The Miseries and Misfortunes of War

In the Chateau of Azay le Rideau there is a 17th century piece of furniture in ebonised wood, with engraved ivory panel drawer fronts. When you look closely at the astonishingly minutely detailed ivory panels you realise that each of them depicts an horrific scene of torture, death and cruelty. At the centre top of the piece is the inscription 'Les Misères et les Malheurs de la Guerre'.

 

Plate 3: The Battle. Considered to be the least successful of these etchings. 

The middle of the print depicts a cavalry charge. The foreground is littered with dead men and horses.  The infantry can be seen engaging in the distance to the right.

 

The drawer fronts are versions of a famous series of etchings by Jacques Callot, created in 1633. They are reknowned as a piece of anti-war protest, and tell the story of ordinary soldiers from recruitment through fighting in battles and then becoming out of control as they ravage civilians. Finally they are arrested and executed. Each etching has an explanatory text underneath and the series can be considered the ancestor of French graphic stories (bandes dessinées). 

 

Plate 5: Pillaging a farmhouse. 

Inside a vast and well provisioned house the soldiers indulge in every kind of excess.

The etchings are Callot's reaction to the Thirty Years War, when Cardinal Richelieu sent troops in to Lorraine, at that time an independent duchy. Callot lived in the provincial capital Nancy and witnessed the destruction and devastation to civilians caused by the soldiers as they participated in the annexation of the territory for France. He produced the etchings half way through the conflict, having lived through 15 years of war in his home province. The original plates for these etchings are housed in the museum in Nancy. There are 18 illustrations in the original series, although only six are represented on the piece of furniture at Azay le Rideau.

Callot was a master of the technique of multiple 'bitings' of acid, with sections 'stopped out' so that there is gradation in the strength of line, and scenes in the distance are lighter than those in the foreground.

This series was influenced by earlier French, Italian and Flemish works, and in turn influenced later engravers such as Hogarth and Goya.

 

Plate 14: Breaking on the Wheel. 

The instrument of torture is standing in the middle of a square crowded with soldiers and civilians. A condemned man is already tied to the wheel and attended by a priest. The executioner is about to strike. Another condemned man, escorted by a monk, is visible on the left of the print.

Callot's paternal grandfather married a grand-niece of Joan of Arc, and was enobled for loyal service to the Duke of  Lorraine. His family did not encourage the young Jacques passion for drawing, and at the age of 12 he ran away to Rome to train in an Italian workshop. Unfortunately, once there he was recognised by merchants from Nancy who were friends of his family, and they packed him off back home. His father insisted he go back to school and concentrate on academic subjects, but by the age of 14 he had absconded once again. This time he was found in Turin by his older brother and brought home. Finally his father aquiesced and Jacques was apprenticed to a goldsmith and engraver who ran the mint for the Duke of Lorraine. Jacques had already been hanging around in his workshop, but ultimately he did not complete his four year apprenticeship. 

 

Plate 17: The Peasants Fight Back. 

Soldiers returning from pillaging have been spotted at the edge of a forest by peasants who slaughter them, rob them, and take revenge on them for the evils they have suffered.

At the age of 16 he was sent, with his father's blessing, to study engraving in Italy, albeit with a French workshop master in Rome. There he rejoined his lifelong friend and collaborative partner, Israël Henriet. Then he went to work for the Medicis in Florence, before returning to Lorraine and marrying. After a brief sojourn in the Low Countries working on a commission from the Infanta, who governed this territory on behalf of her father, Phillip II of Spain, he went to Paris, but the King, Louis XIII, could not tempt him to stay. He died of stomach cancer aged just 42, leaving an impressive body of work which includes about 1500 etchings, and having made several significant technical innovations to the art form (such as using hard luthiers varnish on the copper plates rather than wax, which meant that the working surface was less prone to damage).

 

Glossary of terms:

Etching -- a printmaking technique where a metal plate is coated in wax, then a needle used to draw a design. Acid is used to eat away the metal which has been exposed, thus creating a printing plate. The acid is said to 'bite' the metal. Etching tools are pulled by the hand working them, so is more like drawing. Etching is quicker than engraving and Callot's preferred technique.

Engraving -- a technique whereby a hard surface such as metal or glass has a design cut into it with a burin. Engraving can be used as a decorative technique in its own right or to create printing plates. Engraving tools are pushed by the hand working them, so is more like carving. Engraving is slower than etching.

What have Susan and Simon Been Doing?

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Susan has done a lot of tours: mainly walking tours with small groups, although there have been a couple of tours using Claudette with Olivier as driver. I have been trying to regain some fitness, not easy when you've been out of commission as long as I have.

Then there have been a seemingly endless series of medical appointments, as well as a very welcome visit from friends.

There haven't been a lot of adventures, although just at the moment just getting from day to day feels like a little adventure to me. I'm on a new course of anti cancer treatment, which hasn't had drastic side effects, but just enough to make me perpetually weary.

On our very short walk on Friday we discovered a slightly different view of Preuilly. As you can see, the river is back to just about its normal level.

Who Were the 68th?

Susan and I have noted this graffiti before, but never blogged it. It's on a building dated 1767, so it obviously post dates that.

To me it looks like a soldier in a bearskin hat holding a lance. For some reason, to me it's reminiscent of Napoleonic uniform.

I think it also says "50 homs".

I have posted the photos full size so you can make your own mind up.

And here's the graffiti with enhancement.

Look Out For Travellers Joy in the Touraine Loire Valley

 Travellers Joy Clematis vitalba (Fr. Clématite des haies).

Travellers Joy is a woody scrambling plant in the Ranunculus family (whoda thunk it?).

 

The leaves can burn or irritate the skin if they are rubbed and apparently beggars used to them to create ulcers on their skin to further encourage pity from passersby.

 

The scientific name means 'white vine' and it is native to the whole of the Northern Hemisphere. The vines can be used in basket and rope making.

 

Over winter they are covered in fluffy seedheads which give the plant a very characteristic look. 

 

Flowering is June to August.

 

They grow more or less anywhere but prefer warm spots and calcareous soil. 

 

Several species of lepidoptera use the plant as a host for eggs eg Hummingbird Hawk Moth, or caterpillars eg Brown Hairstreak.

Alert

We have a weather alert for ex-hurricane Kirk. It seems like we've known about it forever, with warnings and communications from our insurance company, the Town Hall, the weather service (Meteo De France) and various news programs on TV.

What's interesting is that it'll be breezy but not excessively so (according to the instructions). In the Netherlands I'm pretty sure they wouldn't comment.

In the meantime, some photos form the short walk I managed to squeeze in between the rain showers yesterday.

Look Out for Holly in the Touraine Loire Valley

Holly Ilex aquifolium (Fr. Houx).

Holly is a small evergreen tree. There are lots of species of Ilex, but I. aquifolium is the only one native to Europe. It is in fact native to all of the temperate Old World.

 

It is abundant, and grows up to 1500 metres above sea level. Because of its persistent glossy green leaves and red berries it is much sought after in France as a Christmas decoration. Like box, laurel, yew, ivy, broom, gorse and mistletoe it has been associated with the winter solstice since ancient times and now New Year too, as a symbol of the persistence of life even in the depths of winter. Its association with Christmas is an adoption of an existing pagan mid-winter practice. Conveniently the spines and berries adapt well to an association with the crown of thorns and Christ's blood in addition.

 

The English 'holly' and the French 'houx' come from the same old German root word 'hulis', meaning 'spiny plant'. The specific name 'aquifolium' means 'spiny leaved', and the genus name 'ilex' means 'evergreen oak'.

 

 

There are many place names in France that reference holly eg la Houssaye ('the holly wood') or Arpheuilles ('sharp leaves').

 

Holly is slow growing, with dense wood. A mature holly is generally about 5 metres tall, and can live for several hundred years.

 

The leaves are tough, and variable in their number of spines. Leaves last about 3 years and the ones which grow in winter tend to be spinier. The spines are to protect the tree from browsers such as deer.

 

Holly trees are generally either male or female, with only the females producing berries. Pollinisation is by insects, and seeds distributed by birds, usually thrushes (including blackbirds) and wood pigeons as they eat the berries. For these species it is a very important winter food. Likewise the tree provides important cover for deer and wild boar (and in Christian legend, for the Holy Family fleeing Herod).

Adult Brimstone butterflies use Holly as a protected hideaway to overwinter.

 

Holly is a plant of the forest understorey, and thrives in damp shaded rich slightly acid soils. It will also adapt well to calcareous soil, so long as the humidity is high enough. It survives because of an enhanced ability to photosynthesise in the shade and in the winter, but it can't take too much cold.

 

Holly is present throughout France, and there are several significant holly forests in the south of the country. 

 

The berries and leaves contain various toxins, but you would have to consume a lot to be poisoned, and the berries are bitter, so not very enticing after the first taste. Most likely you would vomit it up before it killed you, and cases of poisoning are very rare.

 

In Alsace and the Black Forest there are traditional drinks made from holly, such as an eau de vie from the berries and a tea from the leaves (like the South American maté, which is also made from a species of holly).

 

Not much attacks holly, but it does have its own leaf mining fly larvae, and its own aphid, both specific to holly.

 

Notoriously, holly bark is the source of glu, a viscous substance used to trap birds. The bark is left to ferment in spring water and after some manipulation a greenish water resistant paste is produced. This is mixed with poultry fat, vinegar, oil, and turpentine, boiled whilst stirring and when ready spread on vines and fruit trees to protect against insects and birds.

 

Holly wood is very pale, dense and evenly grained, so it is prized by marquetry workers. It is traditionally used to make the white pieces for a chess set, and in various musical instruments.

 

It has been used in hedges to enclose stock.