The Gallery Meerkat

I saw this lovely painting at the Louvre.

Pesellino was a bridge between the delicate & ornate International Gothic style of the Middle Ages and the more structured Early Renaissance.

Pesellino was, in his day, doing some cutting-edge art for the 1450s.

The halos are still the traditional “gold disks”. By the time we reach the High Renaissance, they’re turned into thin golden hoops or disappeared entirely. The linear perspective is clear, and faces bear a subdued expression (the sacrifice of Christ) as opposed to the earlier distinctly-stylised Gothic faces. There is a somber tone.

St. John the Baptist announces the coming of the Messiah by pointing at the Child and directing the viewer’s attention towards the spiritual meaning of the work. I noticed some faint anatomical signs in the arm (blood vessels) which obviously marks it out as a humanist-renaissance painting.

Last month, I took this photo at the Louvre.

The Apollo Gallery is the room where the recent major theft took place.

It houses some of the crown jewels of France.

It’s a dazzling room.

What a horrible event.

The thieves stole Napoleon’s crown jewels from the Louvre in the 7-minute heist - a symbol of French history and the Republic.

I expect the jewels will be melted down and sold for it’s raw material value. Like Berlin’s Bode Museum theft of 2017, and the bracelet of Pharaoh Amenemope in Egypt just a month ago.

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Unfortunately, I think art museums (esp. the Louvre) will be expected to turn ever more into banks now.

Already so many works of art are behind high-quality museum glass. They’re awful. It’s a dreadful & imposing barrier between the art and the visitor. And it’s going to get worse in the future. 

There will be more need for glass, more need for queues, more document checks, more security scanning, more people walking up-and-down and eyeing you suspiciously.

The trouble is that these are government museums with objects of cultural importance to the society - not hedge funds. It’s not right to charge visitors with high prices for tickets. And the government is already stretched with more pressing concerns. There are always complaints about limits on staff in every museum. Not enough staff. Too many people. Not enough security.

The British Museum has had it own grief back in 2023 with stolen artifacts. And the consequence now entails long queues to go through security checks. The louvres staff has been complaining and going on strike for some years now. But, where are governments supposed to get such resources from?

I paid 22 euros for my ticket in September 2025. If you charge more, then you’ll be excluding the poor.

Everytime something like this happens, I know there’ll be howling for more security from museum directors ... thereby turning these institutions into awful airport-like experiences.

😟 

This post is hat tip to hels. 😎

Spectacular masterpiece at the Louvre.

It shows the Virgin Mary enthroned with the Christ Child and the Chancellor Nicolas Rolin kneeling before her. Jesus raises his right hand to bless Rolin.

For us today, we take these paintings for granted. 

But, the lifelike illusion of this painting must have been truly spellbinding in the 15th century. 

It’s partly due to the striking & vivid richness of the colours (the Louvre celebrated an exhibition recently following the conservation of this painting). The vermillion of the Madonna’s long loose flowing dress, the purples shades of Chancellor’s robes and not to mention the ultramarine of the Chancellor’s table cloth and the angel’s garments. The floor tiles are so ornate and so convincing. The linear and atmospheric perspective are terrific.

The sense of realism is a huge part of the artist’s power. Careful rendering of the tiles is (frankly!) a shocking testament to Van Eyck’s painstakingly laborious and meticulous nature. It’s also his mastery of linear perspective. The tiles have a pattern and he’s very careful to observe it. Van Eyck’s play on light is exceptional. I love the detailed rendering of the folds of the Madonna’s dress and the shadows within.

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I took these two wonderful photos as the sun was setting on Friday 19th September.

I will probably do a deep dive into writing and thinking about some of the art over the coming months.

This is a beautiful gilded wooden statute of the goddess Isis from Ancient Egypt.

Her name means “Queen of the Throne”.

I wasn’t sure what that funny headpiece is. It turns out it is:

... a sun disk nestled between a pair of cow horns, was originally a prominent symbol of Hathor, an earlier Egyptian goddess associated with motherhood, joy, and love.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace was discovered on the Greek island of Samothrace.

This is a very famous Greek original sculpture that was buried for centuries.

What a dynamic powerful pose. I saw this at the Louvre.

The Greek sculptor captured the goddess of victory landing on the prow of a war ship.

Today is Leonardo’s birthday.

This painting depicts St. Anne (grandmother to Christ), the Virgin Mary, and the infant Jesus. Christ grapples a sacrificial lamb. Christ holding the lamb, to be scarified ... and, thus, Mary holding Jesus, in turn.

This had to have been a very difficult composition. The Virgin Mary has to sit on her own mother’s lap! 

Either way, very beautiful. A serene landscape, balanced composition, and such charm in the love and passion evident in the delicacy and sweetness among the trio.

According to Waldemar Januszczak (in “Art review: Leonardo da Vinci, Louvre, Paris” The Times), this is his greatest painting;

... the awesome showing of Leonardo’s Virgin and Child with St Anne, a picture that usually hangs in the Louvre’s longest corridor, where the glare does it no favours. This, too, has been cleaned, and the results are staggering. What finesse they reveal. What beautiful physiognomy.

What gorgeous treatment of fabrics. What clever symbolism in the dark chasm above which the perfectly arranged group is balanced.

Leonardo’s greatest painting isn’t the unfortunately absent Mona Lisa, available only in a virtually real comic interlude at the end of this event. It isn’t even the gorgeous Madonna of the Rocks, which is here. No. His finest surviving achievement as an artist is this religious masterclass, filled with light, whose contribution to this strained exhibition is to show up everything else on display and to argue irrefutably for the primacy of painting.

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Raphael was born on 6th April 1483 — born 542 years ago. 

This picture is from the Louvre.

What makes the painting so special is the sweetness and tenderness of the glance between the Christ-child and his mother. The cheeks and faces are so engaging, and the shadowing & sfumato so very good. The twisting baby’s stance from Michelangelo and the nudity as a nod to classical antiquity. 

It’s so graceful and with such tenderness. 

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Huge fan of Giotto. A genius of an astounding ouvre. I’ve already discussed his “Pentecost” at the National Gallery, London.

Below are some of his masterpieces at the Louvre.

His art functions today as it did in his day - tell the story of Christ and Biblical tales - but I find them aesthetically beautiful and appreciate the affected humanism/drama.

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The Crucifixion by Giotto (1290-1295)

“Christ on the Cross” between two thieves. I love the angels hovering over fiery clouds.

I do like the dark mountains and skyline - but it was originally golden, it seems. Stolen or “faded”?

Giotto’s innovation was his portrayal of events with believable emotions and recognisable settings and spaces.

Pain, upset, Mary overcome. Such ornate and glowing halos. And yet, most faces (eyes, noses etc.) seem to follow a given stylistic template. 

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Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata by Giotto (1295–1300)

Beautiful.

Magical gold. Seraph’s wings appear brown because Giotto used vermillion (mercury sulphide) as a red pigment and egg tempera as a base. They made his colours particularly susceptible to darkening over the 7 centuries since he painted them. 

It’s easy to see the captivating magic of his golden halo.

The sense of perspective to the houses is funny and those lonely trees (esp. by St Francis’ knee) have such ornate leaves on them.

Notwithstanding the above, it does feel still detached from our world, our nature and reality.

For me, especially the folds and shadows along the creases/wrinkles along St Francis’ habit. Not only is it remarkable, but I’m struck by the fact that’s bound to be more difficult on egg tempera to create shades of brown.

The predella

The predella shows three scenes from the saint’s life: 

The Dream of Pope Innocent III

The Approval of the Franciscan Rule

The Sermon to the Birds

Tree is detailed in its real-life branches & leaves.

The birds painted with attention.

Beautiful.

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Painted cross with a Pelican by Giotto (1300–1310)

This is huge and v. beautiful.

Takes up a large space on the wall of the Louvre.

The cross - with Christ’s head protruding - was intended for worshippers to “see” Christ from below as they looked up at him.

I love the early renaissance which doesn’t get as much fanfare as its most celebrated superstars.

And among those are Filippo Lippi. He had a pretty scandalous life (as you’ll see below).

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The Barbadori Altarpiece by Filippo Lippi (1437)

Incredible altarpiece at the Louvre.

The Mother Mary (about to sit down?) with Christ at her side on their heavenly throne with ecclesiastical worthies.

Filippo Lippi channels Brunelleschi’s architectural style, complete with round arches and grey stone (pietra serena) which the latter was so fond off.

Dimensions and lines on the floor give us a sense of perspective.

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The Madonna of the Pomegranate by Filippino Lippi (1472-1475)

Filippino Lippi was the son of Fra Filippo Lippi and the much young nun Lucrezia Buti. He became one of the most distinguished Florentine artists of the Quattrocento.

The pomegranate motif foreshadows the fateful destiny of Christ.

Christ seems to twist his body as if hogging the fruit. Two angels chatting in the back?

Style similar to his father.

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