They also have a free app, that I preferred\u00a0 to the audioguide offered at the door ( I tried both) https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/en\/app\/musee-jacquemart-andre-application\/id582936499?mt=8<\/a>.\u00a0 It is a sad truth that the dim lighting required to preserve the works and the placement of paintings can mean that the Fran Hals portrait that\u2019s a muted glimmer high up in a darkened corner in dim room in real life, is as clear and vivid as if I held it in my hand the sunlight, with subtleties of texture and brushwork easily visible on my iPhone screen.<\/p>\n What the screen lacks is scale and three-dimensionality, what reality lacks is everything else.\u00a0This is not true (or as true) with sculpture. Even dark rooms and remote placement offers more to direct experience that the flattening screen image.<\/p>\n Back to this mansion, which was a marvel of its age, with walls that would sink down into the basement by way of hydraulics to accommodate tout Paris society. The version the museum puts out is charming and civilized – they loved each other and both loved art and he had pots of money which they spent hand over fist on the best art they could find. They differed only in that he preferred the Venetian artists and she championed the painters of Florence.\u00a0I take it a face value and my visit is a pure pleasure.<\/p>\n This includes my brunch, since I\u2019d had nothing but that cup of tea. I lined up at the caf\u00e9 door promptly at noon. I expected pastries and maybe a sandwich but it was ever so much nicer.\u00a0 The regular menu blew my skirt up by naming every dish after a painter; Watteau, Bellini, Chardin, Mantegna, Fragonard, Ruysdael, Canaletto, Van Dyck. There was a special themed menu (as did the Isabella Stewart Gardener when I visited Boston in December) \u00a0created for the current exhibition;\u00a0De Watteau \u00e0 Fragonard,\u00a0Les f\u00eate Galantes. I opted for duck breast in honey and soy, with risotto and\u00a0 It was divine.I read my Nook, glanced around the cheerful company from time to time, and cleaned my plate down to the shine.<\/p>\n Two French ladies were seated next to me and they sounded like finches perched on a fountain. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WmdBSn-34E8<\/a>\u00a0 A rapid and variable sequence of warbles, with a lyrical, burbling undercurrent. The French language seems to have a naturally musical quality.\u00a0 Perhaps it’s better to listen to the sound uncontaminated by meaning than be distracted by content.<\/p>\n I took in the special exhibit and, once again. the preparatory drawings seemed superior to many of the finished oil paintings.<\/p>\n Refreshed in spirit, off to the Jos\u00e9phine<\/em> exhibit at the Mus\u00e9e de Luxembourg<\/strong> (19 rue de Vaugirard) The audio guide was something of a hagiography, and I quickly realized how few facts I knew about her or Napol\u00e9on. \u00a0The exhibition claimed the 5’6″ Napoleon was average height for the times, though as you can see by her charming fur-lined and beribboned \u00a0walking boots, \u00a0Jos\u00e9phine\u00a0wore flats. That is why I have spent most of the evening chasing biographies of Jos\u00e9phine around the Internet instead of writing my blog. I have sworn to have lights out early, as bleary vision is the bane of the museum visitor.<\/p>\n![\"menu\"](\"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/menu-290x300.jpg\")
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