Musée du Louvre: Painted Shoes

MUSﾃ右 DU LOUVRE CHAUSSURES PEINTES | PAINTED SHOES | CALZADOS PINTADOS | GEMALTE SCHUHE

Louvre_shoes_box_bild_Layout 1 17.05.11 16:56 Seite 2

MARGO GLANTZ CATHERINE BELANGER LOIS LAMMERHUBER

Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes |

Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe David et BethsabĂŠe, 1562 Jan MASSYS, c. 1509-1575,

Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes |

Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe David et BethsabĂŠe, 1562 Jan MASSYS, c. 1509-1575,

Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes |

Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe Hyacinthe RIGAUD, 1659-1743, Louis xiv, 1701

Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes |

Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe Hyacinthe RIGAUD, 1659-1743, Louis xiv, 1701

Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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F r ag m e n tat i o n a s a n a r t: the aesthetics of shoes

The French writer Georges Bataille regarded the foot – or rather the big

whether they be the lower parts of the painting, or of the human body.

toe – as ‘the most human part of the human body’. This remarkable

After all, the foot does support the body, does it not?

phrase is reaffirmed when we look at the pictures taken at the Louvre by

The foot is man’s support. In architecture, it is indispensable as the base

Lois Lammerhuber to glorify not only the foot, this ‘limb of all limbs’ – again

of pilasters and columns, and it enables us to stand upright. To many, this

according to Bataille – but also external covering used to envelope the foot:

essential part of us also represents the soul. To Sigmund Freud, the foot

the shoe. Used since time immemorial, man is supposed to have invented

is remarkable and has a phallic significance. The upright carriage which

the shoe to protect himself from bad weather (since nature provided him

man acquired compared to the ape when he descended from the lofty

with neither claws, nor hooves nor fur), and subsequently, perhaps, to

branches to which early history had confined him made him become a

satisfy his vanity and mark his social position in the world. In fact, these

tree himself (again according to Bataille), perfectly erect. The foot also

photographs focus on the foot – or rather on the well-shod foot – despite

the mark of death, since we all are walking towards it at a hurried pace,

the fact that it frequently coexists with the naked foot in its primal perfection.

just like Christ when he walked the path to Calvary, a scene frequently

So why focus on the foot, or rather the well-shod foot? Why is it neces-

depicted in the pictures painted between the 13th and the 16th centuries,

sary to cut away not only the human body, but also the rest of the painting itself? Looking at the pictures reproduced here, we immediately notice an

A widespread and varied symbol, the foot also represents slavery in

important fact: we never see a complete painting, but are only offered

Greek culture, and free men shod it in much the same way as women

the lower part of each, making it impossible – with some exceptions, and

covered their heads. Whilst liberating man, shoes enslaved his feet. Shoes

depending on the angle of the camera– to view entire scenes or bodies.

conceal his primal nudity, the nudity of the support that keeps us upright

This somewhat paradoxical, yet nevertheless productive approach yields

on the triple and relentless symbolisation of the foot. It can represent the

up specific details, performing a kind of dissection of each painting. Our

soul, or rather the link between heaven and earth. We find confirmation

eyes rest on individual elements that become the most visible elements

of this when we remember that the column is one of the most common

in each painting. As explained by Catherine Bédard with reference to the

and traditional symbols of Christ: Columna est Christus.

art critic Daniel Arasse, ‘…the possibility to approach the work of art in this way arouses great excitement, an excitement produced by the proximity of the work, the pleasure of admiring it unreservedly thanks to photography, even if it is only a reproduction.’

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

sheer paths walked barefoot.

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The foot also represents the embryonic erection, eroticism in disguise. The picture which Giovanni da Milano painted between 1360

and 1365 – presumably for a Pisa church, and showing St. Francis on

This manner of “dissecting” a painting forces us to see the unusual,

the panel of a polyptych – is a flagrant example of this, is it not? Take a

that which 19th-century Mexicans referred to as ‘porabajos’, or ‘lowers’,

look at the lower part of the painting. The saint is dressed in a grey tunic,

Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

41

I

F r ag m e n tat i o n a s a n a r t: the aesthetics of shoes

The French writer Georges Bataille regarded the foot – or rather the big

whether they be the lower parts of the painting, or of the human body.

toe – as ‘the most human part of the human body’. This remarkable

After all, the foot does support the body, does it not?

phrase is reaffirmed when we look at the pictures taken at the Louvre by

The foot is man’s support. In architecture, it is indispensable as the base

Lois Lammerhuber to glorify not only the foot, this ‘limb of all limbs’ – again

of pilasters and columns, and it enables us to stand upright. To many, this

according to Bataille – but also external covering used to envelope the foot:

essential part of us also represents the soul. To Sigmund Freud, the foot

the shoe. Used since time immemorial, man is supposed to have invented

is remarkable and has a phallic significance. The upright carriage which

the shoe to protect himself from bad weather (since nature provided him

man acquired compared to the ape when he descended from the lofty

with neither claws, nor hooves nor fur), and subsequently, perhaps, to

branches to which early history had confined him made him become a

satisfy his vanity and mark his social position in the world. In fact, these

tree himself (again according to Bataille), perfectly erect. The foot also

photographs focus on the foot – or rather on the well-shod foot – despite

the mark of death, since we all are walking towards it at a hurried pace,

the fact that it frequently coexists with the naked foot in its primal perfection.

just like Christ when he walked the path to Calvary, a scene frequently

So why focus on the foot, or rather the well-shod foot? Why is it neces-

depicted in the pictures painted between the 13th and the 16th centuries,

sary to cut away not only the human body, but also the rest of the painting itself? Looking at the pictures reproduced here, we immediately notice an

A widespread and varied symbol, the foot also represents slavery in

important fact: we never see a complete painting, but are only offered

Greek culture, and free men shod it in much the same way as women

the lower part of each, making it impossible – with some exceptions, and

covered their heads. Whilst liberating man, shoes enslaved his feet. Shoes

depending on the angle of the camera– to view entire scenes or bodies.

conceal his primal nudity, the nudity of the support that keeps us upright

This somewhat paradoxical, yet nevertheless productive approach yields

on the triple and relentless symbolisation of the foot. It can represent the

up specific details, performing a kind of dissection of each painting. Our

soul, or rather the link between heaven and earth. We find confirmation

eyes rest on individual elements that become the most visible elements

of this when we remember that the column is one of the most common

in each painting. As explained by Catherine Bédard with reference to the

and traditional symbols of Christ: Columna est Christus.

art critic Daniel Arasse, ‘…the possibility to approach the work of art in this way arouses great excitement, an excitement produced by the proximity of the work, the pleasure of admiring it unreservedly thanks to photography, even if it is only a reproduction.’

40

Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

sheer paths walked barefoot.

II

The foot also represents the embryonic erection, eroticism in disguise. The picture which Giovanni da Milano painted between 1360

and 1365 – presumably for a Pisa church, and showing St. Francis on

This manner of “dissecting” a painting forces us to see the unusual,

the panel of a polyptych – is a flagrant example of this, is it not? Take a

that which 19th-century Mexicans referred to as ‘porabajos’, or ‘lowers’,

look at the lower part of the painting. The saint is dressed in a grey tunic,

Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Attribué à Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci, PéRUGIN, c. 1450-1523, La Vierge et l’Enfant entourés de deux anges, sainte Rose et sainte Catherine d’Alexandrie, 1490-1495

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

MAîTRE DE LA SAINTE PARENTÉ, c. 1470-1515, L’Adoration des Mages, la Présentation au temple, L’Apparition du Christ à la Vierge, c. 1480 Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Attribué à Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci, PéRUGIN, c. 1450-1523, La Vierge et l’Enfant entourés de deux anges, sainte Rose et sainte Catherine d’Alexandrie, 1490-1495

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

MAîTRE DE LA SAINTE PARENTÉ, c. 1470-1515, L’Adoration des Mages, la Présentation au temple, L’Apparition du Christ à la Vierge, c. 1480 Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Philippe de CHAMPAIGNE, 1602-1674, Louis XIII couronnÊ par la Victoire (Siège de la Rochelle), 1635

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Philippe de CHAMPAIGNE, 1602-1674, Louis XIII couronnÊ par la Victoire (Siège de la Rochelle), 1635

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Louis DAVID, 1748-1825, Sacre de l’empereur Napoléon Ier et couronnement de l’impératrice Joséphine dans la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, le 2 décembre 1804,1806-1807

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

Louis DAVID, 1748-1825, Sacre de l’empereur Napoléon Ier et couronnement de l’impératrice Joséphine dans la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, le 2 décembre 1804,1806-1807 Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Louis DAVID, 1748-1825, Sacre de l’empereur Napoléon Ier et couronnement de l’impératrice Joséphine dans la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, le 2 décembre 1804,1806-1807

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

Louis DAVID, 1748-1825, Sacre de l’empereur Napoléon Ier et couronnement de l’impératrice Joséphine dans la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, le 2 décembre 1804,1806-1807 Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Sir Thomas LAWRENCE, 1769-1830, Les enfants d’Ascoyghe Boucherett

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

Sir Thomas LAWRENCE, 1769-1830, Les enfants d’Ascoyghe Boucherett Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Sir Thomas LAWRENCE, 1769-1830, Les enfants d’Ascoyghe Boucherett

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

Sir Thomas LAWRENCE, 1769-1830, Les enfants d’Ascoyghe Boucherett Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Jan STEEN, 1626-1679, La mauvaise compagnie, 1665-1670

Charles LE BRUN, 1619-1690, Alexandre et Porus, 1665

Pieter Cornelisz van SLINGELANDT, c. 1625/1630-1691, Frans Meerman, greffier de la ville de Leyde et sa famille,1668

Pierre MIGNARD, 1612-1695, L a délivrance d’Andromède, 1679

Nicolas de LARGILLIERRE, 1656-1746, Portrait de Charles Le Brun, 1683-1686

Pierre MIGNARD, 1612-1695, Portrait de l’artiste, 1690

Joseph PARROCEL, 1646-1704, Passage du Rhin par l’armée de Louis XIV à Tolhuis, 1699

Hyacinthe RIGAUD, 1659-1743, Louis xiv, 1701

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164, 165

168,169

170-171

172, endpapers

2-3, 173, endpapers

175

18-19, 176, 177

Claude GILLOT, 1673-1722, Le tombeau de Maître André, 1716-1717

Jean-Antoine WATTEAU, 1684-1721, Pierrot, Gilles, 1718-1719

Jean-Baptiste OUDRY, 1686-1755, Les divertissements champêtres, 1720-1723

Carl VAN LOO, 1705-1765, Halte de chasse, 1737

Louis TOCQUÉ, 1696-1772, Marie Leçzinska, 1740

Maurice-Quentin DELATOUR, 1704-1788, La marquise de Pompadour, 1749-1755

Giandomenico TIEPOLO, 1727-1804, Scène de carnaval, dit Le menuet, 1754-1755

Thomas GAINSBOROUGH, 1727-1788, Lady Alston

Francisco de GOYA Y LUCIENTES, 1746-1828, Mariana Waldstein, neuvième marquise de Santa Cruz

Louis-Michel VAN LOO, 1707-1771, Portrait du marquis de Marigny et de son épouse, 1769

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178, 179

186, 187, 188, 189

182, 183

180-181

184

185

20-21, 190

191

192, 193

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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Jan STEEN, 1626-1679, La mauvaise compagnie, 1665-1670

Charles LE BRUN, 1619-1690, Alexandre et Porus, 1665

Pieter Cornelisz van SLINGELANDT, c. 1625/1630-1691, Frans Meerman, greffier de la ville de Leyde et sa famille,1668

Pierre MIGNARD, 1612-1695, L a délivrance d’Andromède, 1679

Nicolas de LARGILLIERRE, 1656-1746, Portrait de Charles Le Brun, 1683-1686

Pierre MIGNARD, 1612-1695, Portrait de l’artiste, 1690

Joseph PARROCEL, 1646-1704, Passage du Rhin par l’armée de Louis XIV à Tolhuis, 1699

Hyacinthe RIGAUD, 1659-1743, Louis xiv, 1701

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164, 165

168,169

170-171

172, endpapers

2-3, 173, endpapers

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18-19, 176, 177

Claude GILLOT, 1673-1722, Le tombeau de Maître André, 1716-1717

Jean-Antoine WATTEAU, 1684-1721, Pierrot, Gilles, 1718-1719

Jean-Baptiste OUDRY, 1686-1755, Les divertissements champêtres, 1720-1723

Carl VAN LOO, 1705-1765, Halte de chasse, 1737

Louis TOCQUÉ, 1696-1772, Marie Leçzinska, 1740

Maurice-Quentin DELATOUR, 1704-1788, La marquise de Pompadour, 1749-1755

Giandomenico TIEPOLO, 1727-1804, Scène de carnaval, dit Le menuet, 1754-1755

Thomas GAINSBOROUGH, 1727-1788, Lady Alston

Francisco de GOYA Y LUCIENTES, 1746-1828, Mariana Waldstein, neuvième marquise de Santa Cruz

Louis-Michel VAN LOO, 1707-1771, Portrait du marquis de Marigny et de son épouse, 1769

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178, 179

186, 187, 188, 189

182, 183

180-181

184

185

20-21, 190

191

192, 193

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Chaussures peintes | Painted shoes | Calzados pintados | Gemalte Schuhe

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