Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Later Greek art was Hellenistic, adding motion and drama. For a good example, see
the exciting
Winged Victory of Samothrace
(
Victoire de Samothrace,
on the landing; may
be out for restoration until spring of 2014). This statue of a woman with wings, poised on
the prow of a ship, once stood on a hilltop to commemorate a naval victory. This is the
Venus de Milo
gone Hellenistic.
The
Italian collection
—includingthe
MonaLisa
—isscatteredthroughouttherooms
of the long Grand Gallery, to the right (as you face her) of
Winged Victory
(look for
two
Botticelli frescoes
as you enter). In painting, the Renaissance meant realism, and for the
Italians, realism was spelled “3-D.” Painters were inspired by the realism and balanced
beautyofGreeksculpture. Painting a3-Dworldona2-Dsurfaceistough,andafteramil-
lennium of Dark Ages, artists were rusty. Living in a religious age, they painted mostly al-
tarpieces full of saints, angels, Madonnas-and-bambinos, and crucifixes floating in an eth-
erealgold-leafheaven.Gradually,though,theybroughttheseotherworldlyscenesdownto
earth.
Two masters of the Italian High Renaissance (1500-1600) were Raphael (see his
La
Belle Jardinière,
showing the Madonna, Child, and John the Baptist) and Leonardo da
Vinci. The Louvre has the greatest collection of Leonardos in the world—five of them, in-
cluding the exquisite
Virgin and Child with St. Anne
;
the neighboring
Virgin of the Rocks;
and the androgynous
John the Baptist
.
