International studio (23.1904)

The French Primitifs

valet de chambre as well as painter. Of the
portraits of Jean Fouquet a whole series by him
and his school are here exhibited. They extend
from the well-known Charles VII of the Louvre
—in which a weak character is so pitilessly repro-
duced — down to the yet more mature portrait,
from Prince Lichtenstein’s collection, of A Man
Unknown. But Fouquet shows his greatest abili-
ties in his miniatures, and the Heures d’Etienne
Chevalier are considered to be representative of
his finest work. Nothing of his, however, exceeds
the charm of the Enthroned Virgin surrounded by
Angels, with its well-drawn architecture.
Fouquet’s principal follower apparently was the
Maitre de Moulins, whose artistic beginnings
must be examined in certain of his earlier minia-

“ PORTRAIT OF FRANCIS THE FIRST,
KING OF FRANCE”

tures, in order to trace his hand in pictures as
exquisite as The Nativity from Autin and The
Virgin in Glory between the donors, Pierre II. of
Bourbon and Anne of France. This latter work
was at one time attributed to Ghirlandajo, but
credit for it has now, with many other works, been
at length restored to its real author.
But of the many interesting pictures here exhi-
bited, we must limit our attention to a very few,
and those especially which seem most to reveal to
us the characteristics which are individual to French
art. Among these, the Coronation of the Virgin,
from Villeneuve - les - Avignon, by Enguerrand
Charanton, is undoubtedly one of the most
interesting examples.
The so-called “ little Bourdichon ” is another
very noticeable feature
in this exhibition. It
represents the Dauphin
Charles Orland, son of
Anne de Bretagne and
Charles VIII., who died
in infancy.
This brings us to the
period of the celebrated
“ French crayonists,” of
which the Clouets are the
chief representatives. By
Jean Clouet himself, no
doubt, is the Portrait of
Francis ]., from the
Louvre, for which there
is a very fine study at
Chantilly. The King is
represented at the age
of thirty or thereabouts,
before the battle of Pavia,
the effects of which were
so soon to revolutionise
the court of his first wife,
the beautiful Queen
Claude. Equally interest-
ing is the Portrait of
Guillaume, Baron de
Montmorency, by the
same painter, executed
about 1525. It shows
how the influence of Fou-
quet continued into the
sixteenth century.
Jean Clouet’s son Fran-
cois Clouet, called Janet,
is represented here by the
seven famous drawings

BY JEAN CLOUET

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