2 exhibitions not to be missed that put horses in the spotlight
What color is Henry IV’s white horse? We all know this mischievous childish riddle… Although we can bounce back by adding a real question: why white? In order to see it better, of course! For proof; the immaculate mount of Henri IV at the Battle of Arques represented on an oil on wood attributed to Jacob Bunel (around 1610) which can be admired in the exhibition simply titled On horseback from the National Renaissance Museum, in Écouen (Val d’Oise), dedicated to equestrian portraiture in 16th century France.
Here we come across representations of prelates or ladies on the backs of mules up to carriages. But it is the rider on his mount who appears in majesty – in painting, engraving, sculpture or on enamel. The most flamboyant of all is therefore Henri de Bourbon, the Huguenot prince converted to Catholicism and became king of France and Navarre, under the name of Henri IV. This “king on horseback” – as he was nicknamed by his contemporaries who admired his mastery – rode, grandiosely, through a good part of the exhibition rooms. The famous portrait of the Vert-Galant on loan from the Château de Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) shows him, haughty, on his mount, here not white, but the king is still adorned with a white plume, a symbol of reconciliation marking the end of the Wars of Religion. We are almost dealing with a double portrait: that of the sovereign but also of his horse. The finesse in the rendering of the animal’s gaze betrays a touching complicity.
Chivalrous virtues
This art of portraiture has its roots in Antiquity, a source of inspiration for the Renaissance, such as the etching of the statue of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180) dating from the 1580s. horse in its social representation is mainly nourished by the chivalric ideal of the Middle Ages.
From one castle to another… At the History Museum of Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), located at the castle of the Dukes of Brittany, the exhibition Knights displays an exceptional collection of armor, belonging to the Stibbert Museum in Florence (Italy), from the medieval period to the Renaissance. From the outset, two mannequins on horseback, in ceremonial armor, as if about to take part in a joust, cause a life-size shock. As if we had come face to face with a knight… The scenography, both very beautiful and educational, takes the visitor among the breastplates, breastplates, backrests, gauntlets, morions, bourguignottes and other helmets but also among the weapons: swords , daggers, spears, all sublimely crafted.
Animations remind us of the place of women in this world of men, although Christine de Pizan or Joan of Arc, one in theory and poetry, the other in arms, claimed chivalric virtues. Of Holy Grail! from Monty Python to the television series Kaamelott, a final room underlines with humor and a certain playful spirit how the aesthetics, if not the ethics, of the knight remain alive even today. Courage, honor, charity, faith, loyalty… Values to get back in the saddle!
