Bloomberg has the announcement this morning from the French Culture Ministry:

“He is someone from a modest background who rose through the ranks,” Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse. […] Martinez, 49, joined the Louvre in 1997 shortly after a three-year stint in Greece where he took part in archeological digs in Delos and Delphi and helping renovate Delphi’s archeological museum. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Greek, and also speaks Italian.

At the Louvre, he oversaw the decade-long renovation of the Greek antiquities gallery, where the Venus de Milo is showcased.

Most recently, he curated the main gallery of the Louvre’s new branch in Lens, northern France, a former coal-mining town. Louvre Lens, opened in December, is the museum’s very first offshoot outside Paris.

France Names Jean-Luc Martinez as New Chief of Louvre (Bloomberg)