{"id":1500,"date":"2012-10-24T15:31:32","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T19:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/?p=1500"},"modified":"2012-12-12T18:44:06","modified_gmt":"2012-12-12T22:44:06","slug":"educational-travel-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/educational-travel-france","title":{"rendered":"Educational Travel in France"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This article was originally featured in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/landing.explorica.com\/us-fa12-online-mag\" target=\"_blank\">Explorica\u2019s 2012 fall magazine<\/a>. We\u2019ll be sharing 20 life-changing travel experiences throughout the season. Transform your students\u2019 lives (and maybe your own) with any of these exceptional educational travel experiences.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Come Face to Foot with Napoleon<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Maybe your students have\u00a0seen it miniaturized\u00a0within an art or history textbook.\u00a0Perhaps you\u2019ve even displayed it\u00a0with a projector to generate classroom\u00a0discussion. But neither you\u00a0nor your students have ever truly\u00a0experienced the epic grandeur of\u00a0Jacque-Louis David\u2019s painting, The\u00a0Coronation of Napoleon, until you\u2019ve\u00a0seen it in person. Displayed in the\u00a0Louvre, Paris\u2019s temple to art, this\u00a0painting is a must-see. Of course,\u00a0standing more than twenty feet tall\u00a0and over thirty feet wide, you could\u00a0hardly miss this masterwork. As\u00a0the title describes, the subject is the\u00a0crowning of Napoleon Bonaparte\u00a0as the Emperor of the new France.\u00a0The painting, which took over three\u00a0years to complete, was for the time\u00a0a nearly photo-realist depiction of\u00a0one of France\u2019s most important\u00a0historic events\u2014albeit with a few\u00a0embellishments (ever the maman\u2019s\u00a0boy, Napoleon had David add his\u00a0mother to the adoring audience).<\/p>\n<p>[hs_action id=&#8221;1499&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>When you view the painting in\u00a0person, your eyes are drawn to the\u00a0vivid detail etched onto every face\u00a0and fa\u00e7ade. Because of the painting\u2019s\u00a0immense size, mistakes would\u00a0be magnified, so David created\u00a0an entire miniature replica of the\u00a0characters and settings. As you scan\u00a0the canvas, note the sumptuous\u00a0textures of the fabrics and clothing,\u00a0knowing that the shades and colours\u00a0depicted only became fully realized\u00a0through the use of costumed dolls.<\/p>\n<p>After giving yourself time to take\u00a0in the whole scene, take a moment\u00a0to reflect on where this important\u00a0art work is displayed. Were it not\u00a0for the event depicted in the painting,\u00a0you might not get to see it at<br \/>\nall. Built in the 12th century as a\u00a0palace fortress, the Louvre was later\u00a0turned into a museum open solely\u00a0to European royalty. Although the\u00a0sweeping changes of the French\u00a0Revolution opened the Louvre to\u00a0the public, some feared Napoleon\u2019s\u00a0consolidation of power might\u00a0lead to a return to royalty-only\u00a0admission. On the contrary, the\u00a0new emperor kept admission available\u00a0to all art-loving citizens, while\u00a0also adding new museum wings.<\/p>\n<p>In 1807, after first viewing The\u00a0Coronation of Napoleon, a pleased\u00a0Emperor Bonaparte remarked to\u00a0David: \u201cThis is not a painting; you\u00a0walk in this work.\u201d In other words,\u00a0this painting is an experience unto\u00a0itself. Through a truly amazing\u00a0confluence of subject matter, style,\u00a0and even display venue, viewing\u00a0this painting in person is a life-changing\u00a0event for any student\u2014\u00a0and for students of all ages.<\/p>\n<p>[hs_action id=&#8221;1499&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article was originally featured in\u00a0Explorica\u2019s 2012 fall magazine. We\u2019ll be sharing 20 life-changing travel experiences throughout the season. Transform your students\u2019 lives (and maybe your own) with any of these exceptional educational travel experiences. Come Face to Foot with Napoleon Maybe your students have\u00a0seen it miniaturized\u00a0within an art or history textbook.\u00a0Perhaps you\u2019ve even displayed <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/educational-travel-france\">Read More &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,173,63,172],"tags":[58,40,291,176],"class_list":["post-1500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explorica-news","category-parents","category-students","category-teachers","tag-educational-travel","tag-france","tag-louvre","tag-paris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1500"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1509,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions\/1509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}