Jean Fouquet
Jean (or Jehan) Fouquet (French pronunciation: [fuke]; c. 1420–1481) was a French painter and miniaturist.[1] A master of panel painting and manuscript illumination, and the apparent inventor of the portrait miniature, he is considered one of the most important painters from the period between the late Gothic and early Renaissance. He was the first French artist to travel to Italy and experience first-hand the early Italian Renaissance.
Little is known of Fouquet's early life and education. Though long assumed to have been an apprentice of the so-called
Life
He was born in Tours. Little is known of his life, but it is certain that he was in Italy before 1447, when he executed a portrait of Pope Eugene IV, who died that year. The portrait survives only in copies from much later.
Upon his return to France, while retaining his purely French sentiment, he grafted the elements of the Tuscan style, which he had acquired during his period in Italy, upon the style of the Van Eycks, forming the basis of early 15th-century French art and becoming the founder of an important new school.[1]
He worked for the French court, including
His work can be associated with the French court's attempt to solidify French national identity in the wake of its long struggle with England in the Hundred Years' War.[2]
One example is when Fouquet depicts Charles VII as one of the three magi. This is one of the very few portraits of the king. According to some sources, the other two magi are the Dauphin Louis, future Louis XI, and his brother.
-
The burial of Étienne Chevalier
-
Charles VII as one of the three magi
-
Marriage ofMarie of Luxembourg
Works
Fouquet's excellence as an illuminator, his precision in the rendering of the finest detail, and his power of clear characterization in work on this minute scale secured his eminent position in French art. His importance as a painter was demonstrated when his portraits and altarpieces were for the first time brought together from various parts of Europe for the exhibition of the "French Primitives" held at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.[1]
His self-portrait miniature would be the earliest sole self-portrait surviving in Western art, if the 1433 portrait by Jan van Eyck—usually called Portrait of a Man or Portrait of a Man in a Turban—is not in fact a self-portrait, as some art historians believe.
Far more numerous are his illuminated books and miniatures. The
One of Fouquet's most important paintings is the
The Louvre has his oil portraits of Charles VII, of Count Wilczek, and of Guillaume Jouvenel des Ursins, and a portrait drawing in crayon.[1]
The
Gallery
-
Flavius Josephus
-
Construction of theTemple of Jerusalem
-
Flavius Josephus
-
Pieta of Nouans Church of Nouans-les-Fontaines
-
Copy of the lost Portrait of PopeEugene IV
See also
References
Notes
- ^ As opposed to the artist inserting a small portrait of himself into a much larger religious scene. A 1433 painting by Jan van Eyck (Portrait of a Man) is widely believed to be a self-portrait.
Citations
- ^ a b c d e Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Inglis 2011.
- ^ "Grandes Chroniques De France". Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
- ^ Inglis 2003, pp. 185–224.
- ^ Snyder 1985, p. 247.
Sources
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Foucquet, Jean". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 737. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Inglis, E. (2003). "Image and Illustration in Jean Fouquet's Grandes Chroniques de France". French Historical Studies. 26 (2): 185–224. S2CID 163091918.
- Inglis, Erik (2011). Jean Fouquet and the Invention of France: Art and Nation After the Hundred Years War. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-13443-8.
- Snyder, James (1985). Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-623596-5.
Further reading
- Gillet, Louis (1909). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company. . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
- hdl:loc.wdl/wdl.3030.
External links
- Jean Fouquet – Encyclopædia Britannica
- Bibliothèque nationale de France – Jean Fouquet, Painter and Illuminator of the XVth Century (smaller English version)
- Bibliothèque nationale de France – Jean Fouquet, peintre et enlumineur du XVe siècle (full French version)
- Fouquet's decorations for the Book of Hours of Simon de Varie Manuscript 74 G 37. Koninklijke Bibliotheek National Library of the Netherlands