Nov. 16: The Louvre

Today we spent a few hours in the Louvre. I have a free pass to go anytime I want so we generally just pop in for an hour or 2 at a time because, who am I kidding, I can only process so much in a museum during a given time. Perhaps it says something about me that my attention span for a museum is less than that for a crappy teeny-bobber movie? At any rate, we decided to visit the German, Flemish and Dutch Paintings. Here are some of my highlights:

The Beggars (Pieter Brugel the Elder)

1568

This is a very small picture. I found it quite amusing. Apparently it could be a social satire where the beggars represent different classes of society that are on their way to destruction. The classes are indicated by their headgear: a cardboard crown for the king, a paper coiffe for the army, a beret for the bourgeoisie, a cap for the peasantry, and a bishop's mitre for the church.

The Village Fete (Peter Paul RUBENS)

1635-1638

This picture depicts what I want to do every weekend...eat, drink, dance and be merry with the ones that you love! Apparently, the landscape was painted ~15 years prior to the rest of the painting. The feast is most likely representing the end of the harvest (as noticed by the sheaves of wheat in the foreground). My favorite thing about this painting is the pig's snout poking out of the sty in the bottom right - this is a symbol of gluttony, which is meant to empahisize the picture's moralist intentions.

The Baptism of Christ (Cornelis van Haarlem)

1588

I just found that the actual part of the picture showing the baptism gave me a very eerie feeling - it just seems so dark and cold. If you look above the baptism you will see a dove flying towards you - I suspect that this is representative of the Holy Ghost.

The Slaughtered Ox (Rembrandt Harmenzoon van Rijn)

1655

There are a lot of things one can interpret from this painting ranging from how a once powerful beast has been brought to death not by his own wishes but by those of others. Now he hangs in the same form as Christ during the crusifiction and like Christ, eating his flesh will provide nourishment and salvation to those that eat it. The woman in the background has a slightly bowed head, almost giving respect and honor. Or it is just a dead Ox...you choose!

The Lacemaker (Johannes Vermeer)

1665-1675

This was my whole motivation to going to the Louvre today...I really wanted to see this painting. The book to her right is likely the bible and highlights Vermeer's fascination of combining everyday objects around him into his paintings. I found this picture very peaceful - by being drawn into and focused into the task in which she is very clearly concentrating on gave me the same comfoting feeling I have when working on similar tasks (i.e. making a model as a kid). The picture is done to center our attention on her painstaking work as it is focused and shown in great detail. You notice that other elements of the painting, such as the white and red string coming out of her sewing cushion on the left, are drawn in almost abstract dribbles of paint.

I hope you enjoyed some of these as much as I did!

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