The Louvre at Night II

Please excuse our long silence! We've been hosting visitors and going on a trip or two of our own, all of which has provided us with much blog fodder, but also put us a little behind on our work. So here's a little of what we've been up to.

Going to the Louvre during its extended hours on Wednesday and Friday nights has become something of a staple for us. After a full day of work, we only want to go for an hour or two. At night, on our short trips, it seems okay to visit only one section of the museum and then go home, or to try something we know less about. The museum is less crowded--in places, almost empty, which makes me feel like some kind of intrepid museum explorer discovering secret art. Also sometimes this odd dance/music performance is going on throughout the museum, sending eerie noises through the halls. Here are some things we've seen.

 

Our route to the museum usually takes us past the "Elvis My Happiness La Boutique." Actually, our route to church goes there too, so we have ample opportunity to ponder why this store exists. (It seems to mostly sell Elvis paraphernalia in French, if you were wondering.)

Some spaces blend historic architectural elements into the modern museum. This is called the Henry IV staircase; I'm not sure if it was originally part of the Louvre or was later moved in.
 

 

Speaking of historic architecture--the Louvre used to be a palace (actually a series of palaces?) and some of the apartments of Napoleon III are preserved as part of the "objects d'art" wing. This photo is from a grand salon, each corner of which is decorated with the symbols of some art or another--sculpture, painting, etc. Here we were amused to learn that apparently Raphael's face (based on his presumed self-portrait in the School of Athens) is a symbol of painting, along with brushes and a palette! Super gaudy, but kind of awesome?

 

Meanwhile, the medieval decorative arts wing is somewhat structured around the idea that the middle ages were a time when France was great. It's funny for me because it's such a big change from American collections of medieval art, which have no such national history to interest them. This guy greets you when you walk in:

The sign says that he is "Charlemagne" and then in parentheses "Or Charles the Bald" and then in smaller type mentions that it was sculpted a century after Charlemagne's death. I still like the statue. It's like a mini Roman emperor, which is sort of appropriate for Charlemagne. But here's his sword:

At least, that is what the plaque says... noting afterwards that this one was created about three centuries after his life. Hm.

In another room, Abbot Suger's treasures (unlike the Charlemagne stuff, actually created by Suger) are prominently displayed. He talks about this eagle specifically in his treatise, so that's pretty exciting (to me):

The medieval section also includes tons of these tiny, finely-carved ivories.

I like the one on the left because of its portrayal of scribes at work! Probably they are supposed to be the four Evangelists, but they have a very medieval "library" on display--that box in the middle for holding books. On the right, you can see some original colors. I love the rosy cheeks, and knowing that many medieval things were not the stark, apparently restrained white or grey that they appear to us today.

Finally, on our most recent trip we had a very exciting special visitor, of whom more later. So we ventured back into the Grand Gallery, which contains a mixture of paintings I am very excited about with paintings I'm not excited about at all, is very long, and is crowded even at night:

This also meant we were finally able to have a picture of both of us at the same time--standing awkwardly in front of classical statuary, of course. Hello!