#Nude woman in a bath. copy space.. skin#
#Nude woman in a bath. copy space.. windows#

One of only two signed paintings by François Clouet, A Lady in Her Bath is a work of superb quality and a monument in the history of sixteenth-century French painting.

The contrast of the smoothly rendered nude figure to the intricate surface details of the fruit, draperies, and jewelry, presents a union of Flemish and Italian motifs that characterized French courtly art of the sixteenth century. It is possible that the nude, a Venus type, represents ideal beauty rather than a specific individual. The masklike symmetry of the bather's face makes exact identification difficult scholars have suggested that her aristocratic features indicate that she is one of several royal mistresses. The allusion is to a happy, healthy home. In the background, a maid is seen holding a metal pitcher of bath water as more water is heated in the fireplace. Slightly behind the bather a young boy reaches for some grapes as a smiling wet nurse suckles a baby. Her left hand draws back the bath sheet revealing the artist's name inscribed below, while her right hand rests on a covered board that displays a sumptuously rendered still life. The bather is seated in her tub, which is lined with a white cloth and hung on both sides with regal crimson curtains to ward off the cold. In this Renaissance portrait Clouet has depicted a female nude, whose identity is unknown, at her bath. At a table placed in front of the fireplace, a third light-skinned woman leans over and lifts a jug.įrançois Clouet, the son of a Netherlandish artist, became court painter to the French kings Francis I, Henry II and Charles IX. A picture showing a unicorn resting in front of a tree and a dark mirror hangs on the wall between the fireplace and windows.

#Nude woman in a bath. copy space.. windows#

The room behind these women has fireplace with an ornate mantel and windows open to a landscape to our left. The woman has a prominent nose, and she smiles as she looks at us from the corners of her eyes. The woman nursing the baby has one breast exposed but is otherwise fully dressed in a garment with red sleeves and a white cap. From the far side of the tub, the child reaches for the fruit. A bowl of fruit and flowers are scattered on what must be a board spanning the tub, which is also covered with a white cloth. The inside of the tub is draped with white fabric, which folds over the sides.

She holds a carnation with her right hand, on our left. Her brown hair is pulled up under a jeweled cap, and she wears pearl earrings, a gold bracelet on each wrist, and a gold ring with a pink stone on her left pinky finger. She has a straight nose, small pink lips, dark eyes, and smooth skin. The bathing woman’s body is angled slightly to our left but she looks into the distance to our right. To our left, another woman nursing a swaddled baby and a child, all also with pale skin, gather near the tub.

The woman occupies the right half of the painting.

#Nude woman in a bath. copy space.. skin#

Red satin drapes are drawn back to either side of this vertical painting to reveal a nude woman with pale, white skin sitting upright in a narrow bathtub.