To celebrate this lovely Valentine’s Day we are exploring more of the art of the Musée du Louvre and all the definitions of love that they convey. Last week we shared Psyché and Cupid, and today we uncovered a few more.
From Catherine de Medici and her monument to her husband’s heart that inspired a beloved Paris monument you all know today to the father’s love and appreciation for saving his daughter. Along with the painting of a king's beloved that always arises a few giggles and the throws of passion that are surrounded by suggestive hints. Each of these and more that we cover in episode 92 are filled with beauty and can be found in my favorite valentine, the Louvre.
You can even take this episode with you on your next visit to the Louvre and discover them on your own.
German Pilon
Monument to the Heart of Henri II
Richelieu Rez-de-chaussée salle 214
In 1561 Catherine de Medici commissioned this monument to be created to hold the heart of her husband Henri II and later hers. Pilon was inspired by Hecate, the ancient Greek goddess and the Three Graces. Capturing each of these women in a moment of dancing, each in a different pose. Pilon inspired one of the most beloved fixtures of Paris, the Wallace Fountains. Sir Richard Wallace saw this monument and inspired him in his creation of the fountains that would appear across Paris to help combat public drunkenness.
Steps away is Jean Goujon’s Diane d’Anet created for Henri II’s actual great love Diane de Poitiers
Peter Paul Rubens
Presentation of the Portrait of Marie de Medicis
Richelieu 2nd floor Salle de Medicis
Marie asked Rubens to create two grand paintings on moments of her life for her Palais du Luxembourg. Before they were finished she loved them so much she asked him to create 19 more. Painted in just four years, the monumental paintings depict pivotal moments of her life, with a bit of creative license taking on the retelling.
In this painting Henri IV appears to look adoringly at his soon to be second wife who would bring him the long awaited heir to the throne. The two would marry by proxy October 5, 1600 and finally meet in person on December 12, 1600
Ecole de Fontainebleau
Gabrielle d’Estrée and Her Sister
The favorite mistress and love of Henri IV is depicted with her sister. Her sister is pinching her niple, a symbol of pregnancy. In her left hand she holds the coronation ring of Henri IV, a pledge of his love for her. She is thought to be pregnant with their son, the future Duc de Vendom. Henri went to Pope Clement VIII in March 1599 requesting the annulment of his first marriage to Marguerite de Valois which he would eventually allow but not in time. Gabrielle would die of eclampsia before Henri could return. He would marry Marie de Medici by the end of the year.
Philippe de Champaigne
Ex Voto 1662 ou Ex Voto Mother Catherine Agnés Arnauld and Sister Catherine Sainte-Suzanne de Champaigne.
The painter's daughter, shown sitting in October 1600 developed a horrible fever that lasted 14 months that caused her arms and legs to become paralyzed. Living at the Convent Port-Royale, Mother Superior prayed by her side, shown in the painting for 9 days and nights. The painting shows the moment that the miracle happens with the beam of light flooding her face and hands.
Jean-Antoine Watteau
The Voyage to Cythera
Sully 2nd floor salle 917
Painted in 1717 it depicts one of the many Fête Galantes inspired by the Sun King, Louis XIV. Watteau captures a group of people but when you look closer starting from right to left it shows the many stages of courtship under the watchful eye of the bust of Venus. Cythera is thought to be the island where the Goddess of Love was born Claude Debussy visited this painting many times and inspired him to write L’Isle Joyeuse in 1904.
Take a listen https://youtu.be/9xNfmsN_8hQ
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
The Bolt
Sully 2nd floor Salle 929
Up to much interpretation the painting is filled with erotic symbolism. Is she in the throws of passion or is she being held against her will. Fragonard also added the single apple to the table to give an idea of Eve giving into her temptations.
Anne-Louis Girodet de Boussy-Trioson
The Entombment of Atala
Denon 1st floor Salle 75
Based on Chateaubriand’s Atala ou The Love of Two Savages in the Wilderness
The young Atala in 17th century America meets and falls in love with the Indian Chacta. She had pledged her life to God and to remain a Virgin, a promise she also made to her mother. Falling in love with Chacta she couldn’t give into her passion and killed herself. Chacta and Father Aubry dug her a grace in a cave as he clings to her legs. On the walls the artists added Chateaubriand’s words inspired by the Book of Jobs. “I have faded like a flower, I have withered like the grass in the field”
Ary Scheffer
The shades of Francesca da Remini and Paola Malatesta appear before Dante and Virgil
Denon 1st floor room 77
Francesca fell in love with her husbands brother Paola. Her husband, Giovanni came across them in an embrace and killed them. From Dante’s Divine Comedy the lovers are in the 2nd level of hel reserved for the lustful as Dante and Virgil look on. Roden aslo captured the couple just before their death in La Baiser.
For even more, check out the live chat I did in 2021 with many of these pieces as well as a few of last weeks Psyché et l’Amour