Veiled lady, Femme voilee
![femme voilée](http://robincamille.com/paris/femmevoilee.jpg)
Femme Voilée (la foi?), by Antonio Corradini, early to mid 1700s, in the Louvre. Photo credit. I'll go back and take my own photo of it sometime.
![veiled lady statue in pride and prejudice](http://robincamille.com/paris/veiledlady.jpg)
Veiled Lady, possibly by Raffaele Monti, 1860s, in Chatsworth House, or else a reproduction of Monti's Veiled Lady, the internet refuses to tell me. Photo credit.
If you are a female between the ages of 13 and 60, you will surely recognize the second sculpture from one of your all-time favorite films. (Any guesses?) The shot of the Veiled Lady has stuck in my mind since the first time I watched the movie. It's incredible how soft and diaphanous the fabric looks, though it is carved from marble. There's something beautiful/bizarre about it, and you know that that is my favorite combination of adjectives.
So imagine my pleasure when I found the Femme Voilée at the Louvre this afternoon! It's interesting to compare the two — level of detail, etc. It even seems like the types of fabric are different. The Louvre is lovely. My afternoon was free, so I decided to make good use of my Sorbonne art history ID card which lets me into any national museum gratuit. I can't tell you how nice it was to stroll the halls knowing that I had the time to do so, unlike the other tourists who power-walked past me snapping pictures of paintings instead of looking at them.
Epiphany: I like looking at sculptures much, much more than looking at paintings, at least when it comes to Renaissance/early modern art.