Dame à sa toilette

Francois Clouet served as court painter to three French kings, yet only three paintings carry his signature, and this bather is one of them. He signed and dated it around 1571. Nobody is sure who she is. For a long time she was called Diane de Poitiers, the celebrated mistress of Henry II, though the dates barely fit; others have proposed Mary, Queen of Scots. Clouet frames her like a formal portrait but seats her nude in a bath, a red curtain drawn back as if we have caught a private moment. Behind her a nurse breastfeeds a child and a servant carries water, ordinary life going on. The picture helped start a French fashion for portraits of ladies at their bath.