We're Out and About in a Small Way 1-25-16

Today was sunny and warm, so just after noon we headed down to the Louvre for a short visit.  Last night we stayed up very late, for us, watching the AFC playoff game with the Broncos and Patriots. WooHoo, glad to see Denver prevail, but a sterner test is ahead possibly.   Carolina looked very strong against Arizona and they really believe, I hope that Peyton can rise to the occasion and go out on a high note just like Elway did so many years ago.
So anyway we went down to the Louvre and spend a couple hours going through their collection of fragments of gothic architecture and 16-17th century French sculpture.   The gothic stuff was almost exclusively religious fragments from churches and abbeys, but as one would
 expect of the Louvre, it was really the creme-de-la-creme.  Beautiful column capitals, sculptured heads, tomb effigies, as well as many madonna. Remarkable even after all the stuff we've seen in other museums too.


There was one series of around 4 rooms that were not accessible right now but we were able to bypass them easily and went over their collection of 16th and 17th century sculpture.  Most of these were funerary in nature but again the pieces on display were best of breed.
It was interesting to see several monuments that at one time contained the hearts of the person being honored.  I guess it allowed for monuments to the same person in more than one venue.  I know that it was done quite frequently throughout the medieval and renaissance era, so it's not a rare occurrence.  Most of the stuff on display was rescued after the Revolution of 1789.  Another tomb conceit that I've seen is to have
 a sculpture of the person in life above the sarcophagus with another representation of the person in death.  Kind of "this is what I once was and this is what I am now", just so we don't get any unrealistic ideas.