The Louvre has been the one museum that I have wanted to visit or as long as I can remember. It holds some of the most precious pieces of art and history known to man. There are 6 da Vinci paintings, including the Mona Lisa. The Venus de Milo is another popular attraction. The Louvre was originally a royal palace but was given to the city in the 1800's and was made into a museum. They say it would take almost 3 months to go through the entire museum thoroughly. I apologize ahead of time for the quality of some of the photos. I was feeling very ill that day. The worst day ever to be sick, so I was not as motivated to take as many as I usually do.
Outside the museum there is an arch that lines up with the Arch di Triumph and Cleopatra's needle that you can behind.
The museum from the street.
The pyramids have become part of the iconic museum. You enter at the base of the largest pyramid.
Psyche and Amore is one of the most famous sculptures housed in the Louvre. It shows cupid and venus embracing.
There are two Michaelangelo sculptures as well. They are called the Divine Slaves.
Winged Victory of Samothrace from the stairs.
Winged Victory is a statue of the Greek Goddess Nike (victory) from the 3rd century B.C.
The Italian Renaissance hallway.
The following paintings are all da Vinci. I was suprised at how nonchalant the display for 5 of the paintings were. They just held a place in the hallway next to the work of much less famous painters.
John the Baptist
Portrait of a Woman (La belle Ferroniere). I used to paint replicas of this painting in my painting classes at the studio during high school for practice.
Virgin of the Rocks
The Virgin and Child with St. Anne. They just recently found never before seen sketches on the back of the wood paneling that it is painted on.
The 5 paintings lined up. I do not have a good picture of the smaller John the Baptist Portrait.
The Mona Lisa from afar.
As close as I could get.
The Mona Lisa is a very important painting because of what they have found under neither. Through infared scans and x-rays they have found a supposed self portrait of da Vinci. It is thought that da Vinci was rather open about his homosexuality and that the Mona Lisa may have been a portrait of himself as a woman. But, no one will ever know.
The Mona Lisa's actual title is Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy silk merchant. Da Vinci worked on this painting for at least 3 years, starting in Florence and then continued through his move to France and finished it shortly before his death in 1519. The French king bought the painting and kept it at Chateau Fontainebleau. It remained there until it was given to Louis XIV and was then moved to Chateau Versaille. After the French Revolution it was moved to the Louvre, then a palace. Then it was put in Napoleon I's bedroom at the Tuileries Palace. It was put in a hiding place somewhere in France during the Franco-Prussian War and then moved back to the Louvre where it resides today. It did not catch the attention of the public until the mid 19th century when the Symbolist movement and eventually the feminist movements began. The actual subject of the painting has been a subject of much scrutiny. Scholars have named many famous women from the time as well as da Vinci's mother and himself as the actually sitter or model. Da Vinci had nicknamed the painting la Giocondo which means "merry one". Which all of the people above had been referred to. The name Mona comes from a shortened version of madonna. It is a polite form of address similar to Ma'am or my lady.
The painting became very famous when it was stolen from the Louvre in August of 1911. The guards assumed that it had been taken to be photographed and it was an entire day before the museum realized it had been stolen. A few anti-Louvre artists were arrested and even Pablo Picasso was brought in for questioning. It was two years until the painting turned up. A louvre employee has hid the painting in a broom closet and taken it out of the museum hidden under his jacket. He was discovered two years later when he tried to sell the painting to the Uffizi gallery in Florence. Since then it has gone into hiding during WWII, been vandalized by acid, and been stoned by a Bolivian. Good thing security technology has advanced.
Currently the painting is kept in a strictly climate controlled environment and surrounded by bullet-proof glass at all times to prevent further natural or human caused damage. Because the painting is on a poplar wood panel it warps very quickly. Anyone who knows anything about famous paintings knows that the frames are just as important and sometimes just as expensive as the actual art. The Mona Lisa has been reframed many times and her current frame was a gift from the Countess of Bearn in 1906.
Infared scans have found that the Mona Lisa's hair is not actually sitting on her shoulders it is pulled back into a Chignon bun and covered by a veil. It is difficult to see that in the paintings current state. Long, loose hair on the shoulders would have signified a young unmarried girl or perhaps a prostitute at the time, they have now ruled out those options.
The painting was estimated to be worth $670 million dollars in 2006.
That was the Mona Lisa in a nutshell for those of you who don't have an unhealthy obsession like me.
The Mona Lisa and her fans.
Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix
The coronation of Napoleon I and Josephine at Notre Dame
The Venus de Milo. She is famous for having no arms, obviously. They are not infact possitive that this actually is a statue of Venus (Aphrodite in Greek) because of her missing limbs. The limbs were never found but if they were they would signify if she is the statue or not. She would be holding something in particular or they would be resting in a particular way. The face is very similar to that of Botticeli's Birth of Venus painting though.
I just thought this was funny.
The foundation of the medieval version of the castle.
Shrine of the Sphinx
Under the large pyramid where all of the wings connect.
Napoleon's apartments.
I could eat here.
A small throne for a short man.
Overall the Louvre was amazing. The other day I was thinking about all of the da Vinci paintings I have seen in the last 2 1/2 months. More than I thought I would see in a lifetime. I have now seen over half of the paintings known to the world by Leonardo da Vinci.
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