Huge art show questions legend of Vermeer the lone genius
935311 SHARE
A new blockbuster Vermeer exhibition which opens on Wednesday aims to smash the myth that the Dutch master was a solitary genius who worked alone at home cut off from the world.
The Louvre in Paris has gathered a third of the 17th-century painter’s canvasses for the show the most ever shown in one place since his death where they will hang alongside nearly 60 paintings by his friends, rivals and contemporaries.
“We wanted to do away with the stereotype of Vermeer as ‘the Sphinx of Delft’,” said Blaise Ducos, who is in charge of the museum’s vast collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings.
Mona Lisa is alone but still smiling
27 Jan, 2021 02:03 AM
7 minutes to read
The Mona Lisa is alone. Photo / Dmitry Kostyukov, The New York Times
New York Times
By: Liz Alderman
With the Louvre closed because of the pandemic, museum officials are pushing ahead on a grand restoration and cleanup. From her bulletproof case in the Louvre Museum, Mona Lisa s smile met an unfamiliar sight the other morning: emptiness. The gallery where throngs of visitors swarmed to ogle her day after day was a void, deserted under France s latest coronavirus confinement.
Around the corner, the Winged Victory of Samothrace floated quietly above a marble staircase, majestic in the absence of selfie-sticks and tour groups. In the Louvre s medieval basement, the Great Sphinx of Tanis loomed in the dark like a granite ghost from behind bars.
ET Panache NEWS
Powered by
Mona Lisa s smile isn t greeting visitors at the Louvre; a small army of artisans working overtime to complete restoration before reopening
SECTIONS
Mona Lisa s smile isn t greeting visitors at the Louvre; a small army of artisans working overtime to complete restoration before reopeningBy
Share
Synopsis
New York Times
Instead of waiting until Tuesdays the sole day that the Louvre used to close curators, restorers, conservators and other experts are pressing ahead five days a week to complete major renovations that had started before the pandemic and introduce new beautifications that they hope to finish by mid-February.