Jean Clouet le jeune (born in 1480 in Brussels, died in 1541 in Paris) is a portraitist painter from the Burgundian Netherlands of the sixteenth century.
Born of a family of painters, Jean Clouet was born in the Burgundian Netherlands.
From 1516 to 1525, he was in Tours and in 1540 he obtained the title of painter of King Francis I. He is accompanied by Jehan Perréal and Jean Bourdichon. He was afterwards appointed as an extraordinary valet de chambre to the King, and had the privilege of transmitting his portrait to his son.
Jean Clouet was a painter at the court of France during the greater part of the reign of Francis I, and made numerous portraits of members of the royal family and the nobility. His portraits are painted on small panels, the models being presented at half-length, the faces illuminated by a light, their hands placed in the foreground.
He left an abundant painted work, including many portraits, as well as a series of 130 drawings preserved at the Condé de Chantilly Museum. Yet after his death he fell into a nearly complete forgetfulness for nearly three centuries, until 1850, when documents proving his existence were exhumed. Since then, researchers have gradually increased our knowledge of this artist and awarded him new works. But none has studied it thoroughly, and many attributions, even today, remain uncertain. It is clear that Clouet was an innovator in several fields. It is he who was originally the portrait drawn, widely spread afterwards. He is the father of François Clouet.
It was only when Léon de Laborde published the Renaissance des arts at the French court in 18504 that Jean Clouet was rediscovered after almost total forgetfulness of nearly three centuries. Laborde was the first to distinguish between Jean Clouet, who died in 1541, and François Clouet, who died in 1572. These two artists were confused under the name of "Janet", a nickname given to Jean Clouet in the second part of His career, and transmitted to Francis, with the property and titles of his father, on the death of his father. After the death of the two artists, it was thought that it was the same person and the French portraits from 1500 to 1620 are attributed to "Janet" regardless of their style or quality.
The renaissance of the arts at the French court of Laborde testifies to a new interest in the art of the French Renaissance. The singularity of Laborde's point of view is that it is not based on the old authors, but goes back directly to the original documents. He concludes that there are four artists named Clouet, not one. In addition to Jean and François Clouet, he suggests the existence of Jean Clouet, the former native of Brussels, and a Clouet of Navarre, a brother of Jean and a painter of the Queen of Navarre. Long after the publication of the Renaissance, little interest was shown for Jean Clouet. It is only with the studies of Henri Bouchot, at the end of the nineteenth century, that we can speak of an original contribution.
Laborde thinks that the artist is French by birth, and son of Jehan Cloet of Brussels. This hypothesis comes from a document of 1475, which mentions a painter named Jehan Cloet, living in Brussels. He concludes that Jehan de Cloet is Jean's father. Laborde altered his early theories in 1855, always claiming that John was the son of Jehan, but adding that he must have been born before his father's arrival in France. In an act of donation, Charles-Ernest de Fréville de Lorme discovers that Jean Clouet is not French and remains a stranger all his life. The theory that Jean Clouet is a native of the Netherlands, and probably the son of Jehan Cloet, is accepted by most researchers, despite the lack of evidence.
Unfortunately, there is no mention of Jean Clouet's date of birth. Laborde first imagined that he was born in France shortly after his father's arrival in 1485. When he understood that Jean was a stranger, he backed the date to 1480, so that his theory always held, except for Birth of the painter outside France. Étienne Moreau-Nélaton gives the date of 1475, due to a confusion between Jean Clouet and Jean Hey. It is unlikely that Jean Clouet was born at a date as far back as 1475, although he was able to work for Louis XII and painted the seven miniatures of the Preux around 1519. Were he born at that date, he would have exceeded forty years When he began to work for Francis I in 1515 and would have been more than sixty-five years at his death
The act of donation in favor of François Clouet clearly establishes that Jean Clouet is a stranger, and has remained so throughout his life. Through this act, Francis I recognized all the services rendered by Jean Clouet during his lifetime in his dictates and art, to which he was very expert. He adds that Francois Clouet imitates his father very well, and hopes that he will do even better. To encourage him, he ordered that his father's estate be given to him by right of succession: Jean Clouet
The act of donation in favor of François Clouet clearly establishes that Jean Clouet is a stranger, and has remained so throughout his life. Through this act, Francis I recognized all the services rendered by Jean Clouet during his lifetime in his dictates and art, to which he was very expert. He adds that Francois Clouet imitates his father very well, and hopes that he will do even better. To encourage him, he ordered that his father's estate be given him by right of succession: Jean Clouet being a foreigner, his property should have passed to the crown at his death. The document declares that the declaration of the right was foreign and not native, originating in our kingdom, and not having obtained from us any letters of naturality from our predecessors. The remainder of the document gives further details on the rights of François Clouet to the succession; It was signed at Fontainebleau in November 1541
The work:
Jean Clouet and the French portrait tradition:
Jean Clouet, although a stranger, spent most of his career in France: he could not be studied outside the tradition of the French portrait. At that time, portraits are mostly found in illuminations of manuscripts as a decorative element and rarely independent. The first important personality, in the field of the French portrait, is Jean Fouquet (c. 1420-1425-c. 1481). His portrait of Charles VII in the Louvre, painted about 1445, was the first of the great royal portraits, and had to influence Jean Clouet. Compared to the rest of Europe, the portrait in France was in decline when Jean Clouet placed himself at the service of Francis I in 1516.
Jean Clouet, who appears on the list of painters of the king in 1516, is a portraitist whose precision is then equal only by that of Holbein. Before realizing the great portrait of Francis I, he made a preparatory drawing with the fidelity full of delicacy which is the prerogative of French portraitists of the sixteenth century. The memory of Jean Clouet quickly faded. His work was confused with that of his son François Clouet. It is necessary to wait until our century so that the rank of first great French master of the renaissance is returned to him
The drawings:
The drawings of Jean Clouet constitute the natural introduction to his work, as preparatory studies to miniatures and paintings. More numerous than the latter, the drawings remain the testimony of his work from 1515 to 1540. They make possible the identification of miniatures and paintings and their attribution to Jean Clouet; They attest to the high quality and importance of his work. To better understand the style of Clouet and its evolution, we must study the drawings in their chronological order, which we try to reconstitute with caution. Although there are few certainties and many problems of dates, the drawings can be divided into three groups: the first, the maturity, the late.
Thumbnails:
The beginnings of the portrait in miniature are little known. There are several miniature portraits of circular format in a French manuscript: The comments of the Gallic War of 1518-1520. It is believed that they are probably the origin of independent miniatures, but no one has been able to establish with certainty their attribution or significance. It can now be shown that they are painted by Jean Clouet and play a decisive role in the development of the miniature portrait. The assurance with which the models are rendered is remarkable and proves that Jean Clouet has a real experience of the technique of the miniature. He was probably trained by Jean Perréal, who also made preparatory drawings for his miniatures.
The equestrian portrait of François, a miniature on parchment preserved in the Louvre, is revealing in its composition of the influence exerted on Jean Clouet by the Lombard illumination, itself inspired by the antique model and revealed at the court of France by the wars of 'Italy. This portrait derives for the effigy, a portrait drawn from the king preserved in the Condé de Chantilly museum.
Portrait équestre of François 1er, 1535, miniature on parchment, 28 × 23 cm, musée du Louvre
The eight miniatures of the Heroes of Marignan are disputed attribution.
The paintings:
The paintings of Jean Clouet are the extension of his drawings and miniatures, by their technique and their style. Until these last years, it was impossible to prove that no painting was of Clouet because none was signed. Before 1850, the paintings now given to Clouet were attributed to Janet or Holbein, and there was not a single painting by Jean Clouet. In 1850, Laborde was the first to mention two portraits of Clouet: The great portrait of Francis I, and the equestrian portrait of the same king in Florence. Of these two attributions, only The great portrait of Francis I is now considered correct. Subsequently, several other functions are granted with certainty16. That of Florence is now attributed to his son Francois.
Francis I, c. 1530, wood, 96 × 74 cm, museum of the Louvre
Portrait of Claude de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, oil on wood, 29 × 26 cm, Palatine Gallery, Pitti Palace, Florence
The Man with the Headband at the Petrarch, Hampton Court2
Madame de Canaples, Edinburgh2
Posterity:
Jean Clouet occupies a unique place in French art. His work, heiress of the Middle Ages and influenced by the Renaissance, continues the tradition of the French portrait and enriches it with elements Flemish and Italian. Through its miniatures, Clouet is in the medieval lineage of Jean Fouquet and Jean Perréal. As an artist of the Renaissance, he shows a remarkable understanding of Italian art. The portraits of Jean Clouet are pure products of the French tradition. Creators of the first miniature circular portraits, Jean Clouet very early understood the principles of the Italian Renaissance that he was one of the first to use in France. He contributed to the immense popularity of the portrait in France in the sixteenth century.
Recieved catalog:
The catalog raisonné studies works that can be attributed with some certainty to Jean Clouet. The documentation is largely based on the work of Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, Les Clouet (1924) and Louis Dimier Le portrait (1925). As far as possible, their findings are corrected and completed. It is often impossible to attribute certain works with certainty to Jean Clouet. Some excellent copies can hardly be distinguished from the originals, and in the latter years of Clouet's career his works are almost identical in style to that of his son. Prerogatives are therefore advanced with caution, and some problems still await their solution.
The collection of drawings preserved in France, and attributed to this artist and his school, comprises portraits of all the important persons of the time of Francis I. In one album of drawings the portraits are annotated by the king himself, and his merry reflections, stinging taunts or biting satires, add very largely to a proper understanding of the life of his time and court. Definite evidence, however, is still lacking to establish the attribution of the best of these drawings and of certain oil paintings to Jean Clouet.
https://hisour.com/artist/jean-clouet/
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