The Louvre Museum in Paris, France, is one of my favorites to explore for hours on end. It’s hard to narrow the list to five favorite paintings in the Louvre. There are just too many great ones. And with art, it is very personal and speaks to each of us differently. Do you like old masters or modern art? Or maybe you have an appreciation for all art. It’s sometimes hard for me to understand the meaning of a painting. It does help to rent the audio guide to help explain key paintings as you walk the museum’s halls. Without the guide, you can appreciate the paintings and sculptures. With each painting, there’s typically a description with the artist’s name, the title of the painting, and the year it was painted.
Here are five favorite paintings in the Louvre museum in Paris, France
First Image: Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta appraised by Dante and Virgil in the Inferno by Ary Scheffer. This is one of three oil paintings depicting a scene from Dante’s Inferno. Scheffer painted it in 1855.
Second Image: Roger delivering Angelica painted in 1819 by Jean-August-Dominique Ingres. Angellica is chained on an island and offered as a sacrifice to the sea-monster Orc. Roger, riding a hippogriff, a beastly half horse and eagle, is trying to free Angellica with his spear and magic shield.
Image 3: Vulcan Presenting Venus with Arms for Aeneas, 1757 by Francois Boucher. Venus seduces Vulcan and persuades him to forge weapons for her son Aeneas. Boucher’s painting shows Vulcan offering the goddess a sword. A preliminary sketch for a tapestry design — one of a set commissioned from four different artists by the marquis de Marigny, under King Louis XV.
Image 4: Fresco by Sandro Botticelli, Venus, and the Three Graces Presenting Gifts to a Young Woman. One of three was discovered under a coat of whitewash in the loggia of the Villa Lemmi near Florence, Italy, in 1873. Created in 1483-1486.
Image 5: The Virgin and Child with St. Anne by Leonardo da Vinci depicting St. Anne with her daughter the Virgin Mary and Jesus. Commissioned in 1503- 1519 as the high altarpiece for the Church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence, Italy. Commissioned in 1503-1519 as the high altarpiece for the Church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence, Italy.
