Descriptive Essay On The Louvre

903 Words4 Pages
The Louvre is the world’s largest museum with an extremely impressive art collection. It is located along the Seine River in Paris, France. The louvre was originally built as a fortress, then reconstructed to a royal palace. When Louis XIV moved the royal residence to Versailles, the Louvre became an art museum. The Louvre includes Egyptian antiques, crown jewels, Greek and Roman Sculptures, as well as other French noble artifacts. It houses more than 35,000 works of art at any time. Most of the artwork spans from 6th century B.C. to 19th century A.D. The museums most famous piece is Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”. The Code of Hammurabi, the Greek sculpture “Nike of Samothrace” and “Venus de Milo” are also notable masterpieces. The “Mona Lisa” is the best known and most visited piece of art. It is a portrait painting done by Leonardo de Vinci. The portrait is an oil painting on a white Lombardy poplar panel. The woman in the portrait is sat upright in an armchair, with her arms folded. This painting was one of the first portraits that depicted the sitter in front of an imaginary landscape. The portrait represents the beauty of the time period. It holds simplistic colors with detailed shading. The artwork is very intriguing to me. I love the detail in the background, there are tiny brushstrokes that makes up the mountains and sky. Also, I find the shading of the mouth and eyes very interesting. I like that Leonardo da Vinci painted the woman with no eyebrows, as they were