Glorious day!

image from http://www.troisgraces.fr/EN/#/home

This magnificent little painting called the three Graces has been acquired by the Louvre museum, thanks to a good campaign to raise the interest of donors. It can be seen for the first time, because it was in a private collection.

It was painted in the 16th century by Lucas Cranach the Elder, a German painter you certainly know even if you don't remember his name: he painted the most famous portrait of Martin Luther, and Adam and Eve under an apple tree, hiding their sex with grape leaves.

There is always something mysterious about Cranach paintings: the look of Jesus crowned with thorns, the attitude of the bride of an old man, the depiction of fights.  Here you wonder about the woman's hat, the girl on the right holding her foot. There is irreverence in this painter of church subjects.