Louvre - Paintings of the Renaissance

So I went through the hall of sculpture and then headed for the Renaissance Italian painting that is one of my favorite kinds of painting.

I di not take note of who did what painting. I simply took a picture of the ones I found interesting. So I can not identify most of what you will see.

The collection is gigantic and has both well known and lesser known paintings.

I had to remind myself to look at the details of the palace on occasion. The ceilings were absolutely stunning and added to the power of the experience.

This one below is a lovely Botticelli,The Virgin and Child surrounded by five angels. I hesitate to say it is famous, because there was a young Italian man and at the better known painting he would stop for three seconds and turn to his friends and say - "This one's famous!" and then he would move on to the next.

Below is another Botticelli of the Virgin with the infant Jesus and a young St John the baptist. The third figure is credited to a pupil as it is done in a different style.

This is a St. Sebastian by Andrea Mantegna (circa 1470-80). I think it needs cleaning as it was not very clear and had a blue teint. 

I think the one below is a Bellini

And of course this Leonardo painting is famous!! The Virgin and Child on the Lap of St Anne has much written about it. There was also a recent scandal about the cleaning of the painting, because critics thought it had been "restored" to a condition much brighter than its original condition when painted.

Infrared photography also found some sketches most likely made by Leonardo on the back of the painting.

(This picture from the Daily Mail article about the discovery.)

The museum has quite a nice collection of Leonardo including the following

Not to mention the Mona Lisa a picture that everyone swarms to. (I didn't bother to take a picture of it, since it is so well known, but I did capture the hubbub surrounding it.  You can see her peeking at us from the center of the back wall. (Of course I did go up and admire her - she really is quite lovely - but there are several other paintings in the room that get ignored because of the presence of La Gioconda.

Paintings with the Renaissance cities in the background are so fascinating.

Venus seems to get her toenails done a lot in the Renaissance.

This dress was also gorgeous!

Nothing much needs to be said about this Raphael. Called la Belle Jardinière. It was painted while Raphael was visiting Florence. He didn't finish the painting and there is some controversy over whether the painting was completed by Ghirlandaio. 

I thought this woman had a real pretty dress.

I've never really understood the obsession with Arcimboldo, but his four seasons attracted quote a crowd.

Outside of the cafe you could see the sculptures along the second story.

 There were whole rooms of Titian.

This one wasn't particularly well-executed, but the child was winsome with his Spanish sash.

This one was beautifully painted.

And there were several Brueghels including this one of a Lady taking a piece of fruit.

There were many, many more beautiful paintings, but I couldn't take pictures of them all.

It was time for a change, so I decided to take a look at sculpture of antiquity and the Egyptian collection.