MASP

François Clouet started to paint with his father, the Flemish painter Jean Clouet (1480-1541), whom he succeeded as the painter of the royal court. He remained in this position during four subsequent reigns of the Valois dynasty in France, being greatly renowned for his portraits, as well as for the historical and mythological paintings inspired by the creations of mannerist Italian artists. This work of the MASP collection has three other versions, all of them currently in France. Diana’s Bath refers to the myth narrated in the Theogony of the Greek poet Hesiod (circa 750-650 a.C.) and the Metamorphoses of Ovid (43 a.C.-18 d.C.). In the myth, Actaeon is hunted by his own dogs after being transformed into a deer by Diana, the goddess of the moon and nature, who was infuriated for being surprised by him while bathing naked with the nymphs. However, the presence of two satyrs in the scene contradicts such interpretation by suggesting another one, in the light of events of the period: it is believed to insinuate the death of king Henry II (1519-1559) (represented by the deer being devoured in the right corner) and his succession by Francis II (1544-1560) (the knight arriving on the left). Thereby, the Diana dressed in red would be the new queen, Mary Stuart (1542-1587), replacing the seated woman, queen Catherine de Medici (1519-1589), with an expression of grief. The third female figure could be Diane de Poitiers (1500-1566), mistress of king Henry II.

— MASP Curatorial Team, 2017

---

The female group in Diana’s Bath is reminiscent of the iconography of The Judgment of Paris (Sterling, 1955), and Diana’s pose is similar to that of a famous model of Antiquity – the Chaste Venus (Béguin, 1965). The composition, which in general is an elaboration on a Raphael print, contrasts the wan elegance of the female nudes of the Fontainebleau School with strong recollections of the chromatic-decorative patterns that predominated in the French-Flemish tapestries of the 15th century. The cult of snow-white skin as the distinctive trait of female nobility is documented in the commentary by Brantône, a contemporary of Clouet and probably a friend, for whom “the snow of Mary Stuart’s face” on a chalk drawing by the artist “eclipsed the heavenly bodies” (et la neige de son visage effaçait l’astre.). Beyond the contrast of lunar nudes depicted against a green background, is an underlying resemblance to Venetian painting, especially in the way the nudes are placed along a frieze and the canvas is strikingly divided into two parts traversed by an obviously historical, equestrian figure: one part is the mythological allegory and the other a landscape taken from the remote Giorgione-Titian past. Several layers of meaning may be seen in the historical-mythological structure of the work which appears to be an intricate game of allusions, in keeping with the Manneristic fondness for deciphering enigmas. From a purely mythological viewpoint, the scene evokes the death of Actaeon, as originally narrated in Theogony by Hesiod. In the 16th century the most influential version was found in Book III of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The hunter Actaeon, raised by the centaur Chiron, came upon Diana (or Artemis) and her nymphs bathing at a spring. The goddess, irritated with the intrusion transformed the hunter into a deer, so that he became prey to his own dogs, which raged against him due to the sorcery. The Ovidian account, recurrent in poetry and in 16th and 17th-century paintings, presents an underlying mesh of political allusions, probably impregnated with satirical connotations – the meaning not being clear even today, notwithstanding recent research. Systematic analysis of the symbolism within the work necessarily set out from the fact that there are basically four known versions, each with notable variations: one at the Masp, which previously belonged to the Maurice Métayer Collection; one at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen; one in the Maurice Sulzbach Collection, and finally the work at the Tours Museum. The differing interpretations turn on the identity of the female figures. For Reinach (1920, pp. 9-33) the work is an allegory on the love affair between Henry II and Diana de Poitiers, whereas for Blum (1921) and others the figures allude to the love affair of Charles IX and Marie Touchet. A more coherent interpretation has recently been presented by Grandjean (1992, p. 60) for whom Diana’s features are those of Mary Stuart, known through the chalk drawings of Clouet, her faithful portraitist. Furthermore, when ascending to the throne as consort to Francis II, Mary Stuart had been hailed the “new Diana”. According to this same interpretation, the physiognomy of the seated nymph reflects the features of Catherine of Medici, weeping over the accidental death of her spouse Henry II, whose sobriquet “Royal Deer” justified the allusion to the death of Actaeon. Two somewhat malicious musician satyrs with their instruments – the hunting horn and the lute – seem to rejoice in the pain felt by this nymph/Catherine of Medici. They are allegorical images of the Guise brothers – the Duke and Cardinal Charles of Lorraine – maternal uncles of Mary Stuart. The image of the satyr, representing evil, perfectly matched these two members of one of the most powerful families of French aristocracy, leaders of the ultra-Catholic faction of the Holy Alliance, known for their sinister political schemes. The nymph who hands the flammeum, the Roman betrothal robe, to Diana/Mary Stuart, would be the duchess of Guise, while the nymph to the extreme right prepares to dress the goddess with the royal purple. In short, interpreted from this viewpoint, Diana at her bath could be deciphered on three simultaneous levels, as an elegy mourning the death of Henry II, as harsh criticism of the Guise’s self-indulgence, and, finally, as celebration of Mary Stuart’s marriage to the Dauphin Francis II, in 1558, who is seen in the background, holding the scepter bearing the arms of France. The picture would thus have been painted later than 1559, the date of Henry II’s death, and would allude to Mary Stuart’s wedding, in 1558. Trinquet (1968, p. 1) imaginatively associates the hollow oak-tree trunk in the background of the death scene of the hunter Actaeon/Henry II, with Ronsard’s verses: “Les chênes creux parleront les oracles / Plus que jamais on voirra des miracles”. Particularly in view of the various possibilities of symbolic interpretation, the four versions of the aforementioned work – the Masp, the Rouen, the Sulzbach Collection, and the Tours – have given rise to different theories as to their respective chronology. There is a consensus as to the fact that the Sulzbach and Tours versions were painted later, since the horseman represented is certainly Henry iV. For Blum (1921), the picture at Masp is the first of the series, whilst for Béguin (1965, p. 59) the Rouen version has precedence. But Béguin’s hypothesis is impaired by three arguments: his conclusion is based on the assumption that the horseman represented in the Masp’s version is Henry II, while today it is accepted to be Francis II; it is impossible to identify the horseman represented in the Rouen version because his features are blurred. The third argument, however, is undoubtedly the most important. In a recent examination of the work, carried out with the kind assistance of Andrea Rothe, of the Getty Museum, another face was detected on the horseman and its features are too different and precise to be a mere pentimento. It is almost certain that the underlying features are those of Francis I, who died in 1549; a hypothesis which, if verified, would not only introduce a new variable into the iconographic equation but above all would date the work several years earlier. In any case, a systematic study is necessary to securely define the iconographic and chronological coordinates of this work. Attribution of the Masp work to Clouet, as proposed by Blum in 1921, was confirmed by later literature, with the exception of Sterling (1955) who sees in the Masp and Rouen versions copies of a lost original painted by Clouet around 1550.

— Unknown authorship, 1998

---