Saving a Stone Stag

On a recent visit to the Chateau Royal d'Amboise I encountered a young stone conservator busy working on the limestone stag's head from the frieze over the door of the Chapel of Saint Hubert.

It takes a lot of concentration...

She was carefully removing a layer of plaster from part of the stag's head with a dental drill. She explained to us that the plaster was a 19C repair, to join the face of the stag on to the back of the head. At some time in the 19th century a pair of metal antlers were inserted into the head too. Both these materials were guaranteed to give future problems because they react badly with the limestone. As part of the current major restoration of the Chapel she was tasked with sorting it out a hundred years later.

 

This is the type of material being removed from the old join...

I asked her how she was going to reinsert the antlers. She told me that the head would be glued back together and the antlers would be sunk into a pocket of resin. The new materials will not react with the old so there shouldn't be any more damage caused by rusting metal.

 

The pieces go back together like this...

A Gobelins Tapestry

By far the most famous of the French tapestry weaving workshops is Gobelins. Originally, in the mid 15th century, Gobelins was not a weaving manufacturer but a family of textile dyers who set up an establishment in what is now the 13th arrondissement of Paris. In the early 17th century Henri IV moved a team of Flemish tapestry weavers in and 1662 Jean-Baptiste Colbert bought the place on behalf of his royal master Louis XIV.

Colbert transformed the workshops into a multidisciplined affair, housing every possible trade required for making ornate highly decorated furniture for royal residences and gifts. After 30 years the money ran out and after a brief closure the factory reverted to just making tapestries.

In effect the factory still exists, as the state run Mobiliers national (part of the Manufacture nationale network) which showcases the French heritage of decorative arts and trades, provides training for weavers and conservators and perhaps most important of all, is one of the few places you can send a tapestry for cleaning and repair.

The Gobelins tapestry above hangs in the Arms Room at Cheverny and depicts the kidnapping of Helen by Paris. Apparently it has never been restored, so it is certainly a remarkable survival and a credit to the diligent collections care the family and staff undertake. Normally tapestries require considerable conservation work to ensure that aged fibres weakened by exposure to light do not simply tear themselves apart due to the tapestry's own weight.

Although this tapestry shows the typical overall yellowing that is the visible clue that the fibres are degrading, the dye colours have proved quite robust. All the dyes used in tapestries up until the mid 19th century are made from naturally occuring substances - mostly plant based, like indigo, but occasionally animal based, such as coccinelle. These dyes vary considerably in their fastness, and their effect on the wool threads they colour. The various mordants used to fix the dye can affect the lifespan of the weft differently too. Some colours stay bright and the fibre strong, others fade or rot very quickly.

Gobelins perfected hundreds of dyes, but one of the reasons tapestries often have a blue caste is because there was no good natural leaf or grass green. Bright greens were produced by overdying blue and yellow. The yellow vegetable dyes were not particularly lightfast, and soon faded. The blue however, was indigo, and very persistant. The more foliage in a tapestry, the bluer it looks today.

Because of the 'stop - start' way tapestries are woven each colour forms a discrete unit. The slits between the colours are hand stitched together, but if this stitching fails the tapestry develops 'fault lines'. Tapestries are tremendously heavy and any weak areas tend to just rip apart because of the stresses. Workshops like the modern Gobelins have the facilities to take these huge objects and consolidate the fragile textiles so they can be enjoyed on chateaux walls for another generation.

Cheats Confit de Canard

Traditional confit de canard (slow cooked duck) requires large quantities of duck fat. Although you can reuse the fat because it hasn't been heated up very much, I find it is far more than I would normally use and it tends to just go off in the fridge before I get to it. I've also on one occasion had a disaster where the liquid fat overflowed on our wood stove, ruining a rug and causing a fire hazard. So for many years I have used Sally Schneider's 'revisionist' technique, where the duck is cured overnight in the traditional way to reduce moisture and impart flavour, but is then cooked in its own juices, sealed in a foil parcel in a low oven for two hours. The flavour and texture is very similar and I don't have all that fat to deal with.

Curing Ingredients
2 tbsp coarse salt
10 juniper berries
1 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
3/4 tsp dried thyme
A bay leaf
6 allspice berries
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp dried garlic flakes
1 tsp eau de vie

Method

1. Grind all the dry ingredients of the curing mix in a mortar and pestle. 
2. Rub the duck legs with eau de vie, then with the curing mix. You will need a tablespoon of curing mix for every 500 g of duck legs. The eau de vie will help dry the skin out, and it is a technique you can use for enhancing the flavour of any poultry (very useful for turning industrially farmed chicken into something more savoury and farmhouse).
3. Leave to cure overnight in the fridge (can be left for longer).
4. Heat the oven to 150C.
5. Pat the duck legs dry with kitchen paper towel and prick the skin in a number of places.
6. Arrange the duck legs on one half of a long piece of foil, fold over the other half and fold the edges to seal.
7. Put the parcel on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 2 hours.
8. Take the duck out of the foil. You can use the duck immediately or store in the fridge or freezer for later.

I tend to make in batches so some is eaten immediately and some frozen. One batch of curing mix will do 4 - 6 duck legs. 

Duck legs are one of the by-products of foie gras production and are often very reasonably priced.

I harvested the juniper berries for the curing mix from wild juniper growing locally on the hillsides here.

Lac de Gaube

Lac de Gaube is a French Pyrenean lake near Cauterets in the Hautes-Pyrénées, within the Pyrenees National Park. The name is a tautology, as 'gaube' is a Gascon word for 'lake' and 'lac' is the French word for 'lake'. It comes from the same pre-Celtic Eurasian root as 'gaves', which is the local Pyrenean word for the mountain streams.

The lake is at an altitude of 1725 metres above sea level, ovoid in shape, on a north-south axis. It sits in a small valley about 9 kilometres long, which starts at the foot of Mount Vignemale (3298 metres) and ends at the Pont d'Espagne. 

It is fed by the Gave des Oulettes de Gaube, which in turn is fed by the glacier on Mount Vignemale. At its deepest it is 40 metres to the bottom of the lake, and the surrounding slopes are covered in rock falls and landslides.

Reached by hiking a couple of hours uphill through the pines or by taking the cable car from Pont d'Espagne then the ski lift and walking a mere half an hour downhill through alpine meadows, the lake is famous for its fabulous views and ease of access. In addition, it is the departure point for several longer hiking trails. For example, go along the western bank on the GR10 (one of France's famous long distance hiking trails) and you can reach the Refuge des Oulettes de Gaube at 2151 metres.

Once you get there, you can have lunch at the restaurant overlooking the lake, which serves a set menu for a very reasonable price. We have been here twice over the years for lunch, taking the cable car up and walking down, and last year we did the longer walk to and from Oulettes.

Why are French Farm Carts Blue?

Traditionally in the Touraine, and in some other parts of France, horsedrawn carts were painted blue. There are several posited reasons [Source Au temps de Chaumussay by Michel Brouard]:

• the base pigments used for the paint were Prussian blue and barium sulphate, a mixture known as bleu charron. The residue from the manufacture of the blue plant dyestuff guède or pastel (woad/indigo) was also added, and the concoction was an excellent insecticide.
• the blue repulsed flies, which taking the colour for the sky, didn't land on the cart.
• it's the best choice of colour for the job. Red was too agressive, green would mean the vehicles disappeared in the vegetation, yellow was too loud, black was morbid, white was pretentious and got dirty too easily.

I've heard a similar story about kitchens and pantries in the 19th century being painted blue, because it was believed to be a colour that discouraged flies. The colour is known as dipteran blue in English as a result. In France this colour blue is known as bleu charrette (cart blue). Recently one of the colourless compounds in the complex chemical cocktail that is indigo dyestuff has been demonstrated to have some insecticidal properties. However, personally I don't believe the colour of the cart would discourage a fly attracted by a cart full of muck. Nor do I believe that woad/indigo would kill wood boring insects (or that carts were in any danger from such creatures). I think the last explanation, prosaic as it sounds, is the most likely.

Walking Around Preuilly sur Claise

On Wednesday 13 September I joined Joel, Denise and Helene to do a 10 kilometre walk around Preuilly sur Claise, taking 2 hours. It was simultaneously very sweaty and quite foggy.

The municipality of Preuilly sur Claise has installed a nice shelter with toilets, maps, photos, picnic tables and bike repair station alongside the greenway (Fr. voie verte) at the old train station.

Albert Einstein on a chopper bike, street art by Olivier, along the greenway.

The fruits on this Prunus sp made me think it was a hybrid between a sloe and another plum species. The fruits were larger than sloes, but much smaller than a plum, quite sweet and tasty, with only a hint at the end of the sloe astringency.

Le Paradis in the fog.

Peucedanum cervaria (syn Cervaria rivini) (Fr. le Peucedan Herbes aux cerfs), which grows on hot calcareous clay sites and flowers in the autumn. Related to carrots and parsley.

An abandoned Citroen H Van.

A dairy farmer spreading slurry on a field. None of us had ever seen this before. The pipe from the slurry pit must have been well over 100 m long and snaked all over the field behind the tractor.

A pack of hounds, including some Porcelaines, a breed I find very attractive and I was once sorely tempted to take a gunshy rescue bitch.

The hamlet of La Parentiere.

Rural track.

Wild Service Tree Sorbus torminalis (Fr. Alisier torminal).

Look Both Ways

The street we live in aligns almost east-west, and looking downhill (towards the west) is where our weather usually comes from. If we get storms from the east (uphill) it's usually bad news, because they always seem more destructive.*

On Monday we had a serious storm warning. Looking up the road we had this:

And looking down the road, this:

Both photos were taken at 17:28 on Monday.

Our massive destructive storm with hail turned out to be 10 minutes of rain. Not that everyone escaped - there have been some very heavy localised storms. It may look like we're currently weather fixated and there's a reason for that: we are currently weather fixated. I cant remember a year quite like it,


*Not scientific, just a casual observation over 16 years

Agnes Sorel, la dame de Beaute

As the French monarchy became more stable in late medieval times, the king, Charles VII created the position of 'official mistress'. Agnès Sorel was the first successful applicant for the role, and one of the most romantic. As the official mistress she was more or less another queen, living like a member of the royal family and involving herself in politics.

In the 15th century marriage was an economic and political union of families. Love had nothing to do with it, and there was an extremely high tolerance of extra-marital relationships. Prostitution was not condemned and indeed, the King owned at least one brothel.

Carved alabaster tomb effigy of Agnes Sorel in Saint Ours church, Loches.

Even so, in contemporary depictions, Agnès is represented in disguise as the Virgin Mary. The most famous portrait of her is The Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels, from the right hand panel of the Melun Diptych, commissioned in 1452 by Etienne Chevalier from Jean Fouquet. Etienne Chevalier was the King's secretary, and in the year he commissioned the Diptych, became Treasurer of France and Secretary of State. He and Agnès were close friends and he discussed matters of State with her in the King's absence. Curiously, the Diptych was hung over the grave of Chevalier's wife, in his home town of Melun.

Despite the name of the painting, a note on the back states that this is 'the Holy Virgin, with traits of Agnès Sorel, mistress of Charles VII, king of France, died in 1450', and most scholars agree that this is a likeness of Agnès. She is portrayed as the Queen of Heaven, richly apparelled and wearing a crown set with pearls. There is very little depth of field in Heaven apparently, so the baby is rather alarmingly perched. The startlingly blue and red seraphim and cherubim crowd in on her. She gazes solemnly and modestly towards the floor.

A copy of Jean Fouquet's Virgin and Child.
(The original painting is in Antwerp).

 

The artist's intention is to compliment Agnès by taking her as the model for the Virgin. He is also honoring the Virgin by associating Agnès' grace, beauty and high social standing with the Madonna. She is depicted exposing a breast, a motif known as Madonna Lactans (the Suckling Virgin). It was a symbol indicating that the Madonna is someone that mothers can identify with (in fact, in the case of the Virgin Mary, breastfeeding was the only part of the biological act of motherhood that she was required to participate in). By extension she is offering comfort and sustenance to all Christians with this commonplace and loving act. She is an intermediary between God and Man. Also, as character traits were believed to be acquired through the breast milk, breastfeeding was a sign of a good mother.

Nudity at this time was a symbol indicating humility, and it had been a tradition for several centuries to depict the Virgin bare breasted. Of course, this had some pitfalls as far as the Church was concerned. A bare breast could incite somewhat less holy thoughts if not carefully 'de-eroticised'. Fouquet does this by painting an unnatural nippleless sphere, slightly too high and too far to the left.

An anonymous 17th century 'portrait' of Agnès.

Later portraits of Agnès continued the tradition of the exposed breast and it became associated not with the Virgin, but as a sign that the woman depicted was a royal mistress. As French kings became more powerful the position of their mistresses was more and more assured, allowing women like Diane de Poitiers to be depicted outside the Christian tradition, as a Greek goddess, and by the time Gabrielle d'Estrées was the incumbent, the King and by association, his mistress, was powerful enough that she could be depicted as herself.

All these works of art are to be found in Loches.

Don't Panic!!

Last Monday the weather forecast was dire. Storms were forecast to happen all day, with high winds and heavy rain.

When we left our hotel in Tours on Monday morning the omens weren't good - it looked like all we were short of was four blokes on horses.

 This is how the day turned out.

 

I saw (but didn't feel) three drops of rain,  it was hot, and there was almost no wind. And for that I am grateful.

Yesterday we experienced similar. We had an orange storm warning with possible hail and very high winds. Instead we got a breezy shower - although I am led to believe that some people in the area had a short torrential downpour. I'm glad we missed out on that, too.

Kidney Vetch

So far as I can work out, the taxonomy of Kidney Vetches Anthyllis spp is a mess. There are 18 recognised species at the moment, with one naturally occurring named hybrid. The most widespread species is Anthyllis vulneraria, which has more than twenty subspecies, with territories that overlap with each other and with A. montana, a very similar species in the mountains. So far as I can work out this photograph is probably A. vulneraria subspecies alpestris (Fr. Anthyllide alpestre).  Many guides are out of date and not listing current names. 

A. v. alpestris is found on sunny mountainsides, in short alpine grasslands and amongst dry calcareous rocks. It can have yellow, pink or white flowers, from May to August. In France it is found in the Jura, Alpes and Pyrenees, as well as southern Germany.

The plant was photographed in July 2023 near Lac du Gaube in the Pyrenees, at around 1800 metres.

Fete des Associations

Setting up our stand.

Photo courtesy of Christian Barillet.

France holds an annual event in early September known as the Fete des Associations, where clubs, societies, groups and associations can showcase their activities and encourage new membership. I helped with the Association de botanique et de mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine's stand (Botamyco37) in the morning, and the Association d'Accueil et d'accompagnement de refugiés en Sud Touraine (AARST) in the afternoon. The Sainte Maure day is always well organised and has a street party vibe. Even on a very hot day it drew a reasonable crowd in the morning (although there were apparently very few people in the afternoon).

The Pond Project (Project Mares) manifesto.

Botamyco37 introduced their two new projects -- Plant a local tree, and the Pond Project, as well as presented our autumn outings programme and advertised our autumn exhibition.

The Botamyco37 autumn outings programme.

The  Plant a Local Tree project is organised by Antoine, who is growing trees from seed gathered in the Touraine. The seedlings are then given away to anyone wanting to enhance the biodiversity of their land.

The poster for the autumn Fete de la Nature.

The Pond Project is to identify ponds in the Touraine, establish what condition they are in, educate the public about their important in terms of cultural heritage and biodiversity, and encourage the public to get involved in their maintenance. It is better to maintain an existing pond than try to create new ones.

The Carrefour des Associations in Sainte Maure de Touraine, where dozens of clubs get together and the public can come and chat to members to see if they would like to join.

Didier is masterminding a big autumn festival in Yzeures sur Creuse, with lots of partners and like minded organisations to celebrate nature. 

Me talking to a lovely bubbly young woman who was travelling around the country with her equally nice boyfriend, but had family and a plot of land that they wanted manage sensitively in Sainte Maure.

Photo courtesy of Christian Barillet.

Gateway or Spaceship?

Apparently the extraordinary water tower which looks like a docked spaceship on one of the main arteries through Chateau-Renault is meant to look like the physical embodiment of  the town's nickname of 'Gateway to the Touraine'. The water tower was built first then there was the bright idea to add the 'gateway'.

Operation Hairclip

The view from the pontoon at the guinguette.

At the end of the swimming season all the regular swimmers had lunch together at the guinguette in Preuilly. It's right next door to the pool, so suited everyone.

Cheese and charcuterie platter.

Marieline brought her little grand daughter Adelaide and at the end of the meal she was playing on the deck, and dropped her favourite hairclip (Fr. barrette) through a gap in the boards. We could see it, but getting underneath to retrieve it proved challenging.

Swimming buddies Ingrid (in pink), Evelyne, Anne and Filou (standing).

André went into problem solving mode and rigged up a hook with some bamboo and a piece of wire. After a bit of finurkling he managed to snaffle it and brought it up triumphantly. Much joy all round. It was a bit dirty, but not damaged.

Looking for the dropped hairclip.

André and one of the guinguette staff make a first attempt at retrieval.

Finessing the hook.

Watching André finurkling.

Success! And the hairclip is returned to its distressed owner.

Triumph!

Meantime, Filou thought he would try by going under the pontoon in the canoe.

Has he injured himself?!

Tomato Season

Susan wrote yesterday about quinces, but tomatoes are having a good season too. On Saturday our neighbour Edward knocked on the door and donated a bucket of tomatoes to us. I had to unload the tomatoes from the bucket immediately, because Edward needed the bucket for more tomatoes.

They're now roasted and awaiting preservation.

Quince Jelly

Quinces will be in again soon, and if you live in the Touraine and don't have a quince tree - don't worry - someone will offer you a bucketful of quinces. Quince trees seem to be loaded almost every year, and they are a sadly under utilised fruit.

Cut in half, it is obvious they are related to apples and pears.

 

Gélée de coings, as quince jelly is called in French, is one of the easiest and most reliable jams you can make. Quinces have so much natural pectin there is never a problem with set and because you strain the liquid from the solids for the end product, there is no fiddling about peeling and coring the fruit. Chop them up as roughly as you like.

Neatly peeled, cored and thickly sliced - not for jelly, but beingpoached for dessert. The longer they poach the pinker they will get.

I start by washing them and rubbing the fuzz off. Then I cut them into largish chunks. Combine the quinces with an equal quantity of sugar and set aside in the fridge for a couple of days. Follow the same method as for apple jelly.

A jelly bag stand, straining under the weight of quince pulp.

Once you have made the jelly and have a bag full of pulp, pips and skin, don't throw it out. Run it through a food mill to extract the pips and scaly bits and make quince paste with the resulting pink purée.

Quince paste is a specialty of Orleans dating from the Middle Ages and known as Cotignac. Quince is used a lot in the Maghreb (former French colonies in North Africa) in tajines. Locally it is prepared as compote to accompany game, but this requires a lot of time and work. Quinces are also used to make a liqueur by many people here, macerating the fruit with sugar and combining the juice drawn off with eau de vie (also known as marc de fruit).

Mediterranean Sea Holly

Mediterranean Sea Holly Eryngium bourgatii (Fr. Panicaut de Bourgat) is a perennial wild plant in the Apiaceae family. It is related to carrots, parsnips, celery and parsley but is often referred to incorrectly as a 'thistle'. It is endemic to the Pyrenees and Iberian peninsula, Morocco, Lebanon and Turkey.

An unusual white one, photographed near Lac du Gaube in the Pyrenees.

It grows from about 20 centimetres up to 50 centimetres tall and is usually an intense blue. The stems are upright and robust and the stiff leaves and bracts very spiny. The flowers come in July and August. You can find it on subalpine calcareous grasslands.

Photographed above Cauterets on our walk down to the Tour de France finish line on 6 July.

Like other sea hollies, it attracts bees, moths and butterflies and bugs.

Sleeping Magi

Recently I bought a small work of art by my friend Bryan Ecceshall. It is

‘Sleeping Magi and Angel (after a sculpture in Autun Cathedral)’

Ink and Acrylic on Paper

250mm x 175mm

 

 Sleeping Magi with Angel by Bryan Eccleshall.

 

It's based on a postcard found in a secondhand book on the frescoes of Piero della Francesca. The postcard was addressed to a medieval historian [link]. By coincidence, at the time Bryan bought the book, I was admiring the frescoes of Piero della Francesca in Arezzo.

 

By another coincidence, I recognised the image of the Sleeping Magi very well. Not from Autun Cathedral, but from Saint Ours in Loches. It's not a very common image so I was quite intrigued to learn of the one in Autun.

 

A fresco by Piero della Francesca in Arezzo.

 

The scene refers to the story of the angel coming to the Magi in a dream to tell them to return home by a different route, because there was danger if they returned the way they had come. At the same time the angel warns the Holy Family to flee to Egypt to escape Herod.

A Killer in the Orchids

Scorpion Flies are weird looking predatory insects with long spotted wings and a stabbing mouth called a rostrum. The males also have an appendage on the tip of their abdomen which they curl up over their back, scorpion fashion. Despite their English name they are not flies at all, but a separate order of their own, called Mecoptera.

Female scorpion fly Panorpa sp (Fr. Panorpe).

Normally they don't do much in the way of impressive hunting, the way dragonflies and robber flies do. Scorpion Flies mostly eat already deceased insects. With their rostrum they will also suck up nectar sometimes. They are completely harmless to humans.

According to a report I read recently, they are known to hang out on orchids, especially marsh orchids Dactylorrhiza spp, laying in wait for unsuspecting insect visitors coming for the generous nectar that some orchids offer.

 

Heath Spotted Orchid Dactylorhiza maculata (Fr. Dactylorhize maculé).

Dactylorhiza have pinky purple flowers and labella (lower petals) with dark stripes to direct insects to the landing patch. But they are swindlers. There is no nectar to reward the insect, despite the signs the orchid displays. They need the insects as pollinators though, and practice this clever deception to get what they need without expending too much energy on nectar production.

Broad-leaved Helleborine Epipactis helleborine (Fr. Epipactis à larges feuilles).

The insects which come to orchids are often flies, and so they are the most common victims of the Scorpion Flies. The orchid stigmas are coated in a sticky sugary substance which is attractive and nutritious for the flies, but it is also a trap. In hot weather it ferments and the flies become drowsy, drunken and sometimes stuck inside the orchid flowers, making them easy prey for the Scorpion Flies. Even if the fly is inside the orchid flower the Scorpion Fly can access them with their strong rostrum, and if necessary chew or bore through the orchid to get at the fly.

Heath Spotted Orchid Dactylorhiza maculata (Fr. Dactylorhize maculé).

Orchids also host spiders which will prey on insect visitors too. The Scorpion Flies have been known to simply steal prey from spider webs on orchids. If the orchid in question is one that gives nectar, such as Broad-leaved Helleborine Epipactis helleborine, the Scorpion Flies will suck up nectar. Once again the orchid is laying a trap, but this time it is because the nectar is alcoholic and narcotic. Anything that sucks it up, including the Scorpion Flies, will end up addicted in a very short space of time.

Common Spotted Orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Fr. Orchis de Fuchs).

Orchids, particularly Helleborines Epipactis spp, are often infested with aphids, and these are often predated by Scorpion Flies. The aphids destroy the orchid flowers while they are still at the bud stage, so in this respect the Scorpion Flies are the orchids' ally.

Record Numbers at the Swimming Pool

According to our mayor, who I ran into when I was leaving the pool the other day, we've had record numbers at the pool this year, topping last year's record numbers. One very hot day there were nearly 400 people over the course of the day. That was the day swimming was like completing an obstacle course and I had to keep dodging people doing unexpected things in the lanes. There are a lot of holiday swimmers around, who haven't got the hang of pool etiquette. But we are a nice well run pool, and everyone gets on fine. I'm happy to share a lane because everybody starts somewhere and I can remember being a newbie in a pool with proper grown up swimmers. 

This year has been much more temperate than last year, but even so we had a week of proper heatwave, with night time temperatures not going below 20C sometimes, and day time maximums in the high 30s. No wonder everyone has been at the pool lately.

I was particularly pleased to see the Ukrainians making themselves at home. They have developed a good relationship with Filou, the deservedly popular lifeguard/pool manager and they've bought themselves some inflatables for the kids. Filou stored them and made sure other kids don't help themselves.

Spotted at the pool on several occasions.

And now it's over for another year. The pool closed on 1 September and won't reopen until May or June 2024.