Gabrielle D'Estrées Et Une De Ses Sœurs

''Gabrielle d'Estrées et une de ses soeurs'' (''Gabrielle d'Estrées and one of her sisters'') is a painting by an unknown artist dated c. 1594. It is in the Louvre in Paris and is usually thought to be the work of a painter from the Fontainebleau School.

Description

The painting portrays Gabrielle d'Estrées, mistress of King Henry IV of France, sitting nude in a bath, holding a ring. Her sister Julienne-Hyppolite-Joséphine sits nude beside her and pinches d'Estrées' right nipple.

Interpretations

Announcing Gabrielle's pregnancy

The nipple-pinching gesture has been interpreted as a symbolic announcement that Gabrielle is pregnant with Henry's child, César de Bourbon. According to the Louvre's website: "The oddly affectionate way in which the sister is pinching Gabrielle d'Estrées' right breast has often been taken as symbolizing the latter's pregnancy with the illegitimate child of Henry IV. This interpretation would seem to be confirmed by the scene of the young woman sewing – perhaps preparing a layette for the coming child – in the background." The ring that Gabrielle holds is said to be Henry's coronation ring, which he may have given to her as a token of his love shortly before she died.

Other interpretations

In the early years of the seventeenth century, Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme told a story about a group of people who went to view the painting. He described the painting as showing "fair naked ladies" together in a bath, and adds that they "touch, and feel, and handle, and stroke, one the other, and intertwine and fondle with each other." Brantôme reveals that while the group was viewing the painting, "one great lady" who was a part of the group "los all restraint ... before the picture, say ngto her lover, turning toward him s ifmaddened ythe madness of love she beheld n the painting 'Too long have we tarried here. Let us now straightway take ycoach and go to my lodging; for ... no more can I hold in the ardor that is in me. Needs must away and quench it; too sore do I burn.'"

During the first half of the nineteenth century, ''Gabrielle d'Estrées et une de ses soeurs'' hung in the Prefecture of Police in Paris. Dr. Ver Heyden de Lacey stated in an article from 1935 that "Nobody knew why or how it came there; t wasplaced above a door in one of the halls to which the public had access." He explained that one day, a "pusillanimous high official" noticed the painting and "conceived fthe idea to screen the picture...from the curious public gaze, by drawing a green curtain in front of it." His action suggested that the official considered the painting to be erotic or even obscene, but instead of removing it, he had it veiled, and thus visibly marked the image as an open secret, or as something which should not be seen. At some point after that, Dr. Ver Heyden de Lacey claimed that "Somebody had the happy inspiration to expose he veiled imageto the artistic and art-trained eyes of those called upon to take part in civic function t the police station... In preparation or thisspecial function ... a thorough cleaning of the picture itself was ordered .... utUpon drawing the curtain, hey found onlyan empty picture frame."

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the ''Gabrielle d'Estrées'' painting is commonly understood to represent female homosexuality. It is listed in the ''Encyclopedia of Lesbian Gay Histories and Cultures'' and it appears on websites about lesbian history like Sappho.com. Even outside of the LGBT community, the painting is frequently understood as a representation of lesbianism. In 1991, it appeared on the cover of the French magazine ''L’Événement du jeudi'' to illustrate a story on lesbian chic. In 2002, the German Green Party created a poster to announce their support of same-sex marriage, featuring two female models reenacting the ''Gabrielle'' portrait.

Bias toward left-handedness

This painting is peculiarly biased toward left-handedness. Julienne-Hippolyte-Joséphine is pinching Gabrielle's right nipple with her left hand; Gabrielle is holding the ring with her left hand, and the seamstress in the background is sewing with her left hand. The painting hanging in the background is of the lower body of a naked person, but contrary to rumor, he is not holding his penis with his left hand; a piece of red fabric is draped over his genitals.

References

Footnotes

Sources

Will Fisher. "Gabrielle's New Clothes: Cultural Valuations and Evaluations of ''Gabrielle d'Estrées et une de ses soeurs''." ''Textual Practice'' 12:3 (1998): 251–67.

* Rebecca Zorach. "Desiring Things." ''Art History'' 24.2 (2001): 195–212.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabrielle d'Estrees et une de ses soeurs
1590s paintings
Paintings in the Louvre by French artists
Bathing in art
Lesbian culture
LGBT art