Paris : Musee De Louvre
Paris: Musèe De Louvre!Monday (17th September), Steve and I had a little bit of a sleep in after our late night out on Steve's birthday and our excursion to Avenue Des Champs-Elysees and then to the Trocadèro to view the Eiffel Tower. It was well after lunch by the time we had our errm... BRUNCH and got organised. We decided to try and take the Louvre off our list of things to see as we were told it would be very busy and we would waste half the day lining up! Well, that was a complete falsity if I ever heard one! We got tickets straight away.. INFACT my line up to the ladies toilet prior to entry to the Louvre was longer than lining up for tickets! LOL...
The lack of the line may have had something to do with the fact that we arrived at the Musèe De Louvre at around 3pm after a lazy morning and a lazy walk from our hotel room. The weather was also looking a bit dubious that afternoon, so it may have had an affect on the number of people normally visiting the Museum that day. By the time we got into the museum (and my toilet trip) , we had probably about an hour and a half before the museum closed and they started to boot us out. We pulled out our museum plan, and decided to head towards the Italian & French Renaissance Art, and firstly to the "Mona Lisa" to see what all the fuss was about!
On the way to our Mona Lisa we passed some Roman Statues... and stuff, to be honest after being to the British Museum and the Oxford Ashmoleum Museum I was over the statues and wanted to head straight to the Renaissance Art, something I had never had the pleasure of viewing. The first building to be built on the grounds where the Louvre stands now was the "Castle Of The Louvre", which was founded by Phillip Augustus is 1190 and used as a palace to defend France from Platagenèt attacks. The first castle was then demolished and work begun on the new building (of the now existing Louvrè) in 1535.
The Grande Gallerie was added during the reign of King Henry IV, between 1589-1610, this huge addition was on the side of the River Seine. The Denon Wing (where the Mona Lisa is found) which had been begun by Catherine Medici in 1560 and the Richelieu Wing was completed between 1610-1643 while Louis XIII was in reign. The Richelieu wing originally housed the Ministry of Economy of France which was finally moved in 1993 and turned into a magnificent gallery. The Louvre Pyramid was commissioned by then French President Francois Mitterand opened in 1989.
Anyway, Steve and I made our way through the Denon Wing where the Mona Lisa is held and were greeted by a number of Renaissance paintings along the way... but, I have to first mention that some part of the Louvre corridors are art works themselves, particularly the ceilings (which I did take a couple pictures of) are exquisite. The photo's actually don't do them any justice, because of the angle of the light in the room, some of the photo's look a little reflective and the details isn't as clear as I would have liked them to be. As we wandered through the Italian Renaissance Gallery (13th-15th Century) we were presented with paintings from great artists like Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli & Veronese.
I must admit it was a little bit serile walking through a gallery surrounded with art that was so old and created by people as renowned through history as great artists of their time. Leonardo Da Vinci in particular was a polymath (a person with varied knowledge). He was a mathematician, engineer, architect, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, botanist, musician, poet & writer. Apart from his love of painting, he also had design ideas for a helicopter, a tank, a calculator and he also had also a theory for plate tectonics. Cool huh?
Where was I? Oh yeah, Da Vinci's paintings of interest in the gallery were of course "Mona Lisa" (1479 - 1542). It was named after Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a silk merchant. Apparently, Leonardo painted her to for their new home and to celebrate the birth of their son, Andrea. The painting has also been restored a number of times and previous X-ray examinations have shown that there are three versions of the Mona Lisa under the current one. Interesting uh? Other notable paintings by Da Vinci we saw were of St John the Baptiste (1513-1516), Virgin and Child with St Anne (1508) and Virgin on the Rocks (1483-1486). There are two versions of the Virgin on the Rocks, one that is held in the Louvre and the other at the National Gallery in London. One of the other important paintings we encountered at the Louvre, was the "Wedding Feast at Cana", by Paolo Veronese (1563) which hangs in the same room as the Mona Lisa.
From there we moved to the French Renaissance Gallery, which contained a number of works by Antoine Jean Gros featuring Napoleon Bonaparte. An artist by the name of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, painted Joan of Arc (she wasn't a very attractive woman! ) By the time we reached the French Renaissance Gallery, it was quite late in the afternoon and heading onto 5pm and we didn't have long before they booted us out of the museum. For any of you who have the privilege of stepping into the Louvre will know that the place is HUGE!! There are 4 main wings and a bucket load of things to look at, a whole day spent there wouldn't be enough time. Unlike the British Museum, the Louvre is not free. At 9 Euro's a ticket (which really isn't that awful), you'd want to get in as much as you possibly could. Still, museums kind of have a time limit with the attention span. Anymore than a couple of hours at a time and you don't retain much after that period. We've been back to the British Museum twice and still haven't covered it all. But you get the idea!
Anyway, after we were BOOTED out of the Louvre, we were greeted outdoors by a darkening sky and threatening clouds.. but we wandered down past the Arc De Triomphe Du Carrousel (1805) which Napoleon Bonaparte erected in honour of his victories... like the BIG ONE in town wasn't enough? The Jardin De Carrousel around it leads up to Place De La Concorde where there is a BIG Ferris wheel and an Obelisk. From there we actually wanted to head to the Eiffel Tower, to climb it (last ride up is at about 11pm), but the weather had turned and it was getting colder...so we decided to head back to the hotel room. We totally got caught in the rain (wet, cold and miserable!).... Stay Tuned....
For photo's from our visit to the Louvre :
