Chilly

A bracing walk in an icy wind, which generated some determined waves on Hollingworth Lake. Clearly the local population all read my words yesterday, as behaviour on the footpaths and roads was impeccable.

I gave a first listen to the first album by Supergrass - I Should Coco - and my favourite track was the first one - I'd Like To Know.

The artist of the somewhat surreal painting of Gabrielle d’Estrées and one of her sisters is not known but it is from the School of Fontainebleau, painted c1600.  It shows two naked, but well made-up and coiffed, women in a pose of playful affection in a bath.

At the time of the painting, very few people in France took a bath.  The steam houses and baths that were very popular during the Middle Ages had been closed-down by the moral watchdogs of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Before long, even doctors were warning against bathing.  Medical scientist Jean de Renou said one's hands might be washed but the feet should only rarely be in contact with water and the head, if possible, never.

In this painting, the two women are bathing for beauty not cleanliness and the tub may have been filled with wine or milk rather than water.  Astrologers advised that baths should only be taken when the moon was waning and the stars were "hot."

Gabrielle on the right of the picture, was born in 1573 and introduced to the French court at the age of 15. Within two years she became the concubine of the King - Henri IV - despite the fact that both of them were married to someone else.  She became deeply unpopular in France and was regarded by some as a witch.  She died painfully after childbirth in 1599. The picture may therefore have been a cautionary tale against sin.