Morning visit to The Louvre

Following some announcement on the radio that French (public) museums were now free all year round for youngsters under 26 and for teachers, my daughter suggested we should go to the Louvre today, which we did this morning. Of course, we had not realised this was the first Sunday of the month, when the museums are free for…everyone!, but it was bearably crowded and so we endured. After the customary (and useless) queue for the Joconde, we went to the Italian section where Caravaggio’s Fortune Teller was miraculously left alone. So we spent some time staring at the details and at the light structure, then tried (and failed) to spot other Caravaggio’s in the museum. The French section was much less crowded, with a painting by Paul Delaroche, La Jeune Martyre, that captured the interest of my daughter (and so did the huge David’s Intervention of the Sabine women, mostly because it is reproduced in her Latin textbook!). The Dutch section was also quieter, alas with Vermeer’s Seamstress missing, which is alas about the only Vermeer in the musuem, but with other less know Dutch paintings in the same light that were presented in the same room as the missing Vermeer’s. So I have to thank my daughter for spending such a nice (and free) Sunday morning!