Wear a wig? I would rather keep my head

Congratulations to Kary...Winner of the Royal Affairs wigged out giveaway. Only two people got the question right. So here was my very scientific process for choosing a winner - I asked my husband to pick a number between 1 and 2. He picked 2. voila. my winner. The winner just needs to email me your mailing address - info@CarlynBeccia.com

Answer: All wore wigs...except George Washington

1. Marguerite de Valois was born with the Medici dark hair in an era when women went to great lengths to dye their hair blond. Marguerite’s blond wig became so vital to her beauty regime that she only employed blond page boys. The boys would grow their hair long and then cut their hair to be donated to the queen’s coiffure.

2. Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth I wore wigs to disguise her thinning hair. She owned more than 80 wigs including some blond wigs.

3. Mary Queen of Scots wore an auburn wig. If you got this one wrong, don’t feel bad. Most people living in the 16th century did not know she wore a wig until her executioner was left holding on to her wig instead of her head.

4. Louis XIII wore wigs, called perruques, in his early twenties to cover up his prematurely thinning hair. Out of respect, his courtiers followed suit and the age of wig wearing aristocrats became the norm.

5. In Louis XIV’s early reign he was very proud of his thick, dark mane. Unfortunately, he began to lose his hair later in his reign. He employed 40 wig makers at the court of Versailles during the golden age of wig wearing.

6. Charles II was blessed with great rocker hair and proudly displayed his long, dark locks in the big headed styles of the time. But later when his hair began to thin, he also succumbed to the wig wearing cognoscenti. Charles was even rumored to have had a wig made from the pubic hair of his mistresses.

7. Marie Antoinette preferred her towering hair dos to be created with her own hair. Unfortunately, she began to lose her hair after child birth and was forced to substitute false hair.

8. George III started his reign au natural with his own hair pulled back in a queue (Shown above. Tied back in a pony tail with a ribbon). The wig makers feared that the king’s choice to wear his own locks would put them out of business if others were to copy the king’s example. In response to this fear, they petitioned the king to insist all gentlemen be properly wigged. The petition was viewed as so ludicrous that the guild of wooden leg makers petitioned the king to insist everyone wear a wooden leg.

Later in life, George sported a brown wig that became known as the ‘brown George.’


9. It was probably unfair of me to include George Washington. First, no one's hair should do that naturally (although he did powder it). Second, he certainly was not royalty....which is why he would have never worn a wig. He vociferously supported the ideals of the French Revolution, and preferring to keep his head, was very careful not to copy the styles of headless kings and queens in an age when Americans wanted nothing to do with a monarchy. So like George III, he also wore his own hair in a queue. Poor George probably had enough problems trying to keep his fake teeth in his mouth without the hassles of wearing a wig.

Wigs/false hair are definitely back in vogue today. I am pretty certain that half of Hollywood is wearing fake hair and its only a matter of time before we see kids asking for hair extensions for Christmas. (Don't I sound like one of those crotchety, old bitties that doesn't understand fashion trends? Don't answer that.)

Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving and wear those hair pieces with pride!

Sources and Further Reading:
Images from the Lewis Walpole Library
Sherrow, Victoria. The Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History,Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2006.
Bryer, Robin. The history of hair : fashion and fantasy down the ages, London : Philip Wilson ; Wappinger Falls, N.Y. : Distributed in the USA and Canada by Antique Collectors' Club, 2000.
Corson, Richard. Fashions in Hair, London : P. Owen, 1980.

Test your wig smarts

I finally have started to get caught up on my sleep and work some more on my next book proposal. It is a subject that I have been researching for the last year, but I am just now starting to pull it together to something that might resemble a book. It is too early to say what it is about, but here are a couple of hints: Hint one: it is dedicated to my daughter who thinks dresses are medieval torture devices and hair cuts are as painful as limb amputations. Hint Two – the quiz below is part of my research.

Anyone who answers the following question correctly will be entered to win Royal Affairs. (last month’s winner never responded to my email). Contest is open to US and International folks.

Which of the following people wore a wig?:

1. Marguerite de Valois
2, Queen Elizabeth I
3. Mary Queen of Scots
4. Louis XIII
5. Louis XIV
6. Charles II
7. Marie Antoinette
8. George III
9. George Washington

Answer to follow in next post…

Raucous Rumor of the Month: Did Leonardo da Vinci die in the arms of King Francis I?

In 1818, Ingres captured the poignant moment of Leonardo’s death in the arms of his patron, Francis I. In the painting, the forlorn king cradles an aged Leonardo in an intimate lovers embrace as a distraught figure (believed to be Leonardo’s assistant Melzi) dramatically gestures toward the deathbed. The scene is so intense that critics of the time felt that Francis looked like he was suffocating Leonardo. (I think he looks more like he is about to lay a wet one on him.) It certainly is an emotionally charged scene and one that would inspire other artists such as Cesare Mussini in 1929 (shown below). But does this painting really capture Leonardo’s death or was it just another tall tale passed down through legend? Let's trace the history of this rumor...

Following the death of his patron Giuliano de’Medici, Leonardo left Italy and came to France in 1516, at the age of 64. In France, he spent his final years in the manor of Clos-Luce near Ambroise. Despite the fact that his hand had become too crippled to paint, Francis and Leonardo enjoyed a lively and respectful friendship discussing architectural projects, philosophy, engineering and art to all hours of the night. (Imagine being a fly on the wall for one of those conversations?) According to Benvenuto Cellini, Francis, “did not think that any other man had come into this world with more knowledge than Leonardo.” (1) The king so admired Leonardo’s art that he even attempted to have The Last Supper transported to France. If walls had not proved so hard to move, Milan might have lost its national treasure.

After many crippling months of sickness, Leonardo da Vinci died on On May 2nd, 1519 at Ambroise. A contemporary description of Leonardo’s death was left by Vasari in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects:

“The king, who was accustomed frequently and affectionately to visit him, came immediately afterwards to his room, and he, causing himself out of reverence to be raised up, sat in his bed describing his malady and the different circumstances connected with it, lamenting besides that he had offended God and man, not having worked in art as he ought to have done. He was then seized with a violent paroxysm, the forerunner of death, when the king, rising and supporting his head to give him such assistance and do him such favour as he could, in the hope of alleviating his sufferings, the spirit of Leonardo, which was most divine, conscious that it could attain to no greater honour, breathed its last in the arms of the king. “(1)

Vasari probably heard the death bed tale from Melzi, but Melzi does not mention such a scene in any of his surviving letters. Would Vasari invent a story just to be more colorful? Perhaps. Vasari certainly did his share of gossiping, but his biographies are one of the few contemporary art history works of the Renaissance that we have today.*

The legend of Leonardo’s death continued into the reign of Louis XIV when the French Chronicler, Andre Felibien wrote:

“...the king having been to visit him during his illness, he wished to half raise himself in bed, and that, desiring to express to the king his deep feeling of the honour His Majesty did him, he failed in his speech and expired in the arms of the king. "(3)

Many historians have argued that Francis could not possibly have been at Ambroise for Leonardo’s last breath because the king had issued an Order in Council from Saint-Germaine-en-Laye one day prior. But Mrs Charles Heaton makes a valid point that this proves nothing because an Order in Council was often issued in the king’s absence and signed by the secretary of state.

Unfortunately, we will never know for certain who was present at Leonardo's death. Art critics have categorized Ingres' painting as an example of artistic hegemony meant to symbolize that the great master had come home to his true resting place – France. But even if the painting does not depict Leonardo’s death accurately, the emotions it captures on losing such a extraordinary artist and inventor are certainly genuine.

* In one on his biographies he tells an amusing tale of Giotto di Bondone who painted a fly on the surface of a portrait that looked so real that his older master, Cimabue repeatedly tried to brush it away. (this tale has now been doubted by art historians but it seems to me like the kind of hijinx that Giotto might get himself into).

Notes:
(1)Knecht, P 173

(2)Heaton, p. 192
(3)ibid

Sources and Further Reading:
Knecht, Robert J., The French Renaissance Court 1438-1589, New Haven: CT, Yale University Press, 2008.
Heaton, Charles, Leonardo da Vinci and his works: consisting of a life of Leonardo da Vinci, MacMillan and Co. 1874.

Stanley, Diane. Leonardo da Vinci, New York: NY, Harper Collins, 2000.

And the winner is...

Ashley was last month's winner of Royal Affairs. Congratulations to the winner! I have emailed the winner and just need your mailing address.

This month's Raucous book of the month was supposed to be Booker prize winner, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I am REALLY enjoying the book, but it's a long one so I have to push it to next month's giveaway. (I probably would have finished it by now if I didn't have a tiny baby insisting that milk comes before mommy's reading time. )

I am going to have a non-book giveaway for this month. Stay tuned for more details....

All newsletter subscribers are automatically entered to win the giveaway.

The Beast of Gevaudan

If you look out your window tonight you will see the full moon shining brightly. It is only on a night like tonight that cursed men transform themselves into a savage half-wolf, half-man called a werewolf. Over 200 years ago, the local residents from a small French providence fell victim to one such creature. Here is their story…

In 1764, in the mountainous area of Gevaudan, France, a young girl was tending to her flock of cattle when out of the bushes sprung a large wolf-like creature with a long tufted tail and sharp fangs. The girl’s dogs fled the scene, but her cattle attacked the beast with their horns saving the girl’s life. (All the cows that I know wouldn’t care less if a human was getting mauled, but it is a known fact that French cows are a bit more rambunctious than your average American cow.)

A few days later, another girl was not so lucky and her father found her mutilated body with her throat slashed and claw marks covering her body. Over 100 mysterious murders soon followed all resembling an animal attack with some victims even showing signs of a sexual assault. At the time, wolves were believed to be possessed by the devil so a horny wolf prowling through the quiet hills of France was nothing to take lightly. The wolf hysteria soon reached its height when a young boy survived an attack from the beast with a very different tale to tell. In his account, the wolf in question stood upright like a man and had wolf-like traits. It wasn’t long before talk of a werewolf spread across France and became known as ‘The Beast of Gevaudan.’

Rumors of the man-eating wolf soon reached the king’s ears and although Louis XV wasn't always so compassionate toward the local peasants, he wasn’t about to suffer international ridicule for tales of werewolves in an age of reason. Thus, the king began to throw a tremendous amount of resources into catching the beast hiring professional wolf trackers and a cavalry led by Captain Duhamel. But despite the numerous wolves killed….the attacks continued. Louis soon hired the Van Hesling of wolf hunters, - Francois Antoine, Lieutenant of the Hunt. Antoine managed to kill a very large wolf reportedly over 130 pounds and was declared a hero. He had the beast stuffed and rotting away, but weeks later…the attacks began again. Finally, a local farmer named Jean Castel offed the beast with a silver bullet through the heart and was declared the true hero. (It’s from this story that Hollywood borrowed the concept that only a silver bullet can kill a werewolf.)

Who was the beast of Gevaudan? Was it some sort of hybrid rabid dog or a man disguised as a wolf? Some believe it was a hyena brought over to France in a royal menagerie. Others believed it be a wild baboon. And others believed it to be a werewolf sent by god to punish the providence’s sinners. In a recent History Channel documentary, criminal profiler, George Deuchar and cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard battle it out with competing theories. George believes only a man could be so savage while Ken taps away at his computer pulling up youtube videos of prehistoric wolf-like beasts that could have roamed the countryside. In the end, they “solve” the mystery by agreeing that they were both right. Their concluding theory is that the beast was most likely a hyena trained by Jean Castel to attack humans and was shot by his master when becoming the town savior became more rewarding than terrorizing the residents. They prove this theory by shooting silver bullets into wads of blubber and showing how inaccurate silver is if you want to kill an angry hyena. Their tests conclude that the beast must have been in close range to be killed with a silver bullet and therefore must have either trusted a man with a rifle pointed at him or was one very stupid hyena.

I found all two hours utterly fascinating despite the distracting reenactments of snarling wolves and mutilated bodies. Still, I must warn readers that my skeptical husband watched ten minutes and accused me of suffering from new mother sleep deprivation and suggested that I really should get out of the house. But who wants to leave the house when werewolves might be lurking around the corner?

Sources and Further Reading:
History Channel, The Real Wolfman
Thompson, Richard H. Wolf-hunting in France in the reign of Louis XV: the beast of the Gévaudan, Lewiston: New York, Edwin Mellen Press, 1992