Paris Day 6 - The Louvre - Richlieu wing (the first 4 paintings?!)

 

hopping off the #27 bus

My ticket for the Louvre had me starting at 1pm.  That gave us time for an early start at breakfast, plus a real french adventure:  laundry!  I had suggested we just let the hotel do it, but when Steve saw the price list, he became very motivated to find a local laundromat and do it himself... living the real life! 

Steve smiling since he is NOT joining me inside!

After that, he figured out the bus route to get me to the Louvre (the 27) and he hopped on with me to make sure i could find my way.  Success!   I managed to get two photos with him in front of the Louvre, but that is about as close as he wanted to get.  So.... the wind in my hair, we parted ways, him to walk up the Rue de Rivoli, and me to enter the pyramid!

I love the building, and will upload my photos of structure in another post, including here just one shot from the entry, after I was in the building, and had picked up my audio guide.  Oh yes, the audio guide?!  A Ninetendo DS?!   I was a bit skeptical at first, but quickly became a convert. 

Not only could it tell me about selected works, but it included images where you could zoom in on details, see a room in 3D, tell me where I was in the museum, and sketch out paths to move from one place to another.   I loved it so much that I ran down the battery on the first one, and had to trade it in for a second one!  :-) 

I started off with a painting of Jean le bon (the good).  This is one of the first modern painted portraits (sometime in the mid 1300s).  He was painted in profile (we are told) as a way of responding to the popularity of engraved medals.    OK.  I also do like a good profile. 

I thought I might try a sketch later of the two of us in conversation, so I took a photo to use as a reference later.  (I also went out later to read more on this painting, and found this site: https://accrochages.wordpress.com/2016/09/28/appo-1-attributionnisme-du-plus-ancien-portrait-le-portrait-de-jean-ii-le-bon/

The Martyrdom of St. Denis

So, this one is by Henri Bellchose, 1416, "The Martyrdom of St. Denis". This one made me think about our conversations a few days ago with a waiter who had a bunch of manga character tattoos on his arm.  He gave me a few suggestions for some additional manga to check out, warning me that one of them had a bunch of violence in it.  So... I would say that this painting had a bunch of violence in it.   

The graphic explicitness of this martyrdom begins with the centre, and the crucifiction scene.   So.... we have the cross, God supporting it at the top, and the holy spirit (as a dove) floating in the middle between God and Christ.   And yep, it is not just nails in hands and feet, but also a full out capture of the side wound in Christ. The violence continues through the main story, which is the martyrdom of St. Denis, and in fact, i think you needed to read it a bit like manga, as if it had a bunch of panels in it. 

I guess you can start on the right corner where St. Denis appears to be imprisoned, hands bound, and Christ (also wearing matching blue robes) is giving him the sacrement.

Then, the action switches to the other side of the panel.   But this does have to read cinematically, with one scene following the others.

We begin with St. Denis in a public space (there are people gathered around in the background, presumably there for the show?), ready for what is to follow.

Then, the action switches to the executioner, who has that giant axe up over his head (again, you can see the folks who are chatting in the background)

And then, ba-chung!  Note that St. Denis has at least been given a blindfold (and has his hat sort of on his head).  But it seems also that one cut might not have been quite enough.

But we do get another shot of the head, where both hat and blindfold are gone (and we do have some gore as blood is still spurting out!

Yep, head and body have been separated from eachother.

So....having spent some time with the bloody history of martyrdom, I spent some time in front of another piece that was a bit less about the violence, and more about emotion.   This one was a Pieta (mid 1400s). It is by Enguerrand QUARTON, called "La Pieta de Villeneuve-les-Avignon" (around 1455).

I really enjoyed checking out the writing on the painting.  The painting is on wood, and you can see all the etching into the painting, placing the names of the characters into the scene.... also the lovely Latin text around the edges, calling out to those who see it to reflect on the suffering of the world.  

The virgin Mary

Mary Magdalene

"the Cantor"

 I kinda like the face of the Cantor on the left (presumably the person paying for the painting?). His face looks so 'modern' [in ways that make visible the differences between the world in which he lives, and the memory/past on which he reflects.   And the gold is just awesome.

Then, off to another religious panel.  So, this beauty is "The Crucifiction of the Parlement of Paris" (circa 1452).  

This time, I took the time to sit and sketch.  It was lovely to relax in the quiet, relistening to the audiotrack (which came with bits of medieval music... made me have flashbacks to my music undergrad years).  In the centre, we have the grieving women (the three holy Marys?) and St John the Evangelist.

On the right hand side is St Louis

 and John the Baptist (OK.  the little lamb in the book is the give away on John, but St. Louis is not one of those whose 'signs' are familiar to me, so thanks Wikipedia).

 On the right side, I had better luck at identifying folks.  I was pretty sure that the guy holding his own head had to be St. Denis (see photos above).  

A closeup detail of this painting draws some close visual referents to the other one (both in terms of the severed head and the blood which seems to continue spouting in a truly miraculous fashion). 

a little dog, getting eye contact with the viewer

I also love it that he has a little dog at his feet. Not sure if it belong to him, or to the guy beside him (or to those who commissioned the painting), but it is a cutie.

But back to the painting above, I was not sure about the identity of the guy on the far right of the painting, the one with the curly hair and pointy hat (though he looked a bit like a magician?).  The audio track filled me in, telling me it was supposed to be Charlemagne.   

Now THAT was interesting. 

For years, I have been reading in the biography of our ancestor "Elias Adams: Pioneer", that our family is related to Charlemagne.  I have often read this with a grain of salt (or thinking of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, whose family name was Darbyfield, but whose father was always asserting former glory days!)

But somehow, standing in front of this portrait, I began to wonder if it might actually be true. ...  I mean, i just kept thinking of all of our family photos of Duncan...   Now, if we imagine this photo without the glasses and with the addition of a pointy hat?   What do you think?  

family resemblance to Charlemagne?

When you spend time trying to sketch a painting, you have time to look for details.   So.... here is my sketch.  And here are some of the details i did not add in, but which caught my attention:

a group hanging out by the Seine.  I like the guy looking over the edge

a battle between 'Team Angel' and 'Team Demon'

group of people hanging around for the crucifiction?

close up on the footware?

I did love those two guys and their style.  Both dressed nicely, and with very awesome shoes.   Seemed like they were wearing the Fluevogs of their time! 

And that took me to through the first couple of rooms in the Louvre.  I wondered about speeding up, but I was really having a good time.  (to be continued:  https://larchhaven.blogspot.com/2024/08/paris-day-6-still-in-richelieu-wing.html)