Martin Schongauer at the Louvre

We finally got back to the Louvre on April 15th, but not much further than the special exhibition of works by the late 15th century engraver and painter Martin Schongauer. Few of Schongauer's paintings have survived, but there are plenty of prints from the more than 100 engravings he did in his short life. He is widely regarded as the first to really make a go of artistic engraving and printing (Gutenberg was just a couple decades earlier) and was idolized by Durer, a generation younger, who, apart from being the master engraver/printer, was a major collector of Schongauer prints. We have been encountering Schongauer here and there since our 2011 visit to Colmar, and possibly earlier. We were there last in 2023.

But first, in the Tuileries...

Marveling at the lengths the French will go to to conceal unsightly
renovation, redesign...

Click to enlarge and read

All the biographical stuff was music to my ears, since
I'd just finished my Life and Art of René Ssance, who
would have been a younger contemporary of Schongauer

Crucifixion with Four Angels...the size and detail are
incredible; Schongauer's education as a goldsmith is
evident in all the engravings; the print itself is maybe
5x7 inches...

Holy Family, 1470s; oil on lime wood panel

Adoration of the Shepherds, oil on oak panel

Madonna and Child at the Window, 1475; all the
paintings are oil...we're two generations after van Eyck

Madonna of the Carnation, pen and ink, 1470

Two panels, four massacres/martyrdoms...St. Bartholomew,
the Innocents, St. Acacius and the Ten Thousand, and [not
to be outdone...] St. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins

St. Anthony (not being tempted) and Nativity; note
Baby J head piercing

Non Tocare (you can look but you can't touch) and a Doubting Thomas;
late 1470s; according to the Louvre, only the Doubting Thomas Jesus is
by Schongauer, the other by his workshop

Madonna of the Rose Bower, 1473, Schongauer's most famous work, much cut
down in the 19th century

As we saw it in Colmar in 2023

Adoration of the Magi, 1475

"Take that, Saracen Pig!" very late 1400s. possibly not by Schongauer

Two St. Michael and the Dragon scenes...barely larger
than postage stamps, but incredibly detailed...the goldsmithing
skill and perfect eyesight are so impressive

Torment of St. Catherine; painted about 1500, possibly
in Krakow, from a Schongauer print

Illuminated books of the era

Schongauer's Road to Calvary, 1470-75, said to be the largest engraving/print of the 15th century; in
an adjacent small theater the Louvre showed a video looking at this print in detail, explaining the setting, technique, symbolism, etc.; and in English, too; we used to skip displays like this; now we never miss one

OK, so now we have moved on to the Hall of the Caryatids, Greek
and Hellenistic sculpture, appreciating this scene of Patsy, from
Monty Python and the Holy Grail...

And later...it's gone! Off to a "metamorphoses" exhibit at the Rijksmuseum...
the famous Louvre Hermaphrodite...

As seen at the Louvre/Lens some years ago

Always fun to watch people approaching from astern and then...
"Oh my! Oh dear!"