The beautiful Agnes: what did the king's favorite, depicted on the Melensky diptych, look like in life

It is known that in medieval portraits people did not always look the same as in real life. Painters often flattered customers and not all possessed the skill of accurately conveying the image. The world-famous Madonna and Child, belonging to the brush of the 15th century French artist Jean Fouquet, caused a lot of controversy among historians. It is known that it was written with Agnes Sorel, a favorite of King Charles VII. Did the woman who seduced the monarch look so exotic, to put it mildly?

Jean Fouquet's immortal work, called the Melun Diptych, was painted around 1450 and is a two-part painting. On the right wing Agnes Sorel is depicted in the image of the Madonna and Child, surrounded by cherubs and seraphim, and on the left — the customer of the painting Etienne Chevalier in a kneeling position, obviously asking the Virgin for intercession.

Next to the noble Frenchman stands his heavenly patron saint Stephen with a bored look. It is easy to recognize this martyr by the broken head and the stone with which he does not part. The saint was stoned to death, so this attribute is present on all his images.

But let's leave men alone, since the object of our study is the Madonna with Jesus, surrounded by heavenly entities. Inexperienced in the subtleties of medieval painting, the viewer may doubt. that the painting was painted almost 600 years ago, its characters look too much like modern kitsch.

All the persons depicted on the right side of the diptych look like rubber or plastic dolls collected by the author for some extravagant pop installation. It should be noted right away that the rest of Jean Fouquet's works, although they do not pretend to be as realistic as possible, still differ from his most famous work.

The Mother of God in the painting is depicted with her left breast bare, as if preparing to feed the baby, but he does not show any interest in her at all. The child, who looks big enough for an infant, stares intently at the Chevalier and somehow surreptitiously points at him with his finger.

Agnes Sorel herself in the image of the Virgin Mary also looks not the best. Her head, shaved in the fashion of the 15th century, is disproportionately large like a hydrocephalus, and her too petite lips are folded in a flirty bow. Both the Virgin herself and the baby have an unpleasant bluish skin tone, thus reminding the dead. But even this is better than the intense scarlet and blue color of the seraphim and cherubs hovering around.

It is also striking that a woman's breasts are located too far from each other, which makes her even less like a resident of our planet. But it is known for sure that this person is still the favorite of King Agnes, whose portrait Etienne Chevalier ordered Fouquet as a thank you for patronage. Sorel often used her influence with Charles VII to resolve the issues of Etienne's close friend.

Here is another portrait of Agnes Sorel, painted around the same time by the gifted Fouquet. It is striking that the woman is depicted here with her left breast exposed, although the baby is not visible nearby. This is due to the fact that in the 15th century it was fashionable at court to walk with one bare breast, although not all ladies could decide to do this.

It was Sorel who introduced this fashion, but this was not the only merit of this wonderful woman. The beautiful Agnes had a huge influence on the King of France and he himself readily admitted it.

We think that such a revelation from the mouth of one of the most powerful monarchs of Europe is worth a lot. Agnes began her journey to greatness as a lady-in-waiting to Duchess Isabella of Lorraine, became a stateswoman to Queen Marie of Anjou, became the king's mistress, and then his favorite, more powerful than the queen herself.

The beautiful Agnes was no stranger to high fashion. In addition to the spectacular cleavage with open breasts, she introduced six-meter trains for court ladies. The woman also ensured that the king allowed all noble persons to wear diamonds — before that, such jewelry was a privilege of the monarch's family.

The reason why Charles VII preferred Sorel to his wife is obvious. It was said of Mary of Anjou that her face could frighten even the bravest Englishmen. But Agnes was called beautiful not out of flattery at all — the Pope himself noted that her face was "one of the most beautiful that can be seen in this world." However, looking at the Madonna, which was painted by Fouquet's playful hand, you can't say that.

Contemporaries considered Agnes Sorel not only a beautiful, but also an intelligent woman. While Marie of Anjou staged scenes of jealousy and gave birth to 14 children to the king one by one, the favorite managed to influence French politics. When she learned that the king's subjects were in distress because of the endless Hundred Years' War, she was not afraid to go all-in and express claims to the king. The favorite told Karl the following:

According to legend, after these words, the king wept with shame and immediately began to decisively take away the French lands from England and end the war. Although, perhaps, this is just a beautiful legend. But the fact that there were such stories about Agnes said that in the kingdom the favorite was loved and believed. The patriotic and courageous Sorel was even sometimes compared to Joan of Arc.

As it was usual in The Middle Ages the royal favorite died not by her own death, but by mercury poisoning. Agnes was pregnant with her fourth child when she found out about the plot against the king. She managed to warn her beloved about the danger, but the conspirators managed to give her poison. 72 hours after the meal with mercury, Agnes Sorel left this world in agony.

The face of the royal favorite carved on the tombstone is truly beautiful. But as you know, it's either good or bad about the dead, especially since the deceased was a favorite of the monarch. Therefore, disputes about the appearance of Agnes between historians lasted for centuries, until modern technology revealed this secret.

Scientists exhumed Sorel's remains in 2005 and conducted a thorough analysis of them. During the study, it quickly became clear why the beauty died, but in order to restore her facial features, it took a lot of tinkering. Time did not spare Agnes's skull and the reenactors had to work hard to establish the appearance of the woman.

Now we know that Agnes the Beautiful was and is really beautiful and there are no more questions for her and the king. But there were questions to Fouquet, who for some reason gave a woman some bizarre features in all his works. No one doubts the painter's skill, but what he disliked Agnes for has yet to be figured out.