjamin West to the images of the North American Indian Tribes painted by George Catlin and exhibited in the Louvre.