Jean is a little under the weather this weekend with the sniffles, so I took a walk by myself to Musee Carnavalet. The Hotel Carnavalet is a mixture of architecture from 1548 to 1866, when the City of Paris extended it around the courtyard to make more room for the museum. It is dedicated to the history of Paris and includes recreated rooms from different eras, sculptures, and over 2000 paintings. I apologize for the quality of the photos. Musee Carnavalet is not an art gallery, which is reflected in how the paintings are or are not lighted. I had to get some weird angles to minimize reflections from bad lighting and some paintings weren’t lit at all. Despite that I wanted to show some that inspire me.
I was particularly interested in paintings of street scenes. These provide a good exercise in perspective and I want to try my hand at some. Abel Truchet, caught my eye. One room featured a small grouping of his Paris street scenes from the Victorian Era. I love his loose style, the wonderful way he captures figures and motions, and his colorful palatte.
I have included one other painting in the slide show below that just made me smile. It also is a wonderful example of painting a figure. Both the woman and the cat are beautifully rendered in a modern style. The artist is Robert Humblot.
Now I will get out my paints. Perhaps soon I will have some paintings to share. Au revoir!
Travels With Picasso 
Hi, Paul and Jean. I haven’t replied yet to your other posts, but I am reading them. I went to the Carnavalet years ago, and I made them open the room with the most ancient items just for me. One of my favorite items from the museum is in that room: a golden coin from the time when Paris was a small settlement called Lutece. It shone as brightly when I saw it as it did more than 2000 years before. I guess that’s part of the enduring appeal of gold. I also was impressed by the scale model of the Bastille, made from rubble of the Bastille! Life in Seattle is good. I had an 11-day weekend over the Fourth of July and did a tourist thing that’s been on my list a long time: I took a cruise through the Ballard Locks. When I went back to work and told people I had spent a week in my favorite city, they guessed that it was Paris. Nope. Much as I love Paris, my favorite city is the one I’m lucky enough to live in. — Antoinette
I’m jealous. The part of the museum that has later 19th century paintings (Impressionist) was closed and they would not let me in. You must have some sort of special charm.