movetothelouvre-former - Tumblr blog

[movetothelouvre-former]

Gerald Moira, “The Silent Voice", ca 1898

[movetothelouvre-former]

Fragmentary portraits of Egyptian Pharaohs from the Louvre's collection.

[movetothelouvre-former]

ok was talking to a friend and now i’m crazy curious:

expand on ur answer in the tags if you want & rb for more answers pls pls pls !!!!

[movetothelouvre-former]

Anonymous. Groupe sculpté avec cinq personnage (Sculpted Group With Five Figures). Oak. 16th century. Louvre Museum (not currently on view) page on museum site

What I like about this little piece is how it almost feels like it's breaking the artistic 4th wall. The central figure at first seems to be the prone figure of a bishop with his hands raised above his chest in prayer. But then it quickly becomes clear that this bishop is a sculpture within a sculpture. It is the artists crafting this sculpture who are the real subject of the piece and who most grabbed my attention. They are engrossed in their work, crafting the sculpture to sit atop the tomb of a bishop, their expressions showing a tender dedication to the craft. In fact, they look a lot more saintly than the slightly hunched and sour-faced bishop who stands behind them.

This man, placed squarely in the background despite his higher status, seems to be the patron of the effigy being sculpted (whether it's his own effigy or that of his predecessor is something I'm not sure on, though it seems more likely to be the later given the lack of resemblance). He and his acolyte are watching on, wanting to get their money's worth, but they are squarely outside of the action, secondary to the act of creation itself.