The Louvre's Michelangelo/Rodin Exhibit

Monday morning, the 20th, we did the Louvre's very large exhibit comparing/contrasting two of the great sculptors, Michelangelo and Rodin. Vicki likes the non finito Michelangelos and especially the Slaves. I'm more a Bernini guy and can't keep a straight face looking at a Rodin. We finally did the Rodin Museum last year, and, candidly, learned more of his team approach and technique at the Louvre.  Rodin was more the designer, architect, and general contractor, leaving the actual sculpting, casting, etc., to his legion of assistants. Evidently, the marble did not speak to him as it did to Michelangelo. As usual, the interpretive stuff at the Louvre was everything you could hope for, so I'm posting much of it rather than supplying my own, um, interpretations. Click to enlarge and read. A lot.

Opening hall

One of the M's Slaves

Try to get into this position without tearing a muscle or
tendon

Click, read

Mr. Twisty

Mr. Big Hands

Study for one of the Burgers; probably Cheeseburger

Important message

19th century painting imagining Pope Julius visiting the studio
of Michelangelo; likely origin of the famous Monty Python sketch

Delacroix's Michelangelo in his Studio

Summary: M was challenged by the ancients, R by M

Degas sketch of the Sleeping Slave; before he was into
tutus and ballet

Assorted Rodin sketches of the Rebellious Slave

More Rodin sketches, Slaves, etc.; interesting to follow the
process....

M, Two Men Facing Right...after Giotto, 1490

M, Expulsion, after Masaccio, later than but near the place,
Brancusi Chapel, where Torrigiano busted M's nose

19th century porcelain planter featuring Atlantes suggested by
Michelangelo's Ecorche; also, Vicki liked it

Models of the M's Medici tombs; "Night and Day, you are the one..."

More R drawings, studies

Actually interesting...trying to illustrate M's claim that he
was liberating the form from the block of marble...Giuseppi
Penone, late 1960s

Both M and R practiced non finito, although for different reasons and
through different practices...R delegated marble work to actual sculptors...

R, The Thought, 1895, carved by Victor Peter, after an original
sculpture by Camille Claudel...Team Rodin

Definitely on the quiz: tells you what you need to know about
their methods, especially R's

Obligatory down-sized version; these puppies don't travel

The great Robin Williams...not part of the exhibit

From an 1838 plaster cast of the original, in the Church of St. Peter
in Chains, Rome (our shot of the original, 2011, is here); the
horns are a mistranslation; like "virgin"

Bronzed-up model of M's vision of Samson and the
Philistines, for a 1528 Florence companion to the David;
never realized


The End

Windows of St. Etienne du Mont

Not the windows in the church itself but rather those in an adjacent hall. They were moved to St. Etienne from St. Eustache, across the river, when the Germans began shelling Paris in 1918. Why St. Etienne was thought to be safer is a mystery to me, since St. Gervais, not a kilometer away, was struck by a shell during mass, killing more than 80 people. Anyhow, the windows, mostly 17th century, have stayed at St. Etienne's, and most importantly, they are down low where you can closely examine every square inch, up close and personal. They are not Medieval but are no less interesting, even mysterious, in their content...

Parishioner luncheon

Expulsion? 16th century; someone had seen Massacio's
Expulsion?

St. Etienne's famously curves a bit to the left...

Annunciation; among other scenes

They are all Biblical scenes, sort of, although sometimes convoluted
by 15 centuries of layered interpretation, metaphor; click to enlarge

Ever popular Jesus on the wine press image; 33 AD
was a great vintage...

Personal favorite, unicorn on the ark

Not whimsy...someone conceived this, explained it, some authority
OK'd it, someone spent days executing it, and days mounting it...
someone explain it to me...it's got to be more than New Testament
superseding the Old...

Abe and the three angels...very definitely Renaissance, not
Medieval, but no less of interest; note the angels are walking away...
maybe just taxiing prior to take-off...

St. Etienne du Mont, 2026

We visited the church of St. Etienne du Mont in 2014, relatively early in our education about religious art and architecture. The main things I remember are that a) it really is a bit of a mont, especially if you're approaching from the river, b) it's one of those mixed designs, starting out as very late flamboyant Gothic, ending up as Renaissance, and c) the stained glass window depicting (unforgettably) Noah's ark with a unicorn aboard. As we'll see below, there's plenty more. The 2014 visit is recorded here.

Full frontal; we did visit St. Etienne's in 2024, exterior
only to get a shot of me sitting on the steps, as Gil Pender
did, in Midnight in Paris; it wasn't midnight though

Inside; everything you need to know; and in English too

The main thing is the rood screen, the only one remaining in Paris;
it's the bridge-looking thing...

Very beautifully designed and carved; the rood screen was meant to
keep the knaves ignorant of the mumbo jumbo/hocus pocus the 
priests were doing up front; abolished by the Council of Trent, after
the Reformation; apparently St. Etitenne did not get the memo 

Another thing...the incredibly carved pulpit...details
below

And another thing, the great 17th century organ case; too bad
about the rose window

Carvings on the pulpit

Samson; not Hercules

Charity and the children

We are now moving along toward the shrine of St. Genevieve, patron
saint of Paris; we're still pondering what the system is...

Medieval burials along the way

Also along the way, burial of philosopher Blaise Pascal;

lost his wager, but did get this nice plaque

Some of what you might want to know about all this; 
Genevieve saved Paris from Attila in the 5th century...
among other good works

The Revolution hated the Church as much as the monarchy, 
murdering priests and nuns right and left, desecrating churches and
monuments; Genevieve was not helped by having been appropriated
by the royals; her bones were put on trial, convicted, burned, and the
ashes tossed into the Seine; what's in the box is just the slab her bones
originally rested on, miraculously found; but, hey, it's the efficacy,
right?

Do not stuff your messages to the saint into the box; very difficult
to clean out

Put them here

Helpful map of the area, which enabled us to get to the flea market
on Rue Soufflot...after we had seen St. Etienne's great windows...
next post...

Omnipresent influencers by the Pantheon; modeling their
footwear 

Our day ended, a few hours later, with an excellent
vide grenier on the Rue Soufflot