Coffee with Leonardo da Vinci: A Parisienne’s Café Adventures
In this monthly column, native Parisian Edith de Belleville — author, attorney, and tour guide — shares her café discoveries
Did you know that there are 12 palace hotels in Paris? Well, I know them all and I love them all. Le Bristol for the softness of its armchairs, adored by Socrate, the hotel’s Burmese cat. The Four Seasons George V with its sumptuous decor…
In truth, I’m exaggerating just a little. I only know the lobbies of these palaces when I come to pick up my distinguished clients for a guided tour of the Louvre Museum. Most of these magnificent hotels are located in what is known as the “Golden Triangle.” It’s a Paris district bounded by the Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the north, the Avenue Montaigne to the east and the Avenue Georges V to the west, forming a triangle that is the epicenter of Parisian luxury boutiques.
The problem with arriving early, as I always do, is finding a decent café in this elegant district that won’t melt my tour guide purse. By dint of searching, I found one. A charming, authentic, vintage café just the way I like them. It’s called La Belle Ferronnière (the Beautiful Ironworker). Outside, its terrace is lined with elegant green boxwood bushes.
As soon as I walked in, I was seduced by the ’30s style of the place. The tiled floor, the geometric bevelled mirrors, the crystal basins, the translucent glass sculptures of Art Deco women and even the old clock – all plunge you into the past. The comfortable red banquettes also won me over immediately. As I don’t have much time, I always have my coffee at the counter.
The name of this café also caught my eye. While admiring the crunchy croissants and warm pains au chocolat that were winking at me, I asked myself this question: Why is this café called La Belle Ferronnière? I knew that La Belle Ferronnière was painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1495 and 1497. This magnificent, modest-sized painting can be found in the Louvre Museum between two of Leonardo’s other masterpieces, The Virgin of the Rocks and Saint Anne.
As you know, there’s more to the Louvre than the Mona Lisa. Da Vinci painted between 15 and 20 paintings and the Louvre owns four of them! Thanks to French king Francis I, aged 22, who invited Da Vinci to come to France when he was already 64 (the portrait of Francis I can also be seen in the Louvre). Da Vinci was born in Italy, but died in Amboise, France.
As I sipped my coffee, I asked the friendly waiter my question. “It’s because this café is at the corner of rue François- Ier, and La Belle Ferronnière was his mistress,” he replied.
What? I jumped up on my stool when I heard this. It’s hard for me to imagine that such a beautiful and refined young Italian lady could have been the favorite of a French king whose court couldn’t compete with the magnificence of the dukes and patrons of the Italian Renaissance. If you’re lucky enough to see her in the Louvre, you’ll understand my doubts.
Intrigued by what the waiter had to say, I decided to investigate like Dora the Explorer. I found out that Da Vinci’s model was the beautiful Lucrezia Crivelli, Duchess of Mantua and mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Yet Sforza is known to have been a great patron of the arts in general, and of Da Vinci in particular. This explains why. The painting was also listed as A Duchess of Mantua.
But for other art historians, it’s more likely to be a portrait of Beatrice d’Este, the Duke of Sforza’s beloved wife, a woman of culture and fashion icon who died too soon. In both cases, no Francis I .
So my hunch was right. This Italian beauty was never the French king’s mistress. But the waiter at the café was right too. Indeed, Francis I may well have had a mistress called La Belle Ferronnière. Her nickname would’ve come from her husband who was an ironworker. This royal favorite was maybe painted around the same time as Leonardo Da Vinci. For a long time, it was even thought that this second painting was also by Da Vinci. But in fact it wasn’t. So it’s this anonymous painting that’s the real “Belle Ferronnière.”
So why is Da Vinci’s painting also called La Belle Ferronnière and not Duchess of Mantua? According to the curator of the Louvre, it’s because of a big mistake made by Ingres. The famous 19th-century painter copied Da Vinci’s popular painting for an engraving, calling it: “after a copy of Da Vinci’s La Belle Ferronnière.” In Ingres’ day, the star of the Louvre was La Belle Ferronnière by Da Vinci, not his Mona Lisa. So much so that 19th-century French fashion plates all wore the same jeweled headband around the forehead as Da Vinci’s model in the painting. When painting inspires fashion…
Today, the name of Da Vinci’s famous painting is the wrong one, but we continue to use it out of habit. It all sounds a bit complicated. But that’s the charm of art history.
And it’s also what makes Parisian cafés so charming. You think you’re just drinking an ordinary coffee on an ordinary morning in an ordinary Parisian café. But it’s anything but. The name of the cafe arouses your curiosity. And suddenly, like a detective from the past, you’re looking for clues and evidence to sort out the real from the fake. You step out of your comfort zone. You learn something.
When I drink my morning espresso at the counter of this café, I always think of the magnificent image of La Belle Ferronnière by Da Vinci. And each time, La Belle Ferronnière café makes my day. That’s the magic effect of Parisian cafés. They make your life more artistic.
DETAILS
La Belle Ferronnière
53, Rue Pierre Charron, 8th
Lead photo credit : La Belle Ferronnière. Photo credit: Edith de Belleville