The Louvre -- my third visit

September 16, 2015

The Louvre is so huge that it would take several visits to take in everything.  This time, I decided I would like to look at the Egyptian antiquities and at the remnants of the ancient fortress that have been unearthed by excavating under the Cour Carree (the square courtyard at the easternmost section of the building).

As in my last visit, with my sister Ellen, I went on a Wednesday evening to avoid huge crowds, and I went to the "Tabac" in the underground mall (accessed from the Rue de Rivoli) to buy my ticket. However, with Ellen, I remember that we were then able to go directly upstairs into the museum, whereas this time I had to follow a rather confusing route all the way outside again to go in through the pyramid.  I'm not sure what the difference was... so it was a little more trouble than before, but probably still faster than standing in line to buy my ticket at the pyramid.

I first went to see the unearthed portions of the fortress, which existed from 1190 to the early 1500's, when it was rebuilt/repurposed as a palace.



Pretty impressive!  I then proceeded to the Egyptian antiquities, which were nearby (by Louvre standards).

Naturally, I gravitated towards representations of cats-- including cat statues (one of a mother cat and kitten), cat sarcophagi, and cat mummies!

(Looks like one got away...)

(Very cute!)



Glad to see cats so honored.  Other animals were represented as well, including a mummy of a ram:


and sarcophagi of fish!


(The notes suggested some connection of the fish to the Osiris legend.)

There were many human sarcophagi, of differing styles:



Several years ago, there was a remarkable exhibition on Egypt at the Portland Art Museum, and it dealt at length with the complex rituals associated with burial, at least for important individuals.  So I immediately recognized some items here, such as the jars used to hold specific groups of internal organs:


Below is just a section from a very long scroll outlining the stages of the journey towards the afterlife.  We saw similar scrolls in Portland.  This one was several yards (or I should say meters) long.


Also shown here were models of food items that would be placed in the tomb to sustain the deceased on their journey.  These are tiny models of poultry:


The following doesn't have anything to do with the death rituals, as far as I know; I just loved the beauty of the writing.  There was also some good information (mostly in French) about the complexities of interpreting hieroglyphics.


Having a reasonable amount of time and energy left at this point, I proceeded to the "French paintings" area, which was not too distant, by Louvre standards.  (I think the museum signage has improved since the last time I was there, but it's still a challenge.)

The Three Graces, by Jean-Baptiste Regnault, 1793-4 (during the Reign of Terror! I suppose one could still paint approved subjects...):


This is the portrait of Somebody, subtitled "Child Studying his Primer", by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, circa 1800.  No, I had never heard of her, but I was glad to see another woman artist:


At first I thought the subject was female also, but a little further research confirmed that it is a boy.  I suppose a girl would be less likely to be studying a primer in 1800 -- not that there's a lot of real studying going on here.

I liked this section of "Composition avec rideaux, paysage et animaux" (Composition with drapery, landscape and animals) by Nicolas de Largillierie, 1725-30:


Finally, I was glad to see that Winged Victory has been returned to her place; at my last visit, she was being restored.  However, for some reason they have decided to put her on a lower pedestal (for reasons of historical authenticity, I think), and the effect is just not the same.  Here are some photos from this visit:



And here is one I took in 2010:


Perhaps I was getting a better angle back then, since I had a more powerful zoom, but it's still not the same...  But then, I did not get a vote.  At least she is back.

Having done two museums in one day (the Petit Palais earlier, then this one in the evening), I took the next day off (for resting, groceries, laundry, etc.).  Another museum will follow...

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