Figure Study At Louvre
Recently I was lucky enough to visit The Musée du Louvre on my France trip. I was able to do some figure study of Classical art.
The famous Venus de Milo. The one thing I appreciate about Louvre is that the lighting is very natural and for all statues
____________
Venus de Milo C. 100 BC
There is nothing improper in this work, but it still intrigues the viewer.
Poor lighting means I have to use imagination....
Hermaphroditos, son of Hermes and Aphrodite, had rejected the advances of the nymph Salmacis. Unable to resign herself to this rejection, Salmacis persuaded Zeus to merge their two bodies forever, hence the strange union producing one bisexed being with male sexual organs and the voluptuous curves of a woman. Stretched out in erotic abandon on the mattress provided by Bernini, the figure sleeps. Yet Hermaphroditos has only fallen half asleep: the twisting pose of the body and the tension apparent down to the slightly raised left foot are indicative of a dream state.
_____________________
Borghese Venus, 2nd century CE Roman marble copy of the Aphrodite of Cnidus (Capitoline Venus subtype). ....
I actually found this statue at a vineyard in Bordeaux. Surprisingly, it is actually a copy of a statue at the Louvre called The Resting Hunter (1710) by Nicolas Coustou. The lighting was just too perfect for me to not take a click with the hunter facing the sun as if someone is calling out to him.