After the abdication of Emperor Napoleon I and the return of the monarchy, the Louvre’s art collections were augmented by Louis XVIII. A remarkable example is the donation by the king of the Venus de Milo to the museum, which the ambassador of the Sublime Porte (the Ottoman Empire) had just offered him. “The Sun. The Fall of Icarus” by Merry-Joseph Blondel, noticed at the Salon of 1819, was commissioned by Louis XVIII to decorate the ceiling of the vestibule of the Gallery of Apollo. The vaults are dedicated to the four elements: Water, Earth, Fire (all three painted by Auguste Couder), and Air (painted by Blondel).