JEAN CLOUET
The veil of oblivion which so undeservedly fell upon Perréal is
gradually lifted as we approach the period of Jean Clouet. Even if we
except some drawings which we are bound to assign to an earlier period
there still remain a great number which, judging by the age and style of
costume of the characters represented, must necessarily be reckoned as
falling within his period and may be reasonably attributed to him.
Mention is made of no less than four persons bearing the surname of
Clouet: Jean the grandfather, who painted for the Duke of Burgundy at
Brussels about 1485; Jean Clouet, Court-Painter to Francis I; and his
two sons--Clouet of Navarre[88] and François, who brought to its zenith
the art of drawing in sixteenth-century France.
[Illustration: Plate LIV.
THE DAUPHIN FRANCOIS, ELDEST SON OF FRANCIS I.
Antwerp Museum.
_To face page 212._]
Jean Clouet,[89] also known as _Jeannet_, migrated to France and settled
at Tours, where he presently married Jeanne Boucault, the daughter of a
goldsmith. He first appears in the Royal Accounts in 1516 as receiving
160 livres per annum--a sum which, on the death of Bourdichon in 1522,
was increased to 240 livres. Subsequently we find special references to
several portraits by him, taken from life[90] which the King was so
anxious to see that he sent for them by "diligence and post-horses."
Again we read further on that his wife, Jeanne, travelled expressly from
Paris[91] to Fontainebleau in order to convey to His Majesty portraits
done by her husband: "_Pour apporter et monstrer au dict seigneur aucuns
ouvrages du dict Jeannet_." After the death of Perréal in 1528 Jean
Clouet remained practically without a rival. Only one artist--a certain
Jean Champion who seems to have been in receipt of a very small
salary--is mentioned besides him; but none of this man's work is
actually recorded. Amongst the numerous works attributed to Jean Clouet
absolute certainty may be given to a portrait of _Oronce Finé_, which,
however, has only come down to us through a mediocre engraving in
Thevet's series of _Hommes Illustres_. Thevet speaks of this portrait as
an authentic work by Jean Clouet on the authority of the mathematician's
own son but it is not easy to judge fairly the work of any artist by an
engraving. We can, however, gather enough from it to justify us in
concluding that Jean Clouet's craftsmanship was of a more elaborate
nature than that which may be observed in the portraits of the _Preux
de-Marignan_. The portrait of _Oronce Finé_, for example, bears far
more resemblance to that of _Duc Claude de Guise_,[92] of which there is
a drawing at Chantilly and a coloured copy in the Pitti Gallery at
Florence, both executed at about the same time. Then again there is at
Hampton Court an excellent portrait of an _Unknown Man_ holding a volume
of Petrarch, which is attributed to Jean Clouet. The original drawing
for this somewhat later and more artistic piece of work is also at
Chantilly. Another drawing likewise at Chantilly (a capital example of
the artist's methods) represents _Francis I_ after his reverses at
Pavia, wherein His Majesty has lost that expression of youthful buoyancy
so conspicuous in the oil-painting in the same collection. He wears his
cap adorned with a white plume no longer close-set as formerly and
straight on his forehead, but according to the fashion of the day with
the hair projecting from underneath it and slightly tilted to the left.
His beard has also been allowed to grow, in order, it is said, to hide a
scar on his cheek. This drawing was unquestionably taken from life, and
was used for the portrait in oils now in the Louvre; which serves to
prove how much care and diligence Jean Clouet expended upon his
portraits. Just as a sculptor uses the clay for his models, so with
equal faithfulness the artist made his drawings serve for his final
portraits in a heavier medium. This small painting,[93] now recognised
as an original work, is infinitely superior to the larger portrait,[94]
also in the Louvre, although both have evidently been copied from one
and the same drawing. Both portraits were formerly at Fontainebleau,
where tradition had always assigned them to Jean Clouet. This likeness
of _King Francis_ seems to have been a very favourite one for we find
numerous copies of it: for example, in the Méjanés Collection at Aix; in
the _Recueil Marriette_; and in the _Recueil d'Orange_ in England.[95]
There are no less than eight copies of it in St. Petersburg, and the one
in Florence is said to have been made by Queen Catherine herself. A
later portrait of this King, likewise at Chantilly, represents him in
middle age, when years had already begun to tell upon him and the lines
of his face had become heavy and drawn. The original drawing for
this--perhaps also by Jean Clouet--is lost, but a copy survives in the
_Recueil Lenoir_. A miniature in oil at Florence, in which the King is
represented on horseback, seems to have been designed from this drawing;
whilst another similar miniature in the Louvre (Collection Sauvageot) is
generally considered to be the work of François Clouet, who had at that
time just begun his artistic career under his father's direction. This
is probably the last likeness of Francis designed by Jean Clouet. It
appears to have been painted in 1539 and may be regarded as the official
portrait of this King. It is certainly vastly superior to another
even later portrait, of which there is a copy in the Louvre and a
miniature in the _Recueil du Tillet_ (Bibliothèque Nationale), where His
Majesty is shown to have greatly increased in girth. Another similar
miniature is in the ante-room at Chantilly, the King being again
represented on horseback after a fashion affected by the succeeding
Valois Kings; and the same original reappears in the _Book of Hours_ of
Catherine de Medicis, where Francis figures as _King David_; appearing
to be older than he really was, for he was but fifty-three when he died.
Both Thevet in his _Hommes Illustres_ and Gautier in his _Kings of
France_ reproduce this same portrait.
[Illustration: PLATE LV.
MONSIEUR DE NEVERS.
_Musée Condé._ Jean Clouet.
DUC DE GUISE.
_Musée Condé._ Jean Clouet.]
The likeness of _Francis I_ at Hampton Court, though painted by some
mediocre copyist, has a special interest, inasmuch as it once belonged
to Henry VIII of England. This portrait is reproduced in pencil in the
_Recueil d'Arras_, and another, though superior, presentation of this
same King in the Tribune at Chantilly seems to be of the same type. The
King is here shown in profile, a treatment copied repeatedly by
Limousin, an example being in the Gallerie d'Apollon at the Louvre,
where he is seen kneeling beside Queen Claude. The latest portrait of
all of this monarch is a drawing at Chantilly taken full face, which
seems to have been made as a _post-mortem_ effigy, such as, according to
the Royal Accounts, François Clouet was commissioned to make. This again
is only a copy; so that of these many and varied types of portrait few
only can claim to be the original work of Jean Clouet. In this
connection we should like to mention an exquisite drawing recently
acquired by the British Museum which represents _Marguerite
d'Angoulême_, sister of King Francis, in the bloom of her youth.[96]
Portraits of _Queen Claude_[97] are as rare as those of her royal
husband are numerous. There is a slight drawing at Chantilly
representing the daughter of Louis XII: presumably taken soon after her
marriage to the heir to the French throne (which under the Salic Law she
could not ascend herself). This marriage took place after the death of
her mother, Anne de Bretagne, whose dearest wish it had been that she
should marry Charles V, a suitor to whom she had been affianced in
infancy. According to Brantôme the shrewd Queen Anne foresaw that her
timid little daughter could not have a particularly happy life between
so fickle a husband as Francis and so ambitious a mother-in-law as
Louise of Savoy; but King Louis thought otherwise and sacrificed his
daughter to his patriotism. This drawing, albeit very slight, is not
without considerable charm. It dates probably from the same period as
the portrait of the young King at Chantilly and may perhaps be
attributed to the same artist. It is nothing like so elaborately
finished as the drawing of Queen Claude's sister _Renée_, which in
craftsmanship recalls the drawing of _Duc Claude de Guise_ in the Musée
Condé. Another far more finished and far more elaborate drawing, now
in Florence, represents _Queen Claude_ some ten years later as
Queen-Mother; and it bears upon it marginal notes in no less august a
hand than that of Catherine de Medicis herself, which enhances its
importance. Apparently this too is a copy of one of Jean Clouet's lost
originals.
[Illustration: PLATE LVI.
FRANCIS I.
_Photo Giraudon._
_Louvre._
Jean Clouet.]
The next drawings of interest by this artist in the portfolios at
Chantilly are likenesses of the two _Dauphins of France_[98] and of the
other Royal Children: a portrait of the _Dauphin François_, which was
repeated in colours in an exquisite little panel now at Antwerp,[99]
with the slight difference that the Royal Child has exchanged his simple
cap for a plumed hat; and likenesses of _Monsieur d'Orléans_ (afterwards
the Dauphin Henri), and of the third son, _Charles_, so great a
favourite with his aunt Marguerite. This latter Prince had the good
fortune to be kept at home when his two elder brothers were given as
hostages to the Emperor Charles V after the disastrous defeat at Pavia
to be subjected by him to four years of most inhuman imprisonment.
Bodin, who was sent by their Royal Father to attend upon his unfortunate
sons, relates that he found them in a dark chamber seated upon small
wooden chairs. The hardest of straw mattresses were provided for them,
and they were not allowed to wear the plumed caps which he brought for
them, for fear that by some exercise of necromancy they might perhaps
contrive to fly away! According to Brantôme, the poor Dauphin had
almost forgotten his native French, so that his younger brother had to
assist him in making himself understood. The charming sketch at
Chantilly of the _Dauphin François_ wearing a plumed hat was evidently
made after his safe return to France.
[Illustration: Plate LVII.
Photo Giraudon.
QUEEN CLAUDE OF FRANCE.
Attributed to J. Perréal. About 1515.
Photo Giraudon.
RENEE OF FRANCE, DUCHESS OF FERRARA.
Attributed to Jean Clouet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 21_.]
A slight sketch shows _Madeleine de Valois_ as a child. This princess
was married at the age of seventeen to King James V of Scotland; and she
is said to have been so delighted at the prospect of becoming a Queen
that she soon consoled herself for having to leave _la douce France_ for
so rigorous a climate. She was, however, extremely delicate and died six
months later, to the unbounded grief of her husband, who for years could
not be persuaded to remarry. Princess Marguerite, on hearing of her
elder sister's untimely death, shut herself up in her own apartments and
refused food to the great injury of her health; and it was only by the
urgent persuasions of her aunt Marguerite d'Angoulême that she was
induced to resume her morning walks in the gardens of Fontainebleau and
so by degrees to recover. A variety of drawings at Chantilly present
this young princess at different periods of her life; and in the earlier
of these, as in the portraits of her sister and two brothers, we can
trace the handiwork of Jean Clouet. A painted portrait of her (which
formerly belonged to Gaignières) in the Tribune at Chantilly, is
attributed to Corneille de Lyon, and on the margin is written "_Marg. de
France, Duchesse de Berry_." She is represented with auburn hair and
blue eyes like her brother the Dauphin, whose portrait hangs in the
same room. The words "_Corneille fecit_" are written on the back of the
frame by Gaignières himself, who in so doing settled its authorship.
Whilst the Dauphin seems in his portrait to be but eighteen years of age
his sister Marguerite looks thirty, so that we may conclude that she sat
at a much later period. The numerous drawings that François Clouet made
of this Princess[100] reveal that amiable disposition so much praised by
Brantôme. He speaks of her as "_la bonté du monde, charitable,
magnifique, liberale, sage, vertueuse, si accostayle et douce que rien
plus_." She remained unmarried until she had reached the age of
thirty-six, because she declined (it is said) to marry one of her
brother's subjects and yet did not wish to leave her beloved France.
When quite young she had accompanied her aunt Marguerite to Nice, where
she fixed her choice upon the heir of the House of Savoy, to whom after
twenty-one years' interval she was, when adverse political complications
had finally passed away, eventually united.
She was meanwhile much admired at the French Court for her learning. A
Latin and Greek scholar of merit, she studied Aristotle's _Ethics_ and
is reported to have sent to Paris for at least three different editions
of Cicero. She had no special gift in the use of the pen like her
versatile aunt,[101] the authoress of the _Heptameron_, although she
occupied her mind with continual study and much careful reading. She
patronised the poet Du Bellay, who translated for her Bembo and
Naugerius and she induced him to assert that no century would ever
extinguish the memory of Boccaccio and Petrarch. Moreover, she attracted
to the French Court Baccio del Bene, of whom Ronsard said that he was
the only Italian author worthy of earnest consideration at this period.
Her learning acquired for her the _sobriquet_ of "Pallas"; her emblem
was an olive-branch; and she was looked upon as the symbol of Platonism
in its highest form. Her father, King Francis, paid but little attention
to her; but her brother, Henri II, loved and esteemed her greatly and
when she married ordered for her adornment magnificent robes, costly
lace and jewels, and organised great festivities. It was on the occasion
of these nuptials, however, that the terrible tragedy occurred which
brought about His Majesty's death. Like her aunt Rénée at Ferrara
Marguerite[102] in her home in Piedmont never ceased to long for her
"sweet France"; and every Frenchman who passed through Turin, on
presenting himself at her Court, was warmly welcomed and munificently
entertained. With her enlightened views she was able to act as mediator
in the religious differences which raged so violently in France during
the sixteenth century, and which extended into the country of her
adoption; and she protected, as far as she was able, the persecuted
Waldenses. The last years of her life were devoted chiefly to the
education of her son, Charles Emmanuel of Savoy; and Michel de
l'Hôpital declared that this Prince owed the success of his career
entirely to her. The French Ambassador at Constantinople left to her his
entire fortune, and the poet Du Bellay on his death-bed wept bitterly
because he was unable to take a last farewell of her. When she herself
died there perished with her all that was best in the spirit of the
neo-Platonism initiated by her aunt, the first Marguerite; so that it
presently fell entirely to pieces under the influence of the third
Marguerite, youngest daughter of Catherine de Medicis.
[Illustration: Plate LVIII.
THE DAUPHIN FRANCOIS, ELDEST SON OF FRANCIS I.
Jean Clouet.
Photo. Giraudon.
HENRI D'ORLEANS, AFTERWARDS HENRI II.
Attributed to Jean Clouet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 220._]
A likeness of _Rénée de France_[103] which bears some affinity to the
portrait of her sister _Queen Claude_ is also to be found at Chantilly.
It represents her at the time of her marriage to Ercole, Duke of
Ferrara, son of Lucrezia Borgia: nuptials which were celebrated in the
Sainte Chapelle at Paris. Like the other French princesses of her day
she was extremely intelligent and studious, and during her time the
Court of Ferrara became renowned as an intellectual centre to which
French visitors were always warmly welcomed. To the complaints of her
Italian courtiers that she spent too much money upon her compatriots she
replied, "_Que voulez-vous? Ces sont pauvres Français de ma nation
lesquelles si Dieu m'eut donné barbe au menton, et que je fusse homme,
seraient maintenant tous mes sujets, et si cette méchante loi Salique ne
me tenait trop de rigueur_." Rénée was a strong adherent of the
Reformed Faith and welcomed Calvin to her Court, thereby giving serious
annoyance to her husband, the Duke, whose policy it was to keep on good
terms with the Pope. The poor Duchess therefore presently found herself
compelled to part with all her French ladies-in-waiting on account of
their Protestant views. Furthermore, her brother-in-law, Cardinal
Ippolito d'Este, was sent to the French Court to discuss these matters
with the King, upon which occasion those two connoisseurs and patrons of
Art became fast friends.[104]
After the death of her husband the Dowager Duchess was exiled by her
son, Alfonso, to Montargis,[105] and there she was visited by the
Cardinal--who, in spite of her heretical leanings, had never ceased to
be on good terms with her. According to Brantôme she here provided
shelter and food for 300 Huguenots who had been despoiled of their
goods; and she even went so far as to remonstrate with her son-in-law,
François de Guise, for his cruel treatment of the Prince de Condé;
saying that "whoever had advised the King to take this course of action
had done a great wrong." Notwithstanding her Calvinistic views she was
always reckoned by the Royal Family as a true Daughter of France and was
held in high honour by them. Her portraits, like those of her sister
Queen Claude, are extremely rare.
[Illustration: PLATE LIX.
MADAME DE VENDÔME D'ALENÇON.
_Photo Giraudon._
_Musée Condé._
Jean Clouet.
JEANNE BOUCAULT.
_Musée Condé._
Jean Clouet.]
Besides the portraits of the Valois princes and princesses at Chantilly
there are a great number of likenesses of other interesting
historical personages. It would, however, lead us too far afield were we
to attempt to enumerate them all. Amongst them, however, the most
remarkable are as follows: _Madame Vendôme d'Alençon_,[106] mother of
Antoine de Bourbon and of Louis I Prince de Condé (a drawing on a larger
scale than most of the others); of the same size, _Madame
l'Estrange_,[107] a lady renowned for her beauty and greatly beloved by
the Dauphin François; _Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre_; _Chandus_, one
of King Francis' most faithful officers; and various portraits of
_Unknown Young Men_. All these are excellently drawn, may be assigned to
Jean Clouet and are evidently taken from life. In some of the portraits
we can detect a point of transition between the joint work of father and
son: for example, in a drawing representing _Louis de Nevers_,[108] son
of a Princesse de Bourbon and related to the Princes of the House of
Cleves. This drawing is incorrectly designated _Saint Marsault_; but a
copy supplies the right name. There is a copy of it in colours in the
Lochis Collection at Bergamo, which long passed under the name of
Holbein until Dr. G. Frizzoni assigned it to François Clouet, who
evidently executed it from the drawing at Chantilly. In this same
connection may be mentioned the _Sieur de Canaples_,[109] and the
portrait of an _Unknown Lady_ of singular force of expression, very
plainly clad and without ornaments, who may perhaps be _Jeanne
Boucault_[110] of Tours, Jean Clouet's own clever and devoted wife.
[Illustration: Plate LX.
Photo. Giraudon.
MADAME L'ESTRANGE.
Attributed to Jean Clouet. About 1535.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 224._]
Before we take leave of Jean Clouet and pass on to his brilliant son
attention should be called to a fascinating portrait of a young girl
inscribed "_la reine Jehanne de Navarre petite_,"[111] which, on account
of its excellence, might well be attributed to the master himself. In
this instance history comes to our aid, for we are informed that
Princesse Jeanne (known as "_la mignonne de deux rois_" on account of
the marked affection shown to her by both King Francis, her uncle, and
King Henry of Navarre, her father) was in her fourth year removed from
the charge of her own parents and transported to Plessis-le-Tours, a
château on the Loire; where there was provided for her a suite
consisting of a lady-in-waiting, a master of the horse, two chaplains
and other attendants. The reason for this strange arrangement was
political, inasmuch as Francis feared that Henry of Navarre would
negotiate a marriage between this child and Philip of Spain, eldest son
of Charles V. In vain the little Princess wept and implored her Royal
uncle to allow her to rejoin her mother. Her wish was not to be granted
until she had reached her twelfth year, and then only on condition that
she should be betrothed at once to the Duke of Cleves, whose sister Anne
was wife of King Henry VIII of England--a political scheme to unite the
Protestant Princes of Germany and England against the Emperor Charles
V. It was probably at the moment when the Princess was about to leave
the lonely château on the Loire that Francis commissioned Jean Clouet to
secure for him a likeness of his niece before her departure for Béarn.
Jeanne, who was born at Fontainebleau in 1528, appears here to be about
twelve years of age; so that the drawing may perhaps have been executed
in 1539-40, and, since it was one of the artist's last works it gains
greatly in interest.
That François Clouet succeeded his father as Court-Painter in 1541 is
proved by a document in the "_Trésor des Chartres_" which runs as
follows: "_François par la grace de Dieu, roy de France, etc.... Savoir
faisons ... que voulant reconnoistre envers nostre cher et bien aimé
painctre et varlet de chambre ordinaire, François Clouet les bons et
agréables services que feu M^{e} Jehannet Clouet, son père, aussi de son
vivant nostre painctre et varlet de chambre, nous a durant son vivant
faictz en son dict estat et art, auquel il estoit très expert et en quoy
son dict fils la jà très bien imité, et espérons qu'il fera et
continuera encores de bien en mieux cy après, a icelluy, François Clouet
pour ces causes et affin que de ce faire il ayt meilleure voullonté,
moïen et occasion, avons donné, octroïé, cedé et délaissé, tous et
chacuns les biens meubles et immeubles qui furent et appartendrent au
dict Me Jehannet Clouet, son père, à nous advenuy et escheuz, adjugez et
declarez appartenir par droit d'aubène au moïen de ce que le dict
deffunt estait estranger et non natif ne originaire des nostre royaume
et n'avoit obtenu de nos predecesseurs roys ny de nous aucunes lettres
de naturalité et congié de tester_" (published by E. de Freville, _Arch.
de l'art Français_, t. iii, p. 98).
From the above document we learn the following important facts, namely:
(_a_) that Jean Clouet was not of French origin; (_b_) that he was
highly esteemed by the King; and (_c_) that after his death François
Clouet, his son, inherited all his privileges and favours.
[Illustration: Plate LXI.
Photo. Giraudon.
JEANNE D'ALBRET, WHEN A CHILD.
Attributed to Jean Clouet.
MADAME MARGUERITE, SISTER OF HENRI II.
Attributed to François Clouet.
Musée Condé.
_To face page 226._]