National Gallery of Art #18 (Part 2 of 2)

Our tour of the exhibition Corot: Women continues.

Corot's best known figure painting is known as Woman with a Pearl.  The painting is Corot's attempt to emulate da Vinci's masterpiece, the Mona Lisa (aka La Gioconda), which Corot saw in the Louvre.   

 

Below is a photograph of da Vinci's Mona Lisa.  Can you see the resemblance?  

Mona Lisa (aka La Gioconda) by Leonardo da Vinci (1503)

While touring the exhibit, we spotted an artist sitting in front of Woman with a Pearl.He was sketching the painting with the aid of a photograph.  

The painting below depicts the myth of Actaeon accidentally seeing Diana naked.  As a result, Diana turns Actaeon into a stag (you can see Diana pointing to him with his horns already growing.)  Actaeon will soon perish, hunted by his own hounds.  The painting perhaps serves an allegory for modern times.  

Greg's favorite painting in the exhibition is the one pictured below.  The painting creates a three-dimensional effect.  The woman in the foreground appears in sharp definition with bright colors while the background appears in soft, muted tones.  The woman almost floats off the painting.  

 

Thanks for again visiting the National Gallery of Art with us.

P.S.  The day we visited, the weather was hot and sticky.  The museum was cool and comfortable inside.