Oh the Louvre! Today was spent roaming the Louvre Museum however it was a tough ride getting there. We left the campus about 10:30 but did get a train until 11:00. Apparently there was/is a strike going on for the train conductors. I now know why major cities cave to the conductor strikes, it really shuts down the city. We had to wait over twenty minutes and the train was so packed because they were running so infrequently they all had to jam in to already packed cars. It was not fun.
When we finally got to the Louvre I found it quite over whelming. We bought audio guides that were helpful and restricting myself to really not only one wing of the museum but one floor was a good way to stay in control, but I could spend years in there and it wouldn't be enough. I found many painting that I really liked and two that I will talk about in just a bit. I found that I really liked the French sections of what I saw because they tended to be much more varied in their subjects. Although they did have a bit of an homage to Napoleon (that rascal. The other sections that I distinctly remember were the Spanish and the Italian halls. These sections of paintings tended to be mainly of Jesus. Now I think Jesus is awesome and all that jazz but after the hundredth painting depicting either baby Jesus or something from his life and often of his death, it gets a bit monotonous after a while.
I often walked through rooms and found the ceiling to be just as interesting as the contents. I would have been happy with an empty room if the ceiling was as ornate as most of them were. The day was not as tiring as I expected it to but that maybe because it really was only four hours after an hour taken out for lunch. Which was a very overpriced sandwich and chocolate mousse thingy.
I of course got to see La Joconde or as it is known in English, Mona Lisa. I also saw Winged Victory (Victorie de Samothrace) and Venus d'Milo. I also went down and saw the mid-evil fortress base that still stands, which was pretty cool that that still exists. I saw many many beautiful and wonderful paintings and other artifacts/ sculptures. After my short visit to the Louvre (I plan on going back this Sunday) I went through part of the Tuileries Garden (I plan on visiting them again as well) and went to a super expensive place for chocolat chaude et macaroons. It was probably the best hot chocolate I will ever have. It was supper rich and creamy it was basically like drinking melted chocolate but better. It was also the first time I have ever had a macaroon, which was caramel flavored, and it was really sweet and delicious but I don't think I could do more than one in a sitting. However they may be less potent from somewhere cheaper and less grand.
So without further ado my analysis of a painting and then my pictures.
La Jaune Marytre (The Young Martyr)~ Paul Delaroche 1855
She is alone in the water, is the first thing you should notice. This may indicate that her cause may not have been very noble or that it may be a symbolic act instead of something that is done in hope of change. The beauty of her body is in stark contrast with the ugliness of her act. Martyrdom is not beautiful, of the acts are done without the persons consent or often knowledge that they will after they die be remembered that way. Her halo is floating near her head to indicate either her act is in the process of becoming holy or that fact that her act is that far away from being holy. This women's greatest act was her death. The fact that she is tied up might show that she did not live the noblest life and in death she must be chain as she wasn't in life. Although she is painted dressed in white this maybe a symbol to show her purity/ redemption in death. In the upper right hand corner you can see the horizon behind a man on a horse. This shows a new day dawns on the one who will never see it. It shows the light that the horseman carries with him to the sight showing that he maybe enlightened and have a way to fix the young martyr's problem(s). I surmise that he, the horseman is good not only from the fact that light is traveling with him but that he has a quiver of arrows and they young girl has no wounds to indicate that is man was the cause of her death. This man is clearly looking for her and is too late, he might have been a family member but knowing the romantics it is more than likely a lover. A lover she couldn't have, which is why she is thrown in the water a death fit for the unfit. She has seemed to find peace a last with her face clean but it is most definitely a sad, mournful face. Upon reading the plaque after writing this all down I found out that is this a painting of Ophelia after she "kills herself" in Hamlet. So that might change how you see this painting. I surmise that the man more than likely is Hamlet her forbidden love come to rescue her and is too late.
I hope you have a good day and let me know if you have any places you would like me to see that I haven't already been to.
Jusqu'à demain
Bisous- Janice
Bisous- Janice
Outside the Louvre
Mona Lisa, it was a struggle to get to the front
That's just a ceiling!
Just like the ancients
Mid-Evil base
Outside in the garden
It was so yummy!
No comments:
Post a Comment