Madeleine Hours (1913–2005)

Madeleine or Magdeleine Hours, née Miédan, was born in Paris, France, and grew up in a family home that dated back to the 17th century. As a child, she was taken by her mother Suzanne Miédan to visit the Louvre Museum once a week. Madeleine was asked to leave her high school, but finished her education at the Ecole du Louvre and the Sorbonne University. In 1937, she got a job at the Louvre as an assistant -- and by 1946 had become director of the Laboratoire de recherche des Musées de France (LRMF) and an expert in art history and conservation. At the start of World War II, she was among the art experts who protected the treasures of the Louvre, including the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, and hid them from the Nazis. Then in 1962, Madame Hours supervised the transport and protection of the painting when it was loaned to the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. for an exhibition. In 1965, she undertook the excavation of the Iron Age chambered tomb at Terrier de la Fade in Courcoury. She helped introduce new methods to analyze and restore works of art, such as infrared and ultraviolet technology. In 1970, she was named chief curator at the Louvre Museum. She also served as a professor at the Ecole du Louvre. She wrote numerous books on art history, including the award-winning Les Secrets des chefs-d’œuvre (Secrets of the Great Masters, 1964), and produced several programs for French television. Her autobiography, Une vie au Louvre (A Life at the Louvre) was published in 1987.