A Lady in Her Bath
François Clouet·c. 1571
Historical Context
Francois Clouet's A Lady in Her Bath, painted around 1571, is one of the most enigmatic and celebrated paintings of the French Renaissance. The identity of the bather remains debated — she has been identified as Diane de Poitiers, Mary Queen of Scots, or an idealized female type. The frank depiction of a noblewoman at her bath, surrounded by domestic detail, was unprecedented in French painting and reflects the sophisticated court culture of the late Valois period.
Technical Analysis
Clouet's oil-on-oak technique achieves the remarkable smoothness and precision characteristic of French court painting. The flesh is modeled with almost porcelain-like perfection, while the domestic details — fruit, flowers, nursing child — are rendered with the meticulous, miniaturist attention typical of the Clouet workshop.
Provenance
Sir Richard Frederick, 6th bt. [1780-1873], Burwood Park, Walton-on-Thames, Surry; (his estate sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 7 February 1874, no. 83, as _Portrait of Diane de Poictiers[sic]_ by Fr. Janetii); purchased by Thibeaudeau,[1] presumably acting as agent for Sir John Charles Robinson [1824-1913], London; purchased 1874 by Sir Francis Cook, 1st bt. [1817-1901], Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey;[2] by inheritance to his son, Sir Frederick Lucas Cook, 2nd bt. [1844-1920], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Herbert Frederick Cook, 3rd bt. [1868-1939], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th bt. [1907-1978], Doughty House, and Cothay Manor, Somerset; sold July 1954 to (Margaret Drey, London);[3] (Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York);[4] purchased May 1955 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[5] gift 1961 to NGA. [1] Annotation accompanying the copy of the catalogue in the archives of Christie, Manson & Woods, London. [2] Maurice Brockwell, _Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, and Elsewhere in the Collection of Sir Frederick Cook, Bt._, 3 vols., London, 1913-1915: 3:no. 426, states that the painting was purchased from J. Charles Robinson in 1874 for 350 pounds. An annotation, probably by Brockwell, in a copy of the 1915 Cook collection catalogue belonging to Brenda, Lady Cook (St. Brelade, Jersey, England), reads: "Bought from or per JCR 11/2/1874." Lady Cook kindly showed this annotation to Elon Danziger, assistant in the department of northern Renaissance painting, in 2001. Brockwell 1932, vi, observes that Robinson, who had been Surveyor of the Pictures for Queen Victoria, often advised Cook on purchases. In this instance he may have acted as agent. [3] Correspondence from the Cook Collection Archive, in care of John Somerville, England, copies in NGA curatorial file. [4] Saemy Rosenberg, letter to William Suida, 11 May 1955, in NGA curatorial files. [5] The record of the agreement to purchase the painting is in the Kress Foundation files, dated 9 May 1955 (see copy in NGA curatorial files and The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/53).
_-_Henri_II_of_France_(1519%E2%80%931559)%2C_on_Horseback_-_446778_-_National_Trust.jpg&width=600)
.jpg&width=600)
