PARIS-LOUVRE(4)- A DETAILED VISIT PART 2
Jack
Tour of the French paintings start in the Richelieu 3 aisle, second
floor to continue ( always on the 2nd floor) all along Sully 4, 5, 6,
7; Then on the 1st floor Denon aisle 8 and 9, the great formats of the
19th century.
200 works, from the primitives to Poussin, are visible in the 18 new
galleries of the Richelieu aisle, imagined by I.M.Pei.
---Gallery 1 : Portrait de Jean le Bon, painted about 1350. First well
kept French portrait of the 14th.
---Gallery 4 : the famous " Pieta of Villeneuve-les-Avignon"
---Gallery 6 : French painting seem to resuscitate middle 15th,
through important regional schools. First influences of the
Renaissance.
---Galleries 7 and 8 :the 16th century portrait painters represented
by Clouet . portrait of Francois 1er, drawed by pencil, seen full face
and small format.
---Galleries 9 and 10 : the arrival of Italians in France ( Leonardo
da Vinci, Rosso, il Primatice) shakes up the French genre who passes
from the medieval style to " mannerism"
---Gallery 11 : in reaction to the excesses of mannerism, the
generation of Vouet, Valentin, Poussin will turn to the naturalist
movement issued out of the art of Caravaggio.
---Galleries 13, 14, 16, 18 :a quarter of the work of Nicolas Poussin
is present at the Louvre, so we can follow the evolution of that
"philosopher" artist of the 17th. : his early years of Roman influence
( les Bacchanales) to the mature works ( Autoportrait) and the end of
his career ( The Seasons, Apollo and Daphne). A splendid octagonal
gallery ( 16) was specially imagined for Poussin's "Les Quatre
Saisons".
---Gallery 15 : another inspired master with light effects :Claude
Gellee, said Le Lorrain, with "Port de mer au soleil couchant"
--Gallery 17 : A REST GALLERY ! Yes, yes ! They foresee your most
secret wishes :-)
The circuit goes on in the Sully aisle.
---Gallery 28 : the marvelous light effects of Georges de la Tour
(most of his works are now on display at the La Tour exhibition in the
Grand Palais) . "Madeleine a la veilleuse", Adoration des Bergers",
"Saint-Thomas", " Le Tricheur" etc;;;
---Gallery 29 : the brothers Le Nain, " reality painters" of the 17th
known for their sincerity and their skill of observation. "La Tabagie,
" La Forge", " Famille de paysans dans un interieur".
---Galleries 31,32 : religious paintings of the 17 th.
---Gallery 36 (Salle Watteau) : with the famous Pierrot portrait
called " Gilles", " Nymphe te Satyre, " Pelerinage a l'ile de
Cythere". Then Nicloas Lancret, De Try and the court painters of Louis
XV, Van Loo, Boucher. " Louis XV" nice pastel of Quentin de la Tour
--Gallery 46 ( Salle Boucher) : with "l'Enlevement d'Europe", " Les
Forges de Vulcain" ( refreshing and cheering charm)
---Gallery 48 ( Salle Fragonard) : i don't present him anymore. Also
Vigee-Lebrun, who realized a superb portrait of Hubert Robert ( with a
vigorous and expressive stroke). Hubert is that artist who painted
mostly ruins. You see works of him in this gallery. A Greuze with a
moralizing message " La Malediction Paternelle" and the logic effect
"Le Fils Puni".
---Gallery 51 ( Salle Greuze) : in the face of "l'Oiseau mort" you can
already see how Renoir will paint 120 years later.
---Gallery 60 ( Salle Ingres ) : the famous " La Baigneuse " and
"Louis-Francois-Bertin", symbol of the sitting and triumphant
bourgeoisie. He greatly worried about every detail ! Notice the
reflection of the window on the back of the chair !
--- Gallery 61 ( Salle Gericault) : " Scene de Deluge and "Officier de
chasse a cheval" full of lyrical impetuosity, of flamboyance. A lot of
horses in the works of Gericault ( no wonder he died falling off of a
horse ! ) . From Horace Vernet " La Barriere de Clichy" a painting
afflicted by the 3 major sins of painting in the 1st half of the 19th
century : academism, conservatism and obsolete patriotism.......
Quick, quick, the romantics and impressionists !!
---Gallery 62 ( Salle Delacroix ) :as for Gericault, his major works
" Femmes d'Alger", " La Liberte", etc. remained at the first floor of
Denon. Nevertheless here you find " l'Assassinat de l'Eveque de
Liege", the famous "Autoportrait ", "Frederic Chopin ", " Noces juives
au Maroc" etc..
Then the Ecole de Barbizon : " Botteleur de foins " by Millet.
Incredible ! In 1850, this gentle painting scared the hell out of the
bourgeois !They accused him of being a socialist painter. Certain even
saw here an appeal to revolution ! How cracked you can get....
-- To finis, about a hundred paintings of Corot, i hope they are in
now after traveling over several exhibitions.Masterworks : "Zingara au
tambour Basque", Jeune Fille Grecque a la fontaine, Souvenir de
Castelgandolfo ( sweet and agreeable Italian light), "Femme a la
Perle", "Souvenir de Mortefontaine" (beautiful, slight touch,
quivered, vaporous ambiance). One can imagine that Corot was already
influenced by the first photographic cliches, who were mostly blurred?
One of my favorite, " La Dame en Bleu", i like the natural of her
posing. A few elements in the brushing announces the Impressionism.
The last galleries of the French paintings will come in next posting.
Jack