An exhibition organised by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux and the Musée National de la Renaissance -Château d’Ecouen
In parallel to the exhibition at the Musée de Cluny - Musée national du Moyen Age
Natural as it may seem, beauty is nonetheless fabricated.
A hundred and thirty objects and art works have been assembled by the Musée National de la Renaissance with the aim of restoring the full aesthetic and social dimension of the Renaissance toilet routine.
Beauty sets, ointment slabs and perfume bottles, powder boxes, mirrors, combs, ornaments for hair and clothing are contextualised and exhibited next to paintings and sculptures. The confrontation between the sometimes idealised beauty proper to the artists of the Renaissance and items of everyday material culture help us understand the practices of a civilisation in which the role of appearances and grooming was far from negligible.
From public baths to aristocratic relaxation
Although the popular baths of the medieval era had not yet disappeared, bathing in the sixteenth century incarnated a new form of sociability reserved for the educated, cultured elite which was emblematic of aristocratic life in Europe. Paintings, drawings and engravings by Primaticcio, Jean Mignon and Luca Penni give a glimpse of the luxurious appointments of bathrooms at the time. The sober, impressive bathroom in the Château d’Ecouen, exceptionally open to the public during the exhibition, is an eloquent demonstration of gracious living under the Valois kings.
Cosmetology: treatises and “beauty tips”
Cosmetics complemented bodily hygiene. Thanks to the introduction of the printing press, cosmetic information and beauty tips circulated as never before. Modern cosmetology was only a collection of empirical recipes for ointments, lotions and powders.
Advice on ways to avoid pimples (enlevures) or blemishes (macules), to cure ulcers and smooth away wrinkles was sought from friends. Their formulas are listed in an astonishing manuscript by Claude Gouffier, Master of the Horse, now in the French National Library. These recipes are all dated and identified by the names of the people who supplied them, such as Louise de Savoie or Catherine de Medicis.
Beauty routine and accessories
The ceremonial surrounding personal grooming and skin care became one of the privileges of refined court life in the sixteenth century, for men and women alike. A new pictorial genre developed: the “nude portrait”. Seated at her dressing table, naked in the familiar surroundings of her bedroom, a reception area rather than a private space, The Lady at Her Toilet (Musée des Beaux-arts in Dijon) is typified by her radiant beauty, inspired by antique canons, and her sacred, yet sensual body.
The social function of the bedroom justifies the display of accessories made of precious materials on the dressing table: mirrors, brushes and combs, toothpicks and ear picks, ornaments for hair and clothing, an extremely rare casket and toilet kit from the Musée Historique de Bâle, rock crystal marten’s heads supposed to drive away fleas, and many more.
The exhibition ends with an evocation of the fragrances used at the time, through a display of a range of luxury recipients: a delicate gold bottle set with opals on loan from the London museum, astonishing pieces of jewellery in the form of pomanders which fall open to reveal quarters containing perfume, rosary beads imbibed with fragrances. All these surprising, precious objects are evidence of the refinement of the most intimate aspects of Renaissance civilisation.
Curator of the exhibition
Michèle Bimbenet-Privat, chief curator of the Musée National de la Renaissance
Useful Information
Address
Musée National de la Renaissance
Château d’Ecouen
95440 Ecouen
Tel : +33 (0)1 34 38 38 50
Access
by motorway (19 km from Paris): motorway A1 from the Porte de la Chapelle, exit no.3, Amiens / Sarcelles / Pierrefitte / Saint-Denis ; Highway 1 (D301) then Highway 16 (D316), direction Chantilly.
From Roissy CDG: by the Francilienne (D104). Direction Cergy-Pontoise. Then N16 direction Paris.
By train (SNCF): suburban trains at Gare du Nord: direction Persan-Beaumont / Luzarches via Monsoult, station Ecouen-Ezanville. Then bus 269, direction Garges-Sarcelles, get off at Château d’Ecouen or take a 20-minute walk through the forest from the station to the chateau.
By RER D: direction Orry la ville. Station Garges Sarcelles then bus 269, towards Hôtel de Ville d’Attainville. Get off at Château d’Ecouen.
Opening hours
Exhibition open every day, except Tuesdays, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:45 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
Admission
Full price: €6.5, concession: € 5, including the permanent collections. Free for visitors under 26 and for all on the first Sunday of the month.
Combined ticket Cluny/Ecouen: € 13, concession: € 10 €
Lecture tours: for individual visitors every Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. Duration: 1 hr 30 mins. (€ 6.50 in addition to museum ticket).
For groups (school or adult groups) by appointment, tel.
+33 (0)1 34 38 38 52
Publication
catalogue for the two exhibitions, 320 pages, approx. € 49, a RMN/Gallimard copublication. On sale in all bookshops
Press contact
Réunion des Musées Nationaux
49 rue Etienne Marcel
75001 Paris
Annick Duboscq
Tel : +33 (0)1 40 13 48 51
Musée National de la Renaissance – Château d’Ecouen
Michaël Caucat
Tel : +33 (0)1 34 38 38 64 / 06 08 37 76 12
Visit the museum’s website:www.musee-renaissance.fr
Sponsored by L’Oréal foundation and produced with the collaboration of L’Oréal Recherche and Vygon.
Media partners : Teva, A nous Paris, and auFeminin.com
Supported by Europe 1, RMN partner
