Our default Paris destination is the Louvre, and we got there several more times, not for anything in particular--those will be separate posts--but just to look around, visit old favorites, often learn something new. Sometimes there would be a goal, e.g., the special donor room with the few Monets and Renoirs, and finding it in spite of mistaken memories and misleading advice from the guards, and leading to more new discoveries. Anyhow, here are a few pix from some of these visits.
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The Louvre has just this one Bosch, traditionally entitled
The Ship of Fools, but it's got a great story...a reference to
Sebastian Brandt's 1493 bestseller Das Narranschiff, a humanist
social critique, with illustrations by a young Albrect Durer; Bosch's
painting may well have derived from Durer's frontispiece
woodcut; the painting itself is the upper bit of the left side
of a triptych concerning the seven deadly sins; the lower bit is
at Yale, and the right panel, concerning the death of the wealthy man,
is at the National Gallery in DC; nothing is known of the missing
central panel; an incredible intersection nonetheless... |
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Piter Huys, Temptations of Anthony, 1547; never miss a Temptation
of Anthony... |
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Unknown, copy of Elder Peter Breughel's Parable of the Blind,
later 1500s; we saw the original at Capodimonte long ago |
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| Younger Holbein, Erasmus, early 16th |
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| Frans Pourbus, Last Supper, 1618 |
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Rarely, if ever, do depictions of the Last Supper include the
wait-staff; but, in Pourbus' rendition, here they are; the guy
on the right seems to be saying "look out, I think the guy with
his hair on fire may have ordered red wine..."
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Preview of upcoming attractions: the Tuileries, Place de la Concorde,
the Cauldron, the Grand Palais...stay tuned... |
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Now we are in the bowels of the Louvre, learning about the architectural
and other history of the place |
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| Early sketch of the Pyramide |
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| Just hilarious, some people thought... |
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| Huge, detailed, colorful model |
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| Same model, looking back from the Place de la Concorde |
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Moving right along, another day, another place, we are looking
at the oldest artifact in Louve...the 9,000 year old Ain Ghazal
statue, a pre-pottery statue form neolithic Jordan...on 30-year
loan to the Louvre |
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| "Don't make my butt too big," #1,592 |
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The Met has a wing closed and so has loaned the Louvre a
number of items that complement holdings of the latter...
"Dialogues d'Antiquities Orientales"; here is one, a silver-gilt
drinking horn, Anatolia, 5th BCE |
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| Humongous temple column, Assyrian |
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| More drinking horns |
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Silver plate of King Yazgard slaying a deer, Iran early 5th CE; from
the Met |
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| Yes, but is it dishwasher safe? |
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| Assyrian orthostat |
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| More from the Met: copper temple foundation pegs, c. 2100 BCE |
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Another day, another building...the ever-popular Hall of Apollo;
royal jewels, etc. |
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A couple of Vicki's favorite Botticelli frescoes...Venus introducing a
young woman to the Three Graces |
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| Venus introducing a young man to the seven liberal arts |
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| A late Giotto Crucifixion |
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In the Louvre, no matter what's on the walls, always look up;
what's there can be as significant as the other stuff |
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| Tribute to Poussin |
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| Attempted book-burning |
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| Guards defending Mr. Smoky's Special Lady Friend |
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