I am starting to look back at some photos that I took during the six weeks I spent in Europe, just before the confinement.
During several days, the Louvre was closed, because of the pandemic, but not the Louvre Collection in the Inventory of the Department of Prints and Drawings. This amazing place is open to the general public. You just have to send an email in advance to show your interest in some of the beautiful drawings and watercolors that they keep.
You can follow the link below to know more. And here are some easy instructions:
You must enter the name of the topic in French when you do a search. Unhappily it’s only in French.
I started with Homère, Hector, Priam, Gustave Moreau…etc. Then you go the main search.
Base de données du département des Arts graphiques :
– rubriques : œuvres et palais
– rechercher une œuvre
– bases de données
– inventaire informatisé des Arts graphiques
Or you follow this link:
http://arts-graphiques.louvre.fr/
Or you follow this other one:
https://www.louvre.fr/en/moteur-de-recherche-oeuvres?tab=3#tabs
So, in this Gallery I am sharing a few pictures taken in that wonderful room at the Louvre, where I was often the only person apart from some of the people in charge of the room.
When you arrive for your first visit, after receiving an answer to your request, you get a pass. The pass is good for one day. If you come back the next day, you get a new pass.
Then you are allowed to select 10 items . You write down the number of the inventory and the name of the artist for each item. Then an employee brings you a big folder where several drawings or paintings (mostly water-colors) of the same artist are stored. You have the one you selected in the folder, but you are also allowed to consult the others, if you want. Very carefully you take them out, one at a time, and then you just gasp at the beauty, and also because it’s so exciting to be physically holding and looking at a drawing or painting by Rubens or Corneille or David or Ingres or Moreau…..
You are allowed to take as many pictures as you wish. All the time one employee is sitting in the back, and is watching every move you make…..
I highly recommend this experience.
Image credits: Hélène Emeriaud.
Hélène Emeriaud is a HeroesX Team member, a MOOC on edX. She studied ancient Greek at school in France and for several years at the University of Minnesota. She holds a degree in Education from Montreal University, and a Master of Education from McGill University. She is an active participant and member of the Editorial Team in the Kosmos Society with a particular interest in ancient Greek and Latin language learning.