Thursday, May 27, 2010

Thursday, May 27, 1920







To-day we have set apart to visit the Louvre. We wrote letters, ate breakfast of rolls, cocoa and unsalted butter, then more letters and Miss H. and I were off for the Louvre, and were the first there at 9A.M. We seemed to walk miles through the long hallways, lined with the finest of statuary, bronzes and paintings. A few of the noted ones were Raphael’s Holy Family, and the same by De Vinci, Mona Lisa, Reni’s Mary Magdalene, Murillo’s Immaculate Conception and the group Mary, Elizabeth, Jesus and John. Van Dyck’s King Charles let. - Ruben’s Triumph of Religion and Adoration of the Magi, Rembrandt’s pictures of himself, including his last which showed the dissipated face, Millet’s Angelus. Shepherdess and Little Shepherdess, and the Venus De Milo statue by Phidias the Greek sculptor.

Many students were sketching and painting. We watched one copying Mona Lisa, not that we care for Mona Lisa but was interested in the weird smile and story of the theft. We were told that some students had waited as long as 14 years, for the opportunity to copy some noted picture they loved, and often their hand had lost its cunning before the coveted opportunity came. We would like to spend days here and study, but to-day I grew very tired. Longed to go farther but was forced to go out in the Tuilleries and rest. We could look no more to-day.

After lunch a Chinese friend of Miss H. drove us to the American Express office to get some money changed. The place was crowded and a long line waiting. We found a friend in the person of an American soldier boy at the desk who favored his country women first and we were not obliged to stand in line, for which we were grateful.

Did some shopping before dinner. Paris is a city to be loved and admired. There is a strange charm about the place and enchantments of the past. Had a pleasant evening at our hotel.

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