Paris, Day 3

Day 3! We woke up early and took the train out into the country to the small town of Ecouen. Unbeknownst to me, there is a beautiful chateau out here called, appropriately, Chateau d'Ecouen. Inside this chateau lives La Musee de la Renaissance, or France's collection of Renaissance (and mannerist) furniture, painting, sculpture, etc. To get there, we took a 20 minute walk through the most beautiful wooded path.

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Eventually, the woods opened up to reveal this humble abode.

Before even going inside, you felt like you were transported back about 800 years...the small village and church were still there just down the hill and the courtyard literally felt as though it hadn't been touched for centuries. The moat was still there (albeit not filled with water)! 

Inside, the first thing we saw was a copy of The Last Supper (painted inside Leonardo's studio!!!!) being restored - this was painted in oil (the real one was painted as a fresco - still lives on the wall in Milan) by one of his followers so is very accurate. Pretty cool! The woman on the floor is restoring it.

Moving on...we went through all of the rooms, including those belonging to Catherine de Medici when she lived here! She was married to the French King Henry II, but when he died prematurely, she became Queen Consort for her son, Francis II. When he died prematurely, she became Regent of France while her second son Charles IX was young. This second son died in 1574 and finally her third son, Henry III, became king...but she still wielded significant power throughout his reign. Really interesting lady...I've always loved the fountain in Luxembourg Gardens built by Catherine...also love the sculpture of her in the same garden - so dignified. 

I digress.

Onto the rest of the chateau! 

(italian maiolica floor tiles)

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(really cool sculpture with coral topper)

(the inside of a huge cabinet, probably late 16th or early 17th century from Augsburg)

(^a table centerpiece...the thing will move down the table while every bit moves...the cannons shoot, miniature drummers beat their drums, and music plays! Pretty impressive 16th century entertainment if you ask me)

(chapel cieling)

(italian maiolica plate)

After this, we got a coffee and headed back into Paris. From Gare du Nord, we hopped on the metro and went to Le Marais. Again, I've been here before but had no idea that there were two amazing little gems of museums in the neighborhood.

First was Musee Carnavalet, which is kind of a "history of Paris" museum with really great 18th century interiors.

Voltaire's chair is here! 

After this, we headed to one last museum literally right around the corner...Musee Cognacq-Jay

After this, we hung out in Le Marais for a bit of boutique window shopping and a coffee and pastry (chocolate eclair for me...yum!) until heading down to the Musee D'Orsay - it is open late on Thursdays. I was super excited to see the current exhibition - "Dark Romanticism from Goya to Max Ernst"

Not only does this museum have an incredible collection of 19th century painting (think Courbet/realists, impressionists, post impressionists Signac and Seurat, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse...the list goes on) BUT they have incredible exhibitions. Remember when I was in Paris in December to see "Impressionism and Fashion" (post here)? When that ended, this was the next in line...the exhibition included major works from Delacroix, Goya, Henry Fuseli, William Blake, Delaroche, Gericault, Gustave Moreau, Edvard Munch, Max Klinger, Juan Miro, and Max Ernst. Quite a list of artists...but they made it work by dividing the exhibition into 3 parts...the 18th century artists responding to revolutionary turmoil, the symbolists responding to belle époque society, and the surrealists responding to world war turmoil. It seems that "dark romanticism" seems to arise in the period following some kind of tumultuous or oppressive/reactionary period in history. The imaginative responses defy morality and have a nightmare-ish quality to them...here are a few of the works included in the exhibition...

Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare, 1781

William Bouguereau, Dante and Virgil in Hell, 1850

Goya, Witches' Flight, 1797-98

Henry Fuseli, Mad Kate, 1806-7

John Martin, Pandaemonium (Milton, Paradise Lost), 1841

Paul Delaroche, Louise Vernet, the wife of the artist on her deathbed, 1846

Julien-Adolphe Duvocelle, Ogling Skull

This is a print that I wrote about in my undergrad thesis! Recognized it immediately! It is the devil from Goethe's Faust, as imagined by Delacroix when he made the illustrations for the work.

Surrealist photograph

Rene Magritte

After this, we went out for a last dinner together at an amazing brasserie and headed out to the bars afterwards...a bit of a headache in the morning but worth it - such a full and fun day.