Gird Your Loins
My mother (Barbara F. Humphrey 1928-2021) purchased this painting in an art gallery in Stamford, Connecticut in 1973. She always said she wanted me to have it (she wrote on the back “this is for Erica”). It depicts the legend of St. Martha in France. The artist, Barbara B. Falk (born 1928), was a “self-taught” artist, though highly acclaimed in her day. The back of the painting has an artist note attached:
St. Martha, Patron Saint of Housewives
According to the Provencal legend Martha, sister of Mary Magdalene, preached to the people of Aix and its vicinity. The region was being ravaged by a dragon called The Tarasque, which during the day lay concealed in the Rhone. Martha tamed the creature by pouring a pitcher of holy water over its head. The site of the legend is now the location of the city of Tarascon.
The painting has wonderful coloring of celadon greens and muted blues. The perspective is skewed – look at the size of those flowers in the foreground, compared with the little tree on the left side. The depiction of Martha’s face is primitive in style, though there are complex details in the lace and dragon. The entire composition has a lovely, calm feel.
That said, research indicates the story it represents is not actually all that lovely nor calm.
The more detailed version, dating from the 1100s, was more bloody. This monster was said to inhabit the forested banks of the Rhone around Tarascon (then called “the black place” or Nerluc due to the turbulent water). The creature lurked in the river sinking boats and attacked men trying to cross. It was described as a dragon: half animal, half fish, with sword like teeth. The townspeople appealed to St. Martha for help, and she found the animal in the act of devouring a man. She sprinkled holy water on its head while brandishing a cross, making it submissive. She then tied her girdle around its neck, leading it to the villagers who cast rocks upon it until it died.
Shall we even begin to unpack the symbolism in THAT tale?! While I suspect much of it is Christian in nature, the idea that Martha used her girdle to yoke in the monster strikes me as the most powerful. And yet, here she is very daintily clad in lovely white lace with not a girdle in sight. The monster also appears much like a cat enjoying a good scratch, with sated half-closed eyes, and passively closed mouth -nary a sword-like tooth in sight. Obviously this is the sanitized version of the tale, and a lovely one it is.
As an aside, I also researched the bridge as I wondered if it was Roman. It seems the area had a Roman built bridge but over time it had deteriorated. There is, however, the remains of a bridge constructed in 1177 in the area, which is an UNESCO World Heritage site. The remains include 3 arches and the St. Nicholas chapel seen on the right. This bridge was, at the time, the only link across the Rhone and created a major pilgrimage stop for Avignon for those traveling to Italy.
The biblical story of Martha and her sister Mary, which predates Martha’s arrival in France, is important in understanding my mother’s sympathy to St. Martha. Poor Martha was always stuck in the kitchen, preparing all the food for the crowds visiting Christ in their home, while her sister Mary Magdalen sat listening to Christ and not lifting a finger. Martha complained, and Christ admonished her, saying basically each person has their role in life and hers was to toil away in the kitchen.
Don’t get me started on the patriarchal issues in this bible story. Suffice it to say, Mom felt poor Martha got the short end of the stick, and she always had empathy for being stuck in a kitchen preparing food for crowds (she did have 7 children after all). Thus, this painting hung in my mother’s kitchen for the remainder of her life. When she resided in a care facility, the painting hung near her bed. Upon her death, I retrieved it, and it now hangs in my kitchen.
We all have dragons to tame in our lives, and the inspiration of Martha and her girdle is both practical and wise: the bible used the term “gird your loins” to indicate you should tuck those long robes into a girdle (or belt) so they will not hamper your physical activity. So, get going gals, gird your loins and tackle your dragons. Martha would approve.