Versailles Revisited, or The Inimitable M. David
I know that it has been forever since I posted. So you deserve more. I’m in Paris right now and am in a complete state of bliss, so I wanted to share. As usual, my eyes are either feasting on art (Louvre, Orsay, Carnavalet are musts) or bleary from looking at microfilms and transcribing texts from the BN. I love to hold those worn leather bound books–the smell of old books is one of my favorites!–and I treasure the freedom to focus on my research for hours on end.
The hands-down most thrilling experience of this trip was getting a 2 1/2 hour private tour of the nineteenth-century painting galleries at Versailles that are closed to the public. It was the first day of Kalisha Jacobson’s curatorial internship–and I’ll definitely have her guest blog about this–and part of the orientation was viewing the hundreds of sequestered masterpieces. The enormous keys of Louis XIV were used to open room after room, where wooden window shutters were opened to throw some light on the paintings. I gazed upon fabulous portraits of all the Bonapartes and Louis-Philippe and his entourage, massive military paintings, dozens of history paintings that I’d seen in only in tiny, black and white reproduction, and newly-discovered gems, all done from 1789-1848–the most magnificent period in the history of art, incidentally.
I’ll confess: I was so moved by the experience that I had to fight back tears on several occasions. And when the doors were thrown open and I saw Jacques-Louis David’s unfinished Oath of the Tennis Court [pictured above], I gasped and drew back. This was to be in line with his Horatii, Brutus, and Sabine paintings and yet, for political reasons, was never finished. As you can see, just a few heads were completed, and although we have oil sketches, this was the real deal and I’m telling you, it has a palpable aura. I just wanted to share this incredible moment with my art history friends who know what it is to connect passionately to this stuff.
Conversation topic (and this is a shout-out to those currently on study abroad): What artwork has “blown you away” of late?
5 comments
Heather, what a unique and awe-inspiring opportunity. I remember seeing sketches for the Oath of the Tennis Court, but I can’t imagine coming upon it like you did. I just returned from my trip to Amsterdam with Martha and co., and I was touched by Rembrandt’s older self-portrait (1661). Although it was a familiar friend from art history classes, the color and energy in the oil is impossible to recreate on a screen.
enjoy Paris!
Lynda Benglis, Quartered Meteor in the Tate Modern. It was great to see an approach to Minimalism that blurred structured ideas about form. There have been so many great things to see, though. I think I audibly gasped when I saw Salisbury Cathedral, and I have learned how to love Jackson Pollock, because his work is much more engaging in person. There is so much to see!!
So many things! I feel like I see something everyday that blows me away – things that come to mind are Chartres Cathedral; Manet’s Bar at the Folie Bergeres; Michelangelo’s Pieta; David’s Death of Marat; and Hals’ The Laughing Cavalier. Art is so great!
Heather, what a unique and awe-inspiring opportunity. I remember seeing sketches for the Oath of the Tennis Court, but I can’t imagine coming upon it like you did. I just returned from my trip to Amsterdam with Martha and co., and I was touched by Rembrandt’s older self-portrait (1661). Although it was a familiar friend from art history classes, the color and energy in the oil is impossible to recreate on a screen.
enjoy Paris!
That sounds amazing. I too love the smell of old books and paper. Cannot wait for the day when I spend days researching for my own needs and academic endeavours. There are some great david works, my favorite is his Death of Marat. I dream of the day when I can stand before it and smell the aging oil on canvas. I spend time watching it online, hoping it will permeate my scree…but to no success. I am a student of art history and hope some day to teach Italian Baroque art but I also have a strong and undying love Romanticism and all things French revolution. You sound like you having a wonderful time. How will Heaven comapre, I wonder, after getting a private tour of the Versaille collection?
Happy Bastille Day!!!
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