Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Napoleonic looting of art began around 1794 and continued through Napoleon's rule. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 ordered the return of the works, though repatriations were incomplete and nearly half the looted pieces remained in France.
Expert "savant" commissions deployed specialists alongside French armies to make the selections. Vivant Denon, known as "Napoleon's eye," was appointed director of the Louvre in November 1802 and traveled with military expeditions to Italy, Germany, Austria, and Spain to choose works personally. Jean-Baptiste Wicar was among the earliest selectors, directing which Italian paintings would go to Paris from 1797 to 1800.
According to a catalog compiled by sculptor Antonio Canova, 506 Italian works were taken between 1796 and 1813. Of these, 249 were eventually returned and 248 remained in France, with 9 lost entirely. A French general separately reported in November 1815 that Spain had received 248 paintings, Austria 325, and Prussia 258 bronzes.
Around 30,000 Venetian works of art were sold or went missing during the French occupation. The Bucintoro, the Venetian state barge, was burned on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore to extract its gold leaf, and more than 5,000 cannons were melted down. Paolo Veronese's The Wedding at Cana was cut in two and sent to the Louvre, where it remains today.
French officials appealed to the right of conquest and Enlightenment ideals of encyclopedism and public education. Bishop Henri Gregoire argued before the Convention in 1794 that Paris should be the "final resting place" of masterpieces, framing seizure as a rescue of art from unworthy custodians. Opponents such as Quatremère de Quincy countered that uprooting art from its original context would destroy its authentic meaning.
The Louvre's example directly inspired the founding of the Prado in Madrid, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the National Gallery in London. The 1815 Treaty of Paris set a precedent for cultural repatriation that later shaped the recovery of Nazi-plundered art in the 20th century. Outstanding claims for works such as The Wedding at Cana by Veronese, the Rosetta Stone, and the Dendera zodiac remain unresolved today.