Copyists at the Louvre

photo credit KFRose

When we are allowed to travel and when the Louvre reopens would you like to be a copyist at the Louvre?

Mary Cassatt visited the Louvre in Paris, the most famous art museum in the world, to  study and copy the masters. 

Renoir, Henri Matisse, Degas and countless other artists were copyists at the Louvre.

​Examining the brushwork, composition, color and lost and found edges of paintings by master painters is part of the copyist tradition.
In the Louvre, you are allowed to bring your own small sketchbook and draw to your hearts content. 

But if you wish to paint one the masterpieces, you must apply for a copyist permit. The Louvre will supply the easel, and your seat. You supply the canvas, oil paint, determination, talent and concentration.
Just think of the concentration required. If you've ever painted in front a small group of people, imagine painting in front of several thousand museum visitors.
There are stipulations about your painting, your canvas cannot be the same size as the original work of art and you are not allowed to copy the original artist's signature.

photo credit KFRose

photo credit KFRose

But during this Covid 19 crisis, if we can't visit a museum there are several virtual tours of museums online. 

It's not the same as sitting in front of an original painting but better than....

well....you fill in the blank.

Here's a link to virtual tours of twelve museums.

Follow Me on a Paris and Beyond Art Adventure

I'm excited to begin a Paris and Beyond art adventure and hope you will join me by subscribing to my blog. In the next couple weeks, I will post art, food, and history related questions about Paris and Provence. And we will do a little 
sightseeing.

Who painted this portrait of Marie Antoinette and where is it hanging now?

Who designed the Louvre Pyramid?

The building housing the Musee d"Orsay was what before it was an art museum?

If you subscribe to my blog, make a comment on these Paris and Beyond Posts... ooooh la la ...you just might be the winner of a gift from France. 

How do you subscribe? Just click on the blue "join this site button" or the "follow this blog" button on the right hand side of the blog.
Have your passport?  
Got your bags packed? 
Ok lets go on an adventure. 
Check the next post for answers to the Paris and Beyond Art Adventure questions.

The Louvre Museum's Seated Scribe- Making That List and Checking It Twice.

Seated Scribe
Louvre Museum,  Paris

Writing, writing. writing. Tis the season for writing holiday and Christmas cards, writing year end to do lists and making those all important other "lists" and checking them twice.

Last night seated with my legs crossed, writing and writing, I thought about the figure of the Seated Scribe, in the Louvre museum in Paris. He is a masterpiece of Egyptian art.

I remembered the first time I saw him. wondering then, as I do now, "What was he writing?"

Quite a striking figure, he is rendered geometric, yet with very realistic touches. That day years ago, his fixed gaze starred right through me. He looked beyond me with his 4000 year old eyes to the courtyard of the Louvre, out to the streets of Paris and beyond.

But, last night with a chuckle, I thought of him with his fingers wrapped not around his scroll and quill pen, but with an I Pad in his lap instead.

My how our instruments of writing have changed over the years from papyrus, to 

I Pad.

What's on your list of to do's before the year end? Do you use lists to make yourself more accountable to achieve your goals?  If so, good luck with that!

If you are interested, there is a closer look at the Seated Scribe in an interactive view on the Louvre's web site Seated Scribe
Oh, by the way, unless you practice yoga, I wouldn't advise sitting with your legs crossed, guaranteed to put your left leg to sleep!