Jean Cousin the Elder
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Jean Cousin (1500 – before 1593) was a French painter, sculptor, etcher, engraver, and geometrician. He is known as "Jean Cousin the Elder" to distinguish him from his son Jean Cousin the Younger, also an artist.
Career
Cousin was born at Soucy, near Sens, and began his career in his native town with the study of glass-painting under Jean Hympe and Grassot. At the same time, he studied mathematics and published a successful book on the subject. He also wrote on geometry in his student days. In 1530 Cousin finished the windows for Sens Cathedral, the subject chosen being the "Legend of St. Eutropius". He also painted the windows of many of the noble châteaux in and around the city. The latest date on any of his Sens work, 1530, points to this as the year he went to Paris, where he began work as a goldsmith; but the amount and kind of his productions in the precious metals are alike unknown.
In Paris Cousin continued his career as a glass-painter, and created his best-known work, the windows of the Sainte-Chapelle in Vincennes. He subsequently devoted himself to painting in oil, and has been claimed as the first Frenchman to use that new medium. Pictures attributed to him, all of much merit, are found in several of the large European collections, but, excepting "The Last Judgment", none is known to be authentic. For a long time this work lay neglected in the sacristy of the church of the Minims, Vincennes, until it was rescued by a priest and transferred to the Louvre. It is said to be the first French picture to be engraved.
He was also an illustrator of books, making many designs for
He died at Sens, but the date of his death is uncertain.
Sources
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Jean Cousin". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. cites:
- FIRMIN-DIDOT, Etude sur Jean Cousin (Paris, 1872);
- PATTISON, The World's Painters since Leonardo (New York, 1906)
External links
- The Last Judgement, with citation in French
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