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Patronnes et mécènes en France à la Renaissance by Kathleen Wilson-Chevalier, Eugénie Pascal

2009; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 104; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/mlr.2009.0132

2222-4319

Katherine Crawford,

Historical Influence and Diplomacy

MLR, 104.2, 2009 567 tween content and presentation inone respect. It isa shame thatwhile itobserves the dissemination of knowledge effectedby a gradual shiftto thevernacular (celebrated in Pare's bold affirmation that he has acquired knowledge of Galen via a French translation (p. 129)), itdoes not translate itsown Latin quotations (no translation is given ofGuillaume Chrestien's prefatory remark, cited on page 144, for instance). University of Warwick Cathy Hampton Patronnes et mecenes en France a la Renaissance. Ed. by Kathleen Wilson Chevalier and Eugenie Pascal. Saint-fitienne: Publications de TUniversite de Saint-fitienne. 2007. 681pp. 27. ISBN 978-2-86272-443-0. The introduction and twenty-four essays in this collection explore the roles of women as patrons both well known and obscure in the French Renaissance. More than just accounts of female patrons, the essays cluster around a series of gendered topics throughout. The gender implications of female patronage were many, and several essays bring out how women moved French culture in significantways. JensBurk analyses the architectural stylesbrought in and supported by female patrons. Aurore Evain traces developments in theatre under a variety of patrons. filodie Lequain argues for the broad impact ofAnne de France as a bibliophile, while Eugenie Pascal examines the links between women through gift-giving and the symbolic exhibition of power in letters. Nor was power just symbolic. Several authors trace how women used patron age for broadly political purposes. Michele Bimbenet-Privat explores Catherine de' Medici's strategic deployment ofwidowhood. Annemarie Jordan and Kathleen Wilson-Chevalier excavate Eleanor d'Autriche's engagements with humanism and the artistic currents of her day. Sigrid Ruby looks at how Diane de Poitiers's pa tronage celebrated her husband and the royal dynasty rather than herself. Some findings seem at odds: Susan Broomhall argues that female patrons often supported positive images of women, while Cynthia Brown analyses such complications as the denigration of feminine figures inworks dedicated towomen. The volume does not smooth away these contradictions, adding texture to our understanding of the complicated world female patrons negotiated. Much of the complexity was because thepersonal was never far from thepolitical. Intersections between patronage on behalf of the family and for spiritual reasons figure throughout, but centrally inAnne Funke's essay on Marguerite de Navarre's patronage at Sainte-Marie d'Auch, while Marguerite's educational patronage as part of her support forreligious reform isreconstructed byBarbara Stephenson. Elizabeth L'Estrange considers the use of the image of Saint Anne in support of the doctrine of immaculate conception byAnne de France. Michel Melot analyses theabbesses of Fontevraud for theway inwhich theyused embellishment of the convent to celebrate the nobility of it and its inhabitants.Weighted towards the familywere Louise de Savoie's use of art toglorifyher family,examined byMary BethWinn, and patronage exercised by theGuise women, reconstructed by Camille Grand-Dewyse. Elizabeth 568 Reviews Lestrange argues thatAnne de Bretagne's patronage was directed at both territorial interest and supporting her daughters. Antoinette de Bourbon's tomb forher hus band as a statement of theGuise family's religious priorities is the subject of the essay by Jessica Munns and Penny Richards. For Dora Polachek, the role of theGuise women in supporting religious polemics depended on proper gender behaviour, but gender conformitymade these effortsalmost invisible to latergenerations. In contrast to the propensity to disappear, Catherine de' Medici was remark ably visible. No woman in Renaissance France can match her legacy as a patron. Laurent Odde argues that Catherine's architectural interestswere a precursor to monarchical staging by Louis XIV. Chantal Turbide reconstructs the now destroyed Hotel de laReine as a window into theworkings of theValois monarchy. Caroline zum Kolk demonstrates how Catherine's correspondence shaped her patronage of painting, sculpture, and architecture towards celebrating royalty. Alexandra Zvereva concentrates on Catherine's portrait patronage, supervision of royal representation, and effectson the elevation of the status of artists. Kerrie-Rue Michahelles traces Catherine's influence on future generations through her testamentary dispositions. Contemporary responses toCatherine and female patronage are explored in Sheila ffolliott's essay on Nicolas Houel. Despite promises to explore how elite patronage linked to popular ideas and arts, one must often squint to see it,but that is aminor complaint...