[프랑스] Jean (or Janet) Clouet / François Clouet.

Jean (or Janet) Clouet

 (1480–1541) was a miniaturist and painter who worked in France during the High Renaissance. 

 He was the father of François Clouet.

Biography

François I of France - Jean and François Clouet (c.1535, oil on panel) (Louvre).

The authentic presence of this artist at the French court is first mentioned in 1516, the second year of the reign of Francis I. By a deed of gift made by the king to the artist's son of his father's estate, which had escheated to the crown, we learn that he was not actually a Frenchman, and never naturalized. He is supposed to have been a native of the Low Countries, and probably his real name was Cloet. He lived several years in Tours, and there it was he met his wife, who was the daughter of a jeweller.^[1]

He is recorded as living in Tours in 1522, and there is a reference to his wife's residence in the same town in 1523. In that year Clouet was awarded the position of Groom of the Chamber by the King, with a stipend at first of 180 livres and later of 240. He and his wife were certainly living in Paris in 1529, probably in the neighborhood of the parish of Ste Innocente, in the cemetery of which they were buried. He stood godfather at a christening on 8 July 1540, but was no longer living in December 1541.^[1]

His brother, known as Clouet de Navarre, was in the service of Marguerite d'Angoulême, sister of

Francis I, and is referred to in a letter written by Marguerite about 1529. Jean Clouet had two children, François and Catherine, who married Abel Foulon, and left one son, who continued the profession of François Clouet after his decease.^[1]

Jean Clouet, Portrait of Marguerite d'Angoulême, ca. 1530

Jean Clouet was undoubtedly a very skillful portrait painter, although no work in existence has been proved to be his. He painted a portrait of the mathematician Oronce Finé in 1530, when Fine was thirty-six years old, but the portrait is now known only by a print. Janet is generally believed, however, to have been responsible for a very large number of the wonderful portrait drawings now preserved at Chantilly, and at the Bibliothèque Nationale, and to him is attributed the portrait of an unknown man at Hampton Court, that of the dauphin Francis, son of Francis I at Antwerp, and one other portrait, that of Francis I in the Louvre.^[1]

Seven miniature portraits in the Manuscript of the Gallic War in the Bibliothèque Nationale (13,429) are attributed to Janet with very strong probability, and to these may be added an eighth in the collection of J. Pierpont Morgan, and representing Charles I de Cossé, Maréchal de Brissac, identical in its characteristics with the seven already known. There are other miniatures in the collection of Mr Morgan, which may be attributed to Jean Clouet with some strong degree of probability, inasmuch as they closely resemble the portrait drawings at Chantilly and in Paris which are taken to be his work.^[1]

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.^[1]

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François Clouet
Born	c. 1510
Died	(1572-12-22)22 December 1572
Nationality	French
Known for	miniaturist; oil painter
Patron(s)	Francis I of France; Claude Gouffier

François Clouet (c. 1510 – 22 December 1572), son of Jean Clouet, was a French Renaissance

miniaturist and painter, particularly known for his detailed portraits of the French ruling family.

François Clouet was born in Tours, as the son of the court painter Jean Clouet. Jean Clouet was a native of the Southern Netherlands and probably from the Brussels area. François Clouet studied under his father. He inherited his father's nickname ‘Janet’ and is referred to as such in some early sources and the older literature.^[1]

A Lady in Her Bath, probably depicting Diane de Poitiers or Mary, Queen of Scots,^[2] National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1571

The earliest reference to François Clouet is a document dated December 1541 in which the king renounces for the benefit of François his father's estate, which had escheated to the crown as the estate of a foreigner. In this document, the younger Clouet is said to have followed his father very closely in his art. Like his father, he held the office of groom of the chamber and painter in ordinary to the king, and so far as salary is concerned, he started where his father left off. Many drawings are attributed to this artist, often without perfect certainty. There is, however, more to go upon than there is in the case of his father.^[3]

Le Billet Doux, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 1570s

As the praises of François Clouet were sung by the writers of the day, his name was carefully preserved from reign to reign, and there is an ancient and unbroken tradition in the attribution of many of his pictures. There are not, however, any original attestations of his works, nor are any documents known which would guarantee the ascriptions usually accepted. To him are attributed the portraits of Francis I at the Uffizi and at the Louvre, and various drawings relating to them.

He probably also painted the portrait of Catherine de' Medici at Versailles and other works, and in all probability a large number of the drawings ascribed to him were from his hand.

Charles IX of France, 1563

One of his most remarkable portraits is that of Mary, Queen of Scots, a drawing in chalks in the Bibliothèque Nationale, and of similar character are the two portraits of Charles IX and the one at Chantilly of Marguerite of France. Perhaps his masterpiece is the portrait of Elizabeth of Austria in the Louvre.^[3] This piece made an important impression on Claude Lévi-Strauss. In particular it helped inspire his theory of the modèle réduit, or of works of art as 'miniature models', and other theories of artworks, in his book The Savage Mind.

Clouet resided in Paris in the rue de Ste Avoye in the Temple quarter, close to the Hotel de Guise, and in 1568 is known to have been under the patronage of Claude Gouffier de Boisy, Seigneur d'Oiron, and his wife Claude de Baune. Another ascertained fact concerning François Clouet is that in 1571 he was summoned to the office of the Court of the Mint, and his opinion was taken on the likeness to the king of a portrait struck by the mint. He prepared the death-mask of Henry II, as in 1547 he had taken a similar mask of the face and hands of Francis I, in order that the effigy to be used at the funeral might be prepared from his drawings; and on each of these occasions he executed the painting to be used in the decorations of the church and the banners for the great ceremony.^[3]

Several miniatures are believed to be his work, one very remarkable portrait being the half-length figure of Henry II in the collection of J. Pierpont Morgan. Another of his portraits is that of François, duc d'Alençon in the Jones collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Catherine de Medici described the efforts of Maistre Jamet (he used his father's name) on Alençon's portrait to the ambassador in London, Mothe Fénélon.^[4] Certain representations of members of the royal family which were in the Hamilton Palace collection and the Magniac sale are usually ascribed to him.^[3]

Elisabeth of Austria, c. 1571

He died on 22 December 1572, shortly after the massacre of St Bartholomew, and his will, mentioning his sister and his two illegitimate daughters, and dealing with the disposition of a considerable

amount of property, is still in existence. His daughters subsequently became nuns.^[3]

Assessment

His work is remarkable for the elaborate finish of all the details, the extreme accuracy of the drawing, and the exquisite completeness of the whole portrait. He must have been a man of high intelligence, and of great penetration, intensely interested in his work, and with considerable ability to represent the character of his sitter in his portraits. His coloring is perhaps not specially remarkable, nor from the point of style can his pictures be considered very fairly beautiful, but in perfection of drawing he has hardly any equal.^[