This is the street on the corner to the river and away from Notre Dame. Tiny. You have to be a brave driver not to mention cyclist around here.
So the river is at the end then you cross over a bridge, turn left and walk down beside the river until you get to the Louvre.
Sunday was pleasant - not the cleverest day to go to the Louvre but I reckoned if I could cope on the weekend then any other day would seem quieter.
It's a fantastic public space. I M Pei's design for the new entrance is so much more than meets the eye! It's huge underneath with a few extra entrances so you can avoid the mile long line up.
Well you certainly need the basic map that is provided in every language imaginable. But still you just have to relax and follow your nose and get lost then find your way again. I stared in the Sully wing with the history of the building and ended up in the cavernous early Medieval space where the very early castle has been partially unearthed. Pretty amazing. Then I ventured into what turned out to be the surviving chamber of the castle from the C12th or something incredible.
Then I found myself time travelling back to the Greek antiquities, then the Roman. I needed a quick fix of lunch and then with loins girded decided to do what I have always wanted to do - go and look at the Gericaults and the Davids.
Yes lots of people but if you stand in front of a work for longer than 10 seconds people move away. The Raft of Medusa was terrific and Gros's Napoleon Visiting Pest-House at Jaffa. But the Massacre of Chios by Delacroix was wonderful and seemed more alive than the writhing Death of Sardanapalas.
A shame but Delacroix's Liberty leading the People is not on show at the moment.
The two neoclassical works by David are in the previous hall and they are as smooth as in the reproductions only HUGE.
That was Sunday's visit. I went home happy.
I went again Monday and the crowds were much sparser. But on school days there are many school groups. I can't even imagine the NSW Education Department allowing one teacher and a class of primary kids to go into such a labyrinthine space! But they do here and the little ones are very cute. The senior students I saw were writing down very quickly everything the teacher was saying. So on the Monday I did all the French painting - well what's there which fills many rooms.
The French Carravaggisti caught my eye - I knew someone at home would be interested.
It really caught on but without the drama and guts of the real Caravaggio.
Then I spied Mischief our dear departed dog in a few of the Dutch paintings - this may reflect trade between Holland and England? After the English got rid of the Catholic James who was to follow after Charles II they put his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange on the throne. So maybe that's why you have English springers in the Dutch paintings?
In any case why not go looking for the dogs in these works!
Another one looking suspiciously like the former one.
The Rembrandt room was wonderful especially as there were several self portraits done about 30 years apart when his fortunes had changed.
This study of a side of beef is the great work I always use as an example of painting being about not what the subject may be but how it is painted.
The Hals are so fresh and I thought Barb would like this one.
I love this work, the paint is rapid and full of movement.
Watteau - I love this work and it's large.
Another large Watteau is known as The Embarkation for Cythera but I'm sure it's the Disembarkation from Cythera - they are looking back longingly at the statue of Venus which has been decorated with garlands. They all look sad and as if they don't want to go. I remember being so puzzled by this work at school but wanting to understand what it was all about.
This is one of many absolutely lovely works by Chardin. They are such terrific windows into the lives of people. There are many here.
I'm pretty sure this is by Gericault as I was surprised to see such a direct and minimal composition so early. He was horse mad and sadly died as a result of a fall when still quite young. He would have been a giant of French painting if he had continued to work. His work is fabulous in any case. It's a shame his paintings of the mad and incarcerated patients from an asylum aren't here. This was painted before Edwaerd Muybridge proved via sequential photos in the 1850's that when a horse gallops one of the legs is always on the ground - not like this as in a rocking horse. I saw another example of this rocking horse stance which looked very peculiar. I wish I had taken a photo as it will like looking for a needle in a haystack now to try and find it.
So the early c15th and C16th works were terrific - exquisite small religious works. The C15th Netherlandish rooms were closed but I am going back. I really want to see the Virgin by the Master of Flemalle. It's bringing all the art history I studied at Sydney Uni so many years ago flooding back.
I spent the rest of Monday loving the sculpture rooms. The courtyards are gorgeous. This is the one that has all the sculptures that once adorned Versaille.
There is room after room after room of marble works and going back in time was great because I think the work from the Gothic period is fantastic, very direct and more austere.
I had fun working out where I was and some of the grand stairways are just amazing as well as the old exits.
This is a good contrast between the functional bits of hallway joining the fabulous rooms and stairways.
So finally even though very tired I couldn't miss the opulent stairs to the apartments of Napoleon III - he of the extreme waxed moustaches and many illegitimate children one from whom my mother's family is supposed to descend.
This petite spiral staircase goes who knows where...
The dining room is frighteningly formal.
A sitting room
Its ceiling
Another reception room
A plainer smaller room
This was a wonderful gilded chandelier with cupids
However it was good to get outside into the fresh air - the apartments were just too much, no wonder they threw him out after 1871.
At the top of the escalators under the glass pyramid is a fabulous figurative sculpture about which I know nothing.
The history of this bit of land is drenched in blood and history not to mention so much money, it's just amazing. This is looking west towards the Tuileries.
This is looking north
North view. I exited through the Richelieu entrance.
So I walked home up past the Palais Royale and found this lovely little chapel which needs further investigation.
This is another wonderful landmark - when you are lost if you see this you know what direction to take.
This is I think the church of St Germain, this is one the street on the north side of the Louvre.
This is opposite the river on the south side of the museum. I walked home this way on the Sunday. The stone work on this part of the museum is so intricate, not to mention one of the former entrances being so opulent as below. You end up being a complete rubber neck but you wouldn't want to become blase about all of this!
