I've waited a long time to visit the Louvre. When I was in my early twenties, I went to Paris with my friend Irene. The Louvre was top of our list. But we were only there for 2 days, one of which was a bank holiday- and the Louvre was closed. So I was excited that I would finally visit the great place now. After checking a guide book (an old one, I should mention) and asking a local, we established that it was closed on Mondays. Tuesday was the appointed day. But when we got there- guess what? Yes, you're right, it was shut! Anyway- we went back on Wednesday and they finally let me in.
We agreed that since the place is so big, we'd just view the paintings, but even then we didn't see all of them- there's too many. John especially wanted to see the French Romantics, and I was after a famous painting by Vermeer called 'The Lace Maker'. Unfortunately, it's on loan to Tokyo. So much for that.
But I discovered a new favourite portrait painter, Fragonard. Plus there were quite a few pieces by Van Dyke, who was a big influence on my favourite portrait artist ever, John Singer Sargent. And I got to see the Mona Lisa for the first time. A lot of people think Mona Lisa is over-rated, but I definitely 'got' something from it. We also found a couple of superb Canaletto's, both of Venice, one of then is in the photo below.
And look at this, here's one John did earlier!
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