Clouet

A portrait of Francis I, king of France, an early work by contemporary French artist François Clouet. Francis rivalled Holy Roman emperor Charles V in power and wealth, and was the French king who met Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

A painting by French artist François Clouet (c. 1520-1572) of the French king Charles IX as a young man. Born in 1550, Charles reigned from 1560 to 1574. Franćois Clouet succeeded his father Jean (c. 1485-1541) as court painter in France.

French portrait painters and draughtsmen of the 16th century, father and son. The father, Jean (or Janet) (c. 1485-1541), is assumed to have been of Flemish origin. He became painter and valet de chambre to Francis I in 1516. His son, François (c. 1520-1572), succeeded his father in Francis I's service in 1541 and worked also under Henry II, Francis II, and Charles IX.

Jean Clouet was possibly the son of the painter Jehan Cloët, who was working at Brussels in 1475 and is mentioned in the account books of the Duke of Burgundy. At the court of Francis I, there was a fashion for portrait drawings in black or red chalk in which Clouet excelled, his work including 127 such portraits, mostly at the Musée Condé, Chantilly, comparable with those of Holbein, though distinct and freer in style.

François's portrait of a Parisian apothecary, Pierre Quthe, 1562, and that of Elizabeth of Austria, 1571, attributed to him, reflect Italian influence. His drawings are less robust than those of Jean, but his fame was even greater (though both were renowned), Ronsard calling François ‘honneur de notre temps’ (‘the pride of our age’). The name of a third Clouet (de Navarre) appears in records, and a number of other artists worked in a closely related style.