Latin Quarter and Vietnamese

I feel very lucky to have met such wonderful people on this trip.  One of my favorites has been Varena Forcione, a former assistant curator from the Louvre's Inventory of the Department of Prints and Drawings. She worked for a number years as an assistant on northern 16th century Italian drawing.  She and I had a wonderful chat over Vietnamese food last week.  The conversation quickly got into Italian artists we loved and discussed our mutual love of Pontormo.

I had mentioned several of the Ingres and Delaroche drawings that were at out on display during a visit to the Louvre and that I was considering copying some Ingres drawings next year.  Varena suggested I determine a list of drawings that I am considering and when I arrive the box will be there with the drawings pulled.  She said that its more time consuming to process individual drawings and that you are unable to just ask for an artist.  Here are two pics of the drawings we were talking about.

A number of us were out at a vietnamese restaurant, which was as wonderful as the conversation.  I began with a beef salad and wonderful teriyaki/ ginger-like pork.

We left the restaurant and headed back walking through the Latin Quarter.  The sun was setting and was throwing gold and amber all over the Pantheon.  For a moment I was transported back to Florence where light like this is a common occurrence.  It was yet another example of the beauty that was found there on a daily basis.