That the myth of the Iron Mask is still capable of new growth, with proliferations as fantastic as ever flourished before, will be apparent to any visitor to Cannes who troubles to take the narrow street which climbs steeply from the bus-station beside the port to the Tower of Mont Chevalier, on the hilltop above the old town. At an abrupt right-angle bend half-way up this street, one comes upon another tower not immediately recognizable as such because it is attached to an apartment building of the same height. This tower is of white stone, recently restored, and has an arched gateway, closed by an iron-strapped door, giving on to the street. Above the arch there is a barred window and below this window, fixed to the keystone of the arch, is a mask-like head of iron, larger than life-size. A marble plaque on the wall of the apartment building reads as follows:
Tower of the Mask. 12th century. Watchtower of the Citadel, defended against the sieges of the Berbers by the valiant militia of Le Suquet. The Iron Mask escaped from the island of Sainte-Marguerite to take refuge here (the prisoner of the Bastille being nothing more than an unfortunate substitute). In the course of circumstances which remain mysterious he died here after a long period of meditation and prayer, having forgiven his persecutors. Dimitte et Dimittemini. (Forgive and you will be forgiven. Luke vi 37.) Passer-by halt your step and meditate upon the sufferings of this tormented man whose ghost on certain nights haunts this place.
On the tower itself there is another plaque which reads: ‘The historical discoveries made in this tower as well as its restoration are due to Comte Michel de Lacour, 10 rue Mont Chevalier, Résidence de la Citadelle, Cannes.’ The address given is that of the apartment building where the late Count used to live on the top floor with direct access to the tower through a sliding bookshelf in his living-room. The eight-foot tall white marble statues which crown the tower, a Venus inspired by Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and a Neptune copied from Giambologna’s Neptune-fountain in Bologna, were placed there by the Count himself, who had them made in Italy for that special purpose.
The tower has been in the possession of the Count’s family for many years, as has also a splendid oil-painting, handsomely displayed in the entrance to the apartment, which represents the Iron Mask in the manner of a portrait. In this picture the celebrated prisoner is shown in front of a barred window, wearing a red velvet robe with white lace at wrist and throat, his head covered by a cowl of black velvet which hangs to the shoulder in a fringe of tassels and black lace. The cowl is altogether unusual in design; as well as openings for the eyes it has an opening below the nose to expose the mouth and chin. To anyone familiar with portraits of Louis XIV, the small eyes and full lips, the thin moustache and double chin, are immediately recognizable. The painting is unsigned, but according to the Count is the work of Nicolas de Largillière or of Hyacinthe Rigaud, both famous portrait-painters of the time of Louis XIV.
The story of the Count’s ‘historical discoveries’ appeared in the national press in January 1978. The facts as reported by the Count, excluding any deductions he made or anyone else might make from them, are as follows. In spring 1977 he embarked upon major restoration work of the tower, and in the course of this his workers discovered an underground chamber containing the skeleton of a man, incomplete but including the skull, along with a gentleman’s highheeled silk shoe of the time of Louis XIV, fragments of black lace and velvet, part of a walking-stick with a silver pommel and a book of meditation published in 1675.
The Count took the fragments of velvet and lace to a dressmaker who, having pieced them together, made a copy of the original article of clothing, which turned out to be a cowl identical to the one worn by the Iron Mask in the oil-painting. The Count then had a study made of the skull, and a comparison made between the findings of that study and the waxwork of Louis XIV’s head which the sculptor Antoine Benoist modelled from life. The scientists who made the comparison found enough characteristics in common to uphold the thesis that the owner of the skull and the subject of the waxwork were identical twins.
Soon after he had disturbed the bones, the Count became ill and his neighbours came to him with stories of strange noises heard and strange lights seen in the tower at night. The Count returned the bones to the chamber and had it sealed up again, while one of his neighbours brought a priest to exorcise the place. The Count recovered, but the nocturnal manifestations continued.
Until the Count’s death in 1994, the silk shoe, the silver pommel and the book of meditation were all displayed in his living-room, as was the copy of the mask-like cowl. But the fragments of velvet and lace which remained of the original cowl, like the skull and bones, could no longer be seen; having made the copy of the cowl, the dressmaker threw the original fragments away.
It was the mask engaged your mind,
And after set your heart to beat,
Not what’s behind.
W.B. YEATS