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Red satin drapes are drawn back to either side of this vertical painting to reveal a nude woman with pale, white skin sitting upright in a narrow bathtub. The woman occupies the right half of the painting. To our left, another woman nursing a swaddled baby and a child, all also with pale skin, gather near the tub. The bathing woman’s body is angled slightly to our left but she looks into the distance to our right. She has a straight nose, small pink lips, dark eyes, and smooth skin. Her brown hair is pulled up under a jeweled cap, and she wears pearl earrings, a gold bracelet on each wrist, and a gold ring with a pink stone on her left pinky finger. She holds a carnation with her right hand, on our left. The inside of the tub is draped with white fabric, which folds over the sides. A bowl of fruit and flowers are scattered on what must be a board spanning the tub, which is also covered with a white cloth. From the far side of the tub, the child reaches for the fruit. The woman nursing the baby has one breast exposed but is otherwise fully dressed in a garment with red sleeves and a white cap. The woman has a prominent nose, and she smiles as she looks at us from the corners of her eyes. The room behind these women has fireplace with an ornate mantel and windows open to a landscape to our left. A picture showing a unicorn resting in front of a tree and a dark mirror hangs on the wall between the fireplace and windows. At a table placed in front of the fireplace, a third light-skinned woman leans over and lifts a jug.
Read the visual description

Red satin drapes are drawn back to either side of this vertical painting to reveal a nude woman with pale, white skin sitting upright in a narrow bathtub. The woman occupies the right half of the painting. To our left, another woman nursing a swaddled baby and a child, all also with pale skin, gather near the tub. The bathing woman’s body is angled slightly to our left but she looks into the distance to our right. She has a straight nose, small pink lips, dark eyes, and smooth skin. Her brown hair is pulled up under a jeweled cap, and she wears pearl earrings, a gold bracelet on each wrist, and a gold ring with a pink stone on her left pinky finger. She holds a carnation with her right hand, on our left. The inside of the tub is draped with white fabric, which folds over the sides. A bowl of fruit and flowers are scattered on what must be a board spanning the tub, which is also covered with a white cloth. From the far side of the tub, the child reaches for the fruit. The woman nursing the baby has one breast exposed but is otherwise fully dressed in a garment with red sleeves and a white cap. The woman has a prominent nose, and she smiles as she looks at us from the corners of her eyes. The room behind these women has fireplace with an ornate mantel and windows open to a landscape to our left. A picture showing a unicorn resting in front of a tree and a dark mirror hangs on the wall between the fireplace and windows. At a table placed in front of the fireplace, a third light-skinned woman leans over and lifts a jug.

National Gallery of Art · Painting

A Lady in Her Bath

François Clouet

Date
c. 1571
Medium
oil on oak
Dimensions
overall: 92.3 × 81.2 cm (36 5/16 × 31 15/16 in.) framed: 116.84 × 106.68 × 7.62 cm (46 × 42 × 3 in.)
Classification
Painting
Accession number
1961.9.13
Credit line
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Time span
1551 to 1600
Department
CNE-R
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • painted surface
  • French
  • French Paintings of the Fifteenth through Eighteenth Century
  • female
  • portrait
  • Renaissance
  • Poitiers, Diane de
Provenance

Sir Richard Frederick, 6th bt. [1780-1873], Burwood Park, Walton-on-Thames, Surry; (his estate sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 7 February 1874, no. 83, as _Portrait of Diane de Poictiers[sic]_ by Fr. Janetii); purchased by Thibeaudeau,[1] presumably acting as agent for Sir John Charles Robinson [1824-1913], London; purchased 1874 by Sir Francis Cook, 1st bt. [1817-1901], Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey;[2] by inheritance to his son, Sir Frederick Lucas Cook, 2nd bt. [1844-1920], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Herbert Frederick Cook, 3rd bt. [1868-1939], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th bt. [1907-1978], Doughty House, and Cothay Manor, Somerset; sold July 1954 to (Margaret Drey, London);[3] (Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York);[4] purchased May 1955 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[5] gift 1961 to NGA. [1] Annotation accompanying the copy of the catalogue in the archives of Christie, Manson & Woods, London. [2] Maurice Brockwell, _Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, and Elsewhere in the Collection of Sir Frederick Cook, Bt._, 3 vols., London, 1913-1915: 3:no. 426, states that the painting was purchased from J. Charles Robinson in 1874 for 350 pounds. An annotation, probably by Brockwell, in a copy of the 1915 Cook collection catalogue belonging to Brenda, Lady Cook (St. Brelade, Jersey, England), reads: "Bought from or per JCR 11/2/1874." Lady Cook kindly showed this annotation to Elon Danziger, assistant in the department of northern Renaissance painting, in 2001. Brockwell 1932, vi, observes that Robinson, who had been Surveyor of the Pictures for Queen Victoria, often advised Cook on purchases. In this instance he may have acted as agent. [3] Correspondence from the Cook Collection Archive, in care of John Somerville, England, copies in NGA curatorial file. [4] Saemy Rosenberg, letter to William Suida, 11 May 1955, in NGA curatorial files. [5] The record of the agreement to purchase the painting is in the Kress Foundation files, dated 9 May 1955 (see copy in NGA curatorial files and The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/53).

Inscription

lower center on edge of bathtub: FR.IANETII.OPVS

NGA object ID 46112. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.