Cimabue’s Crucifixion:

The Pinacoteca:

Housed within this lovely 14th century palazzo in the heart of Florence is the Academy of the Art of Drawing.

The academy is supposedly the oldest institution its kind. It was begun in the 16th century when Giorgio Vasari asked Duke Cosimo I to renew the Group of St. Luke. In 1564 the Charter for the academy was approved. The document below is provided to visitors by the docents of the association.

The palazzo faces Orsanmichele, once a grain market, later the church of the guilds of Florence. It has had many occupants, including the Arte dei Beccai or guild of butchers from which its name derives. Since 1974 it has housed the Accademia Fiorentina delle Arti del Disegno. You can find great info on the palazzo itself on Wikipedia.

The 3 interlocking wreaths, which appear over the door to the associations main room, are the symbol of the academy and, as the brochure above explains, each of the wreaths is composed of a different plant leaf. The wreath of oak leaves symbolizes architecture; the laurel wreath represents sculpture; and the olive crown stands for painting.

The academy’s main room also houses a few fine artworks; Pontormo’s Boldrone Shrine being key among them:

You can find more information on this 3 part painting in Wikipedia under Boldrone Shrine.

A quinceañera (also fiesta de quinceañera, quince años, fiesta de quince años and quinces) is a celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday. It has cultural roots in Mexico and Southern Europe and is widely celebrated by girls throughout Latin America. The girl celebrating her 15th birthday is a quinceañera (Spanish pronunciation: [kinseaˈɲeɾa]; feminine form of “15-year-old”). In Spanish, and in Latin countries, the term quinceañera is reserved solely for the honoree; in English, primarily in the United States, the term is used to refer to the celebrations and honors surrounding the occasion.

The Arc de Triomphe is magnificent. Its great to visit it in all kinds of weather, but today was a sunny and warm spring day and it was particularly delightful.

Fortunately for me, there was no line for wandering around the base of this incredible monument and I enjoyed every second of seeing it again up close and personal. It has been years since I’ve looked over all the fascinating details of it.

Below are the 2 reliefs that decorate the “back” side of the arch.

It’s hard to see the eternal flame burning in daylight, but I did my best to capture it.

Well, at least the plant!

An Egyptian relief from the Louvre.

A nice video tour by Corey Frye.

Oh, the Louvre. What can I say? I love you and I hate you. Your collections and edifice are magnificent. They are both grandiose. You are too big, too full, with too many people and not enough good directional signes.

Ah, but I do my best.

On this visit, after locating the coat check room and fighting with the automated lockers for 30 minutes, I finally found my way into this stupendous sunlit gallery filled with remarkable French sculpture.

What caught my eye in the abundant statuary today were these marble sculptures depicting movement. I never know from day to day what will attract my attention.

There were another set of running figures nearby. Love these!

The sculpture below caught my eye because of its overabundance!

A couple of directional signs that really weren’t very helpful where they were placed. But, they do exisit.

Prepare yourself for time travel, the next image is from a much later period. Welcome to my tour of the Louvre!

Time travel alert! We are back in the Renaissance French sculpture galleries:

Inside the galleries, I liked this exhuberant kneeling figure with her ruff collar. Can you imagine the time it took to carve just the collar?

I spent just over 2 hours in the Louvre today (that is my limit for art museums), being lost, getting frustrated, fighting crowds and noise and chaos, and trying to commune with art works. It wasn’t easy.

When I arrived at the Louvre today I looked like this.

After getting through the coat check and fighting the din and crowds of the central reception area, I was beginning to feel like the picture below, but I was still game.

After 2 hours in the galleries, I felt like the picture below. I was cranky, tired and needed a nap.

Having been an expert on 19th century American sculpture in an earlier part of my life, my reflexes make me photograph any didactic material found in such capitals of art as Paris.

I was recently walking around the church of La Madeleine in Paris, and hanging on the metal fence around the church was this excellent lesson about “statue-mania.” I loved the title and the idea of this material, so I took a few shots.