DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45257#0390
FRANCOIS CLOUET
232
executed is dated 1569. There is also a miniature
taken from it in the Louvre.
It would lead us too far if we were to mention all
the drawings which bear the stamp of this master’s
own hand, but there are some on which we ought to
dwell as being examples of his finest work. Amongst
these are the drawings in the Bibliotheque Nationale
of the boy-King Francis IF and of his young and
beautiful bride, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.
In the delicate and subtle pencil drawing of
the latter, more than in all her other portraits, we
can detect traces of her world-renowned beauty ;
and this is how she must have looked when, with
her young husband beside her, and surrounded by
the great dignitaries of State, she entered the
Cathedral of Notre Dame for her Coronation.
Clouet has succeeded in conveying to us something
of the sweetness of her smile, her wistful expression,
and the thoughtful look in her eyes. In the minia-
ture at Windsor, which is said to have been repro-
duced from this drawing, much of the refinement
has been lost, and more attention has been paid
to accessories, i.e. her dress and her ornaments.1 2
A later drawing, in which the young Queen is
represented in her deuil blanc as a widow, is among
the framed drawings at Chantilly: a portrait prob-
ably executed by Francois Clouet when she was on
the point of leaving her beloved France. This is
1 See Plate VIII.
2 The painting in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Jones Collection)
is also an echo of this same drawing.
232
executed is dated 1569. There is also a miniature
taken from it in the Louvre.
It would lead us too far if we were to mention all
the drawings which bear the stamp of this master’s
own hand, but there are some on which we ought to
dwell as being examples of his finest work. Amongst
these are the drawings in the Bibliotheque Nationale
of the boy-King Francis IF and of his young and
beautiful bride, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.
In the delicate and subtle pencil drawing of
the latter, more than in all her other portraits, we
can detect traces of her world-renowned beauty ;
and this is how she must have looked when, with
her young husband beside her, and surrounded by
the great dignitaries of State, she entered the
Cathedral of Notre Dame for her Coronation.
Clouet has succeeded in conveying to us something
of the sweetness of her smile, her wistful expression,
and the thoughtful look in her eyes. In the minia-
ture at Windsor, which is said to have been repro-
duced from this drawing, much of the refinement
has been lost, and more attention has been paid
to accessories, i.e. her dress and her ornaments.1 2
A later drawing, in which the young Queen is
represented in her deuil blanc as a widow, is among
the framed drawings at Chantilly: a portrait prob-
ably executed by Francois Clouet when she was on
the point of leaving her beloved France. This is
1 See Plate VIII.
2 The painting in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Jones Collection)
is also an echo of this same drawing.