Plate LVIII.
Photo. Giraudon.
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THE DAUPHIN FRANCOIS, ELDEST SON OF FRANCIS I. Jean Clouet. |
HENRI D’ORLEANS, AFTERWARDS HENRI II. Attributed to Jean Clouet. |
Musée Condé.
To face page 220.
A likeness of Rénée de France[103] which bears some affinity to the portrait of her sister Queen Claude is also to be found at Chantilly. It represents her at the time of her marriage to Ercole, Duke of Ferrara, son of Lucrezia Borgia: nuptials which were celebrated in the Sainte Chapelle at Paris. Like the other French princesses of her day she was extremely intelligent and studious, and during her time the Court of Ferrara became renowned as an intellectual centre to which French visitors were always warmly welcomed. To the complaints of her Italian courtiers that she spent too much money upon her compatriots she replied, “Que voulez-vous? Ces sont pauvres Français de ma nation lesquelles si Dieu m’eut donné barbe au menton, et que je fusse homme, seraient maintenant tous mes sujets, et si cette méchante loi Salique ne me tenait trop de rigueur.” Rénée was a strong adherent of the Reformed Faith and welcomed Calvin to her Court, thereby giving serious annoyance to her husband, the Duke, whose policy it was to keep on good terms with the Pope. The poor Duchess therefore presently found herself compelled to part with all her French ladies-in-waiting on account of their Protestant views. Furthermore, her brother-in-law, Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, was sent to the French Court to discuss these matters with the King, upon which occasion those two connoisseurs and patrons of Art became fast friends.[104]