At the Louvre

Thursday, Jon and I went to Paris by train to visit the Louvre. We had a lovely day. That's us in front of the Louvre. You can see the gathering masses and the gates in front of the museum but unfortunately you can't realy see that we're in front of the Louvre.

We didn't see too much of the Louvre so we wouldn't be overwhelmed. We focused mostly on the 17th & 18th century Italian painters. It's in that section that you can see the Mona Lisa. Things have changed since I'd been there 18 years previously. The first time I saw the Mona Lisa I remember people taking pictures. This time around, no one was allowed to take pictures of the Mona Lisa or of any other painting for that matter.

The museum's collection is remarkable. You wouldn't believe the paintings they have. I love Renaissance art because often the subject is religion and there were many religious paintings to be found in this section. I don't understand my attraction to these tableaus which generally depict stories from the new testament.

We also visited the gallery which featured giant paintings by French painters. You just can't go wrong.

We were able to take pictures in the various sculpture galleries. Here are some of my favorites from the Greek and Roman collections.





This sculpture really made an impression on me. It's a man butchering an animal and it shows incredible detail as he reaches in and disembowels the beast. I can't get over how specific the artist was in explaining a butcher's vocation.