Since the Louvre is the largest museum in the world I decided not to photograph all the cool paintings I saw. Instead I started to look at this visit like a visit to a zoo. How many different animals could I find? There were many paintings of cows in pastoral settings, stately horses leading knights into battle and dogs in hunting scenes, these pictures were mostly skipped. Then there was the classic pile of dead animals usually named "The Hunt" or something like that sort. But the best ones were monkeys stealing fruit or groups of live birds flocking to and fro. Of course where would we be without tigers and lions and house cats? This episode of the "Louvre as a Zoo" netted 12 dogs, 4 pigs, 3 monkeys, 4 rabbits, 4 cats, 85 birds, 1 cow, 8 goats, 3 foxes, 4 deer, 2 donkey, 3 horses, 3 turtles, 1 lion, 1 squirrel, 1 badger, 1 mink, 1 newt, 1 otter, 1 seal, 6 crabs, 2 lobsters, 47 various fish. Noted birds included 3 turkeys, 4 parrots, 16 chickens, 2 owls, 2 eagles 2 ducks, 3 geese, 3 peacocks, 6 pigeons, 2 egrets, 1 pheasant, 4 quail, 2 curlews, 41 ravens, 1 fieldfare, 3 swans, 1 hoopoe,1 Eurasian robin, 1 barn swallow, 1 crane and at least 6 unidentified birds.
The lone violin player
Selfie time
The non stop selfies outside sometimes went wrong
Stand up, sit down, fight fight fight
Hold that pose and that pyramid
Fashion before comfort
Lets descend
Tortured bronzes and non-tortured visitors
Oh the humanity!
Dog #1
He is at the bottom and looked almost like a lion, horse #1
It is hard work holding up the world
Our fox terrier Pickles, really enjoyed a pig eat to chew on
Dog #2 Pig #1
I also tried to get a picture of the great masters here is a Rubens
Two monkeys stealing fruit Monkey #1 and #2
This one was a bit confusing. A Roman general is splitting his own fore wood and is mistakes for a servant. The folks doing the mistaking must be asking him to deal with the pile of carcasses. I count a swan, a peacock, a chicken , a rabbit, a side of pork, a crocodile of some sort and a live cat under the table. It is also by Rubens
These are sketches of the two types of birds, a Fieldfare and a Scopes Owl, so I am counting this as just two birds, bringing our bird count to 5
Nothing is worse than having a cherub poke at the arrow in your side
Cow #1 and Goat #1 and #2
This picture made the list because it was very large and the realistic portrayal of a imagined scene was great, Lost Illusions by Charles Gleyre
Eruption of Mount Vesuvius
"The Raven Tree on the Baltic Coast" has 41 ravens! Birds total: 46
Another hunting picture had a live dog #3. Among the catch is a fox #1, three rabbits #2,3&4, two deer, a variety of birds including two egrets, a pheasant, two curlews and four quail. The bird total is now 55
Eagles attaching chickens is action packed and the eagles are winning the day. Two eagles, two pigeons, three geese and 13 chickens. We now have 75 birds.
One staircase of many and one floor on many
Rembrandt had many self portraits
With hats and without
With a handkerchief too
Known for his paintings that have large dark spaces
From 1664 this Fernand Bol caught my eye
Two more pigs giving us 4
Some pickpocketing of a travel weary gent
The only Vermeer that we saw
This menagerie had two peacocks, two donkeys, three dogs (6), two ducks, a turtle, two chickens, two turkey, three parrots, oe rabbit, six goats (8), a swan and an owl (13 new birds for a total of 68)
Another menagerie! Two horses (3), one lion, two deer (4), three dogs (9), two foxes (3), one turkey (3), a puffed up cat (2), four pigeons (6), an ostrich, a squirrel a badger and a black swan(3), one mink, a newt, several songbirds, a Eurasian hoopoe, a Eurasian robin, a swallow, and six unidentified birds (85)
This was one of a series of very large canvases, some 4 meters by 3 meters, of Marie di Medici daughter of the Grand Duke of Tuscany and King Henry IV of France
She was the richest heiress in Europe and the story of their courtship and wedding was presented on 20 or so canvases painted by Rubens. She was Henry IV's second wife and when he was assassinated his heir was only 8 years old. Marie was the defacto ruler for seven years before her exile to Blois.
These had Greek gods, goddesses, nymphs, demi gods, fates, titans and all sorts of other lower level minions helping to tell the tale and highlight the attributes of the main characters
A crane (bird #86)
There is a live dog (10) in this picture "The Collector" and a painted painting of a parrot (4)
Put that in your pipe and smoke it
An aquatic menagerie. First the mammals a seal, an otter and a cat (3). Two turtles (3) are here. Next I will identify groups; fish(49), cephalopods (1) crustations (8) and shellfish(7). The fish included eels (3), a sturgeon, a needle fish, a salmon, a tuna and flounder(2) among many other unidentified fish (41). The crustations include lobsters (2) and crabs (6) and the cephalopod was a cuttlefish.
This guys hat is bigger than his dog (11)
The tower of Bable
El Gato (4)!
A giant beret!
A dog (12) and a Cardinal's dwarf
Lettuce for a hat
I have seen this painting many times and still do not know what is going on here. It is a painting of Henry IV's mistress and her sister in the bath. His mistress holds Henry's coronation ring perhaps a coded message implying marriage and is also considered an announcement of a royal pregnancy.
Great lighting for a departing ship
A fine nautical painting
A young man and his ruffles
The ruffles highlight his red nose
This cherub was just a flying head
A bagpipe solo!
An entire display of frames
We are the subject
A divine goddess
So many of the phots these days are a "gazing" style
Man with intense start
A Renoir
Pissarro, the master of pointillism
Cezanne
Venice we love you!
"The Comparison" also known as see your butt!
In the Spanish wing
A painting of a Monkey(3) painting a painting
This painting by Francis Baird depicts a scene he witnesses in the Artic in 1839 when he accompanied an expedition.
Rocking the turban. This is the keeper of the Giraffe that was given to Charles X
This painting is called "The Bather"
Painted by Jean Ingres
He liked it so much the exact pose if found in three different paintings
This is the biggest hat winner. The Portrait of a man known as the man from Vendee
The long hallway
A fancy set of doors
This is an open air elevator. It is a column and it rises up.
Under the pyramid it is busy
The grand hall is also busy. The Mona Lisa in in an alcove off to the side
The classic painting of the French revolution, Liberty Leading the People
A less crowded hall
Of the slings and arrows of the Louvre visitor
We needed a break
