Robin Camille Davis
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Veiled lady, Femme voilee

March 22, 2009


Femme Voilée (la foi?), by Antonio Corradini, early to mid 1700s, in the Louvre. Photo credit. I'll go back and take my own photo of it sometime.


Veiled Lady, possibly by Raffaele Monti, 1860s, in Chatsworth House, or else a reproduction of Monti's Veiled Lady, the internet refuses to tell me. Photo credit.

If you are a female between the ages of 13 and 60, you will surely recognize the second sculpture from one of your all-time favorite films. (Any guesses?) The shot of the Veiled Lady has stuck in my mind since the first time I watched the movie. It's incredible how soft and diaphanous the fabric looks, though it is carved from marble. There's something beautiful/bizarre about it, and you know that that is my favorite combination of adjectives.

So imagine my pleasure when I found the Femme Voilée at the Louvre this afternoon! It's interesting to compare the two — level of detail, etc. It even seems like the types of fabric are different. The Louvre is lovely. My afternoon was free, so I decided to make good use of my Sorbonne art history ID card which lets me into any national museum gratuit. I can't tell you how nice it was to stroll the halls knowing that I had the time to do so, unlike the other tourists who power-walked past me snapping pictures of paintings instead of looking at them.

Epiphany: I like looking at sculptures much, much more than looking at paintings, at least when it comes to Renaissance/early modern art.