A Visit To The Louvre

Today’s main activity was a lengthy visit to the Louvre. This great museum has the world’s largest collection of objects. (The second largest museum is the British Museum, and the Hermitage is number three.) So of course we could not see everything. After Jim photographed the famed ancient Greek sculpture “The Winged Victory of Samothrace” we headed to the Italian paintings, to see the great Renaissance masterpieces by Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Leonardo, Titian, Veronese and Raphael. The ‘Mona Lisa’ is now protected by a double railing as well as a plastic wall, but it’s still possible to enjoy the most famous lady in art. After the Italian collection we saw the Spanish, Flemish, Dutch and Germans, and the huge trove of French paintings from the Renaissance to 1848. This included enormous canvases by David, Baron Gros, Gericault and Delacroix. Jim took photos of some of his favorite works, included not only the ‘Mona Lisa” but also treasures by Caravaggio, (“The Fortune Teller”), Raphael, (Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione), Delacroix (Liberty Leading the People) and Vermeer (The Lacemaker.) He was also greatly impressed by the buildings of the Louvre itself, much of which used to be a royal palace for many centuries. After the tour we returned to our St-Germain des Pres neighborhood for a brief lunch at the famed literary spot the Café de Flore. Tomorrow, it’s on to Strasbourg in Alsace. –Dan