William Powell Frith, English
“Yoo-Hoo, I’m Back With My Urine Sample. By the Way, You Guys Are Out of Specimen Cups in There,” 1869
Oil on canvas
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/// Gabrielle d’Estrées carries a tray
with the tankard she needs to convey.
Is it for Henry Four?
She’s his mistress and more.
France’s King keeps her close, on display.
/// There is much more to sweet Gabrielle.
She’s his trusted advisor as well.
Although never his bride
she would stay by his side.
Sadly died before that wedding bell.
/// When the Catholics and Protestants fought,
she convinced Henry IV that he ought
to convert to her creed,
(he turned Catholic, indeed),
and yet tolerance was what she sought.
/// Henry wanted to make her his Queen.
With the Pope’s help, their pasts were made clean.
Annulments arranged,
children’s’ statuses changed,
but from childbirth she died unforeseen.
/// Gabrielle was the King’s “One true love”—
the advisor he was proudest of.
They had reason to flaunt
the great “Edict of Nantes.”
Yet for THIS smote by Heaven above?
The subject of this painting was a fascinating historical figure. Gabrielle d’Estrées came from a family of Catholic beauties who entered into liaisons with powerful men. You are probably familiar with another famous portrait of her, along with one of her sisters. Both women are portrayed naked from the waist up in a large bathtub, and one is delicately pinching her sister’s nipple. Gabrielle became the chief mistress and confidante of the married Henry IV, and convinced him to convert from Protestantism in order to end the religious wars in France and to enable him to be declared King. His supposed quote was: “Paris is well worth a Mass.” Together, they worked to get French Catholics to agree to give some rights to the Protestants in the Edict of Nantes. The Pope was persuaded to annul their previous marriages which cleared the way for them to wed, legitimizing their children and allowing her to become the Queen. Tragically, she died shortly after giving birth to a stillborn son and they never married.
Given this history, why does the painter depict her carrying a tray holding an ornate tankard or pitcher? I believe that Frith based the design of this portrait on several earlier works of his which illustrate a scene from Shakespeare’s “Merry Wives of Windsor.” A beautiful young woman, Anne Page, enters in Act 1, Scene 1, carrying a tray of wine. At first, I thought this was yet another portrait of the fictional Anne, until I saw that the painting’s title was “Gabrielle d’Estrées.”
/// “The refreshments we serve here are free,
(though some services come with a fee).
And the really good news
is that you get to choose,
so select from TEA, COFFEE or ME.”