Napoleon III Apartments

Despite the humiliation of the Franco-Prussian War, we owe much of Paris, and of France, to Napoleon III, nephew of Napoleon I. #III, who had been elected President in 1848 or so, appointed himself Emperor a few years later, and then presided over the industrial revolution in France, had genuine concern for the masses, and made some great appoinments, mainly Baron Haussmann to rebuild Paris. Anyhow, in the 1860's this part of the Louvre was the State Department, so to speak, and what are called the Napoleon III Apartments are really the halls of state for reception, socializing, dining, and dealing. They are very nearly as they were in the reign of III and are as sumptuous and over the top as anything you'd see at Versailles, Garnier, or the Hotel de la Marine.

Love the menage a trois couch in the foreground

Musicians' balcony

Empress Eugenie

Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte III

Nice view

Louvre Loonies

Our Friends of the Louvre passes expired May 8th, so in the the days leading thereto, we visited the great museum several more times, seeing old friends, learning a few new things, and generally enjoying the freedom to come and go and enjoy without much waiting or hassle. As always, there was amusement, documented here. 

Crowds were about as big as we've ever seen; as they say, there is no
shoulder season anymore...

Disruptions, closures, etc., reminded us of COVID times...you never
knew in advance, they never knew ever, what rooms/divisions/wings
were going to be open or closed; the Louvre's extensive website includes
information on closures...not entirely reliable, we found; oh well, 
there's always plenty to see

"Open a little wider, please"

Vasari's Annunciation

Note Mary's gnarly toes

Il Francia's, Christ on the Cross with the Virgin Mary, St. John,
and St. Job [lounging indecently] at the Foot of the Cross, 1514;
St. Job? you ask...yes, he's an eastern church saint, a 17th
century Ukrainian, known more widely as St. Job of Pochayev;
you heard it first here

A couple huge reliefs we've walked by dozens of times...
"gotta get this speck of sand out of my eye"

Inspiration for Grapes of Wrath

Hoogstraten, The Slippers, 1652, possible doctoral 
dissertation topic: why are the two slippers, in this
allegory of Dutch household maintenance, of such 
different sizes? Explain with reference to Leibniz'
monads...[click to enlarge]

In the Sully (or possibly Denon or Richelieu) wing, 1st floor...I post
this photograph merely as a teaser for my forthcoming article
(https://artificialartifices.blogspot.com/) on the 10 best places to nap
in the Louvre)

Muse of the Chuckwagon..."Come and get it!"

"Our heavenly father, we beseech thee to make this bacon double
cheeseburger feed thirteen, wait, no, twelve people...and maybe some
fries...with ketchup"

What goes on behind the construction curtain

Posted very inconspicuously...never seen it before

Millet, Le Precaution Maternelle, 1855...still processing

 

So among our discoveries were a couple of rooms of scores of
Corot paintings--donations from a major collector--which should be
in the Orsay, but, hey, there was no Orsay then; Corot was a contemporary
of Courbet, a pre-Impressionist, sort of, very prolific, very influential; 
anyhow, this is Corot's decoration for a bathroom, toilette, for his friend
and patron Robert-Parfait Hubert

Fuller left-side view

A droite, as they say; I'm changing my name to Mark-Parfait Sherouse

Charles X awarding prizes for the 1824 Salon: "And Star Painter
for 1824 is.....................................................................................
a three-way tie between John Constable, Eugene Delacroix, and
Jean-August-Dominique Ingres"

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, In Your Dreams, 1830

Reading Room

Initially, we thought this might be Watching the Fireworks
from Fort Wilderness; but decided maybe not...

Jesus suffering the little ones...

Cranach, The Three Graces Stretching Before a Pose, 1531 

Naenius, The Artist Painting, with his Family, 1629; "don't make my 
nose too big"

Can't tell the players without a program

Lodewijk de Deyster, Angels and Allegorical Figures of the
Arts and Sciences Presenting the Thesis of Johannes de Vos,
a Resident of Bruges, 1695; how could the examination
committee turn it down?

"Hey, thanks for the stogie, but how about a light?!"

La Coupole

Wednesday May 8th we dined at La Coupole, another Montparnasse institution. All the usual 20s-30s-40s-50s suspects. The decor is art deco, dozens of pillars painted by local artists (paid in drinks, so the story goes), and great old photographs on the walls. It was National Crepes Suzette Day, so we had to do that too.

Vicki's onion soup

My assiette de fruits de mer (again, but slightly different from La Rotonde);
I think I have hit my oyster limit for this visit

The itty-bitty teenie-weenie shrimp were a challenge, and a mess,
but a very sweet flavor; the tiny sea snails, bulot (whelk in English?)
were again a challenge...

These are the utentsils provided for getting at the bulots;
I am keeping them as souvenirs and for subsequent 
practice if I can find any whelk in Orlando...before doing
the fruits de mer again, Vicki suggests I watch some YouTube
videos on bulot/whelk eating 

Walking around the cavernous restaurant

Simone de Beauvoir (!!!)

Josephine Baker (!!!)

Doing what men must do

Jacques Prevert and Marianne Oswald

Oyster home

Art Deco table and chair

Doing our crepes suzette; disappointingly, not table-side;
if you want table-side, go to Le Train Bleu; we will, next
year

Yum

Downstairs to

The very famous weekend dance hall

And other Art Deco amenities

Mirror shot

Tiled floor throughout

Louis Derbre, La Terre