Lady Of Beauty
Agnes Sorel gained fame as the mistress of King Charles VII of France in the 1400s, but her striking beauty didn’t stop at the royal court. She became the subject and inspiration for works of art, and the fascination with Agnes Sorel continues today, six centuries later.
She Was Maid Of Honor To A Duchess
Agnes Sorel was born in 1422 in northern France, the daughter of the keeper of a castle. By the time she was in her early 20s, she’d served as the maid of honor to the Duchess Isabella of Lorraine before the latter's marriage to Rene I, the future king of Naples. It was in this role that Agnes caught a big break.
She Became Lady-In-Waiting
Isabella’s sister-in-law Marie d’Anjou, wife of King Charles VII needed a lady-in-waiting (in the Middle Ages this was a noblewoman’s personal assistant). Marie thought Agnes perfect for the role. As it turned out, maybe Agnes was too perfect!
She Caught The King’s Eye
It wasn’t long before King Charles took notice of Agnes. He immediately made her his mistress. A longtime sufferer of bouts of melancholy (or what we would now call clinical depression), King Charles found his spirits lifted in the presence of his stunning consort. He didn’t keep Agnes in the background either. Agnes was about to gain even more power and influence.
She Was A Court Regular
There’s nothing like a beautiful woman’s intimacies to cheer up an ailing King, and Charles VII wanted Agnes to be around all the time. He made her a full member of his court and gave her the castle at Château de Loches as her own private residence. While in the king's court, Agnes made her opinions known on matters of state. With the Hundred Years War raging, Agnes even encouraged Charles to drive the English army from French soil. Not surprisingly, her rapid climb made Agnes some enemies.
She Was Risque
Agnes became the first woman to be officially known as the royal mistress in France. No doubt she’d come a long way and she enjoyed the luxuries of her new position. But her extravagant tastes and low-cut tops drew criticism, especially from the clergy. The influential archbishop of Reims even interjected to the King that he must stop Agnes from wearing such revealing clothing.
She Had Three Daughters
Agnes went on to have three daughters with Charles from 1444—1449, and she was pregnant with a fourth child in 1450 when she travelled to Normandy to be with Charles while he was on campaign in the final phases of the Hundred Years War. It was here that tragedy struck.
Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 , Wikimedia Commons
Murky Circumstances
While in Normandy Agnes became ill; she and her child never recovered. The official cause was listed as dysentery, but speculation has swirled ever since that Charles’ son Louis XI, fed up with Agnes’ influence over the king, had her poisoned. Various other potential poisoners have been proposed over the years as Agnes had plenty of enemies, but we’ll likely never know what exactly happened. But though she was gone, Agnes was far from forgotten.
She Caused Another Uproar
It was two years after the passing of Agnes that artist Jean Fouquet created his Melun diptych depicting the Virgin with her child. The likeness was unmistakably that of Agnes Sorel. The Virgin’s exposed breast made the painting even more scandalous as Agnes was far from being regarded as a holy figure. Since then, Agnes has influenced many artists and writers.
Agnes Sorel Through The Centuries
After Fouquet’s controversial 1452 painting Agnes was the subject of numerous later works of art and literature, including several operas and Voltaire’s poem La Pucelle (1762). More recently, artist Judy Chicago made Agnes the centerpiece of her 1979 multi-media piece The Dinner Party. The woman they called The Lady of Beauty is still a focus of our fascination today.
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