Jean II Le Bon
Jean (John) II (1319 – 1364) painted by Anonymous
We usually visit le Lovure when it opens and join the throng rushing up the stairs into the Demon Wing, past Winged Victory and into the Apollo Salon for a first peek at La Gionconda (aka DaVinci’s Mona Lisa) and the Grand Gallerie of French, Italian and Spanish masterpieces. Before long it is very crowded and congested.
A much overlooked, under-rated and our secret recommendation is on the other side of the courtyard up to the third (3rd) floor of the least crowded Richelieu Wing to the collection of peniture (paintings) which includes Rembrandt, Vermeer and Rubens
At the top of the escalator there, the first painting is of Jean II Le bon (John II the Good)
This is one of the first individual portraits in Europe, one of the oldest in French Art (circa 1350) King John lacks a crown perhaps because he was only the Duke of Normandy at that time.
No King wanted to bear his name they say, because of his difficult reign, defeated by the English, imprisoned in London and forced to renounce his crown
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