Madonna and Child - Jean Fouquet
Today, only in the imagination can we imagine this picture as a whole. "Melensky diptych" was created by the French artist Jean Fouquet in the middle of the XV century. The canvas was ordered by the court husband Etienne Chevalier for one of the churches in Melena. On the left wing, which is now stored in the Berlin-Dahlem art gallery, Fouquet portrayed Chevalier himself with his patron Saint Stefan. On the right wing, now owned by the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, the artist created the composition "Madonna and Child".
The color solution of the picture is striking - bright red and blue angels, Madonna and Child's marble skin, deep blue background tone. But even more interesting is the Madonna herself, or rather her prototype. It is believed that in the picture Fuke depicted Agnes Sorel. Who is this woman who inspired the famous French artist to create one of the best images of Our Lady in world art?
World history contains many facts and evidence of women's influence on power. Especially, perhaps, in this sense the history of France is indicative. There were a lot of them, these bright favorite beauties. The names of most of them have long been forgotten, but some have remained in history thanks to their intelligence, beauty and beneficial influence on kings.
And the first in this row is Agnes Sorel.
The date of her birth is not known exactly - some historians claim that Agnes was born in 1409, others, and, most likely, it is closer to the truth - in 1422. Her father, Jean Sorel, courtier of the Earl of Clermont, realizing that it was possible to derive some benefits from the beauty of his daughter, arranged that Agnes first became the maid of honor of the Duchess Isabella of Lorraine, and then of the queen of Maria of Anjou, the wife of King Charles VII. Agnes enjoyed great success at the court. I could not fail to notice this beauty and the king. At that time it was, it seems, a little over twenty.
Carl was a complicated man. Everyone knew that the laws of morality and morality did not bother him much, he was passionate, carried away, cowardly and cruel, but at the same time a well-educated and great reading lover. On the evening of that day, when Agnes first caught sight of His Majesty, he led the maid of honor to his bedroom and confessed his tender feelings. Agnes did not expect anything of the kind and rushed out of the royal chambers in confusion. However, soon she surrendered to the persuasion of the sovereign. Thus began the fifth anniversary of her power over the king.
As usual, the legal wife learned the news last. Realizing that Karl's passion is great, and there's nothing you can do about it, she, having shed a few days, has reconciled, moreover - she made friends with Agnes. They went hunting together and walked. Such a resolution of the problems was very pleased with Carl.
For several years, as the then Pope Pius II testifies, "the king could not live an hour without his girlfriend and was more concerned with improving his love skills than with the management of state affairs." He showered Agnes with ornaments, gave estates - Issuden Castle in Berry and Vernon Manor in Normandy, awarded titles, one of which was learned by everyone. Madame Bote, Madame Beauty - so it began to be called after the king gave her the estate of Bote-sur-Marne, Beauty on the Marne. And in June 1444 Carl, along with his brother-in-law Rene Anjou, organized a large knight tournament in honor of the beautiful Agnes.
The favorite gave birth to the king of four daughters, and all of them the king, despite the protests of high relatives, granted the birth titles of Valois. This was, perhaps, the highest manifestation of his love.
Far from being a noble aristocrat, Agnes led the life of a queen. Before her, diamonds were allowed only for men of the royal family. After her, all the ladies who could afford it allowed themselves. She was one of the best clients of a large merchant and royal treasurer Jacques Kera. He supplied her fur martens, oriental silk, Egyptian gold-woven materials, from which she sewed stunning toilets. Agnes amazed contemporaries with insolence and the variety of her outfits. She was the first to introduce fashionable dresses and long trains into fashion, which the Church did not like very much - the priests called them "the devil's tail" and forbade them to wear noble ladies. Agnes also introduced into fashion and decollete.
Outraged by her improper behavior, Archbishop Jean Jouvenel des Jursen quoted the facts of huge spending on plumes and crests, gold jewelry, precious stones and expensive fabrics and noticed that "covering her face with a veil, she invented such incisions on the dress through which the nipples or the whole breast are visible ". They did not immediately accustom to the decollete at the court, but soon aristocrats, noticing the interested looks of their husbands in the direction of Agnesin's delights, had to wear for decency - or maybe they did it with joy - toilets with a deep neckline. So Agnes won this war with the Church and Decency.
However, adored by the king, sprinkled with all possible monarchic favors, Madame Beauty could not feel happy. She was bathed in luxury - only the value of the jewelry that belonged to her amounted to twenty thousand six hundred crown gold! - and people lived hard. In vain, compassionate Agnes spent whole fortunes on beggars and gifts to monasteries. She saw only a greedy favorite, because of which the king forgot about the queen and his subjects. In all his troubles - in poverty, illnesses, heavy taxes - ordinary French accused the royal favorite. And Agnes decided that she was obliged to bring the people benefits.
The country was really troubled: there was the Hundred Years War, which lasted intermittently from 1337 to 1453. After the victory at Azencourt, the British seized the north of France, including Paris. Thanks to the Orléans maiden Jeanne, later military fortune turned to the French side, and they were able to win back some of their lands from the British. A truce was concluded, but most of the French lands were still under the control of the English crown.
The inaction of the king did not suit either the people, languishing from the poverty and hardships of taxes, nor to Agnes, who felt responsible for what was happening in her country. Once she told her beloved how astrologers predicted that she would be loved by the bravest and wise king in the world. "I thought," said Agnes, "it's you, my king, but apparently I was mistaken - you are too pampered and completely forgotten about public affairs. Perhaps the one the astrologer foretold to me, the king is the ruler of England, who creates strong armies and captures your beautiful cities. Perhaps I will go to him. "
"Such words so severely wounded the heart of the emperor that he burst into tears. Soon, having gained courage, he took up arms. Karl acted so successfully that we knocked out the British from his kingdom, "wrote the historian Brunton, who believed that Agnes Sorel deserved the French's gratitude no less than Joan of Arc. Inspired by Agnes, Charles for several months returned all the lands captured by the British to France and put an end to the Hundred Years War. Carl Winner - that's how it has been called since.
However, Agnes of this triumph of Charles and the triumph of his efforts could not be seen.
It was January 1450. The king was preparing for the siege of the city of Arfler, which was still in the hands of the enemy. He worried not only the future battle, but also the state of Agnes - she was waiting for him in the castle of Losch and was about to give him the fourth child. Suddenly he saw a monk running towards him. "Sire! Madame Sorel was brought there. She is in a terrible state. "
Agnes, exhausted both by pregnancy and the hardships of the road, said that she had to come because she could not entrust to anyone the important news: among his subjects there are enemies, and they are plotting against him-they are going to extradite the English. "I came to save you," she whispered. Was it really a conspiracy? No one knows. Perhaps, Agnes still saved her beloved - probably the conspirators, having learned that the king knows everything, acted to be afraid.
Soon after the arrival of Agnes in the king's bet she began to give birth. Presenting the fourth daughter to the Emperor, Agnes could not recover completely and felt very bad - her abdominal pains were disturbed. During the illness, she communicated with her confessor a lot, repented of her sins, prayed. Anticipating an imminent death, bequeathed large sums of church and 60 thousand crowns to all those who helped her in life. Denis's father, the confessor of Agnes, let her go all wrong, and on February 11, 1450, at 6 pm, the most beautiful woman of the 15th century died.
Above the burial place of her heart and internal organs in the chapel of Notre Dame in Jumyèges stands a magnificent tombstone of black marble. On it stands a statue of white marble - praying Agnes with his own heart in his hands. Her body was buried in a sarcophagus of black marble in the cathedral of Los (now the church of Saint-Urs). On the tombstone of white marble bas-relief - Agnes in a fur-trimmed dress, surrounded by two angels and two lambs.