The Portrait As Text: Two Depictions of Carmeta Abbott Madame De Saint-Balmon University of (1607-1660)' St
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Atlantis, Vol. 19, No.1 The Portrait as Text: Two Depictions of Carmeta Abbott Madame de Saint-Balmon University of (1607-1660)' St. Jerome's College ABSTRACI' Not only do we possess a lengthy biography with many details of the military career of Saint-Salmon, but two important paintings depict her on horseback surrounded by scenes of her martial victories. We will examine how both male biographers, the painter and the writer, although sympathetic and even enthusiastic about their subject, tend to minimize her military accomplishments and to undervalue the active role played by Saint-Salmon as protector of her people. II existe de Saint-Salmon non seulement une importante biographie qui foisonne de details sur sa carriere militaire mais aussi une riche iconographie dont deux tableaux oil elle parait en cavaliere entouree de quelques-uns de ses combats. Dans cette etude, nous examinerons comment le discours masculin, et de Ia biographie et de l'image visuelle, tend a apprivoiser le phenomene de Ia femme forte qu'etait Saint Salmon. HE SUBJECf OF THE POR1RAITS TO BE DISCUSSED IN to references to her in memoirs and other contempo T this article, Alberte-Barbe d'Emecourt, known as rary writings.4 We also have a number of portraits; Madame de Saint-Balmon, was a talented woman two of these, by an important artist of the 17th playwright and poet; one of the three plays attributed century, Claude Deruet, bear a rich and anecdotal to her, Les Jumeaux Martirs, was published in Paris iconography in addition to her likeness. in 1650 and 1651.2 She was born, lived and died in Neuville-en-Verdunois on the frontier between The narration of a number of separate events on France and the independent duchy of Lorraine. one canvas was a well-known practice in medieval Although of noble birth she never lived at court, pre art. The narrative mode continued to some extent into ferring to manage the family estates inherited from early modem times in two ideologically charged her father. In so doing, she became a local heroine, forms: the ex-voto which occasionally depicts two known for brave military exploits undertaken to pro moments (that of the donor's devotion and that of the tect her people during the Thirty Years War. A lay event being commemorated) and the battle scene, member of the Franciscan order, she was a pious which places persons in such a way as to present a woman whose name was associated with the devotion significant turning point in an important battle as well of Notre-Dame de Benoitevaux. as the (chronologically subsequent) triumphant pres ence of the victor, usually portrayed in the fore The fact that Saint-Balmon is virtually unknown ground.s Both portraits of Saint-Balmon perpetuate today is all the more extraordinary because there this earlier narrative tradition in two modes in which exists so much information about her. We possess a it was known to the 17th century. There is no ques long, detailed biography, entitled l'Amazone chreti tion that such paintings were intended to be "read," enne ou les aventures de Madame de S. Balmon, pub the message being in both genres an ideological one. lished eighteen years after her death and based on No element in such representations is innocent; all are accounts of people who had known her,3 in addition charged with meaning, tied to representational Atlantis, Vol. 19, No.1 127 Claude Deruet, Madame de Saint-Balmont, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Nancy. conventions well-known to artist and "readers." This The "texts" that are the subjects of this biographi paper will examine two portraits of Saint-Balmon cal reading are two equestrian portraits of Saint with the intention of deciphering both the biographi Balmon by Deruet executed during her lifetime and cal story to be read in each case and the meaning to now in museums in Nancy.6 Corroborating testimony be attributed to any differences between the two. will be drawn from the biography by Jean-Marie Vernon, the royal privilege for which was obtained Claude Deruet (or de Ruet), originally from the week following the death of Saint-Balmon in Lorraine, studied with Tempesta in Rome prior to 1660. After a brief consideration of the smaller por becoming an official court painter for Henri II, due de trait, dated by Pariset to around 1640 (Pariset, 1952, Lorraine. A prolific artist, he completed more than p. 161 ), we will tum to the larger portrait which we 1,000 paintings, including secular and religious sub will discuss in detail. jects, historical scenes, allegories and portraits; his works were commissioned by distinguished clients, Whereas the sm11ll portrait was probably intended including Anne of Austria, Louis XIII and Richelieu - as such portraits frequently were - for a member of (Pariset, 1952, pp. 153-172 and 1956, pp. 97-114). Saint-Balmon's immediate family, the art historian H. 128 Abboll Stein states that the large portrait was painted for a and is reflected in differing emphases in each portrait. noble friend and neighbour of Saint-Balmon, de In the smaller painting, 77 x 89 em in dimensions, Riocourt (Thieme 6: 101). Riocourt may well have Saint-Balmon is on horseback, the horse rearing in a been one of the friends of Saint-Balmon, mentioned position chosen to display the rider's control of her by the biographer, who sent a large painting to Anne mount. She is dressed in male clothing with a sword of Austria, "dans lequel I' Amazone etait representee at her side and carries a ceremonial lance. Above her au milieu de quelques-uns de ses combats" (Vernon, and in the top left hand comer, surrounded by clouds, 1873, p. 72) and it is likely that this refers to the larg is a seated Minerva bearing the symbols of victory: er portrait which we are examining. The difference the palm and laurel wreath. Immediately overhead, between these two ultimate recipients of the paintings three Cupids bear emblems: a wreath of flowers, a is not, as shall be discussed later, without significance laurel wreath and a book, on which is written: Claude Deruet, Madame de Saint-Baslemont, Musee Historique Lorrain, Nancy. Photo: G. Mangin. Atlantis, Vol. 19, No.1 129 "musique/poesie." In the right top comer is a winged her devotional orthodoxy, it is this change in the com Fame, also surrounded by clouds, blowing on two position of the painting highlighting Saint-Balmon's trumpets adorned with heraldic banners depicting the connection with Benoitevaux which suggests that the arms of Saint-Balmon, and supported by two addi smaller painting antedates the larger one. tional Cupids. Beneath the feet of the horse, in the foreground, is a grassy hillock with flowers and a Other non-martial incidents are depicted which do small dog. not appear in the smaller painting. For example, the arrival of a closed carriage signals a visit by an exalt Behind the large figure, in a sweeping landscape ed personage of the court, as well as visually estab dominated by two identifiable chateaux and a burning lishing Saint-Balmon's relationship to the French building, the artist has depicted, with the attention to court. According to Vernon, many important people realistic detail of an accomplished miniaturist, a myri called on her, but perhaps the most noteworthy was ad of human figures engaged in armed skirmishes, the French governor at Verdun, M. de Feuquieres, each suggestive of the triumphs of Saint-Balmon in who was sent by Louis XIII to offer Saint-Balmon the battle. command of a royal company of Cavalrymen and an lnfantry.7 The second, monumental portrait measures 3.65 m x 3.25 m; it is large by any standards and its size While most of the figures are men, women pre alone witnesses to the importance of the person being dominate in the grouping on the lower left of the portrayed. While the general disposition of elements painting. Here Saint-Balmon is depicted on foot, is similar, there are, as shall be shown, significant standing beside a group of women, who appear to be variations in the anecdotal elements represented. playing on musical instruments, reading or talking. Once again, the equestrian figure of Saint-Balmon This visual element is evocative of a salon of the peri occupies the centre foreground; the background od and is both a recognition of Saint-Balmon's con depicts some of the same buildings, though they are siderable musical and literary accomplishments, and proportionately smaller, and the groupings of human an affirmation of her more traditionally feminine figures are engaged in less obviously military activi qualities revealed in these activities.s ties. Beneath the figure of horse and rider, in the fore ground, banners and armour are assembled in a Because the human figures remain relatively trophy-like arrangement in place of the grassy hillock small in this larger painting, more space is allotted to and little dog. trees and woods and this, in turn, renders the land scape relatively darker, focusing attention more on An obvious change is the figure in the top left cor the central figure. The background is lighter around ner where, in place of Minerva, there is now a repre Saint-Balmon, and the depiction of Fame, surrounded sentation of the Virgin and Child. This variant makes by slightly darker clouds, takes up proportionately a statement regarding Saint-Balmon's piety by refer less space; these factors bring the portrait of Saint ring to that time when she housed in the chapel of her Salmon more into the foreground. There is a greater chateau at Neuville a statue of the Virgin and Child in balance between Fame and the Virgin and Child than order to save it from the ravages of war.