Jean

Fouquet


Fouquet (or Foucquet), Jean (circa 1420-c. 1481). The outstanding French painter of the 15th century. He was a master of both panel painting and manuscript illumination, and he was the apparent inventor of the portrait miniature. He was the first French artist to travel to Italy and experience at first hand the Italian Early Renaissance.

  Jean Fouquet was born at Tours and is known to have been in Rome between 1443 and 1447, when he painted a portrait, now lost, of Pope Eugenius IV. Much has been made of this Italian journey, the influence of which can be detected in the perspective essays and Classical architecture of his subsequent works, but the strongly sculptural character of his painting, which was deeply rooted in his native tradition, did not succumb to Italian influence.

 

On his return from Italy, Fouquet entered the service of the French court. His first patron was Etienne Chevalier, the royal secretary and lord treasure. It was not until 1475 that Fouquet became Royal Painter (to Louis XI), but in the previous year he was asked to prepare designs for the king's tomb, and he must have been the leading court artist for many years.

 

Whether he worked on miniatures or on a larger scale in panel paintings, Fouquet's art had the same monumental character. His figures are modeled in broad planes defined by lines of magnificent purity. He was essentially a draughtsman, and it was his drawing that imparted to his compositions their balance and clarity. His sculptural sense of form went with a cool and detached temperament, and in his finest works the combination creates a deeply impressive gravity.


 

"Charles VII of France" (circa 1444) Panel painting. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

"Madonna Surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim" (1452) Oil on oak wood, 85.5 cm x 94.5 cm - 33.66 x 37.2 in. Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium.

"Pietà" (1445) Panel, 146 x 237 cm - 57.5 x 93.3 in. Parish Church, Nouans-les-Fontaines, Paris, France.

"Battle of Jericho" (1452)

"Etienne Chevalier and Saint Stephen" (1450) Oil on panel. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany.

"Construction of the Temple of Jerusalem" (circa 1470)


Text source: 'Webmuseum' (www.ibiblio.org/wm) and others.

Related Artist: Van Eycks

Related Terms: Miniature, Renaissance, Classicism.

 

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