JEAN FOUQUET OF TOURS
It is reasonable to inquire with some misgiving whether the _Très Riches
Heures du Duc de Berry_[54], so far surpassing all other artistic
creations of its period, are the only record of the labours of Pol de
Limbourg and his brothers which has come down to us. This would seem to
be almost the case, if we except the _Belles Heures de Jean de Berry_
(now in the possession of Baron Edmond de Rothschild,) which was the
_livre de chevet_ of the Duke and is far smaller in dimensions than the
_Très Riches Heures_.
We can trace in the _Bible Moralisée_ (_MS. Français_ 166 Bibl. Nat.)
miniatures strongly recalling the style of the Limbourgs, and if we
proceed to compare some of its later pages, supposed to have been the
work of the young Fouquet, with similar subjects as in the Chantilly
Codex a distinct resemblance can be observed. For instance a
representation of _Paradise_ in the _Bible Moralisée_ closely resembles
the Limbourgs' treatment of the same subject in the _Très Riches
Heures_. A few pages farther on the same scene appears, attributed once
more and not without reason to Fouquet--probably an early work--which
shows the decided influence of his predecessors and tends to suggest
that Jean Fouquet of Tours must have been a follower of Pol de Limbourg.
At any rate his taste for landscape-painting is already in evidence
here, and from the first he appears to have clearly grasped the fact
that his predecessors' greatness lay very largely in this branch of the
art of painting, so that he specially laid himself out to make it his
own also. The banks of the Loire and the country surrounding his native
town of Tours were his favourite subjects, and his treatment of these
provoked the fervent admiration of his Italian friend Florio.
[Illustration: Plate XL.
Photo. Giraudon.
ETIENNE CHEVALIER AND HIS PATRON SAINT KNEELING BEFORE THE VIRGIN.
Jean Fouquet.
Musée Condé.
_To face plate XLI._]
Fouquet was born in 1415, and was already famous when Louis XI ascended
the Throne of France, and made him his Court-Painter. He was, moreover,
well known in Italy before 1443; for he was commissioned whilst in Rome
to paint a portrait of _Pope Eugenius IV_ which is known to have been
long preserved in the Sacristy of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, but which
has only come down to us in a mediocre engraving. Filarete in his
_Treatise on Architecture_, dedicated to Francesco Sforza, speaks of
Fouquet as famous for portraits from life, and mentions this very
portrait of the Pope, together with those of two members of his family.
His name was still remembered in Italy in the sixteenth century (he died
before 1480), for Vasari mentions him as _Giovanni Fochet assai lodato
pitor_. And Jean de Maire of Belgium, who lived at the Court of that
highly cultured patroness of the Arts, Margaret of Austria,
daughter of the Emperor Maximilian, recalls Fouquet with highest
commendation. Indeed this princess, according to an _Inventory_ of 1516,
seems to have owned a small _Madonna_ painted by this master: "_Un petit
tableau de Notre Dame bien vieux de la main de Fouquet ayant etuy et
couverture_."
[Illustration: Plate XLI.
Photo. Giraudon.
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD RECEIVING HOMAGE
Jean Fouquet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 180._]
We know that Fouquet painted the portraits of _Charles VII_ and of
_Juvenal des Ursins_ in the Louvre, and also a recently acquired
portrait of a _Man with a Glass of Wine_. The life-sized portraits of
_Etienne Chevalier attended by his Patron Saint_ at Berlin and the
powerful likeness of an _Unknown Personage_ in the Lichtenstein Gallery
are by his hand. But although he won great fame as a portrait-painter
during his lifetime it is upon his achievements as a worker in miniature
that his highest reputation is based.
[Illustration: Plate XLII.
Photo. Giraudon.
THE MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN.
Jean Fouquet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 182._]
A very large number of the collections of miniatures have fortunately
been spared to us, and they have come down to us in almost perfect
condition. The most important may be enumerated as follows: the
_Statutes of the Order of St. Michael_; the _Boccaccio_ at Munich; the
_Book of Hours_ painted for Etienne Chevalier; the _Chronique de France_
in the Bibliothèque Nationale; some _MSS._ now in the possession of Mr.
Yates Thomson; and, finest of all, the _Antiquitates Judæorum_ of
Josephus. In the _Statutes of the Order of St. Michael_ (_MS._ 19819
Bibl. Nat.) Louis XI, as Founder of the Order, is portrayed surrounded
by his thirty-six Knights. A similar miniature, but of somewhat greater
dimensions, forms the frontispiece of the _Boccaccio_, which was
executed for the Controleur Laurens Gyrart and is now in the Public
Library at Munich. Count Paul Durrieu believes--and not without
reason--that all the miniatures in this Codex are by Fouquet himself. On
the frontispiece, a leaf not more than 20 inches square, Charles VII is
depicted surrounded by about 150 dignitaries--judges, magistrates,
etc.--passing judgment on Duc Jean d'Alençon. The scene is laid at the
Castle of St. George in Vendôme, and amongst those present is Etienne
Chevalier and the artist himself.[55] Most realistically conceived are
the crowd of onlookers, some of whom, pushing forward, are being
vigorously repressed by the guards. The _Chronique de France_ (_MS.
Français_ 6465 Bibl. Nat.), in which fifty-five illustrations record
events in the _Life of Philippe Augustus_, one of them showing the
_Coronation of Charlemagne_ in the old Basilica of St. Peter at Rome, is
another work by Fouquet which is full of points of interest. His
illustrations to the French translation of the _Antiquitates Judæorum_
of Josephus--now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris--are usually
reckoned as his _chef d'oeuvre_. The Duc de Berry had, in the first
instance, commissioned André Beauneveu to execute this MS., but
presently it came, by way of inheritance, into the hands of Jacques
d'Armagnac, Duc de Nemours, who engaged Fouquet to complete the
unfinished work. A note in the first volume of this MS. by François
Robertet, secretary to Pierre de Beaujeu, Duc de Bourbon, records that
the first three miniatures in that volume were by the Duc de Berry's
artists, and the rest by Louis XI's "good painter and illuminator--Jean
Fouquet of Tours." It is by this note that we are enabled to identify
Fouquet's work. Subsequently the Codex became the property of Catherine,
daughter of the murdered Duc de Nemours, who on her marriage to the Duc
de Bourbon brought the treasure to the Court of Moulins. When, a century
later, the last Duc de Bourbon, the famous Constable, was killed at the
Sack of Rome, since he had no heirs and was an exile and fugitive from
France, all his property, including this Codex, was confiscated and
passed to the Crown. In course of time the second volume became
separated from the first, and having strayed to England, eventually
found its way into the Library of Colonel Townley, whence it was sold in
1814. At that time it still contained thirteen miniatures. It was not,
however, until 1905 that it reappeared once more at a sale at Sotheby's
when it contained but one miniature![56] Here it was secured by Mr.
Yates Thomson, who recognised its author. Two years later Mr. Warner,
Librarian of the Royal Library at Windsor, identified ten illuminated
miniatures, then in the possession of King Edward VII, as the work of
Fouquet and furthermore as belonging to the very MS. acquired by Mr.
Yates Thomson. His Majesty graciously consented to unite his precious
fragments with those of Mr. Yates Thomson, and the two owners agreed to
present the whole work to President Fallières. Thus the two volumes were
once more reunited after a separation of many centuries; but with two
sheets still missing. The illuminations harmonise in every respect
throughout, except that the designs in Volume I are somewhat superior to
those in Volume II. Amongst them one representing the _Children of
Israel led into Captivity by King Shalmaneser_ is most interesting and
exhibits Fouquet at the zenith of his powers. We may specially notice
the exquisitely beautiful landscape and the horses, which recall the art
of Pisanello. Another scene labelled _Clementia_ shows the _Return from
the Captivity_; and here we may observe a curious blending of classic
architecture with the French domestic style of the painter's own day.
This Codex of Fouquet's recalls the _Belles Heures_ of Ailly mentioned
above, which is considered to be an early work of the Brothers Limbourg
(_i.e._ circa 1403-13).
[Illustration: Plate XLIII.
Photo, Giraudon.
THE ANNUNCIATION.
Jean Fouquet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 184._]
But of all the MSS. illuminated by this artist the one which must most
particularly attract our attention is the _Book of Hours_ executed for
Etienne Chevalier, the greater part of which is now preserved at
Chantilly. Almost all these miniatures are reminiscent of impressions
received by Fouquet during residence in Florence and Rome. They were
apparently executed during the years 1453 and 1460, soon after his
return from Italy and immediately after the completion of the celebrated
diptych of _Etienne Chevalier and his Patron Saint_ and the _Madonna and
Child_ commissioned by this same Chevalier in 1453 for the Cathedral at
Melun in memory of his wife Catherine Buti. One portion of this diptych
(the _Madonna and Child_) is now, as mentioned above, in the Antwerp
Museum, whilst the other has found its way into the Kaiser Friedrich
Collection at Berlin. The miniatures at Chantilly, forty in number,
represent, if not the greatest, at least the most fascinating period of
the master's artistic career. Like the MS. of the _Antiquitates
Judæorum_ they also suffered many vicissitudes before finally entering
the haven of the Musée Condé. Nicolas, Baron of Navarre and Bearn, a
descendant of Etienne Chevalier, in the year 1630, when at the point of
death entreated his nephew, to whom he bequeathed his manuscripts, to
preserve and augment them "_en faveur des gens doctes_." Howbeit that
same nephew sold not only the _Boccaccio_ to Munich, but also his
ancestor Etienne Chevalier's _Book of Hours_. Whilst the former remained
intact the latter was mutilated by a dealer, who separated the text from
the miniatures in order to sell them individually. It is interesting to
note here that Gaignière in his _Receuils_ had copies made of the
portraits of Etienne Chevalier and of Charles VII from this MS. and
attached to them explanatory notes, as follows: "_Charles VII copié
après une miniature dans une prière d'heures faite pour Etienne
Chevalier, trésorier general de France sous ce Prince_"; and again,
"_Copie d'après une miniature dans un livre d'heures qu'il avait fait
faire_."
We may therefore gather from these notes that as late as the seventeenth
century the illustrations in this _Book of Hours_ had not been divided
from the text. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, however, the
portraits were again reproduced by Montfaucon; but this time they were
not copied from the originals, proving that the learned Benedictine
writer was then unable to discover their existence. Eventually in 1805
forty of these treasures were discovered at Bâle and bought by George
Brentano la Roche of Frankfurt, whence in 1891 they passed to the Duc
d'Aumale. Besides these forty, four more pages have been identified as
belonging to this same book, as follows: one in the British Museum,
which represents _David_ kneeling in prayer amid a beautiful landscape;
a _Mariensippe (Genealogy of the Blessed Virgin)_ in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris; a fragment in the Louvre representing _St. Margaret_
with a landscape background; and yet one more, _St. Martin dividing his
mantle_, in the Conches Collection.
[Illustration: Plate XLIV.
Photo. Giraudon.
THE VISITATION.
Jean Fouquet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 186._]
The forty miniatures at Chantilly are hung upon the walls of the
_Santuario_--so called by the Duc d'Aumale because it sheltered his
greatest treasures--_i.e._ the forty Fouquets, Raphael's famous
_Graces_, the beautiful painting of _Esther before Ahasuerus_ and the
_Madonna_ of the Maison d'Orléans.
The miniature representing _Etienne Chevalier with his Patron St.
Stephen_[57] was intended as a frontispiece for this beautiful book. The
powerful Lord High Treasurer of France is represented humbly kneeling,
his eyes fixed steadily upon the Divine Mother, who, crowned and seated
beneath a Gothic canopy, holds upon her lap the Holy Babe.[58] To the
left angels are singing and playing upon musical instruments, whilst a
band of children clad in white timidly adore their Infant Saviour. The
architecture in the rear of the composition is of special interest, for
Gothic niches enshrining figures of the Prophets are intermingled with
panels in the style of the Italian Renaissance and Corinthian columns
after the manner of Brunelleschi and Michelozzo. A rich display of gold
in this miniature gives to it a strongly symbolic character, and may be
likened to the dying rays of the sun of Mediæval Art, to which the
artist desired to be not wholly indifferent. These exquisite designs
clearly exhibit the genius of an artist who had been profoundly
impressed by a sojourn in Italy, who had greatly profited thereby and
who, by assimilating into his own individuality the fruit of his studies
abroad, became a pioneer of pictorial art in his native land. The
likeness of the donor himself is especially attractive, for it appears
to have been taken direct from life, and, in spite of its smaller
dimensions, is superior to the life-size portrait of the same person
now at Berlin. It is this smaller presentation that Gaignières has
copied in his Receuils.
[Illustration: Plate XLV.
Photo. Giraudon.
THE BIRTH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Jean Fouquet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 188._]
_The Marriage of the Virgin_[59] is another scene of great interest. The
high-priest, arrayed in mitre and vestments, places the hand of Mary in
that of Joseph, the chosen suitor, who bears his budding rod. Like so
many of the artists of that period, the painter has taken his scene from
the _Legenda Aurea_ of Jacopo da Voragine, which tells us how Mary up to
the age of fourteen years had lived in the Temple and had there taken a
vow of virginity. Howbeit God commanded the High Priest Abiathar to
assemble all the unmarried men of the House of David and to give to each
a rod, upon which they were to inscribe their respective names. These
rods were then placed upon the Altar and to the owner of the one which
blossomed first the Blessed Virgin Mary was to be assigned. To this
extremely solemn act Fouquet gives a semi-humorous note by the
introduction of a realistic figure of Falstaffian proportions and a
group of disappointed suitors. In the background behind the principal
group St. Anne may be seen clad in exactly the same fashion as in the
_Mariensippe_ in the Bibliothèque Nationale. The style of the Temple
architecture gives the artist opportunity for introducing reminiscences
of Rome. In the broad frieze of fighting warriors we can recognise part
of Trajan's column; whilst the columns which flank the central arch
record the gilt bronze columns once grouped around the _Confession of
St. Peter_ in the old Basilica. These were, of course, in Fouquet's time
still _in situ_ and they reappear in the miniatures of the _Antiquitates
Judæorum_ in a scene where the victorious _Pompey enters the Temple in
triumph_.
As a strong contrast to this composition, where Renaissance and classic
architecture are happily blended, the _Annunciation_[60] transports us
to the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris; and we can recognise the long
stained-glass windows, the bronze lustres and the shrine which in
Fouquet's day was raised on pillars behind the high altar. Here all is
pure French Gothic impressed with the spirit of St. Louis. The action
takes place in the foreground; Mary, modest and girlish of mien, and the
Archangel, a prototype of those heavenly beings who figure in Jean
Perréal's triptych at Moulins.
The scene of the _Visitation_[61] is a portico supported by marble
columns, upon the frieze of which is inscribed the words "_Maistre
Etienne Chevalier_." The graceful figure of Mary closely resembles that
in the preceding illumination, while St. Elisabeth is presented in the
garb of a Flemish housewife. An obviously French servant to the right,
with dress tucked up and broom in hand, strikes once more that note of
realism which attracts Fouquet so much. In the background is to be seen
a well, around which children are playing.
Next follows the _Birth of St. John_[62] in the chamber of a French
home. To the left neighbours come to present their congratulations. Two
women prepare the bath and the linen, whilst the new-born infant sits
quietly upright upon the Virgin's lap, who gazes down upon him with
tender affection. That this figure is intended to represent the Mother
of God is indicated by the fact that her nimbus is unusually large. In
the Ghirlandajo frescoes of this scene at Santa Maria Novella there is
also a figure which appears to be intended for the Virgin Mary; but very
few artists besides Fouquet have introduced her into their presentations
of this episode. Zacharias is clad in the robes of a lawyer. Beneath the
scene are two quadrangles, in the first of which is inscribed the letter
D, and within it is a soldier holding a shield, which in turn bears the
initials E. C. (_Etienne Chevalier_). These initials occur repeatedly in
the frieze running round the page. In the second quadrangle, where
should have been the first words of the _Magnificat_, there is painted a
lamb and a tasteless wreath of roses, evidently an interpolation
introduced by the same hand that separated the text from the miniatures,
which we may observe again in no less than nineteen out of the forty
miniatures now at Chantilly. This composition of the _Birth of St. John_
exhibits, perhaps more than any of the preceding, the freedom with which
Fouquet treats these Biblical scenes.
[Illustration: Plate XLVI.
Photo. Giraudon.
THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
Jean Fouquet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 190._]
The same free tendency may be observed also in the _Nativity of Christ_
and in the _Adoration of the Magi_. This time and in both these scenes
the artist has chosen neither the columns of a Gothic church nor a Roman
temple, but remains faithful to tradition and presents the stable of
Bethlehem. In the _Nativity_ we may perceive to the right the angel
announcing to the shepherds the Birth of Christ. Hard by is a cavern, in
which, according to the legend, the shepherds took shelter from a
thunderstorm. The Infant Christ is extended upon the Madonna's blue
mantle and St. Joseph kneels between the ox and the ass. A humorous note
is again introduced by a shepherd playing on the bagpipes.
The Magi in the next scene are personified by the French King, Charles
VII himself, and his two sons--the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XI, and his
younger brother, the Duc de Berry, then a mere boy. The presence of the
Royal Guard clad in white and wearing helmets, leaves no doubt as to who
the personages were whom Fouquet intended to represent. The fortified
castle in the background is the Château de Chinon, whither Charles VII
retired during the English occupation of Paris and where he received
Joan of Arc.
Another illumination worthy of note is the _Betrayal_. The light which
pierces the dark shadows and illuminates the scene itself is very
remarkably treated.
The _Crucifixion_ in this series does not attain to the high level of
the similar episode in the _Très Riches Heures_. Its chief attraction
lies in the landscape, wherein, however, instead of Jerusalem and the
brook Cedron, Paris appears with the Sainte-Chapelle and the river
Seine. In the background the death of Judas Iscariot is most
dramatically represented. The _Crucifixion_ scene in the _Très Riches
Heures_ is, as we have already remarked, a most powerful creation, and
by the introduction of _chiaroscuro_ Pol Limbourg succeeded in producing
an effect which Fouquet, however much he may have admired it, did not
attempt to imitate. He laid greater stress upon the _Descent from the
Cross_. Amongst the men and women grouped around the Dead Saviour the
mourning figures of the Holy Mother and near her of SS. Mary Magdalene
and John, are clearly indicated. Joseph of Arimathæa holds a vase of
ointment, while a man with a peaked turban close at hand has been
pointed out as Gamaliel, the teacher of St. Paul.
[Illustration: Plate XLVII.
Photo. Giraudon.
THE ASCENSION.
Jean Fouquet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 192._]
Fouquet's power reaches its climax in the _Ascension_. Our Lord,
surrounded by angels, is borne to Heaven on a cloud, and beneath Him
golden rays apparently assist in raising Him upwards. Amongst the
disciples gazing Heavenwards may be singled out the powerful figure of
St. Peter, its simple grandeur reminding us of the creations of Masaccio
in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence, which Fouquet must have seen and
from which he seems to have drawn inspiration. The figure of the
Virgin Mary is also most impressive. No longer the sorrowing Mother
bowed down by grief as in the _Descent from the Cross_, she here appears
as the Mother of Christ the King of Heaven, and she shares His victory
over Hell and Death.
In the _Descent of the Holy Ghost_ Our Lady is seated upon a golden
throne and takes a more prominent part than is usually assigned to her
in other representations of the same scene.
Next to this comes the _Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin of her
approaching death_; and in accordance with the _Legenda Aurea_ the
Archangel Gabriel is presenting her with the palm of Paradise. This is a
somewhat unusual scene,[63] and proves that Fouquet must have studied
these legends with considerable care.
In the next illumination, representing _Mary's Obsequies_, the same palm
is borne by St. John, whilst St. Peter is one of the bearers of the
bier.
Fouquet's presentation of the _Coronation of the Virgin_ does not, as
with the Limbourgs or Enguerrand Charonton, take place in Heaven, but in
a hall richly decorated in the Renaissance style where the same
Corinthian columns are introduced that appear in the _Frontispiece_.
But one of the most remarkable compositions of the entire series is the
_Enthronement of the_ _Virgin_, a scene which Bossuet describes as
follows: "_Le ciel aussi bien que la terre a ses triomphes, et
l'exaltation de la Sainte Vierge dans le trône que son fils lui destine
doit faire un des beaux jours de l'éternité_." And Fouquet does indeed
depict this scene in a glow of colour which affords a vivid idea of
triumphant festivity. The Virgin, clothed in white, is seated beneath a
Gothic canopy to the left of the Trinity. Above her are countless angels
and below saints, priests and prophets who are praising God in concert.
Anatol Gruyer speaks of this miniature as the most important of all:
"What Dante so well described in the _Divina Commedia_ Fouquet painted
with masterly hand. It is a painting which may be described as sublime."
This wonderful series is brought to a close with a representation of _La
Toussaint_.[64] Our Lord, surrounded by angels, is enthroned between the
Virgin and the beloved disciple St. John. Below are seated apostles and
saints, amongst whom we can again discover Etienne Chevalier clad in a
red mantle beside his Patron Saint. On the opposite side kneels his
wife, Catherine Buti.
[Illustration: Plate XLVIII.
Photo. Giraudon.
ALL-SAINTS'-DAY.
Jean Fouquet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 194._]
Hung separately in the _Santuario_ at Chantilly these forty miniatures
of Fouquet form an important monument of French fifteenth-century Art
and provide strong evidence that French works of the highest merit
certainly existed at that time. Their present scarcity is no doubt due
to vandalism and wilful destruction. In these miniatures are apparent
all the qualities so characteristic of French Art, _i.e._ its exquisite
grace, its adaptability to foreign elements without loss of its own
individuality, its sense of humour, its restrained realism and its
overmastering love for Nature.