Friday 29 March 2024

Surprise Stone Axe

This is a copy of a painting by Jehan Fouquet, court painter to Charles VII in the 15th century. It hangs in the Logis Royal in Loches. It depicts Etienne Chevalier, Charles's right hand man, and his name saint, Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr. It is the left half of a diptych. The right half is the much better known Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels, for which Charles's mistress, Agnes Sorel, sat as the model. The work, in oil on wood panel, is known as the Melun Diptych and was commissioned by Etienne Chevalier for the church in his home town of Melun.

Copy of Etienne ChevaLier and Saint Stephen, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire VaLLey Time TraveL.

We know the saint is Saint Stephen because he holds a rock, as a symbol of his matyrdom, which was being stoned to death. But wait! That's an interesting looking rock! It looks like a piece of worked flint, a hand axe!!

Jehan Fouquet came from the Touraine, which is full of flint and prehistoric tools. Did he own this particular rock, and understand it to be a prehistoric tool?

DetaiL of a copy of Etienne ChevaLier and Saint Stephen by Jehan Fouquet, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire VaLLey Time TraveL.

The rock appears to be worked on both sides and flaked so as to have a pointed tip. Scientists studying the painting today think it might be as old as half a million years, and of a type known as Acheulean handaxes.

The earliest mention in written documents of handaxes dates from the mid-16th century, but people at that time thought they were natural and referred to them as 'thunderstones', believing they fell from the sky. It wasn't until the 17th and 18th centuries that their true origins were guessed at.

To back up their idea that the stone in the painting is an Acheulean handaxe the scientists analysed the overall shape and found it had a 95% match to handaxes made in France. They also analysed the colour and compared it to 20 Acheulean handaxes found in France. Their conclusion that the careful application of yellows, browns and reds typical of these French axes shows that Fouquet went to great trouble to accurately depict the object. This included painting 33 flake scar marks (the scientists found that 30 was the average on the actual axes). Infra red analysis also showed he had reworked the axe and had done an underdrawing. It is difficult not to come to the conclusion that Fouquet had access to or had seen this handaxe.

The scientists think the handaxe intrigued Fouquet and he deliberately carefully portrayed it. What he cannot have known was that these axes were used in Europe by pre-Homo sapiens species.

Fouquet is considered one of the most important artists of his time because of his early adoption and skill with oil paints. The original of the painting is now in the Staatliche Museen in Berlin (the Virgin and Child is in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp).

Thursday 28 March 2024

It's (nearly) April So It Must Be Canola

A typical spring scene in the Pays Saumurois, the countryside around the town of Saumur. Lots of grapes, some wheat, some ploughed earth, some canola, a narrow winding bitumen road and on the highest ground, mixed deciduous broadleaf forest. 

Countryside near Saumur, France. Photo by loire Valley Time Travel.

The canola (Fr. colza) is in flower again. It's widely grown as a crop here to produce oil, biodiesel and a high protein stock feed (which is actually a by-product after the oil is extracted). Only palm and soybean are more important globally as oil producing crops. The EU is the biggest producer, followed by Canada and the US. It is favoured as a source of biodiesel because canola produces more oil per hectare than other oil seed crops and freezes at a lower temperature than other oils.

Canola crop in flower, Indre et loire, France. Photo by loire Valley Time Travel.

Bees love it and many of the apiarists here will sell a pale creamed or set honey labelled colza. The honey crystalises easily, which is a nuisance for the beekeeper and the crop can cause a boom and bust situation in the hive. It flowers relatively early, but doesn't last very long, so if the bees don't have anything to move on to it can be a disaster for them. On the arable farms where canola is grown crop margins where wild flowers might grow are getting smaller and smaller. These days the bees are in real danger of starving after the canola finishes flowering.

 

Roe Deer in agricultural rape grown as an autumn cover crop. This cousin of canola is a good nitrogen fixer, suppresses weeds and prevents erosion. Roe Deer find the flowers irresistable.

Roe deer in agricultural rape grown as a cover crop, Indre et loire, France. Photo by loire Valley Time Travel.

Canola is prone to fungal diseases and invertebrate attack as a crop and is typically sprayed with fungicide about 8 times between late August when it is planted and early June when it is harvested. It will be liberally sprinkled with slug pellets when young, and sprayed with insecticide to treat flea beetle when mature.

A canola crop in flower near the Chateau of Montpoupon.

Canola crop near the Chateau of Montpoupon, Indre et loire, France. Photo by loire Valley Time Travel.

A few producers process their crop on the farm. The oil produced is virgin, that is to say, it is the product of the first pressing, unmixed with later pressings. According to this producer, before the pressing the seeds are meticulously sorted to make sure any insect contamination is removed. The oil is extracted, using a technique that does not raise the temperature of it beyond 50°C. Contrary to normal practice the oil is not then filtered. Instead it is left to settle and slowly decanted. The finished product is clear and delicate, and has retained all its nutritional components and aromas.  Use it for flavouring and cooking but it is not suitable for frying.

Canola oil producer, Indre et loire, France. Photo by loire Valley Time Travel.

Wednesday 27 March 2024

Looking Forward to Spring Flowers in the Touraine Loire Valley

Spring flowering in the Loire Valley chateaux gardens will peak in April. This what we got to enjoy last year. Make sure you are here for it this year!

Potager garden, Chateau de Villandry, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Potager garden, Chateau de Villandry.

Potager garden, Chateau de Villandry, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Potager garden, Chateau de Villandry.

Quince blossom, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Quince blossom.

Magnolia blossom, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Magnolia blossom.

Chateau de Chenonceau, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Catherine de Medici's garden, Chateau de Chenonceau.

Wisteria, Chateau Royal d'Amboise, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Wisteria, and the Chateau Royal d'Amboise in the fog.

Wisteria, Chateau Royal d'Amboise, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Later, the fog had cleared.

Honesty, Chateau de Chenonceau, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Honesty, Chateau de Chenonceau.

Judas trees, Loches, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Judas trees, Loches.

Tulips, Chateau de Cheverny, Loir et Cher, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Tulips, Chateau de Cheverny.

Lilac, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Lilac.

Tuesday 26 March 2024

Look Out for Glow-worm Larvae in the Touraine Loire Valley

This is the time of year you may start seeing glow-worm larvae trundling about in your garden or orchard during the day. They are females looking for a suitable place to pupate and emerge as a nocturnal glowing adult. Keep an eye out for them, and later in the year, look out for adults flashing after dark. If you have any, please send a record using this website: link.

Glow-worm larvae, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Glow-worm larvae. Don't confuse it with ladybird larvae, which look a bit similar. Glow-worm larvae are slate grey with peachy pink markings on the rear corners of each segment.

The Observatoire des vers luisants is a citizen science project to educate the public about glow-worms and to gather scientific data. The aim is to find out why the population of glow-worms has declined so much in the past few decades.

Glow-worm, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Adult female glow-worm using her bioluminescence.

The study is revealing that the north of France has very low numbers of glow-worms. Gardens in rural settings that border on to prairie or forest are the most likely to have glow-worms present. The use of weed killers, fungicides and slug pellets appear to reduce the abundance of glow-worms. However, solar powered lights in the garden don't seem to bother them.

Monday 25 March 2024

Bed Matters

We bought our current bed in December 1998, when we moved from furnished to unfurnished rented accommodation in London. We chose it because it's a big solid piece in pine, and it looked interesting. Our plan was to paint it, but until last week it remained bare unpainted pine.


On Sunday night last week I moved the bed into the bedroom and reassembled it. As there was nothing else in the room I decided it was the ideal time to paint it, so I put it together over a drop sheet, standing on little blocks.

I made an error on Tuesday, by undercoating it with a brush. It was very thick undercoat, which means the brush strokes are there for all eternity.


On Wednesday we were in NOZ, who had V33 paint for 9€ a litre (normally about 30€ a litre). We bought a load of paint for not much money, then I got to work. I think I might have been suffering sleep deprivation and been a bit manic, because the end result is more colorful than we'd planned. But I did discover acrylic paint pens from Action (4€ for 12), so that's a win.



I don't know how long it will remain in this scheme, but when it comes to being repainted I have a plan...

Saturday 23 March 2024

No Real Blog Post Today

I am absolutely exhausted - but it's all nearly finished.

For almost two weeks I've been working on the house all day and then going back for a couple of hours in the evening. I'm tired to the point that in the hardware store yesterday morning I kept driving my trolley into stuff, and couldn't see what I was actually looking at. When I reached the till I forgot to take the most expensive item out of the trolley (so it looked like I was trying to steal a tin of paint) and then I took the checkout lady's barcode scanner thingy and put it in my trolley.

The view from "our" sitting room in Boussay

Our plan is that we will be moving back in on Monday. I've loved being in Boussay, but I've been too tired to make the most of it.