The Serpent and the Moon: Two Rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King (45 page)

Everywhere at Anet, the cult of Diane was perpetuated, until she became synonymous with the goddess. Her mythological presence is ubiquitous. In one of his poems, Joachim du Bellay dubbed the château “Dianet,” and the villagers followed suit.

Although Diane never allows us to forget that the house is a tribute to the memory of Louis de Brézé, the overall concept of the new Anet was that of a Temple of Love dedicated to Diane as goddess and lover of Henri. From the crests on the casement windows to her monograms within the marble floors, she is represented within the symmetry, serenity, and classical perfection of Philibert de I’Orme’s architecture. In her room, her great carved bed still stands, adorned with her symbols. One motto she used was inscribed on the
boiserie
, or wood paneling—“
Sola vivit in illo
”—“live only through him.” The “HD” cipher, the Greek
delta
, the crescent moon, and interlaced “D’s” were all inlaid in black silex stone on the floors, and engraved in the window glass in
grisaille d’Anet
—a technique invented there by Jean Cousin. The effect was achieved by painting in a delicate, shadowy-gray design onto finely enameled glass sections of the windows. These Windows were particularly
noted by Philibert de l’Orme in his description of the house. Sadly, today just a very few remain.

Anet was also full of reminders of the glories of the hunt and of its patron goddess. Over the castle’s moated entrance, in the exquisite balustraded gateway, which could be called classical—almost imperial—the king installed Cellini’s magnificent bronze lunette of the
Nymph of Fontainebleau
, originally commissioned for that palace. According to the symbolism of the time, the stag represented the king. With the move to Anet, the nymph in the lunette became Diana the huntress, a reclining, long-limbed beauty, her arm embracing a seated stag surrounded by hounds; Diane protectively embracing her king-lover. The dome above is covered in marble from Rome, and below the lunette, on a slab of black marble, Henri had inscribed: “
Phoebo sacrata est almae domus ampla Dianae, verum sapere adversis moneat, felicibus uti
”—“Phoebe [the Moon] dedicates this magnificent dwelling to the beneficent Diana, who brings him all that she received.” The gateway to Anet is almost a triumphal arch: at the very top stand sculptures of
Diane’s hunting dogs and a stag, all in bronze. They were once part of a marvelous clock whose hounds opened their jaws on the quarter hour, while the stag stamped his foot the number of times needed to indicate the hour.

The same motif was used by Jean Goujon, the “French Phidias” of his time, for Anet’s great fountain sculpture. He created Diane as the legendary huntress, young and fresh, rising out of the water, immortal. The proportions of the goddess are absurdly elongated but work wonderfully. The model for the sculpture was not Diane de Poitiers herself, but posterity is asked to believe that it was—her long legs, the small, proud head and firm, high breasts, her arm clasped about the neck of the great royal stag Henri, her hounds standing by. “At the palace of eternal youth, every moment of the day produced some marvel, and life was sweetened by the perfume of everlasting spring.”
⁷
Anet was a
fitting setting for a goddess. Within her magical circle, how could Henri fail to be enchanted?

Built near water, Anet was surrounded by fountains and flowered walks. The Renaissance had brought an end to the feudal fortress and introduced the gentler art of the garden. In sixteenth-century France, Anet’s gardens were considered one of the great wonders of the Renaissance. When he studied architecture in Italy, Philibert de l’Orme also absorbed the Italian style of gardens and adroitly adapted it to suit the French. One of the features of Anet’s garden was a vast covered walk. Totally surrounding the formal parterre, the covered gallery shielded promenaders from cold, rain, and sun. A series of ornamental canals were filled with fish and dotted with little islands. The park contained a number of small woods where herds of assorted deer roamed freely. One wore a silver collar beguilingly inscribed “
Dianae Me Vovit Henricus
”—“Henri dedicated me to Diane.” According to tradition, a wild animal identified by a silver collar had nothing to fear from hunters, and had the right to stray anywhere throughout the estate in complete safety.

There was more to the French concept of the royal Renaissance garden
than just an appreciation of long bodies of water and avenues of trees; it was, rather, an affirmation of certain ideas of power. By controlling nature and imposing on it quite deliberate restrictions, the king used the landscape artist to affirm his larger political and intellectual control over the state. François I, Henri II, and later, Louis XIV and XV were all absolute monarchs, and their parklands and gardens were part of the intellectual symbolism they used to maintain absolute power.

Inside the château hung wonderful tapestries showing glorious incidents from the life of the goddess Diana, woven after cartoons drawn by Jean Cousin. The paintings were by Primaticcio, Cecchino Salviati, and Il Rosso, as well as by French artists, and there were superb gifts of silver, furniture, and
objets d’art
presented to Henri or to Diane by visiting potentates. To remain in her good graces, cardinal du Bellay sent Diane an exquisite antique head of Venus.

The period is famous for its filthy streets, and hygiene among the ordinary people was generally nonexistent—at the public baths one was more than likely to catch something pernicious. Water was a luxury, and the opulence of château life could be seen in Anet’s sensuous fountains and baths. Rich grandees all built themselves baths in the Roman style, with different compartments, spacious and with large windows, and they adopted the Turkish habit of the
hammam
, or hot steambath. The baths were actually intended less for washing than for socializing. Personal bathtubs were made of wood (lined with a linen sheet before water was added) or of silver. Anne de Beaujeu recommended that her young charges take a bath once a week. In each bedroom there would be a basin for hand-washing, and in an alcove nearby, a
chaise-percée
, or commode, often covered with a lid of velvet or satin.

Diane was immensely proud of her famous library. Except for the very rare volumes, all her books were bound in red morocco leather with gold tooling, emblazoned with the joint monogram of the king and his Lady. One book she cherished above all the rest—Anne de Beaujeu’s book of
Enseignements
, which she had read as a girl. This was a gift to Diane from François I, who knew how much she had loved and admired that remarkable lady. It remained her moral code for life, and was among her most precious possessions.

Diane’s library contained one of the finest collections of the Renaissance: many valuable illuminated manuscripts on vellum, lavishly illustrated manuscripts, and countless folios of rare charts, contracts, laws, receipts, and letters.
⁸
All were bound in calfskin or morocco leather. Diane’s choice of books is a good guide to her interests. French authors mingled with translations—unlike François I’s library, which was largely devoted to Italian works. Among her collection were religious books, histories (particularly of the kingdom), fictional tales, and scientific works. Books on birds and nature featured strongly. Surprisingly, there were few books of poetry, and not many works in Latin. Diane’s choices did not include any great works of scholarship or modern literature.

Henri loved music and was considered quite knowledgeable on the subject. Diane commissioned Philibert de l’Orme to erect two small pavilions by the river where they could relax and listen to his musicians—the flute and the spinet in particular. Dancing was another of Henri’s pleasures, and balls at Anet were frequent. There were many fashionable dances at the time—the elegant and solemn
pavane;
the
galliard;
the
tourdion
, with gentle, light movements; Oriental inspirations in the
Canaries
and
Moresques;
the Provençal
volte;
the
branles
, which could be lively or slow, performed with torches, or with couples clapping each other’s hand in time to the music. Some of these dances were considered rather daring as the ladies were tossed upside down. The only undergarments worn were shifts and young ladies exposed their thighs without shame. Those of the “New Religion” were more scandalized than others. Salon games were popular—games of chance, dice, and card games that could last the whole night long and have excessively high stakes.