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Sto caricando le informazioni... Saving Mona Lisa: The Battle to Protect the Louvre and its Treasures During World War IIdi Gerri Chanel
Chronological 2019 (12) Sto caricando le informazioni...
Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing. Having previously read Carolina Hicks' wonderful biography of the Bayeux Tapestry, I had a casual familiarity with the story of the relocation of the French art treasures prior to (and during) World War II. Geri Chanel's "Saving Mona Lisa" is about how Western art's most famous painting -- and its fellow residents of the Louvre (as well as other museums in Paris and throughout France) were moved. And not just for safety reasons; for along with death and destruction, war brings looting, by both individuals and governments. The ancient Egyptian figure, "The Scribe," for example, was "removed" (the polite term) from its home in Cairo to the Louvre by Napoleon. Also, while Germany and France expropriated the lands of the Alsace-Lorraine back and forth between 1871 and 1940, the governments also helped themselves to each other's cultural heritage. C'est la vie.Ms. Chanel tells this story with amazing detail; imagine being entrusted with the care of Mona Lisa on what turned out to be multiple road trips throughout France -- to the point of having the painting, in its own wood, velvet-lined case, at the side of your bed as you slept (in a 16th-c. chateaux!). From leaky roofs and basements to keeping well-connected "art lovers" (Hermann Goering) and scheming bureaucrats (Himmler, even some Vichy government officials) at bay, Ms. Chanel has rescued a not unimportant slice of history with a skill that her subjects, the administrators, curators and employees of the French museums exhibited during a time of crisis and chaos. Bon travail!! nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
In 1939, curators at the Louvre nestled the world's most famous painting into a special red velvet-lined case and spirited her away to the Loire Valley. As the Germans neared Paris in 1940, the French raced to move the masterpieces again and again during the war. Throughout the German occupation, the Louvre's staff fought to keep the priceless treasures out of enemy hands, often risking their lives to protect the country's artistic heritage. This is their tale. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Già recensito in anteprima su LibraryThingIl libro di Gerri Chanel Saving Mona Lisa: The Battle to Protect the Louvre and Its Treasures From the Nazis è stato disponibile in LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Discussioni correntiNessunoCopertine popolari
Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)940.53History and Geography Europe Europe 1918- World War IIClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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Though I've been to France, I've not been to Paris; I knew, of course, that the Louvre isn't a po-dunk museum, but until I read this book and saw the photos included (alas, all black and white but better than none), I really hadn't comprehended the sheer vastness of their collections. And of course, having been to other world museums, I know that 'art' comprises many different mediums, but when I first imagined the evacuation of the 'art' prior to the outbreak of war in France, my mind's eye thought, of course, 'paintings'. Nevermind the Winged Victory of Samotrace, a sculpture coming in at just around 3.5 tons. And I never considered the paintings that were huge that had to be rolled up on giant oak poles, or Raft of the Medusa, that couldn't be rolled because the artist used bitumen for the black, which never dries but remains sticky. Evacuating that piece alone was a tale. And the Bayeux Tapestry? That tale is one that can only be marvelled at in retrospect; in the moment it must have been ... I don't know, but I image the three meant who lived it got very, very drunk afterwards.
An engaging read. ( )